Professor Cheng and the leader of the institute calmed the people down and told them to get in the car and rest before daybreak.

At that time, the guide was standing on a slightly higher place, identifying the terrain.

Wen Qi walked over without saying anything. When the guide looked over, she asked, "Is it far off?"

The young guide pursed his lips slightly and shook his head, "I don't know, I have never been to this place."

Wen Qi was stunned and asked in disbelief: "Are we lost?"

The guide nodded calmly, "But it doesn't matter. At worst, we can just go back the same way and correct our position before setting off again."

Wen Qi frowned slightly and turned away. It was indeed possible to return by the same route, but the gasoline was limited and he didn't know if it could sustain the extra consumption.

"Professor Cheng." Wen Qi walked over and asked in a low voice, "Can the fleet's gasoline last until we return along the same route and arrive at the ancient city safely?"

"Return the same way?" Professor Cheng understood what she meant immediately. After thinking about it, his face darkened. "It's difficult. We did bring some extra gasoline when we set out, but we had too much equipment, which exceeded our expectations, so we had to discard some of the gasoline."

He sighed heavily, "Who would have thought we would encounter a sandstorm."

Wen Qi was puzzled. She originally thought that if there was not enough gasoline, at most there would be a risk of the car breaking down on the way back. But how come Professor Cheng said that it would be difficult to even get to the ancient city? Her eyes flashed, and she asked, "If we go back, are we going to take a plane?"

Professor Cheng: "Of course, we drove into the desert this time because we were not familiar with the environment of the ancient city. We were afraid that we would not be able to find a suitable place to land if we went directly there."

Wen Qi nodded to show that he understood, and continued to ask: "Is the ancient city in the northwest?"

Professor Cheng nodded again. He looked up at the dark sky and sighed, "We can only wait until the sun comes out to find the direction."

"No need." Wen Qi said, "I'll show you the way. We'll set off now and stop to rest when we get to a place the guide is familiar with. This is an uninhabited area in an uninhabited area. Even the guide hasn't been here before. It's unknown whether it's safe or not. We might as well leave as soon as possible."

Professor Cheng pondered for two seconds and nodded in agreement.

So, the drivers who had just rested for a short time were called up again, each of them drank a large cup of coffee, cheered up and continued on the road.

Wen Qi calculated and gave instructions at the same time, and avoided a huge quicksand pit in the middle.

After we passed the quicksand pit, the guide's voice suddenly rang through the intercom. "I know this place. There is a ruined stone temple further ahead. We can rest there."

Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and in order to rest as soon as possible, the convoy sped up a bit.

By the time the convoy arrived at the Stone Temple, the sky was already getting light.

Everyone drove the car to the entrance of the stone temple, blocked the dilapidated and leaky place, and then no matter whether it was dirty or not, they found a corner and leaned against the wall to fall asleep. It was such an tiring night.

There were only a few girls, each in a car, lying in the back seat with great peace of mind, and soon fell asleep.

Wen Qi found the guide again, "Isn't it closer to the ancient city from here than to go back to the starting point and walk again?"

The guide laughed and said, "It is indeed closer. It saves a lot of time."

Wen Qi felt much more relieved. He found a place to sit down and fell asleep - it was daytime now and there was no need to stay on duty.

When she woke up, it was already noon. Wen Qi was awakened by the heat. Although the place where she sat was a corner, the sun just reached below her waist. She didn't know how long it had been, but her legs felt a little sore.

Wen Qi sighed, hid in the shadows, rubbed her legs, then got up, got her backpack from the car, pried open the can and started eating. The canned beef was a bit greasy to eat cold, but she was really hungry.

Most people in the camp were up and cooking noodles. After Wen Qi finished his canned food, he stood by the pot with his bowl in hand, waiting.

Wen Qi responded casually, his eyes still fixed on the noodle pot.

Shi Minghuai continued, "We checked the weather before coming here, and there was no forecast of a sandstorm."

"Is it necessary to give an advance warning of a sandstorm in an uninhabited area?" Wen Qi asked halfheartedly.

Shi Minghuai choked up. What he said was... true. Was he really overthinking? However, he seemed to have really seen a shadow in the sandstorm last night. He glanced at Wen Qi hesitantly, but in the end he didn't say much. Anyway, the danger was over.

Wen Qi ate two bowls of noodles and put down his chopsticks in satisfaction. He was finally full. The feeling of being hungry was really uncomfortable.

After everyone had finished their meal, the team packed up and set off again. According to the guide, if nothing unexpected happened, they would be able to reach the ancient city in the evening.

The journey was smooth afterwards, even though there was no wind in the desert after a sandstorm, and it was extremely hot and stuffy. But in order to save gasoline, I didn't dare to turn on the air conditioner in the car. Sitting in it was like being in a steamer, and the small rechargeable fan I brought with me didn't work either. It was really miserable.

In the end, Wen Qi used the ice spell to get a bunch of ice cubes, and placed them in front of the fan, and the car finally felt a little cooler.

When the sun went down, the temperature in the desert dropped again and everyone changed into their jackets again.

Because they had to reach the ancient city tonight, the convoy did not stop for dinner, and everyone ate canned bread in the car.

It was not until about eight o'clock in the evening that the guide's voice came through the intercom again, "Everyone, we can already see the shadow of the ancient city. We will be there soon."

Everyone was in high spirits and the atmosphere became much more relaxed.

Wen Qi leaned out of the car window and saw a shadow in front of her, but...isn't it a city? Why is it so short? In just over ten minutes, the convoy stopped in front of the ancient city. As the distance got closer, Wen Qi suddenly realized that it was half buried in the sand. She looked around and thought that this should be the location of the city wall. They should go directly into the city through the city gate, right? Sure enough, the convoy started moving slowly again, following the lead car around the edge of the city wall, and soon arrived at the city gate.

The city gate was opened. The door panels were made of wood, which had now weathered and decayed. They stood on both sides of the city wall, as if they would fall down at any time.

The convoy drove into the ancient city cautiously.

Unexpectedly, there was not much sand in the ancient city, and the paved roads were even clean. Moreover, the roads in the city were unexpectedly wide, and it was no problem for two cars to drive side by side.

Most of the buildings in the ancient city are stone houses, mostly small single flat-roofed houses, and there are also a few two-story buildings. Well... maybe there were three- or four-story buildings in the past, but they are all collapsed now.

A tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind! The sandstorm will not let you down! After driving around, they returned to the square in the center of the city, where they planned to set up camp. Although the stone house looked quite solid, they were afraid that the cultural relics inside would be destroyed.

As for how to set up camp, they actually brought a spare tent, which they tied to the roof of the car.

Just like the previous tent, there was still one tent for four people, and there happened to be one left that was occupied by only two people, so it was picked up by Wen Qi and Fan Xiaoling.

Mainly because the senior student didn’t want to live with them, the other girl went with them. After all, they were good classmates.

Just as we finished packing the tent and luggage, Professor Cheng came over and asked, "Wen Qi, you just walked around for a while, did you find anything unusual?"

Wen Qi shook his head. "Not yet. Professor, you can continue the excavation as normal tomorrow. We will solve any problems if they arise."

Professor Cheng felt a little relieved. He was really scared when he excavated the ancient tomb last time, and he was afraid that something might go wrong. He nodded and said, "Thank you for your hard work. Go to bed early."

There were no recreational facilities in the desert, and everyone had to get up early to work tomorrow, so after a quick wash, everyone went into the tent to rest.

Wen Qi took her phone and went to a place a little further away to call Feng Ce. Knowing that the signal was not good in the desert, Feng Ce specially prepared a satellite phone for her. It was Feng's new product, which was still in the testing phase, so she was able to help. (End of this chapter)