Chapter 649

Chapter 34: Sandstorm – Part 1

However, the development of events often brings unexpected deviations, and such deviations are usually vastly different from what was initially anticipated.

Since discovering those footprints, although I appeared relaxed on the surface, I had been secretly vigilant in my heart, always on guard to prevent myself from suddenly encountering this group of people and realizing that they were the ones sent by the church to capture me. They had long prepared for this thoroughly.

Once an encounter battle begins, it quickly reaches a boiling point. Given my current state, I might not be able to handle it. I thought about various ways to escape, ready to shout out小白 at any moment and make a run for it — I was wary of any sudden encounters, but all I found were the corpses of lizards and these footprints from many days ago.

No matter what they came here for, those people were long gone.

There was no doubt about it.

They had left this area long ago. It was almost impossible for me to meet them today unless these four people would suddenly arrive in Messer Town tonight.

After clarifying these things, my vigilance had greatly eased. Added to that, after eating, I felt drowsy and started thinking about returning to the town. After checking the last set of footprints, I urged Betty to leave quickly.

Betty, of course, couldn’t get out on her own. The cave was too steep and narrow. With her size and strength, climbing up even five meters was nearly impossible. However, after eating those lizards, my physical condition had significantly improved, though it was still far from my previous level. Climbing such a cave was now just a minor task.

“Betty, come over.”

I waved at the little girl, and she obediently walked to my side. I then lifted her up in a princess carry, holding her tightly in my arms. She looked confused, but in the next moment, I bent my knees, and with a terrified scream from Betty, we leaped upward into the cave!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh—

The wind howled, carrying her screams as we rapidly ascended from the large cave. I stepped on the soft cave wall, flying up through the swirling sand, each step causing the sand grains to explode like bombs beneath me, falling to the ground. My body quickly shot up the narrow passage.

“Yahyahyahyah!!!”

Betty’s screams continued, growing louder and more piercing. The little girl was terrified. As we climbed higher, the slope of the cave became steeper, making it difficult to use only our feet. I had to hold her under one arm while using my other hand to pull out the dragon claw, using it as a support to continue climbing.

“Sis… Sister… Ah! Ow my head…”

“Ow!”

“Aiyah…”

Her head occasionally hit the sandy wall, and her cries gradually weakened. The space above us narrowed, and dust kept falling. I couldn’t help but squint, my mouth tight, holding Betty tightly as I climbed with all my might. In my mind, I thought: If I had known earlier, I would have carried her on my back…

Soon, light poured down from above.

…We reached the exit!

I couldn’t help but show a look of joy, gathering all my strength and using the Moon Step technique. With a muffled “thud,” my body shot up like a cannonball, bursting through the sand, and in an instant, I emerged from the cave, soaring nearly ten meters high before twisting gracefully in mid-air and landing.

…Perfect!

I puffed out my chest, looking up with a triumphant smile.

Now I can go back and have dinner and sleep…

“Big Sister… Ugh… Pfft…”

After releasing my grip, Betty stumbled to the ground, her face pale. She waved at me and then lowered her head to retch, spitting out the sand in her mouth. She then collapsed onto the sand, holding her forehead and complaining, “Betty, I thought I was going to die…”

“Are you okay?”

The little girl looked disheveled and miserable. I smiled inwardly, bending down to take her hand away and examine her red forehead. Seeing nothing serious, I gently blew on it: “It’s fine, it’s fine, don’t worry.”

“Pain, no more pain… See! I told you, following me was right, we’re out!”

“Wouldn’t it be better to go out from the other side…”

Betty mumbled, slowly getting up from the ground, brushing off the sand on her bottom, and pouting as she said, “Where are we…?”

Hmm…

I don’t know either.

I looked around, seeing only yellow earth, not a single plant in sight, but in the distance, there were towering dunes. Judging by the shape of the dunes, that must be where we entered the underground cavern.

And at our feet, almost everything was weathered soil, hard and unyielding, lacking the softness of sand. This might be why there’s no vegetation nearby. The sandstone here is riddled with holes, and we came out from the largest one.

What a strange terrain…

“Betty, check the compass, which direction.”

I casually told the little girl, raising my head to look at the sky, shielding my eyes with my hand.

The sky seems darker…

Strange, isn’t it still quite early for evening…

We didn’t stay in the cave for long, right? Why does it feel so much cooler outside, even less stuffy than inside the cave? The clouds in the sky have turned a yellowish-brown, and though the wind feels nice… it makes me feel a bit uneasy, why is that…

“That way!”

Beside me, Betty took out the compass from her bag, looked at it, then pointed towards the distant dune: “That way is toward the town, Miss, we’ve wandered too far, if we want to get back before dark, we need to hurry—”

The little girl suddenly stopped talking.

She seemed to have discovered something extremely horrifying, looking up at the yellow, wave-like clouds in the sky, her mouth slightly open, eyes wide, her face gradually turning pale, her expression becoming somewhat frightened.

“Bad…”

She murmured, her voice trembling slightly. I turned my head and asked, puzzled, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s a sandstorm… a sandstorm is coming… Miss…”

The little girl was in a panic, standing still for a moment, then suddenly ran forward, shouting to me, “Run!”

A sandstorm!?

My heart jolted, instinctively running after her: “Is a sandstorm coming? What’s going on, why so sudden!”

“I don’t know either!”

The little girl didn’t turn back, continuing to shout: “Sandstorms are punishments from the gods, they often come like this suddenly. When you encounter one, you can only leave it to fate!”

She seemed to be terrified to the extreme, completely changing her usual hesitant nature, running faster than ever before, her voice filled with tears: “Betty has never seen a sandstorm, never heard of one so close to the town… This area used to be safe… Miss, Betty doesn’t know what’s happening, but Betty knows, if we don’t run now, we won’t be able to run at all…”

“…What bad luck.”

Hearing the little girl’s words, my mood also turned sour, quickening my pace to catch up with her, grabbing her collar and pulling her: “Wait!”

After stopping, I turned around, crouching slightly, facing away from her: “Get on, I’ll carry you and run!”

“But…”

“Hurry up!”

“Okay…”

The little girl hesitated for a moment, then jumped onto my back. I held her small buttocks, shouted, “Hold on tight,” and started running full speed.

“Wah—”

Running at full speed, though not as fast as before, it was still faster than a regular antelope. Betty, caught off guard, tilted her head backward, quickly hugging my neck, screaming. The hot wind felt like knives scraping against my face, I clenched my jaw, running straight toward the dunes.

But within ten minutes, the sandstorm had already intensified.