Xixia dead book

Chapter 50: Legend of the Undead in the Book of the Dead (50)
"Check it out. The information we have is basically consistent with what Makarov told you. Makarov is a retired major general of the KGB, and Yelena is indeed an ace agent. As for the purpose of their trip, it is as Makarov said. It’s not known if it’s just to get back Yuchaping, or if there’s some other purpose. So, when you act with Makarov, you still have to be more careful.”

After listening to Zhao Yong's report, Han Jiang was silent for a while, and then asked again: "Does the headquarters have any information about Yelena's whereabouts?"

Zhao Yong shook his head and replied: "No!"

Han Jiang ended the connection with disappointment, and then opened the information Zhao Yong just sent to study carefully.Tang Feng, Han Jiang, and Xu Renyu studied until late at night, and finally marked two suspicious areas on the map of the southeast part of Animaqing Snow Mountain - Area A and Area B.The reason why they think these two areas are suspicious is mainly based on the information provided by the Ministry of Land and Resources. The data shows that these two areas are located in a depression surrounded by mountains, and there may be caves.What is even more suspicious is that although these two areas are far away from the residential areas, a small number of traces of artificial buildings have been found on the surface, all of which are in line with the legend told by the great lama.

Tang Feng drew two circles heavily on the map with a red pencil, and said to Han Jiang and Xu Renyu: "We have checked the existing information, and only these two areas are the most suspicious. According to the distance of the road, we will go to Area A first. Next is Area B, do you have any opinions?"

Han Jiang had no objection, but Xu Renyu did not express his opinion for a long time. Tang Feng asked Xu Renyu: "Doctor, do you have any questions?"

Xu Renyu said: "I don't see any problem now, but I... I'm worried that if the black-headed stone chamber is not found in Area A and Area B, then..."

Before Xu Renyu could finish speaking, Tang Feng interrupted him, "Your worry is unnecessary now. You will only know if you can find the Blackhead Stone Chamber in Areas A and B."

The three finally reached a consensus and acted according to Tang Feng's plan.In the afternoon of the second day, all the equipment they needed was delivered, including crampons, ice axes, nooses, carabiners, snow poles, helmets, safety belts, ascenders, descenders, rock hammers, alpine boots, treadmills, etc. Snowboards, alpine glasses, etc., as well as some weapons and oxygen cylinders, as well as the satellite signal positioning equipment that Zhao Yong said.

It was a sleepless night. Tang Feng, Han Jiang, Xu Renyu, and Makarov all fell asleep at the same time. In the middle of the night, the four of them simply got up, and while preparing the equipment they needed to bring, they continued to plan for possible encounters. Hazardous situations and countermeasures.

The four of them waited anxiously for the dawn, but the sky outside the house was still dark. Tang Feng ran outside the hotel to check, and found a large piece of dark cloud floating from a distance, covering the prairie. The sky was gloomy. Feng's heart was suddenly covered with a layer of dark clouds, but he knew that it was time to set off anyway.

Tang Feng and Han Jiang were worried about Liang Yuan and Hei Yun, so they handed them over to the local police first.Liang Yuan's reluctance made Tang Feng feel a little soft-hearted, but he was still ruthless and set off with Han Jiang.In the uneasy atmosphere, Tang Feng, Han Jiang, Xu Renyu and Makarov took Yuchaping and drove the "Cherokee" out of Maqu and into the embrace of the boundless prairie.

[No.20 Section Animaqing Snow Mountain]

1
Cherokee went west along the highway, and they soon saw the majestic figure of Animaqing Snow Mountain in the distance.Animaqing Snow Mountain is the highest mountain in the source area of ​​the Yellow River. It also has the largest glacier at the source of the Yellow River. It is known as "China's Water Tower". "Ani" means grandfather in Tibetan in Amdo area, and "Maqing" means the largest mountain at the source of the Yellow River.

At some point, icy rain fell from the sky, and the rainwater and melted snow criss-crossed the grassland, making the road slippery and muddy. If we went further, there was no road at all.Cherokee is like a wild horse galloping freely on the prairie.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and there was no one on the grassland. The sky was covered by large swaths of dark clouds. The clouds were very low, and they seemed to be right above everyone's heads, and they would soon be overwhelmed.Han Jiang, who was in charge of driving, looked out of the window and couldn't help cursing: "It was fine two days ago, why did it happen that it was freezing rain on the day we set off?"

Tang Feng also felt strange, "Yes! Such a heavy rain on the plateau is rare in itself. This season, such a heavy rain is even more abnormal."

Han Jiang frowned and stared out the window without making a sound.He turned his head to look at Makarov behind him. The old man was fine. He didn't care about the wind and rain outside, and he only wanted to sleep on his own.Han Jiang couldn't help laughing out loud: "Look at his old horse, he will fall down as soon as he gets in the car."

"I think his behavior is quite in line with the habits of the elderly. Years make people old. After all, the body is not good enough." Tang Feng couldn't help but sigh.

A few people were talking, suddenly, the car body shook violently, and then stopped moving. Han Jiang whispered: "Oops! The car is turned off."

He restarted the Cherokee, the engine started, but the car still didn't move. Han Jiang immediately realized that it was not as simple as the engine stalling.He stepped on the accelerator to the maximum, and the car body shook again, but it still didn't move. "It's unlucky, the car got stuck." Han Jiang finally said what everyone was most worried about.

Tang Feng and Xu Renyu jumped under the car and checked in the rain, only to find that the originally peaceful grassland had turned into a swamp at this time, and the rainwater flowed wantonly in the low-lying places, converging into streams.And the rear wheels of their Cherokee inevitably got stuck in a low-lying mud pit.

Seeing this scene, Tang Feng sighed: "In recent years, this grassland has been damaged too badly. Due to overgrazing and random harvesting of caterpillar fungus, the grassland has degraded. When it rains, the grassland turns into a muddy pond."

"Okay! Now is not the time for your research, hurry up and push the cart!" Han Jiang shouted at Tang Feng.

Han Jiang's roar woke up Makarov who was sleeping soundly.The old man opened his sleepy eyes and immediately understood what was going on. He jumped out of the car without hesitation, and pushed the car behind with Xu Renyu and Tang Feng.Han Jiang started again, and he drove at full horsepower. Tang Feng, Xu Renyu, and Makarov pushed the cart behind them together, but there was no progress except for being splashed with mud.

Tang Feng was at a loss in the rain for a while, and finally Han Jiang remembered the shovel they were carrying. This shovel was originally used to find the black head stone chamber, but it came in handy now unexpectedly.Han Jiang jumped out of the car, took out the shovel from the trunk, and dug a few times in front of the mud pit where the rear wheels sank, then ordered Tang Feng to drive, and he, Lao Ma, and Xu Renyu worked hard again, and finally pushed the car out of the mud pit .However, they had no excitement about overcoming difficulties, because the three of them had been splashed with mud from head to toe.

Everyone returned to the car, Tang Feng restarted the Cherokee, he turned on the headlights, and with extreme caution, looked ahead, walked to a higher ground, and continued to run westward cautiously.

2
Three hours later, they left the freezing rain behind and entered the embrace of Animaqing Snow Mountain.The sky here is bright, the sky is blue, and the snow-capped mountains not far away are clearly visible, which is completely different from the weather just now.

"The climate on the plateau is really changeable. It was windy and rainy just now, but now it is clear." Tang Feng sighed.

"This is called sunrise in the east and rain in the west." Xu Renyu laughed.

"You two should rest, I'm afraid you won't even have the strength to speak later." Makarov who fell asleep again after getting in the car suddenly spoke, scaring both Tang Feng and Xu Renyu.

The two stared blankly at this strange Russian old man, at this time Han Jiang also said: "The old horse is very reasonable, don't you two feel that the altitude here is getting higher and higher? You should save your energy , wait a minute, I will tell you to talk, and you may not want to talk."

Hearing this, Tang Feng and Xu Renyu also obviously felt that the air here was getting thinner, so they shut their mouths obediently.

No one in the car spoke anymore, the terrain was getting higher and higher, and a tall steep slope appeared in front of the Cherokee. Tang Feng tried to drive up this steep slope, but failed. The height and slope of this steep slope have exceeded the limit of Cherokee .Tang Feng returned the car, took out the map and GPS, and compared them to check the road they traveled. "It should be right!" Tang Feng muttered to himself while staring at the latitude and longitude displayed on the GPS.

Han Jiang looked at Tang Feng, not understanding what Tang Feng was talking about.Suddenly, Tang Feng put away the map and said to everyone: "I checked just now, and the route we are taking is correct. This is already close to the area A we have determined. This steep slope cannot be passed by vehicles. We should walk into the mountain."

"It seems that the time to really test us has come." After Han Jiang finished speaking, he took the lead in carrying his backpack and was ready to jump out of the car at any time.

Yes, the time has come to really test them.The four of them ate some dry food in the car for lunch, and then got out of the car.When they got out of the car, they immediately felt the coldness and the thinness of the air. None of the four said anything. According to the plan that had been drawn up, Han Jiang was in front, Tang Feng followed closely, Makarov was third, and Xu Renyu was at the bottom. , the four of them took all their equipment and began to march towards the hinterland of Qing Anima.

They quickly climbed over the steep slope, which led to an exposed black rock. "This is a trace of global warming. The exposed rocks were originally part of the snow mountain glaciers, but now they are exposed." Tang Feng still couldn't help expressing his emotion.

Han Jiang pointed to the front and said, "That's right! According to the information from the Ministry of Land and Resources, this place should be part of the snow mountain glacier, but this is just a lower mountain, not the kind of snow mountain that is covered with snow all the year round. Originally, in this season, It should have snowed here long ago, but it hasn’t snowed this year. This may be what you call global warming! Hehe, it’s a good thing for us that there is no snow. If I’m not wrong, we’re going to A Area A should be behind this mountain, this is the easiest way to Area A."

The four of them walked in file, and it was smooth. After more than an hour, they climbed over this not-so-high mountain.Just as they had expected, there was a big mountain depression at the bottom of the mountain, and the mountain they climbed was the lowest one around.Everyone slowly stepped into the mountain depression, only then did they see clearly that the terrain in the mountain depression was a large piece of grassland that was flat but seriously degraded.

3
The meadow in the mountain depression should have been a land of lush water and grass, but now, although there are still a few traces of grassland on the surface, there are more large black rocks and gravel exposed.The four of them cautiously descended to the bottom of the mountain depression and looked around. There were no people or livestock, and the degraded pasture was so quiet that it was frightening.The four of them turned around in the col, but they didn't find any caves here, but there were some more abrupt rocks here.

"Isn't this Area A? Why didn't you find anything?" Tang Feng asked suspiciously.

After comparing the latitude and longitude, Han Jiang said with certainty: "This is the area A we identified earlier, it can't be wrong, let's search again carefully."

Tang Feng searched carefully, but still found nothing, but he suddenly found something strange beside a large exposed rock.He stepped forward to check it carefully, and it turned out to be a relic of an artificial building. Tang Feng exclaimed excitedly:

"Come here quickly, I found architectural relics!"

After Han Jiang came over to investigate carefully, he was pleasantly surprised at first, then disappointed and said: "This is an architectural relic, but it is a modern architectural relic, and it will not exceed 30 years at most."

At this time, Tang Feng also saw the way. This architectural relic is not left over from ancient times, but is obviously a relic of modern house foundation.

"This at least shows that someone once built a house here, and even lived here." Tang Feng also wanted to save some face for his discovery.

Han Jiang looked around. It was getting dark early on the plateau. At this time, the sky was already a little dark. He ordered decisively: "Everyone will use this as the starting point, work in groups of two, search separately, and make the last effort. No matter what you find, We must be back here in half an hour, and we must be back in the car before dark."

Everyone knew in their hearts what it would mean if they couldn't get out of here and return to the car at night this season. It meant that they would completely entrust their fate to Animaqing Snow Mountain.

Tang Feng was in a group with Han Jiang, Makarov was in a group with Xu Renyu, and the four of them split up to search again.Tang Feng and Han Jiang searched every corner of the mountain, but did not see any relics related to the legendary "Blackhead Stone Chamber". Instead, Han Jiang found a neat pile of bones on a piece of grass.Han Jiang recognized at a glance that these were not human bones, but bones of some kind of large animal. What kind of large animal is there in this place?After Tang Feng checked, he speculated: "Could it be the skeleton of a yak?"

Reminded by Tang Feng, Han Jiang carefully observed the large skeleton that suddenly appeared in front of him again, and judged: "Well, it should belong to a yak, but how could there be a lone yak skeleton in such a desolate place?"

Tang Feng couldn't judge, he looked around again, and suddenly a gust of wind blew up and rolled up a lot of sand and stones, making it impossible for Tang Feng and Han Jiang to open their eyes.After the gust of wind passed, Tang Feng only felt that the place was getting weirder.So Tang Feng suggested to Han Jiang: "Let's go back early! I'm afraid we won't find anything here!"

Half an hour later, Tang Feng and Han Jiang returned to the agreed place, and Xu Renyu and Makarov also returned on time. They also found no valuable clues and returned in vain.

Tang Feng stood on the ruins of the building and said, "However, we are not without gains. Now I can deduce the secret of this building."

"The secret of the building?" Tang Feng's words immediately aroused the interest of others.

4
Tang Feng took a breath and explained: "Yes, the secret of the building. I found that the rocks in this place are exposed, and the only grass left on the ground is full of mouse holes. They are the kind of pikas that are common on alpine grasslands. They are huge , the ability to reproduce is extremely strong, and it has caused great damage to the grassland. You see..."

Everyone followed Tang Feng's fingers and saw a huge pika coming out of the mouse hole. "Look at the grassland not far from our feet, there are more than ten mouse holes in one square meter of grassland. I can't imagine that there will be a total of rat holes in this seriously degraded grassland in this mountain depression alone. How many rat holes?"

"What does this have to do with this house relic?" Xu Renyu asked.

"Judging from the age and style of the house, these houses should have been built by herders. Later, because of excessive grazing and digging of caterpillar fungus, pikas ran rampant and the pastures were seriously degraded, so the owners of these houses were forced to relocate. If we leave here, we will see these architectural relics today." Tang Feng replied.

"It seems that our inference of the so-called A area is wrong, and it was misled by these modern house relics. But these herdsmen are also very strange. They put their herds in this mountain depression. It's cold here, and it's far away from the outside. No matter how good the pasture is, you shouldn't come here!" Xu Renyu's words were full of disappointment and confusion.

"I can't believe it. This is already a very remote and desolate area. The herdsmen have to give up because of the degradation of the grasslands. Where can these herdsmen go?" Makarov is also concerned about the fate of the herdsmen.

"Dr. Xu seems to have stayed abroad for a long time. You don't know this place or the herdsmen here. Their life is really difficult, and they found this place out of helplessness. However, their arrival destroyed the original place here. It's a fragile environment." Tang Feng was talking, when suddenly, a huge pika climbed up from his feet, and Tang Feng screamed out of fright.Han Jiang just wanted to help Tang Feng get rid of the pika, but unexpectedly, a bigger pika climbed onto his thigh...

(End of this chapter)