Chapter 224: Snake Swamp Ghost City (Part 2): Lost

The wind here was no longer as fierce as before; it swirled around in gusts. There must be something blocking the wind ahead, no mistake. But where had the two guys who were following me gone? I wasn't walking that fast either; how could they fall behind like that? Damn it, were they hit by flying rocks and left behind?

I raised my miner's lamp and shone it around, but didn't see any shadows. I couldn't help feeling a bit regretful—just now I had been too focused, not paying much attention to my surroundings. But then, traveling in such a gale, there really wasn't anything worth noticing around me; the wind was so loud I couldn't hear anything, and all my energy had to be concentrated on the destination ahead and maintaining my balance.

Being suddenly alone, I still felt a flash of fear, but I quickly dispelled it. I rested a bit to catch my breath, then started moving forward again. I couldn't go back to look for them now—I had lost my sense of direction. If I turned back, I had no idea where I'd end up. The best thing was to keep going ahead.

I ditched a pack of gear—it was way too heavy. The foreigners' expedition equipment was very personalized; once I even saw someone carrying a photo frame as big as his wife's shield and a data book as thick as a phone book. I couldn't be bothered to carry them anymore. I lightened my load and ran toward the lights.

But no matter how I ran, the lights remained out of reach, as if I wasn't getting any closer. I was panting heavily; I wanted to give up, but I couldn't bear to. As I ran, the lights ahead began to blur and waver.

Just as I was about to lose consciousness and collapse to the ground, suddenly someone grabbed me and held me up. I had no strength left; as they pulled me, I fell to my knees. Looking up through my goggles, I recognized the eyes of these two people: one was Poker-face, and the other was Black Blind—his goggles were also black. The two of them urgently pulled me up and dragged me in another direction.

I struggled free from them, pointed ahead, and tried to tell them there was a place to shelter from the wind there.

However, when I looked again, I was stunned—I saw nothing. The lights ahead had vanished; there was only darkness, and even that huge outline was gone.

Poker-face and Black Blind ignored me and kept dragging me. Then I saw Black Blind holding a flare gun. The two of them were extremely strong; they lifted my nearly ninety-kilogram body and moved quickly. Soon I came to my senses and started to push off the ground with my feet to show I could run on my own.

They let me go, and I immediately regretted it—those two ran so fast that following them took every ounce of strength I had. I gritted my teeth and sprinted after them for a full twenty minutes, until all I could see were the two shadows ahead. In a daze, I knew we had rushed up the riverbank, rounded a mound of earth, and then the two black shadows ahead disappeared.

I cursed loudly, "Wait for me!" and then my foot caught on something, sending me tumbling and rolling down some slope. I struggled to get up, spitting out the mud in my mouth, and looked around. Under the slope was a deep ditch, filled with people all huddled inside to escape the gale. Seeing me fall in, they all looked up at me.

We huddled at the bottom of the ditch, sand and dust swirling over our heads. The Gobi desert isn't always flat, especially where rivers once flowed; on both sides of the riverbeds there are many branch channels carved out by seasonal floods. These scars on the Gobi aren't very deep, but they are two to three meters deep, enough to shelter us from the wind.

I was completely exhausted. A few people came over and pulled me to the bottom of the ditch. It turned out that on one side of the ditch bottom there was a large depression, probably formed by a huge poplar tree being blown over and its roots creating a pit that was then eroded by water. The trunk of the poplar was buried at the bottom of the ditch, with only a small part visible. Everyone was huddled inside this depression, using a smokeless stove to keep warm, completely sheltered from the wind.

I was dragged inside. The depression was shallow and not high, already quite cramped. They made a space for me, and someone handed me water. Here, in the wind's dead zone, we could talk, but my ears hadn't adjusted yet, so I couldn't hear what they were saying for a while.

After drinking a few mouthfuls of water, I felt much better. I took off my goggles and grumbled, "Damn it, there are so many great places in China, why do I have to come here?"

Still, this kind of wind shouldn't be rare in the Qaidam Basin, and it's not even the worst. Years ago, I watched a documentary about geological surveys in the Qaidam Basin; a sudden strong wind came while the survey team was setting up tents, and people were blown away like kites, with all supplies scattered over ten li in an instant. But what I found strange was, why hadn't Dainzhu Dolma warned us? The seasonal winds on the Gobi are very obvious—not just old folks, but anyone who has lived here for a while can grasp the pattern.

Also, who knows when this wind will stop. I often heard people in the Gobi say that in these parts, there are only two winds a year, each lasting half a year; once it starts, it never ends. If it doesn't stop for a long time, we're done for.

Poker-face and Black Blind soon went out again, surely to look for the others. The people here were obviously frightened; few were talking, and they all huddled together. I found it amusing—I thought these people were all like Indiana Jones, but they turned out to be just as pathetic. However, I then realized my own legs were trembling uncontrollably, and I couldn't even stand up.

The person who handed me water asked, "Are you okay? Any bruises?" I shook my head and said I was fine.

To be honest, my experience of braving a blizzard in Changbai Mountain was still fresh in my memory. Compared to that, this was already comfortable—at least we could take shelter and didn't have to worry about freezing to death.

I poured a little water to wash my face; my eyes, sore from the goggles, gradually started to feel better.

After relaxing, I was able to observe the people in the pit. I didn't see A Ning. Dainzhu Dolma, her daughter-in-law, and Zhaxi were at the very back of the depression. Wu Laosi was also there. Not many people—seemed most were still outside. I didn't see the Caucasian.

This team had too many people, I thought. A Ning and the others must still be out searching. With so many people, even if Poker-face and the others had three heads and six arms, they couldn't look after everyone. Luckily we weren't in a desert, or else we'd all be doomed.

Three hours later, the wind finally died down a bit. At first, Poker-face and the others occasionally managed to bring back a few people, but later they were too exhausted and stopped going out. We all huddled inside, drowsy, waiting until it got truly dark—pitch black. The wind outside sounded like wailing demons; at first it was irritating, but later it only made us feel sleepy.

I had already prepared to spend the night here, so I wasn't surprised. Many people had actually fallen asleep long ago. Someone braved the wind to go out and dug out some food from the pile of luggage outside. We divided it up and ate a quick meal, and then I leaned against the yellow sand and fell asleep.

I didn't sleep long. When I woke up, the wind had died down a lot—a good sign. I saw that most people were asleep. Zhaxi was sitting at the mouth of the depression, apparently keeping watch. This place wasn't stable; above us wasn't rock but cracked earth and sand, so sand kept falling from above. While I slept, I got a mouthful of sand, which felt terrible. Spitting it out, I walked over to Zhaxi.

I didn't intend to talk to Zhaxi. He wasn't the easiest person to get along with, or rather, he was wary of us. And I wasn't the sort to warm a cold ass with my hot face, so I didn't care about his attitude. I just walked over to him to get some fresh air and change my sleeping spot.

But as I walked over, I heard sounds from outside and saw the light of a miner's lamp—seemed like someone was out there.

I was puzzled and asked Zhaxi what was up. He handed me a local cigarette and said A Ning had come back. The wind had died down, and they had sent people out to look for the others and also check on the vehicles.

I thought about the vehicles stuck in the sand and felt a bit worried. With such a sandstorm, I wasn't sure if they could be dug out and still run. Also, I was worried about the Caucasian—I didn't know if he had come back. So I put on my goggles and cloak and went out to ask.

As soon as I stepped outside, I breathed a sigh of relief. The wind was even weaker than I'd expected; it seemed the worst was over. There was basically no sand in the air. I tore off my cloak, took a few deep breaths of the cool desert air, and then headed toward the miner's lamp.

That was the direction of the riverbed. I walked down and came up to them.

They were examining a vehicle that was half-buried in the sand at an angle, with only the front sticking out. A Ning was holding a radio, anxiously adjusting the frequency.

I asked them, "How is it?"

One person shook his head and said only, "Wives and children are separated."

I was baffled, not quite understanding what he meant, so I looked at A Ning.

Seeing me, she gave a grudging smile, walked over, and explained, "Just now, Dainzhu Dolma said the wind might pick up again. We need to find a better shelter as soon as possible. But all our vehicles are stuck. Some are definitely written off; the others probably can't move and need repairs." She paused. "The worst part is, four people are missing. They might have lost their way when the wind started. We just searched around and couldn't find them."

I asked who they were, and A Ning said it was the Caucasian and three others I wasn't familiar with.

The Caucasian had been with me when he disappeared, so I pointed in the direction and asked if they had searched there. A Ning nodded and said they had looked everywhere nearby, but those people must have gone farther than she thought.

I sighed, said a few words to comfort her, and told her not to worry. Those people all had GPS, and the wind was so strong—they couldn't have gone far. The wind was still blowing and visibility wasn't great. It would be easier to search once it was light.

She bit her lower lip and nodded, but her expression didn't change, which made me feel something was off. I wasn't familiar with the Gobi either, and at that moment I had no idea what might happen, so I just shut my mouth.

We forced open the door of that vehicle and took out the equipment inside. Then they wanted to go find the next one, so I had to follow along. At that point I noticed that the reason the car had sunk into the riverbed didn't seem to be the quicksand often mentioned in novels. Instead, the ground at the bottom of the riverbed had collapsed under pressure, and the whole car had sunk in without being submerged. Someone told me that the salt crust had been crushed. Underneath much of the Gobi there are large salt crusts. This was a riverbed, and before the water was there, the river bottom was very complex with a lot of sediment. After the drought, when the salt crust crystallized, it left many voids. So some parts of this kind of riverbed are actually like dry cheese—not very strong—and we parked in the wrong spot.

I asked in surprise, "But we've been driving along the riverbed the whole way and nothing happened until now."

That person said, "That's because the river channel we were on before had been dry for a long time. But the channel we're on now has only been dry for about half a year. Haven't you noticed there's almost no grass or shrubs here?"

I looked around in shock and sure enough, it was completely bare—not even any saxaul growing.

That person said to me, "We must be heading upstream along this river now. There's bound to be a high mountain at the end of this river. If the river hasn't changed course, there will probably be an ancient city or ruins near this river. That means that old Tibetan woman wasn't leading us astray. Earlier, I thought she might be a con artist."

I looked upstream along the river channel he pointed to. On the flat Gobi, it really did seem like there was something. Remembering the huge dark shadow I saw in the wind, I felt it wasn't just my imagination.

That night, we found all the vehicles and gathered the luggage together. By dawn, the others gradually woke up. A Ning began organizing them—some worked on repairing the cars, others searched for people.

The few of us who had been out searching for vehicles at night ate some food, then crawled into our sleeping bags to catch up on sleep. We were so exhausted that we slept straight until sunset.

After I woke up, the wind had completely stopped, and the dust was gone. That group of people was very efficient—several cars were already fixed and ready to go. Supplies had been redistributed and were being reloaded.

A Ning hadn't slept in a full day and night; she was constantly listening to the radio. The Poker-face and the man with the dark glasses were both absent. When I asked, they were still out looking for the four missing people.

I felt uneasy hearing that. A whole day had passed and they still hadn't found those four. Didn't they have GPS? Could it really be, as Zhaxi said, that it didn't work in the Gobi?

I took some dry rations from my bag and walked over to A Ning, eating as I asked for the specifics.

A Ning's brows were tightly furrowed, dark circles under her eyes. She looked haggard. When I asked, she didn't seem inclined to answer. Her walkie-talkie was full of conversations from the people out searching, all in English. I listened briefly; none of it was good news.

I asked if she wanted me to go search too. She shook her head and said it wasn't necessary—three groups were already out, and they were on their third sweep. It probably wouldn't help if I went. She told me to get my things together. Zhaxi and the others had found a Devil's City about twenty kilometers ahead. We would head there to rest, since the wind would pick up again at night.

Seeing her looking so overwhelmed, I didn't want to bother her. Instead, I went to watch the other group repairing the cars and helped pass them tools.

About half an hour later, Zhaxi came back from the riverbed in the distance and told us the wind was about to start up again—a sand line had already appeared on the horizon ahead. We had to hurry, or the car repairs would be wasted.

We immediately got ready. Soon everything was packed. With fewer vehicles available, the ones that couldn't be fixed were towed behind. I rode in a car with a few Tibetans, and we set off toward where the sun was setting.

After driving across the vast Gobi for about twenty minutes, the silhouette of yardang landforms appeared ahead in the sunset—stone mountains rising flat from the ground. Zhaxi's voice came over the walkie-talkie, guiding us to adjust direction. Soon, a huge "castle" came into view.

That was the wind shelter Zhaxi had chosen. We drove straight toward it. As we got closer, I saw it was a large dome-shaped stone mountain, behind which lay a dense stretch of yardang landforms, like defensive fortifications behind the castle.

Devil's City, also known as Wind City, is a strange terrain formed by wind carving large rock formations. Over a wide area, countless oddly shaped rocky hills are scattered, allowing people to imagine all sorts of eerie things. When the wind blows through these rocks, their arrangement creates howling sounds like ghosts crying and wolves wailing—hence the name Devil's City. This kind of terrain is very common in the Gobi. I had visited such a place in Xinjiang before, so this time I wasn't particularly curious.

We stopped outside that "castle," at the base of a rocky hill with a flat bottom. Zhaxi jumped out first and shouted. We all got out and started setting up camp. Two hours later, the wind did start to pick up, and soon it was a blinding sandstorm again, raging until midnight before gradually dying down, just like the day before.

The wind was so strong that the Devil's City was filled with wailing sounds, and no one could sleep. Only after the wind subsided did people drift off one by one. The two who had slept during the day stood watch. They were very interested in the Devil's City and, seeing that Zhaxi and I hadn't slept either, went outside to take photos. Zhaxi told them to be careful not to go too far in, as it was easy to get lost inside.

Since I had slept during the day, I was wide awake. A Ning, on the other hand, was figuring out the search plan for tomorrow, still clutching the walkie-talkie. It seemed she wouldn't rest until those people were found.

I went over to urge her to sleep a little, but before I could say much, someone suddenly shouted from the Gobi in the distance: "Medic! Medic!"

A Ning's medic was a fat guy who hadn't gone to sleep either—he was reading. He snapped to attention at the shout. We all looked in that direction and heard them yelling, "Come quick! We found A-K!"

A-K was one of the four missing people. We all jumped up and raced over, covering the distance in a few strides. We saw the two people photographing the Devil's City waving at us from a mound. We rushed up and saw a large pit on the mound. Lying at the bottom was a person—it was that A-K.

The medic ran over panting, jumped down, felt for a pulse, and shouted, "He's alive!"

Several people scrambled down to carry him out. The medic yelled for them to take him to the tent.

It was total chaos. Zhaxi carried the man on his back and ran back. I was pushed aside. I looked at the pit, then back in the direction we had come from. I thought, damn, how did this guy end up here? This was more than twenty kilometers from where we had parked yesterday, and the wind was against him. Had he walked against the wind?

We went back to the medic's tent and watched him work. Soon, that A-K was revived. The medic sighed in relief and said he had only fainted from exhaustion. After giving him an injection, he woke up quickly.

Once he was awake, we asked him what had happened. He said he didn't really know—he had been walking, walking, and then he saw a shadow ahead. He thought it was a rocky hill, so he headed toward it. He kept walking, who knows how long, and then fell into a pit. Then he asked, "Hey, has Old Gao and the other two come back yet?"

Old Gao was the Caucasian. When I heard him mention that shadow, I got a jolt and wanted to ask for details. But as soon as A Ning heard him ask about Old Gao, she immediately asked why he was asking—had he seen them?

He said, "They were right in front of me at the time. I called out to them, but they didn't turn around. I figured with the wind in our faces, they couldn't hear me. Then I fell and knocked myself out. What, they haven't come back?"

A Ning asked in surprise, "You mean you saw them right before you passed out?"

A-K nodded. A Ning turned to me and said, "Did you hear that? We found A-K outside the Devil's City, right in front of it. That means they went into the city! No wonder we couldn't find them."

Her eyes lit up. She immediately clapped her hands and told us to head out. We stepped out of the medic's tent and discussed it. A Ning insisted on going into the Devil's City to search right away.

None of us could figure out how they had walked more than twenty kilometers against the wind. A-K had fainted outside, and the others inside might have collapsed from exhaustion too. We had to find them immediately—that way we could all rest easy.

I was wide awake, so I nodded in agreement. We quickly divided into teams. Many people were asleep, so we didn't wake them up. It was just the medic and me—three of us were to go in first and take a look around. The others would wait two hours, then be woken up to follow.

We immediately began preparations. As soon as I picked up my bag, Zhaxi walked over and blocked us, saying, "Hold on. My grandmother says you cannot go in."