The carriage set off as the sun dipped toward the horizon.
Lu Yuan leaned against a corner of the carriage, a layer of dry hay cushioned beneath him, making it passably comfortable.
His left hand rested on his knee while Herman sat up front driving the carriage; Karl crouched beside him, occasionally glancing back at Lu Yuan.
The wheels crunched over the sand with a rhythmic rustling.
The carriage curtains weren't fully drawn, and through the gap, he could see the scenery outside.
It was a picture of desolation.
Endless dunes lined both sides of the road, glowing a dark red in the setting sun.
Occasionally, he could see a few dead shrubs with twisted branches.
The wind frequently kicked up fine sand that peppered the curtains with a rustling sound.
Lu Yuan closed his eyes, trying to get some rest.
"Where are you from?"
Karl's voice drifted in from the front, interrupting his thoughts.
Herman shot his grandson a glare. "I told you not to ask."
"I was just curious..." Karl mumbled, but he closed his mouth.
A silence hung for a while.
Herman took a puff of his cigarette and spoke up. "Business wasn't great on this run."
Lu Yuan looked up.
"Didn't sell all the goods." Herman flicked his cigarette ash, his tone casual. "Salt, fabric, ironware—usually they’d be long gone by now. I don't know what went wrong."
He paused, his brow furrowing.
"And the road felt strange too. Halfway there, I felt a strange, inexplicable urge to turn east, only to find the road ended at a cliff over the sea."
Herman shook his head.
"I don't know what I was thinking. That road clearly leads nowhere."
Inside the carriage, Lu Yuan’s fingers tightened slightly.
"Whatever." Herman waved a hand. "Maybe I was just tired and my brain got muddled."
He refocused on the road ahead, not mentioning it again.
Karl didn't think much of it either, continuing to look around curiously.
Only Lu Yuan remained silent, leaning in the corner of the carriage and staring at the canvas overhead.
The carriage continued forward, the wheels grinding over the sand in a monotonous rhythm.
The sky gradually darkened as the sun sank below the horizon, leaving only a streak of dark red on the edge of the world.
Herman lit two oil lamps hanging from the front and back of the carriage.
The light was unnervingly bright, a brilliant white that illuminated the sand ahead with stark clarity.
Lu Yuan stared at them for a few moments.
"Sandworm oil." Herman noticed his gaze and explained with the cigarette holder still dangling from his mouth. "A specialty of our town. Brighter than kerosene, and it can drive away those things in the dark."
He flicked his cigarette ash.
"The town doesn't have electricity, so we rely on this at night."
Lu Yuan nodded, asking no further questions.
The carriage moved on.
The light from the sandworm oil lamps flickered in the night, illuminating a small patch of sand ahead while everything else was swallowed by the darkness.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Lu Yuan looked up.
The stars had come out.
The desert sky was exceptionally clear and dense with stars, looking as if someone had scattered a handful of diamonds across a black shroud.
Watching the stars through the gap in the curtains, Lu Yuan realized for the first time that this world still held such sights.
"Almost there."
Herman's voice drifted back.
Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze and looked forward through the gap.
Amidst the vast expanse of sand, the low silhouettes of buildings appeared.
Sandworm Town.
The carriage came to a halt at the town's entrance.
Lu Yuan braced himself against the edge of the carriage to stand, then pulled back the curtain and stepped down.
The scene before him was different from what he had imagined.
The town was larger than he had expected, roughly the size of a few hundred households.
Most of the buildings were made of sun-dried mud bricks, their color blending almost perfectly with the surrounding dunes, making them difficult to spot without looking closely.
Many of the houses were only half-visible, with the other half buried beneath the sand.
"For beating the heat," Herman explained, noticing Lu Yuan’s gaze. "The desert gets hot enough to fry an egg during the day. It's cooler buried under the sand."
The town's streets were made of packed sand, lined with drought-resistant plants that were little more than blurry outlines in the night.
Scattered lamplights peeked through windows, adding a touch of life to this small desert town.
"Grandpa!"
A middle-aged woman ran out of the nearest house, followed by a young girl around seven or eight years old.
"Mom!" Karl jumped off the carriage and ran toward her.
The woman pulled Karl into a hug, looking him up and down before turning to Herman.
"Dad, why are you so many days late? I was worried sick."
"Something delayed us on the road." Herman hopped down and jerked his chin toward Lu Yuan. "Picked someone up."
The woman finally noticed Lu Yuan, and her expression changed slightly when her gaze fell on the badge on his chest.
"A Nightwatcher?"
"Don't make a fuss." Herman waved a hand. "He's injured, staying with us for a few days to recover."
He didn't explain further and turned to start unloading the goods from the carriage.
The woman gave Lu Yuan a look, seemed to want to say something, but ultimately held her tongue and turned to help.
The little girl hid behind the woman, curiously studying Lu Yuan with bright eyes.
Lu Yuan ignored her gaze, his eyes scanning the town.
Just then, a low rumble echoed from a distance.
Lu Yuan’s body instinctively tensed.
"Don't be nervous," Herman’s voice came from behind. "That's a sandworm."
A sandworm?
Lu Yuan turned his head, looking toward the source of the sound.
In an open area about a few hundred meters west of the town, torchlight flickered in the night.
A crowd was gathered there, seemingly busy with something.
"Just in time." Herman set down the goods and started walking over. "Come, I'll show you."
Lu Yuan followed him.
Karl wanted to follow as well but was grabbed by his mother.
"Home first!"
"But..."
"No buts!"
Karl was dragged away, dejected.
Lu Yuan and Herman crossed a few streets and reached the clearing on the west side of town.
The torchlight illuminated the scene.
About twenty people stood in a large circle around a flat patch of sand.
In the center of the sand stood a wooden stake.
Strange metal wires were coiled around the stake, connected to a hand-cranked device.
A sturdy, middle-aged man stood by the device, both hands gripping the handle, turning it at a steady pace.
With every rotation, the stake emitted a low hum.
It was a strange sound.
It didn't seem to come from the stake itself, but rather from deep underground, like some gargantuan heartbeat.
"A bait stake," Herman explained in a low voice. "Sandworms are sensitive to this kind of vibration. They follow the sound."
Lu Yuan nodded, his eyes fixed on the stake.
The humming lasted for about a minute.
Then, the ground began to tremble.
It was a light vibration at first, like a carriage passing in the distance.
But it quickly grew violent.
The sand beneath their feet began to churn; something massive was moving underground.
"Here it comes," Herman whispered.
The man operating the bait stake stopped and retreated quickly.
The surrounding people also backed away, standing firm at the edge of the clearing.
The tremors grew more intense.
The sand began to collapse toward the center, forming a whirlpool-like pit.
Lu Yuan instinctively reached for the revolver in his coat.
At the edge of his vision, greyish-white text quietly flickered:
【Detected large creature approaching: sandworm】
【Traits: A specialized subterranean creature with a strong sense of vibration and the ability to traverse underground.】
【Weakness: Any light (excluding unlit sandworm oil)】
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