Chapter 307: Death Sahara (1)

An Xuefeng said they were departing, but the first stop was Dreamchaser’s residence. Wang Pengpai and the others stayed at Return on standby for the time being; An Xuefeng and Wei Xun went together, Wei Xun with his cloak on, in his capacity as Bing-1.

Dreamchaser’s residence was already on lockdown. Zhang Xingcang came to meet them, his expression difficult, looking, surprisingly, a little haggard. Wei Xun caught a faint fragrance on him as they drew close and identified it on closer inspection as lavender.

“You’re here.”

He gave a brief nod, wasting no time on pleasantries, and led An Xuefeng and Wei Xun straight toward the inner room. On the way over Wei Xun had been wondering what state Dreamchaser was actually in, and when he finally saw it, the scene still came as a surprise.

He was looking at a dragon.

Dreamchaser had accompanied him in the form of a young dragon during the Beijing Suburbs Funeral Palace journey, but a small dragon no bigger than a coconut was a very different thing from the fully realized creature before him now.

The dragon was not particularly large by dragon standards; setting aside the wings and tail, the body alone was about the size of an Asian elephant. It lay sleeping quietly in a sea of pale-purple lavender, its form somewhat slender, its scales a silver-white, its wings like crystal glass. The two horns shone like gemstones with a shifting, seven-colored light.

A dreamlike shimmer of color danced through the air around it, making it look sometimes like a phantom and sometimes entirely real. Combined with the soft, sleep-inducing fragrance of lavender drifting gently through the room, the whole scene felt like sinking into a dream itself; like something out of legend, a spirit dragon said to dwell in the realm of dreams.

When the initial awe of seeing a real dragon had passed, Wei Xun frowned and moved closer to observe. He found that many of the dragon’s scales had fallen away, exposing patches of pallid skin beneath. An ominous death energy had settled over the dragon’s body and was locked in a continuous struggle against its own power. The most serious wound was at the underside of the jaw, at the throat.

Against the entirely silver-white body, there was one scale at the throat that was black. That palm-sized black scale had curled up and torn open, as though something had ripped at it, and pale-violet dragon’s blood, shimmering with a pearlescent glow, was flowing steadily from the wound. Where it fell to the floor, the blood became lavender flowers.

Dragon’s blood transformed into lavender, carrying an extremely potent sleep-inducing effect. Wei Xun had only been standing there a short while and was already beginning to feel drowsy. An Xuefeng glanced at him; Wei Xun shook his head to signal he could still hold on, and An Xuefeng didn’t send him out to recover, getting straight to the point instead.

“Dreamchaser’s reverse scale wound hasn’t healed?”

An Xuefeng had identified the key in a single look.

“No. It wasn’t this serious before.”

Zhang Xingcang said, and for once a trace of something bitter showed on his face.

The reverse scale on Dreamchaser’s chest had fused with the Death Sahara’s token. When he had gone to rescue Zhang Xingcang and then again when re-sealing the Sun Gate passage, Dreamchaser had torn out the reverse scale, using it as the price to summon his master’s intervention.

At the time, the master, ···, had been unable to suppress the Puppeteer, and An Xuefeng had ultimately been the one to act. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] The reverse scale had been taken back from him afterward and returned to Dreamchaser.

Tearing out a reverse scale was already a severe injury in itself; transferring the Latitude 30 Degrees token on top of that was adding injury to injury. But given Dreamchaser’s own strength, plus Zhang Xingcang’s return and the profound relief their bond provided against mental stress, these injuries were not particularly serious by Dreamchaser’s standards.

Dreamchaser was powerful enough that even without fully securing the Sahara’s authority, he had fused the token with his reverse scale and used his own formidable strength to forcibly suppress the creature deep inside the Sahara, maintaining primary control.

There was clearly something else going on.

“Last night Dreamchaser wanted to go into his dreams to collect the colored spirit sand grains. He’s actually been wanting to do this for a while… he just never had time to sleep.”

Zhang Xingcang said.

An Xuefeng had explained to Wei Xun before: when Dreamchaser sank into sleep in his alienated form and dreamed, he could draw colored spirit sand grains from within; items that allowed their group to enter the Death Sahara directly at the seventh layer, the most efficient method available.

Dreamchaser had been preparing for this Sahara trip ever since Zhang Xingcang was rescued. For various well-known reasons, ahem, Dreamchaser had simply been unable to find time to sleep. Even last night had been hectic; with departure almost upon them, he couldn’t afford not to prepare, so Dreamchaser had used a sleeping agent to force himself under for a while.

And that was when everything went wrong.

“Dreamchaser has been poisoned. Someone tried to kill him.”

Zhang Xingcang’s words landed like a detonation. The look on his face was harder than anything Wei Xun had seen on him before.

“West District people. They’ve been planning this for a long time.”

“You’re certain it’s them?”

An Xuefeng asked, his voice low. Zhang Xingcang’s tone was ice.

“I’m certain. I recognize the poison. Black Widow included a batch of it in her tribute.”

After the Mutual Aid Alliance’s inauguration ceremony, Black Widow owed Bing-1 a major favor, and the Puppet Master’s death had been enormously satisfying to her. She had sent another substantial offering to the Mutual Aid Alliance overnight; various specialty items from her own organization, along with an assortment of medicines the Little Witch had developed.

Among them was one vial of a “nightmare agent” that Black Widow had specifically flagged, a joint creation by the Little Witch and the A-4 infected individual. Knowing Zhang Xingcang would be the one receiving her goods, Black Widow had marked that particular vial for attention.

The nightmare agent was a Legendary-grade poison designed specifically to target those who commanded the realm of dreams. It had a peculiar nature: in an ordinary person it would do nothing more than cause some bad dreams, but anyone whose alienated form was bound to dreaming would be contaminated by the poison the moment they used their power and entered a dream state.

In its early stages the poison produced no sensation whatsoever. With each successive entry into the dream realm, the toxicity deepened, yet the person afflicted would feel no discomfort at all. Their sleep would be perfect, their dreams beautiful. Until, at last, they would die quietly, peacefully, inside a dream.

“The A-4 infected individual is with the West District’s Butcher Alliance.”

An Xuefeng took the vial Zhang Xingcang handed him, examined it briefly, and compared its properties against Dreamchaser’s current symptoms. A perfect match.

If the Puppet Master hadn’t died unexpectedly, the Tour Guide representatives at this year’s Year-End Celebration preliminary matches would have been the West District’s S-2 Lizard Duke and the East District’s Jia-3 Dreamchaser. As the West District Butcher Alliance’s leader, the Lizard Duke would stop at nothing to win the preliminary matches; poisoning Dreamchaser was also a move toward seizing the Death Sahara.

By any conventional logic, killing Dreamchaser served the entire West District’s interests. Black Widow revealing this vial was an act more treacherous than anything the “inside man” Devil Merchant had ever done. It wasn’t just about showing goodwill toward the Mutual Aid Alliance; there was a great deal of calculation involved.

The Lizard Duke had probably gotten in Black Widow’s way.

Wei Xun thought.

Black Widow had always kept a low profile within the West District. Like the Puppet Master in certain respects, her power base had been gradually eroded by the West District’s Butcher Alliance, and her possession of Latitude 30 Degrees tokens made her an even more tempting target for the Lizard Duke’s ambitions.

In ordinary times Black Widow couldn’t be bothered to deal with any of this. Most day-to-day matters were handled by the Little Witch, and even the notoriety of “Georges’s killer” had done her reputation no favors, as fewer and fewer people wanted to join her alliance. None of it had been enough to stir her interest.

But things were different now. With the possibility of resurrecting Georges, Black Widow would inevitably fight for her position. And S-2, the Lizard Duke had become an obstacle she could no longer ignore.

Rather than letting him quietly cripple Dreamchaser, secure a win in the Year-End Celebration preliminary matches and emerge strengthened, it was better to expose the plot in advance.

Whatever the outcome after that, a weakened Lizard Duke was exactly the opening she needed for her own resurgence.

It also happened that the moment Zhang Xingcang received Black Widow’s shipment and got the marked vial, he had felt immediately that something was wrong and rushed to wake Dreamchaser, only to find him already sunk in an unresponsive sleep. That had been at three o’clock in the morning. Zhang Xingcang had been continuously providing relief to Dreamchaser ever since, holding the situation stable until he finally reached out to Return.

“When I cross-referenced the vial’s description, I found that Dreamchaser had been poisoned for quite some time already.”

Zhang Xingcang said with pain in his voice, though as he said it, something complex and subtle crossed his expression. Then he looked toward Bing-1, and An Xuefeng looked toward him as well. Wei Xun made a small gesture, and from beside his cloak a jade-green leaf fell to the floor and became Tong Hege.

The reason for bringing Bing-1 along was naturally to have Tong Hege examine Dreamchaser’s current state.

While Tong Hege examined Dreamchaser, the others didn’t disturb him and moved to a side room to continue their conversation.

“Dreamchaser has barely slept in the past two months.” An Xuefeng spoke first.

“This poison infiltrates and deepens with each dream; it doesn’t begin as a poison at all. Which means the poisoning started well before now, but the total accumulated dosage in Dreamchaser’s system shouldn’t be too deep.”

Wei Xun agreed internally. If Zhang Xingcang’s relief alone was enough to stabilize the situation, the current damage probably was indeed limited.

“Small mercies.”

Zhang Xingcang nodded. That subtle complexity on his face earlier had its source here, Dreamchaser really had barely slept in these past two months.

To be precise, Dreamchaser had been insomniac ever since Bing-1 entered the Agency.

Before, he had gone sleepless because of Zhang Xingcang. Now he went sleepless because of Bing-1. Not sleeping, not dreaming; naturally the poison had had no opportunity to take hold.

Which meant the poison wasn’t what had actually sent Dreamchaser into this unconscious state. The real culprit was something else.

“How was Dreamchaser poisoned in the first place?”

An Xuefeng went straight to it, asking the critical question.

Given how carefully Dreamchaser operated, how had the West District people managed to administer the poison? And for a single instance to produce this severe a result, there was probably more at work here than just one vial of nightmare agent. Wei Xun was listening closely too, and Zhang Xingcang’s answer surprised both of them.

“The Sahara.”

Zhang Xingcang said gravely.

“The nightmare agent was applied to the Death Sahara’s token.”

The Death Sahara’s token? The reverse scale in Dreamchaser’s chest? How did you poison something like that? Was the master, ···, involved?

In an instant An Xuefeng turned over many possibilities; Zhang Xingcang’s answer, however, was not what either of them had anticipated.

“Something has gone wrong inside the Death Sahara. The creature there has been fighting Dreamchaser for control of the authority, which has made the Sahara unstable; cracks have appeared throughout it. The West District’s Butcher Alliance seized the opening. They’ve almost certainly found another entrance to the Sahara.”

“Another entrance to the Sahara?”

An Xuefeng’s brow was tightly drawn. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Wei Xun raised an eyebrow. A Latitude 30 Degrees journey that already had an Opening Participant, and someone else could find an additional entrance?

What did finding such an entrance mean? And if Zhang Xingcang was saying the token had been poisoned through this entrance, how did that work?

“A Latitude 30 Degrees journey is extraordinarily difficult to open. The token belongs to whoever opened it and is the key to entering the journey at will.”

An Xuefeng explained, knowing Wei Xun wasn’t fully familiar with this.

“But authority over the journey doesn’t come automatically with the token. It’s gained gradually through exploration.”

In other words, possessing the token only allowed free entry into the Latitude 30 Degrees journey. The actual extent of your control within it depended on how many scenic spots you had explored and conquered.

An Xuefeng’s pyramid, for instance, was the Latitude 30 Degrees scenic spot he had explored the most thoroughly; every level he had passed through was completely under his mastery, free of any danger; effectively his “safe zone”.

The Death Sahara’s situation was considerably less favorable.

“With the Death Sahara’s authority in disorder, if the new entrance leads into a region Dreamchaser hasn’t yet explored, whoever discovers and explores that area will gain a small portion of the Sahara’s authority themselves and will obtain a token that allows them to enter and exit the Sahara.”

The original token is one complete object, but at this point it could be said that Dreamchaser, the intruder, and the Sahara creature all possessed incomplete versions. They all derived from the same underlying source, and whoever had found this back-door method of poisoning the token had been able to contaminate Dreamchaser, the person holding the greatest share of the Sahara’s authority, through it.

Under normal circumstances Dreamchaser should have detected any intrusion into the Death Sahara immediately. The problem was that he had not yet secured the Sahara’s butterfly fragment, with countless factors compounding on each other, the current situation was the result.

Dreamchaser was submerged in the dream state and unable to wake for two reasons: the nightmare agent’s contamination, and the intruder’s active suppression preventing him from surfacing.

The danger lay in the fact that the nightmare agent’s toxicity intensified the longer its victim remained in the dream state. The longer Dreamchaser stayed under, the deeper the damage.

While they were still discussing it, Tong Hege emerged, and his examination confirmed what they feared.

“He must wake up at seven o’clock at the latest.”

Tong Hege said with gravity.

“The opposing side almost certainly has an expert with dream-related titles. Dreamchaser’s condition is critical, his SAN value is very low, on the verge of collapse. Zhang Xingcang, you must continue providing relief without stopping. It’s treating the symptoms, not the cause; if he remains under after seven o’clock, then…”

“Understood.”

An Xuefeng gave a short nod, and a sharp light passed through his eyes.

“We won’t need that much.”

Someone who could poison the token by ordinary means would not have been able to manage it. The small fragment of the token the intruder had seized was most likely in the hands of the A-4 Tour Guide, the one titled “Infected”.

“Black Widow noted that the nightmare agent contains the Lizard Duke’s venom. The antidote exists only on the West District’s Butcher Alliance’s side.”

Although that’s what she said, Zhang Xingcang didn’t fully trust Black Widow’s account.

“When I was providing relief to Dreamchaser, I caught a brief glimpse of the edges of his dream. Those people are inside the Sahara right now.”

Go to the Sahara. Capture the Infected. Take back the token fragment. Or resolve the problem at the root.

Kill the creature in the Sahara that had taken the butterfly fragment.

“Are you coming?”

“I’m coming.”

Zhang Xingcang went back into the room where Dreamchaser’s dragon form lay. Nobody quite saw how he managed it, but when he came back out, he was holding in his arms a magnificent, gem-like egg, radiant with shifting color, about the size of an ostrich egg.

Noticing Bing-1’s look, he patted the egg.

“This is Dreamchaser. Without Dreamchaser, you can’t enter the Sahara properly.”

With Dreamchaser in this state, he obviously couldn’t serve as Tour Guide. Even though this was a private excursion, a Tour Guide was still needed to constitute a proper tour group.

Zhang Xingcang looked at Bing-1, hesitated, then held his tongue. In his heart, Bing-1 going would be the ideal choice. But this Sahara trip was genuinely dangerous, and Bing-1 had only recently opened the Tusi King Tomb; his aura was still settling, which made him an easy target for the Sahara creature to lock onto.

And the Mutual Aid Alliance couldn’t spare Bing-1 either.

“I’ve contacted a Tour Guide.”

An Xuefeng ended his call. He had just been speaking with Wang Pengpai; Wei Xun caught a few words, something about a change of plans, a chartered flight. A quarter of an hour later, everyone involved in the trip had gathered at Return, passed through Return’s residence, and arrived at Return’s villa in City A.

Time was short; everything was said on the way. Wang Pengpai drove a large Jeep Cherokee; Wang Yushu drove a Range Rover, carrying the group toward City A’s international airport.

“Dreamchaser is under. The safehouse in Merzouga can’t be opened. The original Morocco route is cancelled.”

An Xuefeng’s voice came through their earpieces to everyone at once.

“We’ve chartered a flight to Mauritania, to the Adrar Province. We’re entering through the Eye of the Sahara.”

Mauritania was located in the northwestern Sahara, in West Africa. The Eye of the Sahara lay within Mauritania’s Adrar Province.

Wei Xun understood. Dreamchaser had opened the Death Sahara by exploring and opening a new scenic spot, and that scenic spot was the Eye of the Sahara. Going in through there meant that even with Dreamchaser sleeping, as long as they brought him along, the tour group could still enter the Sahara without issue.

“Those West District dogs know this too.”

Mao Xiao Le said, his voice flat and menacing.

“There’s probably an ambush waiting there.”

“Good. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Let them ambush us.”

Wang Pengpai laughed as he drove, tilting his head slightly.

“Hit them back hard. Anyone who dares stir trouble in the Sahara doesn’t walk out again. And it’ll be a good chance for Zhang Xingcang to draw blood, he hasn’t seen any action yet since coming back, has he?”

“Time to get moving again.”

Zhang Xingcang said evenly. Right now, there was nothing easy or optimistic about him at all; he had a contained, inward quality of killing intent that made something cold settle in the chest just looking at him.

“Butcher Tour Guides really do all deserve to die… ah, no offense to you, Yin-Yang Butterfly.”

In Wang Yushu’s car, a figure in a silver-purple cloak said absolutely nothing, pressed himself against the side of the vehicle, and worked very hard to take up as little space as possible. He looked like a frightened small dog.

“Killing has always been Yin-Yang Butterfly’s specialty.”

Wang Yushu said pleasantly.

“East District Butcher Tour Guides are stronger than the West District side, aren’t they, Yin-Yang Butterfly?”

This touched on a point of pride; Yin-Yang Butterfly had no choice but to speak.

“…The East District is naturally superior.”

“Our East District.”

Half-Life Daoist was cheerful about it, turning to drape himself over the back of the seat and look at him with an interested expression.

“Though honestly, I never expected you’d actually say yes. Yin-Yang Butterfly, come on, let’s talk.”

Talk your head off.

“The probability of the Lizard Duke acting personally is high. In recent days he appears to have reached some kind of cooperation agreement with A-1 Blood Wolf Rex.”

Bai Xiaosheng’s voice came through the earpiece, his tone unaffected.

“Taking the worst-case scenario into account, the enemies we may face this time include S-2 the Lizard Duke, A-1 Blood Wolf Rex, A-3 the Blood Baron, A-4 the Infected, A-7 the Voodoo Doctor, A-10 the Cannibal Witch, and an unknown number of lower-ranking Tour Guides and Tourists.”

Yin-Yang Butterfly’s face had gone bloodless white. Any possibility of conversation was now absolutely out of the question. Fortunately, nobody tried to talk to him for a while after that, and Yin-Yang Butterfly composed himself, then let his gaze drift sideways.

The dark-haired, handsome young Tourist beside him was fussing over the ferret in his arms. Feeling Yin-Yang Butterfly’s eyes on him, he turned and gave him a warm, friendly smile.

Wei Xun.

Bing-1 placed great importance on this young man.

Yin-Yang Butterfly, who had gone the entire night without sleep, had been utterly stunned when Bai Xiaosheng’s message reached him that morning. Return were going to the Sahara? Dreamchaser had had an accident? The West District’s Butcher Alliance was making a move to seize the Latitude 30 Degrees token? They were departing for the Sahara right now and temporarily needed a Tour Guide? They wanted him, Yin-Yang Butterfly, to serve as that Tour Guide?

Were they out of their minds? Were they on the same side now? Was this really information he should be hearing?

Yin-Yang Butterfly’s first instinct was that Bai Xiaosheng was trying to get rid of him; the man was a little petty-minded, and all that crying last night had probably been annoying. Yin-Yang Butterfly immediately reported it to Bing-1 and asked for his protection, but Bing-1’s response was remarkably noncommittal.

“Did all of this really happen? Bai Xiaosheng’s not wrong?”

“They want you to serve as Tour Guide?”

“All of Return is going? Including the new member… Wei Xun?”

“Heh.”

“If you want to go, go. You’re a Mutual Aid Alliance member now; they won’t touch you. At worst, sign a mutual non-aggression agreement.”

“Look after Wei Xun while you’re there, he’s a new Return member after all.”

The chance to enter a Latitude 30 Degrees journey, only a fool would say no. Every Latitude 30 Degrees journey was an enormous opportunity, and on top of that Yin-Yang Butterfly had never been to the Sahara before. One trip and the gains would be enormous.

And Bing-1 was right: he was a Mutual Aid Alliance member now. Everything from before could be considered wiped clean. Thinking it through carefully, if Dreamchaser had genuinely run into trouble, Return coming to him made sense.

Among Jia-class Tour Guides, the Puppet Master was dead, Dreamchaser was incapacitated, and the Puppeteer was unavailable. Among Yi-class elite Tour Guides, they couldn’t possibly go to the Weeping Medium; Pinocchio was in no condition; the Truth Alliance’s Rune Guide had just had a conflict with them; and Silverfish’s side was certainly occupied in the wake of the Puppet Master’s death.

Running through the top five Yi-class elite Tour Guides, Yin-Yang Butterfly was the obvious fit.

And the enemies were the West District’s Butcher Alliance. He almost laughed. This was genuinely excellent. His blood-drinking blade was already restless with hunger. Even though both were Butcher Alliances, he and his people had never shown the West District branch any mercy.

Of course, Yin-Yang Butterfly was still cautious about it; he had signed an extensive array of agreements with Return covering all contingencies and blocking every possible angle of harm, with particular attention to privacy; Tour Guides could normally travel directly to journey locations through the Agency. This time was different; Yin-Yang Butterfly would be riding in a car with Return and then boarding a flight.

Agency rules still applied, but what if someone lifted his cloak?

When he first got in the car, Yin-Yang Butterfly was wary, checking his position. When he found he wasn’t in An Xuefeng’s vehicle, and that the person beside him was Return’s newest and weakest member Wei Xun, no particularly oppressive presence nearby, Yin-Yang Butterfly felt fairly satisfied. Return was showing genuine good faith.

The habit of reflection that the Weeping Medium had drilled into him when leading tours was deep in Yin-Yang Butterfly’s bones, and he found himself involuntarily going over everything from that morning again. And then…

Then Yin-Yang Butterfly became deeply, profoundly uneasy.

If he actually thought it through carefully, there was something about what Bing-1 had said that felt off.

Right. This Sahara trip needed a Tour Guide, but they hadn’t called Bing-1. They’d called Yin-Yang Butterfly instead. By any logic, Bing-1 was the better choice. Was Bing-1 really that weak? Absolutely not; his true strength was something no ranking could capture.

They weren’t bringing Bing-1, but they were bringing the new member Wei Xun. Yin-Yang Butterfly found himself connecting this to certain rumors, and his scalp prickled.

No. Surely not. He wasn’t about to get tangled up in the love affairs of powerful people.

Look after Wei Xun.

Did Bing-1’s version of “look after” mean what it literally said?

Yin-Yang Butterfly felt himself going numb, his earlier fantasies of “exploring the Death Sahara” and “killing a few West District lowlifes” evaporating completely.

If Bing-1 really meant it that way… he didn’t dare actually move against Wei Xun. Killing someone An Xuefeng cared about, did he have a death wish?

Even if Bing-1 himself gave the order, Wei Xun and Bing-1 were lovers and linked Tour Guide respectively to An Xuefeng. The only one who would end up dead would be Yin-Yang Butterfly.

Ah, this…

Fine. He’d just take “look after” at face value.

Yin-Yang Butterfly admitted defeat. He was simple, after all; not understanding the real meaning was only natural. Bing-1 said look after, so he would genuinely look after.

“Half-Life Daoist, are you really going?”

After discussing the Sahara situation for a while, Zhang Xingcang looked at Half-Life Daoist again.

“This operation is very dangerous.”

“It’s all right. I have a feeling this might be an opportunity for me.”

Half-Life Daoist smiled, worked up the nerve to glance at Wei Xun, and felt something catch in his chest at the shy smile that came back at him. But he kept his expression easy and cheerful.

“Wei Xun, let’s stick together when we get there. Travel with me and I’ll guarantee your safety, nothing else aside.”

“Half-Life Daoist’s right; our side is too dangerous for Wei Xun. Being with him might be safer.”

Mao Xiao Le said too. They were going to the Sahara to fight and kill. The top-tier Tourists were naturally up against the most dangerous enemies. Not only were there formidable West District opponents, but the Sahara itself presented an extremely hostile environment, plus the most dangerous creature within it.

Strength attracted danger; relatively speaking, Half-Life Daoist was the less conspicuous one, and sticking with him was genuinely safer. Half-Life Daoist was not actually weak either, at a critical moment, his title could ensure relative safety even in the Sahara.

“I’ll do whatever the captain says.”

Wei Xun said cooperatively. His words reached An Xuefeng’s ears, and An Xuefeng couldn’t help curling his mouth upward slightly. Wei Xun being this cooperative made something in his chest feel almost itchy. He had never heard Wei Xun speak to him like this before. He almost wanted to record it.

Everyone else who heard Wei Xun say this felt something catch in their chest.

The Wei Xun they didn’t know about, combined with An Xuefeng, combined with the absent Bing-1… hmm.

The Wei Xun they did know about, cooperative and mild, combined with the ferocious Bing-1… well.

The atmosphere in both vehicles was distinctly strange all the way to boarding.

The flight to Mauritania was thirteen hours. When the plane touched down at Nouakchott’s international airport, it was ten-thirty in the morning of October 4th.

Looking out through the airport windows, the outside was a reddish-brown color. Despite being mid-morning, the light was strangely dim, like a storm coming in. The air was brutally dry too, as though every trace of moisture had been sucked out of it; Wei Xun’s nostrils felt prickly and uncomfortable from the dryness.

“October in North Africa sometimes brings the devil winds.”

Mao Xiao Le was filling out an immigration form as he talked.

“Fine red sand wrapped in searing, arid gusts; it can form enormous dust columns seven or eight hundred meters high that last for days. Anything caught inside; animals, people, gets desiccated into a dried husk by the time the wind stops.”

“We got lucky with the timing, honestly. If conditions were any worse, the plane couldn’t have landed at all.”

Wang Pengpai said, looking around at the streams of dark-skinned and light-skinned foreigners passing through. Their group of East Asians was conspicuous enough as it was, and it wasn’t just the complexion, it was the height. A cluster of tall people like this would probably get mistaken for a basketball team in most Western countries.

Most of the group made no effort to conceal themselves and were intentionally visible; acting as bait to draw out the bigger fish. Only An Xuefeng had disguised himself, taking on Wan Xiangchun’s appearance, while Wang Yushu had smoothly dressed up as him in turn.

“Let’s go. There are two contacts from outside the danger zone coming to meet us. Once we drive to Adrar we’ll collect the camels… hey, Cen Qin, it’s your turn, why are you still on your phone?”

Wang Pengpai called out, and noticed that Half-Life Daoist’s expression had gone odd, distinctly wrong.

“The West District’s Butcher Alliance has a lot of nerve.”

Half-Life Daoist’s tone was unfriendly.

“Next to them, even the Puppeteer seems restrained.”

“Hm?”

“What happened?”

“What’s going on?”

Everyone sensed something was off and reached for their phones. Wei Xun leaned over, and Half-Life Daoist held his screen directly in front of him. The Thriller App worked globally; Half-Life Daoist’s screen was on the livestream interface. It was a worldwide stream, and its cover image was a vast desert of dark red and black.

Yin-Yang Butterfly’s voice came through, and even he sounded unusually dark.

“The West District’s Butcher Alliance is provoking us. They’re planning to livestream the Sahara.”