Chapter 1286: A Different Type of Waiting
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
While Peter Lee and the others were evacuating the pyramid, Fina heard what they said. They were going to wait for the dust to settle, regroup outside, and then enter once more.
This time, with the help of Meredith Segar and home-field advantage, Fina could easily push them back. Unfortunately, it would not be as easy the second time around. It was likely to be a bloody battle.
Therefore, Fina intended to use the current peace to go to the tomb of the king and see what was going on in there. No matter what happened next, at least she would have no more regrets.
When Peter Lee’s figure finally disappeared from sight, she turned around and ran towards the dark. She rushed up the slope connected to the large corridor. It was the only way to the tomb of the king.
She had to move fast, for Peter Lee and his team could return at any time with better equipment. She hoped that Old Time Tea could help delay them for her if she wasn’t back yet.
It was a pity for Peter Lee and his team. Despite all the preparations they’d made for entering the desert, they had failed to consider that the pyramid in the Devil’s Sea had empty mines all around it.
Fina felt the earth tremble violently. Even the pyramid was shaking. She immediately knew that she would no longer have to worry about a battle with Peter Lee.
Now, without many worries, she moved forward much more calmly and slowly.
The corridor she walked through was unlike those in the Great Pyramid. The corridors there had been large—that was all. Here, on both sides of the corridor, there were pairs of animal god statues. They faced each other with stern looks.
On the ceiling, about a dozen meters up, stars were carved. The stars were inlaid with gems, and they were all connected with a gold wire that sparkled.
Jewels and gold were piled up between the stone statues. Both the quantity and the quality were vastly superior to those found in the queen’s tomb. Despite having been covered in dust for 2,000 years, their sparkle could not be entirely hidden.
Fina was surprised that she was able to see the items so clearly. She had been prepared to face a pitch-dark corridor. However, with every few steps she took, a glowing light stick was thrown in front of her to illuminate the path. Yellow, green, red, and blue—all colors were present. The dull and depressing corridor suddenly mimicked a shop window that sold lights on Christmas Eve. Looking at the lights… One could not help but laugh.
There were light sticks on the ground, but there were no obvious footprints. Old Time Tea would not have been able to achieve this. The light sticks had probably been dropped from the air.
There was a dull bang outside the tower. The pyramid shook violently once more. The dust collected on the ceiling became dislodged. The stone statues in the corridor also slid a little, moving slightly away from their original positions.
Fina instinctively adjusted her body’s center of gravity to avoid a stone statue that had slipped. However, she could not be bothered to shake off the dust that fell on her head. She was, by now, covered in gray anyway.
A pyramid that weighed more than a few million pounds would find it difficult to maintain its original position once tilted. The tilt placed undue stress on one side of the entire structure and increased the weight on one side of its foundation.
The pyramid’s foundation was not mud, but a combination of solid rock fragments bunched together. It was less capable of supporting heightened pressure on a single side of the pyramid. Unlike mud, which compressed under pressure, rock fragments had the tendency to crack and break instead.
Would she be resurrected? Would she appear alive, as prophesied by the gods?
Fina knew that the chance of this happening was slim. However, since the gods gave hope, she was determined to hang on to that hope. She had to find out for herself before leaving.
After all… She looked past the row of colorful light sticks in front of her. After all, there was a bird that died and was then resurrected.
However, the pyramid was not in good condition. If she was really resurrected, wouldn’t she die again soon?
Fina kept thinking about her life and death. She couldn’t take it. It felt like her head was going to explode. She suddenly thought of Zhang Zian. Would he stupidly follow her here?
Fina dared to venture deep into the pyramid, as she was a cat. Even if the passageway created by Peter Lee got blocked, she had considerable confidence that she could escape from the air passage where she’d come in.
Clumsy Zhang Zian wouldn’t have this skill, and thus, he shouldn’t be stupid enough to follow her. However, when he was being really stupid, he was impossible to reason with. He might indeed follow her in…
She had a lot of thoughts in her mind. She was so preoccupied that she failed to notice Galaxy, who was just behind her.
Galaxy kept a distance roughly about half the corridor length. He hid behind the stone statues displaced by the shaking. His black-and-white coat also provided good camouflage in this environment. His gaze passed Fina, and he looked to the far end of the darker corridor. He was full of expectation of what is behind.
While Fina was still trying to sort out her thoughts, Galaxy already knew what would happen. It would be entirely different from whatever she guessed, even her craziest guess. Perhaps many years later, people would recount it as one of the most important events in history.
Galaxy thought he heard a voice and turned around. His silvery-gray eyes stared at the red granite boulders by the stone wall. Although the gap between the boulders was tiny, and even a pin could not get through, he still managed to see beyond it. Through the boulders and the darkness, he saw Zhang Zian and Famous stumbling and running towards the pyramid.
The timing seemed to be just right.
Fina’s mind was all over the place. However, she did not slow her pace. She soon came to the end of the big corridor, where there was a small stone gate. Behind the gate lay the tomb of the king.
Stone gate—that was what it should have been called. It was, in fact, nothing but an opening in the stone wall. In order to drag the pharaoh’s coffin into the tomb, it had been built with a very low ceiling. Regular adults had to bend or crawl to get in.
She looked up at the stone gate, where three lines of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics were carved.
“Death is simply a gateway to a new life. We die today, but we will be born again. We will return in many forms.”
Fina muttered these three sentences. They were also prayer words used in resurrection ceremonies in ancient Egypt. It captured humans’ resistance to death and longing for eternal life.
Those who had carved these three prayers might not have really believed that the pharaoh would ever be resurrected. Throughout the long history of ancient Egypt, no great pharaoh had ever walked out of a pyramid alive.
Fina sighed and dragged her feet into the tomb of the king, preparing to face the cruel truth that she felt she already knew.
She had to go in and take a look. Her mind would not be at peace if she didn’t at least look.
Just as Fina entered the tomb, Galaxy also reached the side of the stone gate. However, he did not enter. He merely sat down beside the stone gate and waited quietly.
He was waiting for someone, and he was willing to endure the narrow dark passages in the pyramid.
Just as Fina had people she wanted to see, he also had someone whom he wanted to see.
And that person would soon appear.