stjorthotic Chapter 4: Instrument Short Circuit Leads to Death in Black Sandstorm?
Chapter 4: Instrument Short Circuit Leads to Death in Black Sandstorm?
Uncle Anliman's hoarse roar, shattering the deathly silence of the desert, instantly tore through the air.
Everyone instinctively looked in the direction he was pointing.
The once azure horizon has been suddenly transformed by a suffocatingly high black wall.
Those weren't dark clouds, but rather millions of tons of sand and dust swept high into the sky by a fierce wind.
It was like an ancient behemoth with its jaws wide open, crushing towards the convoy with overwhelming force.
"Black sandstorm! Quick! Form a circle around the camels, everyone put on goggles and sand blankets, find cover!"
The security captain, a retired special forces soldier, reacted extremely quickly and immediately issued orders loudly.
But in the face of the power of nature, human reactions seem somewhat ridiculous.
In less than half a minute, a gale swept in, carrying coarse sand and gravel.
The sky darkened instantly, as if the switch to night had been flipped directly from noon.
"Clap clap clap clap!"
Gravel the size of soybeans hit the down jacket, making a series of popping sounds. Visibility dropped sharply; you couldn't even see a person five meters away.
The live stream started shaking violently. The drone had already been urgently recalled, and now they could only barely maintain the stream by relying on the image-stabilized camera carried by the photographer and the signal relay vehicle.
Holy crap! This sandstorm is terrifying! I feel like I'm suffocating just looking at it through the screen!
This is a black sandstorm in the Taklamakan Desert; it can bury a car!
Run! Stop filming, saving your life is the priority!
The team was briefly thrown into chaos by the strong winds.
Ye Zhi Qiu was blown off balance by the wind and fell hard onto the sand, screaming in fright.
Su Nianwei reacted quickly, pulling her up and holding her arm tightly.
"My instruments! Protect the instruments!"
Chen Wentao shouted hoarsely in the wind and sand.
He threw himself onto the shockproof box containing the Leica X9 high-precision geological detector, trying to shield himself from the ever-present sand and dust with his body.
However, the sand in the Taklamakan Desert is not ordinary sand.
The quartz sand here is extremely fine and has acquired strong static electricity due to friction from the strong winds.
"Sizzle—"
A piercingly loud electrical short-circuit sound suddenly came from the shockproof box beneath Chen Wentao.
Immediately afterwards, a pungent smell of burning mixed with the smell of melting plastic pierced through the sand-proof cloth and entered the noses of several people nearby.
Chen Wentao froze, jolting back as if he'd been electrocuted.
With trembling hands, he disregarded the strong wind and yanked open the lid of the shockproof box.
The imported detector from Germany, which boasts IP68 dust and water resistance and is worth millions, was emitting black smoke from the micro-slit ventilation holes on its side.
After flashing wildly a few times, the indicator light went out completely, turning into a pile of scrap metal.
Static electricity caused the motherboard to break down.
Chen Wentao knelt on the sand, his eyes wide open, his mind blank.
"How could this happen...? The micro-slit heat dissipation is a patented design... how could sand get in..."
He muttered to himself, his voice trembling.
Just then, a pair of feet wearing black tactical boots came to a steady stop at the edge of his line of sight.
Chen Wentao stiffly raised his head.
Despite the strong winds, Lin Mu was still wearing that black hard-shell windbreaker.
While others were being blown about by the wind, he stood straight, his legs firmly planted in the sand as if they were rooted to the ground.
He was carrying a heavy woven bag in one hand, looking down at the smoking machine.
There was no mockery, no kicking someone when they're down, not even a single pointless remark I'd already made.
Lin Mu merely glanced at it indifferently before looking away, as if he were just passing by and glancing at the roadside trash.
This extreme disregard is more hurtful than the most vicious mockery.
Chen Wentao's face flushed red instantly, humiliation and regret gnawing at his heart like venomous snakes.
The live stream chat exploded at this moment:
[Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap! Is it really broken?]
[What did Lin Mu say in the camp? The sand cover buckle is loose; sand getting in will cause a short circuit! What a prophetic statement!]
[The slap in the face came so fast, like a tornado! What happened to Dr. Chen's micro-slit heat dissipation? What happened to your IP68?]
[Lin Mu's gaze just now was absolutely brilliant—three parts indifference, three parts mockery, and four parts nonchalance. That swagger gave me the creeps!]
"Sorry, Brother Lin, I was speaking too loudly just now."
But at that moment, no one was in the mood to care about whether it was a slap in the face or not.
"The wind is too strong! The sand dunes are moving; we can't stay put, or we'll be buried alive! We need to find a sheltered, solid shelter!"
The security captain roared through the sandstorm.
Professor Zhou, his eyes glazed over by the wind, gripped the camel's reins tightly: "Wentao! Quick! Use the spare compass to check the geological map. Where's a safe place to shelter from the wind?"
Chen Wentao snapped out of his daze and frantically pulled out a traditional military geological compass and a waterproof map from his backpack.
Although he was arrogant, he was indeed very talented.
In a state of extreme panic, he forced himself to calm down, staring at the compass needle and the contour lines on the map, his mind racing.
"The wind is currently blowing from the northwest! Based on fluid dynamics and the movement patterns of sand dunes, there is a large crescent-shaped sand dune formation two kilometers to the southeast!"
Chen Wentao pointed southeast and shouted, "The leeward slope there will create a dead zone in the airflow; it's absolutely safe! Head southeast!"
The security captain and Professor Zhou exchanged a glance and immediately prepared to order a turn.
"northwest."
A clear, calm sound, yet piercing through the howling wind, suddenly rang in everyone's ears.
Everyone was stunned.
Lin Mu had turned around at some point, adjusted his baseball cap, and looked toward the northwest where the storm was coming from.
Just now, at the moment the storm hit, the basic tomb raiding knowledge base and Zhang Qiling template intuition provided by the system were activated.
He doesn't need to look at a compass or contour lines.
He could clearly perceive the skeleton of this desert through the earthy smell carried in the wind and the faint tremors of the ground beneath his feet.
To find the dragon vein and divide the gold, look at the winding mountains; each winding mountain is a barrier.
The southeast side appears to be a leeward slope, but in feng shui terms, it is a typical funnel-shaped area.
The area is high on all sides and low in the middle. Once the wind and sand rush in, it will become a huge quicksand grave.
To the northwest, facing the direction of the storm, there is a hidden vein underground, which must be supported by a solid layer of rock.
"Are you crazy?"
Upon hearing Lin Mu's words, Chen Wentao jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, pointing his finger at Lin Mu and yelling, "The Northwest is the windward side! The storms are blowing from that direction! Are you trying to kill everyone by making us walk against the black sand?"
Professor Zhou frowned and loudly advised, "Lin Mu, this is not the time to act impulsively! Wen Tao's geological deductions are based on scientific evidence; we cannot gamble with our lives!"
The comments section was also divided into two camps:
Although Lin Mu correctly guessed the instrument would malfunction, I'm on Dr. Chen's side this time. Walking against the sandstorm—that's illogical!
Has Lin Mu gotten too arrogant? What kind of nonsense is he giving orders?
But... what if Lin Mu is right again?
Faced with Chen Wentao's questioning and Professor Zhou's doubts, Lin Mu offered no explanation.
He knew all too well that talking about feng shui and dragon veins with a group of people who only believed in modern scientific data was like casting pearls before swine.
"what ever."
Lin Mu uttered those two words again.
Then, he tightened his grip on the woven bag, and without any hesitation, strode forward with his long legs, heading straight northwest into the swirling sandstorm.
His figure appeared somewhat frail in the dim, yellowish sandstorm, but every step he took was extremely firm, as if the storm ahead was not a deathly storm, but his own backyard.
"Ignore him! Let him go if he wants to die! We'll head southeast!" Chen Wentao shouted through gritted teeth.
The security captain hesitated for a moment, just as he was about to lead his team southeast.
Suddenly, a gray figure broke away from the group and followed Lin Mu without saying a word.
It's Su Nianwei.
"Nianwei! What are you doing?"
Professor Zhou was shocked.
Su Nianwei didn't look back. She tightened her sand-proof scarf and struggled forward against the strong wind.
She knows nothing about geology or feng shui.
But she trusted her eyes.
From the moment she got off the bus, she had been observing Lin Mu.
Not a drop of sweat is shed in the 55-degree heat, and breathing remains constant.
They stood even more steadily than special forces soldiers in the fierce wind.
And that smoking machine from earlier...
This man harbors too many secrets that science cannot explain.
In the face of life and death, Su Nianwei's intuition told her that following this seemingly indifferent man was much safer than following those cold instruments and theories.
"Sister Su! Wait for me!"
When Ye Zhi Qiu saw Su Nian Wei leave, he was terrified.
Although she was afraid of Lin Mu, she was even more afraid of leaving Su Nianwei, so she scrambled after him.
This threw the team into complete chaos.
After the two female guests left, the cameraman from the production crew gritted his teeth and chased after them with his equipment.
"Professor, what should we do?"
The security captain panicked.
Professor Zhou watched as Lin Mu and the others were almost swallowed by the sandstorm, then glanced at Chen Wentao, and stamped his foot angrily: "What else can we do! We can't just watch them die! Follow them! All of you, follow them!"
Chen Wentao's face was ashen, and he gripped the map tightly in his hand. Humiliation and resentment made him tremble all over, but he could only grit his teeth and follow at the back of the group.
……
Going against the flow of a black sandstorm is an extremely painful experience.
The sandstorm felt like knives on my face, and every step I took required three times the usual amount of energy.
Ye Zhi Qiu was completely unable to walk and was practically being half-dragged along by Su Nian Wei.
Professor Zhou and several students were also panting heavily, like bellows.
Lin Mu, who was walking at the very front, maintained a steady pace.
He even deliberately slowed down, using his broad back to shield Su Nianwei behind him from most of the sandstorm.
Ten minutes later.
"There's something ahead...there's something ahead!"
The security captain suddenly shouted with delight.
Through the swirling yellow sand, the group could vaguely make out a huge shadow.
Upon closer inspection, everyone was speechless with shock.
That was a huge wind-eroded rock wall, tens of meters high and hundreds of meters long!
Below the rock face, due to years of weathering, a huge, inward-depressed natural cave has been formed.
The cave is spacious and dry, and because of the special structure of the rock walls, the strong winds outside are cleverly diverted when they pass through here, making the cave surprisingly calm.
"A safe haven! A natural safe haven!"
Everyone cheered with relief and scrambled into the cave.
Upon entering the grotto, Ye Zhi Qiu collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, tears mixed with sand streaming down his face.
Su Nianwei also leaned against the rock wall, took off her goggles, and her chest heaved violently.
Chen Wentao, Professor Zhou, and others collapsed to the ground, feeling as if they had been transported to another world.
Lin Mu was the last one to walk in.
He put down the woven bag in his hand, patted the sand off his windbreaker, and remained as calm as a stagnant pool.
"Boom—!!!"
Just then, a terrifying, muffled roar, as if the earth were trembling, suddenly came from outside the cave!
The hard rocks beneath their feet trembled violently.
"What happened? Was it an earthquake?"
Professor Zhou exclaimed in surprise and clung tightly to the rock face to barely keep his balance.
The security captain's expression changed drastically. He immediately rushed to the edge of the cave and peered out from the rock face.
The wind was still howling, but at this moment, there seemed to be some kind of shift in the airflow at the center of the storm.
The howling wind tore a brief, hazy gap in the vast expanse of yellow sand.
Following the gap, the security captain's gaze turned to the southeast—the direction of the absolutely safe haven that Chen Wentao had just confidently pointed out.
With just one glance, the veteran special forces soldier's blood seemed to freeze instantly.
"Professor... Dr. Chen..."
The security captain's voice, hoarse and trembling with extreme fear, stammered, "You...you see for yourselves..."
Professor Zhou and Chen Wentao, their legs trembling, stumbled to the cave entrance.
Through the gaps in the sandstorm, they witnessed a scene they would never forget, a scene that would haunt them for a lifetime.
To the southeast, less than 800 meters away from them.
The once towering crescent-shaped sand dune group is now experiencing a terrifying sand avalanche!
The dead zone in the airflow that Chen Wentao deduced turned out to be the very place where the storm was forced to backflow.
Hundreds of thousands of tons of yellow sand, carried by the gale and pulled by gravity, poured and collapsed like a bursting yellow waterfall onto the low-lying leeward slope!
There is no safe haven there.
There is only one vast desert, a deathly sea that can instantly bury dozens of heavy trucks alive!
If they had listened to Chen Wentao and gone to that place...
In less than a minute, the entire team would be completely swallowed up by tens of thousands of tons of yellow sand, without even a chance to struggle, and would become dried corpses forever deep in the desert.
A deathly silence fell over the grotto.
Only the deafening roar of the sandstorm outside was tearing at everyone's eardrums.
"thump."
Chen Wentao's legs buckled, and he knelt heavily on the hard rock.
The military map slipped from his hand and was blown into a corner by the wind. His face was ashen, cold sweat instantly soaked through his clothes, and even his lips were trembling uncontrollably.
Almost.
He was just a hair's breadth away from becoming a sinner who killed everyone.
Professor Zhou was also gripped by a wave of intense fear, his heart pounding wildly.
He stiffly turned his head and looked at Lin Mu, who was standing in the corner silently arranging woven bags, with an extremely complex and even deeply awe-inspiring gaze.
After a ten-second pause and a moment of visual shock, the live stream chat exploded with comments.
Holy crap!!!
[Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!!! A sandstorm?!]
[The southeastern part was buried alive? Dr. Chen almost led the whole team to their graves?]
Lin Mu saved everyone's lives! How exactly did he figure out there were cliffs in the northwest and a sandstorm in the southeast?
What is a god? This is a god! No explanation needed, it will directly help you defy fate!
[Desperate illiteracy? This guy is a fucking genius!!!]
Su Nianwei leaned against the rock wall, watching Lin Mu's aloof and cold back, her chest heaving slightly.
This man predicted the equipment failure in the camp, ignored scientific deductions in the storm, and miraculously carved a path to survival for everyone in a seemingly hopeless situation.
Who is he?
Lin Mu felt the gazes of the crowd, but he did not turn around.
He simply took out the half-sharpened high-carbon steel entrenching tool from the woven bag and gently rubbed the sharp blade with his long thumb.
"Ten-minute break."
Lin Mu's cold voice echoed in the cave, interrupting everyone's relief at surviving the ordeal.
"This place isn't very clean."