The events that took place in this day were too intense and intensive, especially the life-threatening run in the glacier belt, which greatly drained my physical strength, and although the old knife was speechless, I knew that he was also exhausted.

Also tired are Shen Tangzhi and Hyde, although these two people usually do not neglect to exercise, but after all, it is the first time to be in such a harsh high-altitude and cold environment, the two of them are not very adaptable, and the accident on the glacier belt during the day also consumes their great energy.

Hyde and Shen Tangzhi occupied the only two sleeping bags in the tent, but under the pale red LED light hanging from the top of the tent, I saw Shen Tangzhi in his sleep, still frowning and trembling slightly—now the temperature outside had reached minus 30 degrees, and even in the tent, I could feel the biting cold.

Lao Dao and I could only wrap each in a woolen blanket and huddle together tightly to keep warm, and my hands and feet were almost numb from the cold.

For a short time, I fell asleep with the old knife.

Luckily I woke up, because my hands were exposed outside the woolen blanket and aching from the cold.

I woke up as soon as I was awake - as soon as I moved, the old knife woke up.

We quickly got up and checked the tent – in no more than twenty minutes at most, our tent was covered with half a metre of snow, the whole tent was sunken in the snow, and the ventilation vent at the door was completely covered with snow.

This is undoubtedly a frightening moment, if it is ten minutes late at most, the four of us in the tent may never be able to get out of the tent again!

As a result of suffocation, we will remain unconscious in our sleep until we die.

After this danger, Lao Dao and I no longer dared to take turns sleeping, but kept awake, and the two of us took turns digging snow and waiting for dawn.

At about six o'clock in the morning, when the sky began to lighten, I woke up Shen Tangzhi and Hyde, and we cleared the snow together, and then climbed out of the tent.

Things are finally getting better outside – the snow has finally stopped, and only the storm continues, but it's still slightly weaker than last night.

Shen Tangzhi was the last person to climb out of the tent, but as soon as she got out of her head, she let out an exclamation:

"Yoshimitsu! What about other people's tents?! ”

Something terrible happened: we looked around and found that all but our tent was gone!

"Oh God!" Hyde drew a cross on his chest, "Did the others all disappear overnight?" Just like the colonial explorers of Roanoke Island! ”

"Why do gringos like babbling? Aggie, the other tents should have been buried in snow - look! The old knife dug out the rope that connected the tent to the neighboring tent.

Since the ropes that connect the tents are still there, the old knife guessed the possibility most likely right.

But was it possible that all but this one of ours was buried by a blizzard?!

This is so unreasonable!

When the blizzard started, Larry, who lived in our tent next to us, made it clear to us that every tent was told that there needed to be a vigil all night to prevent the tent from being buried by the blizzard.

Even if someone falls asleep in the middle of the night, it can't be everyone, right?

Half an hour later, we dug our first tent out of the snow – the closest one we found along the ropes.

However, there were no bodies in the tent - it was empty!

I remember very well that in this blue tent, there were four people, including Larry!

"What's going on?" The old knife was a little confused.

I began to have an even more ominous premonition in my heart, pursed my lips, gritted my teeth, and said, "Keep digging!" ”

An hour later, the four of us dug up a total of three more tents, including the main tent where Tenzin Kava was located, and all of them were empty!

The harsh reality, and the extreme exhaustion, caused all four of us to collapse on the snow.

I lay on the snow, looking up at the pure blue sky that seemed to be dripping water, and analyzed:

If you calm down and think about it, you can use the amount of snow last night as a comparison, these tents are generally only buried under a meter of snow, and it only takes one and a half to two hours to form such conditions, and more than two hours or more, and the snow covering these tents will not be this thick.

Another reason to support my assumption is that the tents were buried in the snow, and the equipment and supplies had been taken away.

"The only plausible explanation is that they left early." I said my guess, "It's probably between four and half past four." ”

"Yes." Hyde's response was a little weak, "So...... We're abandoned, aren't we? ”

Lao Dao scolded his mother, but Shen Tangzhi was silent.

For a moment, all four of us lay in the snow and did not speak, half to regain our strength, and the other half to think.

It was the first time for all four of us to enter the extreme alpine zone at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters, and it was also the top of the earth Himalayas, where the terrain and climatic conditions were extremely harsh.

But after a wind and snow of one and a half to two hours, there is no trace of movement on the ground at all, and we have to find a large force again, and the chances are almost negligible.

"But why didn't they take the tent with them?" After a long time, I spoke.

This is the biggest question I have since I thought about it.

If Tenzin Kawa was going to leave the four of us behind, they wouldn't have to abandon their tents, would they?

In this extremely cold place, the low temperature of the night is very terrible, and if there is no tent to protect against the cold wind, at the end of the night, I dare to conclude that not many Sherpas will live to see the sun the next day.

After hearing what I said, the old knife also muttered: "Yes, why didn't they take the tent away?" ”

"Two possibilities." Shen Tangzhi finally spoke, she stretched out two fingers wrapped in thick snow gloves towards the sky, "The first possibility is that they encountered an unexpected situation, or in such a blizzard, they didn't have the time or ability to tidy up and take away the tent; The second possibility is that they don't need tents at all where they're going next. ”

After saying this, I sat up from the ground suddenly!

I almost wanted to pounce and kiss Shen Tang!

How did I not think of that?!

Almost instantaneously, I concluded that it must be the second case!

Shen Tangzhi is right, what if the place where Tenzin Kava is going after doesn't need a tent at all? Then they don't have to take the tents with them at all, and they must have a way of remembering where they are, and when they come back from "there", they just need to dig the tents out of the snow again and use them again when they go down the mountain.

I patted the old knife and Hyde beside me: "Hurry up, get up, tidy up your things, and we'll go find Tenzin Kava, the old fox, immediately!" ”

Old Dao's eyes widened: "Do you know where they will go?" ”

"** Not far from ten!" I nodded, and then raised my chin in the direction of Shen Tangzhi, "Fortunately, Section Chief Shen's prompt, otherwise I wouldn't have thought of this aspect!" ”

Shen Tangzhi smiled slightly, I looked at her expression, it should be with me.

We quickly sorted out the equipment we needed to take with us, including flashlights, food, ice axes and ice picks, wool blankets for warmth, etc., and as for the tent, I didn't plan to take it with me, so let's just stay here - since they don't need Tenzin Kava, we certainly won't need it.

Moreover, the tent has the added benefit of staying here as a marker.

With all the equipment on my shoulders and I taking the lead, I set out to find Tenzin Kava and their whereabouts.

In fact, after understanding the limitations of the second possibility deduced by Shen Tangzhi, it is no longer impossible to find the whereabouts of Tenzin Kava.

I have experienced the intensity of last night's blizzard, so I don't believe that they can travel a long distance in such extreme weather conditions - it is not easy to contact everyone and set off together, which is what Sherpas who have been climbing all day can do.

Therefore, the entrance to "that place" must be not far away.

I didn't take everyone blindly forward, but found a high mountain rock, which was a place where the view was basically unobstructed, and climbed up.

Then, sitting cross-legged on the top of the rock, he began to look closely at the nearby terrain through his sunglasses (in the snowy mountains, if you don't wear sunglasses, you can easily get glare—that is, snow blindness).

Since the top of this rock can only accommodate one person, the old knife can only wait at the bottom, and after a while, the old knife becomes impatient: "Hey, Aji, what the hell are you looking at feng shui on it?" What do you see? ”

I ignored the guy's words, and took them as wind in my ears, my eyes searching the snow-capped mountains......

"That place" certainly wouldn't be far from our camp, so I initially searched around the camp, but didn't find anything suspicious.

The place where we set up camp C1 is the closest to the ridge nearby, where the pass meets the ridge, and it is relatively safe.

However, my gaze searched the ridgeline several times, but I still found nothing, and in a daze, I turned my gaze to the pass, which was a conspicuous saddle-shaped depression in the ridge.

The reason why I didn't consider the pass at first was because the wind at the pass was very strong, and it was very difficult to cross the pass during last night's snowstorm, and it was even possible for the entire team to be swept away by the strong wind!

But what if they go down or up the pass?

My train of thought instantly cleared, and I looked along the pass, and sure enough, I quickly found an extremely suspicious place, which was only less than a hundred meters away from our camp!

"I found it!"

I quickly climbed down the rock, and with Lao Dao and others, moved sideways along the ridge, and then entered the low-lying part of the pass, and we climbed up about 80 meters along this terrain like a miniature valley, and I told everyone to stop.

"Do you see the snow in front of you?" I pointed my finger not far ahead.

When everyone looks at the place where I finger, their eyes light up!

There, the snow faintly reveals a circular outline, which is clearly a cave buried by heavy snow.

The old knife had the only sapper shovel in our team, and at this time he took off his gloves, spat at the palms of each hand, and shoveled the snow with his arms open, and after five minutes, he changed to Hyde......

Hyde hadn't dug for a moment before the snow collapsed on its own, revealing a swarthy cavern.

The cave is about two meters high, so people can enter it smoothly, I turned on the bright flashlight and shone inside, and Hyde, who was standing at the entrance of the cave, immediately let out an exclamation!

"God! There are monsters! ”

Hyde exclaimed loudly, and actually ducked backwards, knocking me down who had just walked to the entrance of the cave, if it weren't for the quick eye of the old knife on the side, who stretched out his arms and dragged the two of us, Hyde and I would have rolled down the mountain pass directly - if we rolled down such a high mountainside, even if we didn't die, we would have to be crippled, and a crippled person would not even want to leave Dhaulagiri Peak.

Although I was knocked down, I still held the strong flashlight tightly in my hand, and when I shone the flashlight into the hole, I only saw an arm stretched out towards us, and when I looked along the arm, I saw a terrifying face!

It was clearly a human face, but something corroded a large hole in the middle of the face, and the nose, eyes, mouth, and most of the flesh on the face were gone, directly revealing the skull.

It looks like a living person who has been bitten off the face by some monster, and then the monster's remnants of corrosive saliva dissolve the flesh around the wound.

Hyde also saw clearly at this time that this was just a corpse, not some "monster", and quickly got up from the ground and apologized to me again and again, with a little embarrassment on his face.

I even said it was okay, and went up with the old knife to see the corpse.

After only one glance, the old knife immediately said: "Look at this person's outfit, it's not someone from our team......"

I agree with the old knife that I have no memory of the corpse's costume.

"This person is wearing a gray mountaineering suit, the style is very old, at least ten years ago - don't look at me like this, as a girl, since I am coming to the snowy mountains, of course I must have an understanding of the historical style of mountaineering clothes, otherwise how to choose beautiful clothes?" Shen Tang's way.

I reached out and tapped the corpse's arm, and there was a clattering sound of hard objects, and it seemed that the corpse had completely frozen into ice.

Taking Mount Everest as an example, more than 6,000 people have successfully reached the summit since the first person successfully reached the summit in 1953, and nearly 300 people have died in the past decade alone...... In the more than 20 days from entering the Everest area to successfully reaching the summit, an average of one person was killed every day.

The Nepalese government regularly goes up to clean up the bodies on the peaks of the Himalayas and collects them for burial. Some of the remains are too high to be transported down the mountain, or under the cracks and cliffs, which can be seen but cannot be processed, so they can only be left there and become signposts for future generations.

We walked around the corpse, with me taking the lead, and moving on.

The cave is spacious enough for a person to walk upright, and the rock wall is frozen with a thick layer of ice, and the surface is very smooth, but through the ice, it is clear that there are traces of artificial excavation on the rock wall.

Who would dig a cave out of the Dhaulagiri Peak, which is more than 5,500 meters above sea level?

I was thinking about it when Shen Tangzhi suddenly spoke: "Don't you think there's anything strange about that frozen corpse?" ”