By the time Zhang Zian finished packing, the sun had just risen from the horizon, and the hot day had begun.
It was as if the curtain on a stage had been pulled open. The darkness faded, and the surrounding scenery quickly became bright.
He assembled the drone on the hood of the vehicle and used the remote control to control it to take off.
In fact, at this time, other people also saw the off-road vehicle that had sunk into the sand through binoculars. Although they could only see one side, they all exclaimed.
The drone quickly flew above the off-road vehicle, entered a hovering state, and slowly circled around the car, transmitting the captured image to the screen of the remote control.
How could this be …
When he saw the charred body of the car, Zhang Zian was also shocked, because the car had obviously been burned.
"What happened? Did this car catch fire? "
"Maybe the weather was too hot, and the sun was too strong. Maybe it was a spontaneous combustion?"
"We have to be careful, too. Don't follow in the footsteps of this car."
Everyone was talking about it, feeling sorry for the car.
Last night, when they used the headlights to illuminate the car, everyone noticed the black color, but they thought it was the paint of the car, and did not think that the car had been burned.
Spontaneous combustion of a car was rare, but not uncommon. Not only would it spontaneously ignite due to high temperatures, but more often it would spontaneously ignite due to aging circuit failures.
Ordinary people could not imagine the high temperature in the depths of the Sahara Desert in midsummer. Under direct sunlight, dry wood could spontaneously ignite. If the car was trapped in quicksand and exposed to the sun, and the heat accumulated inside, it would make sense for it to spontaneously ignite.
"No! Look carefully at the traces of the fire! This car does not seem to have simply spontaneously ignited! "
Someone with sharp eyes and a meticulous mind noticed something unusual.
In addition to the outline remaining intact, the front, back, left, and right windshields were all broken — not only were they broken, but there were even traces of melting. This meant that it was not a simple combustion, because ordinary combustion would not be able to reach this level. There should have been combustion aids.
The so-called combustion aids were likely gasoline, because diesel was not as easy to burn as gasoline.
What was strange was that, from the charred traces and direction, the source of the fire was not near the fuel tank, but the roof of the car. It was as if someone had poured the combustion aids on the roof and then ignited it.
Therefore, according to these details, the car did not spontaneously combust, but was deliberately burned by someone.
In the desert, the importance of a vehicle was self-evident. Once a vehicle was damaged, the driver would almost immediately face difficulties.
Of course, no one would drive deep into a godforsaken place like this. Generally speaking, there would be companions, depending on the number of travelers. A damaged car did not necessarily mean that they were in danger.
For example, if Wei Kang's car broke down, although it was a terrible thing for the convoy, at least the supplies were saved. It would not be a fatal blow to the safety and success of this trip.
But even so, why did he burn the car?
No matter what, even if it was a broken car that couldn't be repaired, it could at least be used as a place to take shelter from the wind and the sun. Moreover, burning a car would also consume precious gasoline or diesel, which was incomprehensible no matter how he thought about it.
Wei Kang and Peter Lee also saw this incredible scene. The former had participated in or organized field expeditions more than once, and the latter had been to many strange places, but they could not explain why.
"The car has been burnt to such a state. Is there anyone else in the car?"
Someone nervously asked this question that everyone had thought of.
If there were people, or if there were corpses, then this could be a … murder.
Destroying corpses in the depths of the desert, even if the police wanted to find them, they would not be able to find the corpses.
Zhang Zian fine-tuned the angle of the drone so that the camera could shoot the inside of the car from above the window.
A few people did not dare to look, for fear that they would see one or a few burnt corpses.
Fortunately, where the camera could capture, there were no corpses or anything like that. There were only seats that had been burned to the point where the steel skeleton was exposed, and there was a thick layer of dust everywhere.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Nabari had come late because he had to do his morning prayers. At this time, he separated the crowd and walked to Zhang Zian's side. He stared at the screen for a while, frowned, and said, "This is a call for help."
Call for help?
Everyone was stunned.
Nabari was very knowledgeable. This was not the first time he had seen such a situation in the desert, so he explained his opinion to everyone.
The car was stuck in the quicksand, and the driver was lucky enough to escape. He tried to ask for help from nearby companions or camels passing by in the distance.
There were only a few ways to ask for help in the wild — shooting a signal flare, shouting or honking, using stones to form an SOS, and hoping that passing planes and ships would see it. However, not everyone had a signal flare. The range of shouting or honking was limited, and it was affected by the direction of the wind. As for using stones to form an SOS, this was even more limited.
Another way was to see a ship or plane passing by and ignite branches and grass to use the smoke to ask for help.
In the clear sky and extremely high visibility of the desert, if there was smoke rising, it could be seen from far away. This was one of the most effective ways to ask for help.
However, it was difficult to find branches and grass in the desert, and it was even more impossible to find stones. The only thing that could be used as a tool to ask for help was probably this car.
Hearing Nabari's words, a scene full of despair appeared in front of everyone's eyes.
One or a few explorers were lucky enough to escape from the quicksand, but the car was stuck and could not get out. They could only stay in place and wait for help. Maybe they finally waited for help, but the help did not see them. They were about to miss them, so they anxiously poured gasoline on the car and set it on fire, turning the off-road vehicle into a burning torch. The black smoke from rubber and plastic became their last hope.
Desperate and desperate.
Were they saved in the end?
No one knew.
Peter coughed and said, "After setting up camp last night, I searched the Internet for police records in the nearby areas, but there was no relevant rescue information in the past two years."
No one cared.
Every day, the desert devoured human lives without a trace. Every day, people quietly disappeared in the desert.
The owner of this car might have also become one of the missing people. Others might not even know that they had disappeared in the desert.
The identity and purpose of the owner of the car could only become one of the vast mysteries of the desert.
Perhaps it was because the rabbit died, the fox mourned. Everyone's hearts were not feeling good. While they felt regret, there was no lack of vigilance. They prayed that their team would not follow in the footsteps of those who had disappeared and become the new missing people.
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