1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 4032

After waiting for several days and paying a hefty fee, the box I finally managed to get my hands on contained no rare treasures at all; it was just sand packaged in small metal tubes—worthless sand.

It didn't take long for these people to confirm this cold, hard fact.

These small metal pipes and the box are quite well-made, even exquisite, but the problem is that their value is far from enough to make up for their losses.

The wages they paid the camel drivers were all in real gold and silver, without any impurities.

Some people had already started cursing, believing that the camel driver had played a trick, deliberately bringing such a box of sand to deceive them. The rumors of the Haihan people secretly digging for treasure might also be false information deliberately spread by the camel driver.

The most urgent task is to catch up with the camel driver, demand his payment back, and teach him a lesson so that he will never dare to cheat again.

The others thought it made a lot of sense, so they prepared to set off to chase after the person.

But the leader stopped them. He was clearly calmer than the others: "Have you considered that if he was just trying to scam money, why would he go to all this trouble to use so many metal pipes to divide the sand? If he just wanted to make the box look heavier, wouldn't it be much easier to just use cloth bags to hold the sand?"

Seeing that everyone was still confused, the leader explained helplessly, "If that guy knew what was in the box, he probably wouldn't have the guts to hand it over to us. Otherwise, if we insisted on opening the box before paying, he might have lost his life here."

Only then did everyone realize that the leader believed the mysterious box of things was the work of the Haihan people, not the work of the camel drivers.

But why the Haihan people dug up so much sand and soil, and even specially divided it into several portions and locked them in boxes for safekeeping, was something the chief could not explain reasonably.

Then someone proposed a conjecture: this place might be some kind of sacred site for the Haihan people. The Haihan people who traveled thousands of miles to come here on pilgrimage wanted to take something back with them, and the seemingly worthless sand might be a kind of spiritual sustenance. Perhaps this sand, packaged in small metal tubes, would be sold at exorbitant prices to high-ranking officials and nobles after being transported back to Haihan.

This argument is obviously not reasonable, because the appearance and culture of the Haihan people are significantly different from those of the native Egyptians, and they do not seem to be descendants of the same civilization.

But as believers, some of them had made pilgrimages to Mecca on the Red Sea more than once, and they took this seemingly absurd conjecture for granted.

Even their leader felt that this speculation was not without merit. Perhaps the Haihan people were collecting these sands for some kind of faith, but this could not explain why the Haihan people were doing this in secret.

Sand is worthless here, and even if the Haihan people load truckloads of these things, no one will stand up to stop them, so why would they go to such great lengths?

However, their primary task at the moment was to recover their losses. They naturally couldn't sell the box and its contents back to the Haihan people, so they could only try to get back the money paid to the camel drivers.

"Chase him on horseback! We should be able to catch up with him before he gets back to camp!"

Realizing that they could no longer recoup their investment through the box, the leader quickly made a decision to set off with his companions to catch up with the camel driver who had taken the money and left earlier.

This place is several miles away from the Haihan caravan's camp. The camel driver is on his way back on foot, and he probably hasn't even gone halfway yet. If we hurry up and catch up, we can definitely intercept him.

The group quickly led out their horses and hurried after them. If they couldn't get the money back, all the days they'd spent eating sand in the wild would have been for nothing.

The horses' hooves made little noise on the soft sand, which was why they dared to spur their horses and give chase, without worrying about disturbing the Haihan caravan from a distance. After chasing for about two miles, someone spotted a figure walking in the sand ahead, heading towards the Haihan caravan's camp. It must be the camel driver who had taken their money.

The camel driver quickly noticed the commotion, glanced back, and seemed to realize something, so he quickened his pace and started running again.

He wasn't stupid; he was thinking of stealing the caravan's goods to sell. When he saw people chasing after him on horseback, he knew it wasn't a good thing.

Whether the people chasing after him are those who made the transaction earlier, or other guys lurking in the shadows, they're all after the money on him.

If they can escape back to camp before the enemy catches up, their safety will be assured. You should know that those Haihan people are carrying a lot of firearms and are all very skilled. Ordinary desert bandits are definitely no match for them.

However, this place was still some distance from Haihan's camp, and it was probably wishful thinking for him to outrun the four legs chasing him from behind with his two legs.

Seeing that the pursuers were getting closer and closer, and that there was no way he could get back to the camp before them, the camel driver was both anxious and afraid, and suddenly shouted loudly.

He also had two relatives who were camel drivers for the Haihan caravan and should be sleeping soundly in the camp at this time. He shouted his relatives' names, hoping they would hear him and come to his rescue.

Of course, it was unrealistic to expect those two relatives to save his life. Subconsciously, the camel driver still hoped to alert the caravan and make the pursuers behind him back down.

His decision to call for help was undoubtedly wise and had the desired effect. Soon, many lights appeared in the camp, and someone responded loudly in Arabic, seemingly his relatives.

Then a firework shot straight into the sky from the camp, exploding in mid-air and instantly illuminating the ground as if it were daytime, making everything within a hundred feet of the camp clearly visible.

The camel driver, fleeing in panic across the sand, and the riders chasing him closely for dozens of feet behind him, were all exposed to the bright light.

Although the situation of the escape and pursuit outside the camp was still unclear, the special forces soldiers disguised as a caravan reacted as quickly as possible.

When Takahashi Minami was awakened by the sound of flares exploding and sat up from her cot to ask her personal guards what had happened, a group of men, fully armed, had already arrived at the perimeter of the camp, ready to intercept these uninvited guests rushing towards them.

Although the caravan didn't have many people on night watch, there were actually other people stationed in the camp responsible for rapid response. They slept fully clothed at night with their weapons by their side, ready to strike immediately at the first sign of an alarm.

However, the journey has been uneventful, and this special arrangement has come in handy for the first time.

"Fire a warning shot!" The officer in charge gave the order immediately after using the flares to get a clear view of the situation outside.

If these unidentified people outside don't stop, then we'll have to kill them without hesitation.

After a few gunshots, a second flare rose slowly, illuminating the open field outside the camp once again.

The riders had already reined in their horses and turned to leave, while the camel drivers, who had been chased all the way, were now exhausted. They knelt on the ground, raised their hands and looked up at the sky, muttering something. It was unclear whether they were thanking their gods or signaling the Haihan caravan not to fire on them.

(End of this chapter)