idea to hire camels as it was a good way to preserve energy. If I ran out of water, their blood could
sustain my life a little bit longer before I god deep-fried by the ruthless sun. But I knew people
would rather die than trade with a supernatural investigator, especially superstitious people here.
I followed the address on Jason’s note and found myself surrounded by a bunch of gloomy
residents in front of a wrecked shack. The elder, probably the one calling Jason, stepped forward,
grabbed my wrist so tight that I couldn’t help but let our a twitch on my face.
“Those are living demons!” his eyes were filled with fear. “Countless ancestral blood has
been shed since the ancient times to destroy those creatures but they could never die. I have sent
forward the strongest among us, but none ever came back. The desert is evil, beware, beware!”
So I began my search.
A month I had been searching. At first, everything was organized and well handled. Hiding
under my veil, I found myself isolated as soon as I stepped into the desert, in the mighty sea of
golden sand. No scent of life or civilization could be detected, only distant silhouette of grey,
stormy mountains lying in the distance that seemed several light years away. The temperature
varied greatly, with burning sun light by day and freezing breezes by night. The moon shone
gracefully in the desert. As I stared into the moon glow, I wondered if the moon rabbit I saved last
time could spot me in this wild place.
However, no matter how hard I tried, the GPS wouldn’t work; I tried everything to contact my
partner, from satellite to radio wave. I even tried to use the tracking spell in my wizardry guide.
I slept for three full days after the spell yet I still didn’t have a clue about where my partner was.
He seemed to be lost, devoured by this great void of sand.
Before I could start to revise my plan, bad things started to happen.
It was another day in the desert. I was counting how many biscuits I had left in my backpack
when I saw a bunch of burly shadows emerging from a dune ahead. They bumped into existence
so sudden that I scared myself to a little jump.
Before I could decide whether to join them or not, I saw them charging towards me. Although
there was still some distance before they could reach me, I could hear them shouting out a number
of words. After a quick analysis in my mind, I could make out the following three:
“Halt!”
“Or!”
“Death!”
That’s when I realized those weren’t friends-for-a-helping-hand, they were bandits! Instead
of standing at the same spot firmly and contemplating my attack plan, I fled. I knew there was
no way I could best them. They had been living in here for their entire lives! I guessed they were
definitely a better fighter than I was in this open ground. Besides, I wasn’t in my full strength
after this long, tiring search.
It only took them about thirty seconds to catch me up. I knew my situation was desperate
but I would not use the death spell, instead, I threw towards them the flying blades I had carried
with me all the time. They were little blades of magical gemstones that would dissolve in the heat
around them after hitting their target. The best part of using them was, you never miss a target.
There were about six of them and I had ten flying blades, it was time to teach those barbarians
a lesson! I turned around abruptly, intending to catch them by surprise and threw three blades
towards the nearest three bandits. The first bandit looked pretty surprised as the blade dug its way
into its target. The second blade passed through the second bandit’s head with absolute accuracy.
