Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The sun continued setting in the west.
Egypt’s poor vegetation coverage made the earth’s capability to retain heat to be almost zero. When the sun was strong, the ground heated up rapidly. Just as the sun rays weakened, the heat would dissipate equally quickly.
It was only at this time of the day that local Egyptians came out from their homes and offices to start outdoor activities. These would last until three o’clock in the morning.
Foreign businessmen who had just arrived in Egypt generally found it difficult to adapt to the Egyptian work and rest cycle. Yet in a foreign land, one had no choice but to fit in and do as the locals did.
Therefore, if you were traveling to Egypt during the peak season and wanted to avoid the bustling groups of tourists, the best way was to get up early.
Zhang Zian, mimicking the other elfins, squatted amongst the ruins and silently watched Fina’s back.
It sat alone amongst pieces of the broken wall, sometimes giving off a stupid look, sometimes an angry one. It made the group feel for Fina, yet it was a seemingly unbearable feeling—a feeling reminiscent of the loss of love.
Zhang Zian could not decide if bringing Fina here had been the correct choice. He was worried that he was being cruel, deliberately re-opening Fina’s wounds and making it bleed once more.
Yet even as it continued to put on a strong front, it should seek to remove the armor protecting its inner, weak self. By letting the sorrow flow out, one could preserve oneself much better. Much like a dam, storing too much water would only lead the dam to collapse one day.
Since arriving in Egypt, Fina had been behaving normally. Yet the normalcy in behavior was in itself abnormal. It should not have been so calm. It was precisely this sense of calm that had led it to firmly decide to come to this place, which had the effect of removing the disguise.
It had simply…been too long in the ruins.
Not even Zhang Zian had expected the pain in Fina’s heart to run so deeply. Would today’s venting get it settled, once and for all?
“In my opinion, if the Temple of Bastet had not been destroyed, it would’ve been the best place to store the statue of the cat god,” Old Time Tea said. “A powerful pseudo-god is nevertheless still a false god. If we place it in the Temple of Bastet and under the supervision of the goddess, it should no longer be able to cause trouble.”
“This is not necessarily true.” Zhang Zian offered a different opinion. Although he had a great deal of respect for Old Time Tea, he would not allow his mistake to simply slide away out of respect.
“Oh? I want to hear the details,” Old Time Tea said, asking humbly without flinching.
Zhang Zian took a moment to organize his thoughts and explained his views to them.
The ancient Egyptians had a very complex relationship with the cat god Bastet. On one hand, their belief in Bastet was very strong. There were many legends about Bastet, especially in later periods of ancient Egypt, such as the era of the Ptolemy dynasty. Almost every household had a statue of Bastet, and they worshipped the god every day and night…
The Temple of Bastet was not the grandest of temples, and the initial Bastet Carnival was not very grand. It was only when generations upon generations of pharaohs supported and built it up that the worship of Bastet reached its peak.
Yet on the other hand, if Bastet had been an important cat god, it was puzzling as to why it was not included in the ancient Egyptian book of gods. In other words, Bastet was not an official god of ancient Egypt, which was difficult to explain.
As for the ancient Egyptian book of gods, the most authoritative source at present was the Book of the Dead.
The Book of the Dead was not a book but a verse written by the ancient Egyptian clerk for the deceased. It included spells, hymns, lengthy essays, various ceremonial mantras, and the original names of important gods.
Similar to the game system devised in “Pet Hunter,” the ancient Egyptians valued the real names of the gods. For example, they viewed the sun god as immortal because Zeus had given him a name that no one knew about or guessed.
When pharaohs or important officials were buried, scrolls of scripture would be placed next to their mummified self. Alternatively, the scripture would be carved on the walls of the sarcophagus or the pyramid. Later, when tomb raiders dug up these tombs and discovered these verses, they often coined them as “The Book of the Dead.” This was because they could not understand ancient Egyptian writings.
There were different versions of the Book of the Dead, but in any version found so far, there was no mention of the cat god Bastet. However, the name of one lioness god, Tvnut, was found instead. There was a possibility that both Bastet and Tvnut referred to the same god.
Yet in any case, the list of gods in the Book of the Dead reflected all the gods identified by the ancient Egyptian priests of Pluto Osiris. Their authority on the matter could not be questioned. There simply was no Bastet, the cat god.
Therefore, for many ancient Egyptians who valued real names, the absence of a name meant that Bastet was not an official god.
It was then worrisome for a non-god to have the powers of one.
Perhaps this was why the statue of the cat god had been restored and ravaged at least twice. It was an indication that Bastet was not powerful enough to control its powers.
Thus, unless a modern, more complete, authoritative version of the Book of the Dead was found by future archaeologists, it would be difficult to see how this cat goddess could transcend from being a folk legend for the people into a formal, complete god…
Before leaving from China, Zhang Zian, in his quest to look for the statue of the cat god, decided to focus his efforts on locating the Temple of Bastet. Alas, after a quick search, he discovered that the Temple of Bastet had been ravaged by the fires of war. A further search revealed that even if the Temple of Bastet had existed, it still would not have sufficed to seal the cat statue.
Perhaps Fina had known this conclusion for a very long time. Therefore, very early on, it had pointed out that the statue of the cat god should be placed inside the pyramid and under the protection of the gods. Not in the Temple of Bastet.
Zhang Zian explained what he had learned to the other elfins. After they heard it, they understood that the relationship between the gods of ancient Egypt was highly complicated…
“So we can only continue to look for a pyramid that has been very well preserved so far and has yet to be discovered by man. This is ridiculously difficult…” Famous said with a sigh.
Zhang Zian shrugged. “I’m sorry, but there is no other way. I do hope that the expedition team can find something in the western desert. Otherwise, we will have to return the cat god statue to Binhai City. This is not only a waste of effort but also a waste of shipping fees.”
Everyone knew that the possibility of achieving their goals was minuscule. Although more than 100 pyramids had been discovered in Egypt thus far, finding an option that fit their goal was like finding a needle in a haystack. One could have better luck winning the lottery than this.
After wrapping up his conversation with his team, Zhang Zian looked at the time and noticed that Fina seemed to have calmed down. It stood between the broken walls, casting a figure that looked as fragile as porcelain.
He hesitated as to whether to say a few words. He wondered if he should instead release Snowy Lionet and let it handle Fina instead.
At that moment, Richard patted his head with his wings and motioned him to look back. “Hey! We seem to have company!”
