Histoires de fantômes

Chapitre 38

The others didn't have a chance to interrupt, especially Cheney and James, who opened their mouths several times to speak, but were silenced by Natura's fierce gaze.

I glanced at the scalpel more than a dozen times, hoping to find a flaw in his technique, but to no avail.

He was, of course, the scalpel himself. In terms of clothing, facial expressions, and features, he was no different from the scalpel sitting calmly in the villa.

The only change was that what he was holding in his hand was no longer a wine glass, but a long, golden revolver.

The gun was a full foot long, and from the muzzle to the handle, it was entirely plated with gold, making it dazzling and very eye-catching.

I know its origins. It was produced by the renowned Browning company. In addition to mechanical cutting and processing, more than 140 details in the manufacturing process were completed by hand. It is definitely the Rolls Royce of revolvers, and it is also the only super weapon among short guns that can compete with the Desert Eagle.

"Feng, this gun is for you." He suddenly called my name and smiled as he raised the gun in his hand. All eyes were on me, and I could only get up and walk forward, standing two steps in front of him.

“If you insist on going down the well—take this with you. When Browning Company forged this gun just for me, they didn’t give it a vulgar Arabic numeral number, but a Chinese name. They named it ‘King of Tomb Raiders.’”

I've heard him recount this story more than once. Back then, Scalpel thought he was the undisputed king of tomb raiders, believing only he was worthy of this gun. But after his elder brother Yang Tian appeared, he was so ashamed that he dared not show the gun to anyone again. Giving it to me today carries profound meaning.

The tent was completely silent. Only after I respectfully took the gun with both hands did Natura suddenly start clapping loudly, and then the others joined in, each with their own thoughts.

"I...I'm actually not fit to carry this gun, Mr. Scalpel, please..."

The gun handle still carried the warmth of his hand.

"Feng, you deserve it, you definitely do. From the moment you said you wanted to go down into the well to take a look, I knew that another new star of the tomb raiding world had been born! Your courage surpasses mine back then, and the future tomb raiding world will surely be proud of you!" He had never praised me so highly before. Receiving such praise in front of the other eight elites in the tent, I couldn't help but feel a little smug.

“Hey, young man, here you go…” Natura bent down and took a black leather rope from around his neck. A wolf’s head the size of a pigeon egg, weighing several hundred grams, was attached to the rope.

"Go down the well. You will be a role model for the Rainbow Warriors. When you return in triumph, we will welcome you with the highest honors: flowers, beautiful women, and a red carpet..." He had put on a kind smile and stood up to personally place the wolf head around my neck.

The two of them, working in tandem, subtly pinned the task of "going down the well" on me. Actually, my original intention was to go down the well to search; hoping that those soldiers who only knew how to shoot and kill would find valuable clues was simply wishful thinking.

I knew that Suren must have been incredibly tense while the scalpel and Natura were making those movements. So, I turned to her and casually gave her a wink, signaling her not to react. If anyone had to sacrifice themselves to rescue Miss Tengjia, I'd rather it be me; after all, it was the only chance to get close to that strange summoning voice.

Throughout, Tanino sat calmly with a silent, bitter smile, as if Fujika in the ancient well had nothing to do with him. When he returned to his seat, Sahan looked at me with a heavy smile, as if looking at a fool who was overestimating his abilities and wanting to go to his death.

Part 4: The Battle Between Heaven and Man

— Chapter 3 - Operation Tiger —

Cheney finally had a chance to speak: "Ladies and gentlemen, based on my preliminary investigation, the interior of the pyramids appears to be riddled with traps and ambushes. Furthermore, the dimensions of all the burial chambers and the thickness of the walls were calculated using a binary system. The advantage of this is that it strictly controls even the smallest errors during construction. If I could lead a large architectural survey team to conduct a meticulous search of these 361 burial chambers over 150 days, I believe I could reach conclusions that would astound the world—"

He waved a notebook in his hand, his tone becoming increasingly agitated.

On the open page of the notebook was a standard Go board, with a heavy circle marked in red at the "Tengen" point and the nine "star" points.

"One hundred and fifty days? Dr. Cheney, forget it! We don't have that much time. According to the president's personal instructions, if no major discoveries are made in the short term after the gold is transported out, the pyramids will be destroyed with explosives to prevent the release of deadly bacteria and the endangerment of the lives of the Egyptian people."

Natura's high-sounding words flowed smoothly, but it seemed that he did not obtain his position as high priest based on his actual abilities.

Cheney exclaimed, "Blow it up? My God, you...you're committing a colossal crime against human civilization! A crime!"

He quickly turned to another page in his notebook, revealing another diagram: "Look! Look here—you know what? I've deduced that when a certain mechanism in the tomb is triggered, the nineteen burial chambers along the longitudinal and transverse axes will transform into thirty-seven steps, each ten meters wide, ten meters long, and ten meters high. Where do these steps lead? Think about it, how could the ancient Egyptians possibly build a pyramid just to store this enormous gold brick? What about the other parts of the pyramid? Could they contain even more gold bricks? More treasures even more valuable than gold bricks…"

His words were very persuasive, and the picture on that page was of something resembling an altar, with eight steps on each of the four sides that rose higher and higher until they met in the middle.

This idea is quite ingenious, but currently, the central burial chamber contains a square well 180 meters underground, not some kind of staircase. According to Cheney's diagram, there's an ascent every ten meters, so once the mechanism is triggered, the total height of the staircase would reach ninety meters. Could it be that the Pyramid of Turks is mostly hollow? And where are these staircases leading us?

Natura was suddenly taken aback: "More valuable than gold bricks?"

Lu Jiacan immediately stepped to his side, leaned close to his ear and whispered a few words. Natula immediately beamed and nodded repeatedly.

I could tell from Lu Jiacan's lip movements that he was saying the words "enriched uranium".

Anyone with basic chemistry knowledge knows that enriched uranium is the central element in the manufacture of nuclear weapons, and its value is certainly hundreds or thousands of times that of gold.

However, I chuckled at Lu Jiacan's far-fetched speculation: "If enriched uranium is buried inside the pyramids, wouldn't the detection satellites of various countries be able to detect radiation signals? Especially the US government, which treats enriched uranium as its own private property, wouldn't it immediately find a reason to control the entire African desert..."

One cannot lose one's imagination, but an imagination that is too outrageous will always make one a laughing stock.

Lu Jiacan sensed the unintentional mockery in my eyes and gently gestured to me: "Young man, many problems on Earth require us to fully utilize our imagination to solve them. I'm old and can't keep up with the world's development; some issues may not be clear enough for me. The future of this world belongs to you young people..."

Suren's seat was next to mine, and at that moment, the pencil in her hand suddenly fell to the ground. Under the guise of bending down to pick up the pencil, she was also giving me a meaningful look.

During the top-secret meeting, everyone seemed to be preoccupied with their own thoughts.

Tani suddenly stood up and walked towards the back of the tent, her steps hurried, as if she had suddenly remembered something.

At that very moment, I heard a sound as loud as a mosquito buzzing in my ear, but it was someone using the ultimate internal skill of "transmitting sound secretly" to send me a message: "Hold him off."

Without a second thought, I jumped up and shouted to Tanino, "Mr. Tanino, please wait a moment, there's a very important question—"

Tanino stopped and looked at me with a slightly surprised expression.

Within the camp, only Tiger possesses the skill of "sound transmission," one of his unique abilities. His request for my help suggests he has already infiltrated the tent and begun his theft. However, with so many heavily armed soldiers outside, how did Tiger manage to sneak in so silently?

I didn't have any "major questions" to ask Tanino, so as I walked quickly toward him in front of everyone, my mind went almost blank.

It was quiet behind the tent; there were no suspicious noises.

Tanino shrugged: "What is it? Please speak."

Since it was a "major issue," everyone, including Suren, stared intently and listened attentively.

I gritted my teeth and asked a question that had been weighing on my mind: "If it's convenient, please tell me about Miss Fujika's identity. I need to know what kind of person we're going to rescue from the well tomorrow..."

Previously, Tanino had inadvertently revealed Fujika's "princess" identity, and although she hadn't mentioned it again since, it already demonstrated her extraordinary nature.

Tano shrugged again: "Mr. Feng, is this question important? Are you saying that if she were just an ordinary girl from our Yamato people, you would give up on rescuing her?" He seemed to be aware of what was about to happen behind the tent, and while answering me, he kept looking at the black curtain in the middle of the tent.

The curtain was extremely thick, serving both to block out light and shadow, making it impossible for the eye to pass through.

"Of course, if you insist on not revealing her identity, I will consider refusing to go down the well. Anyway, there are plenty of Rainbow Warriors in the camp, you can ask General Tina to send someone down!" In terms of skill alone, there are many soldiers among me who are just as good as me.

Tina quickly replied, "No problem, our Egyptian warriors have no shortage of courage and skill, they can definitely do it—"

It was clear she didn't want me to go down the well into the dangerous area myself, which was why she actively suggested sending one of her men in my place. But she only got halfway through her sentence before Sahan interrupted her with a loud, cold laugh—

“Egyptian warriors? Hmph, they’ve been terrified by the Pharaoh’s curse for ages. What can you expect from them? Do you know what those red inscriptions represent? They’re the inscriptions on the Pharaoh’s table, equivalent to…” He pointed to Cheney and James, continuing contemptuously, “equivalent to the prayers you believe in God recite before every meal—”

Sahan's imposing manner far surpassed that of Tina, and his words astonished everyone in the tent.

If those red symbols were truly some kind of "pre-meal prayer," then those who went down the well were simply meat slices served on the Pharaoh's plate.

"Sahan, what nonsense are you spouting? First, explain the terrifying ritual you performed on the top of the tower! I know that many of the strange things in the tomb were caused by you. Men, take Sahan away!" Natura shouted angrily, and two tall and burly soldiers rushed in and grabbed Sahan's arms.

This change was unexpected. Even Gu Ye's attention was drawn to the tense atmosphere, and he abandoned his plan to go into the tent.

No one stepped forward to dissuade them, not even the scalpel; they simply watched coldly. When it comes to sectarian conflicts within Egypt, outsiders indeed have no say. Especially given the strange events that accompanied Sahan and Youlian's several bizarre actions, I couldn't help but suspect their ulterior motives for coming to the camp. Detaining them temporarily wouldn't be so bad.

Natula waved his hand, and two soldiers escorted Sahan out.

The tent fell silent. Natula's sudden outburst was tantamount to sending a clear signal to everyone, "I am the boss of the camp, and I make the decisions."

The disinfectant's expiration date would extend until 9:00 AM tomorrow, so the top-secret meeting hastily concluded after finalizing the general action plan for tomorrow.

Before leaving the main tent, I secretly peeked behind it a few times, worried about the tiger's safety. However, given his skills, and the fact that he had stalled for almost ten minutes, he was perfectly capable of doing anything.

“Brother Feng, I think we should go to the top of Tu Liehan Tower again, what do you say?” Standing in front of our tent, Suren suggested this with a heavy heart.

The soldiers around the camp were on high alert, especially the watchtower, where machine gunners and snipers were in a state of "emergency combat readiness," their dark gun barrels pointed menacingly at the surrounding desert.

What was initially a clandestine excavation operation had now escalated into a public military operation. Since it was within Egyptian territory, the Desert Corps, authorized by the president, was accustomed to its unbridled behavior; as long as no foreign journalists were spying on them, they could do whatever they wanted.

The pyramids stand silently in the desert for hundreds and thousands of years, unchanged except for occasional weathering and erosion, as if they could stand there for hundreds and thousands of years until they die along with the earth.

My mind is in turmoil, partly because of the tiger, and partly because of tomorrow's well rescue mission.

"Suren, was my decision right or wrong?" I murmured to myself.

"What?" Suren was taken aback; she had been quite distracted just now. I knew that the heaviest burden on her mind was the question of the scalpel's identity.

I rubbed my face hard and slowly forced a smile, hoping to cheer her up.

She let out a long sigh, turned her face away, and gazed at the towering Great Pyramid of Giza to the north.

The superstructure, set against a backdrop of a vast blue sky, exudes a deathly, indifferent aura, perfectly befitting its status as a "Pharaoh's Tomb".

According to fragments found in ancient Egyptian texts, there is a place called the "Dead Sea" beneath the Great Pyramid of Giza, which contains the gold that Pharaoh Khufu amassed throughout his life, with a volume equivalent to that of four Great Pyramids of Giza.

That was an extremely large and crazy number. When the story quietly spread to every corner of the earth, everyone who heard it scoffed at it, thinking it must be a ridiculous joke made up by some crazy tomb raider when he had a high fever.

"Suren, do you remember that legend about the 'Dead Sea'? If you had that much gold, what would you do with it?" I wanted to cheer her up. There's no greater sorrow than a broken heart. If one continues to be depressed, it will cause enormous damage to one's physical and mental health.

"Haha..." She laughed twice, and the gloom between her brows dissipated slightly.

“I will build a golden villa, with streets, walls, gardens, and buildings all made of gold, and I can also build a golden swimming pool… What about you, Brother Feng?” She looked up, her melancholy expression slowly softening.

Part 4: The Battle Between Heaven and Man

— Chapter 4 — Revisiting the Top of the Pyramid —

"Me?" I was speechless for a moment.

If I had that much gold, I would build a magnificent, one-of-a-kind golden house, then marry a girl I love more than life itself, and let her enjoy this unparalleled happiness on earth all to herself. Could that girl be Suren? Thinking back to that tender moment when we embraced, my heart immediately warms.

"Brother Feng, let's go to the top of the tower! There are so many mysteries, and I hope we can unravel them little by little. Since Sahan and Youlian have been imprisoned at the same time, there shouldn't be any more accidents!" Suren's words were very firm.

We had just started Suren's car when three soldiers rushed over and pointed their submachine guns at my chest without any politeness: "During military control, no one may use any vehicles in the camp without the approval of the High Priest and General Tina." There was not a trace of a smile on their faces; they were definitely not joking.

Suren slammed her hand on the steering wheel, and the horn emitted a piercing blare: "I am Mr. Scalpel's sister, and this is his special envoy sent to oversee the excavation. We need..."

The lead soldier shook his head indifferently: "Without orders, no one is exempt." As he spoke, he clicked open the safety of his submachine gun.

The soldiers on the watchtower quickly turned their guns down, aiming them at Suren and me. These soldiers were all seasoned veterans of the African battlefield, ruthless and only obeying orders from their superiors.

Suren's face turned pale. He shrugged the steering wheel and floored the accelerator, the Hummer emitting a sharp, menacing roar. I was certain that the moment the jeep's wheels began to turn, these soldiers would open fire without hesitation.

I smiled at Suren and said, "Never mind, let's go back to the tent and rest. We have a lot to do tomorrow!" Then I jumped out of the car and turned off the engine for her.

At this critical moment, a moment of impatience could ruin everything. There's really no need to become enemies with the Rainbow Warriors; it brings absolutely no benefit. In the vast desert, no matter how powerful two individuals are, they can't possibly contend with an entire special forces team.

Suren got out of the car with a sigh, and Tina's voice drifted over on the wind: "Where are you two going? Do you want me to give you a ride?" She had just bent down and crawled out of the big tent in the valley, holding a large roll of blueprints in her hand, looking very confident.

Suren took a step forward, hooked her arm around mine, and put on an affectionate gesture to counter Tina's arrogance.

Tina waved her hand, signaling the three soldiers to step back, and waved the blueprint in her hand: "I was just thinking of going to take a look at the top of the Turkic Khan Pyramid. I wonder if you two would be interested?"

Suren swallowed hard and gently pinched my forearm with her fingers. We were of one mind, and immediately put on a cheerful smile: "Of course, of course. Since we have a rare half-afternoon of free time, it would be good to go over there for a walk." When it came to Tina, Suren and I were absolutely of one mind and would stand together through thick and thin.

Furthermore, if Suren's suspicions about the scalpel prove true, the two of us should indeed stick together even more closely to protect ourselves.

Tina's car was a stretched and heavy Mitsubishi Jeep, which she drove herself. Suren and I sat in the back, arm in arm, leisurely gazing out the window at the desert scenery.

Dust swirled, and all I could see was a chilling, earthy yellow, devoid of any greenery. In such an environment, if a tiger had stolen the scriptures and attempted to escape, the difficulty would be no less than escaping a deserted island in the ocean with bare hands. I still wanted to help him, because my intuition told me that what he was doing was definitely right.

Hanging from the side of the driver's seat backrest was a Remington shotgun, with two boxes of the latest ammunition neatly arranged beside it. This gun is powerful enough to kill an adult black bear with a single shot from three meters away, making it arguably the most formidable shotgun. This demonstrates that the Egyptian military's weaponry is on par with the latest equipment of the US military, making its combat capability truly the strongest among the dozens of countries on the African continent.

"Mr. Feng, what are you thinking about?" Tina glanced at me in the rearview mirror.