Chapter 1 The Four Escapees

Two days after the four of them fled overnight, a small team from Organization Z followed the trail and found Old Zhang's small wooden house. However, Old Zhang claimed ignorance of everything, which greatly annoyed them. But given Old Zhang's special status, they couldn't do anything to him.

However, their trip wasn't entirely fruitless. One of the team members was particularly skilled at tracking. He discovered dense jeep tire tracks extending from the wooden house to the dirt road at the foot of the mountain. By following these tracks, he was easily able to deduce the four's direction of travel.

Later, through certain means, these members of Organization Z obtained surveillance footage from key checkpoints on several major roads. From the footage, they identified the car they were looking for and even obtained the license plate number.

But even the best hunter can't outsmart a cunning fox. Not long after the car they were searching for entered Shaanxi Province, it suddenly disappeared. No matter how hard they searched, they couldn't find it. They suspected that the four were hiding somewhere in Shaanxi, so they mobilized a considerable number of domestic personnel to search for them. After more than a month, they found nothing.

After this extensive search, Organization Z concluded that the four had likely escaped, but they couldn't determine their specific destination.

Organization Z also believed that they might have left the country, perhaps crossing the border from Inner Mongolia into Russia, leaving Xinjiang for Central Asia, or escaping to South Asia via Yunnan.

Therefore, Organization Z redeployed its forces. On one hand, they strengthened domestic personnel deployment, starting in Shaanxi and conducting a nationwide search. On the other hand, they deployed personnel to guard and search border areas.

...

We drove in shifts for more than half a month, barely resting. Because the map was too old, some newly built roads weren't marked, which caused us to get lost in Qinghai and delayed us for a while. Later, everyone felt that they couldn't hold on any longer, so we found a black hotel in a no-man's-land where we could check in without registering. Fatty first put on a mask and sunglasses, paid the money, and took the key to the room. We observed from outside, and then slipped in while the hotel owner was in the bathroom. Fatty said this was to avoid attracting attention.

Although the accommodation conditions in the black hotel were very poor, there was plenty of hot water, and there were two beds. We took turns taking showers and changed into new clothes. Fatty and I squeezed into one bed, and Zoe and Han Yu squeezed into the other. The four of us slept soundly for two days. During this time, Fatty woke up and went out for a while, bringing back several pounds of braised beef, a few side dishes, and a bottle of wine. We devoured it all, and fell asleep again without saying a few words.

When we left the black hotel, we slipped out while Fatty was returning the deposit, so no one saw us. Moving from the spacious bed to the cramped car, everyone was reluctant. But there was no choice, we had to get on the road.

After the rest, everyone's spirits were much better than before, and we didn't get lost again. After entering Tibet from Qinghai, we drove south to Yadong County. Yadong County is a protruding piece of land, reaching directly into the heart of India and Bhutan. The county seat is located in a primeval forest, with the Yadong River winding through the center. After flowing through Yadong, the Yadong River flows into Bhutan, where it is renamed "Amo Chhu," and finally enters India, where it is renamed "Torsa River."

Fatty said, "Before going up the mountain, we can make one last supply run in Yadong County, replenish all the video equipment needed for the mountain, and then go straight up the mountain. If we are discovered by Organization Z before that, we will escape directly to India, leave India by sea, and then use roundabout tactics to deal with them later."

It must be said that Fatty didn't serve in the army for nothing. He accumulated a lot of combat experience and had already thought of an escape route.

Fatty used fake documents obtained from his comrades in Shaanxi to rent a house from a real estate agent. He rented the most expensive apartment with the most complete facilities, claiming to be doing business here and living alone. He paid a year's rent. Because Fatty didn't bargain and paid so readily, the real estate agent saw that his documents were complete and that Fatty looked honest and simple, so she didn't suspect anything and even waived the deposit. After we moved in, no one came to check again. This was the first time since our escape that we had lived in a house with water, electricity, and complete appliances such as televisions and water heaters.

Since arriving in Yadong, Fatty had collected a lot of maps, including mountaineering route maps of the Himalayas. However, these mountaineering maps were drawn by local guides themselves. The scale was inaccurate, and sometimes the routes weren't entirely correct. Fatty and Zoe used this as a reference to start planning the mountaineering route. During this time, they often disguised themselves and went out to investigate on the ground, and also consulted guides.

The second-hand computer that Zoe had bought came in handy at this time. Although the model was old, it was still no problem to write code and surf the Internet. Fatty found someone from the telecommunications company to open the network, and this computer was officially requisitioned by Fatty and Zoe. They said they would use it to look up information.

Han Yu and I focused on studying the equipment needed to venture into the Devil's Mountains. Han Yu didn't talk much. She wrote and drew on paper every day, not knowing if she was doing math or recording something, and she didn't take the initiative to communicate with me.

Fatty often went out to purchase equipment and supplies. When Fatty went out, I asked him to buy some electronic components, and then I used these components to make some equipment that couldn't be bought outside. One of them was a simple radio-controlled drone that could take pictures and videos in the air, but it only had a few minutes of battery life, and it was more troublesome to recover. To prevent the drone from flying away due to instability and becoming unrecoverable, a fishing line needed to be tied to the drone to fix its position. Fatty was very satisfied with this reconnaissance equipment.

In short, everyone was busy with their own things, and no one disturbed anyone else. It was only during meals that everyone opened up, of course, mainly Fatty speaking. I don't know where Fatty accumulated so many words.

After more than a month of getting along, the feelings between us grew stronger, especially between Zoe and me. At first, I was wary of this foreign woman of unknown origin, but as I learned more about her, this wariness gradually disappeared. Plus, she spoke fluent Chinese, so it was difficult to maintain any barriers.

During this time, during the day, we performed our respective duties and worked; at night, Fatty took us to do some exercise to prepare for mountaineering.

With less than a month left before the original mountaineering plan, the preparations were basically completed. The main task every day became Fatty leading us in high-intensity exercise, which was exhausting.

Fatty's favorite saying was that if we didn't exercise now, we would freeze to death, die of exhaustion, or starve to death on the mountain, and the pain before death would be a hundred times greater than the pain now.

This sentence was quite a mental stimulus to us. Zoe, Han Yu and I didn't dare to slack off. Especially Han Yu, whose physical fitness was the worst. Although Fatty had been taking care of her and reducing her exercise volume, she still gritted her teeth and insisted that Fatty treat her equally.

Fatty also taught the three of us self-defense and fighting skills during breaks, often asking me to cooperate with him in demonstrations. I was often twisted into various positions of submission by his two or three moves. Not only that, Fatty also let Zoe and Han Yu subdue me, twisting me back and forth. It seemed they enjoyed subduing me, this weak hypothetical enemy.

On the day of departure, we realized that there were too many things to prepare. After several rounds of screening, we decided that the items to be carried weighed a full three hundred kilograms. Zoe suggested that we first move these things into the car and talk about it when we reached our destination.

Fatty drove around the main road, taking small roads instead. He drove south all the way to Yadong, and finally drove the car to a hidden place at the foot of a mountain in the Himalayas.

For the three hundred kilograms of supplies and equipment, we equipped what should be equipped, put on what should be put on, and there were still about two hundred kilograms left. Fatty carried nearly seventy or eighty kilograms of supplies himself, and the three of us divided the remaining supplies according to our weight and carried them on our backs. After that, Fatty covered the off-road vehicle with a large tarpaulin, embedded steel nails in the ground in the four directions of the vehicle body, and fixed the tarpaulin. Fatty said that this would make it less likely to be discovered, and it would also be convenient for us to find the car if we returned the same way.

After everything was properly arranged, Fatty led the three of us and proceeded towards the mountaineering point according to the planned route.