Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 44 Living Map

Hu Ming will keep three of them for his brothers and give the other two to them.

Just then, the fat man arrived at some point and said to Yang Xueli and Professor Chen, "This time, there won't be any help from our soldiers. You'll all have to rely on yourselves."

Everyone nodded after hearing this.

The next day at noon...

"It's a real honor for such a distinguished professor to come to our small town! Why don't you check into the guesthouse first? We'll do our best to help you if you need anything."

The official in charge of receiving Professor Chen in Bosten Lake Town, MF County, smiled and said, "If there's anything we need to help with, we'll definitely give you the green light!"

"We urgently need a guide!" Hu Bayi bluntly stated his request.

“No, we need the most experienced ones, and we need to leave immediately!” Shirley Yang added.

"Who are these two?" the cadre called Section Chief Zhao asked Professor Chen.

"This is our team leader, Comrade Hu Bayi."

"This is Miss Yang, the funder of our archaeological expedition!"

Upon hearing that the two speakers held significant positions, Section Chief Zhao immediately approached them with a beaming smile and shook their hands.

"Who in town has experience going into the desert?" Hu Bayi asked.

"The most experienced guide...that might be a bit much." Section Chief Zhang's expression was somewhat troubled.

"Yes! Section Chief Zhao, it's Anliman! He's a walking map of the desert, everyone in town knows him. That old man is amazing, and he's also a great camel herder!"

Section Chief Zhao remained silent, but a young man beside him recommended, "Even the kids in our town know that you need three things to bring when going into the desert: a water camel and an Anliman!"

Hu Bayi and Hu Ming exchanged a glance and nodded.

"Isn't this the person we've been looking for?!" the fat man exclaimed.

“This person is very hard to find; we haven’t seen him for more than half a month.”

"What's this person's name?" Hu Ming asked, frowning.

"We don't really know this person's real name. We all call him Anliman, which means 'living map of the desert' in Uyghur."

"What's the fastest way to find him?" Yang Xueli asked.

"Let's go to the police station!" Hu Bayi didn't want to waste time and directly told the two men to take them to the police station to find An Liman. The group then went to the only police station in town.

"The Anliman you're looking for is right here!" Anliman is a celebrity in this small town. As soon as the director heard the name Anliman, he immediately knew who it was.

From the introduction, I learned that Anli is quite quick-witted.

In recent years, with the reform and opening up, many foreigners have come to visit them. Anliman has made a lot of money by working as a guide for foreigners.

Just a few days ago, Amway took a group of foreigners on a desert trip, but returned halfway through the trip, while the foreigners disappeared without a trace.

So the government had to intervene, but when asked, the old man Anliman knew nothing. Left with no other option, they had to detain him and his camel.

"Director Wang, is this old man reliable?" the fat man asked.

"I guess they couldn't agree on a price and left the person in the desert," Director Wang Bawan shrugged.

Hu Ming remained silent beside Director Wang, but he knew that these so-called foreigners hadn't been abandoned in the desert by Anliman; they had all died there. And so, Hu Ming and the others were led to a small room.

Inside, old man Anliman was making some strange prayer.

“Brother, we are an archaeological team, and we hope you can lead us into the desert and hire you as our guide,” Professor Chen said politely to An Liman.

"Go into the desert?" After figuring out the situation, Anliman didn't pay much attention to the others. In his eyes, only money mattered.

"As long as you're willing to help us, no amount of money is a problem," Yang Xueli said directly.

Upon hearing this, Anliman's expression changed. He also glanced at Yang Xueli. Just from her clothes, Anliman could tell that this person was not short of money.

At this moment, Hu Bayi said to Hu Ming beside him, "Why are all those camels outside so thin, just skin and bones!"

Anliman stood up and said to Director Wang Bawan, "Wang Bawan, what did you do to my camel?..."

The fat man didn't understand at first and said, "Bastard?"

“It’s Wang Ba Wan!” Hu Ming said, glancing at the fat man.

Just as Wang Bawan and Anliman finished arguing, Anliman looked at Yang Xueli and continued, "Wang Bawan, if I take them into the desert, can you give me back all the camels?"

“Of course I’ll return them to you. Without camels, how will you lead them into the desert?” Wang Bawan was naturally eager to cooperate with the country’s call.

Director Wang released him on the spot.

(End of this chapter)