A while later, Fatty dragged An Li Man back.
If Fatty hadn't fired decisively just now, it would have been hard to stop the old man. Lao Hu and Professor Chen returned almost at the same time. Everyone got back on the camels and fled, but no matter how much they whipped the camels, they wouldn't obey.
Xu Lang was extremely anxious and could only close his eyes to investigate with his spiritual sense. However, the results of the investigation left him disappointed. Within a radius of tens of meters, there was nothing but yellow sand, no buildings at all.
If it wasn't for the low visibility, spiritual sense would be less useful than eyes in this environment.
Seeing Lao Hu's anxious gaze, Xu Lang shook his head slightly.
Professor Chen shouted: "You guys go ahead, don't worry about me."
An Li Man said in despair: "We're all going to die here. Let's just wait here to die."
Lao Hu heard the word "die" and immediately became anxious: "Old man, you're the living map of the desert. You have to figure something out."
An Li Man pounded the ground with his fists and shouted: "There's nothing we can do. The camels are all scared. They know how powerful the black sandstorm is. Running is useless. Let's just wait here to die."
Lao Hu shouted: "Even if there's no way, you have to find a way. Here, we can only die. Running might give us a chance to survive."
Xu Lang wanted to say something, but realized he had no solution. Maybe he could survive by himself, but he couldn't save anyone else. At this moment, he suddenly felt the force of two hands on his arms.
Xu Lang looked up and saw that Shirley Yang and Ye Yi Xin were each grabbing one of his arms.
If it were any other time, Xu Lang would have been overjoyed, but now he had no mind for it and could only let them hold him.
At this time, Lao Hu came over and asked, "Xu Xiaozi, do you have any way?"
Xu Lang sighed: "It's all yellow sand within tens of meters. Don't bother me. I'll try."
At this time, Xu Lang couldn't care about anything else. If they lingered any longer, they would all be buried alive. Just now, he suddenly had an idea. Spiritual sense could investigate the surroundings. What if he investigated in a straight line, would the distance be further?
Xu Lang used his spiritual sense to investigate again, and found that it was actually feasible. Although the further the distance, the more consumption, but the distance was at least increased several times. It might be useless in normal times, but now in this environment with low visibility, it was very useful.
After a while, Xu Lang opened his eyes, but found that Shirley Yang and the others were all staring at him.
Xu Lang pretended to look ahead and said excitedly: "There's an ancient city ruin a few hundred meters ahead. Everyone follow me. We have to find a way to make the camels obey."
Hearing that there was still hope of survival, everyone's spirits were lifted again.
An Li Man desperately urged the camels to get up, and everyone ran towards the direction of the ruins. It was absolutely true that in the face of life or death, everyone could unleash tremendous potential.
Near the ancient city ruins, the desert terrain suddenly rose a lot. There was also a section of dilapidated city wall, but it had been eroded by the years and was already in ruins.
However, the city wall was still fairly solid, otherwise it wouldn't have stood for so many years in the desert. At least it could withstand the wind and sand.
Most of the buildings were buried by the yellow sand, and some houses had already collapsed.
Not far away, there was a kiln-like structure that resembled a fortress.
The roof was somewhat broken and had a thick layer of sand piled on top. On one corner, there was a large opening. The opening wasn't very big, and a person could pass through it without any problem.
An Li Man secured the camels behind the city wall, and everyone went through the entrance.
Inside, it was very dry and spacious. Even with everyone inside, it didn't feel crowded.
The moment Xu Lang entered, he felt that the wind had decreased significantly. He shook off the yellow sand on his body, then removed his face mask and goggles, and looked around at everyone. He found that everyone was safe and had found a place to sit down.
Fatty let out a sigh of relief, enjoying the joy of surviving a near-death experience, and sighed: "Brothers, we've dodged a bullet."
Lao Hu said: "It's not over yet. There are holes all over this house. We don't know how long this black sandstorm will blow. Maybe we're just changing places to be buried alive. But at least we're safe for now."
Xu Lang saw that everyone was safe and sound, then went outside by himself. He took some food and water from the camels. He went to the edge of the city wall and looked up. He saw that the black sandstorm was like an endless abyss, swallowing everything in its path, carrying endless sand and dust, sweeping across the sky, making people feel fear from the bottom of their hearts.
This was the power of nature, and human strength seemed so insignificant. Xu Lang had experienced the avalanche in the Kunlun Glacier Grand Canyon, and now he had experienced the black sandstorm. He suddenly felt that luck was sometimes more important than strength.
He shook his head slightly and turned to go back, but he saw a yellow sheep not far away. Xu Lang was instantly overjoyed.
Xu Lang had been eating jerky and other foods for days, and his mouth was watering. He wasn't hungry, but more like craving meat.
Ten minutes later, Xu Lang was carrying a yellow sheep on his shoulder, with a bag of alcohol fuel in his left hand and some water and food in his right hand. He quickly went back to meet up with everyone.
Xu Lang casually put down his things, but noticed that the atmosphere was a bit strange, and couldn't help but ask: "I was only gone for a while. What's going on?"
Fatty said: "Xu Xiaozi, come judge for yourself. This old man talks about friends all the time. If I hadn't stopped him, he would have run away long ago."
Xu Lang patted Fatty's shoulder and said earnestly: "If you think about it carefully, the old man isn't wrong. It's said that if a person doesn't benefit himself, heaven will punish him. In the face of disaster, everyone flees for their own lives. It's not wrong for him to want to save his own life."
"But this old man sacrificed my life for his own. That's not okay."
"Let's just keep this in mind and see how he behaves in the future. We don't know if we'll survive this, so there's no rush to deal with him. I just hunted a sheep. Let's have a feast tonight."
The old man was indeed a bit too much. After all, he had taken a lot of money, and it was the expedition team who rescued him. An Li Man abandoning everyone and running away was indeed not very loyal.
An Li Man glanced at the yellow sheep under Xu Lang's feet. Knowing that it wasn't killed by a gun, he didn't say anything.
Fatty laughed: "There are so many of us. One might not be enough. I'll go hunt another one later. We'll have a good meal today."
An Li Man immediately became anxious and said urgently: "No, you can't fire a gun. If you shoot, the animals will be scared away, and they'll be buried alive in the black sand. The heavens will be angry."
Xu Lang said: "This one is enough. I brought in some food and water. Fatty, you take Xia Sa and Xia Chu to get some sleeping bags and some firewood from outside."
Lao Hu said: "We're definitely going to spend the night here tonight. We have to take turns keeping watch. Otherwise, with all these holes, if we get buried, we'll die in vain."
"One more thing. Xiao Ye found a skeleton just now. Yang Miss also found wolf footprints in a corner. However, the skeleton wasn't a mummy. It was just bones."
"I'll go get firewood. Fatty, you take them to get some supplies. I think the big sandstorm is coming."
Xu Lang nodded, then went to the skeleton and squatted down to examine it carefully. He found some tiny traces on it.