(Two in one) “Is the person you’re looking for over there?”
…
Xian Yu never thought that he would see his own merchant fleet in the live broadcast room.
Although people from both parties are looking for the desert oasis, the Salba Desert is so vast that a team in it is just a drop in the ocean, and the probability of encountering it is even smaller than winning the first prize.
He froze for a moment, then became happy—— They finally found it!
For some unknown reason, he and Xian Dan have been out of contact for nearly a day. No matter whether he contacted Xian Dan or other people in the team, there was no news, which made people feel uneasy. He doesn’t know what happened.
But now, through the live broadcast room, Xian Yu saw that the original team of nearly thirty people had dropped nearly half, and the remaining ten or so people looked terrible, and their condition was not even as good as the anchor who entered the desert with only a water bottle, a dagger, and a backpack.
Of the forty camels that were brought into the desert, only three or four were left. It was hard to imagine what happened in the middle.
Xian Yu raised his heart involuntarily, his eyes followed Xian Dan in the live broadcast room, and he frowned slightly——
They clearly said before they set out that once they encounter problems, they should withdraw immediately and not go deeper, so why are they approaching the core of the hinterland in one go?
Three big trees twisted and growing together cover the sky and block out the sun, and the stretched dense branches fully support the shade of six or seven meters long. Even though the people from the merchant fleet occupied one area, Lu Liran still found a clean and shady place to sit on the back of the big tree.
[So many people?!]
[What’s the situation? Did they organize a group to appreciate the scenery of the Salba Desert??]
[This group of people doesn’t look very good. Their equipment is much more sophisticated than Brother Lu, but it seems that everyone vents more air than breathes in]
[They’re all like this, why don’t they call the search and rescue team?]
The audience in the live broadcast room had a heated discussion, and Xian Yu frowned as he watched the bullet screen—— yes, why didn’t they call the search and rescue team?
At this moment, Xian Dan walked up to Lu Liran.
His face was pale and his lips were chapped, but he looked better than others. He asked Lu Liran in a low voice: “Hello, are you Mr. Lu?”
[Yi!!! Why does this person know Brother Lu?!]
[Have he seen Brother Lu’s live broadcast??]
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
[It’s a coincidence that he also went here]
[Don’t come looking for me, cub ah. This is not a matter of two oil bottles, but a rope!!]
[Gourd baby doesn’t want to find so many grandpas]
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Lu Liran raised his eyebrows, the evacuation route? Evacuated to the hinterland of the desert center? Or did they go deeper before?
A few thoughts flashed through his mind, some guesses, and then he glanced at the man, motioning for him to continue talking.
“Our terminals, optical brains, and all electronic equipment cannot be used normally after entering this area, and we cannot refer to the optical brain map, so I would like to ask Mr. Lu, how far is this place from the edge of the desert?” Xian Dan asked the road.
Lu Liran paused, and asked back: “How long have you been away? When did you start to evacuate?”
“We entered the desert the afternoon before yesterday. After walking for nearly a day and a half, we suddenly found that the terminal and the optical brain were not working properly.”
“Because most of our water, food, and resources are stored in the terminal, only a small part is carried by forty camel horses. So after discovering such a situation, I discussed with the guide and decided not to move forward for the time being, but to go back to the camp to reconsider.”
Xian Dan pursed his lips, and asked tentatively: “According to our pace, it shouldn’t be far from the edge of the desert, right?”
Lu Liran looked at him: “Not far from the edge? On the contrary, you have already penetrated deep into the hinterland now.”
Xian Dan was stunned for a moment, he had some guesses like this in his heart, but after hearing Lu Liran’s confirmation, he was still stunned for a few seconds.
The route given to them by that guide not only did not take them away from Salba, but instead led them step by step closer to the center of death.
Xian Yu watched the live broadcast, his back was in a cold sweat, the guide really had a problem, Brother Lu was right again!
“We were obviously wary of the route given by the guide, and the route we determined after repeatedly comparing the general direction, how could it become like this…” A pale-faced middle-aged man came behind Xian Dan. He murmured, after knowing that they had actually entered the hinterland of the desert, his mentality almost collapsed.
“No wonder, no wonder the more horrible things appeared as we walked, people disappeared one by one, the camels disappeared, the terminal and the optical brain failed, and the search and rescue team couldn’t find us, how could we go out…” The man murmured incessantly.
Lu Liran looked at the middle-aged man, and the corners of his mouth twitched. This mentality has already laid the half of the death outcome.
Xian Dan scolded the man and said: “We can survive.”
Lu Liran was not interested in knowing what those people encountered in the desert. He could probably guess that what those people experienced, he had seen it all.
Xian Dan pulled the team leader, who was somewhat falling apart, and said in a hurry: “I’m sorry to bother Mr. Lu, I hope I can have a chance to have a good chat with Mr. Lu later.”
Lu Liran frowned, and before he could speak, the young man dragged the middle-aged man away.
Lu Liran clicked his tongue.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Ke Ji who hadn’t spoken much. He frowned slightly, and pursed his lips and leaned over to ask: “Is the person you’re looking for over there?”
Ke Ji looked at Lu Liran, and slowly shook his head: “Not there.”
Lu Liran guessed it more or less. If he wasn’t there, he was among the other half of the people who had been swallowed up by the desert. There was probably no chance of surviving.
He didn’t say anything, just left Ke Ji alone there quietly.
[Ah, this…the first time I saw so many people (scratching head) in Brother Lu’s live broadcast, I suddenly felt very uncomfortable]
[+1 I used to watch Brother Lu’s live broadcast without such a big impact. I just saw that uncle collapsed, and I suddenly realized how hopeless Salba is]
[If it were me, probably it won’t take so long for me to collapse like a dog]
[So difficult]
The noon sun is already high in the sky, through the drone camera, one can see the air waves, captured by the camera ball, being scorched by the high temperature as if deformed, and the distant and near pictures seem to be distorted.
This is the heat that has killed countless people in Salba, and the indications are already visible.
“The temperature of the sand under the shade of trees is more than ten degrees lower than those directly exposed to the sun.” Lu Liran spoke, breaking the gloomy atmosphere in the live broadcast room, “But there is another way to make the temperature even lower.”
As he spoke, he dug a half-body-sized pit more than ten centimeters deep under the shade of a tree. The sand he dug out was obviously darker in color and much cooler in temperature.
He quickly lay down in it, feeling a cold compress on his hot back in an instant.
“Don’t underestimate the ten-centimeter-deep sand pit. The temperature in this, at least, is about ten degrees lower than under the shade of the tree.” Lu Liran said with satisfaction.
Ke Ji walked to Lu Liran’s side, pinched the sand that had been turned over to the side, and asked Lu Liran: “Is there water under here?”
Lu Liran was lying in the sandpit, the rare coolness in the desert made him a little lazy, and said: “It’s unlikely. Although there is such a deformed tree with lush branches and leaves growing here, there are no traces of small shrubs growing around it, which means that even if there is water here, it should be deep underground.”
“A tree like this has a well-developed root system, and several roots can penetrate more than ten meters underground, which is not enough to judge whether there is water.” Lu Liran replied.
Ke Ji raised his eyebrows, but he didn’t think so.
In the years before he became a commander, he had been in and out of many deserts, and has carried out many missions in the desert map that are not known to outsiders. Once, under such a big tree with a strange shape, he found a source of water and survived.
But he couldn’t tell Lu Liran directly, so he thought for a while and said: “I remember someone once said that there is a tree in the desert that plunges into the fire at one end and plunges into the deep pool at the other end. It spreads its arms like a giant in the desert and provides shade for travelers. It is so overbearing that there are no plants around it that can compete with it for water, and that kind of tree seems to be somewhat similar to the one in front.”
Lu Liran became a little interested when he heard his words. The desert is vast and rich in species. It would not be surprising if such a tree really existed. After a little reflection, he really shouldn’t easily conclude that there is no water under it based on his past experience.
He was staying in the shade of the tree just now, three or four meters away from the main trunk—— mainly to avoid the group of people in the merchant fleet—— It wasn’t until he approached that the system popped up the test result, and this tree was called Buddha Belly Oil Artemisia.
[Buddha Belly Oil Artemisia]
[Detailed information: After encountering water, the trunk immediately oozes gum, commonly known as “Artemisia oil gum“, which has a high economic value of the material]
[Treasure level: Oil Artemisia Gum-Intermediate]
[Estimated economic value: 1000 star coins/100g]
Lu Liran read ten lines at a glance, his eyes lit up immediately, and he walked quickly to the tree, squatting down to push away the fine sand accumulated near the roots.
Seeing near the root, he can see a layer of obvious yellowish-white gelatinous substance, which should be Artemisia oil gum.
Don’t miss it if you pass by. He peeled off all the Artemisia oil gum that could be seen from the tree trunk, and put it in his backpack.
A small ball of milky white colloid the size of a fist weighs about two to three hundred grams.
After Lu Liran scavenged the nearby gum, he began to shave the sand in the root part of the tree.
The members of the Merchant Fleet who were sitting on the ground under the shade of the trees looked at Lu Liran in confusion, and asked weakly: “Little brother, what are you doing? Save your energy and stop digging.”
However, Lu Liran looked at Ke Ji, nodded slightly and said to Ke Ji: “This tree is called Buddha Belly Oil Artemisia, and this kind of gum grows when it meets water. Since there is a thick layer of glue near the root, That means there must be water near here! You’re right!”
Sunnyshies: Actually, I really want to see the netizens’ reaction towards “the no terminal, and no optical brain” in the desert. But it’s as if the netizens completely disregard this information. It happened on Ke Ji’s side too, when he first appeared, he already explained it, and Lu Liran also reacted, well, except for the netizens…and Xian Yu didn’t seem to know…so I wonder if they heard it. Or it’s just the author forgetting it. With so much information in this arc, well, it’s normal to forget one or two scenes.
Does the camera ball operate differently than terminal and optical brain?
Thank you for update
The camera ball was given by the system for free, and the system came from much higher tech civilization, so its not affected.
hmmm so the system comes from a higher tech civilization, system can time travel time??? Or is this a case of an interstellar galaxy that is so advanced that man kind haven’t found out about it yet? Now thinking about where does all these systems come from? Obviously they are very high tech and powerful seeing that they can revive people, summon objects out of thin air and grant power to the host… so like, magic? God? how did these systems come into existence?
I recommend Interstellar Greening Master. The latter part kinda tell how system formed. Although It’s different universe so I don’t know if it’ll related.✌️
ahhh, that definitely explains a lot… in the end technology and advancements also matters…. hmm thx Sunny-san!
Maybe the audience are used to disruptions in devices and connectivity due to the previous wars. If I were in the audience my question would be how is this live broadcast still going while these poor people can’t even call for rescue?
Same here
Netizens should call for rescue since they can see where group is for goodness sake!!
»Lu Liran read ten lines at a glance, his eyes lip up..« lit up
Dunno if I mentioned it before, but I also want to know why the terminals won’t work there. And if nothing else works isn’t it even more sus that LLR’s camera is working just fine?
Thx for the ch ٩( >ヮ<)۶
thanks!
I think that the viewers and Ke Ji kinda fell into self deception. It’s similar to that feeling watching a survivalist movie. Maybe the system has it’s own defence against being found. It makes it interesting, because I didn’t lock onto it as well. Also maybe it’s magnetic interference, which is know to happen in some deserts, leading to compasses not working properly.
I think if they had the coordinates, our little airship mogul fan would have already sent a rescue service to his brother. Unfortunately, the only electronics that work are the livestream camera and it seems to have limited functions (does not even tell the time). Saying ‘the gum tree in X plain area of the desert’ is still a needle in the haystack unless there is a known landmark (such as ruins or a large oasis).
Netizens only comment on food and ke meiren