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

As soon as Platoon Leader Li's right foot stepped onto the grayish-brown sand between two broken stone pillars, the ground beneath him cracked open without warning, like a toothless mouth.

"Oh my god!"

Before Xiao Li could react, his body suddenly sank down. The gray sand below was loose and soft, offering no foothold. His 130-plus-pound frame, along with the semi-automatic rifle and ammunition belt he was carrying, became a deadly weight.

In the blink of an eye, the sand had already reached above his knees.

"Platoon leader!"

"Little Li!"

The two sharpshooters following behind were closest to him. Seeing this, they shouted at the top of their lungs and instinctively rushed forward, intending to reach out and pull the man away.

"Stop right there! Don't move!"

Gu Changfeng reacted extremely quickly, his loud shout echoing across the open sand. He took two strides to the front of the group, grabbed the two new recruits by the back of their collars with his large, calloused hands, and yanked them back with all his might, throwing them onto the hard sandbank.

"Squat down! No one is allowed to take even half a step forward!" Gu Changfeng shouted the order, the veins on his forehead throbbing.

Gu Changfeng had heard from older scouts in his youth that the quicksand pits in the heart of the Taklamakan Desert were more deadly than the knives and guns in the hands of bandits. On the surface, the quicksand looked no different from the surrounding hard sand, but underneath it had long been hollowed out by the wind and underground rivers.

Once a person steps in, the smaller the contact area, the faster they sink. If other people are blind and rush in to rescue them, softening the surrounding ground, the whole row of people will sink and perish.

After Xiao Li got stuck, he panicked at first and instinctively swung his arms and struggled desperately to get out, kicking his legs wildly in the sand.

Well, the more he struggled, the faster the sand below slipped away. The grayish-brown sand around him made a soft rustling sound as it all flowed down the pit.

In less than ten seconds, the quicksand had swallowed Li's belt and was pressing against his chest. The sand was squeezing into his chest cavity, making it difficult for him to breathe.

"Chief of Staff! Don't worry about me! Don't come any closer! There are living people down there!" Xiao Li's face was as white as paper. He had been a soldier for so many years, a man who had been through thick and thin, and he knew that he was probably going to die here today.

He held the semi-automatic rifle tightly in both hands, holding it horizontally on the sand in front of his chest, trying to increase the contact area and slow down the sinking of his body.

But the sandpit seemed to have a life of its own, constantly expanding along Xiao Li's body. What was originally a pit the size of a washbasin quickly collapsed into a large funnel two meters wide.

Old Ma was already terrified, and when he saw a living person being swallowed alive by sand, he completely broke down.

"The Graveyard of the Living! This is the Graveyard of the Living, the Cannibals!" Old Ma knelt before the camel, pounding the ground with his fists, wailing and crying out for his parents.

"The demon has opened its mouth! The gods are enraged! None of us can escape; we'll all be used as fodder for those dried-up corpses below!"

"You old bastard, shut your bird beak!" An old soldier next to him was so angry that his eyes turned red. He smashed the butt of his rifle on Old Ma's shoulder, making Old Ma lie face down in the sand, groaning.

Thirty elite soldiers watched helplessly as their platoon leader was sucked down by the sand, each one sweating profusely with anxiety, their hands sore from gripping their guns so tightly.

"Connect the belt! Quick! Take off the leg wraps and gun sling and connect them!" Gu Changfeng shouted, quickly pulling off the weapon belt around his waist.

The veterans quickly realized what was happening and hurriedly disassembled their rifle straps and loosened their belts. They then tied the thick canvas straps into a tight knot, creating a rope seven or eight meters long.

"Xiao Li! Catch!" Gu Changfeng grabbed one end of the tied strap, swung it twice in mid-air, and threw it towards Xiao Li in the center of the sandpit.

The belt flew past with a whoosh and landed with a "thud" half a meter in front of Xiao Li.

It was just a tiny bit off.

The quicksand pit was enormous, and the surrounding ground was so soft that it would collapse with the slightest step. Gu Changfeng couldn't get too close at all; the belt he threw wasn't long enough.

Xiao Li saw the life-saving strap right beside him and tried to reach out and grab it, but as soon as he moved, the sand on his chest immediately sank in. The sand had already reached above his collarbone, and the heavy pressure made his eyes bulge outwards; he didn't even have the strength to speak.

"I can't reach it! Chief of Staff, the ground is still collapsing!" An old soldier throwing the tape was so anxious that he stamped his feet, his eyes red with frustration.

The desert sun beat down mercilessly, yet everyone was drenched in a cold sweat. All around was a barren, dilapidated temple, not even a crooked tree to be uprooted and used as a stepping stone.

Lin Wanrou tightly hugged Ya Ya and retreated to the back of the sand dune. Looking at Xiao Li, who was almost completely submerged in the distance, she was terrified, covering her mouth and trembling all over. She was an ordinary woman who had grown up in a small town; she had never seen such a horrific sight of a living person being swallowed by the earth.

Niu Dan stood beside Lin Wanrou, gripping the cast iron boning knife tightly in his hand. His wolf-like eyes were fixed on the sandpit, his nose twitching incessantly. But below, apart from the acrid smell of sand, there wasn't a single living creature to chop or stab. He had plenty of strength, but couldn't help at this moment, and he was so anxious that he gritted his teeth.

Ya Ya was held tightly in Lin Wanrou's arms, still chewing on half a White Rabbit milk candy.

She wasn't scared at all; she'd jumped over even more horrific zombie pits in the apocalypse. She'd just used her wood-based abilities to clearly see that the sand below was too fluid; if it couldn't support the weight above, the ground would collapse on a large scale.

Seeing everyone pacing around anxiously, Ya Ya puffed out her cheeks, pouted, and muttered something.

"Dad, you adults are so heavy, what's the use of throwing a few tattered straps? If you drag it out any longer, that soldier uncle will turn into a groundhog and go underground to eat mud."

The child's innocent voice sounded particularly jarring in the desolate sand.

Gu Changfeng had no time to pay attention to his daughter. He watched as the sand around Xiao Li's neck began to bubble, knowing there was an undercurrent sucking it in. This was a sign that quicksand was about to engulf her.

Can't wait any longer!

Gu Changfeng's eyes were bloodshot. The soldiers he led were to die on the front lines, not be allowed to be buried alive by the sand.

He flung off his military overcoat, bent down, and planned to lay flat on the sand, crawling across like a gecko. He figured that by increasing the contact area and reducing the pressure of his weight, he might be able to reach the edge of the pit and grab Xiao Li.

"Chief of Staff! No way! The surrounding area is all fake, you'll get caught if you go!" Several elite soldiers saw through Gu Changfeng's intention and rushed forward to cling tightly to his arms and legs.

"Get out of the way! I'm the leader! Let go!" Gu Changfeng, like an enraged tiger, forcefully threw the men out.

Just as the group of grown men were in complete chaos, and quicksand was about to swallow Xiao Li's chin at the last second...

Suddenly, Lin Wanrou felt a slip in her arms.

Ya Ya twisted her little body with all her might, and like a slippery loach, she slipped right under Lin Wanrou's arm.

"Mom, don't pull me, I'll go pull him!"

Ya Ya let out a crisp shout.

Lin Wanrou suddenly felt her hand go empty. Looking down, she saw that her daughter was nowhere to be seen. "Ya Ya! Come back! Where are you going!" Lin Wanrou cried out in alarm.