Versatile Mage: Undying Fire

Chapter 213 Sandstorm
This place must have been hit by a severe wind, after all, the tent was torn into pieces. There were also some water bags and dried food scattered around it, which were often used by hunters when they went out. It was estimated that someone had rested here not long ago.

Of course, there is a possibility that they were swept here by a strong sandstorm, and the camp of those people may actually be a long distance away from here.

However, Lin Ran can now be sure that this group of African students may have stayed here. They should have lost contact a day and a half ago. If they still have some brains, they should not have gone too far.

"There's only this broken tent. No other clues have been found yet. I hope this is enough. Otherwise, when their real rescue team comes, they may not even find the broken tent." Lin Ran picked up the green tents and propped them up with tent sticks, and then managed to make them into a green flag.

After making this mark, Lin Ran started to return. What puzzled him was that he originally thought Mo Fan should be at the six o'clock position, but the hat that was rolled up from time to time was at the twelve o'clock position. This was a deviation of 180 degrees. It was really too exaggerated. If he had just walked based on his intuition, he would have walked in the opposite direction.

After returning to Mo Fan's side, he looked at Lin Ran and said, "This desert maze seems a bit strange."

"Not only that, it's simply insane! Even someone like me with such a good sense of direction has never been able to lock on to the correct location once." Lin Ran couldn't help but say.

"Then let's go back to Mu Ningxue first." Mo Fan said.

Mu Ningxue also kept releasing the signal. When Mo Fan got here, he could quickly see the light magic signal released by Mu Ningxue one kilometer away.

Once you find Mu Ningxue, you can see Mu Nujiao.

The returning team is gradually growing.

“Let’s go. As long as we get to Zhao Manyan’s place, we should be able to see Nan Jue. To be honest, I don’t want to stay in this damn place any longer. I feel like Jiang Yu in front of me is constantly changing positions.” Mo Fan said.

"I feel the same way, but none of us have moved." Jiang Shaoxu couldn't help but nodded.

“Why is there no signal from Nanjue yet? Didn’t we agree that there would be a signal every five minutes?” Jiang Yu asked.

It has been five minutes since everyone arrived at Zhao Manyan's location, so they should have received Nanjue's signal. However, Nanjue, who is now outside the maze, has not responded at all.

“Come to think of it, it’s already been ten minutes…” Zhao Manyan couldn’t help but mutter.

He had just said this casually. After all, from his current position, he was only a little over a kilometer into the desert maze. Even without Nanjue, he could rely on his senses to walk out of the desert maze. But now that Nanjue did not follow the agreed signal that everyone strictly abided by, it made people a little uneasy!

Everyone continued to wait for Zhao Manyan, but after fifteen minutes, Nan Jue still had no reaction!

"Is she asleep?"

“Nanjue would never make such a childish mistake. Something might have happened!” Mo Fan said with certainty.

Nan Jue and Ai Jiangtu both came from the military, and they were very strict in observing discipline. They had agreed to release a signal every five minutes, so they would not be off by even half a second.

There has been no signal for fifteen minutes now, which means she is probably in some trouble!
"Then let's go over and take a look. Although this is on the outskirts of the Sahara, there are still scary things here." Jiang Shaoxu said.

Several people nodded and immediately ran towards Nan Jue.

After they ran about 300 to 400 meters, Mo Fan noticed that Jiang Shaoxu was still standing there without moving. This puzzled Mo Fan, so he turned around and shouted at Jiang Shaoxu, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and leave!"

"Look ahead, do you see yellow sand or red sand?" Jiang Shaoxu suddenly used the voice of his heart to convey to everyone's ears.

Jiang Shaoxu's reminder made everyone pay attention to the color of the sand.

Lin Ran looked forward. In front of him was an extremely flat sandy land, just like a peaceful lake illuminated by the golden and orange sunset. A little further away was a single hill. Lin Ran vaguely remembered that they had walked past this hill when they walked from Jiang Yu's position to Zhao Manyan's position! !

"These are deep yellow sands... Oh my god, we went in the wrong direction!" Jiang Yu shouted.

“That’s right. We came from this direction before. I still remember Nan Jue was here. I paid special attention to the signal last time.” Zhao Manyan said confidently.

“Then fly to a high place and take a look.” Mo Fan suddenly said.

Lin Ran also nodded.

"Okay." Zhao Manyan quickly summoned the Winged Magic Tool and flew to a higher place. Then he looked down at the sand from above. The entire deep yellow color made Zhao Manyan feel cold!
At this height, he could already see several kilometers away, but there was no trace of Nanjue? ?

Not being able to see Nanjue was fine, but the most terrifying thing was that the sand within a few kilometers was all red! !

Zhao Manyan had not moved at all. He was only one kilometer away from Nanjue, who was outside the desert maze. Logically, there should always be a direction to get out of the desert maze, but now there is no way! !

After falling from the sky, Zhao Manyan's face turned grim.

“Nan Jue is missing…” Zhao Manyan said.

Before everyone could panic, Zhao Manyan continued, "Just now I looked down from a high place and found that the area within a few kilometers here is all red sand. It seems that we have completely fallen into the desert maze!"

Zhao Manyan's words made everyone's heart sink. Jiang Yu was a little unconvinced so he called out Ye Luosha, who had an excellent sense of direction, to identify the direction.

But in the end, Ye Luosha returned empty-handed!

"So... where are we now??"

"We must be lost. If people outside the maze don't give us directions, we won't be able to find a way out. It's not a matter of just choosing one of the four directions. As long as we don't have very obvious signs, we will definitely get lost." Mu Ningxue said.

"Why is this place so evil?"

"Stop talking, I'm getting goosebumps now."

Mo Fan suddenly turned his head and glanced at Jiang Shaoxu's position.

Jiang Shaoxu hadn't moved yet. Fortunately, Jiang Shaoxu had been careful and stayed where Zhao Manyan had been when they went to look for Nanjue. In other words, Jiang Shaoxu's location was the closest to the entrance and exit of the Maze. As long as they returned there, they wouldn't go deeper and deeper.

The most terrifying thing about being lost is that even if you move forward, you can't tell whether you are moving backward. If you think this road is wrong, you want to go back to a more reliable place before, but you find that you can't find anything, and the deviation is getting bigger and bigger... Several people hurriedly returned to Jiang Shaoxu's position, and from the expressions on their faces, you can see an incomprehensible panic and uneasiness.

Where is Nan Jue going now? Why didn’t she stay outside to give everyone guidance signals? They were lined up in a long dragon formation. Once the dragon’s tail disappeared, they would be completely trapped in this desert maze.

Also, what should they do now? Should they choose a direction and move forward, or just stay where they are?

Afterwards, Zhao Manyan still did not give up. He began to fly into the air according to the position where he was standing. He wanted to find the exit of the maze by following the basic principle of standing high and far.

However, what he saw was still red sand. No matter how far he looked, he always saw sand with a hint of red. Then he fell from the sky, and the location he landed was greatly different from before. If Jiang Shaoxu had not been maintaining the signal, Zhao Manyan might have been lost.

“Damn it! Even the air is a maze. I was clearly flying vertically upwards, but when I came down I was still 300 meters off course.” Zhao Manyan cursed madly.

"Why don't you fly higher and take a look." Jiang Yu suggested.

"I think we should give up. If it's the same in the air, then Zhao Manyan will also get lost if he flies high enough. If it works in the air, then there won't be so many mages who step in here and never leave." Jiang Shaoxu said.

The higher Zhao Manyan flew, the greater the deviation from his previous position would be. If he wanted to have a panoramic view of the dozens of kilometers of desert, it would mean that Zhao Manyan would most likely not be in the same place after landing.

"Let's set up the tent and wait for rescue." Mo Fan said very directly.

"It seems that this is the only way." Lin Ran said.

"Well, luckily we are not too far from the exit, so if they use our previous method to search, they should be able to find us quickly." Jiang Shaoxu said.

"Well, maybe we can use the same method as before to explore the surroundings. Let's use Zhao Manyan's position as the center and form a long dragon formation. If we are indeed not far from the exit, then we will definitely be able to find it," Jiang Yu suggested.

“Then let’s give it a try. We can also set up the tent first…” Mo Fan nodded and said.

Afterwards, everyone followed Jiang Yu's advice and set up a smaller dragon formation.

Unfortunately, they still couldn't see the exit of the desert maze. Lin Ran even found the green tent flagpole where he had stood in the wind and sand, but he couldn't find Nan Jue and the exit of the desert maze. In other words, if someone was trapped in the desert maze, unless someone marked the exit in advance, they would not be able to get out even if they used the opposite method.

"This desert maze is very related to the chaos system. Give me some time and I'll see if I can find a way to solve it." Jiang Yu said.

Jiang Yu's major is summoning, and his minor is chaos. This department is not very common, just like space magic. Only high-level magicians have a certain probability of awakening it.

This terrifying desert maze was most likely related to chaos, otherwise, theoretically, they would be able to find the exit by using the opposite method.

……

After everyone had set up their tents and realized how terrifying this desert maze was, no one would leave this location. Even if they explored the surroundings, they had to strictly abide by the rules of the chain.

At night, the desert began to become very cold, and going out became a big problem. Nanjue's sudden disappearance also became a matter of great concern to everyone. They didn't know whether she was safe now.

The wind gradually grew stronger at night, and the sand was swept into the air, then hit them fiercely. The small tent could no longer withstand the impact of the strong sand, so Zhao Manyan had to set up a water sky curtain barrier to protect everyone's tents.

In the tent, Lin Ran yawned and looked helplessly at the people crowded around him. Mu Nujiao and Mu Ningxue were leaning on him. Although they were very happy, they felt that something was wrong.

Soon Mo Fan came in from outside. He yawned and said, "It's your turn."

Lin Ran nodded and gently pushed Mu Ningxue and Mu Nujiao away.

He walked out of the tent, and Jiang Shaoxu followed him out soon after. She smiled evilly and said, "It feels good to be hugged by people on both sides, right?"

"It's okay." Lin Ran said happily, then he sat on the sand and looked into the dark distance.

Jiang Shaoxu leaned against Lin Ran and said, "This position is mine now. Let me feel whether it is comfortable or not."

Lin Ran didn't say anything, he just said: "You take a rest, I can watch."

"Wow! Are you just being gentle and considerate to women?" Jiang Shaoxu said happily.

"No, no, no, I just thought that maybe I could do something after you fell asleep."

Lin Ran spoke up.

Jiang Shaoxu pulled up his collar and said, "If you dare to use force on me, I will definitely scream."

Lin Ran glanced at Jiang Shaoxu and said, "I don't need to use force."

The two of them chatted casually like this.

Time passed little by little, and soon Jiang Shaoxu curled up on the sand, leaning against Lin Ran's thighs and fell asleep.

Lin Ran didn't disturb her, she was also very tired today.

However, Lin Ran soon discovered something was wrong, because the wind and sand were getting stronger and stronger. At first he didn't care much, but as time went by, the feeling of the sand hitting his face became more and more painful.

He had no choice but to use Guangyou to form a wall to block the annoying sand.

But Guangyou seemed to be a little bright, so Jiang Shaoxu opened his eyes dazedly and said, "What's wrong? Is it dawn?"

Lin Ran shook his head and said, "It's still night, but the sandstorm is coming."

(End of this chapter)