With Fang Qiong's early warning, everyone in the Hu army felt somewhat uneasy.

However, everyone has already experienced strong winds and waves, so they are not scared away directly. At most, they are just a little more cautious when doing things.

What's more, there is Wu Liang.

Under his leadership, everyone has safely passed through many dangerous situations. At least there have been no casualties so far, which naturally makes everyone have full confidence in Wu Liang.

Not so long.

Wu Liang and others had already found the two soldiers of the Hu army who had been left under surveillance by Yang Wanli.

"what's the situation?"

Arriving next to the two soldiers, Wu Liang asked the two soldiers while looking towards the small lake in the low-lying area.

"Reporting to the young master, since Yang Dubo left, the two of us have been monitoring every move of the four people by the lake, and we dare not relax at all. However, the four people have never moved. I suspect that they may not be alive.

, maybe they are some statues deliberately erected here to scare people."

A soldier said quickly.

Another soldier then added: "The camel standing in the lake has never moved. It is possible that the person did not move on purpose, but this kind of beast does not understand what is intentional or not. There is no reason to do so.

I can hold it back, at least I have never heard of it, and I have never heard of any beast being so honest."

This is true, let alone an ordinary camel.

It was the Jueying that Boss Cao had given to Wu Liang before. It was a very spiritual BMW. It still couldn't obey the order of staying still and pretending to be dead. Its nature made it always shake its head and kick its legs unconsciously.

, or snort, anyway, you will never be idle.

"Um……"

After listening to the reports of the two soldiers, Wu Liang nodded slightly.

At this moment, he had clearly seen the situation below. The area of ​​this small lake was roughly equivalent to a standard football field.

Indeed, as Yang Wanli and the two soldiers said, there were four people standing by the lake below in different postures, with their backs to the lake, and seemed to be walking in a square direction away from the lake.

And in the lake behind them, about two or three meters away from the shore, was a camel carrying two large wooden boxes on its back.

The camel kept its head lowered to drink water and remained motionless.

Using this camel as a reference, we can see that the water at that location should not be deep, probably less than half a meter, because the camel's knee joints were not submerged by the lake water.

besides.

The small lake itself is also very unique.

Different from ordinary lakes, the water of this small lake is not the more common green, blue or other darker colors, but a very eye-catching deep red. At first glance, it looks very similar to blood plasma.

It exaggerates a bloody and terrifying atmosphere.

"Sir, the color of this lake is unsettling. I'm afraid it's unknown."

Yu Ji was still admonishing Wu Liang with a frown on his old face, trying to prevent Wu Liang from continuing to take risks.

"The camel looked like it was drinking water, and then it settled in there for no apparent reason."

Wu Liang was minding his own business and said, "Tell me, what kind of person dares to drive a camel to drink the water from the lake after seeing a lake with such a weird color?"

"Normal people wouldn't. Even if they are really curious about this lake, they would only go there to check it out. They would never touch the water in the lake easily, let alone drink it, and they would not teach themselves how to be a human being.

livestock to drink unless..."

Although Yu Ji didn't quite understand the intention of Wu Liang's words, he still replied very seriously, "Unless you are someone who has not been in the water for several days and is completely in dire straits, then let alone this weird lake water."

, even my own urine has to be forced to drink. If you drink it, you may still survive. If you don't drink it, you will definitely die. This is the lesser of two evils."

"You are right."

Wu Liang nodded slightly, "This Bailongdui is already a land deeply eroded by salt and alkali. It is arid, water-scarce and has no vegetation. If the water is cut off in Bailongdui, it will be tantamount to cutting off the source of life.

We have long been unable to help ourselves, even if we see such a lake, we have to risk drinking from it."

"So I guess that these four people and the camel may be some merchants who are in trouble."

"As for the reason why they were placed here, I'm afraid it has something to do with the water source in this lake..."

In fact, after seeing this blood-red lake, combined with its ability to "immobilize" people and animals, Wu Liang suddenly remembered a magical lake that had many similarities with it that later generations had learned about.

That lake hides a deadly ability.

It can turn any animal that touches the lake into stone, so it was called the "Petrified Lake" by later generations of scientists.

This terrible lake, called "Lake Natron", is located in eastern Africa, south of the equator.

There are often unusually vivid animal "statues" standing along the shore of "Lake Natron", including water birds, rats, bats, hyenas, and occasionally some large carnivores and human "statues".

This strange "petrification" phenomenon undoubtedly casts a strange veil on "Lake Natron".

Later, through in-depth research on "Lake Natron", scientists finally discovered the secret of the formation of these "statues". The culprit was the blood-like crimson water in "Lake Natron".

Because it is rich in high concentrations of natural salt minerals, the water in "Lake Natron" is extremely alkaline, and "Lake Natron" is also the most alkaline lake in the Guinness Book of Records.

Such strong alkalis are fatal to most animals.

Once animals enter the lake, their bodies will be immediately eroded by strong alkali, resulting in unimaginable "calcification" phenomenon. The "calcification" phenomenon will also allow the animals to maintain their final posture and become a statue when they die.

A lifelike "statue".

The four people on the edge of the small lake in front of us and the camel in the lake remained still for such a long time, which fits the characteristics of a "statue".

In addition, Bailongdui is an endless salt-alkali land.

The most indispensable thing here is the high concentration of natural salt minerals similar to "Lake Natron", which naturally provides convenient conditions for the formation of such a strongly alkaline small lake. Logically speaking, it is feasible.

but.

This is not why the water in the lake appears dark red.

What really makes the lake water appear dark red is actually a kind of "extreme halophilic archaea" that can survive in this strong alkaline salt lake. This magical archaea has special adaptability and need for salt, and when they

When a large amount of water gathers, the lake water will appear a deep red color like blood plasma.

so.

The small lake in front of us meets the conditions of a fully alkaline lake. "Statues" appear on the lakeside and in the lake, and it also shows a special color that appears when "extreme halophilic archaea" gather.

It is very similar to the characteristics of "Lake Natron" in every aspect...

Wu Liang felt that he might have cracked the secret of this mysterious lake, but there was still a flaw that could not be ignored.

Evil ghost!

According to Wu Liang's analysis, the four people on the shore and the camel in the lake have undoubtedly been "calcified" into "statues", which means that they should have lost their lives and turned into "calcified" corpses.

.

According to Fang Qiong.

When someone passes by, these "statues" can still come to life and try to drag the living person into the small lake.

And Fang Qiong claimed that she had seen this with her own eyes, and she almost became one of the wronged souls in the lake because of it...

This is very mysterious.

Based on Fang Qiong's current condition, Wu Liang felt that it was unlikely that she would lie.

And he couldn't figure out Fang Qiong's purpose in telling such a lie. Even if he believed it to be true, it didn't seem to bring any substantial benefits to her... Wait!

If Fang Qiong is just pretending to be crazy, then it's probably a different story.

For example: There may be secrets in the lake that Fang Qiong is trying to hide, so she wants to use this method to prevent herself from going to check?

"..."

Thinking of this, Wu Liang looked back at Fang Qiong, who was still concentrating on wiping the carriage.

At this moment, Fang Qiong still had a fake and flattering smile on his face, and there was no sign of peeking in his direction, and there was no other abnormal behavior.

Wu Liang couldn't see anything suspicious about her for the time being.

then.

"Dian Wei, Yang Wanli, pick the five most skilled brothers and take them with you to follow me to investigate!"

Wu Liang turned around and shouted to Dian Wei and Yang Wanli, "Jingjing, come too."

Facts have proved that Bai Jingjing's extraordinary hearing is very useful, especially when they explore unknown places, it can always serve as an early warning.

As for Yu Ji and Zhuge Liang, the old and the young, forget about the physical work of taking the lead.

After the preliminary inspection confirms that it is safe, it will not be too late to let the two of them come down.

…

Soon after.

Wu Liang and others have arrived at the edge of the lake.

At this moment, Wu Liang finally saw all the details of those four people.

He was very sure that these four people were human beings. He could clearly see the look of terror on their faces, and he could also see the hardened hair strands on their heads, and even the slight bulging on the backs of their hands.
To be continued...