What sort of scene was unfolding now?

In short — absolute, dead silence. So silent, in fact, that even the sound of their own ragged breathing seemed thunderously loud.

Baili Weisheng lay sprawled face-down in the sand on all fours, his devastatingly handsome face buried entirely in the sand — perhaps he hadn’t yet realized quite how serious the situation had become.

But beside him, Ziqing and the others had all gone rigid, their bodies tense, their minds… somewhat blank.

Before them, more than twenty towering antelope stood frozen, their round, bell-like eyes widened in terror, staring straight at them, and no one had any idea what they might do next!

With the antelope frozen in place, Ziqing and the others dared not move a muscle either.

Though they knew full well there was no way this herd would simply pretend nothing had happened, would simply act as though they’d seen nothing at all — still, they hoped desperately to minimize whatever damage had already been done.

But just as this tense, frozen standoff hung heavy in the air, Baili Weisheng suddenly lifted his head — he simply couldn’t hold his breath any longer!

With his internal energy entirely stripped away, he couldn’t even manage the tortoise-breathing technique, and buried face-down in the scorching sand as he was, how could he possibly endure it? If he didn’t lift his head soon, he’d surely suffocate!

But at that very moment, a sudden, mournful “baa!” rang out.

The largest, most imposing antelope in the group let out a single cry, then turned and bolted — and in an instant, the entire herd wheeled around and fled as well.

Seeing this, Baili Weisheng finally realized just how enormous the mess he’d caused truly was — but at that very same moment, Ziqing let out a sigh of relief.

With the lead antelope fleeing first, the rest of the herd would surely follow — and once they fled together, their natural instincts would surely guide them in the right direction, without fail!

This, all things considered, was a stroke of good fortune amid misfortune!

Ziqing rose to her feet, intending to give chase, when suddenly she froze in shock — the lead antelope was charging in a dead straight line directly toward that large boulder up ahead, and as it drew closer and closer, it showed no sign at all of slowing down to go around it, nor any sign of gathering momentum to leap over it!

This lead antelope… what exactly was it trying to do?

“Has it been startled senseless?” Jun Beiyue blurted out. He could see it clearly — the moment the antelope had turned, it had charged forward with reckless abandon, with no thought at all toward direction.

“Frightened out of its mind, more like,” Xuanyuan Lige said timidly.

“No, stop it!” Ziqing cried out in alarm, and without a second thought, rushed forward as fast as she could — though, of course, there was simply no way her speed could match that of a terrified, fleeing antelope.

Ziqing had barely taken a few steps before a tremendous “boom” rang out — the lead antelope had slammed head-on into that massive boulder, not only shattering both its horns but sending its entire body flying backward from the impact, crashing heavily to the ground, dead on the spot.

Seeing this, Ziqing simply froze in shock, standing there utterly stunned. Jun Beiyue and the others rushed over as well, equally puzzled, about to ask Ziqing what had happened — but the scene before them answered the question on its own.

To everyone’s horror, once the lead antelope had accidentally struck the boulder and died, the remaining twenty or so antelope in the herd seemed to lose their minds entirely, charging one after another, in rapid succession, straight into that same massive boulder!

This… this was nothing short of mass suicide!

For a moment, everyone stood there stunned, utterly speechless, unable to believe what they were witnessing. How could this possibly be happening?

Were these antelope simply foolish? Surely they couldn’t be this cowardly! Such large, imposing animals should have been fierce, formidable creatures — with only a handful of people among them, if twenty-some antelope had turned to attack as a group, the outcome could genuinely have gone either way!

Why would they choose to kill themselves like this? Why such a senseless tragedy?

Ziqing watched, helpless, as one antelope after another threw itself against the boulder, utterly at a loss for words. Taming wild animals simply wasn’t something within their power, and she had no desire to waste her own strength trying to stop them, so all she could do was watch, helplessly, as the entire herd destroyed itself — a truly gruesome, tragic sight.

“What in the world is going on here?” Xuanyuan Lige couldn’t help but ask.

“Antelope come in many varieties, and this particular breed is especially timid. Every herd has a lead animal, and this lead antelope plays a guiding role, especially pronounced whenever the herd senses danger — whatever the lead antelope does, the rest of the herd will follow without question.”

At these words, everyone finally understood, and fell utterly speechless in response, while Baili Weisheng approached timidly, looking at the group with a face full of genuine, apologetic remorse. “This… this really is a tragedy.”

Ziqing shot him a furious glare, no longer even wanting to hear him speak. This fellow was unreliable enough on an ordinary day, but to cause such a disaster at a critical moment like this!

Baili Weisheng, well aware of the gravity of his sin, kept his mouth shut, not daring to say another word.

What could they do now?

Well, at least there was one small silver lining amid this misfortune — they’d found a water source, and wouldn’t die of thirst. If they simply stayed near this water source, sooner or later, other animals would surely come.

In truth, the appearance of the antelope herd here in the first place proved that the edge of the desert had to be nearby — but with no way to accurately determine direction anymore, Ziqing had no intention of searching blindly, one direction at a time.

A single gust of wind was enough to alter every landmark around them entirely — getting lost out here was only to be expected.

Rather than risk it, it was far better to stay put by the water source and wait for other animals to come along.

Ziqing shot Baili Weisheng one last glare, stepped forward to take a few sips of water, then returned to her original spot and sat back down.

And yet, none of them could have imagined that this particular wait would stretch on for a full five days and five nights.

Throughout those five days and nights, Ziqing and the others were left absolutely pitiful with hunger!

Everyone knew antelope meat was delicious, but unfortunately, even if they managed to make fire, they had no way of actually starting one at all — cooking antelope meat properly was simply out of the question!

Ziqing, Jun Beiyue, and Baili Weisheng — the three who could actually feel hunger — though not in danger of starving to death, still found the sensation thoroughly unpleasant. Throughout those five days and nights, Ziqing glared at Baili Weisheng more times than she could count.

Baili Weisheng, fully aware of his own guilt, endured her glares without complaint, resolutely refusing to look her way.

Finally, early on the sixth morning, two wild horses appeared.

One was quite tall and imposing, the other noticeably smaller and thinner. Watching them approach side by side with elegant grace, the entire group instantly held their breath, terrified of accidentally frightening these wild horses away as well.

Baili Weisheng, in particular, was tense to the point of stiffness, standing there almost like a stone statue.

To everyone’s surprise, the horses showed no sign of moving on right away. After drinking from the water, they simply stood together in place, leaning against one another for a quiet rest — clearly, this was a male and female pair, out on something of a courtship together!

Throughout that long wait, everyone found themselves filled with all sorts of imaginative speculation about this pair of wild horses.

Not until noon did the two horses finally rise to their feet, and only then did everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.

Of course, they dared not follow too closely, terrified of startling the horses — after all, once wild horses broke into a run, there was simply no way, in their current diminished state, that they could ever hope to catch up.

After following for roughly an hour, with everything still going smoothly, Baili Weisheng finally let out a long breath and said, “Lucky us, running into a pair of lovers — looks like they won’t be moving too fast.”

But no sooner had Baili Weisheng finished speaking than the taller of the two wild horses suddenly let out a long, resounding neigh, as though inviting the other to something. Nuzzling its head affectionately against the other horse, it immediately bolted forward at a full run!

And the other horse, not to be outdone, immediately took off after it as well!

Seeing this, Baili Weisheng froze on the spot, turned to stone in an instant. His luck lately seemed to be running remarkably poor!

Ziqing didn’t even know what to say to him anymore, giving him a hard stomp on the foot before decisively calling out, “After them!”

There was no going back to find the oasis now — their only choice was to chase!

And so, thanks entirely to Baili Weisheng’s “golden tongue,” this exhausted, famished group found themselves sprinting madly after the two playfully racing horses for a solid two full hours, until finally…

…