Chapter 1

At first, I didn't expect Ms. Zoe Mormont to give me a different conclusion from the international consensus regarding the expedition's accident.

Her arrival completely shattered the original tranquility, and I was once again pulled back into the nightmarish memories of losing my parents.

The first page of that stack of documents was a color photograph. Nearly twenty years had passed, and the colors were distorted and slightly faded, but I immediately recognized my father. His image in the photo was the same as the one I remembered from when he left when I was five years old.

This was a group photo taken before the Mormont expedition set off. At the bottom of the photo was engraved "mormontscientificexpedition-1984," which must have been taken by the Americans, as the font and logo used were all in English.

There were a total of twenty people in the photo, arranged in two rows. From the colors of their clothing, it was easy to tell that they came from different countries. My father and four others wearing lead-gray mountaineering suits appeared on the far right of the photo. Due to the limited clarity, I could vaguely see a red flag-like symbol on their chests. Of these five people, three were in the front and two in the back. Since my father and my second uncle were significantly taller than the other three, they naturally stood in the back row. I had never seen the three in front before.

Next to my father's group of five were three people wearing gray-blue mountaineering suits, with the standard features of South Asians, probably from countries bordering China. The middle-aged American man in the center should be Cole Mormont. Around him were nine people wearing the same dark gray-green mountaineering suits. Three of them had slightly different mountaineering suits, with a bit of camouflage, probably mercenaries (retired special forces). The remaining five should all be scientists. There were also three people on the left side of the photo. The two standing in the back wearing purple-black mountaineering suits were white, but it was unclear which country they were from. The person standing in front of them had an Asian face, but he was not wearing the same style of mountaineering suit, instead wearing local ethnic clothing. If I wasn't mistaken, this person might be a local guide hired by the expedition.

Zoe Mormont explained the nationalities and backgrounds of the twenty people in the photo to me, and most of the information matched my guesses. However, the two white people wearing purple-black clothes were two British scientists. As for why the British had traveled across the ocean to conduct scientific research in the Himalayas, I couldn't think of a reason, but since the results of this expedition were shared by the countries participating in the expedition, it wasn't a problem for Britain to get a piece of the pie and expand the boundaries of the discipline.

"Among the five people sent by China, one of them was not a scientist at all. All of his identities were forged, and even the other four people in your country didn't know his true identity," Zoe Mormont added, "After the expedition had an accident, I learned through various channels that the person was an active Chinese soldier at the time, and his mission was to protect the safety of the Chinese scientists."

After hearing Zoe Mormont's explanation, I understood China's distrust of American non-governmental organizations in those years.

"Mr. Zhao, I didn't come to you this time to start a mutual aid association for the families of the victims. These documents in your hand were obtained by my family through various channels. Some of the information is not even held at the national level. I'm showing them to you so that you can understand the truth of what happened back then."

"Just to understand the truth? And what happens after understanding the truth?" I retorted.

Zoe Mormont suddenly became serious, "Mr. Zhao, my father had a very high opinion of your father, Zhao Haiyang. The 1984 expedition was able to take place and had a lot to do with your father's research. There is some information that you are not aware of now, but I believe that after reading these documents, you will understand."

Zoe Mormont paused and said, "Oh, right, I'm not the only one who got these materials. As far as I know, other 'forces' have also obtained them. I believe that 'other troubles' will come knocking on your door soon."

Hearing this, my hair stood on end. I couldn't tell if she was giving me a kind reminder or trying to threaten me into achieving her goals.

"What forces are you talking about? What threats are you talking about?" I asked, puzzled.

"Mr. Zhao, all the answers are in these documents..." As she said this, Zoe looked down at her watch, "I'll come to your house at eight o'clock tonight. In any case, I hope you can give me an answer."

I nodded, feeling completely controlled by Zoe. From her words, I heard a certain metaphor.

Perhaps the disappearance of the expedition back then was not just a simple accident.

Zoe Mormont also nodded to me, put on her sunglasses, and got up to walk out of the office. Before leaving, she didn't forget to turn her head and remind me, "See you later."

The sound of her high heels, "clack, clack," became smaller and smaller, farther and farther away. Her graceful figure attracted the peeping of a group of young men. Before I could recover, she disappeared like a gust of wind at the corner of the floor.

After Zoe Mormont left, I didn't continue to look through the stack of documents. Instead, I seriously recalled what she had just said to me. There must be some unspoken purpose for her coming to me, and she was certain that as long as I read these documents, I would make a certain decision, and my decision might fit her purpose.

Opening the cover page with the photo marked "mormontscientificexpedition-1984," another photo appeared before my eyes. It was still a group photo of the expedition team, but there were only sixteen people in this photo. Fatigue was written on everyone's faces, and several foreigners' beards had grown all over their cheeks, probably because they hadn't been taken care of for a long time. My father and second uncle also looked tired, and their hair hadn't been combed for a long time, looking like bird's nests. I carefully compared the two photos and found that the two British people, one Chinese person, and one South Asian person were missing. I didn't know why.

The next document was a paper on "Geological Research of the Himalayas," signed by my father, Zhao Haiyang, and my second uncle, Zhao Dalu. The paper mainly described my father and second uncle's geological research on the Himalayas. The research showed that the soil samples and geological structure in a certain area of the Himalayas were different from other parts of the mountain range and were obviously not formed naturally. Therefore, they proposed a hypothesis that humans had been active in these areas a long time ago, carrying out large-scale construction projects, transporting stones and soil from other places to build something. However, due to the harsh climate over the years, all traces of human activity had been erased, leaving only geological evidence.

I continued to browse the materials. After my father's paper, there were several other research materials from researchers from other countries on the Himalayas. These studies were carried out from various aspects such as archeology, history, theology, geography, and biology. But the conclusions of these studies were surprisingly similar, all pointing to signs of human activity in the Himalayas, and even their own culture.

Scholars have proposed the theory of "human activity". At least from the perspective of evidence, the Himalayas do have something that attracts people to go there. If a history can be traced back more than two thousand years, then there must be deeper secrets.

However, the Himalayas are high in altitude, icy and cold, with snow covering them all year round, full of dangerous atmosphere. Once encountering a blizzard, there may be no bones left. Moreover, the mountains lack basic living materials, the mountain roads are rugged and uneven, and avalanches are very easy to encounter, which is not suitable for human survival and living at all.

The conflict between the sense of reality and the theory made cold sweat break out on my back.