Chapter Twenty The Little Old Man

  As soon as I heard Yu Gang's words, I looked forward and saw a small old man with a pale face and short stature standing not far in front of the car. He was leaning on a huge mound, stretching out half of his body, with a look of horror in his eyes. While waving his hands at us, he shouted hoarsely: "Run quickly, run quickly, or you'll be dead!"

  My back was chilled to the bone when I saw him here. To say that this old man appeared here is a coincidence? Bullshit, I'd rather die than believe it.

  I had dreamed of this old man twice before, and it was exactly the same situation as now, without even a word changed.

  "Damn it, what bad luck." Yu Gang's face was deathly pale, as if he had been scared out of his wits.

  "Everyone stay in the car, everyone stay in the car, everyone stay in the car." The off-road vehicle next to them had Huang Daxian holding a loudspeaker and shouting, he said it three times in a row, as if reminding that the situation was very serious.

  Tianyun Master's face looked very unsightly, he stared at the old man and exclaimed: "Don't you think that person looks very familiar?"

  "I saw him in my dream." Yu Gang's voice was trembling slightly.

  "I am too." Tianyun Master's face turned pale and said.

  All of a sudden, several people in the car said that this old man appeared in their dreams, with the same scene, the same language, and the same fear, and suddenly poured towards me like a tidal wave.

  This is absolutely not a coincidence, but a warning.

  The old man's appearance was like a plague, one after another, but no one recognized who the old man was. The atmosphere in the car became even more solemn, and everyone had a bad premonition in their hearts, feeling that encountering so many things in this endless desert must be some kind of omen from an unknown force, and some people even suspected that they had run into "ghosts".

  "Who knows him?" asked the bespectacled old professor with a look of shock on his face.

  The car was silent, with no one responding. Even Lin Wu Xuan's gaze was distant, staring at the old man, his eyes still flashing with a hint of cold light that couldn't be grasped.

  Next to a cross-country vehicle about three meters away, there was a sudden commotion, as if they were arguing. I vaguely heard Tang Guangze's voice say: "Who cares who he is, with a steel gun in hand, kill him first."

  Next came Huang Daxian's voice, his words filled with a hint of horror, shouting: "No way, you'll regret it."

  "I asked you here to solve the problem, not to say this won't work and that won't work." Tang Guangze's tone sounded extremely unpleasant, as if he had reached a dead end.

  "Alright." Huang Daxian reluctantly responded with a sentence. Finally, the loudspeaker's voice came over: "Everyone stay in the car."

  Nonsense, at this point who dares to get off the bus, when they saw the old man, they had already been frightened by that scene and were at a loss.

  The next second, I saw the door of my car open suddenly. Lin Wuxuan got out of the car with a big stride and stood beside it. He didn't walk forward immediately, but instead stood there. The direction he was heading wasn't towards that old man.

  His face was icy cold, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. All of us held our breaths, unsure of what Lin Wuxuan wanted to do.

  A loud gunshot rang out, and the old man's figure was nowhere to be seen in front. Where did he go with that gunshot?

  As the gunfire faded away, the desert immediately returned to its usual deathly silence, as if nothing had happened before. I stared at the empty sand in extreme confusion, there was nothing, only endless sand covering the sky and earth.

  "Was I wrong just now? Come and see." Yu Gang shouted with a face of disbelief, I stood up and immediately threw a punch.

  "Ah... damn it's really painful..." Yu Gang cried out in pain.

  Finally, under Wong Tai Sin's trumpet, continue walking forward.

  None of us knew who fired that shot, I thought it was Lin Wuxuan who did it, but all I saw was him standing there like a corpse, holding the Mitsubishi military dagger in the water.

  Was it Tang Guangze who fired the shot?

  After thinking for a long time, there was no answer. Dazed and confused, plus the bumps of the car, it was easy to fall asleep.

  The next day, our team was completely under the command of Tang Guangze, while Huang Daxian was just trying to persuade him not to go this way and that.

  Since seeing that old man, Tang Guangze's attitude has changed from unconditionally obeying Huang Daxian's words to not listening to him at all.

  When we were all sitting on the sand filling our bellies, I noticed that Huang Daxian had walked away by himself. His face turned very ugly and he was holding a small notebook in his hand. After carefully glancing at the notebook for a moment, he hastily stuffed it into the pocket of his cotton-padded jacket, as if afraid of being discovered.

  What is it? Why does he want to sneak a peek?

  Huang Daxian's hiding and sneaking around was more than Tang Guangze's, because when I saw Huang Daxian flipping through that book, the expression in his eyes was flickering with unease, panic, vigilance, and suspicion, and he sat there alone for a long time.

  Once, from a distance of over ten meters, I saw him with his hands clasped together on his abdomen, his mouth slightly moving as if saying something.

  Wong Tai Sin swayed his body, starting very slowly, with the beat of the drum, gradually, the beat of the drum accelerated, and his movements also accelerated. In less than ten minutes, the frequency of his body swaying also quickly reached its peak, making it hard to believe that a person's body could make such rapid and intense movements.

  His expression looked extremely painful, as if someone was branding him with a red-hot iron. When his body shook the most violently, it was also when his expression was the most painful.

  For a moment, I forgot to react, staring with wide eyes at this unbelievable and eerie thing happening.

  He screamed and begged in a hoarse voice that was extremely painful to hear.

  "It's not me, really not me, don't let me die under the curse, you can stab me to death with a knife... They have guns there, you can shoot me dead... Whatever you do, don't let me die under the curse, those who die under the curse will suffer in darkness forever, please, don't let me... die under the curse..."

  He kept begging, his trembling, hoarse and desperate voice was heart-wrenching to listen to, but everyone, including Tang Guangze beside him, just stared at him with a strange gaze.

  As Huang Daxian's body swayed with smaller and smaller amplitude, the rhythm also slowed down and became more subdued.

  What's wrong with Huang Daxian? Why did he wake up screaming in terror?

  Everyone's gaze was drawn to him, each person's face looked extremely ugly, they didn't make any movement, just staring at Huang Daxian like that, as if they hadn't heard the terrifying scream.

  Until Huang Daxian fell into the sand, Tang Guangze shouted: "Not good."

  Right after that, we went over to take a look. Tang Guangze put his hand under Huang Daxian's nose and then felt up to his neck. His face turned increasingly ugly as he said in a hoarse voice: "He's dead."

  It's all over now.

  The eerie and terrifying scene before Huang Daxian's death kept replaying in my mind until Tang Guangze yelled at me, "Hurry up and bury the body!"

  I took a Luoyang shovel and dug a hole. After throwing the person into the hole with Yu Gang, I filled it with soil directly.

  These two days are either dead or crazy, my emotions are on high alert, tightly strung, afraid that the next one to die is myself.

  After burying Huang Daxian, I took a deep breath and turned my head to see Lin Wuxuan sitting on the sand. At this moment, Lin Wuxuan looked like he had a fearful emotion, his hands clutching his hair, his slightly curly long hair was wet and stuck to his forehead, his face was also pale and terrifying, as if he was trapped in some terrible memory...

  "Xuān gē, nǐ méi shì ba?"

  Translation: "Brother Xuān, are you okay?"

  I let out a cry and hurried over to crouch down in front of Lin Wu Xuan.

  Lin Wu Xuan suddenly lifted his head, his eyes which were filled with bloodshot trembled as he said: "You all quickly leave this place, the faster the better."

  It was the first time Lin Wu Xuan 'exposed' such a frantic emotion, the fear that permeated his face was so obvious.

  Yu Gang also found out, he walked over and took a look, his face turned bad and said: "Xuan Ge, do you know what happened?"

  "Yu Gang, you guys hurry up and leave here..." Lin Wu Xuan's voice trembled as he spoke, as if he had thought of something terrifying.

  As soon as he heard the words, his face suddenly fell, and he let out a strange cry. With malice in his voice, he said: "I don't believe in any curse. I just don't think that one bullet can absolutely kill them. If not, I still have fire to burn them to death."

  "You will all die..." Lin Wu Xuan's gaze fell on Yu Gang's face, coldly uttering a sentence.

  Yu Gang had just heard this and was anxious, he hastily asked: "Xuan Ge, do you know what happened? Hurry up and tell me, at this time Tang Doctor won't let us leave."

  "I must be overthinking." Lin Wuxuan's gaze was distant, and a hint of an ungraspable chill appeared once again.

  Soon, after staying in the cramped car for so many days, I felt that my arms and shoulders were as hard as bricks, and stretching my waist made me feel sore. Fortunately, at this time, the cold air in the desert was too severe, and Tang Guangze asked everyone to set up camp and prepare to rest.

  The tent was blown away by a sandstorm before, and there were only two spare tents left, which were not enough for sleeping.

  I counted the number of people, that Taoist priest, Tianyun Master, Old Professor, Yu Gang, Lin Wu Xuan, Tang Guangze, and a person who is usually almost invisible, seems to be some kind of grave robber, adding me makes eight people in total.

  From over twenty people in the past, only eight are left now. Thinking of this, I feel a pang in my heart. Looking at this desert, when will it finally come to an end?

  Some people sleep in tents and some people sleep in cars. I suggest that someone keep watch at night to prevent what happened before from happening again.

  Yu Gang just listened and retorted: "Why don't you set an example yourself..."

  Finally, I gritted my teeth and sat outside the tent, letting the wind blow. The cold air was so bitter that it even hurt my gums, and after being punched by Yu Gang a few times, the wound on my face had gone numb from the chill.

  I still couldn't resist the drowsiness and fell asleep leaning against the tent. In a daze, I was suddenly kicked in the foot by someone.