If Wang Feifei couldn't manage it, she'd have to ask Young Master Liu to persuade the old man. But Young Master Liu had no idea how to persuade anyone; he'd never done such a thing in his life. He glanced at Uncle Diao and the others—a group of masters, especially Clay Figure Zhang. With them around, he was certain he could reach the Golden Ancient City, so he explained the situation clearly to Wang Feifei. Wang Feifei looked at Uncle Diao's group with a flicker of distrust. This distrust wasn't about doubting their ability to find the Golden Ancient City, but rather questioning whether they were good people or bad. However, since Uncle Diao seemed to be the leader, she decided to go along with it for now.

Wang Feifei took out a pen and a notebook, scribbled something down, tore off a page, and handed it to old man Clama, saying, "This is proof. Take it back to the foreman outside; they will give you your commission and the money for a camel team."

Old man Clama took the paper, profusely thanked Wang Feifei, and even wished Hu Da would bless everyone. Finally, Wang Feifei gave him some food and water. They shared a brief farewell, watching old man Clama depart.

The following time was designated for rest. Fan Debiao tuned out the world and immediately fell asleep. Wang Feifei, also quite exhausted—after all, she was a woman, and no matter how strong, she couldn't compare to these strong men—leaned against a tree to rest.

Although Young Master Liu was extremely weary, he wasn't sleepy. Lying in his sleeping bag, he pondered the connection between Bodhisattva Mountain, Zhang Jiao's Tomb, and the desert.

A few who were still energetic automatically volunteered for guard duty. Finding it dreadfully dull, they actually started playing cards on the side. Young Master Liu drifted in and out of sleep, accompanied by their excited chatter, unsure how much time passed before dawn broke.

The daytime weather in the desert was always scorching, but they had to press on. Young Master Liu got up, drank some water, and soon everyone else awoke. They began packing their gear. Once everything was ready, Young Master Liu gathered his thoughts and prepared to set off.

Just then, something astonishing happened to Young Master Liu. Not far away, three SUVs slowly approached the group. Young Master Liu squinted and saw that the driver of the first vehicle was Rat. It seemed Uncle Diao and his men had managed to drive the vehicles right in. He hadn't expected these people to be so capable.

The three vehicles were piled high with sand, looking as though they had just been dug out. Every bump the cars hit caused sand to spill down.

Fan Debiao stared at the SUVs and remarked, "See that? They drove the cars right in. How backward are we sticking to camels!"

In truth, cars had their advantages in the desert, but they were only faster in the outer stages; further in, they were almost useless. Although camels lacked the speed of vehicles, they could reach anywhere.

However, given the group's current situation, having a few SUVs was certainly a boon.

Fan Debiao and Jackson were so thrilled they were practically floating. As soon as the cars stopped, the two rushed toward them wildly. When the doors opened, they were nearly buried in sand.

It took them considerable effort to clear all the sand from the vehicles. Everyone was tired, but they would enjoy easier travel for the next stretch.

The core archaeological team, along with Uncle Diao, Old Wu, and Clay Figure Zhang, shared one vehicle. They joked and laughed inside, though they avoided mentioning their primary objective—after all, the fewer who knew, the better.

Fan Debiao and Jackson eventually grew bored after their initial excitement. Fan Debiao somehow produced a deck of cards and invited Young Master Liu to play cards. Seeing they only had three players, Fan Debiao asked Clay Figure Zhang to join, but Clay Figure Zhang didn't even bother to refuse; he completely ignored Fan Debiao.

Fan Debiao let out a puff of annoyance and then called for Lin Miaokou. Just as they were getting into the swing of the game, the car suddenly slammed on the brakes. Due to inertia, everyone lurched forward, and the playing cards scattered everywhere.

Fan Debiao yelled, "Damn it! I had quadrupled!"

Everyone's hearts tightened, but not because of Fan Debiao’s four-of-a-kind; it was the sudden stop that suggested something serious had happened.

A moment later, sounds of commotion drifted from ahead, followed by Rat shouting for Uncle Diao to come quickly.

Uncle Diao’s expression turned grave when he heard this. He opened the car door and started running forward, only to feel a gust of wind behind him. He looked up to see Clay Figure Zhang already streaking past him.

Without delay, the others got out and rushed toward the front. A crowd had gathered, intensely studying something on the ground.

Young Master Liu pushed through the human wall, managing to squeeze his way to the front. What he saw was a single, desiccated corpse lying on the sand. Its face was contorted in a grimace, and its clothes were tattered rags. Looking at the body’s expression, it was clear the person had died in extreme terror—one could certainly say they were scared to death.

Young Master Liu's gaze lingered on the corpse for a moment, but when his eyes shifted to the upper left chest, he was utterly stunned. Wang Feifei, seeing the spot, also froze completely.

All that was visible on the tattered fabric over the left chest were four blurred letters: "tour." It was the logo of the exploration company!

tour Archaeological Workers! Young Master Liu felt a surge of shock, but then again, it was inevitable. Others had been here before; one death here wasn't entirely unexpected.

Young Master Liu quietly said to Uncle Diao, "Uncle Diao, look at this person. Does it bring back any memories?"

Uncle Diao stared blankly at the corpse on the sand. Only when Young Master Liu spoke did he snap back to attention, saying, "This person... was not with me when I came in."

Hearing Uncle Diao’s firm declaration, Young Master Liu’s heart skipped a beat. How could Uncle Diao be so certain this person wasn't part of his original group? Logically, since Uncle Diao had amnesia, he shouldn't be so definite. Could Uncle Diao be feigning his memory loss?

Young Master Liu thought it over again and realized he had made a chronological error. Based on the degree of weathering on this corpse, it couldn't have been dead for more than a year. Uncle Diao had entered the desert twelve years ago. Even if the body had been perfectly preserved, lying in the desert for twelve years, it would surely have been buried by sand by now.

"The tour archaeological team sent people in recent years," Uncle Diao told Young Master Liu.

Young Master Liu naturally grasped the implication. This meant that tour had people searching for the Golden Ancient City before they even found Wang Feifei's father's body. Logically, they shouldn't have known about Uncle Diao's discovery before that. So what was their purpose in coming?

Thinking this, Young Master Liu looked at Wang Feifei. As a senior executive at tour, she should know about her company's recent activities. He began to question her.

Wang Feifei shook her head, looking utterly blank, and replied, "I've worked at tour for two years, and during that time, we haven't launched any archaeological expeditions into the desert."

Her answer left Young Master Liu even more perplexed. How could a high-ranking executive be unaware of an archaeological operation within the company? Could their judgment of the corpse's time of death be wrong? Young Master Liu considered a wilder possibility: maybe this person was from the group that came four years ago with Jackson and the others. He turned to Jackson and asked if that were the case.

Jackson also shook his head repeatedly. He explained that four years ago, he was merely an intern at tour, and he was practically clueless even on the trip to Bodhisattva Mountain.

After questioning everyone, Young Master Liu arrived at a conclusion: the corpse lying before them wasn't lying. Its weathering level definitely didn't exceed one year. This meant that within the last year, tour had dispatched personnel to re-survey the Golden Ancient City, though this operation had failed even more spectacularly than Uncle Diao’s mission.

A new question arose: Why was there only one corpse here? Where were the others? A company as powerful as tour wouldn't send just one person; that was completely unrealistic.

As Young Master Liu pondered, Uncle Diao retrieved a notebook from the corpse's backpack. The notebook, having been exposed to the desert for nearly a year, looked quite fragile. Uncle Diao carefully opened it, his movements surprisingly adept—after all, Uncle Diao's primary profession wasn't grave robbing, but being an archaeology professor.

The men Uncle Diao had brought were only interested in artifacts, not corpses, so they lost interest and returned to their vehicles to rest.

However, as archaeologists, everyone possessed a degree of curiosity. They craned their necks to look at the notebook. Even Clay Figure Zhang hadn't left.

After reading for a while, Young Master Liu’s head was throbbing. The pages were filled with dense French script that looked like writhing earthworms. He couldn't understand any of it and gave up. Then, he suddenly noticed Clay Figure Zhang, whose eyes were glued to the notebook without moving. Could this guy, who grew up learning how to rob tombs, actually read French? The thought made him feel ashamed.

Suddenly, a faint rustling sound came from the sand. Thinking something was amiss, Young Master Liu looked down and saw Fan Debiao frantically rummaging through the corpse's backpack. He walked over and tapped Fan Debiao on the shoulder: "What are you doing?"

Startled by the touch, Fan Debiao threw the bag away. His reaction suggested guilt.

Seeing it was Young Master Liu, Fan Debiao angrily shot back, "Dashing Young Master! Why do you sneak up on people like that?"

Young Master Liu found it amusing. "You scoundrel, you're even targeting the dead? Did you think this bag held a fortune in francs?"

Hearing this, Fan Debiao adopted a look of profound grievance and said earnestly, "My goodness, am I that kind of person? I saw this guy come into the desert so mysteriously; something about him is not right. I was looking for clues!"

Young Master Liu rolled his eyes. "Keep dreaming!"

Fan Debiao claimed he was being wronged, nearly to the extent of Dou E.

Seeing Fan Debiao throw a small tantrum, Young Master Liu decided to ignore him, just as a curse erupted from behind him.

Had Uncle Diao made some major discovery? He hurried over to ask. Uncle Diao handed the notebook to Wang Feifei, ignored Young Master Liu's question, and walked straight back to his vehicle. Clay Figure Zhang merely shrugged and sauntered back too.

Young Master Liu was speechless and quickly asked Wang Feifei what on earth was going on. Wang Feifei looked extremely awkward, tossed the notebook to Jackson, and retreated to her car. Now utterly bewildered, Young Master Liu pressed Jackson for an answer, warning him he wouldn't let it go if he didn't explain.

Jackson managed a wry smile and scratched his head. It was hard to explain immediately, so he opened the notebook and read a passage aloud to Young Master Liu. After the reading, Lin Simiao immediately flushed and hurried back to the car, while Wang Zhicai shook his head repeatedly. Young Master Liu broke out in a cold sweat. Damn, this was just dirty jokes! He hadn't expected the Frenchman had such a taste. He glanced at Fan Debiao, whose mouth was watering as he listened behind him, chasing Jackson to demand more. Jackson ignored Fan Debiao, tossed the notebook to him, and told him to read it himself. Fan Debiao could barely manage Chinese characters, let alone French. He paused for a moment, then quickly tucked the notebook away.

Jackson said that the deceased was still a colleague, and they couldn't just leave his body exposed there. He then enlisted Young Master Liu and Fan Debiao, and the three of them worked together to dig a pit and bury the corpse. Wang Feifei came out of the car holding a Bible and helped perform a requiem for the dead.

Afterward, everyone resumed their journey toward the Golden Ancient City.

In the rocking vehicle, the constant bumps felt like being in a cradle. Before long, Young Master Liu drifted into a deep sleep, a truly sound rest without any dreams.

He didn't know how long he slept before Wang Feifei woke him. She said the car could only go so far, and the rest of the journey would have to be on foot.

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