Ancient Country Returns to Ruins in Western Regions Strange News

  Thirty-five years ago, in Xinjiang, deep in the Taklamakan Desert, an archaeological team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences was staring at a strange and familiar building in front of them with unbelievable eyes.

  "How did we end up back here, it's all over, we must have arrived at the haunted mansion, there's no way out this time." A big-bearded man sat down on the ground with a thud, covering his face with both hands in despair.

  A dark-skinned young man glanced at him and said, "I'm telling you, guide Nige, how can you still be in the mood for jokes at this time? What kind of place is this?"

  Niger took out a small iron box from his pocket with trembling hands, the edges of which had been polished to reveal the base color. He gently opened the lid, took out a rolling paper, put some tobacco in it, and made a simple cigarette.

  He took a drag on his cigarette, composed himself and said: "Our local villagers have an old legend that has been passed down from our ancestors. A long time ago, there was a country in this desert that was civilized and prosperous with many people. Later, something happened and all the people in this country disappeared overnight without leaving any corpses or signs of migration, as if they had vanished into thin air. All that's left is this ghost town. After that, anyone who ventured into this ghost town would get trapped and couldn't escape. The old folks said it was the spirits of the original residents haunting us, keeping us company. Later on, our local people started calling it a haunted tomb, probably because of that."

  There were several women in the team who cried out in fear, "What can we do now?"

  A middle-aged man with a scar on his left cheek couldn't help but curse when he heard this: "Damn it, I didn't suffer in the army, I didn't see any battles, and now you're telling me that there are really ghosts in this world? I'm afraid some people just can't find their way, and they're talking nonsense."

  Ni Ge's guide found that everyone in the team was staring at him, and he muttered to the scarred man: "What are you doing? Can't I go out by myself?"

  The dark-skinned young man seemed to still have a grudge, complaining: "This morning's violent storm, our camels are gone, and our luggage is lost. The remaining dry rations and water, we don't know how many days they can last. Old Ni, I'm not blaming you, but with such a big storm, you couldn't see the direction, running around everywhere, bringing us to this place."

  Ní gé duì dǎo yǒu xiē wěi cuì: "nà me dà de fēng bào, zán men bù pǎo bú shì děng zhe bèi huó mái ma? zài shuō pǎo de shí hou lù yě bú shì wǒ lǐng de, wǒ shì gēn zhe qián miàn rén yǐng pǎo de, bù gēn zhe dà jiā zǒu sàn zěn bàn?"

  The scar-faced man frowned and said impatiently, "Damn it, Old Ni, how can you talk nonsense with your eyes closed? We're all following you, who's in front of us?" Ni Gezhuo stroked his beard, just about to argue, when a shrill cry suddenly came from the side.

  "Juanzi, what's wrong with you?"

  The woman named Juanzi was pale at the moment, she sat limply on the sand, her voice like a mosquito: "In front of the guide Nige, there is a personal shadow, I was thinking who ran to the front of the guide at that time. Now I think about it, that person's shadow seems to be a bit wrong, his... his face is blue."

  Ni Ge's eyes widened, the cigarette in his hand dropped to the ground, and he said with a sob: "It must be a ghost that led us here. I said why we can't get out no matter how we walk, it's over, it's over..." The whole team fell into terror, and no one spoke again.

  The man with glasses next to him had not participated in the discussion until now. He was a straightforward person and found that everyone was silent, so he hurriedly mediated: "Everyone shouldn't be too pessimistic, we all believe in ***ism, what ghost is there? At that time, the storm was so big, maybe Juanzi made a mistake, don't blame Lao Ni either, the desert is so big, he can't know everything. Looking at the sun about to set, Captain Zhou, how do you think we should handle tonight?"

  Captain Zhou gazed around, ignoring their conversation. The terrain in front of him was relatively open, a vast expanse of gently sloping sand dunes, with many buildings standing upright, most of which had almost completely weathered away, making it impossible to discern their original appearance, leaving only some strange-shaped mounds of earth. However, judging from the density of these mounds, this must have been a prosperous and powerful nation in ancient times.

  "Judging from the weathering degree of these rocky walls, it has a history of at least several thousand years. What's strange is that the architectural style of this city is quite different from other ancient countries in the Western Regions that we know of, and based on current data, it's also impossible to determine which country this is." Captain Zhou looked at the sun that had already begun to set in the west and said: "Let's camp here for tonight. It's not safe to travel on the desert at night. We'll set off early tomorrow morning, so everyone should get a good rest and recharge their spirits."

  The desert has a large temperature difference between morning and evening, as the saying goes "Wear fur in the morning and silk at noon, gather around the stove to eat watermelon". At night, the moonlight shines on the desert, reflecting a bleak white light. The ancient city is quiet, and the examination team almost has no sleepiness. Several women shiver and lean against each other.

  The dark-skinned young man suddenly stood up and said to Captain Zhou, "Captain, I want to go find something to start a fire. Everyone looks cold."

  "Bring a flashlight and don't go too far, hurry up and come back."

  The scar-faced man stood up and said: "Hei Zi, I'll go with you."

  "No need, you stay and take care of everyone, I'm dark, the ghost can't see me at night." He smiled and turned to walk towards the depths of the ancient city.

  Zhou Duizhang looked up at the stars in the sky, sighed, and leaned over to whisper to Eye Glasses Man: "Zhao Zi, how many dry rations do we have left?"

  Zhao Ziming's face was gloomy, and he whispered in his ear: "At most, we can hold on for three more days."

  The two people fell silent for a long time, and suddenly a loud shout came from afar.

  "Captain, it's Hei Zi!"

  "Zhao Zi, you stay here and protect our female comrade, the rest of us will go with me to take a look at what's going on."

  Several people were about to set off, but they found a figure running towards them, panting and shouting: "Captain, I've got some news!" Blackie was holding a bamboo basket in his hand, with several steamed buns inside, still emitting hot air. He panted and said: "Captain... good news!" After catching his breath, he continued: "I just saw some light ahead and walked over to find that it's a few farmhouses. They agreed to let us stay for the night and even offered to guide us tomorrow. A sister also brought us freshly steamed buns, who's hungry? Everyone hurry up and eat while they're still hot!"

  Captain Zhou frowned and asked: "Oh? Is that so? What did you just call out?"

  "Hei Zi said: 'I just ran back and stepped on a snake.'"

  "Old lady, is there a farmhouse nearby?"

  Ni Ge was taken aback by Zhou's question and rolled his eyes, replying: "Maybe it's a retail investor."

  Several female comrades picked up the buns in the basket and started eating, muttering as they ate: "These buns are really fragrant, it's been a long time since we've had them."

  Zhou Duizhang paused for a moment and said: "Anyway, we have to thank them for the buns, Heizi led the way, let's set off."

  "Alright!"

  All the way, Hei Zi was excitedly telling about his encounter with the villagers earlier. Captain Zhou noticed that they had never taken this road during the day before. He paid attention to the surrounding buildings and found that what looked like weathered and shapeless earth mounds in the daytime were actually human-like sand sculptures standing there under the moonlight, some lying down, some sitting, and some running, all of which seemed eerie.

  "Hei Zi, how much further?" Scarface asked

  "It's just ahead."

  "Hei Zi!" Captain Zhou paused for a moment, "Do you still remember the first assignment I gave you when you just arrived at the institute?"

  "Hei Zi said impatiently: 'Captain, how can you remember something from so long ago.'"

  Captain Zhou made a gesture, signaling everyone to stop, and suddenly pulled out a dagger from his waist and stabbed it into Heizi's heart. The people of the Science and Technology Team were frightened silly, staring blankly at everything without reacting. Captain Zhou glared fiercely at Heizi in front of him and shouted: "Who are you?"

  Hei Zi let out a sinister laugh, echoing through the ancient city, sending chills down people's spines. Instead of blood, sand flowed from his wounds, and in an instant, he transformed into a skeleton, falling onto the desert sands. The members of the expedition team were frightened pale, unable to utter a word.

  "When Hei Zi came back, I felt that something was off about him. He's never been afraid of snakes, and he said the most unforgettable thing was the first time he entered the Chinese Academy with me for his project, until I saw this." Captain Zhou pointed to a sand sculpture next to him, which looked like a person running, and unbelievably, the sand sculpture was holding a flashlight in its hand.

  "Come and help, Heizi is in this sand sculpture." Captain Zhou and the others carefully peeled away the sand from the head of the sand sculpture, revealing Heizi's face. However, it seemed that the sand had already merged with Heizi's skin, and what they peeled off was a mixture of sand and blood, just like a person who had been flayed alive. Several women were sobbing quietly. "Heizi is still alive, his mouth is moving." Captain Zhou, choking back tears, put his ear to Heizi's mouth, trying to make out what he was saying. Heizi seemed to have used up all his strength and stammered out a sentence: "Quick... run away!"

  Suddenly, everyone shouted loudly, and saw countless grayish-white hands stretching out from under the desert to grab their feet. Those hands seemed to have grown on the desert itself. Once caught, the surrounding sand quickly buried them, eventually turning into a sand sculpture. The women who had eaten baozi earlier were now rolling on the ground, constantly spitting out sand, as if the sand was being squeezed out of their bodies, instantly becoming black like charcoal.

  The man with glasses and the guide Nige's lower body had already turned into sand sculptures, knowing that their time was near, they had tears in their eyes, looked at each other in despair, and closed their eyes to wait for death.

  The scar-faced man somehow got a stick from somewhere and swung it at the hands that were trying to grab him, turning them into scattered sand. He struggled to get up, swinging his stick as he ran to Captain Zhou's side and shouted: "Captain, let's go!"

  Just as Captain Zhou was about to charge out with Scarface, Scarface's whole body trembled, his eyes wide with fear staring at Captain Zhou. He quickly retreated backwards, squeezing out three words: "Blue-faced man!" before stumbling and running away.

  Captain Zhou looked back in astonishment, and behind him was only a vast expanse of blackness except for the sand dunes. Was he talking about himself? Captain Zhou glanced at his arm, and under the moonlight, he clearly saw that his skin had turned blue-black. The hands reaching out from the desert avoided him, and even if they grabbed him, they would immediately turn to scattered sand. He looked at his deceased comrades, laughed loudly towards the sky, and then fainted in the desert.

  After an unknown period of time, Captain Zhou saw a black figure walking in the distance of the desert as he was dying. The black figure picked him up and walked towards the edge of the desert...