We tied the camels together at night when we went to bed, but when we woke up this morning, only the reins were left on the ground.
Douyazai felt much better after a night's rest. He cursed angrily: "It must be that kid! I've seen him sneaky from the beginning. Besides, what kind of person can live in a hole in the sand? It must be him."
he!"
At this time, Qin Xingping ran over in a panic, his face ugly.
"After counting, the remaining food and water are less than one-tenth of the original total. We are in big trouble now!" ??
Hearing this sentence, everyone's expressions changed drastically.
Now that we are approaching the depths of the desert, water and food are absolutely the top priority. Without camels, people can only walk on foot. If there is no water and food, the consequences can be imagined.
Douyazai said: "That kid ran away in the middle of the night, only two or three hours from now, why don't we send someone to chase him!"
"No," Lao Zhang immediately stopped Douyazai's suggestion. He said: "Alxa is covered with yellow sand as far as the eye can see. There is no reference. People can survive for up to three days without drinking water. What has happened has already happened. We
The top priority is to integrate the team and reasonably distribute the remaining water and food."
"Besides, no one knows which direction the young man went. If it's a windy place, the camel's footprints will be completely covered up after fifteen minutes."
"Yes, I agree with what Lao Zhang said," Tou Tou said to me: "Yunfeng, take Xiaoxuan to collect the remaining water and food and see if there is enough for a few days."
Miss Zhao and I immediately started to take action. I looked for water and she looked for food.
In less than half an hour, all the remaining bottled water and edible items were piled on the floor.
After counting, we now still have 9 bottles of purified water, half a bag of grilled naan and a small amount of beef jerky. Apart from these other things have been taken away by Aza.
"The situation is not good." Lao Zhang frowned and said, "Let's not talk about food. The five of us only have 9 bottles of water. According to the normal amount, it is not enough for one day. Originally, we had prepared for more than ten days. amount."
"Each of the five of us will take one bottle, so we can all drink sparingly. The remaining 4 bottles will be kept here by me for emergency use." Lao Zhang started to talk as he spoke.
"We have to hurry up and hurry up. The distance from Leeward Slope to Crescent Oasis is the longest. It will take about three and a half days to get there by normal walking. Pack up, grab the camel, and set off now."
Under Lao Zhang's urging, the group packed up their things as quickly as possible.
Lao Zhang was at the front to identify the direction. This time we all rode camels to save energy.
There was a lot of delay in the morning, and it felt like the camel caravan had not gone very long until noon.
The sun in Alxa is very strong at noon, and it becomes even more so as we go deeper. Everyone uses a gauze scarf as a hat to cover their heads, so as not to be exposed to direct sunlight to conserve as much moisture as possible in the body.
Dou Sprout's mouth was so hot that he couldn't bear it any longer. He opened the bottle of water, raised his neck, and drank half of the bottle.
Xiaoxuan rode a camel and was closest to Dou Sprout. She kicked Dou Sprout and said angrily: "Why are you so weak? You can't just take a small sip from a bottle of water. Didn't you listen to Uncle Zhang? We still need two."
The genius has arrived!”
Dou Sprout clicked his lips and said with satisfaction: "You care about me, if you don't drink water, why are you thirsty?"
"you!"
Xiaoxuan said angrily: "It's up to you, I'll ignore you!"
At this time, he wiped his sweat from his head, looked at Lao Zhang and asked: "The sun is too strong, why don't we find a place to rest for a while before leaving. I'm afraid you guys will get dehydrated."
"I'm afraid it won't work," Lao Zhang said worriedly, "There's no shade here, and it's hot even sitting down. Let's move forward and take a look."
It was also our bad luck, we walked a few in succession
For hours, until the sun set, no so-called shady spot was found, so everyone had to camp where they were.
I endured it all the way, and then I dared to take out some water and drink some. He finished the bottle that Dou Sprout gave him in the afternoon, and I don’t know how he will survive the next two days.
Later, Dou Sprouts may have realized the seriousness of the matter, so he shamelessly asked Lao Zhang for it.
He didn't want to give it to him at first, but seeing that the injury on his head was a sign of illness, Lao Zhang made an exception and gave him a second bottle of water. At the same time, he told Dou Sprout that this bottle would be gone after he finished drinking it, so he should drink it sparingly.
Dou Sprouts knew the seriousness of the matter and held back this time.
A night of silence.
The next day, after walking all day, everyone drank all the water except Lao Zhang who still had a bottle and a half of water in his bag.
People don't want to eat when they're thirsty, and the naan is so dry that it's hard to swallow, let alone want to eat it, so we ate very little during the day and a half.
Continue on the road on the third day.
It was windy that day and yellow sand was flying all over the sky. Under the leadership of Lao Zhang, our camel team walked in a straight line so that everyone could see their companions in front of them and prevent them from getting lost.
"Wait a minute." Suddenly, Lao Zhang, who was leading the way, stopped walking.
"What's wrong, Uncle Zhang?" The wind was blowing hard, I covered my veil and asked loudly.
He turned his head and looked around for a long time, then suddenly stamped his foot and said with an ugly face: "The wind was too strong, I misremembered the terrain, and we went astray! This is not the road to Crescent Oasis, we have arrived at Ant Valley!"
"Ant ditch!" Dou Sprouts stared and said, "What kind of place is this? The name sounds bad."
After hearing Lao Zhang's next explanation, everyone looked at each other with ugly expressions.
The reason why it is called Ant Ditch is because army ants are often found nearby. Army ants are desert black ants. These ants have legs that are longer than their bodies. , there is a special protein in their stomachs. Because of this protein in their bodies, army ants can still remain active even when their body temperatures reach over 50 degrees.
Similarly, because the sand is exposed to high temperatures, army ants crawl very fast, like a rapid march, because fast running can reduce the time each foot touches the ground. This is the result of evolution.
Uncle Zhang said to us with a solemn face: "We are out of water. Originally I expected to reach the Crescent Oasis tomorrow, but now that we are here, we can only cross the ant ditch."
Dou Sprout trembled and said, "I heard that ants in the desert can eat people. They are as big as chickens. We won't be eaten by big ants."
"Okay Yazai, shut your crow mouth and listen attentively to what Uncle Zhang said." I scolded him silently.
"It's not that exaggerated," Lao Zhang shook his head and said, "Army ants are only a little bigger than ordinary white ants, but their bites are very painful, just like being pricked by a needle. These things are poisonous."
"Grass! There are still poisonous ants! What's worse!" Dou Sprout shouted.
"Yes, it is indeed a bit dangerous, but if you don't run into them, you'll be fine." Lao Zhang pointed to the sand in the distance and said, "Although army ants can withstand high temperatures, their resistance to high temperatures has a time limit. Also, they last
Afraid of sandstorms and strong winds, as long as the sand blows together, their caves will soon be covered. As a result, the army ants returning home can only use great efforts to open the cave entrance. This is often fatal, and they will
Got sunburned to death for being left outside for too long.”
"Now there is a wind and sand, and the army ants are busy clearing the entrances of their homes. They cannot gather at this time. To put it simply, we can use their habits. As long as we pass through the ant ditch before the wind stops, there will be no
Danger."
Dou Sprout walked away and shouted: "Then what are you waiting for! Let's go quickly!"
"If we don't leave, why don't we wait until the wind stops and the poisonous ants come to eat us?"