Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 132: Chapter 124: The Mysterious Palace

Without a guide, Tang Mo’s desert journey became much more difficult.

Although she didn’t encounter any more mutant beasts, Tang Mo could no longer avoid the harsh terrain and unpredictable weather.

Jingjing was even heavier now. Although it hadn’t grown much in size, its weight was comparable to that of a seven or eight-year-old child.

It only crawled into Tang Mo’s backpack during emergencies. Usually, it would hop along ahead of Tang Mo, clearing the path for her.

With this little guy keeping her company, Tang Mo didn’t feel lonely at all, and the journey was actually quite cheerful.

After walking for who knows how long, Tang Mo still hadn’t seen anything in the desert besides sand.

There wasn’t a single green plant, let alone another person.

When one’s field of vision is free of obstacles, one’s focus tends to sharpen.

Tang Mo lowered her head to look at the sand beneath her feet. It was coarse and held the scorching heat from long exposure to the sun.

Lifting her gaze to the path ahead, she saw it was still exactly the same...

’Wait, that’s not right!’

Tang Mo’s previously listless gaze suddenly turned serious.

The sand under her feet was coarse, even mixed with small pebbles.

But the patch of sand ahead was clearly much finer, even reflecting a golden glint from the sun.

Tang Mo looked again more carefully and discovered the fine sand was confined to a small area about a hundred meters ahead of her, in a circle roughly five meters in diameter.

’An unusual sight means trouble.’ Tang Mo recalled her previous conversation with the guide and cautiously came to a halt.

But Jingjing, walking ahead of Tang Mo, continued forward completely unaware, about to step onto the patch of fine sand.

"Jingjing, stop!"

Tang Mo immediately shouted at Jingjing, who was still walking ahead of her.

"Whine?"

Jingjing hopped forward a few more steps before turning to look back at Tang Mo, its face a picture of confusion.

Just then, a faint tremor ran through the ground. The vibration was subtle, but it didn’t escape Tang Mo’s notice, as she had her spiritual power extended to constantly monitor her surroundings.

A second after the tremor, the circular patch of fine sand began to flow like liquid.

’It’s quicksand!’

Only then did Tang Mo finally confirm what the patch of fine sand before her was. It was quicksand.

She remembered the guide mentioning quicksand before. He had described it as a man-eating monster that could swallow a person whole in an instant, leaving them no chance to struggle.

It was the desert’s most terrifying natural trap.

By now, Jingjing’s legs had already sunk into the sand. It struggled frantically, but it couldn’t pull free. All it could do was watch as its body was slowly dragged down.

"WHIMPER! WHINE..."

Jingjing looked at Tang Mo, its eyes filled with terror and a desperate plea for help.

Tang Mo had already pulled a prepared rescue rope from her Space. She tied a bottle of mineral water to the end, took aim at Jingjing, and threw it with all her might.

Jingjing was a clever little thing. The moment it saw Tang Mo take out the rope, it understood her intention.

It snatched the rope the instant the water bottle flew toward it.

The moment Tang Mo saw Jingjing grab the rope, she started pulling, trying to yank its sunken lower body free.

Tang Mo was well aware of Jingjing’s weight. She could run with it on her back without any issue, so she didn’t think simply pulling it out would be a problem.

But when she began to pull, she realized the situation wasn’t as simple as she had imagined.

It was incredibly difficult to pull Jingjing’s sunken body free. It wasn’t like it was just buried in sand; it felt as if a pair of terrifying hands from beneath the quicksand were yanking it down, locked in a tug-of-war with Tang Mo.

Jingjing’s front paws clung desperately to the rope, trying to struggle upward, but to no avail.

Tang Mo channeled her spiritual power into her arms, leaned back, and pulled with all her might, but the rope didn’t budge. In fact, it slowly began to drag her toward the patch of quicksand.

Neither end of the rope would yield. Tang Mo gritted her teeth and held on, but she was still dragged forward against her will.

Watching Tang Mo get dragged closer and closer, Jingjing’s round eyes filled with inner turmoil.

Just as Jingjing was about to let go, Tang Mo yelled, "Don’t let go! Trust me!"

Tang Mo knew that letting go and avoiding the quicksand was probably the best choice. Jingjing was, after all, just a mutant beast.

But after all this time, she had come to see Jingjing as her companion—her very first one.

It wasn’t so much that she had to save Jingjing, but that she couldn’t accept becoming the kind of person who would abandon a partner at the first sign of danger.

Suddenly, Tang Mo felt another tremor from the ground beneath her feet.

’Oh no, the pull of the quicksand is getting stronger!’

If Tang Mo had been barely holding her own against the quicksand before, now, still clutching the rope, she was completely powerless to resist.

Before Tang Mo could even react, the rope yanked her into the quicksand, and her entire body was submerged.

The world spun around her. Tang Mo felt herself plunging downward, the uncontrolled weightlessness making everything feel unreal, as if death were only a breath away.

Soft, warm sand surrounded her. It wasn’t terrifying like she’d imagined; instead, it felt like being curled up in a mother’s embrace.

Fortunately, Tang Mo had been wearing a dust mask because of the desert winds, so her mouth and nose weren’t clogged with sand, allowing her to take shallow, ragged breaths.

After what felt like an eternity, just as Tang Mo was growing dizzy from lack of air, she landed.

She must have fallen a great distance, but she felt no pain upon landing. She was lying on a pile of densely packed sand, which now bore an imprint in her shape.

"So sore..."

Tang Mo patted her cheeks and slowly opened her eyes. Her whole body ached, making it impossible to stand up right away, so she just lay there, spread-eagled.

’Judging by the height of the fall... am I underground?’

Tang Mo looked up at the ceiling. Her eyes met a vast, high ceiling, reminiscent of what she had once seen in Dunhuang.

Looking around, she found herself in an enormous space, like a grand palace. There were pillars, murals, and many sculpted figures she didn’t recognize.

The overwhelming impression the place gave was one of mystery and solemnity.

But what made it starkly different from any ordinary palace was that everything—absolutely everything—was made of sand.

That included the walls, the roof, the sculptures, and the murals.

Tang Mo slowly got to her feet and brushed the sand from her clothes.

’I think... I know where this is.’