Sure enough, the red bead reappeared at the center of the flower. Once its color deepened to a blood-red hue, red threads began to extend outward.
This time, the direction the red threads climbed toward was the same as the one pointed out at noon.
Since they were currently traveling in that direction, the red threads were pointing straight ahead.
Lian Li said, “We haven’t veered off course; it’s this direction.”
Yun Huizhou gave a soft “mm.” His breath puffed against the side of Lian Li’s neck, feeling a bit ticklish. Fortunately, the temperature had dropped; otherwise, Lian Li would have pushed him away and complained about the heat.
“Look, aren’t these red threads a bit thicker than before?” Yun Huizhou suddenly straightened up and pointed at the lotus.
To be honest, their current positions made it inconvenient to observe the threads.
After a moment’s thought, Lian Li shifted his position on the camel, turning around to sit face-to-face with Yun Huizhou.
Yun Huizhou asked, “…What are you doing?”
Lian Li replied, “Sitting like this puts the petals with the red threads on my side, making it easier to observe.”
Yun Huizhou chuckled and asked, “Then have you observed anything yet?”
Lian Li stared at the petals for a good while before saying, “They are indeed thicker. I’m not sure if it’s because we’ve moved closer or because the time is drawing near.”
Yun Huizhou said, “In any case, we haven’t gone the wrong way. I wonder when the red threads will appear next.”
Lian Li said, “The last time was noon, and this time is evening. Could the next time be at midnight? And the time after that at dawn? We’ll definitely be resting at midnight, and we won’t be traveling at night. If they appear at midnight, we’ll memorize the thickness of the threads, then wait in place at dawn tomorrow to see if they appear again. By comparing them then, we’ll know if the thickness is related to distance or time.”
Fifteen minutes passed quickly, and the red bead and threads on the transparent lotus faded once more.
After putting the transparent lotus away, Lian Li prepared to sit upright again and shoo Yun Huizhou back to his own camel.
However, his plan hit a snag at the very first step.
Yun Huizhou wouldn’t let him turn back.
“What are you doing? Let go.”
Because they were on a camel, Lian Li didn’t struggle too hard for fear of startling the animal. His movements were less like a struggle and more like acting spoiled.
Yun Huizhou pulled him closer and said, “With this level of resistance, are you playing hard to get?”
Lian Li looked up at him, his eyes full of disbelief. He said, “I’m struggling so seriously, and you’re saying I’m playing hard to get?”
Yun Huizhou leaned down and kissed him, saying, “Was that serious? I couldn’t tell.”
Lian Li stopped talking and just stared at him. He didn’t kiss back, but secretly exerted force, trying to break free.
Seeing him so uncooperative, Yun Huizhou had no choice but to lean down and kiss him again, saying, “Just let me hold you for a while.”
Hearing these somewhat wheedling words, Lian Li felt a secret sense of satisfaction. His movements softened significantly, though he still said, “It’s mainly because the weather is a bit hot.”
The desert was indeed very hot during the day, but the sun had already set. The temperature difference between day and night in the desert was vast, and it was no longer hot.
Yun Huizhou knew he was just being stubborn and didn’t expose him, merely burying his head in Lian Li’s neck and laughing.
The vibration from the light laughter made Lian Li feel a tingling sensation throughout his body, and he couldn’t help but want to push the man away again.
But considering they hadn’t really been this close for a long time outside of sleeping, he didn’t move again.
At midnight, both of them opened their eyes simultaneously.
“That transparent lotus is heating up again,” Yun Huizhou said, pulling back slightly.
The two had been sleeping huddled together, so when the transparent lotus grew hot, Yun Huizhou could feel it too.
Lian Li rubbed his eyes, took out the lotus, and handed it to Yun Huizhou.
Yun Huizhou took the transparent lotus over to the campfire to observe it.
Lian Li lay there for a moment before crawling up to sit beside Yun Huizhou.
Sure enough, the red threads on the lotus were thicker than before.
Furthermore, the increase in thickness at midnight was greater than the increase during the evening.
Lian Li calculated the time; it was roughly every three watches, which meant it heated up every six hours.
The time intervals were the same, but the degree of thickening was different, which meant it had nothing to do with time.
Moreover, because they found the afternoon too hot, they hadn’t set out until nearly four o’clock and traveled until about ten at night before stopping to rest.
Calculating it this way, the distance they covered from evening to midnight was longer than the distance covered from noon to evening.
Yun Huizhou reached the same conclusion and said, “It seems it really is related to distance. It also proves we haven’t gone the wrong direction.”
However, at that moment, Lian Li made a joking remark: “What if we happen to be going in the opposite direction? The further away we get, the thicker the threads become.”
As soon as these words were spoken, Yun Huizhou froze, then said with a look of uncertainty, “That… shouldn’t be the case, right?”
He turned his head somewhat frantically toward the direction they had come from. “Should we head back?”
Seeing that he was truly frightened by a single sentence, Lian Li hurriedly said, “I was just joking. Besides, we were over there a few days ago and traveled all the way from that side. There wasn’t a single anomaly; it doesn’t look like a place that could hide a supreme treasure no matter how you look at it.”
Yun Huizhou sighed and said, “I know what you mean, but this matter really is hard to say for sure. Still… it’s a choice between continuing in this direction or going the opposite way. Should we keep going or turn back?”
Lian Li replied, caught between laughter and tears, “Now you’ve made me feel conflicted. I’m inclined to keep going in our current direction. It’s a fifty-fifty chance anyway; we can’t be that unlucky.”
Yun Huizhou nodded. “I also think we should continue in this direction. No turning back.”
Lian Li patted Yun Huizhou’s shoulder and said, “Then it’s settled. No turning back. If we really did go the wrong way and miss the item, we’ll face the consequences together.”
Yun Huizhou smiled and said, “Mm, we’ll definitely face them together.”
Lian Li and Yun Huizhou’s luck was decent; for several days in a row, they didn’t encounter any of the bandits roaming the desert.
In truth, they were now deep in the desert. The desert was so vast that it was difficult to run into anyone just by walking a few steps.
The assassins hadn’t reappeared either, and the two weren’t worried about whether the assassins were hiding too deeply.
After all, they had practically kept the transparent lotus in their hands these past two days. If that group of assassins were still watching them, they would have certainly discovered that the transparent lotus was in their possession.
If they were bold enough to target Island Master Nan, they wouldn’t lack the courage to rob the two of them.
However, as time passed and they delved deeper into the desert, the speed at which the camels found water sources slowed down significantly.
Previously, they could find a water source roughly every two days, but now four days had passed since they last found one.
The two were now being very frugal with their drinking water.
Fearing they would run out of water before finding a new source, Lian Li had begun utilizing the temperature difference between day and night to collect whatever little water he could through condensation.
