Searching for someone in northern Myanmar, and you call that earning tuition fees?

Outskirts of Lop Nur, checkpoint of the military control zone in Ruoqiang County.

Three Unimog vehicles came to a stop on the Gobi Desert, where the yellow sand swirled around them. Before the dust kicked up by their wheels could settle, a squad of fully armed border guards surrounded them with their guns at the ready, the swirling sand covering their faces.

"Stop the car! Submit for inspection!"

Leading the way was a middle-aged military officer, tanned as dark as charcoal, carrying two three-star rank insignia on his shoulder; he was none other than Ma Jianguo, the deputy commander of the border defense regiment. He circled the convoy, his eyes scanning the high-tech equipment on the vehicle roofs like knives.

Ma Jianguo knocked on the car window, his tone sharp: "It's you lot again, wasting money like this. Didn't you see the news? The core area of ​​Lop Nur has been sealed off for three months!"

Gu Changfeng rolled down the car window and handed over a stack of documents covered in red stamps: "Commander Ma, we have the necessary paperwork. This is a special approval document from the Ministry of Land and Resources, along with a joint application from the families of the expedition team."

Ma Jianguo took the documents and glanced at them. His expression softened slightly, but he still shook his head: "The paperwork is genuine, but I advise you not to go in. Of the three search and rescue teams before you, two were armed police special forces and one was a civilian off-road club. Their equipment was better than yours. And what happened? They either returned empty-handed or almost got themselves killed."

He pointed to the distant, yellowish-brown horizon: "It's really weird in there now. Compasses go crazy, satellite phones don't work, and GPS can take you to Mars. The team that just came out yesterday took five drones with them, and when they came back, not a single one was left; they were all electronic waste."

"We are prepared," Gu Changfeng said through gritted teeth.

"Ready?" Ma Jianguo sneered. "You bosses are just throwing money away. You think throwing money at the problem will solve it? In the face of nature, humans are nothing!"

As they were talking, Su Ming pushed open the passenger door and jumped out.

He was wearing a faded gray hoodie, carrying a canvas bag, and holding two red, white, and blue snakeskin bags. He looked out of place among a group of fully armed soldiers and high-tech equipment.

Ma Jianguo paused for a moment, then laughed out loud: "Young man, are you here on vacation?"

The surrounding soldiers couldn't help but chuckle.

Zhao Gang's face darkened. He was about to explain when Su Ming raised his hand to stop him.

"Commander Ma is right." Su Ming put the snakeskin bag on the ground, dusted off his hands, and said, "In the face of nature, man is indeed nothing. So I don't intend to confront nature head-on."

"So what are you planning to do?" Ma Jianguo asked, intrigued. "Rely on these two bags of junk?"

"almost."

Ma Jianguo's smile froze. He looked Su Ming up and down and suddenly realized that this kid wasn't joking.

"Do you know what it's like inside?" Ma Jianguo's smile vanished, his tone turning serious. "The surface temperature is sixty degrees Celsius during the day, but it can drop to minus twenty at night. Sandstorms can come without warning, reducing visibility to less than three meters. There's also quicksand, saline-alkali land, dried-up salt lakes... each one of them can be deadly."

"I know." Su Ming took out the old mechanical pocket watch from his pocket, glanced at the time, "That's why I brought these with me."

He crouched down and unzipped one of the snakeskin bags.

Jute rope, fire axe, bamboo strips, white vinegar, copper wire, magnet...

Looking at these things, Ma Jianguo felt terrible.

"Young man, are you serious?" He pointed to the bundle of rope. "You're not planning to use this to pitch a tent in the desert, are you?"

"A tent?" Su Ming shook his head. "It's used to measure wind direction and make markings. The wind in the desert is regular. As long as you find the prevailing wind direction, you can determine the movement trajectory of the sand dunes."

"What about all this vinegar?" a young soldier couldn't help but ask. "Is it for cooking?"

"It's used to neutralize the alkaline soil," Su Ming said casually. "The core area of ​​Lop Nur has large salt crusts that you'll sink into when you step on them. Pouring vinegar beforehand softens the surface and increases friction."

"Where are these copper wires and magnets?"

"Let's make a simple compass." Su Ming picked up a copper wire and wrapped it around his finger twice. "Electromagnetic interference will cause modern compasses to malfunction, but it won't change the Earth's magnetic field itself. By wrapping a magnet with copper wire and using celestial navigation, the error won't exceed five degrees."

The mockery on Ma Jianguo's face turned into shock.

He had served in the army for twenty years and had seen all kinds of search and rescue teams, but he had never seen one like Su Ming before.

"What...what did you study?" Ma Jianguo couldn't help but ask.

"finance."

"..."

Ma Jianguo almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

Finance students coming to Lop Nur for wilderness survival? This isn't how things are supposed to go!

"Commander Ma, may I ask you a question?" Su Ming suddenly looked up, his eyes sharp.

"Did the first three search and rescue teams all bring a large amount of electronic equipment?"

"Yes," Ma Jianguo nodded, "We brought everything we could: GPS, satellite phones, drones, thermal imagers."

"That's right." Su Ming stood up and patted the dirt off his pants.

"Electromagnetic interference is not a natural disaster, but a man-made one."

"What do you mean?"

"There is an abnormal magnetic field underground in the core area of ​​Lop Nur, which is a natural phenomenon. But if someone has deployed a high-powered electromagnetic transmission device there, it will amplify the natural interference into an electromagnetic storm." Su Ming pointed to the desert in the distance. "The more electronic equipment your search and rescue team carries, the easier it will be to locate and interfere with them."

Ma Jianguo's expression changed drastically: "You mean... someone deliberately sabotaged things inside?"

"Otherwise what?" Su Ming retorted. "The expedition team consumed three times the amount of fuel before losing contact, which means they encountered something that needed to be dispelled by high temperatures. And there are only two possibilities for what makes Lop Nur feel cold in June—either they encountered extreme weather, or they were trapped in a low-temperature trap created by some kind of equipment."

How do you know all this?

"My grandfather taught me that." Su Ming picked up the snakeskin bag and turned to walk towards the car. "He said that the more impossible something seems, the more likely someone is behind it."

Ma Jianguo stood there, stunned, unable to come to his senses for a long time.

Zhao Gang and his bodyguards were completely dumbfounded.

They initially thought Su Ming was crazy for bringing along these "junk," but now they realize that the problem lies with them.

"Wait!" Ma Jianguo suddenly caught up, pulled a military walkie-talkie from his pocket, and handed it to Su Ming. "Take this. It might not be useful in the core area, but if something happens, you can contact us as long as you get back to the outer area."

Su Ming took the walkie-talkie and nodded: "Thanks."

"And one more thing," Ma Jianguo hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice, "If you really find anything that's not right, don't confront it head-on. Save your life first, then contact me, and I'll report it to the military region."

"Don't worry." Su Ming grinned. "I'm terrified of dying."

The convoy restarted, passed through the checkpoints, and headed towards the restricted area known as the "Sea of ​​Death."

Ma Jianguo stood there, watching the three Unimog vehicles disappear into the yellow sand, then suddenly turned to the communications soldier beside him and said, "Send a report to the military region saying that a college student majoring in finance has entered Lop Nur."

"How should it be written in the report?"

"Just write..." Ma Jianguo paused.

"This kid is either a madman or a genius."