Ten minutes later, the barren Gobi Desert appeared in front of Charles again.
The Gobi Desert, which Charles had been completely bored of seeing before, now became a synonym for safety in front of him. Seeing it meant being out of danger.
"Squeak~" As the sound of tires rubbing against the ground rang out, Charles parked the car at the edge of the Gobi Desert, waiting for others to arrive.
It wasn't long before he saw the other two cars arriving, but the one with the bandages didn't show up.
Considering the previous special circumstances, Charles was not too nervous. It would take them a little longer to come out. As long as the direction was correct, he should be able to see them soon.
But no matter how long they waited, no car appeared from the yellow sand.
"Bandage! If you hear me, please reply!"
"I received the bandage... Just wait a little longer... It will be here soon..."
The signal of the bandage seemed not very good, full of noisy sounds, and the four cars seemed to be very far away from Charles.
"What took you so long? Look at the compass in the car. Is the direction correct?"
"East 16... That's right, wait a little longer... Soon... the sand dunes will change... a lot..."
"Identity confirmed again."
"Bandage... First mate... Assist the captain... Organize various... Work plans, responsible for compiling... Cargo stowage plan... Helmsman for 12~24... Today's code is..."
Seeing that the bandage was really fine, Charles finally felt relieved and waited patiently.
At this time, Plank, the chef next to him, placed a pot on the Gobi Desert and said, "We have to eat canned food every day to hurry on our way. I just have time. Let me make something good for you."
Charles glanced at him but did not stop him. During this time, they ate cold canned food to save time.
Now that the exploration is over, there is no need to rush so much. It would be good to relax a little. It is not a big deal for the crew members to be completely tense.
Fresh water was quickly poured into the pot, followed by cans of various meat and vegetable dishes. After the chef and his assistant worked hard, the simple canned stew was ready.
Although it is still canned, the taste suddenly becomes different after the chef’s combination and the addition of seasonings. The aroma wafts around, making everyone drool.
Since they entered the desert, they had no time to eat due to the dangerous environment. Soon everyone gathered in a group, eating while waiting for the rest of the crew.
The signal from the bandage is gradually getting better, which proves that he is getting closer.
Charles ate canned stew and checked the position of the bandage from time to time on his pager.
Halfway through the meal, Charles sighed slightly and looked at the desert next to him with some melancholy.
Lily put down the piece of meat in her hand and asked curiously, "Mr. Charles, what are you sighing about?"
"I was sighing, why couldn't this place be a lair occupied by various dangerous monsters? Why couldn't we simply kill the monsters and take the loot?"
"Whether it's the 'mirror' or this desert, they're both... so... so weird! The things on the surface are even weirder than the things on Earthsea! What the hell is this planet?"
Lily looked up at Charles. At this moment, she didn't know how to respond.
The simple dinner was over quickly and everyone ate everything up, not even leaving any soup for the people in the four cars.
"Bandage, are they here yet?"
"Here we are... I smell... food."
Charles was about to say something when he heard bursts of exclamations coming from the pager.
"What happened? Where are you?" Charles took a few steps forward anxiously.
Then there was a tumbling sound coming from the pager, it seemed that they were in big trouble.
However, just as he was about to take the third step, Lily's scream came from the side. "Ah ...
The golden mouse quickly rushed to Charles' feet, pushed his feet away and quickly grabbed something.
Soon, she dug a truck out of the yellow sand, held it carefully in her two little paws, and leaned towards the car with her green bean-sized eyes.
"Mr. First Mate, you... you have become so small. Fortunately, I saw it just now, otherwise you would have been crushed by Mr. Charles."
"I... Damn..." Charles, with a shocked look on his face, held Lily in his hands and stared at the truck in her hands and the bandages in the truck that were not much bigger than a grain of rice.
The four trucks and the people in them all became smaller, and now the truck became as small as a finger.
Others also gathered around, looking at the puzzling scene before them in surprise.
Thinking back on what had just happened, Charles felt a little dreamy.
"Could it be that the reason just now was not because the reflection of the "mirror" became bigger, but because we became smaller?"
But now Charles had no time to think about this problem. He frowned and looked at his palm, which was holding the bandage of the walkie-talkie.
"No... anything unusual... just... it got smaller... I guess it's because the tire got stuck in the sand... and we missed the opportunity to recover."
Lily, standing on Charles' shoulder, curiously held the gun, which was the size of a grain of rice, in her hand.
"Mr. Charles, they can become smaller? Then can I become bigger? As big as a human?"
Charles didn't have time to pay attention to her. He carefully put the bandage back in front of the van, turned around and said to everyone who had gathered around him without hesitation: "Get in the car! We have to go back and find the mirror again, so that the first mate can return to his original state!"
Everyone did as they were told immediately, and the car started again, heading into the desert.
I thought I could find the mirror quickly by following the tire tracks. But this time, the mirror was not as lucky as Charles was, and after two days of searching, I still couldn't find anything.
That night, Charles faced a problem: he ran out of fuel. If he continued searching, even if he used it sparingly, there would not be enough whale oil.
"How could it disappear? It should be here." Charles looked at the yellow sand with a frown, but there was still no sign of the sand man.
Bandage seemed to understand Charles's difficulty, "Captain... how about next time... come again... just make your body smaller... I can wait..."
Charles shook his head slightly. "This is only temporary. No one knows if there are other hidden dangers in this situation. We can't leave hidden dangers for later. If there is not enough fuel, it is easy to deal with it. We can carpool!"
Soon vehicle No. 2 was abandoned by them, and the fuel and crew on it were quickly distributed to the other two vehicles.
Although it was very crowded, after this operation, the other two cars had enough fuel.
Unpleasant-smelling black smoke spewed out of the exhaust pipe, blackening the yellow sand on the ground. The two cars continued to search for the strange "mirror" in the yellow sand.
(End of this chapter)