Chapter 227: Snake Swamp Ghost City (Part 2) Sunken Ship in the Sand Sea

In the few seconds the flare burned, we were all stunned. We stared at that huge thing, our minds blank. It wasn't until the flare went out that we snapped back to reality, and then all the flashlights shone in that direction.

The scattered light couldn't reveal the full shape of that thing; under the flashlight beams, we could only tell there was something there, but it was blurry. If not for the impression left by the flare, we would have swept our flashlights past without noticing anything unusual. And looking up from below, we really couldn't make it out clearly.

"What is that thing?" Zhaxi muttered to himself.

No one could say what it was. I could only be sure it was an ancient wooden object, a wreck, but I didn't know what kind of wreck. At first glance it looked like a huge coffin, but on closer inspection the shape was wrong—it seemed like the remains of a building. However, I had never seen a building with such a strange shape.

"Climb up and take a look!" someone said, and we snapped back. A few of them wanted to climb the slope, but I quickly stopped them, saying, "Don't act rashly. Stay calm. It's too high and it's a mound—you can't just climb it casually. If something goes wrong, it'll be bad."

A Ning also nodded and said, "Right, and we still haven't found those three. We've searched everywhere down here and found no clues, so they're probably up there. And there's no sound at all now, which means something's wrong. There might be danger up there, so we need to be careful. Let me go up first and see. If it's easy to climb, you can follow."

With that, she tucked the flashlight into her belt, told us to light her way, and prepared to climb.

But Zhaxi stopped her, saying, "Don't move. I'll go. There's no reason to let a woman do this. I've climbed this kind of mound before, and I'm definitely more experienced than you." Without waiting for A Ning's response, he bit down on his knife, jumped onto the mound, and used the knife as a climbing pick as he started upward.

He moved quickly, agile as a monkey. We shone our flashlights on him, and he made it up with almost no effort. We watched him scramble up to the bottom of that huge object. He found a foothold, then made a gesture to us that it wasn't too hard to climb. Then he shone his flashlight on the thing.

Down below, we could only see his movements, not what he was illuminating. We were anxious. The medic asked, "What is that thing?"

"I don't know," Zhaxi's voice came from above. I saw him scratch his head up there, mutter something in Tibetan, and then say, "God, this... it looks like a ship."

"A ship?" We all exchanged glances. Zhaxi shouted again, "It really is a ship! You guys climb up and see for yourselves."

As soon as he said that, A Ning climbed up. I followed clumsily after her. The medic was too fat; after a few tries he slipped back down. We told him to stay put and not do anything stupid—if he fell and died it would be a disaster—then we moved toward Zhaxi.

The slope wasn't that hard to climb. It was a bit steep, and though the soil was loose, the surface was uneven, providing plenty of footholds. We copied Zhaxi, using our knives as climbing picks, and in no time we reached him.

I scrambled up beside Zhaxi. It was cold up there. I stepped on several protruding lumps of earth, slipped once, then steadied myself and looked at the thing. But I was too far away, and Zhaxi blocked my view, so I couldn't tell if it really was a ship.

I shifted position to squeeze into a spot where I could see clearly. Under Zhaxi's flashlight, an ancient wreck was embedded in the mound, half exposed and half buried deep in the soil. From its shape, it really was an ancient sunken ship.

A Ning lit a cold flare and tossed it onto the sunken ship. As the surroundings lit up, I saw that the ship was severely disintegrated, almost fused with the mud. The wooden hull was completely broken and carbonized. On one side of the wooden ship there was a huge crack, and inside it seemed hollow. I could see the mud inside, but in the deepest part it was pitch black and unclear.

I looked around at the terrain. This was a major discovery. This area must have been an ancient riverbed. The ancient ship had sunk in that river and been wrapped in silt. Little did I know that the world changes—the ancient river had turned into the Gobi Desert, and the mound holding the ship had risen so high above the ground.

A Ning climbed to the edge of the ancient ship and shone her flashlight into the crack, revealing a large amount of mud and things wrapped in it. In the mud, she could see many objects like pottery jars.

"This seems to be a merchant ship heading to the Western Regions for trade," A Ning said. "These are their goods. This is an incredible discovery. Many people still believe there was no water transport in the Western Regions."

In ancient times, this was one of the more treacherous routes on the Silk Road, and the kingdoms of the Western Regions were scattered across this barren land—the middle ground between Arab and Chinese civilizations. Countless rivers here were once bustling, with unknown amounts of cloth and silk traveling westward along these waterways. It was said that the royal courts of the Western Regions even got watermelons from the Central Plains. The rivers here were ever-changing, and many merchant caravans ran aground and sank due to changes in river courses. At least a thousand desert shipwrecks lay buried in the depths of the desert, but because of the frequent shifts in the desert, they were nearly impossible to find. I never expected to find one here.

Down below, the medic couldn't see anything and grew anxious, shouting, "What do you see? Are those three up there?"

Zhaxi shouted a few answers down, but what the medic said next was inaudible.

Then it struck me: The Caucasians probably came because they saw this sunken ship and climbed up to investigate. We'd searched everywhere below and found no sign of anyone, so they must be up here. But I'd looked at the cliff walls just now and saw no one. So where had those three gone? The only place to hide on this rock face was inside the ship. Were they inside? Just then, clouds covered the moon, and it grew even darker. The few of us found our footing. I told A Ning to turn on the walkie-talkie and check the signal location again.

A Ning took out the walkie-talkie. When she turned it on, the sound came through very clearly. She moved it around; the signal was about the same everywhere. Then Zhaxi pointed at the ship and suggested she aim it toward the ancient vessel. A Ning extended it, and as soon as she got close to the crack in the ancient ship, we heard the sound coming from the walkie-talkie exceptionally clearly.

We exchanged glances, all of us astonished. Apparently the signal was indeed coming from inside the ancient sunken ship.

Zhaxi looked at the crack and said, "How strange. Did those three idiots crawl inside?"

The crack was wide enough for a person to squeeze through, but we didn't know if the space inside could hold all three of them. We shone our flashlights inside and found the interior very deep, with the farthest end pitch black. I called out several times, but no one answered.

"What do we do?"

"Maybe they went in but then came out, leaving the walkie-talkie inside," A Ning said. "Or maybe they had an accident in there."

"Then how is the sound being produced?" I asked.

"No one can answer that, but going in will tell us," A Ning said, giving me a look. She put down her backpack, indicating she wanted to crawl in with me. Zhaxi was the guide, so we needed to conserve his strength. Of the rest of us, only A Ning and I had a normal build. I couldn't refuse. She took off her jacket, bit her knife, and bent over to crawl into the crack.

As soon as she went in, mud from the ship's hull kept falling, but fortunately the hull was solid. After she got in, she paused for a few seconds to steady herself, and Zhaxi handed her the flashlight. Then I also took off my jacket and crawled in.

The crack was just wide enough for me to get through, but the inside was more spacious than I had expected. I fumbled my way in and found it was completely a world of mud. Dry mud covered everything overhead. I couldn't sit up; I had to crawl on my belly. The cabin must have been quite large originally, but now it was almost entirely filled with mud. In truth, we were just in a mud tunnel.

A Ning had the walkie-talkie on, and it was now emitting that eerie, sneering sound very clearly. The sound was especially loud in here. As I stared into the pitch-black interior of the cabin, my heart leaped into my throat. What could be making that sound? A Ning adopted a sideways crawl, like a soldier dragging a rifle low-crawling. She moved with one hand while the other held the flashlight, shining it around. Breathing heavily, I copied her and began to shine my flashlight on the mud all around. It was all mud, except for a few scattered wood chips embedded in it. I felt like I was in a scene from an underground tunnel warfare movie.

This mud must have rushed in through the breach after the ship sank. The ship probably hadn't sunk completely at the time, so the mud hadn't filled the entire cabin. Beneath the mud should be the cargo, but I didn't know what they were carrying.

After crawling seven or eight meters in, we could hear that strange sound directly. Without the filtering of the walkie-talkie, it sounded slightly different, very soft, coming from the very back of the cabin. A Ning paused, turned off the walkie-talkie, and crawled toward the source of the sound.

I kept a little distance from her, giving her room to retreat. After just a few crawls, A Ning let out a startled cry and stopped. I quickly crawled up beside her and craned my neck past her to see. At the far end of the cabin, on the mud-covered "deck," there was a hole about the size of a round table, as if it had collapsed. Below was another space. Shining the flashlight down, I saw a mess: chunks of earth that had fallen from above, and a person buried in them—only his upper body was visible.

I shone the light on him and realized it was one of the missing people. His face was covered in mud, his complexion blue—I couldn't tell if he was alive or dead. And that sneering sound was coming from the pile of dirt below. "He really is in there!" I shouted. These guys were too much. Shouting, I pushed forward, eager to get down and dig him out.

But as soon as I yelled, that sneering sound suddenly vanished, and the entire cabin went dead silent.

This sudden silence startled me, and my hands and feet involuntarily paused for a moment.

Then I thought, earlier we were discussing that this sound might be a distress signal. Now that I've shouted loudly, the sound has stopped. Obviously, someone heard my shout and stopped sending the signal. There are two possibilities: one is that they believed rescue was already near and there was no need to keep making the sound to attract us; the other is that they heard us approaching and, with their will to hold on relaxing, lost consciousness. Either way, we must get them out immediately, especially in the latter case, as I know many people in distress lose their will to survive just before being rescued and fail at the last moment.

A Ning thought the same. She asked me to light her way, crawled over, and then carefully turned over and slipped into that hole. I followed her, but she told me not to come down and to wait up top to receive.

Zhaxi heard my shout from outside and yelled to us, asking what the situation was inside. I told him to wait, that I'd see clearly first before saying anything.

From this position, I could see even more clearly. Below the cave entrance should be the second cargo hold of the ancient ship, or the bottom hold. Usually, it was used to store fragile items because the bottom doesn't shake too violently. The bottom hold wasn't large, and it was also full of dirt, but it was far less eroded than where I was. I could basically still imagine that this was the inside of a ship. I could see many clay jars mixed in with the dirt—probably cargo. I had no idea what was inside them.

After A Ning went down, she immediately brushed away the dirt clods on that person and placed her hand on his neck to feel his pulse.

I hurriedly asked, "How is it?"

A Ning visibly trembled, then turned back to shake her head at me, indicating it was no use.

I sighed. A Ning began digging out the dirt clods, quickly uncovering the man, then dragged him hard to one side. At that moment, I noticed another person appeared in the dirt that had been dug out. I saw hair and a hand. A Ning continued digging, but this person was buried more firmly. She dug for a while with no progress.

I couldn't stand to watch anymore and jumped down into the collapsed opening to help. As soon as I touched that person's hand, my heart sank. I knew it was hopeless. The hand was ice cold—already dead.

It took us a tremendous effort to dig him out, and we also dragged him to the side. Beneath this person, I saw the pale face of a Caucasian. He was curled up, eyes wide, hand reaching forward, holding a walkie-talkie, frozen in a stiff gesture as if trying to crawl out.

It seemed he was the one who had been sending the signal. Looking at that walkie-talkie, I thought to myself.

I pulled him out. A Ning felt his neck again, her expression changed, "Still alive!" She immediately untied the Caucasian's clothes and began CPR, while shouting at me: "Tell Zhaxi to have the team medic prepare for emergency rescue—someone was buried and suffocated." She then started giving the Caucasian mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

I quickly got up and shouted outside. After Zhaxi heard, he immediately yelled to the medic down on the mound. I turned around and saw the Caucasian twitch, curl up, and start vomiting, but he had clearly resumed breathing. "You take over up top!" A Ning said to me in a tone that left no room for doubt—calm but full of authority.

I was stunned for a moment, suddenly electrified by her demeanor, and acted reflexively as she instructed. Then A Ning quickly took off her own clothes, tied them around the Caucasian, making a makeshift sling. She threw the sleeves to me and told me to pull hard.

Up above, I gritted my teeth and pulled upward with all my strength, while she lifted from below, and together we hauled the Caucasian up. Then I kept moving backward, dragging him out of the sunken ship's crack.

Outside, Zhaxi was already prepared. As soon as the Caucasian was dragged out, Zhaxi hoisted the tall Caucasian onto his back, fastened him with a belt, and then climbed down. I was exhausted, but I helped A Ning out from inside, and while panting, followed to guard Zhaxi, then crawled down bit by bit.

It took an immense effort, and several times I saw Zhaxi nearly fall. Fortunately, he was quick-witted and managed to steady himself with his dagger each time. Finally, we made it down to the mound, where the medic had everything ready. We laid the Caucasian on the ground, and the medic immediately prepared to treat him.

But as soon as we tore open the Caucasian's clothes, he suddenly convulsed and grabbed the medic's clothes. We quickly moved in to hold him down. When the medic opened his outer coat, I felt nauseous—inside his thermal outerwear, it was all blood. It seemed he had external wounds.

The medic then used scissors to cut open his inner shirt. When he lifted the bloodstained fabric, he exclaimed, "Oh my God." By then, I almost vomited. On the Caucasian's stomach were numerous tiny bloody holes. Not much blood had flowed, but the holes were very small and densely packed—at least twenty or thirty of them.

"What kind of wounds are these?" Zhaxi asked.

The medic shook his head: "I don't know… Looks like something stabbed him, something with a diameter like a screwdriver. But how come his clothes aren't torn? Didn't you notice anything at the scene?"

We all shook our heads. Actually, with all the chaos, we really hadn't noticed his stomach, but we were sure his clothes had no holes. It shouldn't be an external injury from the collapse.

We couldn't worry about that now. The medic let us help hold him down, first bandaged him, then did a quick check, gave him an injection of something, and finally took out a small oxygen bag for him to breathe. Probably due to the shot, the Caucasian slowly calmed down.

After all this, we were drenched in sweat. The medic wiped his sweat and told us to figure something out. This man was very weak now; we couldn't take him outside, but the larger equipment was all on the vehicle outside and needed to be brought in. Also, we needed tents and sleeping bags to keep him warm, and we could only take him out after he stabilized.

Only Zhaxi knew how to interpret his stone piles, so he said he would go get the stuff and bring some people in to help. It had taken us a long time to come in, but getting out would be much faster. I offered to go with him, but he said there was no need—he'd be faster alone, and I should stay to keep an eye on things.

With that, he ran off. The medic untied A Ning's clothes from the Caucasian and gave them back to her, then took out thermal wraps from his backpack to keep the Caucasian's vital areas warm.

I lit the smokeless stove, turned up the flame, and set it to one side to warm everyone, and also poured out some liquor. These items were all for warding off the cold. We had just worked up a sweat, and in the Gobi, the night was quite cold—it was easy to fall ill.

The large flames rose, illuminating the surroundings, and it quickly became warm. The medic continued treating the Caucasian's wounds. A Ning and I retreated to the side, and the fatigue of several hours suddenly overwhelmed us. I sat on a large rock to drink water. A Ning put on her coat. Both of us had dirt all over our faces, looking very disheveled. I gave her a wry smile, but saw her leaning wearily against the mound, fiddling with the walkie-talkie, looking quite dejected.

I recalled the authoritative demeanor she had just now, and thought how hard it must be for her. For a woman to be so capable and efficient in that kind of situation, it must have been forced upon her. Thinking about how a woman had to become so tough was a bit heartbreaking.

But strangely enough, she didn't seem to be short of money. Doing this sort of thing, she didn't look happy either. Why was she risking her life so desperately for Jude Kao? I really couldn't figure it out. If I ever got a chance, I'd have to ask her properly.

After drinking some water, I needed to relieve myself, so I went around the mound to take a piss. In the desert, everyone in this group did the same—I was used to it.

As I was urinating, I suddenly heard a strange, cold laugh from behind a rock nearby. The sound was exactly the same as what I had heard from the walkie-talkie just now, which sent a chill through my whole body. I turned to look at that rock, wondering—was I having auditory hallucinations from hearing that sound all the time?