The atmosphere was thick with tension, a sandstorm imminent. The lively chatter that had filled the group was gone. After walking for over an hour through the Taklamakan Desert, they still hadn't seen the ruined ancient city Old K’rama had spoken of, and the sky was rapidly darkening.

Wang Feifei grew anxious, asking Old K’rama, "How much further? We've been walking so long and haven't even seen city walls yet."

Old K’rama looked utterly bewildered now. "The city should be right nearby. Perhaps a recent wind has buried it."

Hearing this, everyone felt at a loss, and the tension reached an absolute peak.

Suddenly, the sand around them began to whip up. Gusts of fierce wind howled relentlessly, instantly blurring their vision. Young Master Liu immediately realized the storm had begun.

At that moment, Fan Debiao shouted, "It's bad! The storm is kicking up!"

The storm was upon them. Panic seized everyone. Even the camels sensed the danger and grew restless. The scene descended into utter chaos. The ruined ancient city Old K’rama mentioned remained unfound; it looked like they were all doomed.

Amidst the roar of the wind, Young Master Liu faintly heard the sound of someone sobbing. Looking closely, he realized it was Big Guy Wubai, crying from fear. Damn it, he thought, Wubai looks so sturdy, how can his spirit be so fragile?

Fan Debiao cursed at Wubai from the side, "What the hell, you're supposed to be a real man from the Northeast! Whining like this makes you worse than a woman. Look at little sister Lin Miaoke; she’s much braver than you."

At Fan Debiao's words, Young Master Liu turned to look at Lin Miaoke. Though she was trembling slightly from fright, her face showed no trace of terror. He was surprised that this delicate-looking woman possessed such remarkable inner strength—a rare sight indeed.

The wind intensified. Wang Feifei asked K’rama, "Old man, we haven't found the city. What should we do now?"

Old K’rama, surprisingly, wasn't panicking much. He told Wang Feifei, "Comrades, don't be nervous. This is only the precursor to the sandstorm. The real tempest is still a dozen minutes away. If we can find that ancient city within this time, we can shelter."

Hearing this, Young Master Liu felt a flicker of hope. He rode his camel over to Wang Feifei and Old K’rama and said to the old man, "The desert changes completely when a storm hits. If the city is definitely under the sand now, how are we supposed to find it? Even if we find it, it’ll just be rooftops, at best."

As soon as Young Master Liu finished speaking, the wind picked up again. Old K’rama shouted, "Now all we can do is pray that Hu Da didn't bury that city too deep! No matter what, we have to search; we can't just wait here to die!"

Wang Feifei loudly asked K’rama, "Are you absolutely sure the city is nearby?"

Old K’rama replied, "I guaranteed Hu Da that the ancient city is in this vicinity."

Wang Feifei carefully assessed their surroundings, then ordered everyone off their camels. They were to pair up and search, using signal flares to notify the others upon discovery. For safety, no one was to stray too far. If they hadn't found anything in eight minutes, they were to return to the origin point to reassess.

Once Wang Feifei finished organizing them, the pairs split up, moving in different directions.

Due to the wind and sand, visibility was extremely low. Sometimes the wind would suddenly surge, making it impossible to keep one's eyes open.

Young Master Liu and Fan Debiao paired up and headed west. After more than three minutes of searching, they hadn't seen the ancient city, or even a decent dune for that matter.

Fan Debiao cursed, "Damn it, is that old K’rama guy telling the truth or not? This lousy place doesn't look like it ever had an ancient city."

Young Master Liu told him, "I don't think the old man is trying to trick us. If he were sure there was a city here, would he dare bring us? I bet the city he mentioned is buried deep beneath the sand."

Fan Debiao exclaimed, "Buried under the sand? Are you kidding me? Do we have to dig through tons of sand just to survive?"

Young Master Liu replied, "If time allowed, that wouldn't be a bad plan. It’s just that damn time is too short." Saying this, Young Master Liu checked his watch again. Five minutes had already passed since they set out. Time was limited; he couldn't waste more talking with Fan Debiao. They had three minutes left to try their luck.

Suddenly, with a loud thud, Young Master Liu heard a sound. He looked over and saw a flare burning in the northeast direction. Young Master Liu instantly recognized it as a signal flare.

Seeing the flare, Young Master Liu and Fan Debiao were ecstatic. They sprang to life and sprinted toward the northeast. Fan Debiao was shouting with joy.

When Young Master Liu and Fan Debiao arrived, everyone else was already gathered. Looking around, there was no ancient city in sight. The whole group deflated instantly.

Fan Debiao, enraged, started cursing, quickly asking who fired the flare.

Tiao Zi admitted guiltily, "It was me who fired it, but I clearly saw an ancient city ahead."

Old K’rama exclaimed, "Oh, young comrade! You must have seen a mirage! Now this is a huge problem." Panic flickered across Old K’rama's face.

Fan Debiao cursed him furiously, "Damn it, you fire a signal for a hallucination? You’ve gotten us all killed now!"

Seeing Tiao Zi on the verge of a mental collapse, Young Master Liu thought further agitation might push him over the edge, so he told Fan Debiao to stop pressuring him.

The wind grew stronger. Young Master Liu raised his hand to check his watch. If Old K’rama was right, the real, true storm would hit within minutes.

Now, everyone was filled with despair. Wubai had stopped crying and was just sitting on the sand, his eyes wide and vacant.

Seeing that hope was gone, the others slumped, heads down, awaiting death. Old K’rama spread out a blanket, sat cross-legged on it, and closed his eyes, perhaps waiting for Hu Da to guide him to paradise.

Instantly, a violent wind surged, and everything around them became indistinct. The real storm had arrived.

At this moment, Fan Debiao looked nervously at Young Master Liu, trying to say something. But as soon as he opened his mouth, a mouthful of sand rushed in, forcing Fan Debiao to shake his head repeatedly.

Unable to speak, Fan Debiao kept pointing repeatedly to the right. Young Master Liu found this strange and quickly turned to look. Before him stood the crumbling wall of a dilapidated ancient city. Thinking it was another hallucination, he quickly called for Old K’rama to look.

When Old K’rama saw it, he jumped up from his blanket with joy, covered his mouth with his scarf, and shouted, "The city is there! Everyone, run inside quickly!"

With that, he cracked his whip, urging the camel caravan toward the city.

Seeing the ancient city, everyone immediately regained the will to survive. They scrambled up from the ground and charged toward the ruins, rushing inside.

Since they were running downwind toward the city, it took less than a minute for everyone to reach the interior. They huddled behind a crumbling mud wall to shield themselves from the storm's fury.

The storm raged on, and everyone was physically drained, leaning against the wall to rest. Old K’rama, however, took out his prayer rug, knelt upon it, and thanked Hu Da for his protection.

After he finished his devotion, Young Master Liu asked him, "Why did this city suddenly appear after we searched everywhere and couldn't find it?"

Old K’rama replied, "This is Hu Da's blessing upon us. He used the storm to sweep away the sand and reveal this buried city to save us. It seems Hu Da has not forgotten us."

Hearing this, Young Master Liu almost believed that Hu Da had saved them. He shook his head, mocked himself lightly, and leaned against the wall to rest.

Just as Young Master Liu closed his eyes, he heard Sun Li shout nearby, "It's bad! Something's happened!"

Sun Li's exclamation instantly snapped the team out of their relaxed state. Young Master Liu thought, How poor are these people's psychological fortitude? First they cry from fear, then they see illusions, and now another one is shouting that something is wrong. He conceded, however, that it was understandable; these people hadn't experienced as many life-or-death situations as he and Fan Debiao had.

Young Master Liu turned to look and saw Wang Feifei and the others clustered together frantically. Jackson’s head bobbed down toward the ground then lifted again. Because Fan Debiao was blocking the view, Young Master Liu couldn't hear what Jackson was saying, but Wang Feifei was frantically rummaging through the first-aid kit, repeatedly telling everyone to stand clear.

Seeing that something serious had indeed occurred, Young Master Liu got up and walked over. It turned out Wang Zhicai was suffering from severe exhaustion. Jackson was performing CPR on him, while Lin Miaoke was rapidly undoing the buttons on Wang Zhicai's shirt, trying to help him breathe.

Just then, Wang Feifei rushed over with a bottle of medicine. She lifted Wang Zhicai's head onto her lap, forced two pills into his mouth from the bottle, and made him swallow a large amount of water. Moments later, Wang Zhicai slowly regained consciousness, and everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

The storm outside continued to rage, showing no sign of abating. The entire interior was pitch black, visibility zero. The others lay on the ground resting. Unable to sleep, Young Master Liu sat by the wall, lost in thought.