"I know more than you think." Tianmiao curled his lips.
"Who... exactly are you? What else do you know?" Que Qiu almost lost his composure, asking urgently.
"You’ll find out." Tianmiao smiled and stopped talking.
Que Qiu bit his teeth and went silent.
A few assistants quickly moved the supplies aside and let Zhou Qiang in.
"Thank you, thank you." Zhou Qiang appeared disheveled, patted his head upon entry, releasing a lot of sand from his hair. He took off his dust goggles and coughed several times, then, seeing the people inside the room, exclaimed joyfully, "Professor! Cheng Luo! It’s really you all!"
Professor Wu, hands behind his back, asked him somewhat angrily, "Recovered from your madness? Where did you go by yourself? Do you know how worried everyone was when you suddenly left the team! With such a big storm, aren’t you afraid you’d die out there!"
"Senior! You disappeared all at once! We were scared to death! Have some water." Cheng Luo stepped up too, handing him water.
Zhou Qiang took the water and drank it down in gulps, only then did the burning sensation in his throat ease a bit. He then said, "Sorry, Professor, yesterday I was scared and got a bit dizzy. When I came to, I couldn’t find you all. Seeing that the storm was coming, I found a place to hide until today and, as the sandstorm lessened, tried to find another place to hide. This stone house was quite obvious, so I came this way, thinking you might be here. It turned out to really be you, truly great!"
Professor Wu waved his hand, saying, "Alright, then have something to eat, freshen up a bit, look at the state you’re in now!"
Suddenly returning Zhou Qiang seemed completely normal, as if everything yesterday had been due to a curse or a hex.
Curse...
Cheng Luo suddenly remembered her dream about her senior, her hand shook, almost spilling the food.
"What’s wrong, Cheng Luo?" Zhou Qiang stepped up to catch the lunchbox, concerned.
"N-nothing, it’s just good you’re back, senior." Cheng Luo shook her head.
"Thank you, Cheng Luo. The first thing I wanted to do when I came to was find you... uh, all of you." Zhou Qiang coughed awkwardly and picked up chopsticks to eat.
"What?" Cheng Luo froze.
"No, nothing." Zhou Qiang’s face turned suspiciously red. But given he was all dirty, it wasn’t very clear.
Que Qiu listened near the wall for a while and said, "The sandstorm is almost gone."
Professor Wu, sitting to the side, asked, "So we can set off today?"
Que Qiu shook his head, saying, "I’m afraid not, we need to cross Black Death Road, which requires sunlight at noon to cross. Now the sandstorm hasn’t completely dissipated, we can only set off tomorrow."
"What’s Black Death Road?" an assistant asked curiously.
"It’s the last stretch of swamp sand before entering the Irel Imperial City. At noon, the sunlight turns the swamp sand into small patches of black-red areas. These are swamp sand points. Step into one, and you’ll feel like you’re being dragged into a swamp; no one can save you. There is a strange magnetic field there; compass detectors don’t work. The swamp sand is vast, and if you can’t distinguish directions clearly, you’ll end up in another desert. That’s roughly it; I’ve never been to that desert myself, so I’m not too sure," Que Qiu explained conscientiously.
"Oh, oh, oh! My gosh, luckily we have such an excellent guide. Searching for ancient cities is more difficult than I imagined." The assistant said.
Professor Wu also nodded with admiration, looking at Que Qiu, "You truly are the best guide."
Que Qiu waved his hand, saying, "Just doing my job."