Returning to the tent and lying down, a familiar light screen appeared before Qi Yun's eyes.

Holding a tentative mindset, he began to check today's intelligence reports, hoping to gain more clues about the coordinate points.

[Current Intelligence Points: 37]

[Today's Intelligence 1 (Red): 130 kilometers northwest of the camp, there is an off-road vehicle buried in the yellow sand, with two corpses inside and fifty liters of gasoline]

[Today's Intelligence 2...]

[Today's Intelligence 3...]

The result was as expected, all were intelligence without much use.

At five in the morning, before dawn, everyone in the desert had already had breakfast and packed up their tents.

No way around it, it's too hot during the day, only possible to move around in the morning and evening.

Fortunately, the bright moon in the sky was bright enough, so it wasn't necessary to grope in the dark.

Four off-road vehicles left the camping spot, drove north for three to four kilometers, and stopped at the center of the area Zhan Hongbo had mapped on paper last night.

"Here we are."

Everyone got out of the cars, each taking foldable shovels from the car trunks; Qi Yun had already explained what needed to be done.

Even the guides, Lao Tu and Da Ming, joined the digging team under the promise of generous rewards from Qi Yun.

"Such a large desert, how do we dig? Feels like looking for a needle in a haystack..." A-Ming put on protective gloves and clicked his tongue.

"Let's try our luck." Qi Yun lit a cigarette and exhaled a long smoke ring.

No more words were said as everyone began digging within the area Zhan Hongbo had outlined.

Though the sand wasn't as hard as soil, soft and loose, easy to dig, it was still quite troublesome to dig a deep pit; as soon as one shovel went down, sand continuously rolled down nearby.

So to dig deeper, they had to keep expanding the diameter of the pit.

Three hours passed quickly, and the group of eight had each dug a sand pit over a meter deep.

Zhan Hongbo inspected the sand at the bottom of the pits and sighed helplessly: "This probably isn't the place, the sand's color is wrong."

"Let's move forward a bit and try a different area."

...

By ten in the morning, the sun hung high in the sky, and the temperature in the desert abruptly climbed, surpassing thirty-five degrees already.

Qi Yun wiped the sweat off his forehead and waved at everyone: "Stop digging, let's head to the camp first."

Upon hearing this, everyone put away their foldable shovels and walked toward where the cars were parked.

In this heat, continuing would risk heatstroke.

Forty minutes later, the convoy arrived at a patch of poplar forest, although small, with only a few dozen trees, it brought a touch of green vitality to the barren desert.

Everyone got out of the cars, swiftly pitching tents and tarps in the shade of the trees, this place was much better than yesterday's camp, at least the wind was not as hot.

Mamati brought a tray of Huoxiang Zhengqi liquid to distribute among everyone, then came and sat beside Qi Yun: "Boss Qi, there should be a water source nearby."

"Where there's water, there are animals, so for safety's sake, we need to make a bonfire tonight and have two people stand guard."

"You mean... there might be wolves?" Qi Yun frowned unconsciously; last time, they were chased by a wolf pack for several kilometers.

Mamati looked serious: "Exactly, although Lao Tu and I didn't find any traces of wolves living around here yesterday, we should still be cautious."

Qi Yun nodded calmly: "Sure, make the arrangements."

This time was different from the last; he had the experts Chen Wei and Duan Pingyu with him, so even if a few wolves came, he wouldn't be afraid.

Moreover, his physical condition was also robust now, really facing wolves, he wouldn't back down, he'd just draw his knife and fight.

But that being said, caution was still necessary.

Wolves are pack animals, if dozens came, no one could handle it, and with weaklings like Zhan Hongbo and Zhong Rui around, any incident wouldn't be good.

At nine in the evening, the temperature gradually dropped.

The group headed back to the digging site, toiled for more than two hours again, still finding nothing.

"Boss, doesn't feel right to dig this way..." Duan Pingyu handed Qi Yun a bottle of water and sighed.

Qi Yun took the bottle, unscrewed it, and took a few sips, then patted the other's shoulder: "If we can't find it, so be it, tomorrow let's head back, get some professional detection equipment, and prepare thoroughly before coming back in."

His mindset was quite relaxed, not too discouraged.

Knowing this area might have ancient city ruins was a guess made after Zhan Hongbo's field observations, so he couldn't do much pre-arrangement beforehand.

"Hmm." Duan Pingyu nodded, not saying more.

Qi Yun raised his watch to check the time, it was already midnight.

He sat on the sand, lit another cigarette, and checked today's intelligence reports, hoping to try his luck.

[Today's Intelligence 1 (Blue): 240 kilometers southwest, there is a small potash mine, economically valued over seven million]

Potash mine, this isn't particularly rare in Lop Nur, it's an important component of fertilizers.

The famous scientist Peng Jiamu entered Lop Nur back then looking for potash mines.

These seven million could only be said to be missed... because ordinary people simply don't have the capability to mine here.

[Today's Intelligence 2 (Red): Recently, a group of white men has excavated several ancient tombs on the grasslands of Northern Mongolia but have not taken any burial items]

Upon seeing this intelligence message, Qi Yun's eyes sharpened.

He had received a similar report a few days before, that Northern Mongolian herdsmen noticed a suspicious group of white people, seemingly searching for something, could it be them?

Excavating tombs without taking any burial items? What kind of maneuver is that...

[Today's Intelligence 3 (Red): In 627 AD, a magnetic mountain was located near Satellite City. After learning of this, King of Loulan ordered craftsmen to extract large quantities of magnetic stones, creating a massive altar in Satellite City, serving as a bridge to communicate with the Sun God]

Magnetic stones? You mean magnets?

If the buried structure beneath this sand is indeed the historically recorded Satellite City, then... could this magnetic altar be used to pinpoint the relic's exact location?

Qi Yun rubbed his chin and raised his hand to call Zhan Hongbo over.

"Brother Qi."

Qi Yun flicked some ash off his cigarette, pointing to the ground beside him: "I suddenly remembered something."

"What is it? Tell me." Zhan Hongbo sat cross-legged on the sand.

"I once read in some miscellaneous book that the King of Loulan had ancient craftsmen build a large altar using magnetic stones."

"Do you think that altar might..."

Zhan Hongbo paused: "You mean..."

Qi Yun nodded at him: "Exactly, if that altar happens to be among the ruins we're now looking for, could it possibly help us locate it?"

Zhan Hongbo deliberated for a while: "If that altar is entirely made of magnetic stones, even if buried deep in the sand, it would still have magnetism."

"But the magnetism of magnets naturally diminishes over time and is also affected by high temperatures..."

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