Pet King

The next day, everyone got up very early. Even without Peter Lee rallying them, everyone got out of the tents. Everyone was either excited or anxious. They felt that the key moment of their expedition had arrived.

After breakfast, everyone got together. The difference was that Peter Lee’s team had packed up the tents and were ready to go, while the expedition team’s tents were still intact, as were Nabari and Salem’s tents.

It was time to separate.

“According to what we said before, my team and I will enter the Devil’s Sea, and Professor Wei Kang’s team will stay here. If we haven’t come back after seventy-two hours…” Peter Lee looked at Nabari and continued. “Just ask Mr. Nabari to take you out of the desert first. When you return to the tribe, tell your chieftain that you have fulfilled your promise to me.”

Nabari nodded with a heavy heart.

“Of course, I don’t mean that we will be in danger in the Devil’s Sea. It is more likely that we will encounter something interesting and stay behind longer, thereby delaying our return.” Peter Lee may have felt that his words were rather unlucky and decided to reassure everyone. “Along the way, we have recorded the GPS coordinates and can safely return on our own. Even if we are a few days delayed, we will implement a quota on the supply of food and water. We will be able to endure it, no big deal.”

He chuckled and continued. “This is also not the first time we have starved. We faced situations in which we had a lack of food before, and we survived those. What say you, my team?”

“Well said!”

“No problem!”

His team members were confident in his leadership.

For both teams, the preparations before entering the desert were abundant. They both carried a lot of water and food. Just as he’d said, a few additional days in the desert merely meant a period of supply rationing. Without any other major accidents, they would still be able to safely leave the desert.

A quota on supply would unfortunately be a blow to morale. If everyone chose to operate as individuals, there would be civil strife due to insufficient food or water. There had been many such cases. Unless absolutely necessary, Wei Kang would hope not to do so.

However, Peter Lee’s team was a tried-and-tested team. Each team member had the same beliefs, and the possibility of civil strife was very low.

To be honest, the expedition team should focus solely on themselves and not add to the worries of others. That would be a job well done by itself. Wei Kang knew this, and he nodded slightly.

The adventurous Salem wanted to follow Peter Lee’s team to the Devil’s Sea, in the hopes of earning bragging rights—”I am the only Bedouin who dares enter.”

However, as soon as Salem saw the look on Uncle Nabari’s face, he knew that he would not be able to make that trip.

Zhang Zian had thought for a long time last night and still couldn’t make up his mind. According to his own analysis, the probability of facing danger in the Devil’s Sea was not high, but there certainly must be a reason for the Bedouin to avoid the area. Nevertheless, he felt that since he was here, why not enter the place?

“Zhang Zian, teach me more Chinese over the next three days!” Salem ran over and wrapped his arms around Zhang Zian’s shoulders.

Along the way, Zhang Zian taught him some sporadic Chinese greetings, but Salem was not satisfied. If he wanted to learn greetings, he could go to the small business hawkers who sold goods to Chinese tourists. He wanted to learn what he deemed “real Chinese.”

Zhang Zian did not know what to do. Having learned a few greetings and swear words, Salem seemed to think that Chinese was an easy language to learn. That was not true at all. Merely learning all the correct names for relatives and how to address them was such a headache!

Except for Zhang Zian himself, the others did not know that he considered entering the Devil’s Sea. Thus, once Peter Lee finished his speech, he asked his team to get in the cars and prepare to leave.

Zhang Zian could only keep it to himself, as it would be troublesome to explain his motives. Fina or the Holy Cat statue would be difficult to explain. People might even think it was an excuse for him to follow Peter Lee’s preaching.

Then…the only remaining option was to, over the next three days, find an opportunity or an excuse to enter.

Another reason that was somewhat less righteous to talk about was that, by letting them go first, they would help clear the road and make sure it was a safe path. They would bear the brunt of any danger… If anything were to happen up front, he would be able to pause and head back to safety.

He glanced at Fina, who was also very calm. She did not seem to care much about entering or not.

The expedition team watched Peter Lee’s team line up and send dust flying into the air as they drove into the hive like sand dunes. They soon disappeared over the horizon. They could only gauge where they’d gone by the sand that was displaced.

After a while, the dust settled, and the team was completely gone.

Wei Kang wiped his palms and woke the expedition team up. He said, “Stop staring and start working. There may be animals in the vicinity. Set up the infrared camera. Zhang Zian, use your drone and observe the terrain.”

“Sure.”

Everyone replied in unison and went to take care of their respective tasks.

Nabari and Salem were not assigned tasks. The former sat down on a blanket and smoked while looking out at the Devil’s Sea. The latter kept bothering Zhang Zian, asking him to teach him Chinese.

Zhang Zian manipulated the drone to take off. Although Peter Lee’s team was invisible to the naked eye, the drone could still spot them.

He noticed the route they took and secretly took note of it in his mind. His mouth then kept talking to entertain Salem.

“Zhang ZIan, I want to learn the most authentic Chinese, not written communication. Do you understand what I mean? I find that you Chinese people rarely say ‘hello,’ so how do you usually say hello?” Salem asked.

“I don’t say ‘hello’ with my friends. That would be rather strange. As for with strangers…we don’t say it much either,” Zhang Zian replied.

“Yeah! I noticed. So when I first meet Sihwa, what should I say? Do you have any suggestions?” Salem said. “I want her to be amazed by me!”

Zhang Zian was deep in thought over other things. He replied offhandedly. “For that…usually we say, ‘What are you looking at?’”