1299 Reunited (1/2)
”Xiao Zhang! Xiao Zhang! This is the expedition team. Please reply!”
”Xiao Zhang! Xiao Zhang! This is the expedition team. Please reply!”
At the water well within the Bedouin tribe, Wei Kang looked towards the south with a telescope. From time to time, he picked up the walkie-talkie to call Zhang Zian.
”Teacher, forget it. Drink a glass of water first. Do not overwork yourself.”
Gao Ke ran forward and handed a bottle of water to him. ”We have been here for three days. If Zhang Zian wanted to be here, he would have come by now. I will say something that you won't want to hear—since he did not arrive at the scheduled place at the stipulated time, he likely did not make it. Because such an epic black storm and earthquake occurred in the Devil's Sea, the chances of him escaping all of that are extremely low. You must be prepared for the worst.”
Wei Kang sighed, passed the telescope to Gao Ke, and took a few mouthfuls of water.
”Though that is the case, he is alert and resilient. He may not be trapped in the Devil's Sea. Let's wait a while for him,” Wei Kang said.
Gao Ke wiped his sweat and looked up at the hot sun. Since they left the desert, Wei Kang kept the expedition team here, waiting for Zhang Zian to return safely from the desert.
The members of the expedition team were somewhat dissatisfied with this decision. They'd finally gotten out of the desert. What they needed the most now was soft beds, showers, air conditioners, buffets, ice cream, Wi-Fi, friends, and sand sculptures. They should not be waiting here aimlessly like idiots for someone who was most likely not going to come back.
After saying goodbyes at the Devil's Sea with Zhang Zian, the expedition team arrived, with Nabari's help, at the scheduled location to meet up. Then they said only to wait 48 hours.
However, they did not stay at the place for 48 hours. They did not even stay there for 24 hours.
On the first day, they set up their canopy to rest and took turns looking after the restless He He. However, at noon, there was a sudden sound of thunder from the direction of the Devil's Sea, followed by a huge wall of dust. They were overwhelmed and did not know what to do. Nabari, on the other hand, was on his mat praying to his god.
Then the black storm appeared. It came from the direction of the Devil's Sea and quickly spread to them.
As the black storm arrived, they could not stay put, or they might be buried in the sand. Thus, they were forced to leave the scheduled place in advance and briefly lost their way in the black storm.
When the sandstorm stopped, they found that they were off-course. At this time, they faced a choice—to return to the scheduled location to continue to wait for Zhang Zian, or to return directly to the Siwa Oasis. Wei Kang and Salem chose the first option, while the rest chose the second. Nabari was so scared by the Devil's Sea that he was unable to comment.
He He's mental state was unstable. They also had a principle of the minority obeying the majority. Wei Kang had no choice but to agree not to wait for Zhang Zian, as he felt responsible for the overall safety of the expedition team. So they left the desert, though he constantly felt very guilty. If Zhang Zian arrived at the scheduled place within 48 hours but found no one, it would be disappointing.
The return journey was not smooth. Even with the help of the drone, there were even more difficulties and dangers when crossing the sand dunes. On the way back, one of their cars rolled over the sand dunes and down the ridges. Fortunately, Du Xuetao was only slightly injured from the accident.
As they were already exhausted, the expedition team took a longer time leaving than when they had entered the desert. When they finally saw the Bedouin's camel team, everyone was half gone. They also did not have many supplies left.
Under such circumstances, the rest didn't particularly appreciate Wei Kang insisting on waiting for Zhang Zian.