King of Tomb Raiders

Chapter 34

Suren's voice was filled with frustration again: "My brother... he didn't have any particularly obvious opinions. I feel like he's changed... ever since you went into the secret underground room of the villa alone, he's become a stranger..."

I have told Suren everything about my strange experience in the underground chamber. Her thoughts were probably influenced by my analysis of the strange changes in the chamber at the time.

I sighed deeply: "Suren, perhaps you should have a long talk with him. I think you might have misunderstood..."

“Maybe…” Suren’s voice was hesitant and uncertain, but then her tone changed sharply, becoming resolute: “Brother Feng, no matter what the camera’s exploration results are, you must return to the camp before you go down the well. We need to have a meeting with all parties involved before making any further plans. Promise me—”

For many years, no girl had ever cared for me like Suren, never so patiently repeating her advice to me. A girl's nagging is most likely to stir a man's passion and tenderness, and in an instant, my feelings for her underwent a fundamental and profound change: "Suren, don't worry about me, I won't act recklessly."

I've never used sweet talk in front of girls.

“Mr. Wind, Mr. Wind…” Yelan called out to me loudly in the central tomb chamber, his voice echoing strangely in the empty passageway with its hundreds of huge doorways.

"Mr. Feng, the camera is ready. Would you like to check it?" My earlier comment about going down the well was quite startling, and everyone in the tomb began to look at me with new respect, especially the group of self-proclaimed invincible rainbow warriors. As descendants of Egyptians, their deep-seated fear of the Pharaoh made them hesitant and timid from the moment they entered the tomb, afraid to act recklessly, let alone venture into this strange ancient well.

Warriors admire warriors. I only said those few words, and I won almost everyone's respect.

I glanced back at Bawan, who was staring blankly at the stone wall, and after a moment's consideration, I headed towards the central tomb chamber.

Tina prepared four cameras, while Yelan directed the workers to connect a 200-meter-long cable, at the end of which were four work lights with fine wire covers, and quickly set up a tripod that could support a weight of more than 500 kilograms.

The only pity was that I couldn't select the two shrewd and capable commandos I asked Tina to provide. Under the Pharaoh's intimidation, these invincible warriors retreated faster and faster than the last.

"Mr. Feng, can we begin this work?" Yelan asked me, clearly ignoring Gu Ye and the three senior experts.

I had to rekindle my suspicions about Tanino, because at that moment he was standing close to Tang, staring wide-eyed at me, Tina, and Yelan standing near the well, showing no intention of coming closer. I was almost certain that this Japanese man who looked exactly like Tanino was not the big shot in the tomb raiding world who had risen to fame in recent years.

As the old saying goes: When two people meet on a narrow road, the brave one will win.

In this eerie and gloomy environment, the hero is naturally the backbone of everyone.

I nodded and watched as the workers placed the simple iron box with the camera attached into the well opening.

This iron box, measuring one meter in length, width, and height, is welded from five-millimeter-thick galvanized steel plates. A forty-kilogram counterweight is welded to the bottom of the box to maintain its balance during descent. Each of the four sides of the box is equipped with a camera and a light; this configuration should easily reveal even the smallest details at the bottom of the well.

Two meters away from the wellhead, a workbench has been set up, with four high-precision monitors on it. Given the current capabilities of the excavation team, setting up such equipment within half an hour would be a piece of cake.

With a strong-willed figure like Tina present, decisions can be made quickly and communicated effectively, as she is exercising power on behalf of the Egyptian president.

"Mr. Feng, why are you looking at me so closely? I don't have any roses on my face!" Tina, even amidst her busy work, didn't forget to tease me, giving me a flirtatious wink.

I avoided her meaningful gaze, took a few steps back, and stood in front of the workbench. Immediately, a shrewd and efficient soldier placed a steel-framed folding chair behind me.

After sitting down, I suddenly realized that my legs were aching slightly.

These past few days, my mind and body have been under immense stress, and one mysterious discovery after another has been constantly stimulating my nervous system. If only I were in Cairo, I could find a Turkish bath, take a long, relaxing soak, and get a full-body Turkish massage; I'd probably regain my energy and vitality in no time.

That's just a gluttonous dream in my mind; right now, all I want is a cup of coffee.

A waft of Nescafé aroma wafted up, and Tina had already placed a steaming paper cup beside me, saying softly and tenderly, "Sir, please have some coffee."

Forget about being modest and polite, I held the paper cup with both hands and greedily took two big gulps. It was definitely authentic American flavor.

Who would have thought that Tina, who wields immense power and is known for her ruthless nature, could be so understanding? My fondness for African girls instantly increased tenfold. However, accepting Tina's care so readily might make Suren on the other end of the walkie-talkie jealous.

The metal box fell at a constant speed under the control of the computer programmable controller in Yelan's hand.

He was more meticulous than I was; he had already installed a thermometer, a hygrometer, and an oxygen content estimation table on the iron box. These three key data points would give people on the surface a general understanding of the environment inside the well.

Yelan's face became stiff and calm, his eyes fixed on the LCD screen of the remote control, where all three types of data would be clearly displayed.

He was a clever man, which is why he coveted the Great Pyramid of Giza. Cleverness often backfires; clever people often die earlier than foolish ones.

Our ancestor Zhuangzi once said: "The skillful labor, and the wise worry." Intelligent people will put in more effort and think more than others, and ultimately die from overwork and worry.

I don't want to exaggerate, but if Yelan's plan to kill two birds with one stone were to be implemented, he could dig a shaft between the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Great Pyramid of Khufu, and thus follow the path to the Great Pyramid of Giza... He could succeed by using his cleverness to obtain the secret treasure beneath the pyramid, but in the end, the result awaiting him would certainly be "people die for wealth, birds die for food."

International criminal tycoons, organized crime groups, and even the armies of small, violent governments all have their eyes on Africa, a supposedly "gold-rich" black paradise. A nobody like Yelan has absolutely no chance of taking a single grain of gold from beneath the Great Pyramid of Giza, amidst the covetous gazes of these powerful nations.

The third part: The Bizarre Purgatory

— Chapter 17 - Mysterious Charms —

As the iron box descended to a depth of twelve meters, a chilling scene slowly appeared on the monitor. The four stone walls were not only carved with yellowish-brown hieroglyphs and ancient Egyptian murals—above the murals, lines of red incantations were written in exaggerated and frenzied strokes.

The writing could only be interpreted as a "spell," as not a single character could be easily deciphered. The characters resembled hundreds of red ribbons fluttering in the air, unrestrained and passionate, brimming with a seductive power. The first line of characters I saw was nearly half a meter high, straight up and down, like a giant Arabic numeral "1," but its beginning and end were connected to two wavy lines, making its meaning completely unreadable.

"Wow, a curse! It's the Pharaoh's curse..."

The soldiers huddled together, whispering amongst themselves like a swarm of hungry silkworms chewing on mulberry leaves.

Yelan's expression changed. He pushed the lever on the remote control, accelerating the descent of the iron box. Incantations were everywhere, many of the characters extremely long, almost circling the entire ancient well. Their crimson hue, brighter than fire and more vivid than blood, was so intense it stung the eyes.

Later, the screens of all four monitors were filled with red characters, which was extremely bizarre.

I stood up, gently stretching my limbs, because the intense, overwhelming power of that red color almost suffocated me. After finishing my coffee, I walked over to Yelan and said with a hint of regret, "It's a pity. If only we had installed another camera under the metal box, we could have looked directly down into the well..."

Yelan coldly replied, "It's useless. In this pitch-black environment, even the best infrared camera system can't achieve a visibility of more than ten meters."

His entire focus was on the remote control. After managing to answer me a couple of times, he shut his mouth tightly.

Not a single soldier dared to approach the well, as if the guardian beast of the Egyptian king might leap out of the well at any moment and devour anyone who might be caught.

I smelled a strange odor, as if something small had been burned, emitting a faint burnt smell.

"What does it smell like?" I turned to ask Tina. Of course, besides the burnt smell, I also smelled a faint "Thousand Flower Bird" fragrance left behind by Tengjia. The complex and outstanding fragrance was so outstanding that one would remember it for life after just one whiff. Perhaps this was the original intention of the master who created it?

Tina sniffed hard in surprise, then shook her head in confusion: "No, is it the smell left after the welding gun has been used?"

All the soldiers and workers stopped what they were doing, held their breath, and peered at the images on the monitors from a distance.

The people in the tomb had almost forgotten the passage of time; they looked at their watches and saw that the hour hand was pointing to seven o'clock in the evening.

When I checked my watch, I noticed that my pulse suddenly started pounding violently, more than doubling in frequency, and I also felt a dull throbbing pain in both temples.

"Tena, give me a hand—" I called out, taking a large step to the side and sitting back in my chair, clenching my fist and pressing it hard against my temple. This wasn't an illness, but a premonition of something strange about to happen, a force I myself didn't understand that was troubling me so much.

Tina jumped over, looking at my face in surprise: "Feng, you look terrible, what happened?"

It felt like two high-speed drills were relentlessly drilling into my temples, relentlessly pushing deeper into my brain. I felt my eyeballs bulging outwards from the intense headache. How could I possibly look good in such a terrible state?

"Sedatives, sedatives... I need sedatives..." Before I completely lost my mind, I struggled to turn my head and look at Tanino. He had drugs; at that moment, I really needed drugs to save me...

"Come e on...I'm waiting for you...waiting for you...help me...help me..."

A mysterious and obscure voice rang in my ears, seemingly right next to me. I jerked my head away, looking towards the source of the sound. The sudden movement caused my cervical spine to twist violently, producing a terrifying "crack" sound.

The sound came from the wellhead; I wasn't mistaken, it came from the wellhead or down in the well, and it was the same calling I heard when I first arrived at the camp.

Based on my judgment, the person making the sound was a male around forty years old, with standard American English pronunciation.

"Heh heh heh... heh heh..." I let out a terrifying, dry laugh. Who could believe that hundreds of meters below the surface of a pyramid, a forty-year-old American man would be issuing me a terrifying summons? Undoubtedly, Tina couldn't hear that voice, but she did something far more meaningful—

Tina swiftly grabbed my right hand, and in her other hand, a red syringe appeared out of nowhere. The sharp needle gleamed with a dazzling white light, and the one-centimeter-thick tube was filled with at least four centimeters of blood-red liquid. In my extreme agitation, my arms were completely numb, and I couldn't muster any strength to resist her.

"Calm down, you'll feel better after this injection of heteroglobulin..." Her injection was calm and skillful, accurately piercing the vein in my forearm, and then slowly pushing the liquid into my blood vessel.

A wave of intense coolness spread from my forearm all the way to my brain. I felt like an emptied pocket, panting as I collapsed onto the table. I was certain it wasn't globulin at all, but a powerful depressant very similar in nature to drugs.

The walkie-talkie kept whistling and hissing. My limbs were already weak, and I couldn't even bother to communicate with Suren.

"Mr. Feng, are you feeling better?" Tina's concern only made me feel more ashamed. So far, what I've done in the Egyptian desert has only brought shame to my elder brother Yang Tian's title of "King of Tomb Raiders." Not only have I not achieved anything earth-shattering, but I've also had to rely on others for help at every turn.

"I'm alright... thank you..." After my pulse returned to normal, the throbbing pain in my temples vanished completely. I struggled to my feet, using the table for support, and walked to the cave entrance, gazing futilely downwards. The iron box had descended thirty meters; to the naked eye, I could clearly see the blinding white light emanating from the four lamps. Apart from that, there was only endless darkness and a chilling, deathly silence.

What lies at the end of the well?

Water? Mercury? A sea eye? Or perhaps a thousand feet of gold and silver treasures—I shook my head and smiled bitterly, wiping the cold sweat from my forehead and neck, and then sat down by the well. I hoped that the calling voice would ring out again, so that I could clearly find where the voice was coming from, but just when I was ready, the voice never rang out again.

It was Suren's voice that came through, and the message she conveyed to me was truly horrifying: "Brother Feng, just now... just now Elder Sahan and Youlian arrived near the Tuli Khan Pyramid. Five minutes ago, they both climbed to the top of the pyramid, and even now I can still see them in my binoculars, one sitting and one standing, as if they are performing some kind of ceremony..."

Suren's voice was so loud that even Tina heard it clearly and couldn't help but look up.

Above them were countless wall carvings. Even with the most powerful clairvoyant abilities, it would be impossible to see Elder Sahan and Youlian across a distance of several hundred meters.

"And now?" I murmured to myself.

“They are still there, right above you. However, this time Youlian is not holding that black pottery bowl, and their faces are facing north, towards the Great Pyramid of Giza.”

I'm not sure if that summoning voice is related to Elder Sahan. If only I can hear it, then the person making the voice (or perhaps it's not a person, but some mysterious, unknown force) wants to contact me alone.

So far, I don't have any mummy friends, so it's unlikely I'll run into any acquaintances in Egyptian tombs.

Suren muttered to himself, bewildered, into the walkie-talkie: "What are they trying to do? So many mysteries, not a single one can be solved. They're all tangled up like a mess, giving me a terrible headache... Brother Feng, if it really comes to this, let's just back off together..."

When girls are extremely distressed, they often release their stress by shedding tears. I could hear the sob in Su Lun's voice.

"Suren, don't be too nervous. If you have any problems, you can talk to Mr. Scalpel. I believe he can help you—"

Suren stopped me from continuing with a long sigh.

When the iron box descended to seventy meters, Yelan pressed the "stop" button.

The monitor screen didn't change much; it was still filled with swirling, intricate red runes that no one could decipher, like a cryptic scripture.

“Mr. Feng, the last time I sent the light into the cave, it stopped at this depth. Should we continue searching downwards?” He seemed hesitant.

Looking down into the well, the light is distant and faint, as if a diver were observing a giant luminous pearl through endless waves. Looking at it for more than a few seconds would make one feel dizzy.

"Of course we'll continue! We won't stop until we find out what's down in the well!" Tina answered for me, waving her hand dismissively as she gave the order.

The smell of burning was intermittent, and I looked around several times but couldn't find the source of the smell.

When Song Jiu relayed Tang Xin's advice, he said, "Don't use any open flames." Now, apart from the invisible sparks from pressing an electrical switch, there's absolutely no possibility of an open flame in the tomb. So, what exactly is this burnt smell...?

Yelan pressed a button on the remote control without expression, and the steel cable on the gantry continued to rotate, the iron box continuing its descent. The depth gradually exceeded one hundred meters, one hundred and twenty meters, one hundred and fifty meters... Everyone's heart seemed to be suspended by the cable's heave, as if with each twist of the cable, danger drew ever closer. Unfortunately, no one present could understand these incantations, including the anxious-looking Gu Ye.

If Elder Sahan hadn't acted so mysteriously, we could have easily invited him down to decipher these red characters. But now, his several unusual behaviors make us more wary of him than to readily trust him.

When the depth reached 180 meters, Yelan's shoulders trembled, and he exclaimed in a hoarse voice, "It's the bottom! It seems like it's the bottom!"

The cable, which had just been stretched taut, had loosened, meaning that the iron box below was now being supported by the ground.

Yelan, Tina, and I practically jumped in front of the monitor. All four images showed the red runes on the walls, but at the very bottom, a patch of pristine white floor was revealed, resembling some kind of hard jade. The jade was spotless, without any carvings or runes.

Yelan bit his lip, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he kept swallowing.

The view the camera transmitted to us after reaching the bottom of the well was completely unexpected. It turned out to be nothing more than a narrow, rectangular hole, about two meters square and 180 meters deep. The bottom was empty, just solid jade flooring. All our previous suspicions and fears vanished, melting away like the first snowflakes under the bright sun.

“It’s just an empty hole—” Tina breathed a sigh of relief. She was already quite satisfied with the eight enormous gold bricks she had acquired.

"Move the hoisting frame to one side of the well." Yelan reverted to his engineer's demeanor, methodically issuing orders to the workers.

The third part: The Bizarre Purgatory

— Chapter 18 — Fujika and the Jade Coffin —

The iron box is only one-quarter the size of the square well, so when the iron box is placed close to the well wall, more of the well bottom will be visible on the monitor.