All of this was buried in shallow earth, as if the remains had died in the open. Afterwards, frequent landslides and mudslides in the Grand Canyon covered it up.

Who is this? Ian Lawson was completely puzzled.

The presence of the vajra pestle indicated that the remains should be a Tibetan, but everything before his eyes seemed so bizarre. The size of the skeleton also exceeded the usual stature of Tibetans. The corpse wore a metal necklace, but ordinary Tibetans preferred turquoise necklaces and rarely used metal ones. Ordinary Tibetans would never put a strange metal box in their satchel, and the vajra pestle faintly showed a bluish tint, suggesting it was made of bronze. Normally, Tibetan vajra pestles are made of copper or silver.

Bronze vajra pestles are troublesome to make nowadays, and no one has made them for a long time.

After finishing his cigarette, Ian Lawson picked up the camera and took several photos of the entire excavation site, then began measuring and recording the data one by one. Only then did he start to examine the relics of the corpse.

Ian Lawson was very shocked.

Around the corpse’s neck was a white metal necklace, but the metal was definitely not silver, as it was not as soft as silver. The body had already turned to bone, and after brushing off the dirt, the necklace was not blackened but instead shone as if new—it was definitely not silver. It was heavy, probably a precious metal. Ian Lawson had a vague guess, but did not dare to be certain.

"Strange," Ian Lawson muttered to himself, full of doubts, as he took off the pendant for a closer look.

It was a round medallion, embossed with a shield. The edge of the shield was decorated with waves, symbolizing the sea. Above the shield was a flying dragon—a typical Western legendary dragon. Beneath the dragon’s body, a floating island could be faintly seen. A beam of light shone straight down from the sky, and the floating island radiated beams of light. Below the shield were still waves, and on the waves were several raised dots, which looked like large sailing ships at sea.

"How bizarre, a shield engraved with the sea here on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, so far from the ocean," Ian Lawson couldn’t help but mutter, feeling as if he had grasped something, but his thoughts were tangled.

The discovery of the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon was due to a Japanese expedition member’s accident; during the search, the canyon was discovered by chance, in 1994. For Chinese people, this world’s largest canyon might be mysterious, but foreigners perhaps know it even better than the Chinese. Just look at the hikers at the foot of the mountain, and you’ll see a helpless fact: among the backpackers, there are clearly more foreigners than Chinese.

Perhaps, this corpse was a Westerner, and very likely not a modern one.

Ian Lawson took a few more photos and continued sorting through the relics.

After moving the metal box, he found some more survival items underneath, showing that the owner of the remains had organized his belongings very carefully.

An old-fashioned flat round silver flask, a damaged Breguet minute repeater pocket watch, a mountaineering pick with only the head left, fragments of a lantern, a short sword, a brass compass, and some small metal pieces. In the soil, he also found an ink bottle covered in verdigris, full of Victorian style. Several dip pen nibs, but the pen shafts were nowhere to be found. The wallet was only a trace, and inside he found only a few keys, incomplete, with the rest unrecognizable.

"Perhaps all the secrets will be answered in this box," Ian Lawson gently took the metal box and blew the dirt off its surface.

Chapter 2 Doubts

Ian Lawson hesitated for a long time, finally resisting the urge to open the metal box.

The contents of the box had been stored for too long; once opened, the items inside would deteriorate faster, so he had to be fully prepared. Once the lid was opened, the contents needed to be quickly placed in a temperature- and humidity-controlled box for preservation. Out here in the wilderness, it was obviously not the right place for careful research.

As Ian Lawson covered the bones, he pondered where these things should go.

Everything before him was too strange, and intense curiosity made Ian Lawson restless, itching to uncover the secrets immediately. After covering the bones, he placed the relics one by one beside the grave, squatted on the ground and smoked several cigarettes, then made up his mind—he must personally uncover the secret.

Ian Lawson jumped up, took several food packaging bags from his pack, and first wrapped the metal box tightly; then wrapped the other small items one by one and put them in his travel bag. The vajra pestle was too long to fit in the bag. Ian Lawson measured for a long time, finally finding a solution—he unrolled his moisture-proof mat, wrapped the vajra pestle, tied it to the bag, and scrutinized it until it looked flawless on the surface.

As for the strange necklace, Ian Lawson also found a place for it—around his own neck.

After finishing his work, Ian Lawson simply erected a wooden stick in front of the grave, shaved off the bark on one end, and carved the words "Ian Lawson erects an unnamed grave here, may he rest in peace," then stood in silent tribute before the grave.

Looking up, he saw a horseshoe-shaped green mountain, which the local people called Duobula Xiong Mountain. Apart from three exposed vertical cliffs, the rest of the mountain was lush and covered with primeval forest.