Hearing the order to set up camp, everyone felt a sense of relief. Thinking back to how excited they had been when they had first set off, even though it had only been half a day, their mood had changed so much that it felt like the next day. Their enthusiasm had dropped from boiling point to freezing point.
The location to set up camp was chosen by Nabari. Although it seemed that there was no difference in where to set up camp in the desert, whether it was comfortable and safe depended on the guide's ability.
Nabari chose a flat sand dune on the leeward side of a tall sand dune to set up camp. It was the sand dune where Car 10 had been trapped.
Once the location was chosen, everyone began to get busy.
Setting up camp still depended on the ability of Peter Lee's team. They often went to cultural and natural wonders around the world to experience … the pure energy of the universe, so they had more experience camping in the wild.
On the other hand, other than Wei Kang himself who had accumulated a certain amount of experience from multiple field expeditions, the others, including Zhang Zian, were all rookies. They had only skimmed through the camping tent's manual and had never actually used it.
Peter Lee's team saw that Wei Kang's team was too inefficient and ran over to help them set up their tents. In fact, other than the fact that these people were stubborn, most of them were warm-hearted and easy to get along with. As long as they did not offend them, everything else was easy.
They brought tents of all sizes, including single-person, two-person, three-person, and four-person tents. Only Zhang Zian insisted on bringing a four-person tent to take care of the elfins.
After a simple discussion, He He and the female detective shared a two-person tent. It was set up in the center of the camp, surrounded by the others' tents.
The 13 off-road vehicles were parked in the shape of a crescent moon, and the tall sand dunes surrounded the tents on the left and right, leaving only two passageways for men and women to go in and out.
Peter Lee and Wei Kang solemnly and solemnly announced the first rules. Other than going to the bathroom, no one was allowed to leave the inside of the camp at night. The two women had to go together when going to the bathroom.
Next was the arrangement of the night guards. There were a total of 15 people in the team. Other than the two women who were exempted from the night guard duty, the other 13 men each had to stand guard for two hours. They took turns according to the order of the vehicles, until they completed the task and left the desert.
The female detective was a little dissatisfied. She felt that she could join the night watch as well, and there was no need for the men to take care of her. However, Wei Kang told her privately that he mainly wanted her to take care of He He on his behalf and not let this arrogant girl cause any trouble. Only then did she reluctantly agree.
By the time they finished setting up their tents, the sun had already set. There was only a little afterglow left in the west, and the night sky was filled with stars.
The temperature dropped rapidly, allowing them to experience the true meaning of the difference in temperature between day and night in the desert. A moment ago, they were still sweating profusely from setting up the tents, but in the next moment, they felt a cool breeze blowing on their backs.
The others only felt a chill down their spines. He He, who was most afraid of the cold, only put on a coat. But when everyone turned to look, Nabari and Salem, the uncle and nephew, had actually put on fur vests. It was as if it was winter.
The Bedouin people had lived in the hot and dry desert for generations, so their ability to adapt to the desert was beyond imagination. Water was precious in the desert. If they sweated like ordinary people, they would not be able to treat the desert as their home. Therefore, they had evolved to a certain extent, and their bodies had adapted to the high temperature.
While Zhang Zian and the others were sweating profusely, Nabari and Salem's faces were only slightly sweating.
Humans were warm-blooded animals, and it was impossible for them to adapt to both high and low temperatures at the same time. When the temperature dropped, the uncle and nephew both felt the cold and needed to keep warm.
This was probably the true portrayal of "use in, discard out."
Logically speaking, the tents had been set up, and the night watch had been arranged. Could they rest now? Still not. The next task was for the drivers to check the remaining fuel in the tank, as well as the consumption of water and food, and then report it to Peter and Wei Kang. This would also be their daily task from now on.
Zhang Zian's tent was located closest to the sand dune in the camp. Because it was larger, it was the most troublesome to set up. When he finally set up the tent and calculated the fuel and supplies in his car, he took the calculated data to report to Wei Kang and Peter.
He seemed to be the last to report. The others had already finished reporting. In the Excel table in front of Wei Kang's laptop, there was only a blank line for Car 4.
Wei Kang filled in the numbers he read out into the table, and Excel automatically calculated the total fuel consumption of all the vehicles, the total remaining fuel, and the average fuel consumption of each vehicle, as well as the total amount of water and food left, and the estimated number of days.
Peter Lee was also there, standing behind Wei Kang. When the two of them saw the numbers displayed, they frowned at the same time.
"What's wrong?" Zhang Zian saw that their expressions were not quite right, as if they were worried.
Wei Kang and Peter Lee looked at each other and said after a moment, "Actually, it's nothing much. The consumption of fuel and water is a bit too fast, beyond our expectations … But don't worry, when we prepared the supplies, we took into account redundancy. There should be no problem."
For their team, water was the source of life, and oil was the driving force for advancing and retreating. These two were the most important things, more important than food.
Hearing that, Zhang Zian's heart skipped a beat. Seeing that Wei Kang did not object, he also leaned over to take a closer look at the table.
When his eyes moved to the column of the average fuel consumption of the vehicles, he was really surprised. If the possibility of the data being wrong was ruled out, the average fuel consumption of each vehicle per 100 kilometers was as much as 30 liters!
The high-displacement diesel off-road vehicles had high torque, power, and durability. They were more fuel-efficient than gasoline vehicles. Diesel itself was not easy to volatilize, and the smell was smaller, so the vehicles that entered the desert this time were all diesel vehicles.
Although diesel vehicles had many advantages, there was still an abnormally high fuel consumption.
Wei Kang had already analyzed it before Zhang Zian came. There were three reasons: First, they were carrying a lot of supplies and equipment, which increased the load. Second, the road conditions were extremely bad. Third, the air conditioner was a huge fuel consumer.
Among them, the second reason was the most fatal.
Driving in the desert, the tires had to overcome resistance to do work. At every moment, a quarter of the tires were stuck in the sand. The fuel consumption could not be compared to running on the highway. Especially when crossing sand dunes, the engine was simply eating fuel.
About half of the journey today was in the Gobi Desert. Although the road conditions in the Gobi Desert were also very bad, at least they were much better than in the desert. It reduced fuel consumption. In the future, driving in the desert every day, it was foreseeable that the fuel consumption would increase significantly.
The situation was obviously not as easy as Wei Kang said.
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