Chapter 74: Loulan's Night Raid

  Looking at the once luxurious desert city 3,000 years ago, now it's just a withered shadow left with only piles of building soil, the four people in their hearts inexplicably feel that time is indeed the most destructive thing.

  Four people came to the highest area of the ancient city of Loulan, which was once a royal palace. From the exterior appearance of the high-rise building, it can be seen that this building had a magnificent momentum at that time.

  "Let's spend the night here tonight! Tomorrow, we'll officially head to the central desert area. The desert nights are cold! We can use the blankets on the camel for now." Xiao Yuan tied one of the camels to a protruding mound of earth.

  Li Ling also tied up his own camel and gave it two mouthfuls of water, but then remembered that Xiao Yuan had once said to give camels as little water as possible, so he took away the waterskin.

  "How could such a large Loulan ancient city suddenly disappear?" Li Ling's eyes gazed at the former palace with its distant years, and he fell into a silent reverie.

  According to historical records, the ancient city of Loulan was built on water, and the water here is the famous Lop Nur Lake. But for some reason, Lop Nur Lake dried up instantly, causing the soldiers and people of Loulan Ancient City to be extremely short of water. They abandoned this magnificent Loulan Ancient City, which was then buried in the sand and dust of history.

  Xiao Yuan also looked at the ruins of the palace, took out a water bag from his hand, and poured two mouthfuls into his mouth.

  "So that's how it is." Li Ling smiled slightly and nodded his head, implying that humans had lost one of their sources of survival - water - and had to abandon the ancient city they had painstakingly built, relocate and find another place with abundant water to continue their lives.

  "Man Tuo Luo, you sleep with An Jing tonight and protect her at all times. I and Xiao Yuan Shu will be outside the temple, keeping watch for you two. If those guys dare to sneak attack at night, I'd be happy to keep them company." Li Ling took a water bag from the camel's back and sat down on a mound of earth.

  Man Tuo Luo's face turned slightly red as she came to Li Ling's side, lowered her head and looked at the tip of her toes, saying: "Junzhi, it's enough for me to be guarding outside, you go in with Mr. Xiao Yuan to accompany Miss An Jing to rest!"

  "Cut the nonsense, this is an order given to you. Do you want to disobey?" Li Ling knew that Mandala would come over and make such a request.

  Man Tuo Luo slightly nodded and said in a low voice: "I don't dare."

  "Then take good care of Anjing and protect her safety. That group of people must not be ordinary, foreign agents are trained through extreme hardships, forged into human-shaped weapons and intelligence gatherers, they are getting smarter and more skilled in fighting." Li Ling did not underestimate the few agents who followed him from behind during the day at all.

  "But, General!" Mandala wanted to say something else, but seeing Li Ling's slightly angry eyes, she swallowed her words immediately.

  "Yes, military execution." Amidst Mandala's indifferent expression, there was a hint of unusual color, perhaps due to gratitude.

  "The sun is about to set, a dark and windy night that can kill people." Li Ling looked at the setting sun, pinched his fingers, and had a feeling of not having fought for a long time, with an itchy hand.

  Xiao Yuan sat down and looked at Li Ling, saying: "Why does that woman always call you Junzhi, are you a military officer too?"

  "I suppose so, but I'm just temporary." Li Ling said with a slight smile, holding her chin.

  "Temporary officers count too, and I'm just an amateur archaeologist." Xiao Yuan chuckled.

  The two men, having reached a tacit understanding, exchanged a glance, smiled slightly, and each took out their water bags from their waists. They pulled out the stoppers, clinked them together, and then tilted their heads back to drink the water with relish.

  "Haha!" Xiao Yuan Yang raised his head and laughed loudly.

  "Me too." Li Ling covered the water bag and smiled.

  However, Li Ling's face sank instantly and he became alert.

  "A few troublesome people may come soon, and they will have some impact on us. Xiao Yuan uncle, how are your fighting skills?" Li Ling's eyes provocatively looked at this middle-aged uncle.

  Xiao Yuan recalled the people who followed him during the day, with a hint of doubt in his eyes. He slightly hesitated, pointed at Li Ling with his finger and shook his head repeatedly: "I'm a wilderness survivalist and an adventurer, my skills are naturally not bad, don't believe me? Let's compare."

  Xiao Yuan put down his water bag and made a gesture of scattering punches at Li Ling.

  "No need, there's plenty of time to practice fist later. However, the few people who came are not only good at fighting, but also experts in killing. Their specialty is collecting intelligence and killing!" Li Ling leaned close to Xiao Yuan, his right hand wrapped around Xiao Yuan's shoulder, patting Xiao Yuan's shoulder as he spoke.

  Xiao Yuan's eyes showed a hint of surprise, and he slightly changed his expression, saying: "So their killing skills are more formidable than those of the African lion and the Northeast tiger."

  "This... how can I compare?" Li Ling's eyes had a hint of helplessness, but the words that followed were left unspoken, because those special agents' killing skills might be even more formidable than ten African lions!

  "In those days, I went to Africa alone and survived in the wilderness. I even fought with an African lion bare-handed, but in the end, I escaped with my tail between my legs," Xiao Yuan said, recalling his past glories. Of course, as an ordinary person, being able to escape from the jaws of an African lion was already quite impressive.

  Li Ling burst out laughing and picked up the water bag, saying: "Come on, dry... dry bag!"

  "Empty bag!" Xiao Yuan burst out laughing and picked up the water bag from beside him, and he and Li Ling were together, their personalities quite compatible.

  As night falls, the ancient city of Loulan becomes even more desolate and bleak under the starry sky, where once a large crowd of people chatted and enjoyed the breeze.

  It's late at night, and there will be a slight breeze blowing here, but the coolness is even more pronounced.

  Xiao Yuan also gradually became drowsy, snuggled into a quilt, and fell asleep without any vigilance. Perhaps it was because he was too tired during the day, which made him unable to withstand the drowsiness at night, Xiao Yuan entered dreamland.

  "It seems that we will have to die several times like Uncle." Li Ling let out a faint sigh, carefully observing the surroundings, but did not detect any movement. Those special agents apparently wanted to wait until Li Ling and the others fell asleep before making their move to kill them and abduct Anjing.

  But they missed one person, genius killer Li Ling!

  Li Ling carefully examined the Wang Palace. The surroundings were all walls, and there was only one entrance that could be entered. Unless someone could drill a hole from within the palace, but it's not impossible. Even so, inside the palace, there was the Mandala, an alien species, guarding it. Those special agents probably wouldn't be a match for the Mandala.

  Li Ling came down from the mound, sat cross-legged on a flat ground, placed his hands flat on his knees, half-closed his eyes, slowly regulated his breathing, and began to inhale and exhale slowly. He entered a state of mind like still water, and his spiritual awareness was suddenly elevated to an extremely high level, completely covering the movements around him.

  In the outer periphery of the ancient city of Loulan, 300 meters away, there were four men in black, taking advantage of the moonlight and starlight at night, slowly approaching the Wang Palace from different directions. Their movement speed was sometimes fast and sometimes slow, all very cautious, and their movement speed also had a strong sense of rhythm. Despite this, their movements could not escape Li Ling's sensitive detection after his heart became calm.

  Just as the four of them were rapidly approaching Wang Dian, Li Ling suddenly opened his eyes, and with a concentrated gaze, a whirlwind of sand and dust burst forth from the ground.

  "Come out! No need to hide!" Li Ling's eyes looked towards the mound of earth, and a man in black gradually walked out from behind it. This was one of the special agents!