After he finished speaking, he jumped down the sand dune and started walking quickly towards the other side. Li Cu was a bit puzzled; he also looked up at the sky and noticed that a large mass of dark clouds had gathered at some point, and now the wind had begun to rise, tearing apart the clouds and revealing the sky. Yang Hao said, “Why do I feel like this is so absurd? Yali, let’s go home.”

Li Cu looked at the sky and then at the surrounding desert. For some reason, he started to tremble all over. He realized the implication of Wu Xie’s words and felt a chill run down his spine. Wu Xie had some quirks; he often spoke lightly about things that were actually quite terrifying and serious based on his previous experiences.

“Just survive the next three days,” Su Wan said as he looked at his backpack, counting on his fingers. “It’s very simple.”

Suddenly, Li Cu rushed halfway down the sand dune and shouted at Wu Xie, “Where exactly is this place?”

Wu Xie didn’t turn back but said, “You are inside a door. Don’t even think about going out; without me, no one can leave.”

The three of them watched Wu Xie disappear into the darkness and exchanged glances. “When do we start counting the next three days? It’s almost midnight,” Yang Hao asked.

“I think we should start counting from now,” Su Wan said, raising his hand. A small red light on his watch lit up, and it began to beep.

“What function is this?”

“It’s a weather disaster alert. It automatically activates when there are significant changes in humidity and pressure. Generally, when the red light is on, it indicates a thunderstorm,” Su Wan said. “Ah, I only brought an umbrella. What should I do?”

Li Cu looked at the sky, where the dark clouds appeared thick and heavy. They couldn’t feel the wind yet, but there was definitely a strong wind swirling within the clouds. The clouds were getting lower, almost as if they were about to crash down into the desert.

“Is it going to thunder?” Li Cu muttered to himself.

Su Wan nodded.

“It would be great if it could strike you dead,” Yang Hao said, looking at Su Wan holding the umbrella, which was a floral one, only as big as a small sun hat. “This is a children’s umbrella. Why did you bring an umbrella to the desert?”

Su Wan pointed at the sky, looking very innocent. Just then, a flash of lightning illuminated the entire desert, and heavy rain began to pour down.

“Behind the door?” Li Cu thought to himself, wondering why there was still a riddle about what was behind the door. The gates of hell?

He suddenly felt a burning sensation on his face. When he touched it, he found that his skin, now wet, had started to blister and peel.

“Damn it!” Yang Hao shouted, “Acid rain!”

This could only be described as corrosive rain, but the pain followed suit. The few of them ducked and ran, trying to find a place to shelter from the rain.

They rushed over to the exposed car, but when they tried to open the door, they found it was sealed tightly and couldn’t be moved at all.

They rushed back again, and in a panic, all three squeezed into Liang Wan’s tent.

Liang Wan was startled awake by the thunder. As he sat up, he saw three boys rush in, their faces covered in blisters, and he screamed in fright.

Fearing that the water on their bodies would touch Liang Wan’s skin, the three of them immediately pressed against the side, but the tent was small, and even when they pressed to the very edge, the four of them were almost glued together.

“Get out,” Liang Wan said. “Otherwise, I won’t be polite.”

“We will die if we go out; this rain can melt a person,” Yang Hao said. “You can’t be that heartless.”

Liang Wan looked at their hands and frowned. “Three people have taken off their clothes!”

Li Zhu was taken aback. “Then you don’t have to be so kind; we’re not in the mood right now.”

“Stop talking nonsense,” Liang Wan said. “The water has soaked your clothes; it will corrode your skin. Take off your clothes and wash yourselves with clean water.”

“The clean water is in the bag outside,” Su Wan said. Yang Hao replied, “Use sand; sand can also be used to wash.”

“Wash your body with sulfuric acid and rub it with sandpaper? That’s one of the top ten brutal punishments of the Qing Dynasty,” Su Wan said. “Can we use saliva? We can spit and collect a bit.”

As he spoke, he started to spit on himself. Li Zhu rolled his eyes; Su Wan was certainly unreliable, but his suggestion might not be without merit.

“Use urine! Sister, do you have a bottle?”

The three of them, in the cramped tent, used Liang Wan’s water bottle to collect urine, then carefully wiped themselves bit by bit. After Yang Hao was done, Su Wan looked at Liang Wan and said, “Sister, contribute a bit too.” Liang Wan slapped him hard, to the point that she also had to wash her hands with urine.

The whole tent was filled with a terrible smell, and Liang Wan was on the verge of breaking down. “Why does your urine smell so bad?!” Su Wan proudly replied, “I’m a virgin! I take pride in my strong smell.”

Halfway through washing, Li Zhu suddenly felt something dripping on his head and cursed, “Who the hell is pissing on top?” Realizing something was wrong, he looked up and saw a hole had melted through the tent.

He brought Liang Wan’s flashlight close to the top of the tent and saw that it had been corroded to a very thin point, ready to be pierced through at any moment.

Having survived three days, whether they could survive another three hours was in question. Damn you, Wu Xie, why didn’t you remind me!

Right, that kid Wu Xie has his own motives for everything. Why did he let me face such a tricky situation alone? Doesn’t he worry I won’t make it through?

As Li Zhu pondered, there was another round of thunder outside, and the rain intensified, filling his ears with the sound of rain, like a thousand machine guns firing.

Suddenly, he realized Wu Xie’s intention and said to Liang Wan, “Put on your shoes and cover all exposed parts of your body.”

“What are you planning?”

“We need to go down, down underground.”

“What about those vines?”

“Those vines can’t hear us; they can’t hear anything right now. Wu Xie knows that if he wanted me to go underground just now, I would rather die than go. He let me choose. Damn it, I’m going down to confront him.”

With the black glasses on, it was probably himself who would get slapped, but that didn’t matter; he needed to make his stance clear.

The four of them held up the tent, cut off the bottom, then began to feel for their bags, collecting all their belongings. They started to stumble down the sand dune like a cosplay turtle, heading in the direction of Wu Xie. When they lost their way, three of them held up the tent while Liang Wan looked around.

They eventually reached the sand dune where Wu Xie had appeared, and there were already several small holes in the tent. They circled around, and Su Wan asked, “Where’s the entrance?”

Li Zhu looked down and scanned the surroundings. A flash of lightning illuminated the area, and he saw the previous figure of Li Ren standing just four steps away from him: “There!”

The mark left by Wu Xie. A few people walked over and reached in front of Ren Bei, covering the stele with a tent. Li Cu began to pull at the stele; after a few attempts, it became loose. Suddenly, the sand beneath them collapsed, and the four of them, along with the sand, water, and tent, fell down together.