Chapter 17: The King of Adventure, Lu Zonghan

  In our country, apart from the Kunlun Mountain Death Valley located at the junction of Qinghai and Xinjiang, there is another relatively famous death valley, which is Heizigou in Sichuan.

  Legend has it that when the PLA approached the Great Southwest, more than 100 remnants of Hu Zongnan's troops, relying on their excellent equipment, tried to force their way through Heizigou, but were completely annihilated and swallowed up by the ruthless Heizigou.

  It's not a coincidence that the Kunlun Mountain Death Valley, which starts from Golmud in Qinghai, also swallowed up a team of over 100 people. This team was led by Ma Bufang, a KMT general, on a treasure hunt.

  According to insiders, before the founding of New China, after this team entered Death Valley, only one person escaped, that is Ma Bufang. After escaping from Death Valley, Ma Bufang obtained some secrets and organized a 500-man team to go to Sichuan, where they were annihilated again, with only Ma Bufang and a Taoist priest escaping.

  When they escaped, the whole country was facing liberation, the Kuomintang's luck had run out, and he also fled abroad with his property, eventually dying in a foreign land.

  At that time, some people said that Ma Bufang obtained the treasure map in the Kunlun Death Valley and then went to Sichuan to search for treasure. Anyway, there were many rumors, and it was hard to tell which one was true.

  Professor Zhou Tao had no idea what lay ahead as he ventured into the mysterious Kunlun Mountains' Valley of Death.

  He seemed to have never heard of anyone successfully crossing the Death Valley, and was extremely worried. However, as the sacred place guarded by the ancient Qiang people for generations, it was very likely that they would be able to learn about the origins of the "Seven-Star Crystal Sheep Head" in their hands, and he was full of expectations for this action.

  At this time he suddenly thought of a person, that is Mr. Lu Zonghan, known as the "King of Adventure".

  Lu Zonghan is a rich second generation, who is familiar with China's various mysterious places. He has crossed the Kokonor, Robo Lake, and Amazon jungle multiple times without a guide, and has also drifted on the Yangtze River and Yellow River. In short, wherever no one has been, he must go and explore.

  Long before embarking on his journey of exploration, he had made a will stating that he would dedicate his life to the vastness of nature. So even in his thirties, he was still unmarried, and for someone like him, getting married would indeed be irresponsible to his family - a husband who couldn't accompany his wife, a father who couldn't care for his children, really wasn't a good man. But he was indeed a nationally renowned explorer, famous within the small circle of explorers, but completely unknown outside of it.

  In fact, in other people's eyes, he is a madman who plays with his life. But this spirit of challenging the limits of life and exploring the unknown makes Professor Zhou Tao extremely admire him.

  Professor Zhou had met him at an academic conference, and the two had a great conversation, raising their glasses in a toast, thus becoming close friends despite being more than twenty years apart in age.

  He intended to ask Lu Zonghan about the situation in Death Valley, and took out Lu Zonghan's business card from his card holder. He first dialed one of Lu Zonghan's mobile phone numbers, but was told that he was not in service area.

  "I don't know where this kid has run off to again!" Professor Zhou Tao muttered, dialing another satellite phone number on the name card.

  As soon as the phone was connected, a loud whooshing sound came through, and when the other party learned that it was Professor Zhou Tao, he shouted loudly: "Professor Zhou, my friends and I are playing in the desert now. If you want to invite me to dinner, let's talk about it when we get back!"

  Zhou Tao smiled and said loudly: "Zong Han, we are going to the Death Valley of Kunlun Mountain. Do you know anything about that place?"

  The wind sound in the receiver's mobile phone became smaller, and Lu Zonghan should have drilled into the car.

  He listened to Professor Zhou Tao mention Death Valley and fell silent for a few seconds before saying in a low voice, "You're all reckless, this is a rhythm of seeking death!"

  "Have you ever been there?" Professor Zhou Tao heard him say this, guessing that the kid had been there before, otherwise he wouldn't be talking about the color change of Death Valley.

  "Last year, I and a friend went on an adventure to the Death Valley from the entrance of Kumukuli Basin in Xinjiang. We encountered a thunderstorm and almost died there. Compared to the Amazon jungle, that place is even more terrifying. The power of several people cannot get through the Death Valley, where the road is difficult to walk, full of traps, underground dark rivers, and you can die if you are not careful."

  "Is it that dangerous?"

  "The most dangerous danger in this world is the invisible one. The seemingly solid road you step on may be an underground hidden pit. I advise you to abandon your plan to go to Death Valley!"

  "Oh, are you interested in joining our team?" Professor Zhou Tao asked instead of answering.

  The other party fell silent for dozens of seconds, seemingly having a hard time making a decision: "We are currently searching for the whereabouts of a mysterious female country, but it has been over a month since we arrived and still have no leads. How about this, let me discuss with my teammates to see if we can make some time to go, crossing the Death Valley is one of the plans I have for my lifetime, haha..."

  Professor Zhou Tao heard his hearty laughter and knew that this matter was 80 or 90% certain, but in order to prevent any unexpected events, he smiled mysteriously and said: "Don't you feel curious about why we're going to Death Valley?"

  "You didn't remind me, I almost forgot to ask you, what did you go to Death Valley for?"

  "Clues to find the lost 12 ancient Qiang tribes!"

  After hearing Professor Zhou Tao's words, Lu Zonghan shouted: "Ah! Why didn't you say it earlier? Send me the address where you live on my phone and I'll rush over immediately!"

  Professor Zhou Tao was overjoyed and said: "With you joining our team, it will be much smoother!"

  Lu Zonghan was very curious about the highly developed civilization of the ancient Qiang people, but they didn't leave behind their own writing. He had discussed this issue with Professor Zhou Tao before, but there was no result. It was at that time that he learned about the legend of the Seven-Star Crystal Sheep's Head and was very curious, instructing Professor Zhou to share any investigation results about the ancient Qiang people in the future. So when he heard that Professor Zhou mentioned going to find the lost 12 tribes of the ancient Qiang people, how could he not be excited?

  When Zhou Tao contacted Lu Zonghan, Liu Yi and others were also studying the materials about Kunlun Death Valley online, but they were all confused in their hearts. As for crossing such a mysterious place, no one was sure what would happen, but everyone had the same feeling that this trip would be decided by fate.

  Liu Yi suddenly thought of a philosophical question, whether people are pursuing wealth and luxury or seeking simplicity and nature, it all boils down to a continuous process of "searching". However, the ultimate outcome is death. Therefore, one can say that living itself is a process of "courting death". Embarking on this journey to find his father would also be fraught with crisis and danger. Since that's the case, why not face everything calmly?

  There are mountains to cross and rivers to wade, the process of striving towards one's goal is so magnificent, so wonderful in the face of what is called a fatal outcome!

  With this in mind, he felt relieved and began to list the equipment he needed to purchase on paper: wolf-tooth flashlight, tent, compressed biscuits, inflatable boat, cold-proof clothing, serum, antipyretic drugs, portable oxygen tank, etc.

  Liu Yi wrote down nearly a hundred things that they might use in the future. This task alone took up almost an hour of his time. This was not him being meticulous, but even for ordinary exploration activities, careful preparation was necessary, and even a small mistake could lead to death.

  A person can joke about anything, but never their own life.

  To know that any adventure tutorial no matter how it is written ultimately teaches you one thing, which is: "How to keep your life intact!"

  Then, Liu Yi handed over the procurement list and a bank card to Malacca, asking him to go for a big purchase. If something is not available on the market, he will buy it on the black market. After finishing the handover, Liu Yi ran to Professor Zhou Tao's room, planning to discuss with him whether to find a few more people to join the adventure team, and then learned that Lu Zonghan wanted to join their team, extremely happy, and had heard a lot about this character.

  ……

  Lu Zonghan rushed to the hotel where Liu Yi lived, it was already four o'clock in the afternoon. The moment he stepped into Professor Zhou Tao's room, Liu Yi suddenly felt a strong flavor of desert sand blowing towards him.

  His face was like a knife cut, tough and resilient, with a body of ancient bronze-colored skin, solid muscles, and at first glance, he looked like an expert from outside. Although the camouflage clothes on his body were dirty, his face was very clean.

  As soon as he entered the door, he threw a black crutch in his hand onto the bed, took a big step forward, and hugged Professor Zhou Tao up with a loud laugh: "My old brother, it's been more than half a year since we last met, you're still so robust, hahaha..."

  "What a straightforward and passionate fellow!" Liu Yi thought to himself on the side: "He's almost as good as Ma Liang!"

  Professor Zhou Tao was suddenly swept off his feet and enveloped in a warm hug, which left him slightly breathless. He coughed once. Lu Zonghan put Professor Zhou Tao down and asked: "Have you got any leads on the 12 tribes of ancient Qiang? Tell me about it!"

  Everyone introduced each other, exchanged simple pleasantries, and after sitting down, Professor Zhou Tao briefly told the story from getting the crystal sheep head to studying it, all the way to their experiences in Kekou Village. Lu Zonghan listened intently on the side, occasionally interjecting with amazement, his eyes shining with excitement.

  "How was it? Worth coming, wasn't it?" Professor Zhou asked with a smile.

  "Of course, of course! I'm really looking forward to this trip to Death Valley. It's also a chance for me to complete my unfinished journey from last time!"

  Then he turned his head and glanced at Liu Yi: "I know what 'crossing the forest of white bones' in your father's email means!"

  "Ah!" Professors Liu Yi and Zhou Tao were both curious and urged him to continue.

  Lu Zonghan was about to speak when Ma Liya burst in, carrying a large number of packages and shouting "I'm exhausted!"

  After another round of polite conversation, everyone sat down on the bed, focusing their attention to listen to Lu Zonghan's story about crossing Death Valley last year.