Below the canyon, countless small streams formed by the rushing rainwater began to converge, and soon they would merge into a river, flowing toward the marshes downstream. Upon seeing this scene, I suddenly realized the reason for the formation of this oasis: it is the lowest point in the Qaidam Basin, where all the groundwater and rainwater gather. One could say that this place is the center of the entire Qaidam groundwater system. The dry riverbeds of Qaidam may not have truly ceased to flow; rather, the water has shifted underground and flowed here. Thus, no matter how the climate has changed over the past thousands of years, or how the surrounding areas have transformed from forest to desert, this place still retains the lushness it had five thousand years ago.

“Gathering wind and water without moving,” the so-called feng shui treasure land, isn’t it a place that remains unchanged for thousands of years? The location of the Xiwangmu Palace truly should be the treasure eye of the ancestral dragon vein of the Kunlun Mountains. Such a marvelous sight can only appear in such a place.

While I was reflecting on this, the胖子 (Fatty) became restless, squirming around in his seat. The space on this tree was already limited, and his movements made everyone uncomfortable. Panzi scolded him, “What the hell are you doing, you itchy bastard?”

Fatty frowned and said, “I don’t know what’s going on, but my ass suddenly itches like crazy.” After saying this, he shifted his buttocks again and started rubbing against the tree.

I thought he was the most troublesome one, and just as I was about to say something to him, I suddenly felt my own butt and back itching as well, an unbearable itch as if something was crawling on me. I quickly bent my legs, trying to scratch, but as soon as I did, I realized something was wrong and jumped up: “Bugs!”

Everyone stood up at once. I scratched my butt and looked at the tree trunk we were leaning against, and my face turned green. The trunk was covered with dense clusters of bugs, each about the size of a half fingernail, seemingly crawling out from the crevices of the tree. Our legs and butts were covered in them, and we couldn’t brush them off.

“Damn it!” Fatty cursed loudly, and several people started stomping their feet. But stomping didn’t help; these bugs were not afraid of us at all, seemingly treating us like trees, crawling onto us without hesitation. Fortunately, our pant legs were tight, so they couldn’t crawl inside. But Fatty and I had already suffered; we had no choice but to run into the rain to wash our butts. The icy rainwater seeped into our pants, and I finally felt the itching subside a bit. However, after the itch faded, the spots that had itched before started to hurt. I cursed internally, thinking, “Could it be poisonous?” At this moment, the others also fled out, and rainwater rushed down on us, leaving us speechless.

We climbed onto another branch, making our way up the tree, where there was a corner with slightly less rainwater and several densely packed branches. However, it wasn’t enough for all five of us to fit. In the end, Aning and I were pushed in, while the others used a waterproof cloth to cover their heads, barely managing to avoid getting drenched.

Panzi said, “Damn it, what kind of bugs were those just now?”

Aning shook off the water from her hair, then patted her dimming miner’s lamp, finally managing to turn it on. She shone it on her pant leg and used her pinky nail to flick the dead bugs stuck to her leg in front of the miner’s lamp.

It was a small bug that looked a bit like a spider and somewhat like a tailless scorpion. An Ning’s hands were shaking, so I couldn’t see it clearly. My butt started to hurt again, so I asked, “What is this? Is it poisonous?” But I saw An Ning frowning. My heart sank; before I could even say “Oh no,” An Ning swiftly pulled out the knife from Pan Zi’s waist and said to me, “Turn around, quickly take off your pants!”