Chapter 172: Chapter 171: Making a Rescue Call

The camel’s hair, after being exposed to the scorching sun for three days, had its ends hardened into a micro-scraper using resin.

Of course, the hair wasn’t directly pulled from the Mountain Peak, but was given to Xu Ying by the villagers of Dongqing Village.

Xu Ying took a small medicine bottle from the medical toolbox, containing diluted povidone-iodine which could lubricate and prevent infection, as well as soften old skin.

As soon as the hook needle was out, the red-headed centipede instinctively struggled, but Xu Ying’s quick, accurate, and decisive action precisely separated the adhesion.

The old skin shed from the red-headed centipede was like a semi-transparent snake molt. The shed skin of the centipede had medicinal value, which Xu Ying stored in a sealed bag.

The centipede family watched Xu Ying help their companion shed, and one of the centipedes asked.

[Station Chief Xu, are the skins we shed useful to humans?]

Xu Ying nodded, thinking to herself that the centipedes themselves had even more medicinal value.

[Then in the future, we’ll save up our shed skins for you!]

The centipede family moved on the ground, looking quite frightening, but their words were quite heartwarming.

Xu Ying nodded, overcoming the fear induced by their appearance, and smiled: “Thank you all.”

At this moment, the toad that had gone to eavesdrop at the canyon entrance returned.

[Station Chief Xu, there truly are two two-legged beasts sneaking into the underground canyon!]

[They are holding long, black weapons.]

Xu Ying’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing this; these tomb raiders were indeed capable, fully equipped, and from what she recalled of their conversation before entering the tomb tunnel, this was likely a mature tomb raiding group.

Xu Ying rummaged through her bag to take out the flip phone that Chief Qin had given her.

Given the current circumstances, for her own life’s sake, she had no choice but to disturb Chief Qin!

Xu Ying opened the contact list on the flip phone, which had only one number. Xu Ying dialed it.

The call connected in less than five seconds.

A cold and unfamiliar male voice came from the other end of the line.

“Hello, this is Chief Qin’s emergency hotline. Chief Qin is in a meeting. What difficulty are you encountering?”

“Hello, I am Xu Ying, station chief of Desert Rescue Station 032. I encountered tomb raiders while carrying out a mission in the desert. I met three people; now two men are looking for me, one wearing a baseball cap and another is slender. They are carrying weapons.”

“There should be a mature team supporting them in the background.”

Having weathered a number of storms, Xu Ying calmly stated her current situation: “I am now cornered in a hidden canyon at the bottom of a sand dune. My approximate coordinates are north latitude…”

“Understood.” The soldier on the other end evidently recognized Xu Ying, responding: “Little Xu Station Chief, we’ll dispatch someone immediately.”

“If you’re afraid, you can stay on the line with me.”

The response from the other end was reassuring.

Xu Ying breathed a sigh of relief, now just waiting for her backup to rescue her!

“If it’s convenient, could you notify the police and archaeological experts to come as well?”

“I found a piece of jade near their tomb tunnel. It looks like an item from the Han Dynasty royal family. I wonder which desert kingdom’s relics they’ve discovered.”

Xu Ying weighed the sealed bag in her pocket; its value made her feel her pocket become much heavier.

Moreover, according to Mountain Peak, those tomb raiders must have already transported quite a few items out with camels.

Once these artifacts enter the black market, they are very hard to recover.

In the last century, many artifacts from Xizhou Province flowed abroad through the black market, appearing at foreign auctions. Other than compassionate entrepreneurs spending large sums to purchase them back, there was no way to recover them; it was heartbreaking.

“The tomb they discovered must have been large, and it’s likely already been damaged by them. Now it’s just a matter of seeing if something can be salvaged.”

The response from the other end came swiftly: “No problem.”

The vigilant “Five Poison” insects within the canyon were extremely sensitive, keenly aware of Xu Ying’s fear and concern.

[Station Chief Xu, we’ll protect you!]

[This is our turf; if they dare act wild here, they will leave without return!]

[Brothers and sisters, listen to my command, assemble the troops!]

The “Five Poison” within the canyon, responding to each other’s calls, mobilized collectively. A black carpet covered the canyon walls and floor, and Xu Ying trembled as she lay on Mountain Peak.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please leave me one alive. I still need to help the police bait the big fish behind these two tomb raiders.”

[No problem, Little Xu Station Chief, we’ll do as you say!]

[Little Xu Station Chief, who are you talking to? Did you lose something?]

Xu Ying found it hard to explain the seriousness of the lost artifacts to these little creatures and could only say:

“Sort of. Someone stole the treasures we protected underground and also took the family of my friend’s hostage, transporting these treasures out of the desert.”

The little centipede wiggled its body: [Underground? We are most familiar with the underground!]

The desert scorpion was unwilling to be outdone: [There are many of our kind underground. I’ll go have a word with them. Maybe we can help you find evidence or traces of them left behind.]

Xu Ying suddenly remembered that when underground tombs were built, the tomb owner set up multiple traps to protect their resting place from disturbance.

When archaeologists discover tombs, they often have to spend huge amounts of time and effort to figure out the structure of the tombs. During exploration, any slight negligence could result in a life-threatening situation.

If these native little creatures helped, it would be easy to quickly understand the structure of the tomb and find the damaged locations by tomb raiders and the clues they left behind.

Unexpectedly, her accidental entry into the underground canyon had such great returns, and Xu Ying thanked these little insects profusely.

At this moment, the two tomb raiders chasing Xu Ying had already stepped into the underground canyon, holding their weapons.

“Does she really think she’s safe hiding in the underground canyon?”

The man with the baseball cap shone his flashlight, groping through the underground canyon with the skinny man following: “Watch as we catch the turtle in a jar!”

“She must die today!”

The skinny man gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with extreme ferocity: “Otherwise, if she escapes and reports us, the whole team is doomed!”

The canyon narrowed, the air turning cold and damp.

The light from the baseball cap’s flashlight swung violently, and as the beam swept across the rock wall, he froze abruptly—the “black rocks” were moving.

“Damn! It’s a swarm!”

He shook his arm, and several beetles fell from his sleeve, their shells glowing slickly black under the light.

The skinny man suddenly screamed, his hunting rifle’s barrel crawling with countless tiny legs, and the swarm wriggled up his sleeve and into his collar.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep