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  The car drove on the highway, although it was stable, but the noise was very loud. After leaving Urumqi's town, the greenery disappeared, and what came into view was a vast expanse of scorching desert. It was autumn at this time, but the sunlight here seemed particularly scorching, baking the endless wilderness. Most passengers on the car had never seen such scenery before, they were initially excited, chattering with each other, but soon got bored and fell asleep one after another.

  After nearly an hour, the car stopped and Tian and Na arrived.

  It was originally just a market, but now it has developed into a town scale, mostly earth houses, and the tile-roofed buildings here are very eye-catching, with only a few families, visible at a glance, so they have become iconic buildings here.

  I and Pongzi got off the bus, each carrying a large package of equipment, standing under the sun, left and right two roads, Xinjiang compatriots enthusiastically shouting, stalls full of fruits, pancakes, handicrafts, clothing, miscellaneous, lively extraordinary.

  Fatso wiped the sweat and took out his mobile phone to make a call to someone, telling them our address. Before long, a thin middle-aged man appeared in front of us, enthusiastically greeting me and then saying to Fatso: "They left at 12 o'clock this afternoon, I invited the most powerful old guide Afanda here, I've been keeping an eye on you, food and water are ready, when do we set off?"

  Fatso sighed and said, "This tailing job is not easy to do, damn it, I haven't even had a sip of water yet. Ah, right, Comrade Innocent, let me introduce you, this is one of Fat Master's former partners, but now he's retired and living a peaceful life, used to be called 'Golden Calculator', but now he's married to a Xinjiang girl and settled down here, forgot about his brothers after getting a wife."

  Jin Zhangzi punched Pangzi with a fist, laughing and scolding: "Get out of my sight! Ah, right, you're Wu Xie, aren't you? Fatzi has mentioned you to me before. My surname is Jin, so just call me Old Jin."

  "This is still the first time Fatso introduced me to his old friend, I quickly said: "Where can it be, this time thanks to Brother Jin's hard work, just call my name." Jin Suanzi generously showed a mouthful of white teeth and said: "Good, then I won't be polite. By the way, Fatso, what are you doing with that plane again? You haven't come to see me in three or five years, suddenly calling me to tail someone, I saw those people, they're wearing desert gear, it doesn't look like amateur stuff, don't get into any trouble."

  Fatso and Jin Suanzi hadn't seen each other for a long time, so they were very excited. Fatso waved his hand and said: "You don't know the character of Fat Master yet, he's definitely doing something lawful. Alright, no more nonsense! What route did they take? Wu Xie and I need to catch up quickly!"

  Jin Suo furrowed his brow and said, "I went to Abanda's house to ask around, those people seem to be heading upstream along the Tarim River, there are many dry riverbeds there, you two are not familiar with the desert terrain, if you don't find a guide, I'm afraid you won't be able to keep up."

  Fatty shouted: "Looking for a guide? It's just you!"

  Jin Suanzi smiled wryly and said, "Brother, you're not unaware that if my wife finds out I'm with you, it'll be a huge commotion." The fat man looked at Jin Suanzi with great disdain, then put his arm around my shoulder and said, "See? Women are just trouble. Think back to when this brother of mine was a big shot in Panjiayuan. Ever since he married that Xinjiang girl, he's been a shadow of his former self. Comrade, you must learn from this living example: if you're going to marry, it should be someone like Yún Cǎi's sister, not some Zhang Doctor or whatever."

  What's all this about?

  I directly kicked him and said: "What nonsense are you talking about? How did you see that I have a crush on the female doctor?"

  "Hey, who made you stare so hard at the beginning? I'm just afraid you'll fall in, so I'm giving you a preventive shot ahead of time."

  I'm too lazy to bother with Fatty, as soon as he hears about this matter he'll get excited. Now the team led by Zhang has left and it will take us three more hours to catch up, if we don't hurry, we'll probably fall far behind. I immediately asked Jin Suanzi: "Brother Jin, please help us find a guide, we're about to set off and can't afford to delay."

  Fatso shouted again: "No way, Tianzhen, you call me Fatso and him Big Brother. I'm at a disadvantage in this generation. No way, you have to change it. He also has a nickname, we secretly call him 'Golden Hair Roar'." I took a look, indeed, Jin Suanzi's hair was shining yellow, and it didn't seem like a dyed color. Such a damaging nickname, probably only Fatso could come up with it.

  Jin Suan patted my shoulder and said, "I've taken a liking to this little brother Wu Xie, but I'm telling you, fatty, don't try to act smart. From now on, I, Jin Suan, will take care of him." Then he turned to me and said, "It's peak season for desert tourism right now, all the good guides are almost gone. I'll take you guys for a while, catch up with that group, and then I'll be back."

  "Fatso snorted and said: 'Your sister...'"

  "Don't worry about it, going into the desert is no different from going anywhere else. Since I'm taking you two, we must make thorough preparations. You two go to my place and rest for a while, we'll set off within an hour."

  Jin Suo took us to his home, which was one of those buildings. The interior decoration was not bad. To prevent wind and sand from entering, all the doors and windows were tightly closed, making it feel a bit stuffy. As for his wife, she might not be at home now, and there was no one else in the house.

  Jin Su gave some food to me and Pangzi, letting us rest, and would call us when it was ready.

  Although I'm not a believer in the inherent evil of human nature, the things I've experienced over the years have given me a deeper understanding of people's hearts. What is the relationship between Jinzi and Paozi? Their enthusiasm seems somewhat excessive?

  But after all, this is Pangzi's friend. I thought about it and still didn't ask. At that time, Jin Suanzi went out the door. Pangzi fell on the recliner with a thud and said: "I say Tianzhen, what expression are you thinking of again?"

  I subconsciously touched my face, did I write my worries so clearly? Fat boy rolled his eyes and said: "Stop touching your face, others can't see it, we've known each other for so long and I still can't see it. When you think about something, your eyeballs stare at the floor, and your eyes roll around with a sly look. If Brother Fat can't even see that, then it's pointless being brothers."

  Because of the previous misunderstanding, I still feel sorry for Baozi. Although I wanted to talk to Baozi about my thoughts, after careful consideration, I gave up and we just chatted idly about food and drink, and dozed off for half a time. Jin Suanzi informed us that our equipment was ready.

  He bought three camels and led them with a rope, smiling: "Desert boats, no need for introduction?" We set off at 4 pm, and in order to save time, we rode the camels directly. Since I had never ridden one before, I could only walk on it, swaying back and forth. At first, I felt okay, but after a while, my waist and back hurt, and the muscles in my legs were very tired.

  Sitting on the camel, in order to maintain body balance, the muscles of both legs must be clamped tightly, and the waist must be straightened. After sitting for a long time, it's very tiring. When I and Pangzi were familiar with the method of riding camels, Jin Suanzi invited the camel to run.

  Don't look at the camel's leisurely pace, it actually runs very fast in the desert. I rode on its back, the whole bumpy ride felt like it was going to fall apart, the wind by my ears suddenly became fierce, and there were also fine grains of sand mixed in the wind. We all wore wind goggles, hunched over and hurried along, not paying attention to the scenery around us.

  An ancient poem says: The vast desert smoke is straight, the long river sunset is round. After we rushed for two hours, it was just the time when the sun was setting in the west. The camel's walking speed gradually slowed down, tired and panting. At this moment, on the distant horizon, the orange sun had already gone down half its face, the sky was full of evening clouds, as if running a little closer could catch it in hand.

  Jin Suo swung his whip and shouted, his voice echoing far and wide in the vast desert, set against the backdrop of the sunset, with a desolate feel to it.

  The fat boy also followed with a loud cry, shouting loudly, and finally he rushed to the horizon of colorful clouds and shouted: "Cloud-colored sister, are you in heaven, living well?" This kind of atmosphere at sunset in the desert is really suitable for expressing emotions. I was infected by their two loud voices and also cried out: "Third uncle... are you in heaven, living well..."

  The fatty turned around and scolded me: "No one copies like you."

  I let out a loud roar, feeling very relieved, and was about to head back when Jin Suan shook his head with a wry smile: "The camel is also exhausted from running, so we can only proceed on foot from now on. If I'm not mistaken, the group of people will be camping in the poplar forest up ahead. The desert at night hides many dangers, and Abanda will definitely have the troops set up camp in the poplar forest."

  "How far is it from that poplar forest?"

  Jin Suo estimated, "At our speed, we still need to walk for four more hours. In the desert, it gets dark around 7 o'clock, and they will definitely arrive at the Hu Yang Forest to camp before then. We'll light up the lanterns and should be able to make it there by 8 o'clock." Next, we got off the camels and started walking on foot. Here was just the edge of the desert, and the sand wasn't very deep. Our feet sank into the sand, and sometimes we could still feel the hard ground beneath the desert. Although it was a bit strenuous, the three of us were all old hands at this sort of thing, and we were used to climbing mountains and wading through rivers, so we didn't find it unbearable.

  I walked for two hours, the desert was completely dark, it started with a gray mist, and later became pitch black, the kind of darkness where you can't see your fingers when you stretch out your hand.

  In the desert there is no human smoke, no light ignited by people, so from one to seven o'clock, it has been dark and we can't see our fingers when stretching out our hands. Then, we move forward with flashlights.

  Jin Suo said, at night, there are many poisonous insects hidden in the sand layer, it's easy to get bitten when walking on it, so he changed to riding a camel. I watched Animal World on TV and saw that there are many snakes and scorpions in the desert, so I asked Jin Suo: "Are there scorpions and snakes in the sand layer?"