After such an episode, they were all wide awake. When the fire in the middle of their camp was about to go out, Tarico added a few logs to it and made it flare into life. Angrily, he interrogated Ji as to what his purpose was and why he failed the god of the Tianshan mountains. But Ji gave Tarico the cold shoulder. Whatever Tarico asked, he just stared closely at the fire in front of him, behaving just like a rascal.
With his mouth feeling dry, Tarico gave Ji a kick and stopped asking. After sitting for a while, they were hit by drowsiness again. Xiao Tieshu said goodnight to everyone before he continued his sleep. After guarding for the first half of the night, Wong Wen also went to sleep.
Tarico looked at Ye Xiaoxian, hinting to her to get some rest. So, she dragged Xiao Baozhu’s sleeve and asked her to go back to the tent together.
For a moment, they were either changing shifts or going to sleep. No one was keeping an eye on Ji. Knowing it was a good opportunity, Ji suddenly jumped up to kick the fire wildly. The burning firewood was scattered in all directions and some flew into the sand near the tents. Worried about their property, the people hurried to save the tents and Ji was left alone.
After putting out the fire, they turned around and wanted to teach Ji a harder lesson. Just then, they heard the howls of wolves. The fire in the middle had been extinguished by Ji. In the darkness, they could see not only stars but also some blue light spots nearby. Wolves!
According to the number of points of light they could see, there were seven wolves. It was Ji who had attracted the wolves over. He had been watching the fire because he knew wolves were afraid of it. As long as he put out the fire, the wolves would then approach and attack these people.
With quick thinking, Ye Xiaoxian hastened to ignite the fire. Xiao Baozhu also came to offer help. They set up the firewood nervously, but somehow, they couldn’t spark the paper roll used as a firelighter.
As the wolves got closer, Wong Wen and Wong Wu took out their weapons right away. Tarico was also poised with a bow and arrows. Jia Zhenbo was terrified and hid behind the camels, but he knew he couldn’t act like a deserter, so he also picked up a log as a weapon. If any wolves approached, he would use the log to hit it.
Ji burst out laughing and shouted in the local dialect, “Now that you survived the sandstorm, I can only let these wolves eat you!”
Dawu, who tended to simplify the problem, was standing right beside Ji. Aware of what happened, he knocked Ji out lest this old guy command the wolves to attack them. As long as Ji was unconsious, no one would direct these wolves. As the laughter stopped, Ji fell to the sand.
Just then, Xiao Baozhu finally lit the firewood. The fire slowed down the approach of the wolves. The two sides confronted each other tentatively again.
Wong Wen asked, “What should we do now? Shall we fight or not?”
Eyes locked on the wolves, Wong Wen suggested, “Fight! I’m afraid the standoff will last until dawn if we don’t take action. Those wolves might not get tired but we will, and we’ll have no strength to continue our journey. Besides, they are no match for us.”
“Okay! Let’s fight with them!” Wong Wen drew his sword. Wong Wen and Wong Wu were outstanding martial artists. The number of the wolves was in their control and they had the confidence to kill at least six wolves.
Tarico also played an important role as a crack shot. Swiftly, he shot an arrow at a wolf. With a growl, the wolf collapsed to the ground in pain. But Tarico’s arrows were made of wood rather than iron, so the wolf was hurt but not killed. Irritated, the other wolves rushed at them fiercely. Tarico drew another arrow and shot again, trying to weaken the wolves’ fighting force.
Wong Wen and Wong Wu also dashed over to fight the wolves. Ye Xiaoxian and Xiao Baozhu were scared because some smart wolves might go round to the back to attack the weak like them. Therefore, they also took out the knives they had prepared in advance.
They pumped each other up. “Wolves are nothing to be afraid of. They are just like dogs. The wolves in the desert are even weaker. They are thin with little food and strength.”
“Yes! We are not afraid of the dogs in the village, let alone these wolves!” Xiao Baozhu echoed in a trembling voice.
“…”
When they had just finished speaking, a wolf approached them. Since they were close to the fire, it took no action for the time being, but was staring at them from three meters away.
Ye Xiaoxian’s heartbeat quickened. Wolves and dogs were two very different kinds of creature. She had never seen such ferocious eyes, seemingly shinning with green light. The wolf might have been starving for days and would pounce at them at any moment.
Suddenly, she felt a swift wind blowing past in front of her. With a swoosh, the wolf fell onto the ground, growling in pain. It was Tarico. He noticed the danger they confronted and fired an arrow to save them in time. Ye Xiaoxian looked gratefully at him. He went on aiming at the other wolves.
The fight lasted for almost half an hour. The wolves were either dead or injured and the desert became quiet again.
Wong Wen and Wong Wu cursed the wolves, “How dare you attack us! Don’t you know where we are from?”
Xiao Tieshu blurted out, “The capital!”
“We’re from the Seventh King’s palace in the capital!” Wong Wu said. “We don’t have much time to sleep now. What about peeling off their skins to sell and eating their meat?”
Dawu asked, “Is their meat any good?”
Ye Xiaoxian thought of the poisonous snakes and scorpions which these wolves might usually eat. As such, the wolves were likely to carry viruses.
She said, “Just peel off their skins. Don’t eat their meat. It smells gamey and may poisonous.”
So, they began skinning the wolves and didn’t rest until dawn. After daybreak, Ji finally regained consciousness. He touched his head at once. Except for the swelling caused by Dawu, there were no other injuries. Looking around, he was astonished. He had thought all the people would have been mauled to death. He indeed saw dead bodies all around him, but they were all those of the wolves. They had been skinned and Dawu was busy loading them onto a camel.
Ji was more than surprised to see that all the wolves had been killed. Only then did he realize Wong Wen and Wong Wu were not people to be messed with.
Dawu was the first to notice that Ji was awake. He cried at once, “Ji has woken up. What should we do with him?”
Wong Wu felt disgusted seeing Ji’s face and said impatiently, “Just knock him out, or he will get us into trouble again.”
“No, I…” Ji hurried to explain.
But Dawu had picked up a log and knocked him to the ground.
…
All the way, Tarico discussed with Ye Xiaoxian which way to go and the others also gave their opinions. With joint efforts, they fumbled onward and, after a few days, had finally crossed the desert.
Midway, they saw Ji’s two camels. Tarico jumped off to check on them and found some food that wolves loved in Ji’s satchel. Wolves were intelligent animals. They could recognize people who fed them frequently. For this reason, the wolves in the desert listened to Ji’s commands.
Tarico and Ye Xiaoxian believed that Ji had more secrets. Perhaps this old guy had even cultivated good relations with bandits. As such, they certainly couldn’t spare Ji this time.
On arriving in Beihui city, they handed Ji over to the government and told the official what crime he had committed. Since Wong Wen and Wong Wu had a signet, the official began to interrogate Ji right away. If he was convicted of the crime, he would be imprisoned for at least five years.
In the government office, Ji was yelling, “You can’t put me in prison! Without me, you won’t return to the tribe. You may encounter a sandstorm or an even worse weather. You don’t know when to set off and when not to. The desert swallows people! Don’t you know that?”
Facing Ji’s threat, Xiao Tieshu and Dawu appeared somewhat worried. What if they really couldn’t go back?
But Ye Xiaoxian and Tarico were determined not to keep Ji with them. Even if they needed his guidance, they couldn’t afford his repeated mischief. There might be one day that he would manage to kill all of them.
Ye Xiaoxian said, “He must be imprisoned.”
Tarico explained, “Although we’re not as familiar with the desert as him, we can accumulate experience by ourselves. I believe it won’t be long before we become Desert Eagles ourselves.”
Wong Wen and Wong Wu also didn’t want Ji with them. After surviving a sandstorm and a pack of wolves, they were now fearless.
Before Ji was put behind bars, he looked over his shoulder and cried, “I didn’t want to hurt you at first! Someone asked me to do it! Do you know who it was?”
Tarico asked, “Who?”
Ji suddenly pointed at Tarico. “It was you, Tarico! It was you who conspired with me! But you betrayed me! You want to hog all their goods and camels, right?”
The others looked at Tarico in surprise. Was Ji telling the truth? Or was he simply trying to cause a rift between Tarico and them before being locked up?
Tarico turned to Ye Xiaoxian immediately and said, “I swear to the god of Tianshan Mountains, if I really conspired with him, I’m willing to accept any punishment! God can isolate me from the tribe forever or tear me to shreds!”
Ye Xiaoxian was stunned for a second and then assured the others, “Ji is sowing discord among us. Don’t be fooled by him. We must keep this treacherous man in the cell!”
With her guarantee for Tarico, the others gave up on interrogating him. But secretly, the seed of suspicion had been sown in their hearts. Would Tarico scheme against them like Ji? They decided to keep on guard against him. After all, caution was the parent of safety.
