Chapter 1 The End of the Data

The last piece of information was a stack of materials about the scientific expedition to the Himalayas, held together by a binder clip, about the thickness of two magazines.

In 1920, an expedition team of three Americans set off for the Himalayas for mountaineering and exploration. During the ascent, the team encountered an accident, encountering an extremely strong blizzard. The blizzard raged for five days. After five days, two people went missing, but one person miraculously survived. The survivor, named Joseph, was found standing blankly on a flat ground, staring straight at the distant mountains. After being rescued, his mental state was extremely poor. After returning home, he neither ate nor drank nor spoke.

According to Joseph's parents, after he returned home, he didn't rest or sleep. He kept scribbling on paper. Some papers were filled with distorted characters, some were scribbled with dark, graffiti-like images, some only had crooked lines, and some had a pile of abstract cubes. He drew more than a dozen different strange pictures, and then committed suicide by slitting his wrists late one night. His parents found his body already cold.

The autopsy report showed that Joseph's physical condition was extremely poor, and even if he hadn't committed suicide, he wouldn't have lived for more than a few days. Moreover, his body was severely dehydrated, unlike a recently deceased corpse.

Later, his parents hired psychological and neurological experts to analyze Joseph's paintings before his death, but the experts found nothing. Psychologists believe that a person, whether painting or writing, creates images based on reality. Even abstract masters like Picasso, no matter how abstract their works, the figures, animals, and other images in their works are artistically processed and created based on things that exist in reality. However, Joseph's "works" were like graffiti without any reference, random scribbles without any rules. Mental health experts proposed another theory: the irrational behavior of mentally ill patients follows fixed patterns, and very few people can change multiple styles in such a short period of time for "creation." At least from his dozen or so "works," it seemed more like he was creating with a purpose, and even the final suicide seemed like the last step in some kind of process.

Official research and investigation into the Himalayas actually began in 1924. Joseph's bizarre incident attracted the attention of a secret American agency. They believed that there might be some kind of supernatural phenomenon in the Himalayas that could cause mental confusion, so they formed an investigation team and sent the team to the area where the three-man expedition team had encountered danger to conduct on-site investigations.

The investigation team ascended the mountain from within Nepal along the previous expedition team's route. Unlike the mountaineering team, the investigation team needed to be stationed for a long time, so the selected camping location was close to a Sherpa village. The investigation team hired several Sherpa guides, who provided supplies and guided them along the mountain paths. With their help, supplies and food could be replenished in one day.

For the first month, the investigation team found nothing unusual. But as the investigation deepened, the camp gradually moved deeper into the mountains, closer to the area where the expedition team had met with disaster. The Sherpas' supply delivery time also changed from one day to three days. In bad weather, supplies might take a week to arrive.

The weather on the mountain was unpredictable, and the investigation team dared not go any further. Two of the bolder members of the team once ventured further and deeper, but due to lack of experience, they almost got lost in the mountains. They finally returned to camp before nightfall, otherwise, without a source of fire, they could have frozen to death in the mountains.

Fortunately, the accidental event did lead to a discovery. While passing through a mountain col, the electronic equipment on the two people who got lost suddenly malfunctioned, and the compass was also disturbed and could not indicate direction normally. It was because of this that the two got lost in the mountains. Later, the team also brought in Sherpa guides to ask about the situation. When the Sherpas heard that someone had been in that direction, they looked shocked and hurried to say, "That is where demons haunt. The mountains there eat people, and the snow there will bury everyone. You are very lucky to have escaped."

From then on, no one dared to explore rashly. Someone suggested investigating the periphery of that mountain col without going deep. The team members agreed. For safety's sake, everyone who went out was connected by a safety rope. The length of the safety rope between people was about ten meters, and they moved towards the mountain col at an extremely slow pace.

After about an hour, a strange thing happened. The people at the front started to drift off course. They were originally walking due west, but they unconsciously changed direction and started walking northwest. When the members at the back discovered this, they quickly pulled on the safety rope and dragged the people at the front back.

The people who were pulled back looked blank, not knowing what had happened. They were completely unaware that they had deviated from the route. They thought they hadn't changed direction and were still walking due west. At this time, someone discovered that all their communication equipment had malfunctioned, and the compass was also pointing in the wrong direction.

This caused panic among everyone. They remembered what the Sherpa guides had said. This eerie mountain col really would eat people.

Everyone quickly returned the way they came. Because they hadn't gone far, most people were not affected, so no other problems occurred during this time.

After returning to camp, those who had been affected experienced dizziness, but they felt better after resting for a while.

After the investigation team returned to the United States, they clearly stated in the report they submitted that there was a strong magnetic fluctuation at a certain location in the Himalayas that interfered with the normal operation of electronic equipment and compasses. It also affected people's judgment, leading to misjudgment, and was accompanied by mild amnesia. They named it "Devil's" Col.

The American secret agency was not willing to give up and continued to send investigation teams to investigate that "Devil's" Col. The investigation work continued until 1940. During this period, a total of five investigation teams were sent (including the first investigation team). The second and third investigation teams rashly went to Devil's Col, resulting in the disappearance of all members and complete loss of contact.

Some members of the third and fourth investigation teams went missing while investigating Devil's Col, and the two teams had to terminate their plans early and return in defeat.

The fifth investigation team sent by the secret agency was entirely composed of active-duty special forces soldiers. They only needed to collect samples at the edge of Devil's Col to complete their mission. For safety's sake, the fifth investigation team was also equipped with the most advanced weapons and exploration equipment. Before departure, the fifth team hired a local guide who was familiar with the environment and dared to lead the team to Devil's Col for a large sum of money.

This team, known as a top-notch combat unit, declared its mission a failure within three days of arriving at the camp. The guide and all members of the fifth investigation team went missing.

After this investigation mission failed, the American government's investigation of the Himalayas was called off. In the subsequent forty years, the United States did not conduct any further investigations or research on the Himalayas, and the exploration of the mystery of the Himalayas was put on hold.