Chapter 1225: The Smuggling Route

Although it was already the afternoon, as long as the sun had yet to set, the desert was still extremely hot. Zhang Zian witnessed his own urine stains staying on the stone for less than ten seconds before evaporating completely.

He was about to leave when, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed that something on the edge of the stone seemed to be moving in the shadow.

What was that?

He was curious, but the stone was short and narrow. In addition, the outdoor light was very strong, while the indoor light was dim. It would be difficult to see what was inside unless he squatted down.

Of course, there was another way. He could simply pry the stone open.

Zhang Zian looked at the stone that had just been covered in his urine. He could not bear to touch it. In fact, he convinced himself he might not really be that curious after all.

Finally, he decided he would simply use his foot to kick the stone. He wanted to see if he could dislodge whatever was hiding beneath it. He kicked very hard, so hard that he felt the bones in his legs tremble.

Just as he stopped to take in a breath of air, a small black animal came running out of the stone. Although it was small, it crawled very quickly and rushed over to him.

Zhang Zian hadn’t seen what kind of animal it was. He hesitated in deciding if he should back off or step on it to kill it. However, his head sounded with danger signals, and instinctively, he moved backwards!

At the same time, a flash of light shot from a point behind him and accurately nailed the little animal to the soil. It was a tactical dagger, and the little animal that had been killed was a black scorpion.

Although the dagger was obviously directed at the scorpion, Zhang Zian had no intention of killing the scorpion. He unwittingly started sweating cold sweat.

The dagger almost cut the scorpion in half. However, the scorpion had a strong will to live and kept up its struggle to survive. It flicked its tail around, trying to attack the dagger.

Zhang Zian turned his head and looked in the direction of the dagger. He saw that Peter Lee and Nabari were slowly coming to his side, and Salem followed. Peter Lee’s hand held an empty scabbard, suggesting that the knife was his.

“Brother, be careful. The scorpions in the desert are very poisonous. If you are stung, we can only turn around and send you back. Even if we did that, I do not know if you would survive.” Peter came forward to stand beside Zhang Zian and bent down to retrieve his dagger. The scorpion was still struggling.

Zhang Zian frowned. He could not believe that Peter Lee had actually entered the desert with a dagger.

Although, it must be said that it was a legitimate reason to carry a dagger. There were some dangerous animals in the desert, and there might have been terrorists hiding in the desert. There were also many other uses for the dagger. However, to him, it was a very dangerous weapon. He felt that he and Wei Kang should have been notified about it prior.

On the other hand, he and Wei Kang had not thought that they should bring some weapons for self-defense. At this juncture, it was too late for regrets.

Nabari was not surprised that Peter Lee was carrying a dagger. The Bedouins also carried a dagger or a waist knife to defend themselves in the desert. Nabari had also brought a waist knife, but he’d left it in the car.

“Are you okay?” Salem asked, running over.

“It’s nothing. I am fine.” Zhang Zian nodded.

“It is the orthochirus innesi. Although it is a small scorpion, it has a very bad temper.” Nabari could easily identify the scorpion with a simple glance.

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Peter Lee smashed the scorpion with the bottom of his boot.

“Thank you.” Zhang Zian was not entirely comfortable with what he’d just witnessed, but he should nevertheless be thankful to them for saving him.

However, even if Peter Lee had not intervened, this scorpion could not hurt Zhang Zian. After all, he was wearing desert combat boots, and he was unlikely to be easily pierced by its tail. It was quite likely that he would have trampled it to death before it approached.

“Ah ah. We are all partners on this team. It is basic courtesy to help each other. Don’t mention it.” Peter Lee took out a paper towel and wiped his dagger clean before putting it into the scabbard.

Zhang Zian hadn’t realized that Peter Lee had such skills. He carefully recounted what had happened earlier in his head. Peter Lee must have high accuracy. The scorpion was very small and moved very fast. To hit it in just one throw was not exactly the easiest thing to do. Or at the very least, not something that he could.

“You are here to…”

Zhang Zian thought to himself that they were probably not here to accompany him for a pee, right? They couldn’t be friendly to the extent that they were willing to pee together, could they?

Peter Lee glanced at Nabari. “Nabari is looking for the way. I have heard about the abilities of the Bedouins to find directions, and I followed to satisfy my own curiosity.”

Nabari walked between the rocks. He seemed to be walking aimlessly, stretching out his hand from time to time to touch the stone. It was as if he were trying to retrieve his previous memories from the touch.

The stones looked similar to Zhang Zian. He didn’t know how Nabari differentiated them.

After a while, Nabari pointed in one direction. “We go there.”

That direction was no different from other directions, and there was no road on the rugged ground.

Before, they’d been heading to the south. Now, they were going to the west.

“Uncle Nabari…?” Salim couldn’t help but ask. If Nabari did not speak, he couldn’t learn anything useful.

“Mark.” Nabari patted a stone.

In this moment, they noticed that there was a vague marking on one side of the stone. It was pointing in the direction that Nabari had just pointed. This mark was very old and very secretive. It was like a certain kind of ancient text, worn out by wind erosion.

In fact, the answer was very simple. Nabari had found the way because he’d found the mark. If he hadn’t known the mark, he could never have found it.

Nabari looked back at Salem and said, “This is a sign, left behind by our people a long time ago. Thousands of years ago, people smuggled lion skin, ivory, spices, gold, and ostrich eggs from the Kufra Oasis in Libya and passed through the Siwa Oasis or the Dakhla Oasis. Their goal was to transport these goods to the other side of the Mediterranean Sea or the ancient cities of Egypt. Our people also came to the desert, and relying on their familiarity with the desert, they got a piece of the transportation economy.”

Zhang Zian and Peter Lee were very surprised. Nabari was actually leading them on an ancient smuggling road.

Whether it was ancient or modern, smuggling was a crime. After all, the way to make big money was written in as criminal law. This was especially so in ancient times, where smuggling was the equivalent of stealing the pharaoh’s money. Once caught, a person would’ve definitely been beheaded.

The ancient Egyptian pharaohs hadn’t wanted the gold of the national treasury to be lost, but their actual control was limited. They were basically confined to the black land on both sides of the Nile River, and the more extensive red land was beyond the sphere of influence of the pharaohs. They knew that there was an invisible smuggling path, but they could not do anything more.

The road used for smuggling had stood the test of time. It was, at least to some extent, more reliable than walking blindly in the desert.