While the tribe members were riding camels to search for the wreckage of the plane within the area designated by Weihan, the old Berber chief also directed Saleh to drive the off-road vehicle over the sand ridges, and finally stopped at
In the shadow of a sand dune, the armed members of the tribe, who were holding weapons and wearing relatively more "urban" clothes, began to busily set up tents and build a camp.
Wei Ran, who followed, was not idle either. He also set up his own tent with the help of his little follower Aba Aba. But before he could get in, Aba Aba had already brought four people with him.
A little fox that was chattering was the first to get in.
"Isn't this little bastard trying to recognize me as his father?"
Wei Ran blatantly muttered something in Chinese, and in the end he could only unload the deck chair in the cargo compartment and lay down on the edge of the tent. He never knew that he was so popular with children.
Although this kid occasionally has unpopular "naughty kid" qualities, it is undeniable that as Aba Aba gets closer to him, the nomadic tribe members wearing various robes become more and more enthusiastic towards him.
.
No matter what Soliman thinks of these nomadic tribes, or whether the smuggling business between them relies on feelings or fists, at least Wei Ran cannot deny that he seems to be really regarded as a friend by those helpers in robes.
Seeing that there were still 10 minutes left before four o'clock in the afternoon, Wei Ran got into the armored pickup truck in advance as usual, started the car and drove out slowly.
In the center of the camp, the members of the nomadic tribe who were busy just now, under the leadership of the old patriarch, gathered together facing the direction of Mecca and began one of the five unshakable prayers every day.
Even Aba Aba, who had just been holding the little fox and rolling around in the tent, was now kneeling down behind the old patriarch with a solemn expression, ready to recite the Quran silently.
At the edge of the camp, Edward, holding a thick cigar in his mouth, joked to Saleh who was sitting next to him, "That guy Victor is hiding out again. Is he so against religious beliefs?"
"Maybe he just doesn't need it."
Saleh, who was also holding a cigar in his hand, smiled and replied, "All the Chinese people I have met are like this. Religion may be more like a fair transaction where everyone gets what he needs. When they feel that this
When a transaction is unfair, even if the person making the deal with them is God, they will kick it away."
"A very novel statement," Edward commented with a smile.
Saleh spread his hands, "But such people are scary, aren't they?"
"You seem to know the Chinese people very well?" Edward asked, taking advantage of the topic.
Saleh smiled and said, "Most Chinese people are very generous guests. Doing business with them is more profitable than doing business with God."
"So you also treat your faith as a business?" Edward brought the topic back.
"Who is not?" Saleh gave an ambiguous answer in a puff of smoke.
While the two old men, who were over fifty years old, were chatting, Wei Ran had already driven the car into the shadow of a sand beam, and out of boredom, he took out a can of beer from the car refrigerator in the back seat to kill time.
It wasn't until more than an hour later that he slowly restarted the car and headed back. The reason why he hid while the nomadic tribes were worshiping, Saleh and Edward talked about only one aspect, it could even be said that it was just
Appearance.
In fact, Wei Ran was just patiently cultivating their habitual thinking. Let them, especially Edward, get used to the fact that he would choose to leave when those tribe members were worshiping every day.
As for the reason for doing this, it was naturally to create a reasonable and unsuspected opportunity for myself to sneak a peek at the spot where gold might be buried.
When he stopped the car again, the aroma of food was already wafting in the camp, and his little follower Abba Abba once again used Wei Ran's tent as an amusement park and continued to laugh and play with the four little foxes.
Not far away in the center of the meal, freshly spiced lamb has been placed on a long bonfire. Next to it are two rows of tagine pots. In addition, there are several people wearing dark clothes.
The tribe members in Paozi are making flatbread on an iron plate.
Before the sun set, Soliman's voice appeared on the radio channel again, "Victor, come here and help."
"What's wrong?" Wei Ran asked curiously, holding the walkie-talkie.
"There is a place that can replenish fresh water about 30 kilometers away from here. We need to get some water back."
Soliman paused and continued, "Collect everyone's water bags along the search line and all the water containers in the camp and come with me."
"no problem"
Wei Ran had just responded, and Saleh had already called on several nomadic tribe members to deliver various containers.
The largest number of these containers are water bladders made of sheepskin. In addition, there are also plastic buckets of different sizes and mineral water bottles with a capacity of 1.5 liters.
Upon seeing this, Wei Ran quickly removed the camping supplies from the cargo compartment and let them throw all the containers in. Then he immediately started the car and drove along the search line in the direction of Soliman.
Along the way, the tribe members who carefully searched for the wreckage of the plane with binoculars also threw water bags and large mineral water bottles into the compartment of the armored pickup truck.
After driving slowly for a distance of seven or eight kilometers, Weiyan also joined the truck coming from the opposite direction, and followed it towards the southwest to an area that it had not yet had time to explore.
"This direction seems to be passing the nearest coordinate point?" Weiran followed the truck for a kilometer or two and immediately entered that set of coordinates into the satellite navigation.
Glancing at the straight line distance on the screen, Wei Ran clutched the walkie-talkie and asked, "Soliman, can you really find water in this damn place?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Probably"
Soliman answered ambiguously, "We were told by a Bedouin tribesman who is in my truck now. According to him, water can be found about 30 kilometers away from us.
"
"Can you trust it?" Wei Ran asked with a frown.
"Don't worry, Muttalib is also in my car." Soliman said with certainty.
In this case, Weiran stopped asking any more questions and gently turned the steering wheel to keep pace with the truck, while distractedly staring at the getting closer distance on the satellite navigation.
As the distance got closer and closer, when the navigation prompts us to reach our destination, Weiran immediately stepped on the brakes.
"What's wrong?" Soliman asked immediately on the radio channel.
"Nothing, just take a pee." Wei Ran opened the car door as he spoke, "You guys drive forward first, I'll follow you later."
"Copy" Hearing Soliman's response, Wei Ran threw the intercom aside and jumped out of the car.
After getting off the car, Wei Ran looked around at the surrounding environment, but couldn't help but frowned.
Obviously, there is no shadow of an airplane here. Not only is there no shadow of an airplane, even the surrounding terrain is unremarkable, just flat land between two sand beams.
Kicking the yellow sand under his feet, Wei Ran hesitated for a moment, and finally resisted the urge to dig deeper. He just untied his pants and peed as a mark, and immediately drove his car to catch up.
During the next ten kilometers of journey, Weiran was distracted again and again. If there was no plane at the coordinate point just now, could it mean that there was gold buried there? Even the place where Felix took Leon to bury the gold.
A mushroom-shaped stone hill has also been buried by yellow sand?
On the other hand, if gold was buried at the coordinate point just now, is the transport plane the other point?
I have to look for an opportunity to come here and look carefully! Wei Ran glanced at the yellow sand dyed golden by the setting sun in the rearview mirror, and secretly made up his mind.
When the truck driven by Soliman stopped again, Wei Ran also saw a piece of sand reflecting the sun's rays from a distance, as well as clusters of unknown shrubs growing around the reflective sand.
"Don't go any further."
Soliman called Wei Ran through the radio in time, "Those plants are surrounded by dangerous wet quicksand. Not to mention cars, even people who pass by will get stuck."
Hearing this, Wei Ran immediately stepped on the brakes, "What should we do?"
"Get out of the car and help." Before Soliman could finish his words, the doors on both sides of the truck had been pushed open by people inside.
Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately left the cab. Helping Soliman, "Crown Prince" Muttalib, and a Bedouin in a gray robe, they moved a small pump out of the cargo bed of the truck.
A water pump and a 200-liter iron drum covered with holes and rust.
I know this iron barrel Wei Ran. The Berber guide who had been following them always half-buried the iron barrel in the sand to light a bonfire whenever he needed to cook.
The holes, which are as thick as cigarettes, also serve as windbreaks. But it is obvious that Soliman and others came here to get water, not to raise a bonfire.
As he watched, Soliman pulled out the winch hook from the front of the car and hung it on a ring welded on the edge of the iron bucket. Then he took off the winch hook that had been hanging on the edge of the cargo bed.
Long wooden boards to eliminate rut marks.
The subsequent manipulations of the three of them opened his eyes. Under his dumbfounded gaze, the Bedouin in gray robe tied a nylon rope around his waist, and the other end of the rope was firmly tied to the truck.
on the bumper.
Under the setting sun, this Bedouin, whose name Wei Ran didn't even know, dragged a wooden board more than half a meter wide and three meters long alone and quickly walked towards the moist but dangerous quicksand. Then he let the quicksand go.
It swallowed all the way from the soles of his feet to the top of his thighs, and then he lay on the wooden board with a normal expression and struggled to climb up little by little.
Once he was sure that the board could support his body, Soliman immediately threw another rope towards him. The other end of this rope was connected to the same iron bucket full of holes.
Soon, the light iron bucket was dragged near the quicksand by the Bedouin. He also stood in the iron bucket and used his own weight to press it into the depths of the quicksand little by little.
The moment the Bedouin raised his hand, Soliman immediately fixed the winch and reversed it to tighten the finger-thick wire rope. Then he called on Wei Ran and the Berber crown prince to help drag the rope.
, and pulled the Bedouin back onto the wooden plank.
After this slightly dangerous operation, the small water pump was sent over in the same way and thrown into the rusty iron bucket.
After everyone worked together to drag the Bedouin back, Soliman slowly lit a cigarette and said, "All we have to do is wait patiently. Soon the water will seep into the bucket and fill all our
container."
"Which genius invented this method?" Wei Ran could not hold back the doubt in his heart after all.
"Who cares about the Berbers, or the Bedouins, or the Tuareg who are aggressive but ruled by women?" Soliman spread his hands, "As long as you can get water, you are a foreigner.
It doesn’t matter the method invented by the stars.”
"That's right." Wei Ran smiled and shook his head. This is the wisdom of the desert aborigines. As for who invented it, it really doesn't matter.
The four of them waited under the setting sun for more than ten minutes. As the water pump started, the water pipe extending all the way to the side of the truck gasped and spewed out cold fresh water.
While everyone was busy, various containers were filled with fresh water full of yellow sand, and the four of them even took a luxurious bath before deciding to go back.
"Just keep this iron bucket here!"
While Soliman was speaking, he had already firmly tied the nylon rope connected to the iron bucket to a long, crooked dead tree not far away. "We can get some water tomorrow."
"I'll just do it myself tomorrow."
Wei Ran immediately said, "I can't help you find the plane, but you can leave the water delivery to me, and I can come here often to take a shower."
"Since you don't mind the trouble, I'll leave this job to you."
Soliman was happy to have someone take over his job, so he naturally had no objections. And after this addition, even if the armored pickup truck Wei Ran drove was far less than the truck he drove, it would still be enough to supply the camp.
The consumption is only one or two more trips at most.
Soliman allowed Soliman to load the water pump he had pulled back into the cargo bed of Weiran's pickup truck. Under the afterglow of the setting sun, the two vehicles drove towards the camp along the clear ruts on the desert.
