The number of enemies had far exceeded the number those two soldiers had estimated. There were around a dozen people, and they were riding horses instead of camels, so they were faster. The machine gunfire kept raking at them, so they had to roll over on the ground and hide behind the sand dunes to escape from their view. In a blink, they were already surrounded.
Meng Fei and his bandits were also astonished due to encountering a group of people here. The leader of the bandit group was a man with a robust stature. He seemed to be around 30-40 years old and had a wild appearance. His eyes followed Xie Ting amongst the screams as she tumbled down the sand dunes and mixed into the crowd. The bandits reined their horses before the team, "Who are you all?"
Professor Xu was already shivering all over due to the fear. No one dared to reply to him. Jiang Xiu, however, went to support Xie Ting who had tumbled down the sand dune, "Are you okay?"
Xie Ting shook her pale face subconsciously, but her eyes opened wide in surprise when she saw who it was, "It's you…"
"Why are you here?" Jiang Xiu asked her.
"I…"
At this time, they got surrounded by the dozen or so riders. Though the two soldiers had guns in their hands, the bandits simply ignored them.
They possessed no threat to them after all.
The boorish man with the wild appearance said, "If you don't want me to shoot them, it's best if you drop down your guns honestly…" He got down from the horseback and strode over towards the team with massive, powerful strides on the sand. His momentum was quite domineering.
His sight swept past the group of the people, looking at the mix of old and young among them. They all had haggard appearances and didn't seem like people who operated in the desert frequently.
"I'll ask you again. Who are you all?"
Professor Xu summoned his courage and made a great effort to stand up. He was the person in charge this time. "I'm a professor at the Imperial University, and these people are all my students. We came to the desert for an archaeology project."
The professor's answer was something he had already expected. The man continued asking, "What kind of project?"
"The ancient desert city!"
The bandit's, as well as Xie Ting's expression, changed once the professor said this. The bandit asked him, "You came for the ancient desert city?"
"Yes!"
"Do you where the ancient desert city is?"
Professor Xu raised the book containing the data they collected, "We are looking for it!"
"Hahaha…"
The bandit laughed then turned towards Xie Ting, "It seems like many people want to go to the ancient desert city yet it looks like only you know where it is."
Everyone looked towards Xie Ting. The girl pursed her lips and didn't reply to them.
"You know where it is?" Professor Xu forgot his fear due to shock. This old man pursued academics stubbornly and often forgot about the other things.
Jiang Xiu wasn't surprised by this. He had already obtained a clue at Xie Sanxian's home. Xie Sanxian said that his ancestor was a soldier of the Ming Dynasty, but his appearance had sold him out. The shape of his eyes was different from the traditional Han Chinese person. Xie Ting was the same as well, she seemed of mixed descent. Although the blood of the other race was already very thin, Jiang Xiu could still feel it clearly due to his sensitivity towards the bloodline.
Xie Sanxian also had the Longevity Stone with him. This showed that there was a close relationship between the Xie family and that ancient desert city.
"Does it really exist?"
Professor Xu questioned her.
"Of course, it does. If not, why would our Lady Xie enter the depths of the desert along with her servant?" The bandit replied to him.
Xie Ting still kept silent.
"You still won't speak?"
The bandit leader hinted at his subordinate to grab a person. He grabbed the student closest to him. Jiang Xiu didn't even know what that third-year student was called. The man aimed the gun at his head, causing his legs to tremble, "D-Don't kill me…"
The bandit said, "Young Lady Xie, which way is the ancient city?"
Unrest flickered through Xie Ting's pretty eyes, but she still kept silent.
Bang!
His brains were blown out on the scene.
"AAAAHHHHHHH!"
The group screamed in alarm.
When the bandit moved to grab another person, those two soldiers tried to act but the other bandits all aimed at them. The members of the exploration team all shrunk back in fear. The student who was grabbed just now started wailing immediately, "D-Don't kill me. I only came to have fun and not for archaeology."
Leng Zhan shouted, "Meng Fei, it's enough. If you want to kill someone, kill me instead…"
"You know me? Right, looks like you're a defender of the border area." Meng Fei swept his gaze past him then looked towards Xie Ting again, "Which way is the ancient city from here?"
Xie Ting didn't say anything like before. Professor Xu urged her from the side, "Young Lady Xie, please tell him. Ruins are dead, but people are alive."
Bang!
Another person was killed.
"AAAHHHH!"
The group became even more restless. If this kept going on, they would all get killed.
Xie Ting said in a soft tone, "Mr. Jiang, can you handle these bandits?" Jiang Xiu had killed people with just a wave of his hand back then at the entrance to Bodhi Gene. Xie Sanxian had told her that Jiang Xiu should be a Demigod.
Jiang Xiu said, "They have guns. You don't want me to die, right?"
Leng Zhan and Xiao Zhang were filled with sorrow after witnessing the deaths of two people. As soldiers, the taste of watching the people they were protecting die right before their eyes really made them suffer pain more painful than death.
The man pointed the gun at the third person's head.
"Which way is it to the ancient city?"
Bang!
The third one was dead as well. All the team members looked at these bandits in alarm. Their gazes were filled with anguish. The girls all huddled together due to the fear.
"Fu*k…"
Meng Fei was infuriated. Xie Ting hadn't said anything even though three people were dead. He raised the machine gun and raked them group gunfire, resulting mournful wails.
"Don't!"
If Leng Zhen weren't under the aim of these guns, he would've fought with his life.
"AAAAHHHHHH…"
People among the group scream. Another 6-7 of them dropped dead while one got hit in his thigh and another in his arm.
"So you won't say anything, huh?"
"This Daddy will kill all these people then kill you as well…"
The team members all screamed in fear, "Young Lady Xie, please tell him. We beg you…" They knew it was useless to beg the bandits so they could only beg Xie Ting.
Xie Ting revealed a troubled expression. She wasn't willing to tell them even if she were to die but she felt conflicted when dealing with so many lives.
"I'm going to count down from three…"
"Three…"
"Two…"
"One…"
Du-Du-Du!!!
The bandit pressed on the trigger and emptied the case in one go. Xie Ting looked at those people who had collapsed to the ground and felt her heart fill up with guilt. She finally couldn't help say, "Alright, I'll tell you!"
The gunshots stopped. Another few people died.
"Go 30 Km South from here, and you'll reach the Dragon Gathering Dunes. I'll have to calculate the direction again once we reach there…"
The bandit pointed the gun's muzzle towards the sky with a grin on his face, "You should have just revealed it sooner. Looks how many bullets this Daddy has wasted now. Let's set off right now then."
The surviving team members didn't wish to continue. Since they were able to survive through this calamity, they naturally wanted to leave the desert as soon as possible.
"Move faster…"
"W-We don't want to come…"
The bandit said, "You have to come. What if Young Lady Xie decides to cheat us mid-way? Who will we find to kill at that time…"
These words caused the faces of the surviving members to turn ashen.
They only had this use left now.
Spurred by these group of bandits, they moved faster than usual as no one dared to move slow lest they end up dead.
After a while, another group arrived at this location.
"Wait, something's wrong ahead…"
The Patriarch down the camel and went over to take a look. There was a pile of dead bodies there. He touched the still undried blood there and shouted, "All dead. Judging by their clothes, it seems like there are students of the Imperial University. The blood still hasn't dried off so it should have happened just recently."
"Were they shot dead?"
The Patriarch said, "Elder Brother Mu Sen, what do you think?"
"This matter is quite strange. Maybe they ran into bandits? It doesn't make sense that Jiang Luoxia couldn't even handle bandits… All the dead ones are students of the Imperial Capital too…"
"It doesn't matter. They should be quite nearby. Let's speed up so we can catch up to them."
The Patriarch nodded. There were still footprints on the ground right now. If they waited for a sandstorm to pass by, the trail would run cold, and it would become difficult to pursue Jiang Luoxia.
The group followed after the footprints.