Chapter 353 - 172: Person in the Sand

Chapter 353: Chapter 172: Person in the Sand

A small cloud of dust kicked up from the sand. The thing lay there, motionless.

Some green fluid oozed from its body. The fluid was thick, like some kind of mucus, and it slowly seeped into the sand, where it was absorbed by the surrounding yellow grains.

Xu Mo approached with his gun raised. The thing didn’t move; it had to be dead.

Walking closer, Xu Mo examined the strange creature carefully. Now that it was still, its body, which had been curled into a shape like a washbasin, slowly unfurled, revealing its true form.

It was a black worm over two feet long. Its body was a long oval, about the length of a human forearm and slightly thicker than an adult’s wrist, covered in a layer of black skin. Its head was tiny, almost disproportionately so, and bore a pair of compound eyes that looked like small jewels, though they had now lost their luster.

The strangest part was its back, which had a pair of folded wings. They looked very thin, clearly not meant for flight. Xu Mo guessed the wings were probably just for gliding or for maintaining balance when it leaped out of the sand.

Xu Mo crouched down, studying the bug closely.

"What is this thing?" Xu Mo muttered to himself. "Is this something that’s supposed to exist in this world?"

Xu Mo’s first thought was that it must be an invasive species. With that in mind, he picked up his Triangular Spike and dug into the bug’s head. Inside was a gooey liquid and fragments of soft tissue, but no Crystal Core or any other hard mass. Xu Mo rummaged through it carefully; there was definitely nothing there.

This made Xu Mo’s initial guess a little uncertain. Invasive creatures were supposed to have Crystal Cores, but this bug didn’t. He didn’t know if it was because its level was too low, or if it was actually a native life-form.

’Still, this thing is a bug that grows in the desert. I’ll just call it a sandworm from now on.’

Xu Mo casually gave the bug a name. "Sandworm" was simple, easy to remember, and immediately made you think of something from the desert.

Leaving the sandworm’s carcass where it lay, Xu Mo returned to his vehicle and continued on his way.

For the rest of the journey, Xu Mo encountered many more sandworms.

At one point, Xu Mo saw more than a dozen sandworms emerge from all directions at once.

It happened as he was crossing a relatively open stretch of sand. A dozen or so mounds suddenly appeared on the sand’s surface around him. They emerged from different directions and all began to move toward the off-road vehicle. As the mounds moved across the sand, they left over a dozen raised trails in their wake. The sight was quite interesting.

Xu Mo glanced at them but didn’t stop the car.

He already knew what these things were capable of. They weren’t fast, and their method of attack was likely just ramming. Since they couldn’t catch up to the vehicle, they posed no threat. Xu Mo simply stomped on the gas and accelerated away. The sandworms gave chase for a while but were quickly left in the dust, vanishing without a trace.

Along the way, Xu Mo kept encountering sandworms and kept leaving them behind. He did a rough count: from morning until now, he had run into at least three or four hundred of them. It was a considerable number, which meant that a huge population of these creatures truly lived beneath the desert.

’What do they eat?’

This was a question that piqued Xu Mo’s curiosity. There were almost no other living things in this desert, not even many plants. What did these sandworms live on? Xu Mo didn’t know, nor was he interested in studying them further.

Right now, Xu Mo only cared about one thing: crossing this desert and reaching his destination as quickly as possible.

At noon, the sun climbed to its zenith. The light beat down relentlessly, turning the desert into a giant oven. The thermometer inside the vehicle maxed out again, its needle pushed all the way to the right. Xu Mo calmly watched the gauge exceed its limit once more.

It was at this moment that Xu Mo’s gaze swept forward and suddenly froze. He saw something.

Amidst the rolling dunes, something different appeared—several moving figures.

When he first saw them, Xu Mo thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. He blinked and looked again before confirming that he wasn’t mistaken.

About a few hundred meters from the vehicle, on a relatively flat patch of sand, stood six or seven people.

They were spread out, each person a dozen or so meters from the next, forming a loose circle. Every one of them held a long spear, the tips of which glinted coldly in the sunlight. They had their heads down, staring at the sand at their feet as if searching for something.

These people were dressed in earth-yellow robes, wrapped up tightly from head to toe. The robes looked loose, and the fabric appeared to be some kind of coarse cloth—breathable, but opaque.

One look at their attire told him they were people who had lived in the desert for a long time. Such robes could protect them from the sun and sandstorms, as well as help retain body moisture.

You wouldn’t dress like that unless you lived in the desert long-term. ℯℯ𝑙.

Xu Mo slowed the vehicle, gradually approaching the group. As the distance closed, he could make out more details.

The spears in their hands were homemade. The shafts were some kind of wood, and the tips were sharpened metal, likely fashioned from scrap metal they had scavenged somewhere.

Just as Xu Mo was observing them, one of the people looked up. His eyes first swept aimlessly over the surroundings, then suddenly locked onto Xu Mo’s off-road vehicle.

He froze for a moment, then his eyes widened. He began waving frantically in Xu Mo’s direction, and it looked like he was shouting something as well.

Hearing his shouts, the others also raised their heads. They, too, were stunned when they saw Xu Mo’s vehicle, and then they all started waving. A few of them began jumping up and down like the first man, while a few others brandished their spears as if in greeting.