Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Wei Kang told Zhang Zian his plans. Although Zhang Zian felt they were quite unstable, he could not find any serious problems. After all, Wei Kang was not on his first field trip. He had accumulated a lot of experience in the biological examination of deep mountains, forest, swamps, and the Gobi Desert in their home country and abroad. At least, he had much more experience than Zhang Zian did. No matter in theory or practice, it was not his place to pick at Wei Kang’s plan.
What’s more, the operation not only had high-tech equipment but also had elfins following, especially Fina, an Aboriginal who had once roamed the black and red lands. They would certainly not stand idly by at critical moments… Probably.
After finishing the discussion, Wei Kang took his laptop and printed out the document, following his students to Cairo University to do a cultural and educational presentation.
Zhang Zian had nothing to do at that moment, and he could not waste time for no reason, so he followed his original plan to bring the elfins to visit the pyramids.
If they could only visit only one tourist spot in Egypt, 99% of people would choose the pyramid. If one came to Egypt but didn’t go to the pyramid and take a few selfies, they would be embarrassed to tell others that they had been to Egypt when they returned to their country.
Apart from Fina’s lack of interest because of the destruction of the pyramid, other elfins were eager to witness one of the seven wonders of the world, the man-made buildings that had held the world’s highest height for 4,000 years before the Eiffel Tower was built.
Zhang Zian went out to buy food and brought it back, and when the elfins were done eating and drinking, they got ready to set off.
Keeping the elfins in his phone that should’ve been in his phone, and turning those invisible that should’ve been invisible, they left the hotel and sat on the taxi.
There was also a brief episode when they left the hotel. A couple from the West were also staying in the hotel. Today, they’d wanted to take UAVs outside for aerial photography, but they had been stopped by the lobby manager on duty. They’d told them that UAVs were contraband in Cairo because of the severe anti-terrorism situation. If they were seen by the police, they would probably be detained with the UAVs. If they wanted to play with UAVs, they could only go to the wild or less populated areas.
The Western couple felt that it was a pity. Zhang Zian also felt that it was a pity because he had been considering using aerial photography to take photos of the pyramid. After all, the feeling of having new toys at hand, yet not being able to play… It was not good.
The temperature seemed to be several degrees higher than it had been yesterday. It was said that the temperature could reach nearly 50 degrees Celsius at noon in midsummer. It was really hot.
He did not know if it was because Ramadan was approaching, but he felt that there were fewer pedestrians on the street today compared to yesterday, and the traffic was not so bad.
The hotel was not far from the pyramid, as the distance was less than 10 kilometers as the bird flew. Besides, there were no tall buildings around it. You could see the ancient buildings in the shapes of tetrahedrons from very far away.
Reaching the bottom of the pyramid, Zhang Zian spent five minutes haggling with the driver about the price. After all, he had a lot of time, but he was spending more and more money so that he had less and less of it left.
As this was an international tourist resort, the local people who were basically related to the tourism industry could speak English. Although their level was about the level of junior high school in China and the accent was strange, simple communication or bargaining was not a problem.
“These are the pyramids…”
They had not felt very much when they’d driven over to this side in the taxi, but standing close by, every elfin except Fina was deeply shocked, even Zhang Zian, who thought he had seen a lot of things and was knowledgeable.
The giant pyramids stood proudly above the wilderness. To the East was Cairo, a prosperous city with a huge gap between rich and poor, and to the west was the Sahara Desert. It had witnessed the rise and fall of ancient Egypt, the invasion from the East and the northern foreigners, the process of desertification in Egypt, and the turmoil in Egypt today… It would continue to witness everything and laugh and look at the scenery until the end of time.
Just like that ancient saying in Egypt: Humans feared time, but time feared the pyramids
The wind blew up the yellow sand nearby, a desolation that was eternally unchanging.
“A tower pierces the green sky. The heavens desire to fall, and it relies on them!” Vladimir muttered, once again changing a poem crazily.
This was a poem that had originally been used to describe mountains, but it was very suitable here.
The magnificent pyramids were like stone mountains rising out from the ground, holding up the tens of thousands of miles of blue sky like the needle of the Sea God.
Before coming to Egypt, Zhang Zian, who had only seen pictures on the internet, had held an uncaring attitude in his heart, but when he stood at the foot of the pyramid, any contempt was torn to pieces. He could only think that one of the seven wonders of the world was truly worthy of being so famous.
His eyes fell on one side of the Great Pyramid, where there was a stone-sealed hole, which was said to be the entrance to the Pharaoh’s tomb in the center of the Pyramid.
“Wait for a while, everyone. I’ll go and buy tickets. Coming to the pyramids requires a ticket, and entering the pyramids requires additional tickets.”
Zhang Zian walked to the ticket counter and bought one of each of the different kinds of tickets.
Fortunately, perhaps because of the protection of cultural relics, tickets to the Great Pyramid were sold in limited quantities. They sold 300 tickets a day and would stop when they were sold out. Today, there were fewer tourists, so he had bought one of the few remaining tickets.
“Taxi! Taxi!”
He had just walked a few steps, pressing on his tickets when he heard that there was a taxi behind him trying to solicit business. He thought, I could still take a taxi on the broken-down road? They would probably need to suspend the business for big repairs after driving a few days.
Looking back, however, he saw that it was not a taxi at all, but a local teenage boy holding a camel and waving warmly to him. “Taxi! One dollar!”
Zhang Zian was speechless, waving his hand to show that he did not need the ancient kind of four-legged taxi. He had heard that it was a very black-hearted scheme: they said that it was only one US dollar, but actually, after one got on and got down, it was already no longer just one US dollar.
Returning to the elfins’ side, he waved the tickets in his hand. “Done. We can go in now.”
They trampled on the gravel and rubble that covered the ground and soon came near the Great Pyramid. They also saw another black hole under the closed entrance of the tunnel. It was said that the hole left by a burglar had become the entrance to the pyramid. At the entrance, there were scenic workers checking tickets and tourists who had bought tickets.
“Meow! Must I go into that hole?”
Galaxy nervously stared at the entrance of the cave. The narrow, dark, winding entrance like that of a sheep’s intestines made it feel resistant.
“If Galaxy doesn’t want to go in, you can stay outside.” Zhang Zian knew that its claustrophobia had not yet been cured. He comforted it by saying, “Something must be done here and I must go in. I don’t want to have spent this money wastefully. I heard that the experience is not especially good, and the curse of the pharaoh hangs over people’s heads like the sword of Damocles.”
“Curse? Haha, it’s just a paper tiger!”
Vladimir laughed contemptuously and said nothing.
