The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Chapter 58 Trek
Flying in such wind and rain not only greatly reduced their flight speed, but also increased their energy consumption by several times the normal level.

At this rate, it's almost certain they won't be able to fly directly to the wind farm.

As Yu Qing had predicted, the situation was exactly as they had anticipated. By the time they flew over the stormy area, they only had enough energy left to fly another ten kilometers, and they were still seventy-three kilometers away from the wind-receiving platform.

They had to land in the desert immediately. This unexpected turn of events weighed heavily on everyone's minds.

This meant they had to walk 73 kilometers to reach the storm surge platform.

The humanoids are not better than humans at walking in the desert; they are simply not afraid of drought and heat.

They could only travel at a speed of 6 kilometers per hour in the desert, and it would take them about 12 hours to cover the 73 kilometers.

They took all their luggage from the car, which was carried in backpacks by four people. Yu Qing was carried by Yao Dan.

Yu Qing carried about five days' worth of food and water with him. And so they began their long journey.

However, Yu Qing underestimated the severity of the desert weather.

Around 2 PM, the sun shone on him like a fireball, and the air temperature reached as high as 70°C.

If he hadn't been wearing an air-conditioned suit, Yu Qing might have turned into dried human flesh in minutes.

However, the air conditioner could not handle such a high temperature, and his body still had to endure a high temperature of about 50°C.

Having just been inside a car at 22°C, the drastic temperature change was too much for his body to handle, causing him to break out in a sweat and begin to lose consciousness.

Besides constantly drinking water to replenish his body fluids, he had no other way to combat the high temperature.

But we can't keep wasting such precious water like this.

But in less than two hours, he had almost finished all of his five days' worth of drinking water. When only about half a cup of water remained, he realized that this might be his last chance to decide whether he lived or died, and that's when he stopped.

But if he doesn't drink water now, he'll die.

So he said weakly to Yaodan, "This won't do. We can only continue our journey after the temperature drops at night. We need to find a shady place to hide from the sun."

In this vast desert, barren and devoid of both plants and buildings, where can one find such a place?
"Find a high sand dune, dig a big pit at the foot of the shady side of the dune, and put me in there to test it out."

"Will this work? Will it be okay?"

But now they were desperate and grasping at straws. Yao Dan and the others worked together and, following Yu Qing's instructions, soon dug a pit nearly 2 meters deep.

But they still dared not put Yu Qing in. They were worried that a sudden landslide would bury him, and there would be no time to rescue him.

Yu Qing said, "I just looked at several sand dunes around here. The slope on our side is gentle, while the slope on the other side is very steep. I think the sand dunes should be moving to the other side and won't slide down towards us."

After Yu Qing actually sat down in the pit, even though he had avoided the direct sunlight, he found it was still unusually hot and stuffy.

They had to take turns lowering their own body temperature and hold Yu Qing to help him cool down.

This is not a long-term solution, as they also need to conserve some energy to help him out of the desert.

At this point, Yao Dan tried to dig a deeper pit to find water, which would both cool him down and solve his drinking water problem.

But this is destined to be a fruitless and wasteful endeavor.

Yu Qing said, "Instead of acting blindly, let's look for signs of animals nearby. If those signs all point in a certain direction, we might find a natural water source there if we're lucky." Fu Rong volunteered to do it with Yan'er.

The remaining three, Chang'e and Daji, were busy. Daji held Yu Qing in her arms, wiping the sweat from his forehead and cooling him down, while Chang'e fanned him with her own clothes.

Yao Dan then tried to extract water from the sand using his helmet via condensation, but it didn't seem to be easy to succeed, and it would take a lot of time, which was not a quick fix.

Fortunately, more than an hour later, Yan'er ran back. Based on several animal droppings and what looked like snake tracks, they actually found a small pond.

Upon hearing this, Daji, carrying Yuqing, ran towards that direction under Yan'er's guidance.

Chang'e and Yao Dan picked up their luggage, carrying two more bags in their hands, and chased after them.

When Yu Qing saw the water, he broke free from Daji's embrace and plunged into it.

He submerged himself completely in the water and refused to come up for more than a minute, which frightened Daji so much that she quickly lifted his head out of the water.

Actually, he had already muddied the water, but he didn't care and drank it down until he let out a burp, then he stopped.

"Damn it, normally you can't drink water like this, or that kind of water is unsanitary. But at this time of year, even horse urine smells good."

Everyone laughed happily upon hearing this.

At this moment, Yu Qing felt extremely at ease. In fact, the ambient temperature was not low; he was just gradually getting used to it.

Hibiscus began filling all the empty containers with water.

Perhaps terrified by the anxiety of running out of water, they even soaked all their clothes to increase the amount of water they could carry.

Of course, this was a very foolish thing to do, and they would find out later.

They chatted and laughed around the pool, the oppressive gloom from before completely gone.

However, Yan'er still said something that really spoiled the mood.

She said, "There shouldn't be any strange monsters here, right?"

Yu Qing was afraid of this, and when Yan'er exposed it, he panicked and cursed, "You jinx! I think you're a monster with big hands!"

Although Yu Qing felt that the living conditions here were too poor and there shouldn't be any unusual animals invading, some shadows from his past experiences still lingered, so he dove twice more and hurriedly returned to the sand.

At this moment, the sunset dyed half the sky red, and the sun looked like a huge red plate placed on the horizon, while the children looked like a few black sesame seeds scattered outside the plate.

Just moments ago it was unbearably hot, but now a slight coolness suddenly comes to mind.

Without the mountains to block it, the sun disappeared unceremoniously below the horizon.

Moreover, the desert evening disappears very quickly, and the temperature drops rapidly. Yu Qing urged everyone to set off immediately and try to get out of the desert and reach Shoufengtai before dawn.

However, the darkness of the desert filled Yu Qing with immense fear. Even with Yao Dan and the others guarding him, he couldn't shake off that indescribable unease.

Yu Qing took out a spirit rhinoceros collar, turned on its light-emitting function, and put it around Erlang's neck so that Erlang could walk in front and light the way for everyone.

Although Yao Dan and the others all have night vision and don't need anything to light their way, Yu Qing always feels more at ease when there is light on the road.

(End of this chapter)