Chapter 7 The Red Scarf

  Spent a rough night in the car, and the sandstorm subsided a bit the next day.

  Wu Liang started the off-road vehicle and began to head into the desert. I originally wanted to wash my face and brush my teeth, but was stopped by Cao Ming.

  At first, some vegetation could still be vaguely seen, but as we walked further in, the ground color became more and more yellow.

  At last, after driving for over ten miles, the cross-country vehicle could not move forward any more. The reason was that the yellow sand became softer and softer, and the tires of the car could not get a grip.

  Cao Ming first drilled out of the car, carefully looked around at the bottom of the car, found that the car could no longer move forward, and beckoned to us from outside the car.

  I and Li Wei saw Cao Ming beckoning us, so we both got out of the car at the same time.

  Looking at the endless desert, I suddenly felt very small.

  At this time, Cao Ming walked over, patted the sand off his body and said to me: "The road ahead can only rely on ourselves, the car can't go any further. I'll let Xiao Wu stay behind to watch the car, we three will head forward."

  I nodded and then took out a scarf from my backpack, wet it with water, and wrapped it around my mouth and nose.

  "Your preparation is pretty good, haha. It's not needed now, this place isn't particularly dry." Cao Ming smiled at me again after saying that.

  After a brief conversation with Wu Liang, I, Cao Ming and Li Wei walked forward together.

  At first, it didn't feel too hot, but as the sun rose, I felt hotter and hotter.

  I wiped the sweat from my forehead and looked up at the sun hanging in the sky, muttering a curse under my breath.

  Li Wei remained silent and continued walking forward with his head down. As he kept moving forward, the formation of the group had changed.

  Cao Ming, who was originally in the lead, is now in the middle, while Li Wei, who was originally in second place, is now in the lead. As for me, I'm still at the end of the line.

  I hastened a few steps forward and walked to Cao Ming's side, asking: "There is sand everywhere here, it's impossible for there to be anything."

  Cao Ming turned his head and looked at me, saying: "Everything is possible, don't be so absolute."

  After walking in silence for about a few minutes, I patted Cao Ming's shoulder.

  Cao Ming turned his head and asked with a puzzled expression: "Is there anything else?"

  "There's something I've always been unable to understand, and I'd like to get an answer from you."

  Cao Ming was taken aback after hearing what I said and asked: "What's going on?"

  "Are you really a member of the Hu Ling tribe or are you just finding an excuse to get close to us?" I said, voicing my doubts.

  Cao Ming smiled slightly and said, "Let's talk about this later. Our goal now is to find some clues." After finishing speaking, Cao Ming turned his head and hurried forward a few steps, pulling away from me.

  At this time, Li Wei, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped in his tracks. I didn't notice and directly bumped into his back.

  "What's wrong?" I asked hastily.

  "What's this?" Li Wei asked, pointing at a bright red thing on the ground.

  Cao Ming walked forward, grabbed something on the ground and pulled it out, surprisingly, it was a red scarf.

  "Scarf?" I asked in surprise, looking at what Cao Ming was holding in his hand.

  Cao Ming rubbed his hands together, then handed me the scarf and said: "This is a silk handkerchief, it looks like it's for covering your mouth and nose." After that, Cao Ming looked around again.

  "There's still a bit of dampness, looks like it was lost not long ago." I handed the handkerchief back to Cao Ming.

  "It seems like this is it, let's head back first." After finishing speaking, Cao Ming put the handkerchief into his backpack and turned around to walk in the direction they came from.

  Li Wei and I exchanged a glance, but neither of us knew why we suddenly had to go back.

  On the way, Cao Ming explained the reason to us.

  Now we just come out to see the situation, nothing is brought, if we chase after it, the situation will be unfavorable for us. So Cao Ming chose to retreat and just prepare well.

  "Do you know where they are?" I asked curiously.

  Cao Ming let out a long sigh and replied: "I don't know either, but as long as we look for it, we'll definitely be able to find it."

  "So you don't know either, what should we do now?" I asked again.

  "Let's go back to the village first, and we'll discuss it again in the afternoon." The rest of the way was silent.

  Wu Liang turned the car around and drove back to Xihan Village.

  "Have you found any clues?" Wu Liang asked as soon as the car stopped.

  Cao Ming nodded and handed the red scarf he found to Wu Liang.

  Wu Liang took over the handkerchief and looked at it for a while, saying: "This is a handkerchief used by local women, how did you get it?"

  "What's this, a woman's headscarf?" Cao Ming and I almost shouted out at the same time.

  "Most of the residents here are Hui people, and they have this custom. Women must wear a headscarf when going out, as for more detailed situations, I don't know much either." Wu Liang explained.

  After Wu Liang mentioned it, I also thought of this problem.

  In my hometown, there are also Hui people, and women all wear a headscarf.

  "Are they looking for a local resident as a guide here?" Liu Wei suddenly spoke up.

  "It's very likely." Cao Ming replied, stroking his chin.

  "It's not good. If we follow the local customs, the local women won't easily remove their headscarves... Could it be..." I suddenly had a bad premonition.

  Let me finish, Wu Liang and Cao Ming rushed out directly.

  After a while, Cao Ming and Wu Liang came back. However, the expression on their faces looked very solemn, as if they had received some bad news.

  "There is indeed a local woman who has been following that group for over a month now." Wu Liang said weakly.

  "That woman's name is Alisa, a local widow who has been working outside for many years. According to the locals, she seems to be a tour guide. This time those people came just to find her, and it's said that they offered a high price of 100,000 yuan." Cao Ming added.

  "It seems that something is wrong. Wait, you said a month ago? That's impossible! The handkerchief was still damp, it can't have been lost a month ago." I said to the two of them.

  Li Wei coughed lightly and said, "There is a big temperature difference between day and night here, so it's possible that there is some dampness."

  "So that's how it is." I nodded and said.

  "Alright everyone, stop making wild guesses here. The villagers still don't know about the red scarf we picked up. Let's get ready, tomorrow we'll start entering the depths." Cao Ming said.

  We nodded, and Li Wei's face was still as bad as ever.

  "So, Xiao Wu will return to Urumqi tomorrow and report on the work. I, Haotian, and Li Wei will continue searching." Cao Ming proposed.

  Wu Liang nodded and said: "Okay, tomorrow I'll send you there and then leave."

  Cao Ming nodded and said to me and Li Wei: "Let's prepare some water and food first, we'll set off tomorrow."

  I nodded slightly in agreement, but Li Wei didn't show any sign of acknowledgement.

  Wu Liang handed over an object from in front of the car and said, "This is a locator. Bring it with you when you set off tomorrow, and I'll be able to find you easily."

  Cao Ming took over the thing and put it in his pocket, facing Wu Liang said: "Is there anything else?"

  Wu Liang was taken aback and asked: "What thing?"

  After hearing Wu Liang's words, Cao Ming's face changed a bit. I quickly spoke for him: "For example, things like weapons."

  Wu Liang slapped his forehead and said: "You didn't mention it, I had forgotten. Ah yes, yes." Then Wu Liang got off the car.

  After messing around in the trunk of the car for a while, he came back with a box.

  After opening the box, Wu Liang took out three handguns from inside and said to us: "These are three Desert Eagle handguns, with a caliber of 12.5mm and a magazine capacity of seven rounds. Although the magazine capacity is small, they have great power. There are also five magazines here, use them sparingly, these bullets are very expensive."

  Looking at the Desert Eagle handed over by Wu Liang, Cao Ming was a bit puzzled and asked: "How did you get this kind of handgun?"

  Wu Liang smiled and said: "These were issued to you, I have no right to ask about these things, so I don't know the origin of these three guns."

  Cao Ming nodded and took over the gun.

  "By the way, there are also three night vision goggles here, I hope you can use them." As he spoke, Wu Liang took out three strangely shaped objects from the box.

  "Anything else?" Cao Ming asked.

  Wu Liang lowered his head and took a look at the box, then picked up another thing from inside and handed it to Cao Ming, saying: "I don't recognize this thing, I don't know what it's used for."

  Cao Ming took the thing handed over by Wu Liang, took a look and said: "Good guy, even brought mini grenades."

  After hearing Cao Ming's words, I was suddenly speechless.

  Then we simply said a few words and went to the village to buy some water and buns. After finishing our work, the four of us returned to the car, smoking and chatting while waiting for tomorrow's arrival.