Iron Bull taucht wieder auf

Kapitel 26

"Within seventy-two hours, everyone, we'll have the latest extended-size drill bit. At that time, I believe we'll be able to open the gates to heaven." Tom was brimming with confidence, waving his hairy arms and giving Suren a lecherous glance. That's how American men are; no matter how terrible the living conditions, they never forget to display their masculine charm.

I felt a heavy sense of oppression in my heart at his use of the word "heaven"—"Heaven, paradise? Only the dead are sent to that place; it's a word that priests often use at funerals."

The excavation work had to be suspended. As Tang left the tent, he approached Suren with great interest: "Miss Suren, I have the latest information on pyramid archaeology, and I also have some authentic century-old Scotch whisky. How about we have a long talk all night?"

It seems that Tang had a very profound understanding of the Chinese saying, "Life is short, why not take a stroll at night with a candle?"

Suren politely declined his ill-intentioned invitation and took my arm as we left the tent.

The desert night was chilly and shrouded in endless silence, so much so that when we returned to our tents, our hands and feet felt almost frozen.

"It's so cold—" Suren rubbed her hands together and quickly crawled into her sleeping bag.

I suddenly felt a little awkward. After all, according to Chinese tradition, it is always considered improper for a man and a woman to be alone in a room.

A sharp, long wolf howl suddenly rang out from the wilderness, utterly mournful.

Suren cautiously pulled the bolt of his rifle inside his sleeping bag, because the wolf howl seemed to have come from the west of the camp, in the direction of Tu Liehan.

I turned off the light and held my breath in the darkness, listening intently. Wolves are extremely rare in the Egyptian desert because there is simply no food for them to survive, and besides, that howl meant it was a lone wolf.

After waiting for ten minutes, I did not hear the wolf howl a second time.

Suren breathed a sigh of relief and said wearily, "Brother Feng, go to sleep early. There might be more important things to do tomorrow..."

A lone wolf isn't scary; the sentries at the outer camp could easily take down dozens of wild animals. The thought that the Rainbow Warriors' task force would soon be stationed at the camp reassured me even more; at least I didn't have to worry about the inexplicable howling of wolves. Also, I still harbored resentment towards Gu Ye for bringing this special forces team into the camp without prior notice.

"One should not have the heart to harm others, but one must have the heart to guard against others." This ancient Chinese proverb should be kept in mind by everyone.

"Tomorrow? What new developments will occur tomorrow?" The images on the monitor screen and Elder Sahan's ritual alternated in my mind. After a period of intense mental activity, the drowsiness that had just surged up was completely driven away.

Suren was already asleep; she seemed much more tired than usual today and was sleeping soundly.

After turning over in my sleeping bag, my mind became clearer. Just as I was about to carefully review the excavation work, I suddenly heard the sound of a night traveler's robes whistling through the air.

I sat up abruptly, flicked my wrist, and pulled the pistol from under my pillow. It was already chambered, and as I silently pulled the safety, the sound of the wind carried it westward.

"Suren, Suren..." I called softly, but the only response was Suren's even breathing.

I got off the bed and first opened the curtain a crack, peeking out to look west. In mid-air, it seemed to float a giant gray bat, its wings spread, flapping as it flew westward. In fact, it was a person, Sahan's disciple, the mysterious girl Youlian.

I retreated back into the tent and gently nudged Suren's shoulder: "Suren, wake up, something's wrong!"

Suren was just asleep, lying on her back, completely ignoring me.

I swear, I was completely conscious at that moment, because only twenty minutes had passed between Su Lun falling asleep and discovering You Lian flying in mid-air. I had never experienced falling into a deep sleep in twenty minutes before. In my long career of internal energy cultivation, I had learned to maintain a semi-conscious state, with one eye open and one eye closed, even while sound asleep.

The third part: The Bizarre Purgatory

— Chapter 3 — Mysterious Amnesia —

Suren has not woken up, which is very strange.

I only hesitated for half a minute before quickly putting on my shoes and coat, grabbing Su Lun's binoculars from the table, and rushing out the door. Given You Lian's flying speed, catching up with her was absolutely impossible; that's why I took the binoculars.

It was very cold in the camp. I saw four special forces soldiers hunching their shoulders and patrolling near the well derrick. All four of them were facing east, so of course they couldn't see what was happening here.

I ran out of the camp as fast as I could, holding up my binoculars and looking west. Without thinking, I aimed the lens at the top of the Turkic Khan Pyramid, because I had a feeling that that was where Youlian was headed.

Sure enough, she landed at the top of the tower I had climbed before.

I could clearly see her body through the binoculars; she floated down lightly, shook off her gray robe, and knelt on one knee. I adjusted the magnification of the binoculars, zooming in on her movements as closely as possible.

In the footage, she flips her wrist, revealing a curved knife. If you were close enough, you could probably hear the "snap" sound of the blade springing out.

"What is she trying to do? Is she trying to pry something off? Or write on the tower...?" I was utterly confused.

For some reason, the camp was deathly still. Even the four sentries stood there blankly, neither moving nor making a sound. I couldn't even hear the generator; in such a quiet night, those sounds should have been quite clear.

"Is something wrong?"

For a moment, I was in a daze, and my memory ended here.

I woke up to bright sunshine outside the tent, so bright it made my eyes ache.

I sat up, and the last vestiges of my memory compelled me to first look for my pistol. It was still under my pillow, loaded, safety off, ready to fire at any moment.

"What's going on? I remember I was monitoring Youlian through the telescope. What? Was that a dream? A nightmare?" Turning my head, I saw Su Lun's telescope lying flat on a stack of drawings.

I remembered getting up last night with a pistol in my pocket and binoculars in my hand; I remembered the eerie, bat-like lotus perched atop the pyramid…

"Surren, Surren, Surren—" A sudden, inexplicable fear struck me. I screamed desperately, jumped out of bed, and gripped my gun tightly. Sahan and his apprentice, an evil priest and someone who climbed the tower in the middle of the night—what ulterior motives did they have? I had to tell Surren the truth first. The safety of the camp was paramount, and if necessary, these two mysterious figures had to be driven out.

Suren entered in response, casually raising the tent flap to let the sunlight stream in.

"Brother Feng, you're awake! I was so worried!" Overnight, her face had become noticeably thinner, and her eyes were bloodshot.

"What do you mean? I'm awake—what's so strange about me being awake?" I had a vague sense of unease.

“Feng, you’ve been unconscious for over forty hours. If it weren’t for Elder Sahan’s soul-summoning technique, you would probably have remained unconscious. Hehe, everyone is very worried about you…” Gu Ye appeared at the door with a forced smile, followed by Sahan, Youlian, Tiger, and Lu Jiacan filing in one after another.

I nearly jumped up in shock: "Forty hours?"

Suren reached into my hand and took the gun, her face full of relief: "It's nothing, it's all over now!"

I saw Youlian still standing behind Sahan with her head down, and I felt a raging fire ignite within me. I didn't know what she had done, but if I had truly been unconscious, it must have been related to her.

Youlian's long gray robe trailed on the ground, her face and hair were still filthy, her head was hanging down, her face down, and her hands were placed neatly at her waist.

I know her demeanor is all an act, and she must be hiding some ulterior motive. But in this situation, I will remain silent. Even if I have something to say, I will only tell Su Lun. Because right now, she is the only person I can trust.

"Salute!" There seemed to be sounds of people standing at attention and waving their sleeves outside, which should be the standard military posture.

A petite Egyptian female officer walked in, her epaulets and cap badges gleaming, and the light emanating from her eyes was even more intimidating.

“Feng, this is Captain Tina, the leader of the Rainbow Warriors Task Force,” Gu Ye eagerly introduced.

"I am Tina. From today onwards, I will be in charge of the security of the entire camp. I hope to cooperate sincerely with everyone to ensure the smooth progress of the pyramid excavation." Tina's words were concise and to the point, carrying an unwavering command.

My gaze was fixed blankly ahead, fixed on the spot where Youlian stood, because after racking my brains, I couldn't recall anything that happened before I lost consciousness. I could remember seeing her through the binoculars reveal the sharp knife on her wrist, and then nothing more; my memory ended there.

With a whoosh, a gust of wind swept past my nose. When I came to my senses, Lu Jiacan had already started clapping vigorously.

“Mr. Feng, I hope you remember to keep your eyes on me while I’m speaking, okay?” Tina’s legs remained raised in mid-air in a “pointing-up-to-the-sky” position before slowly descending. Everyone stared in shock, especially Suren, who was instantly dumbfounded.

Confused, I reached up and wiped my face, leaving behind the corpse of a desert mosquito.

"This mosquito is extremely venomous. While sucking blood, it injects a deadly bacterium from the Nile River mudflats into the human body, with an incubation period of more than two years. Mr. Feng, please be careful."

She reached out and lightly dusted off the tips of her combat boots, her expression one of disdain and arrogance beneath her helmet.

Female soldiers are extremely rare in special forces, and having a female officer lead a team is unprecedented. Tina has a great figure; even under the strict military uniform, her alluring curves are still on full display, which is disproportionate to the coldness on her face.

When Tina stepped out of the tent, everyone followed her like a star, except for Suren, who stayed by my side.

"Brother Feng, this girl... has amazing leg skills. She kicked the poisonous mosquito in front of your face to death with a single kick..." She handed me a tissue.

My mind was still foggy because, ever since I woke up, I've been experiencing a huge confusion about the concept of time.

Suren watched Tina and her group walk towards the derrick, repeating thoughtfully, "Tina, a top student from West Point, was personally commended and awarded by Boonsedi, the founder of the US Navy SEALs, and is the top instructor of Egypt's newest special forces..."

These numerous dazzling adjectives undoubtedly shroud Tina's identity in several glamorous halos, the most striking of which is: "She is the most beloved daughter of Egyptian President Hugh Sjuwatini, and his only child. Rumors circulate that she has a strong chance of running in the 2010 presidential election."

I went back to the bedside, clutched my head tightly, and felt as if two high-speed drills were constantly attacking my brain nerves deep in my temples.

"Suren, help me. I feel like I'm going through something similar to what happened at the top of the pyramid last time..." Forty hours of unconsciousness is a very serious accident for a normal person, and I'm sure that some mysterious external force has put me into a state of "partial amnesia" for the second time.

Suren approached me, placed her right hand on the back of my neck, pressed down on the junction of my cervical spine and skull.

"Suren, tell me what exactly happened in these forty hours?"

Suren sighed, "Brother Feng, please don't ask any more questions. I hope to help you truly wake up quickly..."

Before I could react, I suddenly felt a heavy blow to my "Dazhui" acupoint, my vision went black, and I collapsed limply to the ground.

As a blood vessel bridge connecting the head and body, the smoothness of blood flow at the Dazhui acupoint greatly affects the level of mental alertness.

I woke up, and felt incredibly refreshed, all thanks to Suren's powerful click. Now, I'm lying in bed, and Suren is sitting in a chair beside the bed, watching me intently.

"Thank you." I sat up, feeling refreshed, all the aftereffects of my amnesia gone.

"Brother Feng, I have a way to replay the parts of your amnesia, because I placed a miniature camera system on you. Please... don't blame me, okay?"

Suren blushed, because placing a listening or filming system on someone greatly endangers that person's personal rights.

I slapped the back of my head: "I should have thought of that sooner. You could plant a bug on Gu Ye, how could you possibly let others go? Forget it, just show me already, I want to know what You Lian did on top of that tower!"

If I'm not mistaken, there must be some great secret buried at the top of the Turkic Pyramid.

Suren quickly connected a gray cube, about a quarter the size of a matchbox, to her laptop. Immediately, the scene inside the dimly lit tent appeared on the screen. The camera was mounted on me, and everything was, of course, from my perspective. I moved swiftly: went outside to check, went back to grab my gun and binoculars, then went out again westward…

Judging from the shooting angle, the camera should have been positioned at my chest level, but I didn't even notice it.

When the scene of Youlian landing on the top of the pyramid was playing, which is the end of my memory, the picture suddenly disappeared, leaving only a vast expanse of white snowflakes.

Suren was taken aback: "Huh? What's wrong?" She fiddled with the gray square for a bit, but the screen remained static, with no image whatsoever. All the details only showed up to the period when my memory was cut off.

Suren pressed her hands on the table and suddenly fell into a desperate silence.

I understand that there must be something wrong with the player, and that Suren must have already browsed all the content before showing it to me.

"Brother Feng—" Su Lun's voice suddenly became hoarse and dry. My sudden amnesia was strange enough, but the inexplicable loss of those filming materials was something she hadn't expected at all.

"It's alright. Actually, we should have expected that there was a mysterious and unknowable force shrouding the camp. It started when I heard that mysterious drumbeat."

The third part: The Bizarre Purgatory

— Chapter 4 - Military Takeover —

The following is Sulun's account—

"You ran rapidly towards the pyramids, and a beam of white light shot skyward from the top, so intense it was like sparks from a welding torch in the dark. The light shot straight up, and then the person at the top disappeared, whether blocked by the light or having entered the pyramid—"

I smiled wryly: "It's possible we've entered the pyramid. I told you last time that if you stomp your foot hard, you might fall into the pyramid. Actually, I had a new creative idea yesterday. Maybe we can change the drilling method and start digging directly from the top of the pyramid."

This idea was very strange, because Suren's expression was changing rapidly, until finally he suddenly gave a thumbs up: "Brother Feng, your idea is brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

This route can be improved to the greatest extent possible—by conducting small-scale, localized blasts from the top of the pyramid, descending layer by layer, and excavating the secrets beneath through destructive methods.

It seems that no one in history has ever done this before, since it would be "destroying" the pyramids.

For other pyramids that can be accessed through proper channels, there is no need to take such an extreme approach. This idea only applies to the Pyramid of Turkham.

"Once you reached the foot of the tower, I was amazed by your superb lightness skill. You didn't need any ropes or anything to help you; you had already flown to the top. I think it's probably something like 'Swallow Skimming the Water Three Times,' right? When can you teach me that..."

The narration stopped there, and I could tell that Suren was trying to evade the question.

"And then?" I wanted to hear about the whereabouts of the white light and the lotus.