Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
There was a white bone buried in the sand. He He would not dare go to the bathroom where it was located. In order to make her feel better, the locations of the men’s and women’s latrines were swapped.
Of course, even a man would try to avoid the position of the bones when he was relieving himself. If one peed on it without knowing, there would be no further issue. Yet doing it knowingly would definitely leave marks of regret on anyone who did that.
Zhang Zian and the Scholar hoped that they would still be able to locate the bones when they returned. Not only did they record the GPS coordinates, they also marked the spot with empty food cans, which they filled up with sand.
Peter Lee’s team was also equipped with a metal detector. It would not be difficult to find the white bone with the cans and the GPS coordinates.
This little episode gave everyone more to talk about over dinner. Everyone made up stories about the identity of the person and his purpose in entering the desert. Although many of them were nonsense, they still boosted everyone’s morale. They felt so much better that they momentarily forgot about the problems they faced during the day.
Nabari did not participate in their conversations. He sat silently smoking his hookah. Salem wanted to participate, but he couldn’t keep up with the topic. He didn’t even know the difference between Germany during World War II and Germany today.
Peter Lee and his team did indeed have significant funds supporting them. They’d actually set up a satellite communication terminal with a hotspot in the camp. This provided everyone with half an hour of free internet service to send and receive mail as well as engage in network chat.
Although limited by poor bandwidth and too many people, with many pictures hardly loading, for the modern users with severe internet addiction, this move would undoubtedly further improve morale. This was despite the fact that it was only possible to browse webpage texts.
Dinner was a meal of fast food. After eating, they threw the boxes into the desert and put out the camping stove. There was nothing else to clean up.
Everyone was almost done chatting, and they went back to their tents to wash and rest. According to Peter Lee’s request, everyone had to get up before sunrise and set off immediately, so those who did not have the task of the vigil would go to bed early and get up early.
Potable water was very valuable. It was only to be used for cooking, drinking, and brushing. If one wanted to wash their face, they could only wipe it with a wet towel. The conditions were difficult, but they could only endure it.
Zhang Zian was in Car No. 4 and was tasked to hold vigil in the middle of the night. He’d slept well last night and had also had to chance to catch an extra wink in the morning. He was not feeling very tired.
He returned to his four-person tent, and Famous was already there. He was chewing on a molar stick to clean his mouth. On the other hand, Fina had fallen asleep on the mat, but upon hearing him enter the tent, she opened her eyes.
It was a silent night. Those who hadn’t slept got together to talk quietly. One could just about make out their blurred shadows through the tent.
After a while, there was some wind outside, and the temperature dropped even lower. Everyone turned off the lights and went to sleep, and the camp calmed down.
Zhang Zian lay on the moisture-proof pad and closed his eyes. He had a lot of thoughts in his mind. He first thought of the white bones. Then he thought about Cleopatra. Then he thought of the Holy Cat statue in the trunk of Car No. 4. Suddenly his thoughts drifted to Binhai City and the pet shop. His thoughts were all over the place.
Just as he was losing consciousness, the sound of shoes stepping on the sand came from outside the tent. He opened his eyes. Famous and Fina had heard it even earlier.
“Xiao Zhang, you have to watch the night,” Wei Kang whispered, using his fingers to touch the tent.
“Okay. I know.” Zhang Zian unzipped the zipper and poked his head out, responding softly.
Wei Kang stood outside and shouted, “It’s cold in the night. Wear more clothes, and don’t freeze. I will go back to sleep first. After two hours, call the Scholar of Car Number Five to take over for you.”
“Okay, I will. You should go to sleep soon.”
After Wei Kang left, Zhang Zian had to get up for his duty. Famous and Fina were not feeling tired either, and with swift movements, both got up to accompany him.
As for Richard, it was sound asleep. Besides it was almost blind at night, it might’ve just been better for it to sleep anyway.
The vigil was done by sitting on the roof of the off-road vehicle at the edge of the camp. This way, one got a better view of things. If anyone or any animal came close, they could spot it as soon as possible.
When he passed through the camp, he felt that basically everyone was asleep, and he heard different buzzing sounds in different tents. Of course, some tents were silent.
He stepped on the hood and jumped onto the roof of the off-road vehicle, where there was a night vision telescope for the night watchman.
Zhang Zian stood on the roof of the car and looked at the surroundings with the telescope. He saw no abnormalities. Everything was quiet. Only the cold wind rolled up the fine sand and plastered his face with it.
From this position, it was also possible to see the entire camp. If anyone left their tent, he would know immediately.
He used his mobile phone and faced it between the ground and the roof. Then he released all the elfins except Sihwa to let them feel the desert night.
“Meow meow meow! You must have missed me!” Snowy Lionet rushed to Fina as soon as it appeared on the roof of the car.
“Hey! Quiet! Don’t let other people hear you,” Zhang Zian warned.
Although it didn’t matter. None of them could distinguish between Snowy Lionet’s and Fina’s voices. He merely did not want to disturb other people’s sleep.
“Hey… Hey! Why is my mouth full of sand? Hah!” Snowy Lionet was trying to spit out saliva, only to have its mouth covered in the sand.
Zhang Zian handed the laptop under his arm to Pi. Pi took it with joy and looked around to find a place to type.
“Achoo!” Pi sneaked a small sneeze, holding the laptop tightly against its chest to keep out the wind.
Zhang Zian opened the door of the off-road vehicle to let Pi go into the car to type. He also pulled out the snow lion, who wanted to pull Fina into the car.
“Smelly man! Just you wait! I will definitely castrate you one day!” Snowy Lionet fiercely bared its teeth. “Hey… Hey!”
“Wow, what a big place!” Galaxy looked around at the endless sand sea in surprise. It rushed to the sand dunes and ran around, having a good time.
Old Time Tea quietly observed the surroundings and said, “Zhang Zian, you should also go to the car to sleep for a while. I will watch the night for you. If someone comes over, or if something is abnormal, I will wake you up.”
Zhang Zian was very grateful, but he was really not very sleepy. He decided to recount the story about what happened after the elfins returned to the mobile phone, including what happened to Car No. 10, the white skull dug out of the sand, and the team’s current encounter. He did so to pass time, and it helped him to clear his mind a little.
Vladimir did not care for his story, saying, “Zhang Zian, do not emphasize the difficulties. Guide your thoughts and actions with a fearless revolutionary spirit. As long as the mind does not slip, they will always be more solutions than problems!”
“I hope so,” Zhang Zian replied and smiled, albeit forcefully.
