Vol 5: Chapter 2-3.
O’Connell was almost forced to accept their request and bring them to Hamunaptra. Of course, Zheng then gave him two gold bars which made him feel better. Without a choice, he brought Zheng and the others back to his inn.
O’Connell seemed like a regular here. He hit up a conversation with a blonde young man as soon as he stepped inside. Basically about how he stayed in jail for a few days and almost got hanged.
After a while, O’Connell turned to Zheng. “You guys stay here, I will go sell the gold first… and buy some guns and ammos. Of course I don’t think you guys need any guns right?” Then he pointed at Zero with a laugh.
Zheng also laughed. He knew O’Connell was someone that could keep his promise in the movie. But because of the 5000 meter limitation, he took out another gold bar from the ring and said. “Due to some reasons, we have to follow you around. But we won’t be stingy with money. Don’t worry, we are aware of some people guarding Hamunaptra. We will deal with them when we encounter them. I only wish to find Hamunaptra.”
O’Connell looked at Zheng in confusion. He grabbed the gold bar and said. “Then lets hurry. I promised that woman to meet up at Giza port tomorrow morning. It’s not safe to enter the black market at night. Let’s go.”
The returned to the inn shortly after. O’Connell exchanged the gold bars for a large sum of cash and coins easily. Not only did him buy himself a bag of weapons but also new clothes and shoes. When they got back to the inn, he had opened up to Zheng group.
The inn wasn’t too big but the rooms had everything necessary. During dinner, O’Connell began to talk about his experience as a soldier, especially the time he entered Hamunaptra three years ago, and how he escaped from the desert.
“… We received an order to look for the city of the dead, which had an unlimited amount of gold… Hoho, I almost suspected you’ve found the gold from there… Anyway, after we had eaten enough sand, Hamunaptra finally came into our sight on a nice day. The pharoh’s tomb, the books of the living and the dead, and the large amount of gold…”
“After we reached it, we only had the opportunity to do some simple exploration before we were attacked by a group in black clothes. They wanted to kill all of us. I escaped after encountering a strange event. I was going to get killed but the ground I was standing at suddenly elevated. It was the face of a man, probably the spirit that guards the tomb… Ahem, anyway, I was the only one that escaped alive. Then I was faced with the endless desert…”
O’Connell took a gulp of his tequila then continued. “Back then I had no supplies or clean water. And it takes three days to reach the nearest oasis from Hamunaptra. That’s a desert, without any horse, or camel, it would take at least five days of walking. Under the harsh temperature and conditions, any human would have become a jerky…”
“At the third day, I started eating snakes and scorpions, using their blood to moisturize my throat… Then at night I would dig through layers of sand for the wet sand underneath… I didn’t know how I made it to the oasis. I probably looked like a mummy by then. Haha…”
Even though he said it in a normal tone, but the dangers and difficulties were there. Some of them comforted him while Zero and some others were eating their meals with indifference.
O’Connell suddenly said. “Why do you want to find Hamunaptra? The gold that you gave me are of the purest quality. And you don’t even seem to care that much, just like you are filthy rich. Is the gold from Hamunaptra really that attractive to you?”
Zheng smiled bitterly as he drank his tequila. “If I say I am not there for the gold, but rather that we will die if we don’t get there. Will you believe it? It sounds so implausible…”
“Is it a curse? Whatever, I don’t know anything about it anyway. I will do what I promised. We will leave for Hamunaptra tomorrow… I hope I don’t have to run away this time.”
(That would be difficult…)
The few of them that knew the plot laughed. In the plot, O’Connell’s group unleashed Imhotep and had to run away to Cairo. Even though they had ample supplies but being chased by a mummy wasn’t the best feeling.
“Good! Then we will leave for Hamunaptra tomorrow!” Zheng raised his tequila to O’Connell and nodded with determination.
Lan suddenly said with devious smile. “Right, we still need to buy one more thing. That will be our amulet.”
“What’s it?” Everyone asked at the same time, including Zheng and O’Connell.
“A cat!”
