Chapter 303: Escape the Desert 7

Perry Yates’s gaze swept quickly across everyone’s faces, not lingering on anyone. They were all bundled up tightly, with only their eyes showing.

A little while later, another four or five people trickled in. Like Perry Yates, two of them had a camel.

After meeting up with The Oasis Caravan, Perry Yates learned that these newcomers would not only have to pay ten golden beans per person, but also surrender half of their supplies.

Their presence took up valuable camel resources; camels that should have been carrying cargo were now carrying people. This was a loss for the caravan, one they naturally needed to recoup from these people.

However, this had nothing to do with Perry Yates, since she had brought her own camel.

Since she wasn’t taking up any of the caravan’s camel resources, their attitude toward her was much better than it was toward the others.

After all, in this desert, owning a camel proved you were wealthy. But protecting it from being stolen—that was a sign of true strength.

Perry Yates had not only protected her camel but had also raised it to be well-fed and strong—even a bit more robust than the caravan’s own.

Once the caravan set off, Perry Yates rode her camel in the middle of the procession.

Over the past few days, she had frequently materialized plants to feed her camel, so the animal had grown very attached to her. Even without a lead rope, it followed her willingly and would even make warning sounds if anyone else got too close.

The others, even those with camels to ride, looked miserable under the scorching sun. Panting, they had to pull out their canteens every so often for a drink to rehydrate.

’Seeing this, Perry Yates was somewhat relieved that everyone was bundled up so tightly. Otherwise, she’d have to pretend to be hot, too.’

At noon, when the temperature peaked, the caravan found a grove of lush, giant cacti and decided to rest in their shade. They would set off again once the sun was less intense.

The travelers dismounted from their camels, wearily making their way to the shade. They didn’t dare sit down immediately, as the sand was still scorching hot.

The caravan members expertly pulled small folding stools from their luggage. The players, lacking experience, had to find other ways to make do.

Of course, there were also those unafraid of the heat, who plopped right down onto the sand.

After a short rest, the group started taking out food to regain their strength.

In this part of the desert, the most common plant was something called a sand potato.

The plant grew beneath the sand. Like a cactus, it had an extremely tenacious Life Force and needed very little water to survive.

A sand potato looked like a withered branch on the outside, but peeling back the skin revealed something similar to cassava inside. It was extremely high in starch and very filling. Most importantly, it was cheap. Very cheap.

Sand potatoes were even eaten in much the same way as cassava.

Many in the group took out pre-prepared sand potatoes and began to eat.

Although high in starch, sand potatoes were rather tasteless. The high starch content also made them a choking hazard, so they had to be eaten slowly, preferably with a canteen of water on hand.

While the others ate in silence, Perry Yates found a spot to have her own lunch.

Her camel stayed by her side, and seeing that she was preparing to eat, it shifted its body to serve as a backrest, allowing her to sit more comfortably.

Perry Yates also took out a pre-cooked sand potato. But instead of eating it right away, she also produced several skewers of grilled meat.

She ate by alternating bites of sand potato and grilled meat, treating the sand potato like a piece of bread.

When the scent of grilled meat wafted over, the caravan members merely glanced up before returning to their own business without a word.

After a two-hour rest, it was still hot, but the overhead sun was no longer as scorching as before. The caravan set out once more.

"What did you just put in your canteens?"

Yara North had suddenly noticed many of the caravan members adding some white granules to their canteens.

The man glanced at Yara North. "It’s salt," he said. "Putting it in your canteen replenishes both salt and water when you drink."

The sound of their conversation naturally drew Perry Yates’s attention as well.

’Speaking of salt, it was known as the white Gold of the desert.’

’She had wanted to buy some salt herself, but she’d apparently gone too late yesterday. All the salt the caravan members had for sale was already spoken for, so she hadn’t been able to get any.’

’Fortunately, she’d later found a substitute for salt. That’s right—the grilled meat.’

’The meat had all been marinated, so it naturally contained salt.’

Yara North and her companions, like Perry Yates, had apparently also failed to buy salt. So, upon learning the caravan had some, they paid several times the usual price to buy a small bag from one of the members.

As the sun gradually set, the once-scorching temperature began to drop rapidly.

The members of The Oasis Caravan seemed long accustomed to this. They had already pulled out and put on their thick clothes the moment the temperature began to fall.

Perry Yates’s clothes were made from the silk of desert spiders. They were cool to wear during the day and also provided excellent insulation. So, while the others were bundling up until they looked like balls of fabric, she alone remained in her original attire, completely unchanged.

Once the sky was completely dark, the caravan stopped again, and the travelers built up a bonfire.

The desert at night was even more dangerous than during the day.

During the day, the intense heat kept most wild beasts and venomous creatures hidden away. Night, however, was their time to hunt.

Fire was an effective deterrent against those potential dangers, as the beasts of the desert rarely provoked humans.

This wasn’t Perry Yates’s first time spending the night outdoors. On previous nights, she had overheard the howling of wolves in the desert.

’At the time, she had found it strange. ’Wolves in the desert?’’

Back then, she hadn’t given it much thought, figuring so long as they didn’t bother her, she wouldn’t bother them.

When night fell, everyone else crawled into their tents. Perry Yates hadn’t prepared a tent, so she could only stay outside and depend on her camel.

Yara North had actually offered to let Perry Yates share her tent, but her condescending attitude was a major turn-off for Perry. It was heavily implied that in return, Perry would have to follow their orders from now on, so Perry had flatly refused.

The next day, when Yara North saw that Perry Yates was still as energetic as ever, her eyes filled with utter disbelief.