Chapter 225: Chapter 224: Lone Warrior in the Desert

At this moment, a tusun that had been observing silently like a jammed machine suddenly pawed at Xu Ying’s pant leg.

[Little Xu Station Chief, look, fish living in the desert!]

Xu Ying looked in the direction the tusun indicated and saw a creature resembling a catfish wriggling on the dry sand, its body swaying left and right, leaving trails of sand behind.

“It’s the desert armored catfish!”

The desert armored catfish is a very rare fish capable of “walking” on land.

They have powerful limb-like fins that help them crawl in the sand and possess a strong drought-resistant ability.

When their water habitat dries up, while other aquatic creatures face the threat of drying up, the desert armored catfish, with its tough and drought-resistant skin, “wriggles” through the sand to find new water sources.

Xu Ying quickly approached this desert armored catfish; this creature might know something about what happened here with its keen sense of water sources.

[Help…help me…]

The desert armored catfish’s voice was as thin as a thread, [I just laid eggs…the river dried up…]

Xu Ying immediately squatted down, took a water bottle from her emergency kit, and carefully poured clean water over the dust-covered skin of the armored catfish.

The cool water caused it to tremble violently.

[My eggs…are still in the sand layer of the riverbed…]

It struggled to lift its pectoral fins, pointing to the distant cracked riverbed, [If I can’t take them away…they’ll dry up and die…]

Its tail fin had started turning white, a severe sign of dehydration.

The tusun anxiously circled the armored catfish, occasionally nudging it with its paw.

“Hang in there!” Xu Ying quickly took out a portable water box and put the desert armored catfish inside.

Xu Ying picked up the water box and said to the tusun, “Go call the Sand Rat Squad, bring excavation tools, we have to act quickly!”

Seeing the urgency of the situation, the Sand Rat Boss called many of its companions, some to notify other small animals in the desert to go to the rescue station to get water, while others stood by on Xu Ying’s motorcycle, ready to be dispatched at any moment.

The armored catfish weakly moved its body: [Riverbed…southeast direction…under the roots of reeds…there’s a mark…] and then collapsed at the bottom of the water box.

Xu Ying picked up the water box and moved in the direction of the desert armored catfish.

In the distance, on the riverbed, the scorching sun roasted the cracked earth, withered reeds swaying faintly in the heat waves.

Xu Ying knelt on one knee on the cracked riverbed, sweat dripped from her chin onto the sand, instantly evaporating without a trace.

She squinted her eyes and reached out to brush away the layer of scorching sand.

The sand was so hot her fingertips turned red, but she ignored it.

Suddenly, her movements halted.

“This is…”

Xu Ying exclaimed, “Found it!”

Under the sand layer, several translucent fish eggs gleamed slightly like pearls, covered in a layer of special mucous, reflecting specks of light in the sunlight.

She squinted, following the reflective sheath of the eggs—they actually formed a clear line, stretching into the distance!

The tusun leaned in, tilting its head: [Why are these fish eggs laid so neatly?]

Xu Ying’s gaze tightened, “The desert armored catfish lay their eggs at the junction of moist sand layers; they can sense the moisture of underground water… This line is the direction of underground water flow!”

She immediately stood up, quickly advancing along the path marked by the fish eggs.

The Sand Rat Squad was also brought over, closely following behind, occasionally pawing at the sand to verify the direction of the marks.

—until the marks suddenly ceased.

Xu Ying squatted on the Gobi Desert, the moment her fingertips touched the sand, she sensed something unusual.

The ground in front of her was artificially leveled, the surface sand loose and dry, completely different from the naturally formed hard crust around it. She frowned, inserted her fingers into the sand layer, and vigorously flipped it—

“A loud crash!”

The concealed sand collapsed, revealing a nearly meter-wide deep pit, with clear shovel marks remaining on the pit walls.

More terrifyingly, deep in the pit, a shocking crack traversed the soil layer, with underground water silently streaming out from the fissure.

A jumping mouse poked its head out from her backpack, its eyes, like black beans, glaring roundly, with its fur standing on end, screaming: [Who did this?!]

The tusun squatted a short distance away, tilted its head and watched for a long time before finally reacting, its ears twitching: [Who pierced my water jug?!]

Xu Ying’s expression darkened.

She grabbed a handful of sand and tossed it into the air.

The fine sand carved an eerie trajectory in the hot wind, seemingly guided by some invisible force, drifting toward the northeast.

“Underground air currents…” she murmured, her heart sinking heavily, “a crack has appeared in the aquifer, the moisture here is being drained.”

This is definitely not a natural collapse—someone has sabotaged the aquifer!

Xu Ying stepped back and stepped on a fine steel stake, making a loud noise.

A desert lizard darted out of the sand, its scales scorched yellow, tail partly missing.

Seeing the work badge with the Five-Star Red Flag hanging from Xu Ying’s neck, it breathed a sigh of relief.

[Great, are you the desert animal rescuer they mentioned?]

The desert lizard was rapidly flicking its tongue: [Have you seen my children?]

Xu Ying was taken aback, “Your children are missing?”

The lizard anxiously whipped its tail: [They were in the nest yesterday, but suddenly disappeared this morning!]

It suddenly approached the steel stake at the edge of the pit, its tongue flickering swiftly, [That’s the smell! Those two-legged creatures used this to emit strange noises, all my kin were lured away!]

“Vibration trap…” Xu Ying’s pupils shrank.

She had heard—some poaching groups exploit lizards’ sensitivity to specific vibration frequencies, driving steel stakes into the sand to attract lizards, then catching them all at once.

And this steel stake had likely struck at the weakest part of the aquifer, causing the underground water layer to fracture!

As the pet market has grown in recent years, some people are no longer satisfied with raising cats and dogs, preferring exotic pets like snakes, lizards, and spiders.

Certain rare desert lizards are sold at very high prices in the market, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands, with exotic colorations or mutated individuals fetching even higher prices; for instance, albino lizards can sell for tens of thousands.

Lizard skins are used to make luxury brand leather goods, and dried lizard products are smuggled to Southeast Asia.

This big mess is likely caused by those money-grubbing poachers, Xu Ying’s fist clenched tightly.

First, plug the leaks, then catch the culprits!

Xu Ying made a phone call to the Desert Rescue Station’s landline.

After about thirty seconds, the call was answered.

But the voice on the other end wasn’t human speech, but bird chatter—

The gray tail that excelled at mimicking various bird calls had settled in at Xu Ying’s Desert Rescue Station for the winter.

It had now become the little manager of the rescue station.

Its duty was to watch over the Niyaya Chicken Xu Ying raised, notifying them when birds of prey circled overhead, signaling an aerial attack, and prompting them to quickly return to the coop!

Moreover, with its sensitive hearing, it also took on the task of answering the rescue station’s landline calls, helping Xu Ying relay notifications to vultures and other birds.

The gray tail chirped: [Little Xu Station Chief, what’s up?]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep