This was Chen Wen’s first encounter with a sandstorm.
As a southerner, before today, his understanding of sandstorms ca entirely from various short videos and news reports.
With his head down and eyes closed, Chen Wen could only feel the sandstorm through his body.
What he first felt was the wind.
An increasingly strong wind.
The fierce wind seed to roar from afar, blowing onto Chen Wen without any hindrance.
Whoosh!
Accompanied by the howling, Chen Wen and the others could clearly feel the wind getting stronger.
They felt as if so extra weight had been added to their bodies, trying to lift them up.
"Hold on!"
Dennis shouted loudly in English, warning everyone not to panic.
Chen Wen also shouted loudly, "Lower your center of gravity, keep your body close to the sand!"
Hearing Chen Wen’s words, Hua Yun imdiately complied, lying flat on the sand.
Though a bit flustered, the group managed to withstand the ordeal relatively easily against the fierce wind.
But next.
As the wind remained unabated, the sand arrived!
A deep, continuous rumble that seed to emanate from deep within the earth!
Chen Wen felt a pang of anxiety.
This was not the sound of the wind but a massive noise created by billions of particles of sand rubbing and rolling, colliding with the ground and air!
It was like countless trains passing by simultaneously in the distance, or the earth roaring and howling.
Nature, at this mont, was displaying its most ferocious side to the contenders!
There was no buildup, no dramatics.
Countless grains of sand shot forth, like tiny bullets, rattling against everyone’s bodies.
Earlier, the kestrel and the whistling kite had been pulled under Chen Wen for shelter.
However, due to the limited size of Chen Wen’s body, half of the whistling kite’s body was exposed to the air.
The falling sand lashed at the whistling kite, causing it serious pain.
Hearing the whistling kite’s cries, Chen Wen couldn’t care less about being pounded by the sand himself.
He quickly moved his arm, exposing half of his head to the air.
Then, with a wave of his arm, he securely sheltered the whistling kite and the kestrel under his body.
The cries of the whistling kite imdiately subsided significantly.
Feeling Chen Wen’s protective arm and the warmth transmitted through his sun-protective clothing, the whistling kite felt a mix of emotions.
But there was no ti for such sentints now.
It cautiously burrowed deeper into Chen Wen’s body, avoiding the sand.
Having protected the whistling kite, Chen Wen was left to withstand the bombardnt of sand alone.
A massive amount of sand, hurdled by the fierce wind, pelted against Chen Wen; the strikes were not precise given the vast area of impact!
Chen Wen felt as if he was being retaliated against by so thugs, dragged to a construction site where they were throwing sand at his head with shovels.
Although the scarf served as a barrier, fending off the assault of the sand,
the scarf was ultimately just cloth, and as sand continuously battered him, pangs of pain repetitively appeared on Chen Wen’s cheeks.
It hurt a lot!
However, Chen Wen did not regret it.
This was just pain; with the protection of the scarf, he was unlikely to be injured.
On the contrary, if the whistling kite were directly attacked by sand, its feathers wouldn’t hold up for long.
As Chen Wen pondered, a large amount of sand fell from the sky, gradually burying everyone.
"Shake off your body, don’t let yourself be buried alive! Give yourself enough room to breathe,"
Dennis bellowed, reminding everyone in ti.
Chen Wen gently shook his body, dislodging the sand on his back to his sides.
Having gotten accustod to the sandstorm, he cald down from his initial anxiety.
As Dennis said, this sandstorm wasn’t particularly severe.
Dostically, there are five levels for sandstorm classification, from small to large: floating dust, blowing sand, sandstorm, strong sandstorm, and very strong sandstorm.
This ti, the sandstorm they encountered was probably at the third level, a sandstorm.
Conceptually, it refers to strong winds lifting substantial surface dust into the air, causing the air to beco turbid with horizontal visibility less than one kiloter.
Chen Wen dared not open his eyes and did not know the current horizontal visibility.
But he could feel that the most intense period had passed.
The sandstorm had gradually stabilized and was no longer strengthening.
Conversely, as the fierce winds slowly receded, the sandstorm showed signs of ebbing.
...
After nearly half an hour.
Chen Wen felt the sound of the wind weakening, and sand was no longer flying or falling on them.
He shook his head, letting the sand on top gradually fall off.
Others also sensed the passing of the sandstorm and got up one after another.
And just as Chen Wen was about to stand up, he suddenly felt sothing unusual.
He distinctly felt sothing smooth and cool lightly sliding over his body, reaching his neck.
Chen Wen was taken aback.
He wondered what on earth the sandstorm had blown onto his neck?
Just as he intended to reach up and clear whatever it was off his neck,
suddenly, Chen Wen’s expression changed.
He clearly felt the thing on his neck, perhaps agitated by everyone’s rising, becoming slightly restless.
It lightly coiled around Chen Wen’s neck, trying to slither under his hat.
Damn it!
Sothing alive!
Chen Wen imdiately moved his arm, pulling the kestrel and the whistling kite out.
But as he pulled the two animals away, it seed to alarm the thing on his neck.
That creature imdiately sped up, slithering into Chen Wen’s hat, wrapping around his neck, and gradually calming down.
Bloody hell!
A snake!
At this mont, Chen Wen finally realized what it was!
A live snake!
And it was quite big!
Feeling the weight of the snake, Chen Wen estimated it to be about one or two ters long!
This was no small fry!
What on earth is going on? Why is there suddenly a snake on my neck?
Could it have been blown here by the sandstorm?
While Chen Wen was in bewildernt, Hua Yun, noticing Chen Wen still lying on the ground motionless for so ti,
gently patted him on the back, "Hey, get up, the sandstorm’s over."
But just as Hua Yun gently patted Chen Wen,
the unknown snake on his neck suddenly stirred, causing a slight bulge beneath Chen Wen’s shirt.
This subtle movent imdiately put Hua Yun on alert.
Chen Wen’s hands were outside, so what was that on his neck?!
Hua Yun refrained from further actions, cautiously retreating a few steps.
Seeing Hua Yun’s movent, the others looked over.
Adam curiously asked, "What’s up with Chen Wen?"
Fred mumbled, "Did he fall asleep?"
"No way!"
Dennis noticed the tense expression on Hua Yun’s face, then asked, "Is there sothing on his body?"
Hua Yun nodded lightly, "Yes, look at his neck, is there sothing unusually bulging?"
Dennis nodded and approached Chen Wen.
But he did not touch Chen Wen; instead, he lay about two ters away, closely observing beneath his neck.
Monts later,
Dennis’s expression completely changed.
He took a deep breath, as if seeing sothing uncanny.
After standing up, Dennis signaled the others to back away.
After everyone retreated, Dennis carefully led the cal standing next to Chen Wen away.
Once the cal was up, Dennis silently guided it to a distance.
The others saw this and realized sothing might be wrong with Chen Wen.
They mimicked Dennis, guiding their cals away.
Once everyone moved their cals away, Dennis stood at a distance, looking at Chen Wen with a complex expression.
"There’s a snake on his neck, judging by its scales, it looks like..."
"An inland Taipan snake!"
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