"No," Sun Hang gently flicked the amulet hanging from the rearview mirror with his finger, "it's all just my guesswork. Any resemblance is purely coincidental."

"Heh, if you don't want to talk about it, fine." The sound of a four-cylinder engine's low rumble came through the communication channel, and Ya Qiaoxi's motorcycle suddenly accelerated, quickly widening the distance between it and the off-road vehicle.

"Is she upset?" Sun Hang turned to look at Candle Dragon.

"No, that's just how she is." Candle Dragon shook his head and stepped on the gas, "After all these years, she's still the same."

"I'm even more interested in the stories of your past now," Sun Hang said. "Just to be clear, I'm not gossiping. I'm purely trying to find something to talk about because this journey is so tedious."

"You want to hear?" Ya Qiaoxi's voice rang out again.

"I do," Sun Hang answered affirmatively.

"To put it simply, just four words."

"What four words?"

"Begin with chaos, end with abandonment."

"Wow," Sun Hang stretched the word out, "tell me more."

"Sure, for a price." There was a hint of amusement in Ya Qiaoxi's voice.

"Candle Dragon, you choose," Sun Hang said. "Do you want to tell me in person, or pay Mr. Ya to tell the story?"

"Why should I pay?" Candle Dragon asked, puzzled.

"We're in the middle of nowhere, can't swipe a card, and there's no mobile signal to transfer money. Besides, as I recall, Mr. Ya's rule is cash only, right?"

Ya Qiaoxi: "Mhm."

"What a coincidence, I never carry cash, so I can only use your money," Sun Hang beamed at Candle Dragon. "Anyway, I'll reimburse you after the mission is over... oh, I mean after we return from Egypt."

Candle Dragon smiled wryly, then stepped on the gas again to narrow the distance with Ya Qiaoxi's motorcycle, shaking his head, "I have no money, nor stories."

Sun Hang: "What a heartless man."

"Yeah, yeah," Ya Qiaoxi immediately agreed, but in the next second, her tone suddenly changed, "Slow down! Turn around!"

"What is it?" Sun Hang looked at the distant mountains. The sun still had some distance to the valley; clearly, they hadn't reached the "turning point."

"Sandstorm," Ya Qiaoxi's voice became extremely grave, "I can smell the sandstorm."

Sun Hang tried to use his mind-reading ability on Ya Qiaoxi once more, but found no useful information.

Experience, this is what's called experience. Experience and skill are not the same; it's something hard to express with tangible words. Just like a fisherman who's lived by the sea for most of his life can smell the salt in the air, feel the temperature of the seawater, and predict when a storm will hit. For someone like Ya Qiaoxi, who is intimately familiar with the Gobi Desert, sensing a sandstorm has long become an instinct.

"Follow me, don't fall behind!" Ya Qiaoxi's motorcycle drew a huge circle in the Gobi Desert and then headed in another direction.

Candle Dragon immediately turned his vehicle around to follow.

"This isn't the direction to Dragon City," Sun Hang frowned. "Aren't we going back to Dragon City?"

"There's no time," Ya Qiaoxi said. "We'll be caught by the sandstorm before we reach Dragon City."

"Then where are we headed now?"

"Stone Forest."

"Are you sure the Stone Forest can withstand the sandstorm?" Sun Hang questioned, "The kind of anomalous phenomenon that can even alter terrain—I doubt the Stone Forest would be a safe shelter."

"The Stone Forest she's talking about is also an anomaly," Candle Dragon said gravely. "An environment-type anomaly, designated Geng 857 'Desert Stone Forest.' There are many stone forests in the Hexi Corridor's Gobi Desert, and 187 sites have been confirmed as environment-type anomalies. Because their memetic sequences are completely identical, these anomalous stone forests in the Gobi Desert are considered the same phenomenon."

"Exactly," Ya Qiaoxi said. "Though we don't know why, sandstorms in the Gobi Desert actively avoid these stone forests. The two have always existed in harmony—those who make a living here know that if you encounter a sandstorm and can't escape, you should head for the nearest Stone Forest. If you're lucky enough to find one of the 187 anomalous Stone Forests, you'll survive."

"And if we're not lucky?" Xue Yue, clinging tightly to the back of Sun Hang's seat, asked from the back.

"Then there are no 'ifs.'" Ya Qiaoxi twisted the throttle to the max, and the motorcycle's speed soared to nearly 200 kilometers per hour, kicking up a dust trail higher than the off-road vehicle.

Barely two minutes after turning around, Sun Hang felt an obvious tremor from beneath him—not because the vehicle was driving fast on unpaved roads, but because the ground itself was shaking violently.

A wave of oppressive memetic aura was approaching swiftly, the sort that didn't require heightened senses to notice; any infected person could feel it from kilometers away.

It was as if the end of the world were descending.

Glancing at Xue Yue's pale face in the backseat, Sun Hang said, "You feel it too, right?"

Xue Yue nodded vigorously, "It's... so terrifying."

"Seems like having an infected person in the team is pretty useful. At least you can sense a sandstorm coming from a few kilometers away," Sun Hang commented.

"Useless. By the time an infected person senses a sandstorm, it's already too late to escape, unless there's a stone forest nearby to hide in," Ya Qiaoxi said.