Chapter 5 Village

  The next morning, the off-road vehicle that was supposed to pick us up arrived outside the hostel.

  Cao Ming answered the phone and then called both me and Li Wei over.

  I took a look at the sky outside and it's still dark.

  "Why get up so early? It's still dark outside." I said with a yawn.

  Cao Ming stood with his hands on his hips and looked outside, saying: "Today is windy and sandy, so the sky looks a bit dull. Actually, it's already past 8 o'clock in the morning."

  After listening to Cao Ming's words, I lifted my wrist to look at the watch and found that it was indeed more than 8 o'clock. Very reluctantly put on clothes, then dragged and walked to the bathroom.

  After a while, Li Wei also walked in, and the originally narrow bathroom suddenly became crowded.

  I looked up at Li Wei and found his eyes were red.

  "Didn't sleep well last night?" I asked while brushing my teeth.

  Li Wei didn't say anything, he just nodded his head.

  "Don't think too much about it, didn't I tell you yesterday? What's there to worry about?" After finishing speaking, I spat out the foam in my mouth and took another sip of water.

  Li Wei leaned against the mirror and rubbed his eyelids with his hands. His eyeballs were covered in bloodshot lines.

  After washing my face, I found Li Wei still leaning on the mirror looking at me. I patted his shoulder and said, "What are you looking at? You won't die." After that, I walked out of the bathroom.

  Cao Ming had already packed up his things and saw me coming out of the bathroom, asking: "Isn't your classmate's condition not very good?"

  I nodded and said, "He's still a bit scared, which is understandable, after all it's his first time."

  Cao Ming smiled and said: "Get used to it, call him to speed up, there are still cars waiting outside."

  I nodded, wiped my face and walked back to the bathroom.

  "Hao Tian, I...I won't go, okay?" Li Wei stuttered as I walked into the bathroom.

  I was taken aback and asked: "Why do you think so?"

  Li Wei fell silent for a moment before speaking up: "I'm the only male in my family, if something happens to me, my family line will be cut off."

  "You don't have to think too much, you won't be in danger. I can understand your mood, but now that you know all the plans, Cao Ming will not agree to let you quit." I interrupted Li Wei's words and replied directly.

  Li Wei moved his mouth, but ultimately didn't say anything, turned around and washed his face before walking out.

  As I watched Li Wei walk out of the bathroom, I suddenly felt that this guy was a bit off.

  I quickly packed up my things, Li Wei basically didn't have much to pack because his stuff was all in the big coat.

  "Let's go." Cao Ming said as he saw that we had almost finished packing.

  Li Wei and I nodded at the same time, but I saw Li Wei's expression was a bit unnatural.

  As I walked out of the reception hall, there was indeed a silver-white off-road vehicle waiting for me.

  Cao Ming sat in the front passenger seat, and Li Wei and I squeezed into the back row.

  Cao Ming said a few words to the driver in front and then turned around to say to me and Li Wei, "This is Officer Wu Liang."

  "Officer Wu, hello, I'm Li Haotian." As I said that, I extended my right hand.

  Wu Liang turned around and smiled at me, then stretched out his hand and shook hands with me.

  Li Wei was taken aback for a moment, then quickly stretched out his right hand and said: "My name is Li Wei, please advise."

  "Haha, no need to be so formal, from now on we're all brothers. You don't have to call me Officer Wu, just call me Little Wu." After saying that, Wu Liang chuckled to himself.

  I took a glance at Wu Liang and found that he was almost over thirty years old, now saying let's call him Little Wu, I think this guy is thinking of reverting to his childhood.

  Although he thought so in his heart, he still responded to Wu Liang's words.

  After a few more simple pleasantries, the car started heading south towards Karamay City.

  Out of Karamay city, along the 217 national highway, driving south for over a hundred miles, Wu Liang suddenly turned the car to the right and came onto a small road.

  Looking ahead along the small path, you can already vaguely see the yellow desert.

  The car continued to move forward for about half an hour, and we were already in the desert.

  Looking around at the desert, Li Wei's emotions changed again.

  "I want to go home." Li Wei suddenly said in a low voice.

  "What did you say?" I asked, not having heard the first sentence clearly.

  Li Wei looked at me and said: "I want to go home."

  Before I could respond, Cao Ming, who was sitting in the passenger seat, spoke up: "It's too late to talk about going home now. From the moment you left Urumqi City, you can't turn back." After finishing speaking, Cao Ming turned his head away.

  After hearing Cao Ming's words, Li Wei lowered his head.

  I originally thought Li Wei had given up hope of going home, but unexpectedly, Li Wei suddenly opened the car door. If I hadn't still had some defensive awareness, Li Wei would have fallen off the car.

  "What's wrong with you, want to die?" I pulled Li Wei back and shouted loudly.

  "I just want to go home, I don't want to die here." Li Wei's emotions suddenly lost control and he also shouted at me.

  I punched Li Wei's face, knocking his head to one side, and continued to shout loudly: "It hasn't started yet, don't say such unlucky words, jinx."

  Li Wei rubbed the spot where he had been hit and lowered his head again, saying nothing more.

  At this time, Cao Ming turned his head and took a look at Li Wei, then asked me: "Did you hit him?"

  I panted heavily and adjusted my top, then nodded slightly.

  Cao Ming didn't say anything and turned his head away.

  "We're here." After a while, Wu Liang's voice came from the front.

  At this time, a sandstorm had already started outside, and looking out, everything was dark and oppressive.

  I opened the car door and got out, turned back to look at Li Wei who was still in the car with his head down and not speaking, let out a soft sigh without saying anything.

  "What place is this?" I asked, pointing at a building area not far in front of us.

  Wu Liang took a glance in the direction I was pointing, rubbed his eyes with his hand and said: "This is a village, generally very few people come here. However, I received intelligence a few days ago that several people bought a lot of water and food here, then headed west."

  "West." I shielded my eyes with my hand, then looked west and turned back to ask Wu Liang, "It's all desert in the west, what are they doing going west?"

  Wu Liang smiled and said: "It's precisely because it's a desert that makes it suspicious." After finishing speaking, he walked to Cao Ming's side, and the two of them whispered something to each other.

  I went back to the side of the car and stood at the door, saying to Li Wei inside: "We've arrived, why haven't you come down yet?"

  Li Wei didn't respond to me, I smiled and said: "Are you still angry about the punch earlier? Alright, let's settle this, I'll let you hit me back." As I spoke, I reached into the car and grabbed Li Wei's hand, pulling it towards my face. But unexpectedly, Li Wei pulled his hand back.

  "Alright buddy, I've never seen you so petty before." I patted the sand off my body.

  Li Wei looked up and glanced outside, saying: "If I had known we were coming to the desert, I wouldn't have come no matter what. Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

  I was stunned for a moment and asked: "Why didn't you come to the desert?"

  Li Wei turned his head and looked at me for a moment before lowering it again, saying in a low voice: "My dad died in the desert."

  When I heard Li Wei's words, I was stunned at once.