Gongjia Ren panicked.
He was now sprawled on the back of the giant beetle that almost killed him. Due to his severe injuries, he would not be able to recover so quickly even after taking medicine. Even if he could run, he would not be able to keep up. If they wanted to hurry, he would either have to be carried or lie on the beetle's back.
Before Gongjia Ren could decide, Shao Xuan picked him up and threw him onto the beetle's back.
They had planned to depart the next morning but Shao Xuan's knot divination revealed that daytime was not a good time. There would be sandstorms on their way so they rested during the day and set off at night.
In fact, they preferred to travel at night. The temperature was low at night, and they could catch some sand beasts as food. Previously, they had traveled during the day because the tracking bug was only active during the day. If they wanted to follow the bug, they could only travel during the day. Now that they had found Gongjia Ren, they did not need to rely on the beetle anymore.
Gongjia Ren could not remember the route but Sapphire could. Shao Xuan and the rest only needed to follow the giant beetle. If they were tired, they could lie on the beetle's back to rest. Once they were well rested, they could run again.
Needless to say, having a giant beetle like this saved them a lot of energy.
Sapphire had already eaten the sand lizards in the ball. It wanted to give them to Shao Xuan but Shao Xuan threw them to it instead. Sapphire did not need much water. It was used to the desert environment and did not lack water easily like humans.
Gongjia Ren now agreed with Heng's suggestion. The Yanjiao people did not look weak. Years ago, he had heard that the Yanjiao people had sent the head of the Lu family flying with a single slap in the Royal City. He had never seen it with his own eyes, only heard about the Yanjiao people. That was why he agreed when Heng suggested to look for the Yanjiao people. After all, having a strong backer would increase their chances of survival.
Now, he could feel the benefits.
At night, the beetle's carapace was as cold as metal. Gongjia Ren was still weak from his injuries so he asked Shao Xuan for a piece of animal skin to cushion himself. He wondered how his five companions were doing after he left. The giant beetle only took away the five sand lizards that appeared later. The sand lizard that they killed together was still there. It should be enough for the five of them to eat and not starve to death.
However, when they arrived at the place where Gongjia Ren was taken away, the five men were nowhere to be seen.
"Left?" Tuo asked.
After all, two days had already passed, and those people wouldn't stay in the same place for so long.
"No, they should be nearby. They couldn't drag the sand lizard away but they wouldn't waste a rare prey like this. They would find a place to hide and eat the sand beast to recover their strength before continuing their journey," said Gongjia Ren. This was his conjecture based on the temperament of the five people.
"But there's no one around," Shao Xuan said.
Hearing this, Gongjia Ren frowned. He was worried that the five men might have met with some other trouble after he left.
Shao Xuan looked around, then walked towards a spot. He used the knife in his hand to brush away the sand on the ground.
Gongjia Ren's gaze lingered on the knife in Shao Xuan's hand for a few seconds. He had seen Shao Xuan's knife when he first woke up. Although the workmanship was rough, he had to admit that it was a good knife. However, he had never seen the material.
If he wasn't in a hurry to find his companions, he would definitely ask more about the knife. Even now, his gaze lingered on the knife for a few more seconds.
Shifting his gaze away from the knife, Gongjia Ren looked at the sand. There was a skeleton. It was the sand lizard they killed together.
"It's still here!" Gongjia Ren was even more worried.
If there were no accidents, those people would not have given up on the sand lizard. In other words, the five of them had encountered something else and failed to hide the sand lizard. The sand lizard had been gnawed by other desert animals until only its skeleton was left.
The movement of sand in the desert was easy to cover their tracks. Moreover, two days had passed. Even the crater created by Sapphire's slaughter of the sand lizard had been filled up. They could not find any more traces to follow.
"What do we do?" Ta looked at Shao Xuan.
"We can only use the old method. Get Sapphire to look for them." Insects had a stronger sense of smell than humans. Insects could smell things that humans could not. Although Sapphire was not as good as flying insects that specialised in tracking, it was better than nothing.
Gongjia Ren was about to say something when he felt a tremor. Sapphire was smashing the ground with its forelimbs.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
It was not the kind of unbridled, murderous smashing that was full of killing intent when hunting sand lizards. Instead, it was more like sending out a kind of signal with a regular pattern. When smashing down, it controlled the angle and did not raise a large amount of sand and dust.
"What is it doing?" Gongjia Ren was puzzled. Did beetles use this method to find people? He had never heard of this before.
"It's just happy," said Shao Xuan as he looked at Sapphire's hind legs kicking the sand.
When Sapphire was happy, it would kick its hind legs like kicking a ball. Shao Xuan knew this very well.
"Happy? What is it happy about? "
It was not just Gongjia Ren, the others did not understand either.
Shao Xuan did not explain further. Instead, he pointed downwards. "Look at the ground."
The ground?
What was on the ground?
Everyone looked downwards.
Other than sand, there was still sand.
"Something's not right!" Ta exclaimed suddenly.
An inexplicable sense of danger rose in him, as if a chill had brushed past his back. Goosebumps broke out all over Ta's body.
People with rich hunting experience and strong intuition all had the same feeling.
Their surroundings were silent. Other than the soft sound of the wind rustling the sand, there were no other sounds. It was as if all living creatures had left.
Lying on the beetle's back, Gongjia Ren shuddered inexplicably. Although the scorching sun was scorching the beetle's back, he could still feel a chill seeping out of his bones. In terms of intuition, he was not as good as the Yanjiao but after surviving in the desert for so many days, he could more or less react.
They stared unblinkingly at the sand, waiting to see what was underneath.
Rustle rustle rustle —
There were some soft sounds. Every movement was not loud but there were many places, as if something was rushing out from underground.
Rustle rustle rustle —
It was getting closer.
A dot of black emerged from the yellow sand.
Then, two dots of black, three dots, four dots … ten dots … a hundred dots … a thousand dots …
The densely packed black dots covered the original yellow sand.
Gongjia Ren took a deep breath, his voice trembling as he looked at the scene before him. "This, this, this is …"
An insect swarm!
This was one of the legendary desert disasters, the insect swarm!
More and more black beetles emerged, and it was not stopping!
Not a speck of yellow sand could be seen nearby. In the distance, the sand was gradually being eroded by the black.
More and more beetles gathered around the giant beetle.
Gongjia Ren, who was lying on Sapphire's back, felt the most keenly. He did not even have the strength to sit up, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.
Most of the Yanjiao people had encountered similar situations before. Back when they came to the desert to fetch people from the coast, they had encountered insect swarm as well. That was why they knew that as long as Sapphire was around, the insect swarm would not be a threat to them. The bad feeling was purely a conditioned response to danger. Insect swarms were harder to deal with than fearsome beasts. Plus, they felt that these insects were even more dangerous this time.
Gongjia Ren looked around nervously but realised that other than a few people, most of the Yanjiao people were calm. There was no fear or caution in their eyes, instead, there was interest.
Gongjia Ren snapped out of his daze and understood. He was lying on the giant beetle's back! And now, these little beetles that had appeared were in cahoots with this big beetle. They might even be obeying this big beetle!
So it was a false alarm. Gongjia Ren let out a long sigh of relief. However, halfway through his exhalation, he suddenly remembered that his companions wouldn't have been eaten by the insect swarm, would they?
Not long after emerging, the little beetles burrowed back into the sand. They did not like to move above the sand during the day, especially when the sun was shining brightly.
When all the little beetles had burrowed back into the sand, Gongjia Ren asked, "Could my companions have encountered an insect swarm here?"
"No," said Shao Xuan confidently.
Indeed, if Gongjia Ren's companions had encountered an insect swarm, with their current abilities, there was no way they could escape. They would only be eaten. However, there were no human skeletons here. Even if the beetles had eaten all the bones, why was the sand lizard's skeleton still there?
Hence, the only explanation was that the five of them did not encounter an insect swarm.
Since they did not encounter an insect swarm, they must have left for some other reason.
Shao Xuan instructed Sapphire to track them down. It could find people based on their scent.
Hence, the giant blue beetle circled the sand a few times before heading in a certain direction.
"Follow it." Shao Xuan gestured for the rest to follow.
After chasing for a while, Shao Xuan took out his Universal Eye. "That direction is not towards Rock Hill City. If we go that way, we'll probably encounter desert bandits."
"They won't be heading towards the desert bandits. Unless they have no choice. "Gongjia Ren's heart sank. This was not good news.
Could they have joined the desert bandits?
It was not impossible to find support in a desperate situation. Just like when they first entered the desert, some of their team members had done so. However, Gongjia Ren believed that the five of them were forced to do so. They were taken away by the desert bandits, not joining the desert bandits.
No matter what the truth was, they would find the answer if they continued searching.
Initially, Gongjia Ren was worried that the Yanjiao people would choose not to join the desert bandits because they did not want to provoke them. However, halfway through, he heard the Yanjiao people talking about robbing the desert bandits and swallowed his words.
When he thought about the giant beetle beneath him, then about the insect swarm that might be following them under the sand, Gongjia Ren was suddenly not afraid.
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