Every now and then, a burst of laughter would erupt from the SUV, but even that gradually grew fainter and fainter.

Just as I was about to succumb to the darkness, a foot stomped down on my face.

"I bet you still don't know this, but Jon has been wanting to divorce you for a long time now."

At those words, hatred entered my unfocused eyes, but that only caused Madison to feel even more smug.

"However, that won't do. After all, if he divorces you, you'll get half the assets. The best outcome would be if you died." Pouring the electrolyte water onto the sand beside me, she added, "And that's why I would rather dump this water away than give it to you!"

I instinctively wanted to lick the wet sand, but I couldn't do it.

Madison laughed before crouching and leaning closer to me.

"The sun's about to set. Sure, the temperature will drop, but there are a lot of desert animals that come out at night." Taking out a folding knife, she viciously slashed my arm. "We'll come for your corpse tomorrow morning."

Blood instantly flowed from the wound.

With sheer fury powering me, I sat up to headbutt Madison and send her crashing to the ground. The coppery taste of blood in my throat thickened, but it did bring some much-needed moisture.

"Madison Zink, this is murder!" I cried in a hoarse voice filled with despair.

Upon hearing the commotion, Jonathan and the others rushed out of the SUV and dragged me away from Madison.

As Jonathan helped Madison up, she deliberately put on a panicked expression while pointing at the bloodied knife.

"I just wanted to give her some water, but she lashed out with that knife. She said she wanted the smell of blood to attract the wild animals around here to come and kill us all!"

What nonsense! She was clearly twisting the truth, and the urge to slap her welled in me.

Jonathan gave me a furious kick.

"Samantha, are you even human? Just because we refused to give you special treatment due to your team leader status, you want us to die? To think Maddy was willing to sacrifice herself to offer you some water! You don't deserve it!"

I managed to squeeze out several words through my injured throat. "That's… just…"

Before I could finish speaking, Jonathan cut me off with a disgusted expression. "People like you should be the ones to die in the desert!"

His ruthless words stabbed deep into my heart like a dagger.

Following that, some of the team members spat globs of saliva at me.

"At first, I thought you were just jealous because Jon paid extra attention to Maddy. Never would I have expected that you would be so wicked as to wish us all dead!"

"We truly are super unlucky to have met a monster like you!"

My team members were all people I used to treat with genuine sincerity, yet at this moment, none of them were willing to spare me even a little bit of trust.

A muffled sob escaped my lips as I tried to move my bleeding arm, to show them just who had actually suffered an injury.

However, none of them noticed, or perhaps they were deliberately pretending not to see. Either way, they all crowded around Madison as they comforted her.

"Don't be scared. We're here too."

"Once this expedition is over and we return, we'll immediately report her to the higher-ups."

"That's not enough. We should send scum like her straight to prison instead!"

Jonathan scoffed, "Well, that all depends on whether she makes it out of here alive first."

The more they spoke, the more their words cut deep into my heart till it was a bloodied mess.

The sun was slowly slipping below the horizon, and the surrounding temperature was starting to drop. However, I was still bleeding incessantly, which made me easy prey for any nighttime predators out to hunt.

I had no hope of surviving this night.

Madison stared at me, her eyes shining with malice.

With a frosty look in his eyes, Jonathan said, "If you kneel and apologize to Maddy, we can still take you with us tomorrow morning. Provided you don't die, that is."

I simply gazed at him quietly, feeling as though I were staring at a stranger.

Yet, this was no stranger. This was the man who had gone through many ups and downs with me, the man who had been on countless expeditions with me—my husband.

I was slowly sinking into the darkness, no longer able to see anything clearly. All the pain coursing through me had also gone numb, and it felt as though I was falling into an abyss.

Madison's voice, dripping with fake concern, reached my ears. It sounded muffled, as though coming through a wall of dense fog.

"Sam! What's happening to you?"

By then, I was unable to respond anymore.

She continued worriedly, "She left a lot of blood here. What if the wild animals smell it and attack us? Even though Sam doesn't like me, I still can't bear to watch her die.

"How about this? Let's dig a hole and bury Sam along with the bloodied sand. That should cover up the scent of blood."

Everyone instantly agreed with her suggestion. Hence, they grabbed shovels from the SUV and dug out a hole beside me in no time. Following that, they kicked me into the hole.

Sand filled my nose and mouth, causing me to suffocate.

Madison wasn't trying to cover the smell of blood—she wanted to bury me alive.

Mustering up as much strength as I could, I seized the hem of her pants.

Madison's response was quite aggressive as she viciously stomped on my wrist, breaking it. Then, she backed away while screaming, "I think Sam's still trying to kill me!"

An enraged Jonathan started dumping shovel after shovel of sand on me.

"Maddy was just trying to help you, yet instead of being grateful, you turn on her? I truly wonder what must have blinded me back then for me to not see just how heartless of a person you are! I want a divorce!"

It didn't take long before I was mostly buried. My breathing grew faint while my heartbeat slowed.

Meanwhile, Jonathan was comforting Madison. "Why bother being worried for her? It's normal for accidents to happen when coming to such places. Stop blaming yourself for this."

The last bit of my will to survive was snuffed out, and I allowed myself to embrace the darkness at last.

However, while they were still busy burying me completely, the thrumming of helicopter blades sounded from above them. The strong currents caused sand and dust to fly everywhere.

Instinctively tossing down their shovels, they clamped their hands over their mouths and noses before running for the SUV.

Subsequently, I was dug out of the hole. The suffocating pressure surrounding me vanished, allowing air to once again reach me.

Several voices were talking all around me. It seemed the rescue team the higher-ups had sent had arrived.

The rescue team's leader was frowning as he checked me, his movements swift and professional. Then, he started barking out orders, "Her mouth and nose are obstructed by sand—she's suffocating. This needs to be cleared out immediately! She's also suffering from critical dehydration. Give her an intravenous infusion of Lactated Ringer's solution right away!"

Eyes narrowing, Jonathan approached the team leader and grabbed his arm.

"Are you really a medical professional? What do you mean she's suffering from critical dehydration? She's clearly just pretending!"

Unwilling to waste energy arguing with him, the team leader handed him a satellite phone.

"You can direct any questions you have to your superior. I'm only responsible for saving lives, not giving explanations."

The moment all the sand blocking my mouth and nose was removed, the rescue team hooked me up to a respirator. The intravenous solution had also eased the worst of my extreme dehydration.

At that moment, I heard the head of the Natural Resources Department's voice coming through the satellite phone, sounding stern and cold.

"Jonathan Anders, except for Samantha, every single one of your expedition members is fired, pending investigation. All of you will also be bearing the losses incurred for this failed expedition!"