Chapter 8: Quicksand
The next day, Wu Liang first sent us to our destination and then drove away.
Now the three of us stand on the sand, feeling a bit bewildered.
"How shall we go?" I asked Cao Ming, looking at him.
Cao Ming thought for a moment, casually pointed in one direction and said: "Let's just go this way." After finishing speaking, he lifted his foot and walked towards that direction.
Walked for half a day, still nothing was found, and the way back couldn't be found either.
"Are you going to lead the way or not? Where are we now?" I asked Cao Ming.
Cao Ming stood there for half a day without saying a word, Li Wei stretched out his hand and pointed to the right, saying: "This direction is correct."
I exchanged a glance with Cao Ming, and I suddenly thought that Li Wei had been here many times before, how could he not know the situation here?
I walked up to Li Wei and said to him, "You lead the way."
Hearing what I said, Li Wei shook his head and said: "I don't even know what we're looking for, how can I lead the way?"
"I think I've found it," Cao Ming said suddenly beside him.
I took a glance at Cao Ming and asked: "What did you find?"
Cao Ming pulled me over and pointed at the ground saying: "Look here."
Following Cao Ming's pointing direction, it turned out to be several cigarette butts. Moreover, the cigarette butts were not randomly thrown away, but arranged in a pattern.
Carefully remove the sand covering on top, and all the cigarette butts are exposed.
"It's a direction sign, looks like they went west." As he spoke, Cao Ming used his hand to shade his eyes and looked towards the west.
"Could it be a trap?" I asked with some suspicion.
"It's okay, it might be our insider who did it. Following him should be fine." Cao Ming said with a light cough.
Cao Ming squatted on the ground and took off his backpack, then beckoned us two people to come over.
He took out the three Desert Eagles from his backpack and handed them to us, saying: "These are your weapons, and here are night vision goggles. Make sure you all have them ready. Now I'll give each of you a magazine; when you're done with it, come find me for more." With that, Cao Ming also handed over the magazines and night vision goggles.
Then Cao Ming taught us how to use night vision goggles and then handed over to Li Wei how to change bullets and shooting posture.
After preparation, we three people walked in the direction pointed by the smoke head.
"These people are really something, walking so far without even knowing how to take a rest." I panted and complained.
"It's already quite good, they've all been here for a month, and we can find some clues is not bad." Cao Ming wiped the sweat from his forehead and said.
"This place often has quicksand, you two be careful." Li Wei reminded coldly from the side.
Cao Ming and I exchanged a glance, then nodded in unison.
Just as I was about to take a step forward, the sand beneath my feet suddenly moved. As I was about to continue walking, my right foot sank in completely. In shock, I let out an "ah".
Hearing my voice, Li Wei turned his head and took a look, discovering that my entire right leg had already started sinking down. Li Wei loudly shouted to Cao Ming: "It's quicksand, quickly pull Haotian up."
Cao Ming was stunned for a moment, then quickly stretched out his hand and grabbed my arm, starting to pull me outward with force.
But things happened too suddenly, and soon the quicksand had risen to my waist. Cao Ming and Li Wei were already struggling very hard.
"Let go, or you'll fall in too." I shouted at Li Wei and Cao Ming.
"I won't give up, I won't watch my friend die in vain, not before and even less now." With that, Cao Ming used all his strength to start pulling me out.
Just then, something unexpected happened.
I was pulling Cao Ming and Li Wei outwards, when suddenly my body shook violently, then slowly began to sink downwards.
"It seems we've both fallen for it." Cao Ming chuckled and smiled wryly.
Li Wei's face looked even more unpleasant now, and what he had been worried about had happened.
I looked at Li Wei, wanting to comfort him, but what's the use of comforting in this situation? I shook my head and continued to wait for death.
When the quicksand buried me up to my chest, breathing began to become difficult.
Every time I take a breath, I feel very laborious.
I turned back and smiled at Cao Ming, saying: "Brother, you go first, I'll wait for you guys downstairs."
In an instant, I was buried under the sand.
Just as I felt like I was going to die, suddenly my feet were empty, and I fell down all at once.
He fell heavily to the ground, even harder than last time, and felt as if his chest was going to crack open.
Just then, two cries of surprise came from above. 'Thud, thud' were the sounds of two people falling to the ground, followed by Cao Ming's cry of pain.
"Cao Ming? Li Wei? Are you two here?" In the pitch-black space, I couldn't see anything and could only shout a few times in that direction based on my feeling.
"It's not like it's just the two of us, who else could it be? And what's with this huge hole down here? Ahh, I'm going to die!" Cao Ming complained from over there.
With a "pa" sound, a beam of light shone towards me.
"Is everyone okay?" Li Wei asked with concern.
"Thanks to you holding the flashlight, I apologize for mocking you at first." Cao Ming said, looking at Li Wei's hand holding the flashlight.
Li Wei smiled and said, "It's nothing, it's all in the past."
"Oh my, laughing makes you look even more adorable and chubby." Cao Ming said with a chuckle.
"Stop messing around, come and take a look at me quickly, I think my leg is broken." I shouted loudly to the two of them who were chatting casually nearby.
The two of them heard me shouting and immediately ran over to me.
"Don't move, let me take a look." After finishing speaking, Cao Ming stretched out his hand and reached towards my leg.
After rubbing for a while, Cao Ming furrowed his brow and looked at me, saying: "You little brat, nothing's wrong with you, are you deceiving me?"
I sprang up from the ground and laughed: "Of course I was fooling you, haha!"
Cao Ming helplessly shook his head and didn't come over to hit me. Instead, he took out a night vision device from his backpack and put it on his face.
Cao Ming pressed a button on the night vision device, and suddenly the night vision device lit up.
"Although it has a function, it's also under the condition of having light. Now there is no light at all in this environment, so we still need to rely on the flashlight brought by Li Wei." Cao Ming said, turning off the night vision device and taking it down from his face.
"The flashlight that Li Wei brought isn't always reliable, so let's try to conserve it. We can turn off the flashlight in places where we can see clearly with night vision, and only turn it on when necessary." As soon as I finished speaking, Cao Ming and Li Wei nodded in agreement at the same time.
Li Wei's mood has improved a lot now, possibly because he narrowly escaped disaster just now.
"Let's not talk about this for now, let's take a look at the situation here first." After finishing speaking, Cao Ming turned around to observe the surroundings, but as soon as he turned around, he let out a painful cry.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"It's nothing, I just bumped into the wall."
"On the wall, I remember I didn't see Qiang just now?" Li Wei said doubtfully, while turning on his flashlight to look around.
Shining a flashlight around, Li Wei shouted loudly: "It's no good, let's hurry and leave. The walls here will move, if we don't leave now, we might be crushed to death in here."
"What did you say?" Cao Ming didn't hear clearly what Li Wei said and asked aloud.
"This is not the time to talk about these things, let's hurry up and go." After finishing speaking, Li Wei pulled Cao Ming who was squatting on the ground and ran towards the right side.
I was stunned for a moment, then followed and ran over.
After running to the right for a while, I came to a very large space again. Just as I was about to take a rest, a door-closing sound suddenly came from behind me.
