We circled around the edge of the valley, almost climbing like rock climbers as we approached the exposed black mountain of bare rock. The mountain was enormous; from a distance, we could see a massive fissure running across it. When the snow covered the mountain, this fissure must have been hidden beneath the snow and glaciers. Now, as we got closer to the mountain, we felt a wave of hot air rushing towards us. The geothermal temperatures were quite extreme, and soon we had to strip off all our clothes.

The snow on the side of the mountain we were approaching had melted, revealing waterfalls everywhere. We traversed through a zone with a mix of hot and cold, filled with large icicles, and finally climbed up to the bare black mountain. As we climbed, the warmth of the rocks made us instinctively pull our necks in; the rocks felt surprisingly warm, as if they had been sprayed with a flamethrower.

“Are we at a volcano?” the胖子 (Fatty) asked.

“Even if it’s not a volcano, it’s definitely a mountain rich in geothermal activity. There must be a lava pool beneath it that suddenly heated the mountain due to geological changes,” I replied.

We climbed along the mountain’s midsection, navigating through bizarre rock formations. The black rocks had no discernible patterns, but this actually made it easier to climb. After a while, we spotted countless small hot springs bubbling up with hot water. The mountain was filled with a strong sulfur smell. We crawled horizontally for at least two hours, and as the sky darkened, we reached the edge of the fissure.

There was a large platform here that sank into the mountain rock, and on it, we saw countless skeletal remains.

“These people were all dressed; they must have died trapped here, villagers from Kongba,” Zhang Haixing said. “It seems that this tribe, which once dwelled in paradise, has finally lost the protection of the gods.”

“Why be so melodramatic? They were just refugees who fled here during an avalanche. While hiding here, the snow melted, and they were likely poisoned by the toxic gases that erupted,” I replied.

We donned gas masks, and the胖子 was the first to crawl into the fissure. The fissure was about three or four people wide, leading deep into the ground, and it was pitch black below.

“God must have used a pirated disc to cut a hole in this mountain,” the胖子 said.

We crawled in one by one, and the胖子 asked, “Boss, should we crawl forward or downward?”

“Why are we crawling in?” Zhang Haixing asked the胖子. “What could be down there?”

The胖子 turned on his flashlight and shone it below, saying, “Naive, does this place look familiar to you?”

I looked down and saw that the fissure widened, revealing numerous bronze chains running deep into the mountain.

“Changbai Mountain,” I said.

“What?” Zhang Haixing asked.

I turned to look at the surrounding mountain and said, “Miss, from now on, everything here is under my command. Let me take you to see what your Zhang family refers to as the ‘ultimate.'”

We returned to the platform to rest for an hour. It was completely dark now; in the high-altitude region, it gets dark quite late. I estimated that it must be close to nine o’clock.

We distributed ammunition, rations, and equipment. The胖子 found several high-quality Tibetan knives among the remains of the corpses and began to sharpen them on the rocks. There were many corrosive gases here, causing the Tibetan knives to oxidize heavily, but after sharpening, they became sharp as ever.

I chose the lightest one, and when I saw the one Zhang Haixing picked, I realized that I might not even have as much strength as she does. But I won’t belittle myself anymore; I have plenty of experience.

We slept on the warm rocks for a night, and in the morning, after putting on our gas masks, we began to enter the crevice and move downward.

It took us five days to finally reach the bottom of the crevice. The deeper we went, the wider the crevice became. From the three or four people at the top of the mountain, it widened to at least the length of a bridge at the bottom. Countless iron chains spanned across, and the entire crevice resembled a spider web.

The bottom was filled with numerous fallen stones, varying in size and unevenly stacked, likely remnants from when this crevice formed. Some long stones got stuck between two massive rock walls during their fall, forming stone arch bridges.

We sat on the gravel for a long time before finding the strength to stand up; the feeling of solid ground beneath our feet was wonderful. As we walked along the rocky beach, Zhang Haixing suddenly exclaimed.

I looked up to see the end of the crevice. Beyond the rubble, there stood a massive bronze gate, almost identical to the one I had seen in Changbai Mountain. Towering at the end of my line of sight, the beam of my flashlight couldn’t capture its full form, only revealing the intricate patterns on the door, so rich in detail that it was almost maddening.

When we reached the bronze gate, everyone fell silent. Feng was trembling and suddenly sat down on the sharp, jagged stones.

How long has it been?

I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this way when I saw this gate—overwhelmed, feeling that everything about time was unreliable. But now, although my heart raced, the feeling inside me was completely different.

We meet again, I thought. I never expected that in my lifetime, I would see such a grand gate once more.

Changbai Mountain, the Himalayas—at the base of these vast mountains, there are such enormous gates. Who built them, and what is their purpose?

“Do we have the ghost seal? We don’t even know the mechanism; will this door open?” the Fatty was the first to ask.

I shook my head and walked forward, continuing until I stood before the giant gate. I placed my hand on it.

Cold. In this extremely stuffy crevice, the giant gate was cold.

I traced the patterns on it; the lines were so exquisite. I wondered if modern technology could even create such detailed lines for a door of this size.

With that thought, I pushed the giant gate with all my strength; it was an instinctive action.

I imagined the door slowly opening with my movement, but to my disappointment, it didn’t budge at all.

As expected, the one destined to open this door would not be me.

I stepped back and sat on a stone in front of the gate. Zhang Haixing asked me, “Do you think what our Zhang family calls the ‘ultimate’ is behind this bronze gate?”

“It’s not me who said it; it’s your clan leader,” I replied.

“Are there any more clues?”

“Ask your clan leader,” I said, gazing at the giant gate. From this distance, it seemed to be the entire world before my eyes.

Could it be a door to anywhere? If I opened it, would I find the dull oil bottle inside, with hair and beard all over, munching on mushrooms?

I can’t even manage to smile.

Zhang Haixing also went to the front of the door, carefully examining the patterns on it. After looking for a while with no results, she suddenly jumped up onto the bronze door and began to climb.

The patterns were very small, making it impossible to grip them to climb up. However, I noticed that Zhang Haixing was wearing something that looked like claws on her hands.

She was very agile, climbing high up until she reached the top of the door, but it seemed she found nothing and came back down.

“The top is sealed very tightly, which is strange,” she said.

The胖子 and I looked at her, and she continued, “This kind of door is very heavy, pressing down on the rock over time, causing it to sink into the rock. Eventually, gaps would appear above, but this door doesn’t have any.”

“What does that indicate?” I asked her.

She replied, “Either this door isn’t as heavy as we imagined, or the foundation here has been specially treated.”

“If the door isn’t as heavy as we thought, then it could also be hollow, right?” The胖子 pulled out his grenade pouch. “Come on, let’s see if this door is sturdy.”