Tomb raiding: Trying to become a little painter

"What did you say?"

"Wu Xie, what did you see?"

Attracted by Wu Xie's words, Xie Yuchen quickly turned his head to ask.

Wu Xie did not disappoint Xie Yuchen, and quickly pointed to the spot where the fallen camel met the sand.

"Little Flower, look! Where the camel and that guy are, isn't something jumping onto them and then crawling into their clothes...?"

Wu Xie began to tell Xie Yuchen about his discovery, mentioning that the insects he saw seemed to be the man-eating sand worms he had learned about before…

"Wu Xie, step back! Fatty too! Let's get away! Those sandworms Wu Xie mentioned must be creatures that don't eat human skin but eat internal organs!"

Sitting on the camel's back, Xie Yuchen's eyes were already on high alert. He called out to Wu Xie and Fatty Wang, waving his hands to signal the three of them to move away...

Fatty Wang, who was standing next to him, was completely stunned. He was fat and his eyesight wasn't particularly good, but it wasn't terrible either.

Following behind Wu Xie, he initially thought that the person and the camel had suffered heatstroke or something. However, upon hearing that there was such a big scoop, he immediately turned his head in shock to look at the scene of the incident, staring at it with eyes wide open, as if he also wanted to see what kind of insect was so powerful.

With a yellowish-brown body and a brown head, a long, soft, wriggling worm emerges from the sand and gravel, leaping with astonishing force directly at the camel's body before disappearing into its yellowish fur.

During the time everyone was observing, which was about five or six minutes, a tall camel began to shrivel up before their eyes. At first, the camel's belly gradually shrank, and then its head, thighs, and other parts began to wrinkle. Its protruding eye sockets and teeth expressed the series of tragic events that this camel had suffered before its death.

The tattered camel hide had several large holes bitten into it, allowing onlookers to see bloodied worms inside…

The man lying on the other side was one of the men the Huo family had recruited from the underworld. The rule in the underworld is that everyone looks out for themselves, so few people present were saddened. They all saw the man quickly become shriveled up, just like a camel, and they also saw the fleshy worms crawling out of his mouth.

With the matter right before their eyes, Wu Xie and his companions didn't lower their voices while chatting, and those who were listening naturally overheard what they were saying.

Huo Youxue had already learned the whole story from her men. She glanced at the man-eating insects with disgust and began to order her men to retreat. She left a few men behind, who took out muskets and aimed them at the insects under the sand, while others held grenades ready to be thrown at any time.

The plan was to kill some of the insects hiding under the sand after the grenades were blown up, giving them some time to move on.

Sizzle...

Sizzle...

Bang! Bang! Bang....

Rotten, stench-filled clumps mixed with yellow sand rained down from the sky, yellow and white debris scattering in all directions with each explosion. Seeing this, everyone assumed that everything hidden in the sand would be dead, but then, suddenly, the few remaining men holding flamethrowers began to convulse...

"Look at them! And those camels!!"

"Team leader, let's retreat! Those bugs don't seem to be afraid of fire! Qiangzi and the others are doomed, we have to get out of here!"

At this moment, one of Huo Youxue's trusted confidants, who had followed Huo Youxue for a long time, suddenly saw the sand worms jumping out of the gravel in front of several convulsing workers who were about to collapse. He quickly approached Huo Youxue with his camel belly between his legs and said urgently.

"withdraw!"

"Come on!"

Huo Youxue didn't bring many people this time; they were all people she had personally recruited. Her family didn't provide any support, and the same was true for the other two leaders who were also leading the training.

So, despite Huo Youxue's stern demeanor, she was very attentive to her people in terms of supplies and medical care. This was all to ensure their safety. However, unexpectedly, they lost three people before even seeing a glimpse of the oasis in the desert…

Da da da…

Da da da…

The sound of camels clattering on the sand echoed in the desert. After leaving their previous location, Qin Henian and his group did not follow in the footsteps of their predecessors. Instead, they found a sheltered slope, tied all the remaining camels together, and sat around them.

"Brother Wu Xie, I just heard you call those insects sand worms. I've never heard of them before."

Huo Youxue was sitting on the sand, with Wu Xie and the others sitting next to her. It was their break time, and Huo Youxue asked a question.

"Sister Xue, those insects that just crawled out from under the sand are called sand worms, also known as sand bugs. They are a type of man-eating insect that is not commonly found in ancient tombs. It was quite troublesome to cultivate these insects in ancient times, so they were usually only found in large tombs such as royal tombs and imperial mausoleums. Even now, many of us tomb raiders can't recognize them!"

"I saw this in an ancient book. According to the records, these sand worms are not afraid of fire but only of water, so they usually live in tombs where there is no water."

After recognizing the insect that had jumped out of the sand earlier, Wu Xie mentally analyzed its weaknesses, thus confirming that the path they had taken was correct.

Since there are already sand worms here, what does that mean...? It can only mean that there really is a large tomb deep in this desert!!

"A tomb without water... does that mean we brothers aren't far from the great tomb we're looking for? Right?"

When Fatty Wang heard what Wu Xie said, he immediately became excited. It was worth all the suffering he had endured in the desert!

"uncertain!"

Xie Yuchen glanced at Wang Pangzi's excited expression and snapped him out of his daze with a single sentence. Then his expression froze.

“I know a little about sand worms, and they do mostly live in dry ancient tombs, but don’t forget where you are?”

"This is a desert! Dry areas are everywhere in the vast desert, so what you said about it being close to the ancient tomb isn't entirely accurate, Fatty. Even if these sand worms were originally supposed to live in the tomb, after years of reproduction, it's not unreasonable for them to have moved out and live in the desert... let alone a desert oasis..."

What if it rains in the oasis?

What if the insect eggs drift away? If...it's too far in the future, and there are too many unforeseen circumstances...

Xie Yuchen's voice was deep and his words were conventional, essentially a hypothetical scenario...

"Xiaohua is right. Sandworms are afraid of water but not fire. We must stay away from them next time we encounter them. After all, water resources are scarce in the desert, and no matter how much water we bring, it won't be enough!"

Wu Xie agreed with Xie Yuchen's words and casually suggested taking a detour.