"The sand is so hot from the sun... Would it be better to walk on tiptoe to reduce contact with the sand?"
"Walking like that will be more tiring."
The two girls' voices were contrasting: one was like early summer, lively and comforting; the other was like a spring breeze, light and melodious.
Zheng Qing opened her eyes and found herself lying on the back of the man from before.
"You...you saved me." Her voice was hoarse, but she found that she was still in relatively good spirits.
"You're awake?" Li Qianxia turned her head and looked at her.
Li Changzhou said, "Thankfully, our captain, though ruthless, has a fondness for humanity. Oh, right, remember to pay back the money for the medical supplies. How much was it again?"
The last sentence is a question to Yang Qinglan.
"30 coins."
“Okay.” Zheng Qing seemed not to realize it was a joke. “Not only will I return it, but I will also report it to the government and give you an extra reward.”
"Are you threatening us?" Yang Qinglan looked at her.
“No,” Zheng Qing replied. “It’s an invitation to you. As long as you join the government, the government can send people to protect your families. That way, even if you are exposed and make enemies with other strugglers, you won’t have to worry about your families being implicated…at least you won’t be more worried than you are now.”
The three of them walked on in silence, their steps heavy.
Zheng Qing didn't urge him, but instead reminded him:
“When walking in the desert, the most important thing is to keep your head warm. You can make a headscarf out of white fabric, like Saudi Arabian women do.”
Yang Qinglan readily agreed and used a dagger to cut off the hem of Li Qianxia's dress around Li Changzhou's waist, giving each of them a piece of fabric.
Li Changzhou carried Zheng Qing on his back, and Li Qianxia wrapped him up.
"You're not allowed to smell it."
"Don't worry, I'm also afraid of the smell."
Li Qianxia kicked him.
Yang Qinglan simply covered Zheng Qing's head with the cloth.
“Actually, wetting it would be more effective, but you probably don’t have water and don’t want to use urine.” With something to cover her up, Zheng Qing breathed a slight sigh of relief.
"Don't blow your hot air on my back!" Li Changzhou wasn't disgusted, nor did he have the mind to think about disgust right now; he was just annoyed by the heat.
The scarf wrapped around his head was immediately soaked with sweat.
They would occasionally climb up the sand ridge to look for a place where they could find shade.
Finally, in the vast, undulating desert, they found a straight, upright rock. The shadow cast by the rock was as alluring as a spring.
Just as Zheng Qing was about to warn them, she heard Yang Qinglan say to the other two, "Be careful, there might be a trap in the shady spot."
"Xiao Qing, King of Black Mist, wait for me here. I'm fast, I'll go check the situation first," Li Qianxia volunteered.
"Okay, be careful."
"I am not the King of Black Mist, I am Owl..."
Li Qianxia had already rushed out, seemingly not to scout the situation, but rather to eagerly seek out a shady spot to rest.
“It’s a coincidence that my code name is ‘Owl Head’ and my missing teammate’s is ‘Owl Tail’,” Zheng Qing said.
"...I'm not an owl either."
"Be on guard!" Yang Qinglan said impatiently, her eyes fixed on Li Qianxia, ready to pull her away at any moment.
Li Changzhou released Zheng Qing's legs and picked up the AK with both hands.
Zheng Qing fell onto the sand. It was hot, but she felt no pain. This was partly due to her 10% pain immunity, and partly because the sand was loose and soft enough.
She squinted, staring at the shady spot.
Holding a steel gun, Li Qianxia carefully circled around in the shade and waved in this direction.
Li Changzhou carried Zheng Qing on his back again.
Yang Qinglan walked cautiously at the very back.
“Let’s rest for five minutes,” she said, after sitting down in the shade. “We have to find water.”
No one spoke; everyone was exhausted and wiped their sweat with their headscarves.
Li Changzhou had a physical condition of 6 points, but he was exhausted from carrying a person on his back and holding an AK weighing 4 or 5 kilograms.
At this moment, Zheng Qing was actually the most energetic.
She carefully observed the three people.
They look very young, probably college students, but they work well together, are careful in their work, and are very capable.
Even she, a professionally trained soldier, was no match for them; times have truly changed.
"How many times have you participated?" Zheng Qing couldn't help but ask.
“Before answering your question, you should answer ours first,” Yang Qinglan said. “Given the government’s capabilities, why are you a two-person team?”
“It’s two people and a police dog named ‘Storm’.” After a somewhat stubborn explanation, Zheng Qing finally answered her question, “On the same bus, you can only swipe three tickets per trip.”
"Do dogs also need to vote?" Li Qianxia asked curiously.
"I've already answered, it's your turn."
“Three times.” Yang Qinglan said concisely, revealing no unnecessary information.
"Three times? You participated three times in one week?"
"Just like Pinduoduo's billions in subsidies and food delivery platforms' coupons, capital spends money, while we risk our lives to seize the early market share." Li Qianxia spoke as if she had come up with this idea herself.
Zheng Qing stared at her in surprise.
The value game has only been going on for a week, but the country has already invested a lot of manpower and resources. At every major meeting, the leaders sitting on the stage would say:
"Comrades, the sacrifices made in the early stages were necessary and essential; everything was for the future of Great Xia."
This is exactly what the girl in front of me said.
In the early days of the People's Republic of China, although there was a saying that college students knew everything from astronomy to geography, Zheng Qing knew that many college students today were living a life of debauchery and that physical tests such as the 1,000-meter and 800-meter races were enough to make them so nervous that they turned pale.
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