When Nakagawa was still a child, the elder Nakagawa came to China, intending to find the Dunhuang documents on that map, but unexpectedly, he was left with no trace.
After investigation, the Nakagawa family believed that this was just an adventure by the elder Nakagawa, and that they had no way to retrieve the elder Nakagawa's remains from the quicksand.
According to Japanese feudal superstition, a person's soul can only be summoned back to Japan if their remains remain after death; otherwise, they cannot be reincarnated. This explains why Nakagawa was so distraught upon seeing this area of quicksand.
Of course, when Nakagawa and Yan were exchanging information, they never mentioned anything about the Dunhuang documents. They only said that their father had disappeared in this place more than 30 years ago.
"Is what the old people in town are saying true?"
Upon hearing Yan Xiaowei's translation, he was greatly surprised, and the hairs on his body stood on end. He had originally thought those things were just legends, but he never expected them to be true.
The thought that there might be more than a dozen wronged souls from the town in this desert, including his second uncle whom he had never met, sent chills down Erdan's spine.
At this moment, Nakagawa took out three incense sticks from his bag, lit them, stuck them in the sand, and began to kowtow. Professor Man and the others did not say anything about this, after all, as children, it is only right to pay respects to their ancestors.
"Professor Man, Nakagawa has a question for you: how can we get through this quicksand area?"
About ten minutes later, Nakagawa stood up and began speaking to the translator in broken English. He said that the old Nakagawa's so-called disappearance must have been due to his death here, and the young Nakagawa naturally wanted to carry on the old man's legacy and bring those precious Dunhuang artifacts back to Japan.
Professor Man smiled upon hearing this and said, "That's actually easy to handle. I brought a backpack full of pebbles. I'll throw one in every now and then. If it sinks into the sand, there's definitely a problem; otherwise, it's fine..."
This is the kind of business he makes; otherwise, Nakagawa wouldn't have spent so much money to hire him. Professor Man had already prepared for this. After saying this, he walked to his camel, reached in, and his expression changed drastically: "Then...where are those pebbles?"
"Teacher Man, this morning Brother Erdan said we should save the camels' energy, so didn't we put the pebbles on the camels carrying supplies?"
Yan Xiaowei chimed in, "That heavy bag was the one I carried over. Professor Meng, don't even think about those pebbles. Whether we get back alive depends on luck..."
Upon hearing Professor Man's words, Erdan's expression also turned grim, because he suddenly realized something very bad: all of their drinking water and supplies had been left on the second camel that had already been swallowed by the yellow sand.
They had been in the desert for four days and were far from the small town of Qiujiawo. Even without considering the camels' physical strength, it would take them at least two days to get out of the desert.
In the desert, one might be able to endure the lack of food, but without water, survival is impossible. After Erdan got up and checked the four camels, his expression grew increasingly grim.
They now only had four water sacks left, and they were already half-drunk. Erdan and Professor Man whispered to each other for a moment, then said to Translator Yan, "Let's turn back now and go back to where we camped yesterday..."
Upon hearing Erdan's words, Yan Xiaowei's face turned pale, and he suddenly asked in a trembling voice, "Brother Erdan... are we going to never get out of this desert?"
Before entering the desert, Yan the translator was just a school student. He had just been traumatized by the tragic sight of camels being swallowed by the yellow sand, and now he was facing a situation of running out of water and food. His mental endurance was almost at its limit, and he was on the verge of collapse.
"Brother Yan, it's alright. As long as there's water, I'll definitely be able to get everyone out of here. And we might even run into other tour groups. Don't worry..."
Seeing Yan Xiaowei's flustered appearance, Erdan calmed down instead. He had been following adults around in the desert since he was twelve or thirteen years old, and he knew more about this desert than anyone else present.
Although there was no food, Erdan knew that there were several places along the way where water could be found, and that he could get out of the desert even if he went hungry for two days. So although his situation was not good, he had not yet reached the end of his rope.
As for Mengzi and the others, Erdan didn't know if they were still following behind, so he didn't dare to risk staying here. He could only feel at ease if he returned to the water source as soon as possible.
After hearing Erdan's words, Yan Xiaowei calmed down and hurriedly pulled up Zhongchuan, who was still kneeling on the ground, and started talking to him.
Although the desert offers breathtaking scenery like a mirage, it is also fraught with danger. What just happened has taught him a vivid lesson, and Yan Xiaowei doesn't want to stay here a moment longer.
"Tell Mr. Erdan that as long as we can get out of this desert, I will definitely compensate him for all his losses..."
Upon hearing Yan Xiaowei's words, Nakagawa immediately nodded in agreement. The richer a person is, the more they cherish their life. Nakagawa still has a huge fortune in Japan and doesn't want to become a lonely ghost in the desert to keep his elderly father company.
As for the Dunhuang artifacts, they became less important at this moment. What use are those things if you're about to lose your life? Mr. Nakagawa is definitely a pragmatist.
After hearing Yan Xiaowei's translation, Erdan's eyes lit up, and he said, "Mr. Nakagawa, my two camels are worth fifty or sixty thousand yuan..."
After exchanging a few words with Nakagawa, Yan Xiaowei said, "No problem, Nakagawa will compensate you. Can you leave now?"
"Okay, let's go. I'll make sure we get everyone out of here..."
Upon hearing this, Erdan's face lit up with a smile, and the pain of losing his camel vanished instantly. In Dunhuang, an adult camel only costs around ten thousand or eight thousand yuan, so fifty or sixty thousand yuan would be enough for him to organize a camel caravan.
The group mounted their camels again and headed back the way they had come. Because they were short of food and water, Erdan kept urging the camels to go faster, and they actually got much faster than they had come.
"Camel caravan, there's a camel caravan ahead..."
About an hour later, Erdan, who was walking at the front, suddenly shouted loudly, his voice full of surprise.
The group, who were drowsy from sitting on the camels under the scorching sun, perked up at the sound of the voice. They looked up and, sure enough, saw a caravan of more than ten camels walking towards them.
"Brother Mengzi, Da Mao and Er Mao are gone..."
Erdan was still young, and when he met Mengzi who was walking ahead, his voice was already slightly choked with tears.
"What happened? Did we encounter quicksand? Is everyone alright?"
Mengzi quickly jumped off his camel and first checked the number of people on Erdan's side. Seeing that there were still four people, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Chapter 1108 Returning to the Forbidden Zone
Mengzi patted Erdan hard on the shoulder and said, "Alright, what's with all this crying? Are you even a man of the desert? Tell me what happened..."
Mengzi was very happy that no one was injured. No matter how important the camel was, it was not as precious as human life. Although Erdan was a bit mischievous, Mengzi still thought he was a good young man.
"Brother Mengzi, there really are demons there..."
Erdan stopped crying and told the whole story from beginning to end. The once audacious Erdan no longer had any doubts about the legends in the town.
"If it's not a demon, it's just quicksand, but judging from the size of this quicksand area, it must be quite large..."
Professor Man is the only desertification control expert among these two teams, and is therefore the most qualified to speak on the matter. Of course, such feudal superstitions should be resisted.
"Professor Man, is there any method to survey the extent of the quicksand?"
Zhuang Rui asked from the side, actually he could distinguish between quicksand and yellow sand with the spiritual energy in his eyes, but if he wanted to return to that area, he would have to have a good explanation.
"Brother Zhuang, I think... I think we should go back and find them..."
After comforting Erdan, Mengzi looked at Zhuang Rui. He had heard about the old man's talk of that devilish forbidden zone since he was a child, and his psychological trauma was much greater than Erdan's. When he heard that Zhuang Rui still wanted to go to that place, he was the first to object.
"Brother Mengzi, let's hear Professor Man's opinion first..."
Zhuang Rui said noncommittally.
“Xiao Zhuang, quicksand isn’t actually as scary as people think. If those two camels hadn’t struggled so desperately, the quicksand would have only buried half of their bodies at most. I think we should go and survey it again…”
The reason they left earlier was mainly because they ran out of supplies. Now that they saw Zhuang Rui's camel caravan, Professor Man's mind started working again. The phenomenon of quicksand in the desert is very rare, and Professor Man wanted to study it in more depth.
"No...no, Teacher Man, there really are demons there. Da Mao and Er Mao are gone, let's not go..."
Upon hearing Professor Man's words, Erdan, who had calmed down, became uneasy again, as if a demon was chasing him. He leaned against the camel while speaking, looking around anxiously.
After thinking for a moment, Zhuang Rui said, "Brother Mengzi, I think... let's hold a vote, the minority should obey the majority..."
"All right……"
Mengzi nodded. In fact, he was still a little curious despite his fear. Exploration always stimulates a man's competitive spirit, especially when there is a beautiful girl in the team.
"I agree..."
"I agree to go too..."
"I agree..."
As expected, the four people from the Peking University Archaeological Institute raised their hands. With the addition of Zhuang Rui and Professor Man, only Erdan, Translator Yan, and Mengzi remained without raising their hands.
“@￥#@…”
Nakagawa, whose face was completely covered by a veil, also raised his hand.
"The little... the Japanese guy said he wants to go with you guys too..."
Yan Xiaowei fulfilled his duty as a translator, but he didn't call Nakagawa by his name; instead, he called him "little Japanese," because deep down, Yan Xiaowei didn't want to go back to that place.
"Sir, I think... if you want to go, you should at least let us know who you are, right?"
After hearing Yan Xiaowei's words, Zhuang Rui looked at Nakagawa. Although he knew that Nakagawa was Japanese, he had never seen his face since he met him. Zhuang Rui's request was not unreasonable.
After Yan Xiaowei translated Zhuang Rui's words, Zhongchuan hesitated for a moment, then removed his veil, bowed deeply to Zhuang Rui, and said, "I'm sorry, I apologize for the unpleasantness before, please forgive me..."
Having come this far, Nakagawa would be extremely unwilling to be excluded from this expedition, so he humbled himself and apologized for his previous mistakes.
"It's you?"
"It's you again, you little brat! Damn, you're like a persistent ghost..."
Upon seeing Nakagawa's appearance, Zhuang Rui and the others exclaimed in surprise. It was truly a case of "enemies meeting again," as they had encountered this Japanese man one after another from Xi'an to the desert.
"I am so sorry, please forgive me. My father disappeared in this desert, so... I must follow you all to conquer this desert..."
Nakagawa bowed again at a ninety-degree angle. He was even more frustrated than Zhuang Rui and the others. He had heard that there were many Chinese people, but why did he keep running into the same group of people?
"Your father disappeared here? What happened?"
Zhuang Rui was unaware of this past event and was taken aback upon hearing it.
Yan, who had already heard the story, immediately explained it to Zhuang Rui and the others, exaggerating the facts in his words, hoping to dissuade Zhuang Rui from going to that quicksand area.
"So it turns out that the person who hired the people in our town back then was your father..."
After hearing the whole story, Mengzi looked at Zhongchuan with some hostility. This town was so small, and many families were related. Among those who died in the desert back then was one of Mengzi's cousins.
"I am truly sorry. I will make compensation to those who died in the accident back then, and I hope you can forgive me..."
After hearing Yan Xiaowei's translation, Zhongchuan bowed to Mengzi again, his attitude very sincere, which made Mengzi unable to lash out.
Seeing Zhongchuan bowing and apologizing everywhere, Zhuang Rui frowned and looked at Translator Yan, saying, "Ask him what his father came to China for back then..."
Yan Xiaowei nodded. He could tell that Zhuang Rui was the leader of the team. After talking with Zhongchuan for a while, he said to Zhuang Rui, "He said that his father was an explorer who wanted to cross this desert to reach the northern Gobi, but he never expected to die here..."
"Explorer?"
Zhuang Rui smiled knowingly. He calculated the time and concluded that when Lao Zhongchuan came to China, it must have been around the time when the two countries had just established diplomatic relations and people-to-people exchanges had just begun. Why did he rush to this godforsaken place? Was it just for exploration?
"Alright, let him come along, but I also hope he keeps his promise and gives some compensation to the descendants of those who died in the disaster when he gets back to the town..."
Zhuang Rui nodded and agreed to Nakagawa's request. He wanted to see why this Japanese man, who had a rather "connection" with them, and his son had come to this desert alone for two generations.
"Thank you, thank you. I will definitely compensate those who died with my father back then..."
Nakagawa bowed again, his eyes gleaming with joy. He was afraid of being excluded by Zhuang Rui and the others, which would make this trip to China fruitless.
Seeing this, Erdan and the translator Yan had no choice but to follow the group back to that forbidden zone. After resting for a while, the group turned around and followed the camel tracks they had come from. ...
"This is it, Xiao Zhuang. The camels can't go down, because once they fall into the quicksand, they'll struggle endlessly..."
More than two hours later, the group returned to the sand dune. Looking at the silent sand surface more than a hundred meters ahead, Erdan and the others were filled with uncertainty and fear.
"Alright, Professor Man, it's getting late. Let's grab something to eat and set up the tents first..."
Holding the binoculars, Zhuang Rui could clearly see the footprints left by the two camels and the place swallowed by quicksand. He could now imagine the feelings of Erdan and the others who watched helplessly as the camels suffered a catastrophic disaster.