Chapter 1239: Nocturnal Animals

The sun had already set, and there were only remnants of its rays in the west. People started lighting up their camping lights and brightening up the camp.

Doubt was written on everyone’s faces. They did not understand the meaning of Zhang Zian’s proposal. Did he really want to kill Xiao Tianyu?

Normal people drank about two liters of water a day. This was in addition to the moisture in food. This helped them to keep the thirst away. Besides, since they were in the desert and sweating throughout during the day, any conservative estimate of the amount of water needed had to be doubled.

Xiao Tianyu listened until he was dazed. Fear overtook him, and he rushed over to Zhang Zian, crying, “Brother Zhang, let the past be the past! This is like wanting my life!”

Zhang Zian ignored him and explained to the others, “I didn’t make it clear. What I meant is that you cannot give him bottled water. For the next three days, he can only drink filtered wastewater.”

Everyone finally realized what he meant. Some people even laughed.

Even if you tried saving water, bottled water couldn’t be used only for drinking. It would also be used when brushing teeth and cooking. After filtering the domestic wastewater, it could actually be safe for drinking. It would be a pity to throw it away. It would therefore be better to collect it in an empty bottle just in case there was a need for it during an emergency.

The team had carried a simple filter device into the desert, and in critical situations, it could filter salt water or even urine into a drinkable state. Of course, the taste was not good.

Zhang Zian’s suggestion had three objectives. First, it could reduce the consumption of the remaining bottled water. Second, it allowed him to utilize the wastewater, and third, it sent a message to Xiao Tianyu about how precious water was in the desert.

Everyone thought that this proposal was good. Some people even worried about the lack of wastewater because the ratio of filtered water to wastewater was very low. One liter of wastewater might have only filtered out about two or three hundred milliliters of filtered water. They generously expressed their willingness to contribute their own urine.

Xiao Tianyu made a bitter face and he did not know if he should laugh or cry. Although his life had been saved, this would definitely become a black mark in his life.

At this time, no one cared much about his feelings. In order to maintain team stability, everyone needed to vent their anger. He must be punished, and it could just be a flesh-and-blood injury. This was his own doing.

“Brother Zhang… Xuetao, Brother Tao… Teacher Wei…” Xiao Tianyu tried pleading for himself. However, seeing that everyone ignored him, he turned his gaze to He He, whom he had a good relationship with. “He He, you probably will not want to see me like that…”

He He looked into his eyes with extreme disgust. She certainly didn’t want to see his face again. She said strongly, “I haven’t even used my drinking water to wipe my own body. You are really good… Don’t talk to me ever again. I don’t know you!”

The matter was settled. Xiao Tianyu was banned from accessing bottled drinking water for the next three days. In addition, he would receive dedicated supervision from others in the future.

Although this problem had been solved, Zhang Zian did not feel all that good.

As the saying went, fear not an opponent like God, but fear a teammate who was like a pig. It didn’t matter if there were difficulties. If everyone was united, there would definitely be a solution. However, if one was stabbed in the back by teammates, there was no way they could play.

He did not dare to fully trust Peter Lee and his team. However, his teammates were too unreliable, and this made him feel weak.

Next, they re-checked the supplies, ate dinner, and chatted. Their activities were similar to last night, but everyone could feel that something was different. Perhaps it was due to the influence of Xiao Tianyu or the fact that it seemed to be a difficult journey and everyone was losing confidence. In any case, the atmosphere was a lot worse than yesterday.

Zhang Zian had no good ideas. He was not built to be a political leader. He couldn’t possibly gather everyone together to sing and dance, either.

It didn’t take long for people who were tired to return to their tents to sleep.

Zhang Zian did not have to keep vigil that evening. He also returned to his tent and wiped his face with a wet wipe. He then brushed his teeth before covering himself with a blanket.

He was very confused, and his mind lingered on the various events that had happened while they were on the road. With so many thoughts, he thought he would have insomnia. However, perhaps because he had been too tired during the day, or because he did not have the burden of keeping watch, he fell asleep almost immediately.

He did not know how long he’d slept. While in a daze, he felt like he was pushed.

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He suddenly woke up. The tent was not too dark, and there was a camping light in the center of the camp, with some light passing through the tent.

Famous stood next to his inflatable cushion and whispered, “There seems to be some action outside.”

He was awake at once. He turned over and sat up immediately. He saw that Fina had already woken up and was staring in a certain direction through the tent.

Zhang Zian strained his ears to listen, but, as expected, he heard nothing.

“What happened?” he whispered as he got dressed.

Famous was not sure. “I seem to smell some kind of animal…”

“Animal? What animal?”

Zhang Zian hoped that it was the original Egyptian cat or other similar cats that would let Wei Kang quickly complete his scientific research. Even if it was not, he could use it to nudge the scientific research team to leave earlier. Otherwise, he would not know what was going to happen either.

“I don’t know. I have never smelled this smell.” Famous shook its head regretfully.

“Well, let’s go out and see.”

Zhang Zian put on his clothes, opened the zipper of the tent, and saw that the sky was still full of stars. The night was as deep as a gleaming black gem.

Both Fina and Famous came out with him. Looking at his watch by the light, what surprised him was that it was now only a little past 12 o’clock. He thought he had slept for a long time.

The camp was quiet, and the buzz from the tent did not break the silence. However, the camp seemed to be empty.

The night wind was like water, very cooling. It took away the rest of his sleepiness.

“Where?” he asked.

Famous looked to the side of the camp and said with uncertainty, “Maybe it’s there. The wind is too chaotic, and the smell comes and goes…”

Zhang Zian stood on his toes and looked in that direction, but his line of sight was blocked by off-road vehicles and tents.

Who was keeping vigil? Were they sleeping?

Just as he had this thought, a bunch of white flashlights cut through the darkness and shone all over him. They shrouded his body, and he had to squint.

The flashlight came from the edge of the other side of the camp. It was the night watcher who’d found him leaving the tent and acted abnormally. Thus, he used the flashlight as a way to ask what was going on.

He could not see who the other person was, but the other person could see him, and the other party also had a night-vision telescope.

Zhang Zian didn’t want to create too much commotion and pointed to the latrine. He was indicating that his actions were nothing interesting. He merely had to go to the toilet.

The flashlight was extinguished.

Who was keeping vigil right now? He was indeed on high alert.

He thought about it for a moment, but he couldn’t remember who it was. Yet it didn’t matter. The diligence of the night watcher would make him sleep more peacefully.

He took Famous and Fina around the tent and used the tent to block the sight of the night watcher. Then they ran quietly into the night.