Chapter 138: Chapter 135: Hope

The intense light shone on his pale face, stinging his skin.

Bi Fang’s vision went dark, and the relaxation from his successful survival almost made him tumble into the pit. He grabbed onto a rock, shielding his eyes with his other hand.

Down the long well shaft, the vicious sunlight erased the darkness layer by layer, from top to bottom, inside out.

In just a few minutes, the steam from the underground river rose, making the cave stifling as if it were the steamer in “Journey to the West” where monsters cooked the plump monk.

Clinging to the edge of the hole, Bi Fang used the last of his strength to pull himself up. With one final effort, he rolled over and lay exhausted on the desert sand.

High sand dunes surrounded him on all sides. Bi Fang thought he was hallucinating; the dunes seemed like crowds of people cheering around him.

It took him a while to realize that the dunes were real, and so were the cheers.

He had survived.

In his field of view, there was no sky, only the Spaceship, resplendently golden as it soared upwards, with barrage comments flooding and obscuring Bi Fang’s entire vision.

In that moment, more than one hundred thousand spectators sent their gifts, ranging from a few cents to several thousand and even tens of thousands. In just under a minute, the livestream’s earnings had already exceeded two million.

Backstage, Wang Yongbo expertly opened today’s stock market.

It’s gone up again!

He touched his shiny forehead, feeling somewhat gloomy.

The contract will have to be changed, again.

Wang Yongbo felt uneasy. He thought that even the ridiculously generous contract was not secure anymore. Maybe he should offer the company shares directly next time?

He just didn’t know if the shareholders would agree.

After lying on the ground for a good fifteen minutes, Bi Fang’s eyes were almost closing, but he bit his tongue and forced himself to perk up.

He sat up, dusting off the yellow sand from his body. Just from his hair, he could shake out half a pound of sand.

Looking at the unique terrain with higher sand around a central low point, Bi Fang thoughtfully said, “Indeed, this should have been a sand dune, but it collapsed when I dug a hole, so I was flushed by the sand for a good half an hour before it stopped.”

No wonder no one had discovered the Underground Cave for so many years. The entry and exit were not something normal people would think of. If not for his dumb luck, who had just been barbecuing by the pool and attracted a Tiktaalik, who knows how much longer its discovery would have been delayed.

Bi Fang looked up at the sky, which had started to turn yellow. It seemed to be around four or five in the afternoon. It would soon be getting dark.

“It looks like I’ve been walking in the cave for nearly two days and a night, and now I don’t even know how far away the original canyon is, or if I’m even heading in the right direction.”

After basking in the sun for a while, Bi Fang began to feel dizzy. He turned his head to look at the deep, bottomless pit, his muscles screaming at him to give up on the big fish.

But then he shook his head.

If he made a promise, he had to keep it.

If he really gave up, he would lose followers.

[In such hot weather, won’t the fish be sunbaked to death?]

[Yeah, such a big fish, must be over a hundred kilos, right? Can you even bring it up?]

“Don’t worry,” Bi Fang believed there was absolutely no issue with that, judging from how the strange fish had sustained such severe injuries yet its heart remained strong and robust.

Absolute Survivor.

“This creature is somewhere between tour-legged animals and fish in terms of evolution, so its vitality won’t be weak. Just look at its relatives to understand; whether it’s the crocodiles from the former or the gar and lungfish from the latter, their vitality is so tenacious it’s beyond what we ordinary people can imagine. Professor Gu Qingyuan should be very clear on that.”

Professor Gu Qingyuan, who was suddenly mentioned, nodded and began to explain to the audience through the barrage of comments.

[Yes, most four-legged animals have incredibly tenacious vitality. The most typical example is the crocodile, which can survive an entire winter in a mud hole without eating or drinking.]

[And gars are even stronger. A fish weighing about 95 kilograms ordinarily needs to eat a few kilograms of food every day and night, but a gar of the same weight only requires 10-20 grams of food per day and night, making it a uniquely slow metabolic creature in the world!]

[As for lungfish, they are even more impressive – they can live for several years on dry land without touching water! ]

Bi Fang took out the rest of his clothing and began tearing it into strips to rub together, preparing to make ropes. But halfway through, he suddenly stopped.

He sniffed, catching a faint smell of dung mingled with a hint of dry straw odor, barely noticeable.

“Why is there a smell of feces?”

[Feces?]

[Did the weird fish below scare the crap out of them?]

[What kind of feces can you find in the desert?]

[Could it possibly be a camel’s?]

A camel?

Could someone be coming?

Bi Fang’s heart chilled at the sight of this barrage of messages.

Indeed, the stench didn’t seem to drift out from the cave, such a large smell meant the feces must be sizeable, and the scent of dry grass couldn’t be faked.

In the desert, the only large herbivores Bi Fang could think of, other than camels and ostriches, were not others.

However, ostriches in China are all introduced species with no wild population, so it could only be a camel!

“Qaidam is the region with the most camels. Wild camels are a national first- class protected animal. Wild dromedary camels are already extinct, with only domesticated ones remaining. Wild Bactrian camels too, with only around a thousand left living in the Gobi desert. I think the chances of me encountering a wild camel are very slim…”

Bi Fang stopped there, the rest went without saying, everyone understood and became thoroughly excited.

Wild and rare = difficult to come across = must be domesticated = people!

This logic was impeccable!

[So someone has passed by?]

[Damn, are we going to be rescued?]

[Wu Hu!! Take off!!]

[Now, even transportation is not a worry! There are camels!]

Thinking of this, Bi Fang put down the rope in his hand and started climbing up the sand dune.

The fine sand made the dunes difficult to climb, a single step could easily cause one to slide down, requiring the use of both hands and feet, pressing close to the dune, lowering the center of gravity, and relying on friction to ascend.

Although the sand was scorching hot, at its hottest it could even melt rubber shoes, but this was indeed the most efficient method.

“It looks like we’re quite lucky in our survival situation this time. It’s not easy to come across people in the desert.”

Sand slid down from the top of the dune, and Bi Fang struggled to finally climb atop the dune. The other party should not be far away; he just needed to stand on high ground to see them. However, he suddenly stopped.

On the dune, a camel slowly lifted its head, blankly staring at Bi Fang as if it hadn’t understood why someone would suddenly emerge from the sand.

“Uh… hello?”

Bi Fang greeted it, then suddenly reached out to grab the camel’s neck, wrapping around it like a python before it could react!

This was a beast weighing over five hundred kilograms, but Bi Fang still boldly made his move!

Without taking action, he would waste this opportunity!

The camel had a muzzle over its mouth, but the reins had long since broken off. Bi Fang had glanced around just now and found that within a few kilometers, this was the only camel!

This was an escaped camel!

His legs formed scissors, locking onto the camel’s chest and neck. His hands separated, the right hand going around the front of the camel’s neck and the left elbow bent upright. He clapped his hands together, suddenly tightening his grip!

It was a naked choke!

Audience members who frequently watched combat sports realized this was one of the strongest ground techniques!

The camel, surprised by the sudden embrace, let out a scream, its four legs kicking as it swiftly tried to flee the dune.

But Bi Fang pulled hard, and the camel, already unstable on the sand dune, instantly fell to the ground!

The sand dust flew up.

Man and beast, both suddenly fell to the ground!

Bi Fang only felt like he had been hit by a speeding car; with his already poor condition, his eyes rolled back, and he almost passed out.

It was the remaining willpower that kept him from letting go.

The naked choke was among ground techniques, one with the greatest killing power. If he could hold the camel for a while, it would suffocate and pass out. Then he could just refit the reins, and he would be able to ride the camel out of the desert!