Dare to shirk responsibility? This adorable little one will tear down your military district!

Gu Changfeng held up his military binoculars with one hand and clearly saw the large area of ​​buildings in front of him.

The sandstorm had buried most of the roof, leaving only a few thick stone pillars sticking out bare. Two large, bald black birds were circling in the sky.

Gu Changfeng pulled the binoculars off his neck and tossed them to Platoon Leader Li beside him. Then he took out the half-ripped sheepskin and gestured a couple of times towards the distant horn-shaped sand dunes.

"You haven't gone to the wrong place, this is the place." Gu Changfeng's voice was quite deep.

Old Ma, who had been hiding under the camel's belly to avoid the wind, poked his thin head out to look into the distance when he heard the location. Upon looking, he saw that Old Ma's old face was as white as if it had been coated with a layer of white powder.

"My God! That's the mouth of a demon!" Old Ma howled in his hoarse voice. He scrambled back, desperately clutching the camel's reins, trying to run away. "Commander, we can't go! We absolutely can't go! That dilapidated temple up ahead is a graveyard for the living!"

Gu Changfeng strode over, grabbed Lao Ma by the back of the neck, and lifted him up like a chick.

"What are you yelling about? Explain yourself clearly. What do you mean by 'evil spirit's mouth'?" Gu Changfeng didn't tolerate his behavior.

Old Ma waved his hands wildly, his two rows of big yellow teeth clattering together: "Commander, in the mouths of the older generation in our desert, this place is a death trap where there is no return!"

In the old days, countless large merchant caravans and gold prospectors with foreign guns, eyeing the treasures inside, went in together. But not a single one ever came out alive! This dilapidated temple eats people; if a living person went in, not even a bone fragment would remain!

Gu Changfeng snorted coldly, loosened his grip, and threw the old horse onto the sand. He had led troops in battle for most of his life and was the least convinced by such superstitious beliefs. Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun; no matter what kind of supernatural beings were lurking inside, a volley of bullets would send them all crashing down.

"Thirty elite soldiers are here, armed with heavy weapons. What kind of devil dares to open his mouth?" Gu Changfeng touched the Type 54 pistol at his waist. "Lead the way. If you don't, I'll shoot you dead."

Old Ma rolled on the ground, clutching his head, preferring to be shot rather than move an inch forward.

Ya Ya sat high on the camel's back, swinging her two short legs. She took out a White Rabbit candy from the pocket of her tactical vest, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth, chewing it with a loud smacking sound.

"Uncle Ma, you're more timid than a mouse! There are huge, shiny gold bars hidden inside!" Ya Ya said in her childish voice, showing no fear whatsoever.

"Once we get inside, we'll bring out a hundred boxes of large yellow croakers. You'll get two pieces, and you can marry several wives when you go back to Hongshan Fort. Are you coming or not?"

Old Ma swallowed hard as he listened to the five-and-a-half-year-old's words. Gold was indeed a valuable thing, but life was more important.

Lin Wanrou reached out and pulled Ya Ya's military green coat tighter around her, patting her little back: "Ya Ya, listen to your dad, don't make a fuss. There's not a single living thing to be seen here, it's creepy."

"Mom, what are you afraid of? We've already driven away those bandits riding tall horses, haven't we?" Ya Ya patted the loose gold coins in her vest pocket, full of confidence. With a vast space as her backing, she was now defiant against everyone.

Platoon Leader Li, carrying a semi-automatic rifle, strode up to Old Ma and jabbed him in the back with the hard, black butt of his rifle: "Stop playing dead! Get up and lead the way! If you don't move, I'll kill you right now!"

Left with no other choice, Old Ma reluctantly got up and led the camel at the front.

The group continued forward under the scorching sun. The closer they got to the temple ruins, the less sand there was, and the wind completely stopped. But the air was unbearably stuffy, like a giant, airtight steamer.

When they were about a hundred meters from the temple gate, the camels refused to go any further. No matter how the old horse whipped them or kicked them, the camels remained kneeling on the sand, foaming at the mouth and burying their heads in the sand. Animals have a much better instinct than humans; they knew that what lay ahead was death.

"Sir, the livestock won't move!" Old Ma cried out, his voice trembling with tears.

Gu Changfeng waved his hand: "Platoon Leader Li, everyone get to the fields. Two people stay to watch the livestock, the rest of you get your guns ready, load them, and let's go over there."

Thirty veterans tumbled off the camels in unison. The clanging of rifle bolts echoed across the vast desert.

Gu Changfeng strode over, grabbed Ya Ya with both hands, and lifted her off the camel, placing her steadily on the ground. Lin Wanrou also jumped down, holding Ya Ya's hand tightly.

"Keep your eyes peeled." Gu Changfeng walked in the middle of the group. "Form skirmish lines, don't huddle together."

The group moved forward, stepping on the sand.

As Ya Ya walked, she surveyed the ruins ahead. The stone pillars were incredibly thick; three grown men holding hands couldn't encircle them. They had been exposed to the wind and sun in this desert for countless years, their surfaces riddled with holes and pits. The roof had collapsed, revealing a dark, gaping doorway. The stone doorway was carved with haphazard patterns that looked like long, thin worms.

Ya Ya wasn't afraid at all; her mind was completely focused on those hundred boxes of real gold. Once she found them, she'd stuff them all into her large storage space. If those foreign mercenaries dared to try and steal them, she'd smash their heads to pieces with her sandalwood slingshot.

Niu Dan, carrying a cast iron boning knife, stayed close to Ya Ya like a protective shadow. He didn't look at the temple in front of him; his head was always down, and he kept sniffling.

Having grown up scrambling for food among piles of corpses and the mouths of wild dogs, and later drinking the spiritual spring water given to him by Ya Ya, Niu Dan's nose is several times more sensitive than that of the big wolfhound Black Wind.

Niu Dan suddenly stopped and grabbed Ya Ya's arm tightly.

"Boss," Niu Dan said in a low voice, his throat dry, "this place doesn't feel right."

"What does it taste like?" Ya Ya stopped walking.

"It smells like dead fish and rotten shrimp, and a bit like rotten eggs. It's all trapped in the sand underneath." Niu Dan dug his toes into the ground a couple of times. The sand here was different from the yellow sand he'd come from. It was darker in color, a bit grayish-brown.

Ya Ya squatted down, placing her two chubby little hands directly on the sand. She closed her eyes and released her wood-type ability downwards.

There were many dried-up tree roots beneath the desert. Normally, Ya Ya could use these roots to probe the ground beneath. But this time, her ability had only penetrated a meter or two into the sand when she encountered serious trouble.

The sand underneath is all loose, lifeless soil. Even worse, there are absolutely no plant roots underneath. Probing down with your supernatural abilities feels like stepping into mid-air. The entire underground ring surrounding this temple is a hollow funnel!

What appears to be a flat, hard sandy surface has been completely hollowed out underneath!

Ya Ya broke out in a cold sweat. She quickly pulled her hand back, jumped up from the sand, and shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Dad! Don't go any further! It's all hollow underneath—"

He hadn't finished speaking.

Lieutenant Li, leading the column, took a large step forward, rifle in hand. His heavy leather boots landed squarely on the sand between two broken stone pillars.

There was no sound at all.

As soon as Xiao Li's right foot touched the ground, it sank into a large hole in the grayish-brown sand beneath him. The sand looked like a gaping, toothless mouth.

Xiao Li had no time to react and lost his balance. He screamed, and in the blink of an eye, half of his body was swallowed whole by the gaping maw of sand.