"Linglong, from now on, we are facing true life-or-death situations. Besides the pursuit from the Shen Zong Court, we also have to contend with the harsh desert environment. Are you ready?" Ning Beichen asked her.
"If I say no, can I not go?" Linglong's face was filled with misery.
"What do you think?" Ning Beichen grinned at her.
"Sigh! If I die, I die. I escaped from the dangerous Shen Zong Court, I don't believe I can't escape this desert." Linglong gritted her teeth and said.
"Then let's go. The Shen Zong Court won't let us off. They'll probably find us soon." Ning Beichen led the camel and entered the desert with Linglong.
The first day passed without incident. The two of them didn't encounter anyone from the Shen Zong Court, which put Linglong at ease. Her previously lifeless expression regained its spirit.
However, on the morning of the second day, they were attacked by drones.
With a loud boom.
Missiles launched by drones created one huge pit after another in the vast desert.
Ning Beichen, riding the camel with Linglong, fled in disarray, wishing the camel's rear end was wound up like a spring.
These craters created by missiles were different from those on the ground.
This was a vast desert. If a person or a camel fell into a deep pit, they would soon be buried by falling sand. Several times, Ning Beichen and Linglong narrowly avoided this fate.
One of the two camels had already died, leaving only one. Ning Beichen had to share the remaining camel with Linglong as they fled for their lives.
Fortunately, the drones didn't carry many missiles. After each sortie, they had to return to resupply ammunition, which allowed Ning Beichen and Linglong to escape.
But this was just the beginning.
Soon, the Shen Zong Court dispatched more drones and armed helicopters to intercept them.
A missile landed not far from Ning Beichen and the others.
With a deafening explosion.
The immense force spread outwards, flipping over the camel Ning Beichen was riding. Ning Beichen and Linglong were thrown to the side.
They rolled down a large sand dune. Linglong was so dizzy she couldn't see anything, her eyes filled with sand.
Ning Beichen was mostly unharmed, but seeing Linglong roll down, he immediately chased after her, embraced her, and then took her to hide beneath a piece of yellow earth rock.
Even though they couldn't be seen from the sky, it didn't mean they were safe.
The pursuers wouldn't care where they hid. As long as they knew they were in this general area, they could simply command the drones to bomb the location relentlessly. Even iron men couldn't withstand that.
Hiding beneath the rock, Ning Beichen watched the drones flying overhead. Missiles occasionally landed, making his ears ring.
"This won't do. There are drones and armed helicopters in the sky. If they reveal themselves, the enemy will spot them. We can only be safe after dark."
But hiding here wasn't a solution either, because the Shen Zong Court knew they were nearby and would bombard them into dust without pause.
Ning Beichen frowned. He first helped Linglong get the sand out of her eyes, then took out his compound bow and nocked an arrow.
"Ning Beichen, you're not trying to shoot down the drones with this, are you?" Linglong's eyes were dry and itchy. She blinked, looking at Ning Beichen's compound bow, her eyelids twitching.
"Why not?" Ning Beichen said, then poked his head out and aimed the compound bow at a drone in the sky, firing an arrow.
With a whoosh.
The arrow pierced the drone's engine from below. About a minute and a half later, they saw the drone, like a disoriented bird, crash about thirty meters away.
"Ning Beichen, did the bombing make your head spin..." Linglong's words were cut short as she stared, dumbfounded, at the falling drone in the distance, unable to speak.
He actually could.
"Linglong, what were you saying just now?" Ning Beichen, not paying attention to her words, asked as he nocked another arrow.
"N-nothing." Linglong was starting to doubt her own sanity and didn't know what to say.
"Oh." Ning Beichen's mind wasn't on this. He continued to aim at another drone, calculating the wind speed and distance to the drone in his mind.
A few minutes later, another drone, carrying missiles, crashed, erupting in black smoke and flames in the distance.
Not long after.
Ning Beichen had eliminated three drones, and no new ones had arrived yet.
At this point, only one armed helicopter was still flying. This was much harder to deal with than a drone. Moreover, having learned from the drones' fate, the armed helicopter had now ascended, no longer flying at low altitudes.
In fact, they were also scared.
And they had no idea how the drones had crashed.
The arrows that shot down the drones were silent, emitted no heat, and were undetectable even by radar.
Besides, who would have thought that the drones would be brought down by arrows? This made them feel incredibly bizarre.
"Ning Beichen, hurry up and shoot that helicopter down too!" Linglong was so excited she was practically jumping.
"Here, take the bow. You shoot it down." Ning Beichen unhappily handed the compound bow to her.
"I... I don't have that skill." Linglong said, blushing.
"Then do you think I do?" Ning Beichen glanced at the height of the armed helicopter and said regretfully.
If the armed helicopter dared to fly at a low altitude, Ning Beichen might have a chance to try, but at this distance, forget it. Even as a grandmaster, he couldn't shoot an arrow that high.
"Let's go. There's only one armed helicopter left. Their field of vision is limited. As long as we stay out of their line of sight, they won't be able to find us." Ning Beichen put away his compound bow and said to Linglong.
It wasn't dark yet, and there would likely be a few more waves of attacks, so they couldn't stay put.
Ning Beichen led Linglong, hunched over, crawling on all fours across the desert, trying their best to avoid being spotted from above.
Without camels, they had no survival supplies, especially in this uninhabited desert.
But conversely, without camels, their target was smaller, making them harder to find. As long as they could survive until nightfall, they would be safe.
Soon, more drones arrived in the sky and bombarded the place where Ning Beichen had been hiding. The yellow earth rock they had sheltered behind was now in pieces.
Moreover, these drones had become smarter and no longer flew at low altitudes, making it impossible for Ning Beichen to attempt any sneak attacks.
At this moment, Ning Beichen and Linglong buried themselves in the yellow sand, exposing only their nostrils to breathe, hiding from the drones' reconnaissance.
Several times, missiles exploded not far from them, startling Linglong so much that she repeatedly wanted to crawl out, but Ning Beichen held her down firmly.