Would a miracle occur?

As Ziqing stood there, fully within the desert, everything around her remained utterly unchanged. She looked around in every direction, gazing far ahead for a long moment as well — still nothing but a vast, endless expanse of yellow sand, nothing visible at all!

For a moment, the mood grew somewhat heavy. In the silence, Xinyun spoke up timidly. “Miss Han, it seems you’re not the exception after all.”

Though her tone was meek, there was something particularly grating about the way it sounded.

Ziqing had never been one to give up easily. She answered with a smile, “I’ve always been the exception. If you don’t believe it, you’re welcome to stay right here — I won’t force you to come with me.”

This single remark left Xinyun utterly speechless, once again finding herself the target of unwanted embarrassment.

Seeing two of them walk off hand in hand, Xuanyuan Lige found himself, for some reason, unconsciously turning to look toward Baili Weisheng — and at the very same moment, Baili Weisheng found himself unconsciously turning to look toward Xuanyuan Lige as well. For a moment, their eyes met, both of them freezing in surprise before quickly, hastily looking away!

Each privately thinking to himself, “What am I looking at him for?!”

Baili Weisheng’s awkwardness never lasted long, though. Grinning broadly, carefree as ever, he threw an arm around Xuanyuan Lige’s shoulder. “Come on, brother — let’s follow our little exception, shall we!”

Xuanyuan Lige’s face darkened at once, and he seized Baili Weisheng’s wrist, forcing him to release his grip.

And so the two of them continued on, one cold and detached, the other warm and boisterous, one carefree and easygoing, the other quiet and aloof, bickering and jostling the whole way as they hurried after Ziqing and Jun Beiyue.

What else could Xinyun do but sullenly follow along as well, terrified of being left behind!

She had never been the type to fail to read a room — and yet, for some reason, whenever she looked at Han Ziqing, especially seeing her surrounded by three such exceptional men, she always found herself wanting to provoke her, to needle her somehow.

Even after being embarrassed several times over already, she still couldn’t suppress that impulse — never once realizing that this very impulse had a name of its own: jealousy.

The journey stretched on through endless waves of yellow sand, and the farther they walked, the less any path back remained visible, the more oppressive the heat seemed to grow. Before long, everyone began to feel the first pangs of thirst, which kept conversation to a minimum.

They pressed steadily forward, doing their best to maintain a straight line — the third mountain they’d spotted earlier lay somewhere directly ahead in that same general direction. No matter how vast the desert might be, so long as they kept heading forward, the overall direction couldn’t possibly be wrong!

But before long, they came upon a massive sand dune, blocking their path directly ahead.

“Let’s climb over it,” Ziqing said flatly. With sand stretching endlessly in every direction, there was nothing at all they could use as a landmark to determine their bearings — and if they tried to circle around the dune, they’d inevitably drift off course, and over such a long journey, even the slightest deviation could compound into a massive error.

That was a risk they simply couldn’t afford to take!

Unfortunately, climbing over the dune would undoubtedly cost them considerably more energy.

If they could cross the desert within a day or two, they wouldn’t mind climbing a few extra dunes along the way — but the real issue was that none of them had any idea how much farther the road ahead might stretch, so conserving their strength was absolutely essential.

Otherwise, dying on the very last night before finally reaching salvation would be an unbearable tragedy!

But just as everyone was preparing to climb the dune, Ziqing suddenly heard a strange cry — “Baa, baa…”

Uh…

“A sheep?” Ziqing blurted out.

“What?”

“Is there one?”

“I didn’t hear anything.”

No one else had heard it at all, and yet Ziqing had heard it with perfect clarity. “It’s the sound of a sheep bleating — right over there, to the right!”

As she spoke, seemingly drawn by the sound, she instinctively started heading right, but Jun Beiyue quickly stopped her, reminding her, “None of us heard anything!”

Hallucinations and mirages were entirely possible out in the desert, after all!

Countless people, in fact, had lost their way, drifted off course, precisely because of hallucinations they’d experienced.

“I’m perfectly clear-headed. I definitely heard the sound of horns!” Ziqing insisted earnestly. At this, everyone suddenly came to their senses, recalling the “exception”!

Perhaps the exception truly was in effect. Perhaps a miracle really was unfolding.

“It must be the exception — otherwise, how could there possibly be sheep out in the middle of a desert?” Baili Weisheng said.

Ziqing, still listening intently, said, “It’s the sound of antelope. Antelope tend to live on highlands, at the base of mountains, along the edges of the Gobi, and on grasslands.”

At these words, everyone was startled. If antelope were appearing in that direction, did that mean that particular direction marked the edge of the desert? Perhaps a stretch of Gobi terrain, perhaps grassland — either way, it couldn’t possibly still be endless desert, because antelope simply couldn’t survive in the heart of a desert!

“They’re off to the right — follow me!”

Ziqing herself was thrilled, never having expected a miracle to appear so quickly. She immediately dashed off to the right, with everyone following close behind. And sure enough, before long, they began to hear a chorus of antelope cries, sounding, from the volume of it, like an entire herd.

Wherever a herd of antelope might appear, following them was sure to lead them out of the desert in short order.

The group jogged toward the sound, and as it grew steadily louder and closer, they finally slowed their pace, and there before them stood yet another massive sand dune.

Judging by the bleating, the herd of antelope had to be just beyond that dune. At once, everyone grew excited, Xinyun included.

“Antelope startle easily — let’s approach slowly, and try not to spook them,” Ziqing said in a low voice. If they frightened the antelope and sent them scattering wildly in every direction, losing their bearings entirely, then they’d be finished too.

Everyone nodded and, following Ziqing’s lead, slowed their pace, circling around the right side of the dune. Gradually, they finally caught sight of the herd — a substantial group, numbering at least twenty or more!

And, to their even greater delight, on the other side of the dune lay a small oasis — a small lake, roughly the size of three wellheads combined, its water clear and shallow, dotted along its shores with clusters of green cacti, while a large boulder nearby was draped in trailing green vines.

Though this oasis wasn’t particularly large, amid the endless sea of yellow sand, it was, without question, the most brilliant jewel imaginable.

Having endured thirst for the better part of the day, the moment Ziqing and the others laid eyes on that lake water, every one of them longed to simply throw themselves toward it — but, in the end, they held themselves back.

This herd of antelope, numbering as many as it did, surely couldn’t be living solely within this tiny oasis — they had to be coming from nearby hills or grasslands, and would eventually need to return there. If they waited for the herd to head back, and quietly followed along, they should be able to make their way out of the desert.

And so the whole group kept their eyes fixed eagerly on the water, waiting patiently, carefully. They waited and waited, until finally, every antelope that had come to drink lifted its head, gradually moving away from the lake’s edge.

Were they finally about to head back?

Ziqing found herself growing genuinely excited, so much so that she paid no mind at all to the cool, thirst-quenching water right before her, clenching her fists tightly, watching the lead antelope with rapt attention.

She knew that antelope herds always followed their leader — the moment the lead antelope moved, the entire herd would follow suit!

But just as Ziqing’s heart was pounding with anticipation, suddenly, right beside her, came a loud “thump!” Baili Weisheng, for some reason, had stepped into a deep patch of sand and gone sprawling flat on his face — and at that very same moment, every single antelope in the herd turned to look directly their way…

Baili Weisheng, you’ve really done it now!