1618 Chapter 8

Dong Can and his group must have entered the Himalayan region and taken the wrong path. They did not exit through any of the exits but instead ventured deeper into the mountains, seemingly perishing within. However, the reality was quite different. Ten years later, a man named Kubari was discovered to be Avi himself. He died in a brawl in Bengal, having been struck dead by a loser with a hoe during a gambling incident. By that time, he was no longer a poor merchant of the caravan but a very wealthy local tycoon. At the end of that year, someone recognized a low-profile rich man in Sikkim as Nong Cai.

Kuli Pa and Dong Can did not appear, but the emergence of Avi and Nong Cai clearly made the authorities realize that the situation was not as simple as it seemed. The caravan from that year did not appear to have perished in the Himalayas; they all seemed to be alive and had secretly left the mountains under new identities, living under assumed names. Moreover, they all shared a common phenomenon: they had become quite wealthy.

It was said that when the authorities arrested Nong Cai, the amount of wealth in his household could not be transported even after ten truckloads. What had these people experienced in the Himalayas? Why did they choose to hide their identities after coming out? Where did Kuli Pa and Dong Can go? In Nong Cai’s inquiry record, we can glean the general truth of the matter.

This record from Nong Cai is the truth he revealed after being detained. Given the context of the war just having ended, such records should be quite authentic. In the record, we see an astonishing experience.

At that time, after Dong Can and his group ventured deep into the Himalayas, they encountered a particularly terrifying landslide at a crossroads and had to choose another route. The wind and snow in the mountains were fierce. They did not realize that after several twists and turns, they had returned to the landslide area. While climbing, they all fell off the cliff at the edge of the road.

Those who have watched the documentary know that traversing that section of the road relied almost entirely on porters, with all the animals used for carrying luggage tied together with ropes. The connection of the ropes was particularly intricate, with different knots being used. In areas where the path was too slippery, the ropes had to be untied. Dong Can and his group misjudged the road conditions. Therefore, when one person fell into the cliff, everyone was pulled down by the ropes.

It was a tragic accident, during which countless events occurred that could not all be documented. Due to the ropes, the process of their falling from the cliff was very complex. Many people were killed upon impact with the rock wall due to inertia after getting caught in the ropes, while others were directly strangled by the ropes, which was horrifying.

This accident resulted in the loss of half of their people and livestock. After resting at the bottom of the cliff, they realized it was impossible to climb back up and sought other routes to return to the cliff. As a result, they ended up walking into an area they had never entered before and discovered a strange place within.

It was a valley where the snow accumulation was surprisingly thin. In the center of the valley stood a massive spherical object, the upper half covered in snow, but the lower half clearly revealed a large black metal sphere about three or four stories high. Beside this large metal sphere, they found countless small metal spheres, each about the size of an egg, buried in the snow, numbering in the thousands. These small spheres varied in size and were completely obscured by the snow, making it impossible to count them. If all the snow were removed, it would probably resemble a play area for children.

Nong Gai couldn’t remember who first discovered that some of these spheres were made of gold. They desperately collected them, exchanging all their resources for these gold spheres. During the process of picking them up, Nong Gai noticed that there were many different types of metals among these spheres—copper, iron, aluminum; it seemed like every element in the world was on display here.

Everyone went crazy because there were so many spheres, and it required patience to find the gold ones among them. Later, a robbery incident occurred, and someone was injured in the chaos. After enduring great hardships, they finally left the valley, and only six people survived. Besides the two of them, there were three companions and Dong Can. Dong Can was the only one among them who left with nothing. At that time, all his attention was on the large sphere, seemingly entranced, showing no interest in the mountains of gold.

Nong Gai said that the enormous black sphere was placed right in the middle of the valley, clearly artificial. But what purpose did this black sphere serve? Who had placed it there? He couldn’t understand. All the metal spheres showed significant wear and oxidation, indicating they had been there for at least several thousand years.

Nong Gai gained his freedom in the late 1980s. He wrote a book recounting this incident and made many unrealistic inferences within it. He claimed that most of his wealth was earned by himself, and that the gold was merely his starting capital.

The gold spheres that Nong Gai and Avi spent were gradually found around the world. Some had already been melted down into other shapes or coins, while twelve of them remained in their original form. At that time, the Indian government paid a high price to acquire these items, and these gold spheres became known as “gold more valuable than gold.”

In the end, Dong Can was never found by anyone. The only clue was a letter he sent, which was delivered to a lama in the late 1970s. Inside the letter was a drawing featuring a strange pattern, which was a star chart. The authorities later received this letter, but they did not capture the recipient.

From this, we can infer that the letter did not reach its intended recipient, and the authorities also failed to apprehend anyone who could understand the star chart. This chart indicated the location of the valley.

However, those who had not received the letter were not willing to let the matter rest. Thus, a young man first arrived in Motuo. He came from the prominent Chinese family to which Dong Can belonged, and he was there to investigate Dong Can’s whereabouts. I could mention his name, but I prefer to refer to him as the young man in this story. The first person he encountered locally was the then 74-year-old De Ren, the Dalai Lama.