The story is about people who go to the desert and they find seawater and certain creatures in the desert, right?

Answer 1

I recommend the Xianxia-Cultivation novel, The Living Dead from the Wilderness, to you. This novel was about a sudden change in the Wilderness, and the people imprisoned in the Wilderness appeared in the outside world. Although there was no specific plot involving seawater and insects, the wasteland and the desert were interlinked. The protagonists in this novel would also encounter some magical creatures and situations in the wasteland. I hope you like my recommendation. Muah ~