Once upon a time, oasis adorned this barren land like starlight. But after the plant disaster came, the desert completely enveloped this place like a shadow.
The indigenous people who are unwilling to leave are covered with yellow sand, and those who want to leave are like ants migrating to cities and ports.
A huge, scattered convoy climbed over the hills that were once oasis, and the withered shrubs were not yet buried by the sand. They strangely moved towards the depths of the desolate land.
The only ones traveling with them were the tumbleweeds that passed by in the wind.
"There's nothing here but wind and sand." Copeland complained, spitting out the sand that blew into his mouth. He was almost fed up with the sting of the rough gravel rubbing against his skin.
"You missed something Rand." MacDonald passed Copeland who stopped. "There's something weird about that."
"This joke is not funny, gentlemen." Team leader Heinz turned back and said strictly: "Be serious, don't forget our mission."
"Of course, my respected Lord Night Watchman." Macdonald stroked his chest and gave a noble salute. He waited until Heinz turned back and continued on his way before shrugging to Copeland. "The Night Watchmen are all so incomprehensible, just get used to it.
.”
Copeland and McDonald are the only investigators of this five-person team. They are responsible for collecting and exploring, but not yet.
The huge convoy moved a few miles, and the convoy in front slowed down. Copeland turned his head and saw the aboriginal leader running towards him shouting something: "We will enter its range, everyone should be silent next. If you hear
The bell is ringing, just stand where you are and don’t move to make any sound.”
A new brewing disaster may appear at any time, so keeping quiet is a useful stupid method.
Heinz took a deep breath, turned back to the team members and said: "Check your body and throw away everything that can make a sound or put it on the carriage."
"It was taken away a long time ago," Copeland said.
The lowest performing tasks are level 2 exorcists, and no one will do anything stupid.
The Aboriginal guide who arrived at the rear of the convoy returned to the front, and the convoy resumed its advance a few minutes later. The quiet convoy turned into silence, and the sound of the carriage grinding and stepping on the sand disappeared in the wind.
The third disaster does not know when it will appear. Or it may have already appeared, and it is permeating the convoy, waiting for an opportunity.
Copeland had another bitter sand in his mouth. He couldn't spit it out, so he could only press it to his dry lips and then raise his hand to wipe it away. Instead, the sand on the back of his hand stuck to his mouth.
After walking in silence for a while, the sky began to darken, the convoy stopped again, and the aboriginal leader walked from the front holding a sign.
That's the gesture of camping on the spot.
Heinz was dissatisfied with the arrangement and didn't understand why he had to rest in the disaster. Shouldn't he hurry up and find it?
No matter what, she could only ask her team members to do it.
The exorcists around them set up bonfires and spread out bedding, everything was done in silence.
Occasionally someone would accidentally make a noise and freeze up. It wasn't until more than ten seconds later that nothing happened that he breathed a sigh of relief and acted more carefully.
Heinz lit the team fire, filled it with firewood, stood up and looked around.
Evening is coming, and the distance becomes a dim outline.
The convoy stopped in a depression behind the hills, and the wind and sand coming from the upwind were blocked out. For a desert with a huge temperature difference between day and night, whether there is a place to take shelter from the wind is a matter of two different feelings.
People far away from the fire have already felt the coolness of the desert night.
The exorcists sat by the warm fire, taking a sip of food and a sip of water to cover up the noise of chewing.
There was no time-killing activity in the gathering place after dinner, not even reading a book - that would make the sound of turning books. Everyone got into bed, hoping to arrive early tomorrow.
The campground was eerily quiet, and the people who were not sleeping could only hear the whine of the wind and sand in the distance, the crackling of the fire, and the snorting of the horses' nostrils not far away.
Copeland quietly lay down on the quilt spread on the warm and dry sand, and then covered his head. He did not want to die from snoring or unconscious murmurs in his sleep, or having his face covered in wind and sand.
Although it didn't take long before the sleeping Copeland was so bored that he came out of his head.
…
In the cold morning, Copeland woke up slowly.
He subconsciously wanted to turn over and get up, when a hand held him down.
Copeland, who was dazed because he had just woken up, suddenly woke up as if he had been poured cold water on him. He looked at the night watchman Hefelson who was holding him down. He raised a finger to his mouth, but did not make a sound.
Copeland understood what he meant. His body was stiff and still, with only his eyes looking around.
The bonfire was burning weakly, and he saw that Heinz and others had woken up and were observing the surroundings like him.
This campground has awakened, but has been forcibly frozen in silence.
So... disaster struck them early in the morning?
How many people died, and who were they...
Copeland knew very well that the discovery of a new disaster always meant bad luck for someone.
Fortunately, it doesn't last too long, usually leaving within ten or dozens of minutes.
The awakening camp was forced to maintain a dead silence for an hour.
Snap——
A crisp sound of applause echoed over the camp, and more than ten seconds later, an old voice sounded.
"It's gone, get up kids."
After the words fell, people who had already woken up climbed out of their beds and asked around what happened.
"Sir Erwin, do you know what's going on?" Heinz respectfully asked the old man who took the initiative to make a noise.
"It's Neil's team..." Scholar Erwin sighed.
Others learned the story from Cass Neal.
Neil woke up first, but there was no one on Louis' quilt opposite him.
The vigilant Neil waited for a few minutes, then quietly got up when Louis still hadn't returned, went to wake up the team leader, and then woke up the group leaders at each campfire in turn.
Copeland on the side looked at Louis' quilt beside the fire not far away. It was still spread flatly and seemed to still have residual warmth.
It doesn't matter whether you turned over accidentally or murmured in your sleep. What people need to remember when exorcising demons is caution.
If a True Sight Watcher dies silently in disaster, so will they.
The departed Third Disaster would not return for the time being, so the camp took advantage of the gap to get busy. The exorcists counted the number of people, and found that not only Louis, but three other exorcists had quietly disappeared in the long night.
Heinz and Copeland returned to the campfire. Copeland put away the quilt silently, not even paying attention to the nasty sand on the bottom. Heinz took out the parchment map, unfolded it, and found the hills where they were.
It is still nearly thirty miles away from the marked oasis.
I hope they can reach the oasis and solve the disaster before the next camping trip.