Looking around, Li Cu asked Wang Meng, “Why did these soldiers surround the lake with these trucks?” During their earlier exploration, they had discovered at least three hundred such trucks, all of which had people dead around them.

From this arrangement, it was clear that this layout could not have been formed by chance; it was obviously a circular encampment made up of trucks. Regarding the arrangement of trucks encircling the lake, Wu Xie felt that the soldiers’ judgment at the time was correct. There were simply too many trucks here, and if they hadn’t used this parking method—say, lining them up in a long line—many trucks would have ended up far from the lake, making it inconvenient for fetching water and cooking. After all, one of the most important considerations for survival in the desert is to stay as close to a water source as possible.

Wu Xie lit a cigarette he found on a corpse. Although it was completely dry and devoid of moisture, it was better than nothing. He then said to Wang Meng, “Aside from this conventional explanation, there are two other significant possibilities.

One possibility is that before the sandstorm hit, they wanted to protect the lake this way, preventing it from being buried by the storm. In that case, they might have been able to survive here longer. A convoy of over three hundred trucks trapped in the desert still had a considerable chance of survival, as they had ample manpower and resources, with enough methods to send people out to seek rescue. They just needed to concentrate resources on a few trucks and head out in several directions to potentially reach populated areas. But they still ended up dying here. That’s unusual; it could be due to an unprecedented sandstorm.”

When Li Cu heard Wu Xie say this, his expression was not particularly calm. He then asked Wu Xie, “What about the other possibility? From your expression, I feel like you lean more towards the second possibility.”

Wu Xie sighed and said, “Actually, I’ve encountered many strange outcomes in various situations. In other words, the least probable ‘anomalies’ often turn out to be the most likely scenarios. This time is no different. The second possibility I speculate is a bit bizarre, but the first one sounds flawless. In reality, many things we deduce from phenomena have peculiar details that we instinctively avoid discussing.

For instance, would this lake really be swallowed by a sandstorm? A lake of this size, no matter how severe the storm, cannot be completely covered. If you throw sand into water, the water level rises, the lake becomes larger, but it doesn’t disappear.”

“Boss, I think we should ignore the second possibility you mentioned. If it turns out to be true, we would be in big trouble,” Wang Meng said.

Wu Xie glanced at him and continued, “The other situation is that they were actually surrounding this lake with those trucks. They wanted to trap the lake and prevent it from leaving.”

“Trap the lake?” Wang Meng asked. “Why would they want to trap the lake?”

Wu Xie shook his head, “I don’t know. If it were the second possibility, it’s clear they ultimately failed.”

This statement is a bit chilling, and Li Cu feels it’s unlikely. He believes that reasoning should be based entirely on facts, and this idea is purely speculative. He further thinks that Wu Xie’s mind is somewhat abnormal in certain aspects, and he retorts, “How could a lake that can move freely in the desert, composed entirely of water, possibly be stopped by anyone?”

“I said this is just an idea, a possibility. Besides, we don’t know how this lake moves. How do you know it can’t be stopped?”

Li Cu sighed. He is actually a rather practical person and feels that discussing this line of thought is pointless, so he changed his tone, “After all this talk, there’s no conclusion. The most important thing for us right now is to stay alive. Boss Wu, do you think we can make it out alive? With your experience, you should have a general idea.”

Wu Xie replied, “I can’t draw any conclusions yet. Anyway, all those over three hundred vehicles and a thousand people have died here. If the force that trapped them back then still exists, then we are definitely in grave danger. Our only advantage is that you, as the boss, are particularly knowledgeable about these things, so I’m neither afraid nor terrified right now.

I believe that with my experience, as long as there are any strange factors here, as long as water sustains life, we can slowly figure out a way to solve it. So this lake is indeed very important to us.”

While Wu Xie was speaking, Li Cu suddenly thought of something and asked Wang Meng, “Deputy Manager Wang, did you see any fish in the lake when you went down?”

Wang Meng shook his head and said, “Where would there be fish in a place like this? Even if there are, the quantity would be quite scarce, and it would definitely be hard to catch them. If you’re hungry and want to eat fish, I can try to catch some. But there’s a lot of ready-made cured meat, and I think boiling this meat in water would taste pretty good.” After saying this, Wang Meng glanced at Wu Xie.

Li Cu thought for a moment and realized that the cured meat he was referring to was actually those dried corpses, and cold sweat broke out immediately. He looked at Wu Xie, trying to gauge from his reaction whether Wang Meng was joking.

But Wu Xie said, “That’s not bad. Hey! I never expected that I would encounter such life-and-death situations. Every time I ran out of supplies, I was prepared to eat the dried meat of the dead, but unexpectedly, I always managed to turn danger into safety in the end. This time, heaven has prepared so much dried meat for me; could it be that it wants me to make up for all the times I didn’t get to eat before?”

Wang Meng continued, “Human flesh is similar to beef jerky when eaten; all the moisture is gone, so it doesn’t matter.” After saying this, he patted Li Cu on the back, “You’ll get used to it.”

Li Cu, feeling a chill all over, asked Wu Xie, “Have you all eaten it? Or at least tasted a little bit?”

Wang Meng shook his head, and Wu Xie also shook his head.

Li Cu breathed a sigh of relief but then said, “Then why are you speaking so confidently about it?”

Wu Xie replied, “You don’t understand. In our line of work, the more terrifying the situation, the more we downplay it. The more we downplay it, the less painful it becomes when you actually encounter it.”

Li Cu said, “Pah! I’m not as naive as you guys. That’s just too self-deceptive.”

Wu Xie said, “Young man, when you’re really out of options, it’ll be too late to think like that. I won’t care about you; after all, you’re our reserve food. When we get tired of eating the dry stuff, we’ll eat the live ones.” Li Cu spat again, not realizing at the time how profound the experience and wisdom in Wu Xie’s words were. Li Cu was completely unaware that the most pressing issue they were facing was the distribution of limited food. Wang Meng and Wu Xie made this seemingly absurd joke in order to avoid the collapse of “initial trust,” which is often the most troublesome aspect in difficult situations. He couldn’t understand these things now, but by the time he truly grasped them, the situation would be entirely different.