Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Seriously, sometimes Zhang Zian was really jealous of the elfins. They could just go back to the phone when they were on the plane and would reach their destination after a night’s nap. The long flight could be hard to bear, especially if the quality of the flight attendants was not high.
Wei Kang was like a primary school teacher who was afraid of their kids going missing during an excursion and had been constantly reminding them to move in a group ever since they had reached the lobby. They had to go to the toilet in pairs, and he only stopped with his nagging when they reached the plane.
You could guess with your kneecap that Fina would be attracting a lot of the fliers’ attention with how brazen it was getting on the plane. Very little people had seen cats being brought onto the plane, or even if they had, most would at least keep the cat in a carrier. Was it really okay to just let the cat walk freely like this?
The flight crew had received the notice before hand, as well as the proof of scientific significance, and they had mentally prepared themselves for Fina’s arrival. A few of them had even prepared cat toys to entertain it, but Fina was completely uninterested in them, hopping into its seat to catch up on sleep.
More than one passenger had come over to ask Zhang Zian whether he was related to one of the higher-ups on the airline, if he was allowed to bring a cat onto the plane like this.
After the plane took flight and went into cruise, the passengers would grab their phones or cameras to take a picture of Fina when they walked past Zhang Zian’s seat.
They finally waited to the point where the passengers had their curiosity sated. Seeing that Fina had already fallen into a deep sleep, Zhang Zian could feel his fatigue catching up with him too. He had wanted to take a nap as well, but Gao Ke and He He, who were sitting behind him, were constantly chatting. He wanted nothing more then to hide in the phone as well for some peace and quiet.
Wei Kang took out his laptop to browse some articles and papers.
After a while, having eaten the on-flight dinner, the four youths behind them finally ran out of things to say, and Zhang Zian fell into sleep groggily.
By the time he woke up, Fina was also awake. Its seat was the window seat, and it was squatting on the seat, watching the scenery outside.
Most of the other passengers were also sleeping or taking a rest with their earphones. Even Wei Kang had closed the laptop to take a nap.
Fina turned around to look at him. “The last time I sat on an airplane, I didn’t think much of it. But after experiencing how amazing Nekhbet was, it’s completely different, taking a plane.”
It was just describing how it felt, not asking a question, so Zhang Zian had no real need to answer. There were quite a few passengers around them as well, so it wasn’t exactly possible for him to answer it either.
The impact that the drone had on them was a lot more than the plane. Since the plane was flying at a much higher altitude, they could only see clouds, land, and the sea out the window, and it just looked fake. But the drone was completely opposite. It had provided a different view of the scenery that they usually saw, an impactful view.
The speaker suddenly rang with the captain’s voice, reminding the passengers that they were about to reach their destination—the capital of Egypt, Cairo.
Fina cocked its head slightly, watching where the plane was flying through the window.
Zhang Zian couldn’t see its face directly, but he could vaguely see its anxiety through the reflection in the window, as though it wanted to go back to its hometown in the snap of a finger.
This was a return after two thousand years of being away—sadly, they couldn’t return in a more grand manner.
The plane flew past from the Sinai Peninsula’s airspace. In theory, they had already entered Egypt’s airspace, but all they could see from this height was endless desert and the horizon in the north, its waves rolling in the Mediterranian Sea.
The passengers that had been woken up by the announcement started to collect their belongings, making preparation for landing.
Wei Kang woke up the rest of the members, continuing to nag about staying together and not losing anyone.
A while later, the plane started its descent at an undetectable angle, and the passengers that had never come to Egypt before were all looking out the window.
“Look! Pyramids! Those are pyramids, right?” Someone whisper-shouted, asking their friends to come take a look.
Fina lightly shivered, looking out the window with even deeper concentration.
Zhang Zian put out his neck as well. Even though they had seen many pictures and videos of the pyramids on television, there weren’t many chances for them to watch from the sky.
Fina’s mouth dropped open in shock, the disappointment in its eyes detectable from miles away.
“This…this is the sacred pyramid? This… What’s all this trash around it?” It gritted its teeth in anger.
Zhang Zian saw it too. Even though it was in passing, he did see the pyramids.
He couldn’t fault it for being disappointed. The pyramid right before it was completely different from what she remembered. She remembered the pyramids being covered with a layer of smooth white limestone, reflecting the sunlight like a mountain covered in eyes would, pristine and beautiful, easily seen from miles away. But the pyramids now barely had any limestone around them. There was only a glimpse of it left on the Pyramid of Khafre, but all of the limestone around the other pyramids had disappeared without a trace, the ugly yellow stones underneath completely exposed.
Besides, what was even more preposterous was the fact that dozens of low-rise buildings had popped up not far away from the pyramids. These were hotels and hostels, popping up like bamboo shoots after the rain. They had been built there hastily in order to attract tourists who wanted convenience.
Zhang Zian was worried that it would throw a tantrum on the plane, so he could only pretend to be talking to himself while he explained, “A long time ago, in order to build up Cairo, the descendants made a limestone mine out of the pyramids for convenience… Just like how Chinese people took bricks from the Great Wall of China to build their homes.”
The pyramids had already disappeared from their view in the window. Fina turned back to him, the fury in her eyes not dimmed but instead burning brighter—these acts of disrespecting their ancestors should be punished with death.
Zhang Zian shrugged his shoulders. “The Egyptians of that time were not Egyptians of the past.”
Fina understood the meaning between the lines. The true Egypt had already ended even before A.D. started. The last generation of kings, the Ptolemy family, weren’t Egyptians either, but instead Greeks. Even if so, the Ptolemy family, which included Cleopatra, had completely adhered to the rules and regulations of Ancient Egypt, so they could be considered as a part of Ancient Egyptian history.
Only after the great Cleopatra had died in her youth did they note the true end of Ancient Egypt. However their descendants had tortured the pyramids, even if it was surrounding it with toilets, wasn’t disrespecting their ancestors, since their ancestors weren’t Ancient Egyptians anyway. It was alright to dig up other families’ graves, as long as they weren’t one’s own family’s.
This attitude was clear in the protection strategy of Egypt’s ancient artifacts and culture as well. Even though modern Egypt was pretty passionate about protecting the artifacts, they somehow just gave off a weird feeling about it. It was like they were protecting the artifact’s value rather than the artifact itself.
Fina’s mouth hung open as though it wanted to say something, but no words came out. She could only close her eyes in shame and lack of acceptance.
If she hadn’t died…if she hadn’t made that choice… The world today would have been drastically different.
