Chapter 4: Infiltrating
Next morning, all prisoners went to the train station and boarded the train. In this expedition, in addition to 15 prisoners, there were ten armed security guards, 20 Cla.s.sical Exploration Company employees and finally the Big Beauty and Ding Ze.
Among Cla.s.sical Exploration Company employees there was an old man, who was the core of this expedition. Only after a.n.a.lyzing a large amount of historical data, was he able to locate the location of The Lost City. He came to the prisoner compartment to explain the purpose of this expedition and told them about The Lost City.
The Lost City was only recorded in some of the ancient doc.u.ments. More than a 1,000 years ago, Dawn Empire opened a road leading to Steel Empire which is now called Twilight Road. The Lost City was first found during that expedition. According to the records, The Lost City was near a desert oasis with a total population of more than 7,000 people. A few months later, The Lost City’s envoys together with the expedition team returned to the Dawn Empire and met the Dawn Empire’s emperor.
The Lost City’s messenger introduced the situation of The Lost City. They were originally a nomadic tribe who later relied on the oasis to slowly grow and develop. The Dawn Empire’s emperor sent a messenger with a large number of gifts to visit The Lost City. When the messenger arrived back, he wrote the record about The Lost City. In his records, he explained that The Lost City might be small but it was not a peaceful place. The two princes there were competing for the throne, but the shaman said that the elder prince would lead the city to disaster so he was exiled and the younger prince inherited the throne.
But those records ended here. The next year Emperor again sent his messenger to The Lost City only to find that it had together with the oasis entirely disappeared. Knowing about this, the Emperor then sent out 500 soldiers to find The Lost City, but they not only returned empty handed half of the soldiers died on that expedition too.
Old professor said: “A few months ago, a number of cultural relics were unearthed, there were many cultural relics with records of 500 soldiers march. Using most of the clues, we were able to guess the place those 250 soldiers went missing. The Lost City did not disappear, but a ma.s.sive sandstorm had hit The Lost City. The Lost City and oasis disappeared into the sea of sand. This archaeological drill will explore the depths of sand, and then use the metal detector to look for The Lost City, this work is very simple, if it goes all according to the plan, in ten days we can return home.”
Cui Ming laughed in his mind, return home in 10 days? If it was so simple why would they invite two experts? Cui Ming looked towards the front row of large cars, Ding Ze’s strength was unknown, but Big Beauty was definitely an expert. From her actions in the prison, Big Beauty had demonstrated physical strength that a normal human body cannot. Cui Ming was curious about the large cloth bag the Big Beauty was carrying, he was not able to guess anything about this large flat cloth.
Big Beauty stood up and went to the other compartment, as she asked: “What happened?”
Trolley train salesman squatted on a small cart, he was very puzzled: “I don’t know, there is a row containing ten boxes of poker missing, maybe I did not put it?” She was not sure. Poker was not worth much money, but the thief stole ten boxes, this did not make any sense.
Big Beauty went back to her position,
She and the salesman’s idea were same, although the cart pa.s.sed through the car, the possibility of losing something was great, after all, the ones in this compartment were prisoners. But the reason for taking ten boxes of poker simply could not be explained, there was only one logical explanation, the salesperson forgot to put poker on the small cart.
After a day and night trip, Cui Ming had some understanding of the Big Beauty and Ding Ze. Big Beauty was called North Luna, the head of North Luna Office, her face was mainly expressionless, but her temperament was very good. Ding Ze was not too concerned about the prisoners or expedition, most of the time he only chatted with North Luna, not the kind of talk mostly between men and women, but friendly and gentlemanly one. Not only towards North Luna but towards all the women on this expedition, he behaved in a reasonable and patient manner.
…
Cla.s.sical Exploration Company had prepared well, camps had been arranged 80 km from the Kama Town till 15 kilometers deep into the desert.
In the camp, Cla.s.sical Exploration Company began to distribute the equipments. Each prisoner got a reserve of dry food, a compa.s.s, a four-kilometer walkie-talkie as well as three portable metal detectors.
Early next day, this group of people embarked on the road of adventure.
The expedition was divided into three teams, the first team comprised of 15 prisoners and four armed security guards. 5 kilometers behind them were the members of the Cla.s.sical Exploration Company, ten kilometers behind them was a logistic camel team with plenty of water, food, and a doctor, each with a radio station to inform themselves of the current situation.
They traveled during the day and camped at night in the depths of the desert. The temperature difference during day and night was growing. A week later they smoothly arrived at a small oasis. Three teams camped around the small oasis; the old professor told the prisoners that they were 80 kilometers from their destination.
Cui Ming felt somewhat uneasy, accurate positioning of oasis meant that this wasn’t their first time; he was able to deduce that the first time they came here they had not hired prisoners, but this time they hired prisoners. Obviously, the first expedition must have had some problems, but he had no idea what the problem was. The logistics team camped at the oasis, they would no longer follow the other teams; thier purpose was to only send water and food.
Late at night, Cui Ming was lying on the sand next to the fire and watching the stars, it was not that he wanted to stay outside the tent, but because he was on the night duty today, he had to ensure that bonfire does not go out. Along the journey, security guards had completely abandoned the prisoners, because, with no supply, no prisoners could survive in the desert.
A tent opened, North Luna came out from it. She did not wear pajamas but a set of yellow clothes after they entered the desert. She glanced at Cui Ming but did not say h.e.l.lo. She sat down before the campfire and watched the flames quietly. No one knew what she was thinking.
Cui Ming looked at her across the fire, North Luna looked like a lotus, she did not say anything, but she always looked beautiful, and her temperament was always good. Her eyes were as beautiful as bright stars, but also as deep as the sea. In this way, they both quietly sat beside the fire till dawn, the difference was that North Luna’s eyes were concentrated on the fire while Cui Ming’s on her.
Prisoners on duty stood up to prepare broth. North Luna also stood up, without sparing a glance on Cui Ming, she returned to her tent. The sun was rising from the East, a new day was coming.