Early the next morning, the caravan set off again.
Shi Qingxue was still walking at the back of the team, but this time she was holding hands with Abao and moving forward together.
Under normal circumstances, some people would definitely be curious about how these two strangers got to know each other so quickly, but at this time, everyone was worrying about their livelihood, and no one had any extra time to focus on strangers.
There will never be a 'wonder' like Shi Qingxue who has too much time to take care of herself and still needs to take care of others.
However, Shi Qingxue didn't feel that his behavior was strange, and still happily protected Abao.
Along the way, accompanied by many children, it seemed that even the despair of Mo Junyang's disappearance was alleviated a lot.
However, Shi Qingxue still underestimated the harsh environment of the desert.
They walked in the desert for three days, but Meng An still hadn't arrived. It was said that they had only walked half the distance.
Originally, the length of the journey was not really a big issue.
The problem is, they're out of water.
On the third night, Shi Qingxue was only given a small piece of dry food, and only the leading middle-aged man could take a sip of water.
And judging by the shape of the animal skin bag, there probably wasn't much left.
The dispute broke out at this time, and some people began to complain about the uneven distribution of the team leaders, but the middle-aged man clutched his animal skin bag tightly and refused to divide it any more.
He also directly stated that he was the leader of the team and that everything must be obeyed. Then another person punched the other person to signal that he should be calm and obedient.
Shi Qingxue had heard that caravans walking on the desert had a set of self-contained rules - the leader was the absolute authority in the caravan, and no one should obey the leader's words and must not disobey.
However, something unexpected is about to happen at this moment.
Two young and strong young men took advantage of the leader's turning around and suddenly pulled out a dagger. One of them held the leader's neck and arms, while the other held the dagger and stabbed it straight into the leader's heart from behind.
All these changes happened so suddenly that when Shi Qingxue reacted, there were already sharp screams in her ears.
After the young man holding the dagger killed the leader, he turned around with the bloody dagger in his hand, stared at the remaining people fiercely, and shouted angrily: "Shut up, everyone. If anyone dares to speak again, I will kill him!" "
Immediately, there was deathly silence all around. The middle-aged woman who originally screamed the loudest could only tremble all over and cover her mouth tightly, not daring to make a sound.
The young man showed a satisfied but evil smile, shook the dagger in his hand, and continued: "From today on, I will be the leader of this caravan. If you are obedient, I will take you back to Meng'an alive, otherwise..."
He laughed sinisterly twice and played with the dagger in his hand threateningly.
Shi Qingxue frowned in displeasure and stood a small step forward. Just as he was about to speak, his sleeve was pulled by someone.
She looked back and saw Abao shaking his head at her seriously and mouthing silently: "No."
Shi Qingxue paused for a moment, weighed the gap between himself and the two young men, and understood that going up now would be the same as committing suicide.
In the end, he had to swallow all his words and just held Abao tightly in his arms, not wanting the boy to see this bloody scene.
At this time, no one else spoke anymore, acquiescing to the new team leader.
The new team leader immediately called two more young and strong youths, brought two empty animal skin bags, and drained the middle-aged man's blood directly.
In the desert, water is extremely precious. Even if this 'water' has turned into blood, it cannot be wasted.
The middle-aged man's blood filled two large animal skin bags, and the new team leader and several helpers all showed smiles of satisfaction.
Although the others looked horrified, no one dared to say anything.
When Shi Qingxue looked at the animal skin bag that was still stained with blood, she felt a dull pain in her chest from the dry food she had just eaten. She almost vomited it without nausea. Fortunately, those people were able to drink it happily.
Fortunately, these new team leaders have no intention of sharing with the old, weak, sick and disabled in the team. They look at them like they are looking at the piglets in their own pigsty, and they can kill them if necessary.
It's just that although these 'weak ones' in the team understand their future destiny, under this situation, they have no room for resistance and can only go with the flow.
When Shi Qingxue faced the brutality of those people, there was not much panic on her face. She just touched the hard object hidden in her chest and felt relieved.
He then took hold of Abao, who had been silent all this time, and followed slowly.
"Are you afraid of it?"
As Shi Qingxue was walking, she heard Abao's deliberately low-key question and was startled.
Looking down, he saw that Abao's jaw was tense and his mouth was pursed. He didn't look like someone who had spoken at all.
But Qingxue was sure that she had indeed heard what Abao said just now. She didn't care whether Abao looked at her or not, so she gave him a big smile and said gently: "Don't be afraid, you don't have to worry, I will protect you!"
Abao finally raised his head and glanced at Shi Qingxue, his eyes clearly said: It's up to you!
Obviously, he didn't believe that Shi Qingxue had the ability to save him when those people had no water to drink.
Shi Qingxue didn't explain, and said with a faint smile: "Then let's wait and see!"
When Abao avoided Qingxue's bright gaze, he moved his lips awkwardly, but in the end he didn't say anything hurtful, just a very light 'hmm'.
But obviously, Abao didn't believe that Shi Qingxue really had this ability.
In fact, except for the group of strong men who had completely transformed into demons, the old, weak, sick and disabled in this caravan were all incompetent.
If there is no water, it will eventually become the 'ration' for that group of people.
He has to find a way to save himself!
Abao was thinking secretly in his heart. Suddenly, his eyes swept over and caught something. A burst of surprise flashed in his eyes, but then they dimmed again.
He pursed his lips calmly, then looked happy, pointed at something and shouted excitedly: "Look! Something green!"
Everyone turned their eyes as he heard this, and then someone immediately cheered, "It's a cactus, great, it's saved!"
Several men with nimble legs and feet had already taken the lead to run towards the cactus, dragging the others behind them with them and causing them to stumble before they stumbled after them.
It was a large green forest. The green plants were as tall as a person, with fat leaves and extremely sharp barbs growing on them.
This was the first time Shi Qingxue had seen this kind of desert green cactus. It was much larger than she had imagined, and it was also very different from what was described in the book.
However, these people who live in the desert all year round are so excited. These cacti must be some kind of treasure.
Sure enough, Shi Qingxue saw several grown men taking out daggers and scratching a deep mark on the fleshy leaves, and milky white juice immediately flowed out.
"This is a good thing, we can be saved!" The woman beside Shi Qingxue shouted excitedly, her previous fear swept away, and her face was filled with joy at being saved.
Shi Qingxue thought for a while and asked humbly: "Can these milky white juices be eaten?"
The middle-aged woman glanced at Shi Qingxue with disdain and said exaggeratedly: "Of course! There is no water in the desert, but we have to live on this thing. There is such a large area, as long as we collect all the juice, we can Then everyone can be saved!"
As he spoke, the man couldn't wait to start harvesting the sap from the cactus.
Shi Qingxue thought for a while, and took out the sharp dagger from her arms - the magic weapon that Mo Junyang gave her - to pick a gap and prepare to strike.
But Abao suddenly pulled her back, with a look of hesitation on his serious face.
Shi Qingxue patted Abao on the head and smiled softly: "Don't worry, I won't make you thirsty. Come with your container, I'll cut a little, and you can catch it."
Abao still didn't let go, but instead pulled Shi Qingxue a little further away, but he didn't dare to meet Qingxue's eyes and just said in a low voice: "Wait a minute."
Shi Qingxue was stunned, not understanding what Abao meant.
However, the current environment did not allow her to think too much. Seeing that everyone else had gained something and drank the delicious cactus juice, Shi Qingxue just thought that Abao was having trouble again for unknown reasons.
She gently brushed Abao's hand away, and the latter immediately glared at her, "I'm ignoring you!"
Shi Qingxue: ... The arrogant brat is really hard to take care of.
However, she was not as knowledgeable as a child, so she only said: "Stand here for a while, I will be there soon!"
She imitated the actions of others and collected half a bowl of milky white juice with great difficulty.
But instead of becoming normal right away, he walked back to the kid who was still having an awkward moment, and reached out to poke the other person's back shoulder.
no response.
Shi Qingxue laughed: "...Okay, stop making trouble! You haven't had anything to drink for such a long time, take a few sips quickly!"
Before Abao could respond, a young man next to him exclaimed exaggeratedly: "You worked hard to squeeze out half a bowl of juice, but you didn't drink it yourself, but you gave it to a useless kid who can't lift it with your hands or carry it on your shoulders. Are you okay?" "
Shi Qingxue: "..."
She couldn't answer this.
The young man didn't seem to be expecting Shi Qingxue's answer, and quickly said to himself: "By the way, it seems that this kid discovered you first at first. Tsk! Could he be your son?"
Shi Qingxue felt that if she didn't explain, the misunderstanding would be huge, so she quickly said: "Of course not! He and I just met by chance."
"Then..." Confusion appeared on the young man's face again. He really didn't understand why Shi Qingxue was so nice to a strange kid.
Even Abao turned his head and looked at her.
Shi Qingxue touched Abao's plush head and replied naturally: "It's probably fate! Besides, if you really think about it, Abao saw this cactus first. If he couldn't even drink it, It just doesn’t make sense!”
When the young man heard this, his eyes suddenly widened in surprise, and he repeated one word in surprise: "Abao?"
Shi Qingxue didn't understand the young man's surprise, nor did she see the fierceness flashing in Abao's eyes. She asked strangely: "Yes, his name is Abao. You guys came together, don't you know?"
The surprise on the young man's face turned into shock, as if he had seen a ghost. He pointed at Abao and said tremblingly: "You, you are..."
Before he could finish his words, his whole body suddenly convulsed, like an epilepsy, and he fell back trembling.