Chapter 208 Underground Environment
Fortunately, those marching ants seemed to have a set goal. They were marching along a predetermined route and had no intention of stopping to attack Ning Xuan and her group.
However, the direction where Di Youlin was located was exactly on the path of the marching ants.
"Di Youlin, get out of the way." Ning Xuan shouted anxiously when she saw that he didn't move.
Di Youlin's legs had sunk into the quicksand, and the soles of his feet were stuck, unable to be pulled out. In order to protect themselves from poisonous insects and ants, the military boots they wore were fitted with soft leather gaiters that covered all the way to the knees, making it impossible to easily get rid of the boots.
"There is something under this quicksand, and I can't pull my legs out." Di Youlin looked at the gradually approaching marching ants with a fierce look. If they got any closer, he would have no choice but to kill this group of ants.
At this moment, Wang Teng had been pulled out by Lin Mo with a rope, leaving only Di Youlin trapped in the quicksand. Ning Xuan threw out a rescue rope and put it around Di Youlin's waist, and several people worked together to pull Di Youlin back.
Di Youlin was stuck deep in the mud and sand and had difficulty exerting force. Ning Xuan and others pulled him out quickly, although he felt a bit heavy.
As soon as Di Youlin was pulled out, the black line pressed over the place where he had just been.
"These ants are very troublesome when they grow in groups, and there is no value in hunting them. From the guide I found, the most important thing is to not provoke army ants. It is said that there are a lot of them in the sand sea. Once you kill a nest, you will be easily attacked by other army ants later." Zhang Nan said quickly.
"Didn't they say that no one can come out of the red sand sea alive? Where did you find the strategy?" Ning Xuan asked him.
"There is a special information exchange area in the trading market. I heard someone selling the top ten things to pay attention to in the Red Sand Sea there, so I bought a copy." Zhang Nan took out a thin palm-sized booklet from his arms and showed it to Ning Xuan.
"Don't look at that, Master, come and see what's stuck to the bottom of his boots?" Lin Mo called Ning Xuan and others.
Di Youlin had already taken off his boots, and the others gathered around to look at the thing stuck on the soles of his boots.
That thing was crystal clear and seemed to be flowing slowly as if it was alive. In a short while, it had spread from the bottom of the boots to the top of the boots.
"It looks like some kind of gelatinous substance." Wang Yue said on the side.
"How could gelatinous substances be produced in this vast sea of sand?" Chen Nan asked back.
Normally, only special living plants can secrete gelatinous substances. Are there any plants in this sea of sand?
"I don't know what this thing is used for, but it doesn't look dangerous. How about taking some back to study it? This can also be considered part of the exploration, right?" Wang Yue suggested.
"I think we should do some research on this. With such strong viscosity, it should be possible to use it as a strong adhesive." Wang Teng put on a pair of latex gloves and was trying hard to pick out the gluey substance.
"These things are buried in the sea of sand, and it's still very dangerous to encounter a situation like what happened just now."
Wang Teng tried to pick it off for a long time but failed. He took out a flamethrower and sprayed fire on the boots. The boots they wore were made of fireproof material and would not be damaged by a short period of fire.
The colloid became more transparent and soft after coming into contact with fire. Wang Teng took the opportunity to grab a small piece with force. He took out the prepared glass bottle, took off his gloves and threw the piece into the bottle.
"Do you still want these?" Chen Nan asked, pointing at the boots.
"Yes, give it to me, I will pack it together." Wang Teng took the boot directly.
"Master, are we still going to take a look inside?" Chen Nan asked.
"No need, Zhang Nan, has the compass returned to normal?" Ning Xuan asked.
"No, the compass seems to be broken." Zhang Nan looked at the compass in his hand and handed it to Ning Xuan.
Ning Xuan looked at the motionless needle on the compass and sighed.
"Lan Xin, Zhang Nan, draw the map according to your own judgment. Remember this location." At this time, one can only judge the location based on subjective impression.
Lan Xin and Zhang Nan agreed, and the group continued to walk deeper into the desert.
Although Ning Xuan and the others had lost their way, they were all spirit controllers after all, and they were very sensitive to energy. They relied on this sensitivity to move forward in the direction where the energy was rich.
Zhang Nan and Lan Xin, who were responsible for drawing the map, were in a difficult situation.
How could the two draw a map when they couldn't tell the direction? Even the sand dunes in the vast sea of sand were moving. There were no fixed plants as landmarks, and no special mountain terrain. In this situation without fixed reference points and directions, they could only draw the map based on their subjective cognition.
Lan Xin looked at the map in her hand. It was nothing but sand dunes, with no valuable information left at all.
He had just tried to use the Water Mirror Technique, but within a radius of a dozen kilometers, it was all endless sand sea, no different from what he saw before his eyes.
Lan Xin felt that she had not completed the task assigned by her master, and she lowered her head with a feeling of frustration.
He wanted to discuss with Zhang Nan how to draw a map, but the master just told them to draw it based on their own judgment and not interfere with each other.
However, the map he drew was completely meaningless. It would be a waste of time to continue like this. Thinking of this, he found Ning Xuan and told her his concerns.
Ning Xuan looked at Zhang Nan, who was sitting on the sand with his eyes closed, sensing something. In front of him was a piece of tough parchment. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, picked up a pen and started writing on the paper.
About ten minutes later, Zhang Nan opened his eyes.
Zhang Nan opened his eyes and found that everyone was looking at him. He grinned and said, "Although the ground environment is difficult to map, the underground environment and star tracks are relatively regular. Don't worry, you won't get lost."
The map drawn by Zhang Nan did not describe the ground environment, but used the underground environment as a reference, including the direction of underground rivers, the distribution of groundwater sources, the special landforms underground, etc. It also referred to the star tracks in the sky, and looked very reliable.
With Zhang Nan's map, everyone no longer worried about not finding the way back, and the group continued to move forward in the direction of the dense energy. On the way forward, the little fox also hunted more than a dozen exotic beasts unique to the desert and dragged them in front of Ning Xuan.
Ning Xuan looked at the strange beast in front of her, which was dozens of times bigger than the little fox. She felt distressed when she saw the little fox lying on the ground gasping for breath due to exhaustion.
"You are so young, why do you want to provoke such a big creature? And you ran so far away, what if you encounter danger?" Ning Xuan hugged the little fox and tapped its little head.
The little fox's ears drooped limply, and its two front paws lay in Ning Xuan's arms and refused to get down.
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