**Boundary Marker?**

Li Cu felt it was quite strange. On one hand, he was a bit skeptical; how could Gulongjing be reached so quickly when it was said to be far away? On the other hand, he clearly remembered from the records that Gulongjing was an uninhabited area with almost no human activity. The few travel groups that ventured there did so by chance. However, this itinerary hadn’t gained popularity, so why was there a boundary marker here?

Boundary markers are typically used to delineate two administrative regions, and Gulongjing was originally a legendary area, not a fixed geographical name.

“It seems there are many stories here that we don’t know about,” Wu Xie said. “The fact that the car got stuck here indicates that there used to be a road. And this boundary marker tells us that there should have been people actively living in Gulongjing for a long time.”

“I remember seeing in the literature that Gulongjing originally had three large lakes. During aerial surveys, they discovered this area and planted a flagpole, but when they sent people to investigate later, they only found the flagpole and no lakes.”

“This bay should be one of the lakes they observed. These three lakes might have been able to move freely, and after they planted the flagpole, when they returned, it just so happened that all three lakes had already shifted,” Wu Xie said. “We are lucky that one is still here. However, I’m more concerned about why they felt the need to mark the three ordinary lakes they saw during the aerial survey.”

“What do you mean?”

“I suspect the aerial survey was conducted for geological mapping. Generally, when surveying, if they see three lakes below, they would just need to record it. Why would they send people to find those three lakes? I believe they must have seen something unusual in or near the lakes that prompted them to return for further investigation. Moreover, based on the boundary marker here, their survey activities were not a temporary short-term project; it must have been on a large scale.”

Wu Xie brushed the dust off his hands, climbed up a sand dune, and looked around, sighing, “But here, you can’t see anything. Could it be that the truth of everything is buried beneath the sand?”

“Boss, what are you planning to do?” Wang Meng asked. “Right now, we’re in trouble. Whether there’s anything under the sand doesn’t really concern us much anymore.”

“If the expedition team continues to head toward Gulongjing, we just need to stay here, and we’ll meet up with them in three days,” Li Cu said. He was considering the situation around them, realizing that acting rashly would surely lead to a dead end. The lake here had fresh water, which was extremely hard to find in the desert, so it was definitely safer to wait for rescue by staying near the fresh water.

“We’re currently moving toward a place called Gulongjing, but whether this place is the Gulongjing that the expedition team intends to investigate, we have no way of knowing,” Wu Xie said. “All the photos of Gulongjing we’ve seen in the materials show yellow sand, but all the sand here is white. I think the ‘Gulongjing’ mentioned in the expedition’s materials might not be here.”

“What does that mean? Didn’t they say their destination was the place where the plane dropped the flag? That should be here, right?”

“The location where the plane dropped the flag is a coordinate provided by the military. If there were any secrets buried here, the military could very well have given us a false coordinate, telling us that was the ancient Tongjing.

Now, the place beneath our feet has abandoned boundary markers, which must be the real ancient Tongjing, but the sand here is all white, different from the information they provided. The expedition team would never have reached this place relying on the false coordinates.”

Wu Xie looked at the child and said, “We cannot rely on any rescue; we have to depend on ourselves to get back. From now on, we must always pay attention to everything around us, especially this water body, as it may be our only hope of getting out alive.”

If the water body were to move again, it might return to the place where the main force had rested before; this was indeed their greatest hope of leaving here. Li Cu understood that the water source nearby could very well be this water body. Because such a moving water body must have a complex geological water source structure beneath the sand. In the desert, there are very few places with particularly abundant water sources.

“What if this water never moves again?”

“Then we can only settle down by this water body, get married, have children, and spend our old age here.”

“Can’t we just walk out ourselves?”

“From the current situation, we don’t even have a water bottle, so it’s definitely not possible. Whether we have the possibility to walk out ourselves depends on what we can find in this desert.”

Wu Xie pointed to the inflatable raft and said to Wang Meng, “Your task is to keep an eye on this water body. You and the raft stay here. If the water body starts to move, call us immediately, and we will rush back. Now, my little brother and I will organize things here and see if we can find something useful.”

“If I had known this, why did you make me pull the boat up? Can’t I just keep an eye on it from the boat?” Wang Meng said.

“No, what if you run off by yourself later?” Wu Xie replied, then called out to Li Cu, “Come over here and help me move the bodies.”

Li Cu cursed under his breath, feeling that as a hostage, he wasn’t worth much. But he could only run over, “How many vehicles are there in here? How can there be so many dead people? You still haven’t finished moving all of them?”

“There are still many, all underneath the vehicles. You’ll understand what’s going on once you take a look.”