“Brother Zhuang, it’s not like that. You don’t know, when I was very young, some people from the town went there. There were more than ten people, but only two came back. One of them went crazy from fright, saying that there were demons underground that ate them and their camels…”
When Mengzi said these words, his face turned a little pale. These were stories he had heard repeatedly since he was a child. Although Mengzi was brave, he still felt fear in his heart when faced with these mysterious things.
"Are there demons underground? That eat people?"
Zhuang Rui was taken aback for a moment, then his expression turned serious. He turned to Dr. Ren and said, "Senior brother, could what Mengzi is talking about be quicksand in the desert?"
Most people living on the edge of the desert believe that there are demons in the desert. In fact, the demons they are talking about are the quicksand in the desert, which can devour everything. In ancient times, this phenomenon could not be explained by science, so it became the place where people said demons lived.
Quicksand is actually formed when rising groundwater reduces the friction between sand grains, causing the sand to "flow" and thus forming quicksand. Quicksand is extremely dangerous. In 1692, a disaster occurred in Royal Harbor, Jamaica, where an earthquake caused soil liquefaction, resulting in quicksand that ultimately led to the disappearance of one-third of the city and the deaths of two thousand people.
For those living on the edge of the desert, the danger of quicksand is directly manifested in the swallowing of camels and even living people by quicksand. This has led all the residents of the town to avoid places in the desert where quicksand exists, regarding them as a forbidden zone.
"It's quicksand. When my teacher and I came here last time, the people in town mentioned it, but... they didn't mention there was a temple there..."
Dr. Ren nodded. He did know that there was a shifting sand area in this desert near the northern Gobi, but he hadn't heard of any places there for research when he came last time, so he didn't know much about it. You see, they were archaeologists, not geologists.
Mengzi interjected, "Brother Qiangzi, people in town generally don't like to talk about that. If Brother Zhuang hadn't asked, I wouldn't have said anything..."
Qiujiawo is a small town with only a few dozen households. The shortest-lived family has lived there for nearly a hundred years. Many families are related by blood. In the 1970s, more than a dozen young adults died there. This was the biggest tragedy in the town's history, so those who know about it are unwilling to mention it.
Qiangzi had been warned by his elders since childhood to stay away from that place, which is why his face turned so pale when Zhuang Rui suggested going there.
"The presence of quicksand there can only mean that there must be groundwater beneath that sand, or perhaps it was once an oasis that somehow sank beneath the sand. This suggests that people must have lived there before..."
Zhuang Rui began to deduce along the quicksand, becoming more and more excited as he thought about it. Quicksand is generally not very large, and as long as they are careful, they may be able to bypass the quicksand area and enter the temple that Mengzi mentioned to find out more.
Zhuang Rui had a strange feeling. He thought that the Taoist priest Mengzi had mentioned earlier must be the same Taoist priest Wang who had opened up the Library Cave in Dunhuang.
If that's the case, what was Wang Daoshi's motive for going there? These are all things worth exploring. So Zhuang Rui, who was initially uninterested, developed a strong desire to go there. "Of course, people used to live there. I heard from the older generation that in the early years of the Republic of China, people lived all the way from our town to the northern Gobi Desert. Later, for some reason, the desert area suddenly expanded, and the people living there had to move out..."
Mengzi suddenly looked at Zhuang Rui with a start, and said, "Brother Zhuang, I can take you to any place in this desert except for that one, but I really won't go there. If Father finds out, he'll break my legs..."
For someone as forthright as Mengzi to say such a thing, it shows just how much influence that "devil's forbidden zone" had on the people of the town.
Seeing Mengzi's expression, Zhuang Rui knew that if he forced him to go, his brother would probably turn back immediately. After thinking for a moment, Zhuang Rui said, "Alright, Brother Mengzi, let's not go there. Let's walk around the ruins first..."
Going is definitely the right thing to do, but Zhuang Rui needs to first dispel Mengzi's fear of quicksand. Although quicksand in the desert is difficult to spot with the naked eye, as long as you keep a distance and don't walk too fast, there are ways to rescue people who get stuck in quicksand.
Moreover, the quicksand contains underground moisture, which Zhuang Rui can detect through the spiritual energy in his eyes. Therefore, he is quite confident that he can discover the quicksand area in advance and thus avoid it.
Seeing that Zhuang Rui no longer insisted on going to the "Devil's Forbidden Zone," Mengzi breathed a sigh of relief and returned to his previous demeanor, patting his chest and saying, "Okay, as long as you don't go there, you can go to the Gobi Desert if you want. If you're lucky, you might even see wild camels..."
Zhuang Rui was both amused and exasperated. If they were to go to the desert to look for wild camels, that would truly be a waste of their time. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly heard a "clinking" sound in the distance, indicating that more tourists had arrived at the ruins.
Mengzi also heard the camel bells. He stood up, shaded his eyes with his hand, and looked for a while. Then he shouted loudly to the people coming on the camels in the distance, "Hey, Erdan, you're up early enough, but still later than me, haha..."
“Brother Mengzi, I’m not bad either. Besides you, I’m the best guide in town…”
Upon hearing Mengzi's words, the newcomer shouted, and the camel caravan, which had been moving slowly, suddenly started trotting. In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the outer perimeter of the ruins and merged with Zhuang Rui and the others' camel caravan.
Mengzi stepped forward, glanced at the other caravan, frowned, and asked, "Erdan, why did you bring so many camels? Aren't you planning to go back today?"
Upon hearing Mengzi's words, Zhuang Rui and the others realized that the other party's camel caravan had a total of six camels, but only four people were sitting on them. The other two camels, like theirs, were carrying a lot of supplies. It should be noted that this ruin was not far from Zhuangzi, and if they were not going to camp in the desert, there would be no need to carry supplies at all.
"Brother Mengzi, the guests are going to that legendary temple in our town, so I brought two extra camels. That's the only place in this desert I haven't been before, hehe, maybe I'll be the best guide in town from now on..."
Erdan, the leader of the camel caravan, jumped off his camel and casually lifted the veil from his face, revealing a young and confident face. He looked to be about twenty-two or twenty-three years old.
Erdan's words startled Mengzi, who grabbed Erdan and shouted, "What? You...you're going there? Are you crazy?"
Chapter 1101 Professor Man
"Brother Qiangzi, do you really believe what those old guys in town say about feudal superstition?"
Erdan's face showed a hint of resentment. He forcefully broke free from Qiangzi's hand and shouted, "Brother Qiangzi, I checked on the internet. It's not some kind of ghost city at all. It's just a natural quicksand phenomenon. As long as not everyone gets trapped in it at the same time, there's nothing to be afraid of..."
Erdan was more than ten years younger than Qiangzi. After their generation was born, the older generation rarely mentioned the tragedy that happened in the 1970s. Although they knew about it, they heard about it less often, and these people born in the 1980s were also brave and didn't really believe in ghosts and gods.
In addition, in this day and age, even in remote towns like this, the internet is available, allowing people to search for knowledge they didn't know before. As a result, these young people simply didn't take the town's legends seriously.
“Erdan, it’s not what you think. There really are demons there. Uncle Scarface said they didn’t all enter that place at the same time. But the people and camels that got stuck earlier couldn’t be rescued no matter what they tried. Later, Uncle Erlengzi tied a rope around a person and tried to pull him out with the camel. But when they pulled him out, the person’s entire lower body was gone. Uncle Erlengzi was so scared that he went crazy…”
Qiangzi didn't want to see one of the town's young men go to his death, so he tried to persuade him with all his heart. He said that of the dozen or so young men who went out, only two came back. These stories were told by Uncle Scarface. As for the other one, Er Lengzi, he was so frightened that he lost his mind and died a few years after he came back.
By then, Qiangzi was old enough to remember things and still vividly recalled the funerals that took place in every household in the town. Therefore, compared to Erdan, he was more inclined to believe the legend of the devil in the desert.
"That's fake. You can believe what a simpleton says? Scarface was just trying to scare you, he just doesn't want you to go again..."
Upon hearing Qiangzi's words, Erdan's face paled. After all, hearing about such a bloody incident, especially in the place he was about to go, made even the bravest man feel uneasy. He could only try to boost his confidence in this way.
Just when Erdan and Qiangzi were unable to convince each other, one of the people who had come with Erdan got off the camel and looked at Qiangzi, saying, "Sir, what you just said is not about demons eating people. It is a normal geological phenomenon of quicksand. Because quicksand will 'liquefy' when its surface is disturbed, and water has the property of buoyancy, so quicksand is the same."
When a person or other object sinks into quicksand, the rate at which it sinks depends on the object's density. Quicksand typically has a density of 2 grams per milliliter, while a person's density is 1 gram per milliliter. At these densities, a human body submerged in quicksand generally won't be fatal. However, if a person struggles within the quicksand, they will be swallowed up by it…
This person's words stunned everyone present. Even Zhuang Rui only knew that quicksand was a geographical phenomenon, but he couldn't explain it so clearly. He couldn't help but look at the person and ask, "Who are you?"
Because the people Erdan brought were all sitting on camels with their faces covered by veils, Zhuang Rui and the others not only didn't know where these people came from, but they couldn't even tell whether they were men or women.
Even now, only Erdan and the middle-aged man have dismounted from the camel; the other two seem uninterested in the ruins and remain seated on the camel, showing no intention of getting off.
"Hehe, my surname is Man, and I work at Lanzhou Agricultural College. This is my business card..."
The newcomer smiled and lifted the veil covering his face, revealing a weathered face. From the wrinkles around his eyes when he smiled, one could tell that he was at least over forty years old.
"Man Jun? Professor at Lanzhou Agricultural College, Vice Chairman of the National Desertification Control Foundation..."
After looking at the title on the other party's business card, Zhuang Rui was immediately filled with respect. China currently has more than 2.6 million square kilometers of desertified land, which is expanding at a rate of 3,000 square kilometers per year. Combating desertification is a cause that will benefit future generations and deserves great respect.
Furthermore, desertification control work cannot be accomplished by simply sitting in an office and talking; it requires going into the desert and accumulating a great deal of knowledge and skills through practice. From Professor Man's demeanor, one can tell that he is a person who gets things done.
"Professor Man, if what you say is true, then the tragedy of quicksand swallowing up the town's residents wouldn't have happened back then. Perhaps it can be understood that those people struggled and ended up sinking deep into the quicksand. But why is the lower body of the person who was pulled out missing? Could it be that some kind of wild beast lives under the quicksand?"
When Zhuang Rui said this, he was not questioning Professor Man's meaning, but genuinely seeking his advice. Deserts, like the deep sea, are often off-limits to humans, leaving behind many mysteries that science cannot solve. And these mysteries, in turn, attract humans to explore and interpret them.
"Young man, do you know why people who get stuck in quicksand are usually unable to move?"
Professor Man was happy to answer Zhuang Rui's question. Before Zhuang Rui could reply, he continued, "When the sand becomes denser, it sticks to the lower half of a person who has fallen into quicksand, putting a lot of pressure on the body and making it difficult for the person to exert any strength. Even a strongman would find it difficult to pull the trapped person out of the quicksand in one go."
British researchers have conducted calculations and tests showing that if a trapped person's foot were to be pulled out at a speed of one centimeter per second, it would require a force of approximately 100,000 Newtons, roughly equivalent to the force required to lift a medium-sized car.
So unless a crane is available, it's very difficult to pull someone out of quicksand all at once. Of course, if you try to pull them out by force, their body will be torn apart by the powerful force before the quicksand lets go. So I conclude that the person who died at that time was very likely in this situation..."
"Torn off?"
Professor Man's argument surprised Zhuang Rui and the others. They had suspected that there might be some unknown creatures under the quicksand, but they never thought that the force of the sand could tear a living person apart.
"Professor Man, what should you do if someone gets stuck in quicksand?"
Zhuang Rui was covered in a cold sweat. If he had followed his previous method and actually explored that area and gotten stuck in quicksand, the tragedy from decades ago might have repeated itself. Just thinking about the gruesome scene of being decapitated made Zhuang Rui shudder.
Professor Man smiled upon seeing Zhuang Rui and the others, saying, "Don't be so afraid. There is a way to escape quicksand. Those trapped in quicksand must not panic. Gently move your feet to allow water and sand to seep into the vacuum created, relieving pressure on your body and loosening the sand. At the same time, try to spread your limbs as far apart as possible, because the larger the surface area of your body in contact with the sand, the greater the buoyancy. As long as you have enough patience and move gently enough, you can slowly escape..."
Zhuang Rui listened attentively, nodding repeatedly, and carefully memorized every word Professor Man said, afraid of missing a single detail.
He was still a little scared. It's not that you're afraid of not understanding something, it's that you're afraid of having a superficial understanding. Qiangzi didn't understand what quicksand was at all, so he didn't dare to go to that area and therefore didn't suffer any losses. But Zhuang Rui, who thought he knew about quicksand, might have gotten stuck there.
The same principle applies to the antique trade. People who know nothing about antique collecting will not buy anything that looks like an antique, and thus will not be fooled. On the other hand, those who drive the booming development of the antique industry are often people who know a little bit about antiques and think they have a good eye, but they don't know that the items they buy are all fakes.
"Thank you for your guidance, Professor Man. Otherwise, if we had encountered quicksand, we wouldn't even know how we died..."
Zhuang Rui's thanks were sincere. He also realized a principle from this: everyone has their own expertise. Even if there was spiritual energy in his eyes, he was only slightly better than an ordinary person. He would die if he was shot, and he would not be able to fly out if he got stuck in quicksand.
"Well, Qiangzi, did you hear that? Mr. Man is a professor, you know. Even he said so, so everything will be fine..."
Although Erdan, who was standing to the side, did not fully understand what Professor Man was saying, he knew from Zhuang Rui's expression that the other party was convinced, and a smug look appeared on his face.
Qiangzi had always been the best guide in town and earned the most money. But now, Erdan dared to go to areas that Qiangzi wouldn't dare to go, and Qiangzi was even rendered speechless by the experts. Erdan felt that he had surpassed Qiangzi and become the best guide in town.
Moreover, this time the employer said that as long as he could find the temple lost in the desert, he would be given 100,000 RMB in one go. This made Erdan even more excited, his adrenaline was constantly secreting hormones. You know, even if Erdan worked for three years without eating or drinking, he still wouldn't earn 100,000 RMB.
"Professor Man, is this a scientific expedition team? If it's convenient, could we go to the quicksand area together?"
Considering Professor Man's profession, Zhuang Rui naturally assumed they were a scientific expedition team and couldn't help but think of joining them.
You should know that these people who study the desert may not be as familiar with the geographical locations as Mengzi and Erdan, but their research on desert habits is definitely much better than that of these two tour guides.
Chapter 1102 Taking advantage of a crisis
"this……"
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Professor Man's face showed a hint of embarrassment. He glanced back at the camels and said, "Young man, I'm really sorry, I'm not here on official business. I've been hired by a gentleman to search for a lost temple. It's a private adventure..."
Although the salaries of experts and professors in various schools have improved and the old saying that professors are not as well off as those who sell tea eggs is no longer true, experts and professors who truly do academic research still do not earn as much as some senior white-collar workers.
Professor Man's son is currently studying abroad, and the annual expenses are a huge burden. She has to take on some side jobs to support her son's education. Parents' hearts are always full of love and worry.
Looking for a temple?
Zhuang Rui was taken aback upon hearing this. Wasn't this the same purpose as his own? He couldn't help but say, "Professor Man, we are an archaeological team from Peking University. Our purpose in coming to this desert is also to search for the legendary temple from back then. I wonder if you could ask our employer if our two teams could be combined?"
The desert is no longer infested with bandits, but the natural climate is much harsher. It would be safer for the two teams to explore together.
"Okay, I'll go ask..."
Professor Man nodded. He had a good impression of Zhuang Rui, a polite young man. Since they were all doing research at the university, he wanted to travel with Zhuang Rui and the others so that he would have someone to chat with on the way.
After returning to the two camel riders and exchanging a few words, Professor Man's expression turned somewhat grim. He pointed at Zhuang Rui and the others, said a few more words, shook his head, and walked back.
"Young man, I'm sorry, but my employer still wants to conduct this desert expedition alone. I'm really sorry. By the way, here's my business card. Please contact me next time you're in Lanzhou, and we can have a proper chat then..."
As the saying goes, "He who takes money must do his bidding," and Professor Man was helpless because the boss who paid him was unwilling to take Zhuang Rui and his group along. In addition, the price offered by the other party this time was really not low, so he could only apologize to Zhuang Rui.
"Desert exploration? How did the other party know there was a temple in this desert? And why did he refuse his companion's suggestion? What is his real purpose?"
After hearing Professor Man's words, Zhuang Rui had many questions in his mind. However, he and his companions were not police officers and had no right to interfere with other people's behavior. Nevertheless, he was very curious about Professor Man's employer.
Modern tomb raiders are increasingly employing knowledge-based and high-tech methods. Many tomb raiding groups even have experts from academia, explosives experts, and other talents. Therefore, Zhuang Rui was very suspicious that the employer might be using the guise of exploration to conduct geographical surveys before tomb raiding.
"Professor Man, who invited you?" With a question in mind, Zhuang Rui asked Professor Man in a deliberately nonchalant manner.
"He's Japanese. Cough, I almost forgot, that Japanese guy said we can't reveal his whereabouts or his identity. Bro, don't ruin my livelihood..."
Professor Man realized his mistake after he said it, glanced at the two men sitting on Camel Mountain, and whispered, "That Japanese guy seems quite familiar with this terrain, but don't worry, if he's really here to dig up antiques, I definitely won't let him succeed..."
These days, nobody's a fool. Professor Man shared the same suspicions as Zhuang Rui, except that the other party was using the guise of an expedition and was offering high compensation, so Professor Man had no reason to refuse the job.
"Japanese? Both of them?"
After hearing Professor Man's words, Zhuang Rui could almost conclude that the Japanese had no good intentions in coming to this desert.