When the doctor woke up, it was already early morning the next day, and the shop owner wasn’t in the room.
The doctor wasn’t in a hurry to report to that hospital. Though the inspection was only for a week, the hospital had given him a full half month, so he had plenty of time.
Though it was already October in Cairo, it was still scorching hot like summer, and the doctor wasn’t used to it. After changing into a thin shirt, he tried using the gold-plated earring to contact the shop owner, talking to himself in the room for quite a while before feeling foolish.
How had he so easily believed what he said? This thing could rival a cell phone? Wasn’t this a joke! The doctor angrily wanted to remove the earring, but after raising his hand, he silently put it back down.
It didn’t matter anyway—he’d keep wearing it.
He wandered around the room and found the guest bed showed no signs of being used, indicating the shop owner hadn’t rested at all. There was also no note left for him in the room. The doctor began to worry. He went to the front desk to ask if anyone had seen the shop owner leave. Just as he was struggling to express himself in poor English, the doctor was amazed to find he could completely understand the other person’s English, and what came out of his mouth was also a string of very fluent English!
The doctor looked around and found he could understand all the various foreign language materials placed on the front desk. He randomly grabbed an Egyptian, and he could communicate without barriers even though they spoke Egyptian! It was the same with French and German people—no problem at all!
Even if he didn’t want to believe it, the doctor had to admit this gold-plated earring was really f***ing awesome!!
This was a multilingual translator! Under the admiring gazes of those around him, the doctor proudly raised his chin. Why hadn’t he met the shop owner earlier? This way, during school, he could have handled the English Level 6 exam!
Just as the doctor was fantasizing, the shop owner hurriedly walked into the hotel from outside. The doctor only saw him holding a scroll of something, and before he could ask where he’d been, he was dragged toward the elevator.
“Send breakfast up…” the doctor managed to shout, and by the time the last word left his mouth, he had already disappeared into the elevator.
The front desk receptionist caught a glimpse of this pair of young Eastern men wearing matching earrings and smiled knowingly, deciding to send room service up later.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” The doctor was pulled into the room by the shop owner and looked somewhat anxiously at the shop owner’s grave expression. He rarely saw such a serious expression on the shop owner’s face—he was always so calm, even when talking about his own impending death, his face had been completely unperturbed.
The shop owner frowned, as if not knowing how to explain, and directly handed what he was holding to the doctor.
This was a very strange paper scroll. From the moldy and damaged traces on it, it should have experienced a long period of time. The scroll had many drawings and written characters, some already too damaged to recognize. Though the doctor could now understand Egyptian, he found it quite difficult at first glance. He guessed this should be ancient Egyptian poetry, just like how foreigners who understand Chinese still wouldn’t easily understand Chinese Tang poetry and Song lyrics.
“I wandered around Cairo last night and heard there were riots recently that destroyed a small part of the Egyptian Museum’s collection, so I went to understand the situation. Then this morning I went to the Giza pyramids across the street. Since the Great Pyramid of Khufu only admits three hundred visitors per day, I had someone help me queue.” The shop owner calmed down and carefully explained. Though he usually didn’t like talking much, he hadn’t originally been this way. This was because during two thousand years of long years, he had become accustomed to living alone. Even when getting along with each incarnation of Fu Su, he had gone from being together day and night to basically having no contact, just watching from afar, knowing the other was living reasonably well.
Because he couldn’t bear the brief companionship each time followed by helpless death—this was equivalent to repeatedly reenacting the tragedy from over two thousand years ago, with the pain constantly magnifying and magnifying again. Like a nightmare from which he could never wake.
But the doctor was different. He had actively pushed open the carved wooden door of the Mute House, the longevity lock on his body had broken, and he no longer had that fateful shackle. He could live on, he could live like a normal person.
So he very much wanted to get along like he had with Fu Su back then, hoping the two of them could become long-term friends.
But the doctor and Fu Su were completely different people, and during these long years, he had also lost some skills for communicating with people. The shop owner rarely felt troubled, feeling he was almost like an elementary school student afraid of having no friends.
“Then I went to the Khalili market—yes, the Khan el-Khalili market that your travel guide strongly recommended. A market that has existed since the fourteenth century AD, covering an entire district…” The shop owner tried to organize his language, but the effect obviously wasn’t very good.
“Oh oh! So you went treasure hunting?” The doctor obviously didn’t have the shop owner’s sensitive nerves and didn’t notice the shop owner’s discomfort at all. But as an excellent doctor, he also possessed strong associative abilities. “This scroll is your find? Not bad! About how many years old could this antique be? Oh no, you didn’t go overboard, did you? If it’s a very old antique, will we be detained at customs?”
The shop owner pursed his lips, feeling that worrying so much about this obtuse fellow was simply asking for trouble.
“This is a scroll made from papyrus, a specialty of Egypt. After removing the shell from papyrus stems and arranging them neatly and connecting them into sheets, paper can be made. A sheet of papyrus has two layers—the upper layer for writing, and when placed together with the lower layer and beaten, the enzymes inside create adhesive action under pressure. Multiple long sheets can be glued along the edges to make long scrolls. This was the earliest and most convenient writing material in history, lasting three thousand years without decline, until Chinese papermaking techniques reached Egypt in the eighth century AD and replaced this papyrus.” The shop owner was not only intimately familiar with domestic antiques, but also possessed a long life with plenty of time for learning.
“Then what’s written on this? It looks like some poem praising death?” The doctor, hearing it was indeed an antique, immediately carefully placed the scroll on the coffee table. He didn’t want to accidentally tear it and have some terrible mummy or something pop out. At least Qiongqi and Huangou from the Classic of Mountains and Seas were quite cute!
“This is a Book of the Dead. It’s a type of talisman that ancient Egyptians dedicated to the deceased, containing spells and praise for gods. Usually written on papyrus scrolls and placed in the tombs of the dead. Ancient Egyptians believed it could ensure the safety of the deceased in the underworld, and the spells in the Book of the Dead would allow the dead to return to the world during daylight.” The shop owner spoke lightly, but his voice echoed in the spacious suite, involuntarily creating a chilling sensation throughout one’s body.
“Then… this Book of the Dead… it’s not from some nobody, is it?” The doctor knew the shop owner’s discerning eye was always sharp—any antique that caught his special attention was definitely super terrifying level.
“It’s… Ramesses II’s…”
“…”
A silence deep enough to drown in. Even though the doctor wasn’t good at history, he knew what the name Ramesses II represented. That was the greatest pharaoh in Egyptian history! He ruled for sixty-seven years, longer than even China’s Emperor Kangxi, and perhaps even the longest-reigning ruler in world history! Not to mention he ruled over ancient Egypt, one of the four great ancient civilizations! Over three thousand years ago, he unified Egypt, concluded the first war peace treaty, and throughout Egyptian land, his statues and temples were built everywhere…
“Can we take this thing out of the country?” The doctor came to his senses, his first thought being safety concerns. An antique from over three thousand years ago! He didn’t want to be detained by customs because of this!
“Don’t worry, no one will believe this is a real antique, because papyrus couldn’t possibly be preserved for over three thousand years.” The shop owner was unconcerned—the Khalili market was full of people selling these things, and anyone holding one would think it was a very realistic fake or travel souvenir.
“Then…” Then this wasn’t genuine?
“So I suspect this Book of the Dead actually has magical power.” The shop owner said slowly while actually reaching out to tear the precious Book of the Dead.
The doctor wanted to stop him, but his movements weren’t as fast as the shop owner’s. He could only watch helplessly as the shop owner peeled away a layer of papyrus. The light brown papyrus peeled away easily, obviously having been opened by the shop owner before. A line of ancient Egyptian appeared on the second layer of the Book of the Dead, with some words damaged. The doctor read with difficulty and instinctively looked at the shop owner beside him.
“When sunlight shines again on… the ancient dead shall return… that’s roughly the translation.” The shop owner sighed. “The damaged phrase in the middle can’t be guessed at all. Perhaps it’s ‘when sunlight shines again on this second Book of the Dead…'”
The doctor looked with an ugly expression at the sunlight outside streaming through the glass window, illuminating the Book of the Dead without obstruction. But aside from making the cracks and fiber traces on it clearer, there was no abnormal reaction at all.
“Nothing happened, boss. You’re definitely too nervous. Maybe foreign antiques aren’t as magical as you imagined!” The doctor laughed dryly twice and stood up. “You didn’t sleep at all last night, did you? You should rest first. How come room service still hasn’t arrived? Such poor service! I’m going to complain!”
Actually, the doctor wanted to personally go to the restaurant and look around to see what good food there was. With the gold-plated earring, the doctor wasn’t afraid to go out alone—no communication barriers!
Hearing the sound of the door closing, the shop owner stared at the Book of the Dead on the coffee table for a while longer before looking away and casually lying on the sofa.
The living room of the suite they were staying in had a set of luxurious furniture, and what he was now lying on was a Mediterranean-style European chaise lounge. Though the shop owner didn’t need fixed daily sleep like ordinary people, this chaise lounge was very comfortable. He closed his eyes and emptied his thoughts to rest—it was indeed very nice.
After a short while, when sunlight completely illuminated the Book of the Dead, the light brown papyrus suddenly lit up. A white smoke rose in the sunlight, slowly condensing into a human form. Features gradually became clear, finally transforming into a translucent, young, handsome man.
This person was probably only in his twenties, with deep eyes and brows, an aquiline nose, wearing linen on his head, bare chest with several necklaces inlaid with precious gems hanging from it, and a white linen narrow skirt on his lower body—typical ancient Egyptian noble attire. Though only in a soul state, he exuded an aura of looking down upon the world.
The man first observed his surroundings with confusion, particularly curious about everything in the room, especially the photos hanging on the living room walls, which he examined repeatedly. Finally, he turned his gaze to the shop owner resting on the chaise lounge. What had been a casual glance became startled when he saw the shirt the shop owner was wearing, and he instantly floated to the side of the chaise lounge.
The handsome man’s eyebrows showed increasingly surprised expressions, and finally he couldn’t control himself and reached out toward the shop owner.
“I figured you’d be coming out soon.” The shop owner slowly opened his eyes, not looking at the translucent hand already resting on his chest, but looking directly at the ancient Egyptian man who had suddenly appeared. “How should I address you? Pharaoh? Your Majesty? Or… Ramesses II?”
The handsome pharaoh withdrew his hand, straightened his body, slightly raised his chin, and looked down at the shop owner from above, saying with full arrogance: “Foreign commoner, I permit you to address me as Your Majesty.”
The shop owner raised an eyebrow, knowing this was the gold-plated earring translating ancient Egyptian into something he could understand—otherwise an Egyptian pharaoh wouldn’t refer to himself with the Chinese term “zhen.” The shop owner looked at the pharaoh rudely without standing up. In fact, he found this chaise lounge extremely comfortable and didn’t want to move at all.
“I think you should know that present-day Egypt is not under your rule.”
The pharaoh looked around and nodded: “Obviously, but I’ve had enough of being pharaoh. Having finally awakened from long slumber, I don’t want to continue that boring life from before.”