Chapter 212: Desert Expedition Team (Edited)

Mr. Granger takes Tom and Hermione to Sheffield to meet his old friend Hal Hunter.

Hal Hunter is in the prime of his life and has many accomplishments. If replaced by fantasy novels, he is the standard backbone of the cult, a genius of the previous generation, a rising star of the cult and a "half professor" who is about to work his way up to the level of "professor," as such a scholar is naturally eligible for independent tenure.

"Professor, you are making a fool of yourself! How can you take two children to the Sahara desert to do archaeology?". A short, tanned man punched angrily at Mr. Hal's desk. He looked about thirty, but he was probably under thirty, as the thick black stubble on his jawline made him look a little older.

"Will, calm down." A brunette woman was smiling and reassuring her companion, her hair pulled back in a braid and hanging behind her head, giving her a neat and tidy feel.

She wore only a sleeveless sports top and shorts, with a wide belt around her waist, exposing her slender limbs and a large area of wheat-colored skin, throwing hormones and perfume into the air. Her belly is flat, without a hint of fat, but above that she has some "sky-high peaks", and the whole person is full of youthful, healthy and vigorous feeling.

This attire is enough to fascinate the most educated young men, but it can't shake Will a bit.

"Sara!" he said angrily, "You know how important this operation is, and if we find the ancient city our professor says, we'll go down in history! Is this glory to be shared with the rest of those little bastards? They're just a bunch of bums who sit around and enjoy themselves..."

"Will Evans!" Hal Hunter, seeing his favorite student repeatedly jumping on the edge of danger, had to tap his glass to shut him up, confident that Will would calm down in a few minutes.

"Professor," finally replied the hormonal young man at the other end of the room, "Will got carried away and said something a bit heavy handed, but he was thinking of us, after all, the Sahara desert is not Disneyland, and it's too risky to take two children under fourteen with you. If, and I mean if, something were to happen..."

Hal shook his head, "Alan, he's been tracking pythons in the Amazon jungle since he was their age."

"But you're not like them, you're just two relatives...," Will rushed to say, but Hal slapped his hand on the desk, cutting him off.

"Will Evans! I'd advise you to watch what you say, if you keep talking like that, I'll take you off this list!" Hal was indeed furious, but much of that anger was because Will Evans had told the truth.

Tom and Hermione had, in fact, come in through their relationship. Thinking about it, even if there is an example of Hal's youthful exploits, it is unlikely that he would have taken two children out into the wilderness under normal circumstances. But this was a special case.

An old friend from decades ago had asked him, and Hal was in no position to refuse. Although he gave her a serious lecture about the risks of the wilderness, Mr. Granger was very firm this time, convinced that his daughter could cope with the difficulties. And the young man named Tom, Hal knew what was going on. His initial impression of Tom was that he was a muscle head (idiot). But that thought soon faded.

He was contacted by an international shipping trader named Yuri, who offered to finance his adventure and recruit an elite escort for him. It seemed normal to Hal, another big shot trying to clean up his image or get off the hook, and it did him more good than harm: after all, he was just an associate professor, with limited funds for a project to support a team of archaeologists in Egypt.

Even if Yuri didn't go to him, he would have to go to other bigwigs for investment.

So Hal readily agreed, asking Yuri how much control he wanted over the team. But Yuri said that the liaison between the two parties was Tom, and that his people would follow Tom's instructions first.

Thus, Tom's identity became a mystery to Hal. But whatever his suspicions, these two had to be on the team.

Seeing their "boss" angry, Sara and Alan kept their mouths shut and stood by and watched the action.

"They can take care of themselves." Hal stared at Will for a while, until he looked away.

"Understood." Will finally relented, but he also swore to himself that when he became a teacher, he would never open the back door to those bugs.

"Knock, knock, knock!" There was a knock on the office door. Mr. Granger entered with Tom and Hermione.

He and Hal embraced excitedly.

Both greet each other and introduce themselves to those present.

Tom looked at Hal: middle-aged, hard-faced, stocky, strong-limbed and rough-skinned. He looked more like a Texas redneck cowboy than a scholar.

Thanks to Hal's introduction, Tom also met the other three. The other two men, Will, the bearded one, and Alan, the white one, were Ph.D. students under Hal, with Will being the older brother, Sara the older sister, and Alan the younger brother.

As Tom watched them, Hal also watched Tom: a man with good skin, apparently of sound mind. That was his first impression of Tom. As for Hermione, he hadn't paid much attention to her, except to marvel at how quickly the time had passed and how big the little girl had gotten.

"Well, now that we've met, why don't you come with me to WORK66?" After exchanging pleasantries, Hal invited his old friend to eat with him at WORK66, a Chinese buffet he frequented that was quite good. There are two reasons he chose this place, one is that it's really good, and it's a good value - for £5 per customer during weekdays, you can have all the food, including but not limited to fried chicken, seafood, beef and onion, sweet and sour pork, and prawn dumplings....

Private rooms are available if booked in advance.

You know the owner very well and every time you go he treats you to a beer or a large bottle of coke.

The second reason, of course, is that today he meets here with his "helpers".