As Chen Pingchuan and the others emerged from the Space Gate, they were greeted by a scorching, dry wind. All around them stretched an endless desert. The yellow sand filled the sky, and the blazing sun hung high overhead. The sand underfoot was so hot it felt like it could melt the soles of their shoes.
"What kind of godforsaken place is this?" Porcupine frowned, struggling to lift his thigh out of the sand while dusting himself off.
"It's obvious. We've arrived at one of the planet's ten great forbidden zones—the Death Desert!" Liu Yaowu pushed up his glasses, his voice laced with tension and helplessness.
"The Death Desert?"
"You've got to be kidding. The Death Desert is at least a million kilometers away from the Southern Union, right?" Lu Jiaojiao's eyes widened, a worried look on her face, but her words were a final, desperate protest.
"Are you questioning my professional judgment?" Liu Yaowu's face flushed red as if he had suffered a great injustice.
