Under the night sky.
More than ten hyena corpses lay around the camp of Lu Hao and Tao Zi.
To avoid attracting other wild beasts, Lu Hao dragged them away and buried them, then washed himself with water from his storage ring to remove the smell of blood.
He wasn't worried about running out of water, after all, he had a full ton of water stored in his storage ring.
Besides, he was only scouting ahead. Once he had a better understanding of the base, he would return to the desert inn and replenish his water supply.
Tao Zi stayed at the camp, dealing with the antelope.
This was a rare desert delicacy, enough to make their breakfast and lunch the next day more abundant.
By the time Lu Hao returned, Tao Zi had already processed the antelope, happily packing it into plastic bags to be cooked tomorrow morning.
The Sahara Desert had a huge temperature difference between day and night. The highest temperature during the day could reach over fifty degrees Celsius, while sometimes at night it could drop to below zero, making it a natural refrigerator.
So they didn't need to worry about the antelope meat spoiling in just one night.
"Lu Hao, your shooting skills are amazing. Were you a soldier before?"
Crawling back into the tent, Tao Zi covered herself with the rug to stay warm, her bright eyes wide with curiosity.
"I wasn't a soldier. My shooting is good because I practiced a lot."
Lu Hao explained briefly. Tao Zi nodded and didn't say anything more. She inhaled the scent of Lu Hao's body and, for the first time in her life, fell asleep peacefully in the desert.
In the past, she had always traveled alone in the desert, constantly on alert, wanting to keep one eye open even while sleeping.
Now, with Lu Hao sleeping beside her, the two days of companionship had given her a strong sense of security, allowing her to relax completely and fall into a deep sleep.
Lu Hao had no other thoughts whatsoever, and closed his eyes to sleep as well.
After a while, only two steady breaths remained in the tent.
...
The next morning arrived quickly.
Both got up on time. Lu Hao was responsible for packing up the equipment, while Tao Zi started a fire to make breakfast.
They sliced the antelope meat into thin strips and made a hot pot, with clear broth and dipping sauce. They cooked it and started eating.
The pure, natural antelope meat had a special aroma, and the meat was tender and melted in your mouth.
This was a rare delicacy in this food-scarce desert.
Both of them ate with gusto, their appetites satisfied.
They extinguished the campfire and covered it with sand before getting back on their camels and setting off.
Along the way, they didn't encounter any more danger. After a week of walking and stopping, they finally saw the ruins of a town.
"Look, Lu Hao, that's the native tribe you're looking for."
Tao Zi sat on the camel, pointing to the city in the distance, her face filled with excitement.
"We're finally here."
Lu Hao looked at the dilapidated ruins of the town, a hint of joy flashing in his eyes. After so many days of arduous journey, they had finally reached their destination.
He looked at the black idol in the open space by the gate. While Tao Zi wasn't paying attention, he took out the Polaroid photo he had taken of Hans's adjutant and his eighteen bodyguards, carefully comparing it to the idol and the surrounding terrain, confirming that this was indeed the former Bukki Laoqi base.
The former military base had now been occupied by a tribe of natives. These natives were extremely unfriendly to outsiders, and any adventurer who dared to enter would be risking their lives.
No wonder, after all these years, no one had ever found the gold.
It turned out that a group of natives guarding the treasure existed naturally at the gold base, blocking waves of adventurers from searching.
"Lu Hao, these natives have a bad temper. Let me deal with them later, don't do anything to provoke them."
Tao Zi cautioned Lu Hao before entering.
"Okay, you're familiar with them, I'll listen to you."
Lu Hao had already put the photo away and, like a knight to a princess, made a very gentlemanly "please" gesture to Tao Zi. "Tao Zi the guide, please~"
His gesture made Tao Zi smile with curved eyebrows, a hint of sparkle in her eyes as she looked at Lu Hao.
Both of them were ready to go. They rode their camels through the main gate, bypassed the idol standing in the middle of the open space, and soon a group of native sentinels stopped them, raising their spears and shouting unintelligible African tribal words.
Lu Hao rubbed his fingers, ready to draw his gun at any moment.
Tao Zi calmly got off the camel, put down her backpack, and opened it to reveal its contents.
Her backpack was full of various medicines.
She pointed at the medicines and gestured, also speaking broken tribal language, communicating with the African natives across from her.
Fortunately, Tao Zi had been to the tribe more than once, so the people there were familiar with her.
They respected this woman who occasionally brought them valuable medicines.
After asking Lu Hao's identity, the native guards finally let them go, allowing Tao Zi to go inside with the medicines to trade.
Lu Hao, as a companion, followed Tao Zi and observed this abandoned town.
The natives were friendly to Tao Zi. They briefly introduced them to the deployment of their tribe, and Tao Zi understood it vaguely, then she told Lu Hao about it, making Lu Hao confused.
When they reached a place marked with paint by the natives, the natives pointed at it and warned them in a threatening tone.
"They said this is the place of death... uh, it eats people, don't go in, that's all I can understand."
Tao Zi was a bit embarrassed, she only knew a little tribal language, so she couldn't fully express the meaning of the natives.
However, this information was enough. Lu Hao judged that this so-called place of death was actually the entrance to the base.
In the movie, Jack and the others were driven by the natives to the so-called place of death, falling into the quicksand and dropping to the entrance of the base.
These natives didn't understand the situation of the base and mistakenly believed that this sand pit would eat people, so they considered it taboo.
As a result, over the years, the natives hadn't discovered the existence of the base.
It must be said that these natives were truly eating dirt while guarding the treasure.
Having confirmed the entrance to the base, Lu Hao's purpose of scouting had basically been achieved this time.
So, he didn't make any excessive gestures, instead, he took out some food to trade with the natives for souvenirs.
Tao Zi's medicine business was very hot. She took it out and it sold out instantly.
She used the medicines to barter for a pile of unique tribal crafts from the native tribe to bring back to Madrid to sell.
While exploring the meaning of life, she was also a middleman.
Every time she saved enough money, she would go deep into the desert to explore, then exchange some handicrafts from the various native tribes in the desert and bring them back to sell.
She would earn money and then go deep into the desert again.
It was like being trapped in a time loop.
This was her life for the past few years. She was active on the edge of death, seeking the meaning of life, until she understood the meaning of life, or died on her next exploration.
That's when her exciting life would end.