In the evening, we found a sheltered valley and set up camp.

As soon as I set up two tents, Gyalje came to me and said that Tenzin Kava wanted me to come over.

I said hello to Lao Dao and the others, and then followed Jiajie away.

Turning around the two tents where the mountain guides lived, I saw a bonfire burning in front of the tall gray inflatable tent in Tenzin Kava, and two guards, a dozen porters and guides, sitting on the ground around the campfire, making milk tea and roasting hot dry food.

Jia Jie helped me lift the curtain of the tent: "Sir is already waiting for you." ”

I got into the tent with a low slump of about 5 square meters, with thick moisture-proof mats and ornate handmade carpets on the floor, a sleeping bag on the left, and a small portable coffee table on the right, on which was a tea set, Tenzin Kava sat cross-legged behind the coffee table, holding a reddish-brown cast iron teapot in one hand, pouring tea into a sterling silver tea bowl, and the other palm pointed to the empty space opposite the coffee table.

"Sit down." He said.

I'm not polite, I picked up the bowl of milk tea in front of me and drank it, ignoring Tenzin Kawana's two deep eyes - since I want to make a show, it's nothing more than acting to the end, and making the image of me, a "mysterious man", practical, is not difficult, just learn from the protagonists in the martial arts written by Gu Long.

Seeing that I didn't speak, Tenzin Kava also picked up the milk tea in front of him.

We all drank the milk tea in the bowl and put down the bowl almost at the same time.

"Did you use the method?"

After a long silence, Tenzin Kava finally couldn't help himself and took the lead in asking questions.

"I don't understand what you're talking about, Sir." I'm going to play dumbfounded.

"You don't have to, I'm not malicious, I'm just curious. Of course, if I really want to know something, you can't hide it from me. ”

Tenzin Kava's words are both soft and hard, I just want him to be a little jealous of me, and I don't have to directly conflict with him, and Tenzin Kava asked me this question, and I have already thought about it.

I pretended to think about it and frowned, "So, what do you want to know?" ”

"Why did those Black Rubahs behave like that, and what did you do?"

"My profession is called a spirit detective."

"Detective?"

Tenzin Kava had never heard of this profession, so I explained to him that the spirit detective is a profession that specializes in solving all kinds of supernatural events for people, and the powerful spirit detective is almost a combination of a psychic and a soothsayer.

Of course, I don't have any of the above abilities, but Tenzin Kava was still stunned by me, his face was full of disbelief, but when he recalled the scene he saw with his own eyes during the day, he couldn't help but not believe it.

"You mean...... Can you talk to your Black Ruba? Tenzin Kava said this with a look of disbelief on his face.

The status of the Black Ruba in the hearts of Nepalis is like that of a god, and my rhetoric is clearly tantamount to blasphemy, or may make Tenzin Kawa doubt the authenticity of the legend.

I didn't change my face and said, "You said that the Black Ruba Serpent was a messenger of hell, and the spirit detective happened to be able to communicate with the gods and monsters from the spirit realm - this communication is not always possible, and the odds are quite low, but at that time, I was almost the last try, but I suddenly succeeded. ”

"So, you reached a communication with Heruba? But why should they ...... you? Kowtow? ”

"I don't know. The content of the mind of communication with the gods and monsters is often unpredictable, and it is impossible to convey it in our language in full words—I made a request to the Heruba to save the two herdsmen, but the Heruba only let me take one with me, and as for the other, I am afraid that it is because the sin is unforgivable. ”

After listening to me, Tenzin Kava looked at me steadily, and that gaze made my heart go straight to the hair.

He suddenly leaned closer and said in an extremely low and serious tone, "Did you know that according to legend, Heruba made a contract with a certain king of the Somol Kingdom to guard the tomb of this Somol king for generations? ”

For a moment, I was stunned.

I didn't expect that the legend of Black Ruba was still related to the ancient kingdom of Somol - but in an instant, it occurred to me that since the pattern on my back was related to the "Land of Heaven and Sea" (that is, the ancient country of Somol), then the Black Ruba with such a similar pattern would of course also be connected.

Tenzin Kava watched closely as my face changed, his eyes narrowed so that I couldn't make out the look in his eyes.

"The person you saved has been poisoned by Heiruba, can he survive?"

I shook my head: "I don't know. ”

"Take him with you if you can survive."

I was going to ask why, but after thinking about it, I nodded my head and agreed.

Seeing that I agreed, Tenzin Kawa nodded slowly: "Okay, I already know the answer I expected, thank you for your candor, this is a good start for the friendship between us - would you like to establish a friendship with me?" ”

"Of course, it's my pleasure."

Tenzin Kava's face finally showed a satisfied smile, and he poured me another bowl of milk tea, and when I had drunk it, he asked Jiajie, who had been standing outside the tent, to escort me away.

When I returned to the place where my tent was, Jia Jie said goodbye to me, and Lao Dao and Hyde surrounded me and asked me what was wrong, and I asked back, "Where is Shen Tangzhi?" ”

Hyde gestured to one of the tents, "Julia stays with the woman you rescued from the snake's mouth. ”

I saved a woman's business, they already knew that when they were in a hurry during the day, they didn't have time to carefully examine that woman, and now Shen Tangzhi should be doing this, she is a forensic doctor, although she deals with corpses all day long, but she has also studied clinical medicine seriously.

After a while, Shen Tangzhi came out of her tent: "The reason why her face is dark seems to be because she has an extremely heavy layer of things on her face, and I can't judge the specific composition for the time being-but she hasn't been bitten, and there are no snake tooth marks on her body." ”

"Then why is she unconscious?"

"Maybe it's shock caused by hypothermia, I've helped her change into dry clothes, injected her with adrenaline, and now it's all up to her willpower, if she can wake up, she'll be fine."

The old knife frowned on the side, hesitated for a long time, and then said to Shen Tang: "Section Chief Shen, you just said that what seems to have been smeared on that woman's face?" ”

Shen Tangzhi nodded: "Yes." I had more important first aid to do and didn't have time to go through it carefully. ”

The old knife glanced at me: "Aji, this woman, do you have any memory of the smell of perfume on her body?" ”

When the old knife mentioned this, I suddenly remembered that when I picked up the woman during the day, I did smell a faint fragrance, and it felt familiar to me, but at that time I was surrounded by snakes, how could I dare to be distracted?

"Possibly a human skin mask." Old knife road.

It was understandable that Shen Tang didn't think of this at first, and Lao Dao and I once encountered a case about human skin masks, the criminal bought a lot of human skin masks produced by Creafx, and every time he committed a crime, he deliberately let the surveillance photograph his face, which made the rumors of a "ghost girl" killer appear in that urban area.

Creafx has the world's most high-end mask manufacturing process, and the human skin masks produced are very realistic, but the masks are mostly women, because when wearing them daily, makeup and wigs can be used to enhance the camouflage, and ordinary people can be easily deceived if they do not know the truth in advance.

When Shen Tangzhi heard this, she immediately returned to the tent, and after a while, she suddenly shouted in the tent: "She woke up!" ”

The old knife immediately slipped into the tent, but as soon as he was halfway inside, he froze halfway.

My vision was completely blocked, and I could only ask, "What's the matter, old knife?" ”

I only heard the voice of the old knife trembling: "Yes-you?!" ”

Who is it in my heart, is it the face under the mask, an acquaintance?

I forcibly poked into a head - I saw Shen Tangzhi holding a wig and a human skin mask in his hand, and a bald woman lying in the sleeping bag, when I saw the woman's face clearly, I was also stiff!

I also said the same words as the old knife: "It's you?!" ”

Shen Tang said hurriedly: "What are you talking about, who is this?" ”

"She's ...... Yu Wei. The old knife looked at the woman's gaze, which was beyond the complexity of the matter, and muttered, "The one who stole Aji's blood jade." ”

"What?!" Shen Tangzhi was also shocked.

At this time, the woman also opened her eyes, and after seeing the face of the old knife, after showing a brief shocked expression on her face, she softened down, and her mouth opened and closed, as if she was speaking, but the voice was too soft for us to hear clearly.

The Boss leaned down and put his ear close to her mouth.

The old knife's face had a strange expression, half indignant, half pity.

"Where's the piece of blood jade?" Old Knife asked.

The woman didn't answer, just smiled.

Then, the smile on her face froze.

Shen Tangzhi stretched out his hand and touched the carotid artery and shook his head: "She has ...... He's dead. ”

I saw that Lao Dao was holding the woman pretending to be Yu Wei, his eyes were a little dull, and he couldn't bear to disturb, so he glanced at Shen Tangzhi, how smart Shen Tangzhi was, he immediately understood, and got out of the tent, leaving room for Lao Dao.

The two of us, plus Hede, waited outside the tent for about five minutes before the tent's zipper finally unzipped and the old knife came out of it.

His eyes were a little red, and he said to us, "Thank you." ”

I patted him on the shoulder: "Everyone is gone, if there are any grievances, they will go with the wind, I know that you were sincere at the beginning, mourn." ”

The old knife barely showed a smile, he took out the cigarette case, smoked a cigarette, but couldn't find a lighter for a long time, I helped him light it.

On the edge of the campfire, the old knife smoked three cigarettes in a row.

"She said that she was with me, not exactly acting, and she apologized to me and said she was sorry."

……

We buried her on the slope of this valley, and the old knife said that it was facing south, and that she could see the sun, and hoped that she would be free from these intrigues in the next life, and that she would be foolish enough to live her whole life.

In Jinguan City, this woman who pretended to be Yu Wei laid an extremely elaborate trap for us and stole my blood jade, but at this moment, she has become a corpse under the cold frozen soil in the Himalayas.

We don't even know what her real name is.

She doesn't have blood jade on her, and she has companions, so I judge that maybe we and her team are already on the same journey.

When I left the next day, I told Tenzin Kawa about the woman's death, but Tenzin Kawa smiled when he heard this: "There is no one who can escape from the death of the Black Ruba." ”

After three days, we finally arrived in Koang.

Koang used to be a village, but now, the original village has been relocated in its entirety, and the specific reasons are unknown to the Nepalese guides, except for Larry who secretly told me that the village was not relocated, but decades ago, and suddenly overnight, the whole village died.

When I asked about the discovery of the Himalayan Yeti in the village in 1974, Larry shook his head and said, "There are only reports of the snowmen, and the news that the villagers died overnight has not been reported in the newspapers." Rumor has it that it was the snowman's revenge that washed the village in blood. ”

He pointed to a flat, dry river valley in the distance: "That's where the village of Koang was, and there were still some ruins, but a dozen years ago, a group of English hippies came to climb the mountain, and they injected each other with drugs during the night camp, and then they set a fire......"

The Englishman on one side, Hyde, stroked his beard and rolled his eyes, as if he hadn't heard.

This hiking base in Koang is a three-story house located on the side of the road, and it was formerly a private inn, so there are enough rooms for everyone to rest.

The furnishings in the room were simple, but for Sherpa Alpine Collaboration, who were accustomed to unbearable toil, it was a must-see spot for the night – and for us, we were living in tents all the way, and we were really going crazy.

At five o'clock the next morning, everyone was woken up and gathered together.

The first is the distribution of equipment.

The stronghold had enough climbing gear for twenty people, and Larry was delighted and told me that it was all high-end goods.

Although Sherpas tend to be less reliant on equipment when working as mountain guides, all are required to be fully armed, and heavy equipment that is difficult to carry close to them and all equipment that has been selected and left over is loaded onto mule carts to ensure backup.

Protected by several heavily armed guards, Tenzin Kawa stood in front of everyone and announced the start of the mountaineering operation.

He said that today he will depart from Koang and pass through BC (Base Camp, i.e., Base Camp) at the foot of Dhaulagiri Peak, and arrive at and establish C1 (Camp 1, i.e., Camp 1).

The distance from Koang to Dhaulagiri BC is only 11 kilometres, but in reality, the winding road along the way is only a rough gravel and dirt road, and it is very difficult for mule carts to travel, not to mention the steep terrain and winding routes.

There was no place to camp along the way, so we had to make our way in the dark—when we finally arrived at BC, it was nine o'clock the next night.

The rest of the journey was all brutal and dangerous mountain climbing, and even the mule cart could no longer provide support.

Only the legs are the only tools that can be relied on.

At the time of the BC trimming, Larry told us that he was scared right now.

He said that it is not the climbing season in April and May, on the contrary, it is August – one of the most dangerous times to climb the peaks of the Himalayas.

Because of the extreme climate change in the middle of summer, the Pacific Tropical Depression formed a series of cyclones, which then developed into terrifying tropical storms (we call them typhoons, Europe and the United States call them hurricanes), once a powerful tropical storm enters the Indian Ocean Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea, it is likely to affect the Himalayas, a huge climate barrier, making the already complex alpine climate even more unpredictable!

Before coming to Koang, Larry had checked the weather and there were more than three tropical depressions forming over the western Pacific Ocean, and today he overheard a conversation between Tenzin Kawa and Gyalje, and those tropical depressions had become stronger and might form at least one tropical storm.

At that time, even if it does not hit the Bay of Bengal or the Gulf of Tonkin in our country head-on, it will inevitably affect the alpine weather of the Himalayas.

Tomorrow after dawn, we will be greeted by a truly desperate journey!