Chapter 426: Terrifying! Footprints Deep in the Night!

That night, the expedition team set up camp next to a sand dune.

Ning Fei didn't pitch a tent. The back of his off-road vehicle was spacious enough, and with bedding already prepared, it made for a very comfortable place to sleep.

Still, he helped the others set up their tents.

Once the tents were up, Lin Tao took Liu Wu to the top of the dune to scout the area, while the rest of the team brought out their self-heating meals to prepare dinner.

They had brought plenty of supplies—sausages, mineral water, and everything else they could possibly need.

The current conditions for the archaeological team were excellent. With a generous budget from their superiors, food and drink were never a concern.

After dinner, Ning Fei also made his way up the dune.

The dune was quite high, looking to be about a dozen meters tall. To reach the top, one had to circle around and climb up from the side.

The sun was just beginning to set.

The archaeological team was inspecting the terrain, studying their route for the next day.

Ning Fei simply sat on the sand dune, watching the distant sunset.

The drone was also broadcasting the setting sun in the live-stream.

The entire screen was bathed in gold.

A golden sun, a golden desert, and a golden path.

It was a beautiful scene.

"It's getting dark."

"The desert at night is a terrifying place."

"There are often eerie sounds out here. When the gale blows through weathered rocks, it sounds like the hoarse cries of a child."

"In the early years of Lop Nur, there were even some horrifying rumors going around."

"They say that if you don't hurry up and leave the desert at night, you'll be taken away by something unclean."

Ning Fei said slowly, his eyes fixed on the setting sun.

"Ning Guan master, stop talking! You're scaring me!"

"That's a bit creepy!"

"I've heard about this! The desert is terrifying at night!"

"Are there really ghosts?"

"There are many bizarre incidents in Lop Nur. Countless people have lost their lives here, including Huaxia's first explorer Yu Chunshun and the famous scientist Peng Jiamu."

"Yeah, the Ancient City of Loulan isn't far from here either."

The netizens chimed in one after another.

At that moment, Lin Tao walked up beside Ning Fei.

"You're in a good mood, Ning Guan master. The scenery is indeed beautiful."

Lin Tao laughed, acting extremely polite.

He gestured toward the drone. Ning Fei understood immediately and muted the drone's audio system so the viewers couldn't hear their conversation.

"Professor Lin, did you find any tracks?" Ning Fei asked as he stood up.

"Nothing yet. We'll see tomorrow," Lin Tao said, waving his hand.

"By the way, I need to ask a favor of you, if it's not too much trouble."

Hearing this, Ning Fei replied, "What is it? Just say the word."

"I noticed the back of your off-road vehicle is quite spacious. You know how the desert gets at night—it's too turbulent. It's inconvenient for a girl like Xue Fang, so I was hoping you could let her sleep in your car."

"Don't worry, she has her own sleeping bag. She won't take up too much space."

Lin Tao added.

It was a very normal request. When out on an expedition, people couldn't afford to be too particular. Everyone was focused on their official business anyway, so no one would get the wrong idea.

Ning Fei nodded. "No problem. It's a small matter."

"However, Professor Lin, I don't quite understand. This archaeological expedition carries a certain amount of risk. Why did Xue Fang come along with the team?"

Ning Fei's question was completely justified. Archaeological fieldwork was grueling, and bringing a young woman along was always a bit inconvenient, not to mention the fact that it was easy to run into danger.

Lin Tao didn't hide anything and answered honestly.

"Xue Fang is the daughter of a friend of mine. Her father died saving my life years ago."

"In the system, one needs some honors and achievements to ensure a worry-free life."

"Our findings this time are expected to be massive, which is why I brought her out here."

"Of course, she works very hard herself. She's just as capable as any of the boys."

Hearing Lin Tao's answer, Ning Fei nodded again.

No one could avoid the ways of the world and the web of human favors.

After that, the sky grew darker and darker.

Ning Fei turned off the live-stream and got into his vehicle to rest.

Xue Fang brought a sleeping bag and climbed in as well. She looked a little reserved and shy, but fieldwork was exhausting, and neither of them had the energy to entertain stray thoughts. They went to sleep early that night.

The next morning, Ning Fei woke up quite early.

He opened the trunk and stepped out of the vehicle, only to see that the lower halves of Lin Tao and the others' tents had been completely buried by sand.

This alone was enough to show just how fierce the winds and blowing sand were at night in Lop Nur.

But at that moment, Ning Fei's expression changed.

"What is that?!"

He took a few steps forward.

Hearing Ning Fei's movements, Lin Tao also emerged from his tent.

"What's wrong?"

Soon after, the rest of the expedition team began to stumble out one by one.

When they saw what Ning Fei had discovered, the expressions on everyone's faces turned colorful.

"There are a few footprints here."

"Judging by the shape, they look like human footprints!"

"They weren't here yesterday."

"No matter what it is, something visited us last night."

Ning Fei squatted down to examine the dirt beneath the sand dune.

The loose sand of the desert was constantly shifting, making it impossible for any marks to remain on the surface.

However, the very bottom of the dune consisted of hard rock layers and mixed soil.

It was exactly because of these rock layers that the footprints had been preserved.

"Liu Wu, check the video! See if we caught anything on camera!"

Lin Tao's face did not look good.

They were here for archaeological research.

Yet something had actually approached their tents in the middle of the night without any of them noticing!

Fortunately, Lin Tao had come prepared. A small camera was tied to the tent to record anything that happened during the night.

Everyone gathered around to check the footage captured by the camera.

The footage showed pitch-black darkness outside the tents. The lighting was extremely dim.

Despite that, they could clearly see a dark, human-like silhouette. It was hunched over, sneaking around the edge of the tents, and pressing its face against the fabric to peer inside.

Afterward, it even pressed against the windows of every off-road vehicle to look at the interior.

Watching this scene, all the members of the archaeological team felt a chill run down their spines!

The sight was absolutely terrifying!

Late last night, while they were all fast asleep, some unknown entity had actually been scurrying back and forth through their camp!

If an ordinary person experienced a situation like this, their soul would have likely left their body from the sheer terror!

"These ape-men are so active lately!"

"Lop Nur hasn't shown any anomalies for centuries. Why are these ape-men constantly running out now?"

"Where do they live? And why did they come out?"

Liu Wu adjusted his glasses as he stared at the footprints and spoke.

Hearing his words, Lin Tao spoke up, "These are exactly the answers we need to find."

Then, he called out to everyone else, "Hurry up and wash your faces. Pack up your things. After we eat breakfast, we'll head up and take a look."

That morning, Ning Fei went up the sand dune with the archaeological team to explore outward. At the same time, he turned his live-stream back on.

The netizens quickly flooded into Ning Fei's Live-stream Room.

The outside world was paying extremely close attention to Ning Fei's current expedition.

After all, the leader of this archaeological team, Lin Tao, was a famously accomplished archaeologist.

Coupled with Ning Fei's own fame, it would be hard for their investigation to go unnoticed.

Everyone looked through the drone's camera lens.

The expedition members were all wearing straw hats, carrying brown hiking bags, and wearing masks to cover their faces.

The six of them fanned out, forming a hexagon-like formation as they carefully searched the ground.

"We've discovered traces of humanoid biological activity in this area."

"In a desert region like Lop Nur, it should be absolutely impossible for humanoid creatures to exist."

"The greatest possibility is that there is an undiscovered ruin in this area."

"And this ruin is exactly what we are looking for right now."

Ning Fei explained to the drone while he searched.

Hearing Ning Fei's words, the netizens immediately became incredibly excited.

"Ning Guan master says there's a ruin in Lop Nur?"

"So this is the real goal of the archaeological team!"

"Good heavens, there's actually a ruin in the desert!"

"This is amazing."

Ning Fei continued to explore the sand dunes. According to his experience, if there truly was an underground city, it absolutely couldn't be built directly in the sand, because the sand was constantly shifting.

However, the area they were in had numerous dirt mounds, scattered everywhere like towering little hills.

This was a forest of dirt mounds!

The only possible place an entrance could appear was beneath one of these mounds.

Therefore, they needed to carefully investigate every single mound.

Right at that moment, Ning Fei's Danger Perception skill suddenly triggered.

"Danger!"

His expression shifted.

He immediately looked into the distance.

At the far edge of the horizon, a dense, oppressive mass of dark clouds was rolling in. It looked exactly as if a violent rainstorm was approaching!

"What is that? A storm?"

"Since when are there rainstorms in the desert!"

Seeing this scene through the live-stream, the netizens couldn't help but cry out in alarm.

It had been sweltering just moments ago, but suddenly, the sky was gradually darkening!

Then, Ning Fei's deep voice rang out.

"This is bad. It's a sandstorm!"