Chapter 156: Chapter 130: The Mine Collapsed
He first drove to pick up Liu Meng, and then the two went to the office.
Zhong Rui was already prepared, and everything was packed into the rented van.
"Boss, shall we set off now?"
Qi Yun nodded at him: "Mm, go find those invoices from yesterday for me."
"Alright, boss." Zhong Rui didn’t understand why he needed the invoices, but he quickly went back inside to get them.
Qi Yun took the invoices, didn’t look at them closely, and stuffed them all into his wallet.
"Okay, let’s go."
The three of them got into the car, Zhong Rui drove, Qi Yun and Liu Meng sat in the back, and the van headed towards Shanshan County.
"We’ll probably be gone for five or six days this time, did you explain to your wife?" Qi Yun handed Liu Meng a cigarette and asked.
Liu Meng took the cigarette and skillfully held it in his mouth: "Yeah, I told her."
Qi Yun nodded and slowly exhaled a smoke ring: "After this trip, I might have to go to Russia next month, interested in joining me to take a look?"
"Russia?" Liu Meng was a bit stunned, "What are you going there for? It’s freezing!"
"To discuss some business." Qi Yun laughed and patted his shoulder, "You can sit and fish on the ice all day, why aren’t you afraid of the cold then."
Liu Meng lifted his chin and replied in a muffled voice, "That’s different, you don’t understand the joy of fishing."
He knew Qi Yun was asking him to go for a reason, so he continued, "Just let me know when you’re going, I can leave at any time."
Qi Yun nodded at these words.
A few hours later, the car arrived at Shanshan County.
Qi Yun called Mamati and learned that they were heading to the gas station on the east side of the county.
He then said to Zhong Rui, who was driving, "Go to the east gas station."
When they arrived at the gas station, four modified off-road vehicles were parked on the side: two Jeep Wranglers and two Ford Raptors.
Mamati and his three helpers were there refilling spare fuel cans.
Getting into the gas station was quite troublesome, needing to scan ID cards, so they just waited outside.
After refilling the fuel, Mamati and his group came out and immediately saw Qi Yun not far away, so they parked by the roadside and came over to say hello.
"Boss Qi."
Qi Yun nodded, his gaze sweeping over the three Uighur men behind him, and asked with a smile, "Was the journey smooth?"
"Smooth." Mamati said and began introducing, "These are my good brothers, Ah Li, Beck, and Ai Shan. They’ve been running the desert for many years and are very familiar with the terrain."
Ah Li was small and thin, Beck had a full beard, both were young men.
Ai Shan looked about the same age as Qi Yun, perhaps due to running in the desert for many years, his skin was tanned.
Qi Yun nodded to them: "We’ll be relying on you all."
Ai Shan and others responded politely, with friendly smiles on their faces.
At this time, Liu Meng was carefully examining the modified off-road vehicles beside him, clicking his tongue in praise: "Wow, a 3.5T Ford Raptor, this thing must consume a liter of fuel with one step on the pedal, right?"
Ah Li laughed heartily: "Brother, these big guys have plenty of power, running in the desert is thrilling, if you’re interested, you can try it later."
Liu Meng shook his head with a smile and said no more.
Qi Yun looked at Mamati and asked, "Is this fuel enough for a round trip?"
"Not enough, we’ll drive the two Wranglers and one Raptor in, Beck and the other Raptor will stay in the county to support us. When we return, he’ll bring in some more fuel." Mamati explained.
Qi Yun nodded: "Okay, you arrange it. When do we set off?"
Mamati looked at the time and said, "Let’s replenish supplies first, leave in the afternoon, and try to reach the first campsite sixty kilometers away tonight."
"Alright."
Qi Yun responded, turning to call Liu Meng and Zhong Rui into the car.
The cars drove to a supermarket entrance and began loading supplies, mainly water and some food for sustenance.
After loading up the three vehicles, Qi Yun and the others got into Mamati’s Wrangler and headed towards the desert.
Half an hour later, the convoy drove over a stretch of bumpy dirt road, beyond lay the vast dunes.
The convoy stopped slowly, Mamati got out to deflate the tires.
After a round of checks, they set off again.
As the convoy entered the desert, the vehicles began to bounce over the dunes. Mamati skillfully maneuvered the steering wheel, while reminding the vehicles behind via walkie-talkie: "Maintain distance, avoid the soft sands, don’t get stuck!"
The journey was thrilling but without incident. By around nine at night, the convoy finally reached the designated first campsite, a lowland beside a dune.
The three cars formed a circle, with the dune on the side helping to block the wind and sand.
Everyone got off, the nighttime temperature in the desert dropped drastically, and the wind cut across the face like a knife.
Mamati rubbed his hands, untying the Ford Raptor’s straps, and began unloading the camping equipment.
They bought three tents, just enough for two people per tent.
In no time, the tents were set up.
Mamati and the others had well-prepared equipment, with portable power sources, camp stoves, cooking gear, all sorts of necessities.
A few people sat together, eating instant noodles.
"The desert nights are really cold, good thing we came prepared." Liu Meng said, exhaling a breath of white mist while eating instant noodles.
Ah Li laughed and said, "This is not even the coldest. Once I took some guests into the desert and ran into a cold snap, the temperature dropped to minus twenty-something degrees, and the car’s radiator froze."
Mamati nodded in agreement: "Yes, so try not to leave the camp, getting lost in the desert can be very dangerous."
Qi Yun and the others nodded, showing they understood.
After eating, unable to withstand the cold wind outside, everyone went into the tents and crawled into sleeping bags, finally feeling a bit of warmth.
Qi Yun and Mamati shared a tent. With nothing to do, Qi Yun started chatting with him.
"Have you encountered any very dangerous situations during your years as a guide?"
Mamati shrank into his sleeping bag, his eyes fixed on the top of the tent, lost in memory.
"Plenty, Boss Qi." he slowly said, "Once, we took a team of adventurers into the desert. Some young folks in that group underestimated the danger of the desert, ignored the advice, and quietly left the convoy."
"They quickly lost direction; the dunes in the desert look alike, and without professional equipment and experience, it’s hard to tell the direction."
Qi Yun listened intently, frowning: "Were the people found later?"
"After realizing they were missing, I and another guide immediately started searching separately, but we didn’t find them even after looking all day."
"At that time, we were also running low on fuel, so we split into two groups. The other guide took the rest of the guests back first, leaving me and a friend to continue searching."
"After another half a day, we finally found their car, but no one was inside. It looked like they got stuck and couldn’t get free, so they took the supplies and walked away."
"It was late at night when I finally found them next to a small hill. By then, the three of them were already unconscious from the cold. If we had been a bit later, they might have been in real danger."
"That incident really scared me." Mamati still had lingering fears as he spoke of it now, "Since then, I rarely take young people into the desert."
Qi Yun nodded: "In this desert, there’s no room for the slightest carelessness."
The two continued chatting for a while until the tent was filled with the sound of snoring.
At dawn, as the sky started to brighten, the convoy set off again.
They had to cover two hundred kilometers today to reach the next campsite.