Solving Middle Age Crisis by Intelligence System-Chapter 590 - 395: Earth’s Axis_2

"If this corpse is from that expedition team, does it mean... the passage we’re in now is the legendary Shambhala?"

Kunlun Mountain itself is a place full of mystery. If there really is an earth axis, a mysterious power controlling time, perhaps only this place can fulfill such a fantasy...

"It’s still uncertain..."

De Gaulle stood up and pointed the flashlight forward down the passage.

A thought suddenly rose in his mind: Could it be... the target he’s seeking and the earth axis the Germans want to find are essentially the same thing?

Or perhaps the same place?

"Uh... Boss, can I ask a question?" The demolition expert An Zai suddenly raised his hand, awkwardly smiling at Qi Yun.

Qi Yun nodded: "Go ahead."

"I’m just curious." An Zai scratched his head, "Wasn’t it said that when the Allies broke into Berlin, they never found that mustached man?"

"Could it be... he didn’t commit suicide then, but secretly fled to Tibet, intending to join this expedition team to find the earth axis and turn the tables?"

As soon as he said this, the passage immediately fell silent.

Regarding the final resolution of the mustached man, opinions online are varied.

Some scholars say that when the mustached man’s guards opened the door to evacuate him, they found he had already shot himself in the mouth and committed suicide, while his wife also followed suit and died from poison.

The guards, not wanting the mustached man’s body to be made a spectacle by the Allies, decided to move their bodies out of the bunker, douse them in gasoline, and burn them directly.

This is the most mainstream view, logically sound with a certain credibility.

The only thing that triggers imagination is whether such a paranoid and crazed individual would truly choose suicide?

Additionally, there’s a theory that the mustached man was directly captured alive by the Allies, and to gain his boundless treasures, the Allied high command publicly announced his suicide.

The actual situation was that he was captured alive and secretly held in an underground fortress deep in the Swiss Alps until his death...

However, some have also mentioned the possibility An Zai alluded to.

For example, the famous Argentine journalist Abel Basti, in his book "He Deceived the World: The Mystery of the Mustached Man’s Death," claims the mustached man didn’t commit suicide but escaped.

"Let’s not dwell on this issue now." Qi Yun looked at his watch and noticed it was already noon, so he urged, "Let’s make good use of our time and keep moving forward."

Everyone put aside their thoughts and continued deeper into the tunnel.

After about ten minutes of walking, this passage showed no sign of ending, and it seemed to have a slight slope leading downwards, albeit very slight and hard to notice without careful observation.

Suddenly, the team stopped as one of the researchers brought by De Gaulle stood motionless, shining his flashlight onto the nearby rock wall.

"What’s wrong?" De Gaulle asked him.

He squatted in front of the rock wall, reaching out to touch a small indentation: "Look here."

"This doesn’t seem naturally formed."

A nearby bodyguard glanced at it and remarked, "That’s a mark left by a rifle bullet."

The team scattered, their flashlights scanning the rock walls on both sides of the passage, revealing not only the bullet hole from before but many others in the vicinity.

Moreover, there were rusty bullet casings scattered on the ground.

An Zai bent down and picked up a shell casing, pinching the rusty surface with his fingers: "7.92mm caliber."

"Why did they fire here?"

No one answered this question, as apart from the scattered casings, they found no other useful clues on site.

Qi Yun glanced at Ignacio, who was visibly exhausted from the several hours of trekking since morning.

Thus, he suggested to De Gaulle: "Let’s rest here for a bit."

De Gaulle nodded in agreement, and everyone leaned against the rock wall to take a break, pulling out some rations to replenish their energy.

Qi Yun chewed on his dried beef while gazing at the marks on the rock wall.

The course of events was rather unexpected.

Originally thought they’d simply follow clues to locate the "Land of Eternal Life," but instead they stumbled upon the expedition team, bringing forth the legend of the "earth axis" along with these mysterious bullet holes...

Exactly what did this German team encounter in the tunnel, recklessly firing in such a narrow and enclosed space, without fear of causing a collapse?

...

After a brief rest, the group continued onward.

It was now noon, and if they couldn’t reach their destination soon, they wouldn’t be able to descend the mountain that night.

The passage seemed to have a more evident slope, the downward trajectory becoming clearer; the air grew colder, and the white breath was particularly noticeable under the flashlight beam.

After another twenty-plus minutes, they navigated countless bends within the tunnel, losing track of their direction.

The tunnel entrance was in the south; if this passage ran through the mountain northward, they should have reached the end by now.

The only possibility... is that they aren’t moving across the mountain but horizontally, along the east-west direction, following Kunlun Mountain’s alignment, suggesting they might be traversing through an internal fault of the mountain.

Qi Yun raised his watch to check the time, only to be shocked at the sight of the watch hands spinning like a crazed top.

"Magnetic disturbance!"

This phenomenon had been encountered before in Lop Nur.

Brother Quan took out his phone; the screen flickered twice before going completely black, with the power button yielding no response; the satellite phone also reacted similarly.

Ignacio’s expression turned serious: "Besides magnetic fields, abnormal energy fields can also disrupt electronic and mechanical devices, even altering the stability of surrounding materials."

He used a climbing pick to tap on the rock wall and collected a small scoop of rock chips, examining them in his palm.

"The rock density here is higher, indicating that deeper within, the changes in rock properties become more prominent."

An Zai scratched his head: "What does that mean?"

Ignacio dusted off his palms and looked forward through the flashlight’s beam: "It means we have reached a very special area."

One of the researchers with De Gaulle added: "Such changes in rock properties aren’t caused by ordinary geological movements; they might be related to what the expedition team was searching for."

"But it’s hard to be certain; we’ll have to take it one step at a time."

An Zai listened, half-understanding: "Should we keep going? What if the rocks ahead become as hard as iron, and we can’t even blast our way out?"

The unknown is always the most frightening.

Qi Yun also had to consider the safety of himself and his team, but after so much effort and several days of trudging, now that they’re here, there’s no reason to simply abandon their mission.

After contemplating for a moment, he pulled Chen Wei aside, whispering: "Return the way we came, and wait outside. If we’re not out by nightfall tomorrow, contact someone outside for a rescue."

Chen Wei nodded seriously, "Be careful."

"Don’t worry, with Brother Quan around." Qi Yun patted his arm as if in jest, "Go on."