Siheyuan, don't yell at me

After a delicious roasted whole lamb, the mental outlook of everyone in the camp improved greatly.

Even those old men with poor appetite can eat half a pound of mutton, not to mention big-bellied men like He Daqing.

The bighorn sheep weighing less than 100 kilograms was eaten up in less than half a day.

Everyone gathered around the fire, chatting and laughing, talking about all kinds of interesting things.

Especially He Daqing, a hero who participated in the Korean War and made great contributions, is the object of everyone's admiration.

Faced with everyone's questions, He Daqing was in high spirits, telling dirty jokes one after another, which made several female members of the expedition team so embarrassed that they returned to their tents early.

Early the next morning, the sky was slightly bright.

Everyone in the camp began to get busy.

After a whole day of rest, everyone's condition has recovered a little.

Of the three original guides of the caravan, one, except the one who rebelled, was also captured and interrogated.

There is only one guide left, with a clean record.

The convoy drove towards its destination for half a day.

A huge lake suddenly appeared outside the sky full of yellow sand.

The emerald green lake water creates ripples in the breeze.

At this time, Lop Nur was not completely dry, and it could even be said to be quite large. At least as far as the eye could see, one could not see the edge of the lake.

But apart from the turquoise water, the two banks are almost white and there is no life at all.

As the amount of water in Lop Nur Lake decreases dramatically, the salt content of the lake water is even higher than that of ordinary seawater.

The shore is covered with layers of white salt crystals and sand shells mixed together, just like psoriasis, which makes people get goose bumps.

It was half past ten, the sun had become very scorching, and the convoy stopped behind a mound.

The members of the scientific expedition team began to get busy. Some went to the lake to take water samples, some dug everywhere with small hoes, and some took out equipment to do address surveying.

Although He Daqing considers himself a cultured person, these things do involve his blind spots in knowledge.

He Daqing, who had nothing to do, found a slightly flat place, spread out his bedding, and lay down with his eyes closed.

Paul, wearing a mask, walked to He Daqing, spread out a roll of children's bedding, and lay down on it.

Paul narrowed his eyes and said:

"He Daqing, I heard that the Flame Vodka was produced by you?"

"Ok!"

"Don't you have two bottles with you?"

"no!"

"He Daqing, no matter what, I, Paul, am now a deputy ministerial-level cadre.

Can you please give me, Paul, the respect I deserve?"

"cannot!

Just say what you want to say, don't talk about useless things."

Paul turned sideways and looked at He Daqing.

"He Daqing, do you know how popular Flame Vodka is in the Soviet Union?"

"I know, what's the matter?

Do you still want to incite me to rebel?

I advise you to put away those little thoughts, otherwise I will have to spend more energy to beat you.

Your current mission is to find the legendary uranium mine. Everything else is not your concern.

In this damn place called Lop Nur, if you leave the scientific expedition team, you old thing won’t survive for more than a day…”

He Daqing crossed his legs and warned Paul calmly to prevent him from having any inappropriate thoughts.

My career is booming, how could I possibly defect to those old Russians in the Soviet Union?

Although Maomei is pretty, she is also slutty and smelly. It's okay to try her occasionally, but playing with her every day is really disgusting.

Paul tried a few times, but seeing that He Daqing was unmoved, he gave up the idea.

He Daqing was right. In this damn place, Paul might not be able to survive a day alone.

Even if he encountered a wild wolf, it would kill the dwarf Paul.

Paul sighed and said:

"According to the records of the Western joint scientific expedition team at the time, the route was not complicated and it was enough to just go around the lake.

But the lake is now less than one-fifth of its original size; the topography has changed so much!

It is not easy to find the potash and uranium mines recorded in the documents at that time."

"Okay, don't tell me this, I'm going to sleep for a while..."

For the next two days, the convoy traveled around the lake, stopping and starting, without too many accidents.

After all, these days, Lop Nur's water resources have not been completely exhausted.

Although most of them are saltwater lakes, the occasional small oasis is enough for the group to replenish their daily necessities.

In addition, He Daqing would occasionally get some rare protected animals to eat, so he lived a pretty comfortable life.

It's just that the sun is too strong, and the people who haven't had much sun exposure are inexplicably darker than each other.

He Daqing also changed from a fat white man to a dark-skinned man.

In order to fit in, He Daqing didn't wash or shave.

At the age of thirty, one has already experienced the vicissitudes of a man in his fifties or sixties.

The convoy circled the lake and changed its original eastward route to northward.

As one moves away from the lake, land desertification becomes more and more serious.

The vehicle can no longer drive normally and will sink into the sand if you are not careful.

Behind an unnamed sand dune, the entire scientific expedition team settled down.

The reason for stationing here is that there is a small puddle under the exposed rocks of the sand dunes.

The coming days will be the real test for the scientific expedition team.

The car could no longer be driven, so the only option was to explore on foot, which was definitely a daunting test for those elderly professors.

Early in the morning, before dawn, He Daqing, Professor Wu, Paul and his group headed northwest.

There were two other teams, one heading due north and the other heading northeast.

There were about six or seven people in one team, and the remaining six who were in poor physical condition stayed in the camp.

Everyone agreed that no matter whether they had any harvest or not, they had to return to the camp before midnight.

Otherwise, even if an accident occurs, others will immediately start search and rescue.

He Daqing and his group walked and stopped many times, but they didn't find anything for half a day, not even a sand dune to block the sun.

The few of them walked on with gritted teeth, and soon, old man Paul fell down.

Under the direct sunlight, everyone could only drink cold water to make up for the lack of sweating.

After a short while, most people had drunk half of the three bottles of water they brought.

Fortunately, there is always a way out. After climbing over a shallow sand dune, a series of earth mounds suddenly appeared before everyone's eyes.

He Daqing lifted up the little old man Paul on his back and spoke loudly to cheer everyone up.

"Did you see the front?

There is a shaded area there, and it seems to be a wall or something like that, maybe someone lives there.

Just hold on, we'll be there in half an hour at most."

Everyone looked at the mound in the distance, and the tension in their hearts finally relaxed.