61 Protect Yourself

Su Ying looked at the two children’s serious expressions and thought that they were cuter than ever.

“Don’t be afraid. Your father can’t eat Mother.”

The older toddler Ji and the younger toddler Ling blinked their big eyes in disbelief. “Really?”

Su Ying nodded her head with certainty. “Really!”

Only then did the two little fellows smile again.

Su Ying lifted the curtain and a wave of heat hit her. She got out of the carriage and sat beside Cheng Ming. She glanced at the back of the group. She had sneaked a peek at the time just now and it had been almost four hours since they set off. If Jiang Yang was fast, he should be able to return before the group set up their next encampment.

Li Da, who was walking in front, wiped the sweat off his face. When he took out his water bag to drink some water, he found that it was empty.

He walked to the side of the carriage and opened the lid of the bucket. When he was about to fill it with water, he found that the water inside was almost gone.

Li Da frowned and quickly filled the water bag with water. He then opened the other water buckets and found that they were all empty.

What the hell? It would still take quite a number of days to get to Yan City’s Western Pass from here. Now there was no more water, how were they going to get there?

“Wang Hu, do you still have water in your water bag?”

Wang Hu touched the water bag on his waist and shook it. “Not much left. What’s wrong? Isn’t there still water in the buckets?”

Li Da said with a grim face, “There’s only a little bit left. Pour it into your water bag.” Otherwise, the water would dry up before long.

“Oh, okay.”

Li Da looked at the sun above his head. It was almost 7 pm yet it was still so hot. If he couldn’t find a water source, he would probably die of thirst in this desert.

“Leader, there’s no water now. How do we go back after this?” Wang Hu came back after filling his water bag. He also looked very worried.

“If we really can’t do it, then we’ll travel at night and try to reach Yan City’s Western Pass earlier.”

“Mm-hmm.”

At night, the sky was already dark, but the group still had no intention of stopping.

“Don’t stop. Keep going. It’s cool at night. The more you walk, the less sunlight you’ll get during the day.”

The official shouted with all his might up ahead. It was indeed much more comfortable to travel now than during the day, but everyone was very exhausted after walking for one whole day. At this point, they had to force themselves to move forward.

After walking for another two hours, Li Da finally allowed the group to stop.

Howl…

The howls of wolves rang out from not far away, scaring the criminals so much that they huddled into a mass.

Su Ying jumped down from the carriage and helped the children and Xiao Jin down to an empty patch of ground.

“Mistress, I’ll go gather some firewood,” Cheng Ming said after he secured the carriage to a big boulder.

“Don’t go alone. I’ll go with you. The rest of you stay together. No one is allowed to act alone.”

“Mistress, you guys be careful too.” Aunt Zhao held the two children’s hands and reminded Su Ying.

Su Ying nodded. “Mm-hmm.”

There were almost no plants in the desert, so there was not much firewood to gather. Fortunately, Hea Shouyi had picked up some while herding the oxen and goats along the way. Su Ying and her companion came back with another two bundles of firewood. It was very dangerous to stay in this kind of desert at night without a fire.

When Su Ying and her companion returned to their resting place, Hea Shouyi had already started a fire to cook. It was cold at night, so he wanted to cook some dried meat porridge for everyone to warm up their bodies.

Su Ying tossed the firewood into the fire and quickly glanced at the glow watch on her arm. It was already past 10 pm, but Jiang Yang had not returned.

At night, everyone went to bed after having some porridge. Usually, Su Ying and Jiang Yang would take turns keeping watch at night, but since Jiang Yang wasn’t around tonight, Su Ying had to take over the night watch.

“If he doesn’t come back before dawn, I’ll backtrack and look for him along the way.” Su Yu saw that Xiao Jin’s brows were still furrowed, so she guessed that he was worried about Jiang Yang’s situation.

Xiao Jin said with a frown, “Wait a little longer.”

As they waited, they still didn’t see any sign of Jiang Yang returning even when the sky was bright.

Jiang Yang was a soldier. With so many people walking in the Gebi Desert, it was impossible for them to leave no traces behind. So, it was not possible that he could not locate the group.

Unless he couldn’t find that person, or he had encountered danger.

Su Ying planned to go and look for him, but she was worried about Xiao Jin and the others. After all, the criminals behind them were eyeing them ravenously. If they knew that she wasn’t around, it was hard to say if they would make any unusual moves.

However, she must look for Jiang Yang. After much thought, Su Ying decided to take a quick look.

She took advantage of everyone’s afternoon break to enter the interspatial store and take out some weapons for self-defense.

Su Ying asked the three children to come in front of her. She then took out a small bracelet and put it on their wrists.

“Mother, what is this?”

“This is called a shock wave bracelet. It’s a very powerful weapon. You guys wear this. If you encounter bad people or wild beasts, just press the switch on the bracelet. Understand?”

After pressing the switch, the shock wave bracelet would produce a powerful air current for a certain period of time, surrounding the wearer of the bracelet and acting as an invincible protective shield.

“I know, Mother.”

“You guys don’t wander around. Just follow the adults, okay?”

“Alright.”

After Su Ying gave her instructions, she went to Xiao Jin’s side and handed him a concealed sleeve spring-loaded arrow and a dagger. “I’m going to backtrack and look for them in a while. Take these for self-defense.”

Xiao Jin looked at the weapon with a frown. “Alright. You be careful too.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Su Ying thought for a while and decided to put the shock wave bracelet on his wrist. She then explained its use to him.

Xiao Jin looked at the bracelet and pursed his lips, but he didn’t ask anything.

Su Ying was about to leave when he grabbed her hand.

Su Ying turned around, puzzled. “What’s wrong? You still don’t know how to use it?”

Xiao Jin shook his head. “Along the way, no matter what happens, you must protect yourself as the top priority.”

Su Ying nodded. “I know.”

After that, Su Ying summoned Bai Shuang and Lin Zhuyu. She put the bracelets on them and explained to them how to use the bracelets. Then she unharnessed the horse from the small carriage, and in its place, she harnessed the two oxen.

When the group reached a large boulder, Su Ying walked behind it after evading everyone’s gazes. After the group had passed, she mounted her horse and rushed back the way she had come.

The criminal at the back of the line turned around slowly when he heard the commotion behind him. He watched Su Ying leave with a sinister expression.

“Get some people to stop that woman. Don’t let her come back again.”

The person beside him gave a scornful sneer. “I guarantee that she won’t be able to return.”

Yesterday, when Jiang Yang left, Su Ying had installed a sensor on him. As long as he was within a ten-kilometer radius, she would be able to sense his presence.

The group’s progress was not fast. They should be able to catch up in one or two hours by horse if the group walked for a day.

Su Ying had been riding for nearly eight hours, but Jiang Yang was still not within her range.

She stopped her horse. Could it be that Jiang Yang had really gone the wrong way?

Just as Su Ying was about to continue looking for him, an overwhelming sandstorm suddenly swept over. The sandstorm blanketed the sky and covered the sun, blocking out the already minuscule last bit of sunlight.

Su Ying quickly covered her nose with a cloth and pulled the horse into the interspatial store to ride out the storm.

After entering the interspatial store, Su Ying shook the sand off her body and took some hay and water to feed the horse.

Since she couldn’t go out now, she might as well sit down and rest.

At this moment, outside the sandstorm, more than a dozen people were heading in Su Ying’s direction and encircling the location where she last stopped.