Chapter Eighteen: The Deserted City of Shifting Sands

  I shook my head and woke up a bit, then opened my eyes again, but there were only the three of them in front of me.

  "Am I seeing things?" I thought to myself.

  I rubbed my eyes, and there were still three people. I thought to myself that I must be too tired and it was just an illusion. Without thinking much more about it, I continued on my way.

  In the forest, weeds grew wildly and no one knew what they were stepping on. The forest was filled with the sounds of insects and birds chirping, as well as the rustling of some kind of animal darting through the underbrush, and I could feel Zhang Xinyu's hand grasping mine tightly.

  "Everyone keep up, the trees and vegetation over here have become very sparse, we should be able to find an open space to rest." said Mao Shi Jiu who was walking in front.

  Suddenly a scream broke the silence in the forest, sounding like a woman's voice. My first reaction was Lin Mo.

  "Come on, let's follow the sound! Quick!" shouted Mao Shi Jiu.

  Along the direction of the sound, I walked for about two miles and came to a clearing with an open view. There was not much grass on the ground, as if someone had trampled it before. The surrounding area was piled up with a lot of sand and soil, which was unusually loose. Outside the sand and soil, everything was pitch black, and I couldn't see anything around me.

  "The sound is coming from this side, judging by the size of the sound and the degree of echo, the approximate location is in this area." Li Jian Tian told us that he was in a special forces unit when he was young and knew the special method of locating echoes.

  "Alright, we can't go any further, it's too dark. I'm afraid if we enter deeper into the forest, we'll get completely lost. Let's set up camp here and rest for the night. We can find our way out when it gets light again. Mao 19 is after all more experienced than us, he knows what to do at the right time."

  "How can you sleep on this sandy ground?" Zhang Xinyu complained with a scrunched up face.

  "This sandy soil is nothing, in our special forces days, we even stayed in a latrine pit."

  Zhang Xinyu gave Li Jiantian a white eye.

  "Alright, same old rules, except for Zhang Xinyu, each person takes turns keeping watch for two hours. Just stay within this area, don't run around randomly." After saying that, Mao Shi Jiu went to find his own place to sleep.

  Li Jian Tian also quietly left, leaving only me and Zhang Xin Yu.

  "It won't be me keeping watch again, will it?" I said gloomily.

  Zhang Xinyu's two big eyes stared at me expectantly, her face full of anticipation. I was confused, what did she mean exactly?

  "I'm scared." Zhang Xinyu was silent for half a day before finally saying these two words.

  So it seems they all found various places to rest, but she was the only girl and it's natural that she would be afraid of the dark, ghosts, and small animals.

  "Alright, you stay by my side, go to sleep, I'll watch over you." At that moment, he didn't think he would say such a warm sentence.

  "I couldn't sleep, can you chat with me for a bit?" Zhang Xinyu looked at me with an expectant face.

  I really didn't expect the tough policewoman to become so girly. Maybe she was scared out of her wits by those previous encounters with ghosts, I thought to myself with a chuckle.

  "Go on, what did you want to talk about?" I asked with a smile, looking at her.

  "Come on, come on, you sit down first, let's sit down and talk." Zhang Xinyu pulled my arm downwards.

  I sat cross-legged opposite Zhang Xinyu, and to be honest, I felt a bit uncomfortable. I had never had an experience of sitting on the ground and chatting with a girl so late at night, especially one as beautiful as her. The flashlight above accidentally shone onto Zhang Xinyu's chest, revealing a deep and impressive cleavage in front of me. At such close proximity, my youthful vigor got the better of me, and I couldn't control the flames rising from below, causing the tent to bulge upwards. Fortunately, we were sitting on the ground, so she couldn't see it, but my face had already turned bright red, and I quickly looked away in embarrassment.

  Zhang Xinyu didn't notice anything and instead was emotionally interested in chatting.

  "Actually, I've always been a very strong-willed person. When I was young, my parents got divorced and I followed my mother. Maybe because she was afraid that I would grow up to be like her and suffer losses, she always wanted to cultivate me into an independent girl. But every time when someone is sleeping, I'm always too afraid to turn off the lights, I've never told anyone that I'm afraid of the dark." Zhang Xinyu said.

  She had an experience similar to mine. My mother passed away and my father raised me, but I was ostracized by the whole village and couldn't go home.

  "Ah!" I sighed.

  Everyone has their own weakness, and once an environment is touched, emotions will erupt like a mountain flood. I think one day I'll be like him, afraid to hide in the corner and not dare to come out, and emotions may be my fatal wound. How should I face Lin Mo? I can only smile helplessly.

  When I came to, Zhang Xinyu was actually lying on the sandy ground and had fallen asleep. I took out a jacket from my backpack and covered her with it, then stayed vigilant myself and continued keeping watch through the night.

  Hiss... hiss... The faint sound caught my attention, I tilted my ear to listen, it seemed to be coming from underground.

  I rushed to the place where the sound was coming from, and there was a depression in the sand pit, forming a small whirlpool. The hissing sound grew louder and louder, and I could feel that the sand under my feet was slightly loose.

  "This is terrible." He cried out in his heart that things were going badly.

  I pulled my legs and ran out, but the sand was sinking faster and faster, the sand pit turned into a sand hole, and the speed was much faster than my escape speed.

  "Help!" As I shouted this sentence, I thoroughly fell into the sand pit.

  Everything went black, and all I felt was my body constantly sinking down, sinking for a long time. Both hands kept grasping upwards, but no matter how hard they grasped, they only managed to grasp handfuls of fine sand. A desperate feeling of being deeply trapped surged up.

  Finally, I was heavily slammed to the ground, hurting so much that I let out a loud cry. I crawled out of the sand pile, covered in sand all over my body, with sand in my mouth, nose and ears. I spat it out in big mouthfuls.

  I brushed off the sand on my body, fumbled for the flashlight that had fallen not far away, fortunately it wasn't broken. I shone the light around and found myself surrounded by stone walls, with a vast space ahead. I stepped forward into the darkness one step at a time.

  Suddenly, a bright light appeared in front of me, and I walked into it. It was a desert, with a scene of broken walls and ruins before my eyes. A towering stone castle stood high, the entire castle was round, surrounding the interior, the stacked stones looked desolate, ancient, from afar, countless stone statues still stood on top of the castle, although worn out, but had an air of long history, as if the majestic atmosphere of a mighty army was still present yesterday.

  I stood there with my eyes wide open, stunned and rooted to the spot. Looking back, it was still pitch black, was this an underground city? How did this place get lit up? I couldn't understand it at all.

  I approached the city walls, but the stone castle that seemed to be within arm's reach was actually so far away. I probably walked for about half an hour before arriving at the foot of the stone castle, and only then could I see just how massive it was.

  Under the stone city, looking up at the high place of the stone city, a few big characters enter the eye, "Deserted Sand City", the font is ancient seal script, a pen stroke with a momentum of Cang Long shocks people's hearts, every stroke and dot conveys an ancient atmosphere, making people sigh in admiration.

  The city gate has been in disrepair, the two stone gates quietly lying on the sandy ground. I walked into the labyrinthine city, completely drawn in by its majestic atmosphere.

  After entering, it was another scene, completely unable to see the withered and desolate atmosphere. Everything in the city came alive, wandering around everywhere. People were wearing ancient costumes, walking on the streets, there were many shops on the street, conducting all sorts of transactions, they were still using ancient currency, but I could only see them, not hear their conversations. Occasionally, rows of soldiers carrying ancient halberds, wearing stone armor and helmets patrolled, and this sky was black, without a single ray of light, yet inside the stone city it was as bright as daytime.

  I approached a person next to me, intending to tap his shoulder, but when I did, he turned into a pile of sand and disappeared. It turned out that everything was an illusion, no wonder it's called the Maze City, a sense of horror arose, I wanted to leave this place quickly, when I retreated backwards, the city gate had already disappeared, surrounded by towering city walls.

  "Once you enter the labyrinth city, you can never leave." A mysterious voice suddenly sounded.

  "Who? Who are you? Who's speaking?" I cried out in fear.

  "Who I am is unimportant, what's important is who you are? Why have you come here?" The voice sounded again in his ear.

  "I didn't think I'd end up here, where is this place?"

  "This is the riddle in your heart, you can't solve it." The voice faded away and disappeared.

  At that time, I became flustered and for a moment didn't know what to do. All I could think about was finding an exit to get out. Along the city wall, I circled around in a big circle and returned to my original location. The city wall really had disappeared. I sat paralyzed on the ground with a blank mind.

  What's going on? I still need to find Lin Mo, how did I end up here? Where are my companions now?

  I was in a state of panic, suddenly I fainted and fell to the ground. As I lay there dazed, through my half-closed eyes, I saw someone slowly walking towards me, but before I could make out his appearance, everything went black.

  I don't know how long I was unconscious, but when I finally woke up, I found myself in a grand hall. The decorations around me were different from those outside, giving off an atmosphere of luxury and majesty. The walls surrounding me were made of jade stones, with black as the dominant color, complemented by white accents, creating a strong sense of depth. At the front of the hall was a throne, looking very majestic, with two dragons coiled around it, and two phoenixes on its back, symbolizing good fortune. The hall had nine large pillars standing at each corner, with carvings of the dragon's sons: Xi Wangmu, Bi Xi, Pi Xiu, Pu Lao, Qiuniu, Zhenwu, Taotie, Yazi, and Chiwen. The walls were adorned with ancient stone paintings, which I carefully examined one by one as I walked around the hall. The scenes depicted in the paintings seemed to match what I saw when I first entered the city.

  I walked to the last rock painting on the stone wall, and the scene depicted was one I had never seen before - a man and a woman were sailing a modern-style yacht in a river surrounded by forests. I touched the marks, and it seemed as if they had just been carved not long ago. I was shocked.

  Lin Mo?