cicada

Chapter 1380 People die for wealth and birds die for food

In the darkness, Zuo Zhong only felt pain all over his body. He was like a lone boat in the raging waves, being tossed around by a huge force.

When the sandstorm hit, he did not choose to retreat because that would be meaningless.

The maximum wind speed of a sandstorm can reach 120 kilometers per hour. At this wind speed, escape is useless.

So he immediately found a rock and curled up to lie down, hiding his water bottle and weapon on his chest, and wrapped his head tightly with his coat.

Fresh water was the most precious resource in the desert, and the weapons would protect him from both wild animals and German attacks.

Protecting your head can prevent sand and dust from entering your lungs and eyes. The former can cause pneumoconiosis, and the latter can scratch the cornea and cause blindness.

Even with the most thorough preparations, nature still gave Zuo Chong a warning.

The rock did not play its due role and was blown away by the strong wind, taking it away from its original position and rolling countless times on the sand.

After an unknown amount of time, Zuo Chong woke up from his coma. He shook off the dust on his body, opened his eyes carefully, and found that it was already bright outside.

"Cough cough."

Gently coughing out the sand and dust in his throat and mouth, Zuo Zhong stood up and looked around. The German camp was gone, and all he could see was the desolate desert.

Zuo Zhong cursed inwardly and immediately found a place to bury his Allied documents.

In this situation, he couldn't be sure whether he would meet a British or German in the next second, and carrying his ID would be tantamount to seeking death.

As for the kettles and weapons, they could be explained as picked up or bought. British military supplies were very common in North Africa. After all, the quartermasters had wives, children and lovers to support at home.

After burying the documents, Zuo Chong walked around the area, trying to find his men or supplies.

Unfortunately, after walking for a long way, he didn't see any human figures, not even a single desert lizard that was once seen everywhere. It seemed as if he was the only one left in the world.

Zuo Chong found a shady place to lie down. He felt calm and not too panicked.

His current position is west of El Alamein. Theoretically, he can return to Allied control by moving eastward.

Or you can go north to the coastline and then east to return to the Allied defense zone.

But there are two problems to be solved in doing this: one is to identify the direction, and the other is survival.

For an intelligence officer, the former is not difficult, as he can find the east through sunrise, sunset and the stars.

As we all know, the sun rises from due east. Although there is some deviation, this deviation has little impact in the desert.

At sunset, the direction in which the sun sets is 180° opposite to the east, so you can also find the correct direction.

If you are marching during the day, find an upright stick or stone and stick it vertically into the sand. Mark the top of the shadow as point A. Wait 15 to 30 minutes and the new top of the shadow after it moves is point B.

Connect these two points and they will point to the west and east, with A pointing to the west and B pointing to the east.

There are many similar methods, such as using the North Star for positioning. When facing the North Star, the right side of a person is east and the left side is west.

Through multiple verifications, Zuo Chong was confident that he would not get lost in the desert. The real problem was survival.

To survive in the desert, fresh water and food are essential, especially fresh water.

The left heavy-shaking kettle is still full of water. This British Mark VII kettle has a standard capacity of 1 quart, which is about 1.14 liters.

1.14 liters of water is only enough for the human body to survive for half a day in a static, shaded environment. If it is changed to daytime marching, it can only last for 2 to 4 hours.

Zuo Zhong unscrewed the kettle and took a small sip to let the water fully moisten his mouth. Then he quickly screwed the lid on to prevent evaporation, while constantly thinking of countermeasures in his mind.

First of all, it is impossible to leave.

Traveling during the day can easily cause dehydration and waste fresh water, so the cool night is more suitable for marching.

Secondly, the survival rate of standing still and waiting for rescue is always higher than moving blindly.

There is no doubt that in this situation, the little spy would try every possible means to rescue him.

Five minutes later, Zuo Zhong dug a miniature desert well, using a headscarf as a [net] to prevent evaporation, and replaced the container for collecting fresh water with a silver cigarette case.

The efficiency of collecting fresh water in this way is very low, but flies, although small, are still meat, and at a critical moment, a drop of water can save lives.

Zuo Zhong lay in a cool place and slowed down his breathing to reduce the evaporation of water in his body. He remained alert at all times, listening to whether anyone was calling him.

In the desert after a sandstorm, the sky is so blue that it's frightening, there's not a single cloud in sight, and the scorching sun shines directly down, causing the temperature to soar rapidly.

Even though Zuo Zhong kept reducing the frequency of his drinking, by sunset, most of the water in the kettle was gone.

The remaining water was in danger and the expected rescue did not come, so he had to go.

Zuo Chong lifted the headscarf on the top of the desert well and saw a shallow layer of fresh water in the cigarette box. After drinking the water, he identified the direction and embarked on an unknown journey.

The watery moonlight illuminates the desert. The sand in front of you seems to be all the same, but in fact there are differences between each sand dune.

The crescent-shaped sand dunes are highly fluid and have soft sand, so walking in them is very tiring.

The linear sand dunes have a gentle slope and the surface on the top of the sand ridge is hard, which is convenient for running.

Different sand dunes not only affect your physical strength, but can even pose deadly dangers.

The star-shaped sand dunes have steep slopes and sand collapses frequently, and pedestrians can be buried if they are not careful.

With the help of starlight navigation, Zuo Zhong constantly adjusted his route, choosing only linear sand dunes and hard sand to advance, trying to save energy and fresh water.

The success of your survival depends on these seemingly insignificant little tricks. The more you master and the more you pay attention to, the greater your chances of survival.

In the second half of the night, Zuo Chong discovered a canyon and immediately went in to search carefully.

Next to a rock, he saw a few tamarisks and acacias, and his heart was relieved immediately. According to the experience of the local natives and the British Army's desert combat teaching materials, there is a high probability that there is fresh water under the tamarisks and acacias.

Without thinking too much, Zuo Chong used his hands to dig through the sand. After digging less than 20 centimeters, the sand began to become moist, which meant there was water.

It didn't take him long to dig a small hole. He picked up some stones and put them at the bottom of the hole to prevent backseepage. All that was left to do was to wait silently.

While waiting, Zuo Chong caught a few scorpions from under a nearby rock, cut off their venom glands, and threw them into his mouth to chew.

It’s true, there’s really no weird smell, it’s just a little bit harsh on the teeth. But at this time, staying alive is the most important thing. After all, the protein content in scorpions is several times that of beef.

When the first ray of sunlight fell in the canyon, the small pit was already filled with fresh water. Zuo Zhong decided to rest there for a day and set off again after dark.

After sunset, Zuo Chong, whose physical and mental strength had been restored, looked back at the campsite and walked out of the canyon with determination.

It is safe to stay here, but what people fear most is to be content with the status quo. He must get out as soon as possible, otherwise the Military Control Commission will be in chaos.

After walking all night, when the golden crow was about to rise, Zuo Chong found a shady place to lie down and prepare to rest, but he heard a gunshot as soon as he closed his eyes.

"Bah~"

Zuo Zhong had no time to analyze the direction and distance of the gunshot, and rolled into a bunker that had been dug in advance.

No matter who fired the shot or who the target was, his first priority was to protect himself, not to fight back.

"Bah~ bah~"

There were a few more gunshots. Zuo Zhong heard it clearly this time. There were two people shooting. One was using a Lifenold and the other was using a kar98K.

Following the sound, he slowly climbed to the top of the sand dune and saw a strange scene in the morning light.

The body of a German officer was lying next to a Willys jeep. Further away, two people were confronting a West African cheetah. One of them was wearing an SS uniform, and the other was acquainted with Zuo Chong.

The other person was the SAS soldier who had shaken the kettle when he first entered the desert. His name was Robert.

The current situation was that the SS soldier was lying on the ground on his side with his gun pointed at Robert, and Robert's gun was pointed at the cheetah, and the cheetah's sharp claws were less than half a meter away from the SS soldier's throat.

Zuo Chong did not show up rashly, but hid aside and continued to watch. He wanted to find out what had happened and also wanted to see if anyone would hear the gunshots and come to join him.

The cheetah below gradually lost its patience, arched its body, scratched the ground with its sharp claws, and made a snoring sound from its throat.

The SS soldier was so scared that he shouted in broken English: "Hurry up and kill this damn leopard, don't force me to shoot!"

Robert had a cold expression. He knew very well that even if he killed the cheetah, the Germans would not let him go.

In this case, it would be better to continue the confrontation. At least he had just drunk some water and could hold out longer than the Germans.

The SS soldier noticed that the other party was not moving, so he licked his cracked lips, gritted his teeth, and told a secret.

"I know a place where there are 240 tons of gold stored. We can work together to steal it."

Zuo Zhong, who was eavesdropping, was shocked. 240 tons of gold were worth about 3 million US dollars. This matched the rumors. Rommel really made a lot of money.

Robert's mind moved slightly, but he immediately found the flaw and sneered at the SS soldier.

"Is this the material that the convoy was transporting? Many people know about this, and I don't think we can keep it all to ourselves."

The SS soldier didn't expect that the British actually knew about the convoy. The next second, he smiled bitterly.

"Do you know why the guy you killed drove after me?"

Robert shook his head, and the SS soldier looked at the corpse and told the whole story in one breath.

"This is my squadron leader. After the sandstorm ended, he distributed [nutritional medicine] to the living people. As a result, everyone who took the medicine died. Only I secretly hid the medicine."

“Because I know that if the Empire is defeated, this vault is the Empire’s hope for re-emergence, and those bigwigs in Berlin will not let us and the vault guards leave the desert alive.

"But I don't want to die!"

The SS soldiers' voices suddenly became louder and their emotions became extremely excited, and their hoarse shouts echoed in the desert.

"I just wanted to go home alive. This war had nothing to do with me, so I ran away."

"Please believe me. I am the only one who knows the location and method of the entrance to the vault. We can secretly transport the gold away."

Robert was tempted. If this was true, cooperation would indeed be a good choice.

240 tons of gold, even if each person gets half, it is enough for him to live the most luxurious life. As for reporting it, only a fool would do such a thing.

The two people who reached a temporary agreement started chatting, but they forgot that there was another guest present.

The cheetah is a hunter that is good at seizing opportunities. The moment Robert and the SS soldier were distracted, the other side moved.

This adult male leopard weighed 50 kilograms. His irises suddenly shrank into two vertical slits, his muscular shoulder blades were tensed, and he pushed his hind legs hard to jump high.

The SS soldier, as the prey, watched a dark shadow pounce towards his throat and had no time to react.

As he looked at it with despair, the cheetah opened its mouth and its sharp teeth, emitting a foul smell, came closer and closer.

"Bang~"

Gunshots rang out, and a large-caliber pistol bullet made a big hole in the cheetah's body.

Before Robert and the SS soldier could recover from their shock, Zuo Chong stuck his head out of the sand dune and shouted at them with a smile.

"Gentlemen, would you mind taking an extra partner?"