The lights of the camp were getting farther and farther behind them. After turning around a small honeycomb-shaped sand dune, they finally disappeared.
Zhang Zian had been worried that someone would get up in the middle of the night to see him leave the camp, so he had been walking in the dark. Now, he could finally turn on the flashlight, but even so, Fina's footprints were still difficult to identify.
Its steps were sometimes long and sometimes short. It was long when it walked in a straight line, but it was slightly hesitant when it turned a corner. Sometimes, it would suddenly jump to the side, as if it was avoiding something.
Overall, its footprints roughly overlapped with the ruts of Peter Lee's team. It was basically certain that they were on the same road, winding into the depths of the Devil's Sea.
Zhang Zian judged that Fina hadn't gone far, so he didn't drive. Driving was not convenient to track, and it would wake up the other members of the expedition team.
Regardless of whether Fina had been to the Devil's Sea before, two thousand years had passed. Even if it had been here before, it was still a strange place to it, so it couldn't speed up.
Famous walked at the front, and the other elfins fanned out to expand the search area.
He briefly told everyone about Fina's disappearance, as well as its recent series of slightly abnormal behaviors, including eating and drinking a lot today. It was as if it wanted to eat and drink enough food for two or three days and store it in its body like a camel.
Old Time Tea sighed slightly. "Fina's Majesty has such a stubborn character. Whatever it believes in, it must do it no matter what."
"It's right to do it, but it should at least say something. Wouldn't it make us worry if it just left without a word?" Zhang Zian's flashlight only shone at his feet. After all, the elfins didn't need light.
"If Her Majesty had said it, we would certainly not have sat back and watched, but according to the Bedouin guide, the Devil's Sea is dangerous. Her Majesty doesn't want to put us in danger …" Old Time Tea said.
Old Time Tea's words had analyzed Fina's psychology thoroughly. Everyone seemed to be able to see Fina proudly raising its head and saying, "This is my own business. What does it have to do with you?"
"What danger … How come I don't see any danger?" Zhang Zian took the flashlight and shone it around. He had entered in a hurry and had not paid attention to Nabari's warning.
In the dark of the night, the dead branches and rotten wood that struggled to burrow out of the ground were like monsters baring their fangs and claws. Semi-transparent miniature whirlwinds whined as they blew past. The sand and dust that they stirred up would often get in the eyes, making people think of ghosts that would appear and disappear from time to time. At first glance, it was indeed a chilling sight. If I walked here alone, I would probably feel nervous. However, the elves were all around me, and everyone was chatting with one another. It was very lively, and I didn't feel afraid at all.
Besides, Vladimir couldn't wait for a ghost to come out and fight it.
He hoped that the ghosts wouldn't be blind, or else they would have to worry about their own safety.
Creak — La —
The sudden noise startled Zhang Zian. Everyone's eyes were focused on him, because the sound came from him.
He fumbled around on his body and found another walkie-talkie at his waist. It seemed to be the noise from the walkie-talkie just now.
Who's talking?
Scientific expedition team?
Hoaxes?
The latter was unlikely, because logically speaking, they had already driven very far away and had long exceeded the range of the walkie-talkie. Unless they were walking back and were already close to the camp.
He took off the walkie-talkie and put it to his ear.
Because he wasn't sure if he was far enough from the camp, he didn't want to wake up the expedition team, so he didn't speak and just listened quietly.
Creak — La —
There was another sharp whistle.
This time, the walkie-talkie was closer, and he could hear it clearly. Although the sound wasn't loud, it was like a thin needle piercing his eardrums, painful and itchy.
He gritted his teeth and hurriedly took the walkie-talkie further away.
The elves stared at him with questioning eyes.
"It seems to be electromagnetic interference," he said, but the elves obviously didn't understand.
"There may be metal mines nearby, like iron, copper, tin, and so on," he explained again. "A large amount of metal will produce a magnetic field that interferes with radio signals. The noise just now was the radio being interfered with."
The elves more or less understood.
During the day, Wei Kang tried to use the satellite phone to contact Peter Lee during his usual break time. He wanted to know if their team was okay, but after several attempts, he couldn't get in touch. Wei Kang thought that the signal might have been interfered with or blocked by the sand dunes, so he decided to wait until tomorrow morning to contact them.
But now it seemed that the signal interference might not have been caused by the sand dunes themselves.
Zhang Zian squatted down and grabbed a handful of sand from the ground. He spread it out on his palm and noticed that there were many grains that shone with a yellow metallic luster.
This should be fine and untempered primitive copper.
He felt that before the oasis had shrunk, the spring or underground river might have flowed through a copper mine, so the copper content of the sand was particularly high.
After walking for a while, the electromagnetic noise from the walkie-talkie became louder and more frequent. It was unbearable. He simply turned off the walkie-talkie. Anyway, it would be difficult to talk normally in this situation.
It seemed that before Peter Lee and the others came out, the expedition team was unlikely to get in touch with them.
"There's the smell of other animals."
Famous stopped and said.
"Oh? What animal? "he asked.
Famous sniffed carefully again. "I'm not sure. I haven't smelled this smell before. It's not the fox from before, nor is it an animal like a scorpion. There are a lot of them, too. They probably just passed through here."
"Are they following Fina?" Old Time Tea asked.
Famous wasn't sure. "It's possible. The smell is going in the same direction."
Everyone's hearts were in their mouths. What kind of animal was following Fina? Would he harbor ill intentions towards it?
Fina was a powerful elfin, but even a good tiger couldn't handle a pack of wolves!
Similarly, a good cat couldn't handle a pack of jackals.
They went around a few more sand dunes. Although he didn't walk far from the camp in a straight line, the actual distance he walked was several times longer than the straight line.
Ever since he knew that there was a magnetic field here, he wouldn't have dared to go deep alone without Famous leading the way. The magnetic field not only interfered with the radio, but it also interfered with the compass. It was easy to get lost in the sand dunes. Even some animals that relied on the magnetic field to determine direction would get lost here.
Perhaps this was one of the reasons why the Bedouins called this place the Devil's Sea.
Famous suddenly stopped, raised a foreleg, and motioned for everyone to stop moving forward. It shook its head seriously.
Everyone understood and knew that it must have found something. They closed their mouths, relaxed their footsteps, and eliminated all sounds.
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