The continuous sand dunes blocked their line of sight. All they could see was the sand on the dunes being blown up by gusts of wind.
He was surrounded by yellow sand, and there were no other green plants. In fact, he couldn't even see any plants. Not even a single one of those powerful plants in the desert could be seen.
A man in ragged clothes climbed up the sand dune step by step. He was a tall young man with broad shoulders and a strong body. The muscles on his exposed arms were taut. He dragged a simple stone hammer in one hand. At first glance, it was obvious that it was made on the spot. The stone hammer was not decorated, nor was there a hole. Instead, it was a stone and a stone stick. It was tied together with a very tough vine in the desert, and there were even strips of cloth added to it.
The crisscrossing wounds on his exposed arms had already closed. One could clearly see the coagulated blood mixed with sand and dust. With every step he took, he could feel the stinging pain from the wounds all over his body. However, after getting used to it, he became numb and gradually ignored the pain.
Not far behind him were a few people with unkempt hair and dirty faces. The colour of their clothes was unrecognisable. Their lips were cracked due to lack of water and they were slightly pale. Their eyes were blank as they mechanically followed the person in front of them. If they had a choice, they would not even want to breathe. The air was too hot and dry. The wind carried the scent of death and despair.
"Da Ren, do you see anything ahead?" A slightly older man asked. His voice was hoarse and sluggish, and every single word was spoken with great difficulty as if it was squeezed out slowly.
The person who had climbed up the sand dune used the stone hammer to support himself. Most of his body weight was on the stone hammer to lighten the load. He looked into the distance. He was originally carrying a sword in his hand. That sword was the most successful weapon he had ever made. Craftsmen always liked to carry their outstanding work with them. It was also a display of their abilities. However, in this place, those outstanding results had become something that attracted danger. Until now, the only thing he could carry was a simple stone hammer that he would not even spare a glance at in the past.
Hearing his subordinate's question, Gongjia Ren shook his head and dragged the stone hammer down.
The people who had a glimmer of hope were once again filled with a deathly stillness when they heard this reply.
They had been walking in this desert for seventeen days. After living for so many years, when had they ever been in such a sorry state? This was the first time they had encountered such hardships. Back in the Royal City, when they said they were part of the Gongjia family, people would naturally rush over to give them gifts. They had slaves to serve them and all they had to do every day was forge. They did not have to worry about anything else. But now, they regretted it.
He regretted not learning more survival skills, regretted not following the right person, regretted taking this step. If he had stayed in the Royal City and chosen another path, would it have been better?
Ten of them came together but one of them was shot dead when they crossed the sea. No one knew where the arrow came from. Fortunately, Gongjia Ren was vigilant enough to lead the group out of harm's way. Otherwise, more people would have died.
But after stepping into the desert, they realized that it was even more difficult. They managed to evade their pursuers and Rock Hill City members but the desert was a dangerous place. Of the remaining nine people, two had been eaten by desert beasts and one had betrayed them by stealing Gongjia Ren's sword. He probably wanted to use Gongjia Ren's sword to seek refuge with the desert bandits.
Yes, other than Rock Hill City members, there were a few scattered factions in the desert. Some were formed by former slaves while others were controlled by escaped slave masters. Now that Rock Hill City had changed their target and ignored them, these small factions had a chance to catch their breaths. These people did not dare to provoke Rock Hill City but instead, they killed and robbed others who passed through the desert.
As the two continents neared each other, many people came from the other side. They wanted to cross the desert from a place far away from Rock Hill City but it would make things easier for the desert bandits. The desert bandits did not want to get too close to Rock Hill City.
In the seventeen days in the desert, they had seen many skeletons buried in the sand. No one knew who they were or where they came from. Along the way, they had seen a group of desert bandits. They buried themselves in sand and hid behind sand dunes to avoid danger.
Now, there were only six of them left.
"If only we could find a water source now." A person slightly younger than Gongjia Ren licked his cracked lips. Seeing that everyone was in low spirits, he took a deep breath and forced a smile, comforting them. "There will be a turn for the better. At least we're still alive."
"Ah …" One of them groaned helplessly as if he had a toothache. He threw away the stone in his hand as a weapon. Because of hunger, thirst, and the difficulties along the way, even if he wanted to roar to vent his anger, he could only shout weakly like a sigh. "I'd rather die than continue to walk in such a place! Die! "
As soon as he finished, he felt something was wrong beneath his feet. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Although they didn't have much experience in such an environment, after so many days, they had developed a sense of vigilance towards danger.
"Watch out!" Gongjia Ren shouted.
A sand lizard suddenly leapt out from the sand, biting the legs of the person who was about to retreat and dragging him down.
The others did not have the time to sigh and lament, hurriedly hugging the person's upper body. Two of their companions had been eaten by sand beasts, and one of them was dragged down like this. It happened so fast they could not pull him away.
Although the sand lizard had no teeth, its jaws were very strong. The person could not kick his legs away. The more he struggled, the tighter the lizard's jaws became. It even pulled backwards, as if trying to snatch its prey away from its companions.
"Ah!"
The person who was bitten cried out in pain. This was not the weak sigh from before, but an even more miserable cry. He did not doubt that if this continued, his legs would be torn apart!
Bang!
A stone hammer smashed into the lizard's head, making a sound like a hard object colliding.
A palm-sized piece of scale on the lizard's scale-covered head was smashed off. Blood flowed out and its jaws loosened.
The person who escaped the beast's jaws ignored the pain in his legs and hurriedly retreated, searching for the rock he threw down. They did not have any weapons, so they could only pick up some rocks to use as weapons, or some animal or human bones they saw along the way.
The others also threw stones at the Sand Lizard or used sharpened bones to stab the Sand Lizard. Unfortunately, the Sand Lizard saw that the situation was not good and wanted to escape. Another hammer came down, and the air flow from the hammer made a whistling sound as it hit the Sand Lizard's eyes.
A sound like gravel grinding came from the lizard's mouth. Its retreating head was smashed to the side. The others hurriedly followed, smashing and stabbing the lizard's injured head.
After they were out of danger, they realized that this was food, food that they rarely saw.
Everyone stared at the lizard with a fierce green light in their eyes.
Finally, after a small part of the sand lizard was forcibly pulled out from the sand, it died under the joint attack of the six people.
Gongjia Ren fell on his butt, panting heavily. After smashing the lizard three times, he had exhausted almost all his strength to pull it out from the sand.
It wasn't just Gongjia Ren, the others were also sitting on the sand, too weak to stand up.
However, if this lizard was not dealt with quickly, it would attract other sand beasts. Hence, the six of them did not have time to rest.
Gongjia Ren crawled over and drank the lizard's blood. He did not know if the blood was poisonous but he had no choice.
The blood was thick with a fishy smell and there were many grains of sand. They could not care less as they all crawled onto the lizard's dead body, licking its blood and flesh like other desert beasts. They were forced to do so by survival.
Rustle rustle rustle —
The sound of sand sliding could be heard.
The six of them looked around vigilantly. With one look, their pupils shrank and their faces turned pale with fright.
One, two, three, four … five! A total of five lizards emerged from the sand and surrounded them.
The lizard just now had exhausted them. Although they drank some blood, they could not recover in such a short time, let alone five lizards at the same time!
It's over!
That was the only thing they could think of.
"W-w-w-what should we do?" One of them trembled. His face was covered in blood from licking the lizard's blood. When the wind blew, sand stuck to his face. He could no longer see his face clearly, only his terrified eyes.
What else could they do? They could either wait for death or fight to the death. These were their only two choices.
Run? With their current strength, could they outrun the lizards?
Gongjia Ren closed his eyes, gripping the stone hammer tightly. They had no way out. Well, they had no way out when they were in the Royal City. It was Gongjia Heng who told them to run this way. That was how they managed to survive for so long. They had wasted so much of Gongjia Heng's energy but in the end, they still could not escape.
Since they could not avoid death, they had to fight!
Gongjia Ren opened his eyes abruptly and looked at the approaching lizards. He dragged the stone hammer and stood up, wiping away the blood around his eyes to avoid interfering with his vision.
"Da Ren …"
The person lying next to the dead lizard wiped his face when he saw Gongjia Ren's reaction. He picked up the rocks and bones beside him. Although they knew the weapons in their hands were useless against these lizards, they had no other weapons. It was better to have something than to be empty-handed. If they could not survive, they could end their own lives.
Gongjia Ren rushed to the front as he watched the approaching lizards. His eyes were filled with determination as he roared.
The lizards that were closing in on Gongjia Ren turned and ran.
Gongjia Ren, who had already raised his stone hammer: "…"
Everyone else: "…"
They looked at the other lizards surrounding them. They had all run away, running as fast as they could, as if they were running for their lives.
Boom!
Sand exploded somewhere on the ground. A lizard was sent flying, rolling a few times in the air.
A figure rushed out from the sand, glowing blue under the scorching sun.
"What … What a big worm!"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
