ghost market

May is the windy season in Lop Nur. Sandstorms are frequent visitors here during this period, and they often visit unexpectedly.The guest's enthusiasm is almost irritable, and every visit seems to be a revenge, wishing to hug everyone in his arms and crush them.When the wind came together, the yellow sand suddenly flew up, covering the sky and the earth.The sky and the earth blurred each other in an instant, and there was no separation. It made people feel as if they had returned to the chaos of the early days, but they didn't know whether they were going to die or be reborn.

In the past few days, we have encountered many sandstorms, from simple blindness to being completely buried by yellow sand in severe cases. deepened a lot.Our tent was often blown down by the wind and sand, and many nights we had to spend the night under the tent, and then crawled out of the sand in the morning, like crawling out of the grave.

Fortunately, we never really went into the grave.Although I have experienced several situations like being buried alive, I was finally able to see the light of day again, and all this, I think, should be attributed to our excellent guide.His name is Arslan Slam, the son of Uncle Slam.

Arslan means "lion" in the Uighur language, and this young Uyghur boy is indeed as strong as a lion, as his name suggests.Although because of his slightly short height, his sturdy figure looks a bit flat and wide, but this does not affect the masculinity shown by his gnarled muscles.In fact, it is not appropriate to call him a "young man". According to the information we got from communicating with each other, his age is only slightly younger than mine, of course, the premise is that the age on my ID card It does match my real age.

Arslan's personality is very strange, sometimes he is as hearty as Uncle Slamu, but most of the time he is a little taciturn and seems unapproachable.I believe that his original character should be exactly the same as Uncle Slamu.The weirdness at this time is probably due to the impact of the depression caused by the recent loss of my father.However, I felt that there seemed to be some other things affecting him. Although I didn't know what it was at this time, I felt a little dangerous.This feeling, in fact, has quietly grown since we first met. [

Six days ago, Lop Nur Town.

After gently closing Slam's staring eyes, we respectfully bowed deeply to the old man's body.Right to say goodbye.Xiaoqian couldn't help crying softly, she liked the kind and hearty Uncle Slamu very much, so the sudden bad news naturally made her a little bit overwhelmed.In fact, each of us is very sad. Although we have not been able to determine whether Uncle Slamu is an enemy or a friend to us, this does not affect our love for this old man.Nor will it affect our outrage over his sudden stabbing death.

In the silent space slowly echoed a hint of euphemistic music, which was the sound of the tape recorder in the bar.Xiaoqian's sobbing sound was mixed with the music, and it seemed to become a low-pitched singing in the music.The blood on the ground suddenly turned bright red, a little glaring, as if being affected by these sounds like something we couldn't see.

There was silence for a long time, and after we discussed a few words, Ruan Yu called the police to inform the local police of what happened here.subsequently.We followed the police back to the police station to make a record, and we got it until midnight after tossing and turning.I originally wanted to meet Slam's son as soon as possible, but thinking that he needs to endure extreme grief and deal with a lot of funeral affairs at the moment, and I don't think he will have any mood or time to see us, so I shook my head and gave up. The police who already knew our identities told him our temporary residence and left the police station to return to the hotel.

In the afternoon of the next day, we were discussing follow-up plans in the room and welcomed a visitor.The visitor was none other than Arslan who was supposed to be dealing with Slam's funeral at this time.I didn't expect him to come to see us so soon.Not to mention that he came to see us to ask about our plans. If there is no problem, he can take us out tomorrow afternoon.

I asked him about Uncle Slam's funeral, and he said that an imam (Islamic title) who was very familiar with Slam had arranged for a cleansing ceremony last night, and the funeral was completed early this morning. The ceremony was buried.I was very surprised at the promptness of the funeral, but in order not to show untimely suspicion, I had to say to him with great regret that it was a pity that I had not been notified.I can't go to salute and see off Uncle Slamu.Arslan said it doesn't matter, and said that there will be anniversaries such as "the first month" in the follow-up, and I will be notified when the time comes.Then he asked about our plan again, and after we nodded in agreement, he said to go back and prepare.Then he took his leave and left, seeming to be more eager for this trip than we are.

After Arslan left, I couldn't help muttering a few words about my suspicions about such a quick funeral.After hearing this, Xiaoqian explained that Uyghur Muslims basically pay attention to "quick burial", and usually the funeral does not exceed three days, so although Slamu's funeral seemed a bit rushed, it was not too exaggerated. limited by family circumstances.Xiaoqian's explanation did let me understand different regional customs, but my heart was not relieved.For some reason, from the first time I saw Arslan, I felt that there seemed to be some inexplicable aura about him, which made me slightly alert.

"Brother Asheng!"

A deep call came from not far in front of me, which immediately pulled me out of my thoughts.I looked up and saw that Arslan was waving to me with an urgent expression, so I hurriedly responded and climbed out from under the car to walk towards him.

Lop Nur at noon is a natural stove, the temperature is so high that the skin can be roasted and burst in an instant.We had no choice but to stop any activities at noon, get under the car to avoid the scorching sun, and continue on the road when the temperature dropped slightly in the afternoon.At this moment, Arslan was standing under the sun regardless of the heat, and it was obvious that something happened that made him very concerned.

"What's wrong? Brother." I walked closer and asked.

"Look, that cloud," Arslan said nervously, pointing to the sky above his head, "we're in trouble, it's a sandstorm."

"Well, what should we do now?" I responded, without too much anxiety in my tone.After all, this is not the first time we have seen this situation.However, Arslan's expression was not relaxed, and there was even a hint of fear beyond my expectation.This expression made me suddenly feel that things might not be as simple as I thought, so I hurriedly asked: "Brother, is the situation very bad?"

"It's very bad, very bad!" Arslan licked his chapped lips, and said hoarsely: "I guess it might be a rare 'black storm', which is Hu Da's sharp sword to punish sinners! No one can Survive in the 'Black Storm'!"

"What should I do?" I asked solemnly, turned around and waved to the car, signaling my teammates to come over quickly.

"Run away! Immediately!" Arslan shouted anxiously, and then called me to run to the car.

Ruan Yu and the others just got out from under the car, and when they saw us running back in a hurry, they couldn't help being a little dazed.I briefly explained a few words to them, and then greeted everyone according to the original team and quickly got into their respective cars.Arslan drove Yan Daojie and Xiaoqian to lead the way, and Ruan Yu and I followed them closely in another car. The two cars finally broke the current speed of less than ten kilometers per hour in recent days. Speed, bumping like two wind horses towards an unknown direction.

The car I am driving now is not the one we borrowed from Korla, but Arslan borrowed it from a friend.He said that our car was okay on the outskirts of the Gobi, but it would be difficult to go deep.In particular, the place we are going to needs to pass through Lop Nur. Although it is not the original center of the lake but only the periphery, it still has to go through the very difficult salt crust.The salt crust there is very thick, about [-] centimeters or more, and it is so hard that it may not be possible to plan it with a pickaxe.

I felt that what he said was a bit exaggerated, but with the attitude of "believe in the profession", I followed his advice and changed the car.Later I discovered that Arslan is indeed an excellent desert guide, and listening to his advice will always do more good than harm.When I first arrived in Lop Nur, I tried it with my short knife, and found that the hardness he said was not exaggerated at all, and he may even be conservative about the thickness of the salt crust. I personally think it must be at least [-] centimeters. look like. [

Since entering Lop Nur, Arslan has been asking us to reduce the speed of the car, about seven or eight kilometers per hour.Yan Daojie was very dissatisfied with this, jokingly said, this car can only start at ten kilometers, and I don't have that skill if you keep me at seven or eight kilometers.After hearing this, Arslan was not angry. He just pointed to the snow-white ground and said, "I'm just a metaphor, which means to drive forward as slowly as possible. If you drive too fast, you will be unbearable."

I looked down and found that the salt crust under my feet was indeed full of potholes. I guess I couldn't even find a flat ground for a loveseat sofa, so I smoothed the dispute over with Yan Daojie, and then the old man Honestly follow Arslan's request and walk slowly.Later, Arslan told me that the fear of bumps is actually only one of the reasons, and another important reason is the fear of wearing out the tires. This kind of salt crust ground friction is very strong, and the speed is equivalent to grinding the tires on high-temperature sandpaper. It won't be long before it breaks.

I didn't express an opinion on this at the time, but at this time I deeply agree.Just after we drove crazily for a period of time, I suddenly heard a muffled sound from the right rear of the car, and then I felt the car body suddenly tilted to the rear side.Before the word "bad" had finished spinning in my mind, worse situations followed.

The sky outside the car suddenly darkened, and the 'black storm' came suddenly at this time! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point to vote, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users, please go to read.)