Workers cleaned the concrete fragments at the bottom of the pit, revealing a two-meter-square cyan iron plate densely covered with words and patterns.

Sylvie leaned down and quickly read the handwriting: "The ship of the gods has landed at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and a fair deal will be formed. The power of gold turned the desert into the sea, and the rain filled the year round, and the pharaoh finally sacrificed the desert to the gods with blood on the covenant. The covenant was as changeable as the rise and fall of the sun, and when the god Leo lay asleep on his throne, the Egyptian swords and torches finally closed the hole in the canyon. The power of the pharaoh is irresistible, and he has been the ruler of this desert for 100,000 years. ”

The workers gathered around curiously, skeptical of Sylvie's words.

"Mr. Chen, the iron plate is just the beginning, we need to know what is covered under it. She wiped the iron plate with her sleeve again, meticulously re-examining the words.

The four sides of the iron plate were still under the weight of concrete, and I immediately instructed the workers to continue to clean the site until the entire iron plate was completely exposed, and the area was five meters square.

"Pry it up. I instructed the leading workers.

They inserted a crowbar down from the edge of the iron plate, and after repeated probing, they were surprised to see that it was a large iron ingot, not an iron plate. A rough estimate is that it will be more than two meters thick, just a little more.

The workers were a little discouraged, because with the tools and manpower on site, it was impossible to shake the ingots.

"Sir, can you rest for one night and then start work tomorrow?" "The leading worker had no choice but to report to me.

By this time, Thom had already hidden far away, sitting alone on the wooden box, smoking a cigarette sullenly, and staying out of the matter alone.

I took out my wallet and pulled out all the bills and held them high above the top: "Listen, everyone, remove the iron ingot tonight, and the money is yours." In addition to this money, I will also quadruple the wages of everyone and will never break my promise. ”

This stack of banknotes is about more than 3,000 dollars, and there must be brave men under the reward, believing that they will not put away the ready-made money and make nothing.

The workers were silent for a few seconds, and suddenly cheered: "us!" Geni brought the money, we will work all night tonight, and we will definitely get the iron ingot open. ”

Geni was the foreman who led the team, and he took the money, ignoring Thom's face, and immediately ordered the four workers to go back to the warehouse to prepare the tools, and the rest of the men worked together to continue digging down the edge of the ingot, expanding the working surface further.

Sylvie climbed into the wooden box and looked at the ingot condescendingly, her brow locked. When I stood beside her, I realized that she was drawing the surface pattern of the iron ingot in a notebook.

"What does the pattern around the ingot look like?clouds, waves, or abstractions?" she pointed forward, pointing to the pencil she held between her fingers.

The iron ingots are decorated with a half-meter-wide pattern, much like an ancient Chinese picture of a cloud head, but this is Africa in the 21st century, and Egypt does not seem to have any connection with Chinese painting.

After much scrutiny, a strange thought came to my mind: "It's some tangled body - I've seen these things in hallucinations." Wang Shi also said that when Leng Xin appeared on the stone wall of the large corridor, her feet were also full of this kind of thing. ”

Sylvie whispered, "What? Are you really sure?"

Frightened, the notebook slipped out of her hand, but fortunately, I reached in and grabbed it.

"I can't be sure, I just think the appearance of these patterns is a sign of something. What do you mean by the words 'ship of the gods' when you read those texts?" I know that the ancient Egyptians recorded countless texts about flying machines, and even clearly and accurately depicted a modern man sitting in the cockpit in that famous mural of an ancient spaceship.

Since recorded history, the ancient Egyptians never had the tools and ability to build flying machines, so the mention of the "ship of the gods" is associated with mysterious aliens.

Xiwei shook her head and smiled bitterly in confusion: "The text is recorded like this, I just translated it truthfully. If we have enough imagination, we can imagine that the Pharaoh had made some kind of alliance with the aliens, and then one of them treacherously took advantage of the other's unpreparedness to attack and win a landslide victory. Does the phrase 'Leo gods' refer to aliens coming from a planet in the constellation Leo in the universe?"

I have imagination, but there is a rather obvious fallacy in Shevi's conception - "The alien technological civilization is much more advanced than that of the ancient Egyptians, how can they be calculated by the pharaoh to become a failure?"

"Celestial, Leo Celestial, Sphinx Sphinx?"

Sylvie muttered to herself, and then the two of us blurted out almost at the same time, "This is the origin of the Sphinx!"

If this scenario is correct, it should be shown that the origin of the iron ingot is related to the Sphinx, and that the Sphinx, which stood on the Giza Plateau for eternity, is the product of the alien civilization landing on Earth. But then again, such baseless speculations cannot impress archaeologists, and can only be used as after-dinner pastime for ordinary people.

"Open it, maybe we'll be the great men who will change history, won't we?" said Syvi, who was shaking with excitement, and opened the notebook to sketch the appearance of the Sphinx in a few strokes. I have never experienced her other talents since we met, and judging from these writings, she must have worked hard for many years in painting.

I have my own concerns about the possible consequences of removing the ingot. The little lady of the lotus said before, Bai Xiaoxie is very likely to be in a space under the building, and he is awake and alive. I suspect that he will also be like the Dragon Elephant Girl and transform into a martial arts alien creature. In this way, all of us will become the target of the practice sent to the door, and everyone will have nowhere to escape.

"Syvi promised me one thing, if there was a secret passage under the iron ingot, you would stay on it and let me go down alone. This time it's not an adventure, it's a complete adventure, and if you follow me, it will only be a huge burden. So we have to separate. "At this time, I believe that the judgment of the little lady lotus will be dangerous and unpredictable.

Xi Wei shook her head vigorously: "Mr. Chen, I am not afraid of danger, these spells from ancient Egypt are only I can decipher. There is no doubt that you need my help and cannot be separated. ”

She held up her notebook and showed me the Sphinx: "Look at what you see in your dreams." I can conclude that all the mysterious events in the desert have something to do with it, including the murder of Professor Leng and the disappearance of Miss Leng. ”

Again, I remembered the strange dream, and hundreds of people carried the statue with the help of ropes and rolling logs, which looked like a sphinx, but it was different in appearance.

"It's the living Mr. Chen. At last Sylvie made the most important conclusion, adding a few strokes to the statue's eyes, then adding a horizontal eye to its forehead, and carefully adding an eyebrow to that eyebrow. She looked down at her painting and repeated the words, "It's alive, I know." ”

I have seen the architectural materials about the Egyptian pyramids in Leng Hannan's study, and I remember that there is an illustration that depicts the scene of ancient Egyptian slaves carrying boulders. They also used ropes and logs in the original way, exactly like my dream. This made me even more convinced that I was affected by some invisible force and had that strange dream for no reason.

It can also be said that I saw something that did not exist in my memory, and it was a mysterious force that deliberately made me see and then induced me to do something.

It is impossible to find such a narrow and deep canyon when looking through the map of Egypt, and tens of thousands of years of desert wind and sand have long since wiped out all the initial landforms of nature, leaving only a flat sand sea in this world.

I struggled to recall the details of the statue, and in a trance, I felt that it did indeed have an eye on its forehead, exactly like the one Shelvi depicted.

"It's alive? how do you know?" I stared at the painting.

"You must remember that when we were exploring the desert at night, I fell asleep for a while, and fell into a state of 'suspended animation,'" she smiled sheepishly.

At that time, she was not just "suspended animation"? If she hadn't suddenly woken up later, she would probably have been sent to the funeral home. I was acutely aware that she didn't tell me the truth when she woke up, and kept her inner secrets all the time.

I nodded, unable to guess what she was going to say next.

"I saw the Sphinx move, and it opened its third eye on its forehead, looking into the eastern sky. A powerful white light shot out of that eye, more powerful than the power of the high-strength flashlight. I stood small and helpless at its feet, until it turned around and slid in the direction of the Great Pyramid. In that case, I was absolutely sure that it would be able to break free from the stone seat beneath it at any moment, and stride like a real lion. In the distance, thousands of golden rays of light surged up and down the Great Pyramid, soaring into the sky, as if calling it. ”

Xiwei's account came to an end, her cheeks flushed, and she still remembered it.

That night, Xiwei's sudden stiffness and instant resurrection, the fire of the Tang Sect and the Rainbow Warriors in Shuzhong, and the invincible deep hole that appeared on the pyramid have all become the most unforgettable scenes in my memory. I was so worried about her, I didn't expect her to consciously hide the truth.

"So you never really believed me?" I smiled wryly.

Ever since the desert robbery was born, I have had a vaguely strange feeling that the more I try to pursue the truth, the more the truth will leave me, like a lone star in the sky, which I can see but can't touch.

"I'm sorry, that hallucination was so weird, I thought ...... I thought that no one would believe me if I said it, so I hid it for the time being. Maybe it's time to speak up. Sylvie bowed to me apologetically.

"What else should I tell me?" I felt once again in a heavy gloom.

"Intuitively, the Sphinx will come back to life at any moment and run to the pyramids. With its size, it can't get into the tower, and what does it have to do with the pyramid?" Xiwei flicked her nails, took out an electronic notepad from her pocket, and after pressing a few buttons, she showed me the screen, "Mr. Chen, this article was written by Irene Ste, the most famous European archaeological authority in the seventies of the last century. He had spent his life studying the mystery of the Sphinx statue, and finally came to the conclusion of—"

I smiled and Syvi wisely shut up, knowing that I must have read the article.

Irendes said that the Sphinx appeared as the mount of the pharaoh, or as a horse or a slave who pulled a cart. In short, the Pharaoh was the master of the Sphinx, which is why it was placed in front of the pyramid and existed in a humble posture facing the sun god.

This theory has been criticized by many archaeologists, as many sources suggest that the pharaoh was not the supreme figure in the social hierarchy of ancient Egypt. Above him, there are one or more "gods" in the desert, and he is only a "high-ranking person" for the gods to drive.

So the do-gooders extended the theory of Irendus, and the Sphinx was the mount of the gods, and his status was higher than that of the pharaohs, so he would be moved out alone and placed in the east, which was closer to the sun god than the pyramids.

"Whether the Sphinx is the Pharaoh's mount or its master, it can be attested that once resurrected, it will run to the pyramids, which is the only thing that is possible. If I hadn't woken up that night, I would have seen something even more amazing. Xiwei was still reluctant, and she didn't think how anxious I was at that time.

"Was the statue you saw complete and as clean as new, or was it as you would normally see?" I asked cautiously. The Sphinx was badly damaged by the roar of the guns of the French, and if it could be restored to its true appearance, it would be of great help to uncover the truth of our two strange dreams.

Xi Wei scratched her head, and finally nodded affirmatively: "The statue seems to have been suddenly reconstructed, and all the broken facial features have been restored to their original state, and there is also this third eye." ”

If an archaeologist had been present, he would probably have immediately refuted Shevi's painting, since the Sphinx had only had two eyes identical to that of a human since the French Expeditionary Force, hence the name "Sphinx". So far, no one has raised any objections to the face of the Sphinx, and Shelvie will be the first to break this authority.

The workers who went back to get the tools turned back within half an hour, set up a simple four-metre-high tripod around the ingot, and the pulleys and wire ropes were quickly put in place.

"Guess what's down there?" I wanted to make a joke with Shelvie to calm the mood.

"I guess it's going to be a hole, a deep hole where crisis and wealth coexist. Of course, we're not the first people here, maybe we should pause and call someone from the Egyptian Institute of Antiquities to take a look?"

Archaeology and exploration will always be entangled in national politics, and in the end, all the success of exploration will go to ZF, and all we will get is a dispensable certificate or a bronze medal for exemplary citizens. For the time being, it seems that I don't need the intervention of the ZF agency, and if I report to the archaeological management department of Cairo City at this time, it will be at least a week before I get the official approval, and no one can afford to spend that long.

"The people at the institute don't necessarily know better than we do, do they?" I dismissed Shevie's proposal.

The workers stuffed huge iron hooks under the iron ingots, three on each side, and when the iron ropes tied to the tail of the twelve hooks tightened, the two workers wringed together to twist the wheel on the tripod, and with the sound of "crunching" iron ropes rubbing against the pulley, the iron ingots began to move slowly, and an eerie and damp monster also came to the nose.

The weight of the ingot must have been considerable, but Thom's team was quite professional and moved the ingot to the side fifteen minutes later, revealing a two-metre hole hidden underneath.

One of the workers tried to shine a flashlight into the hole a few times, and turned back to report to Geni: "There is a staircase leading down, and nothing else can be seen. His other hand was covering his nose hard, apparently the smell was very uncomfortable.

"Look around the cave walls—" Geni commanded in a loud voice.

I jumped out of the box a few steps, walked over, took the worker's flashlight, told him to retreat, and then cautiously shone it on the cave wall. At first, the walls of the cave were clean and smooth, with an iron-blue rock sheen, but after five meters down, a red spell appeared on the cave wall, which seemed to be written in blood.

Thom, who hadn't spoken for a long time, finally leaned over and stroked the large iron ingot, and sighed with ulterior motives: "Mr. Chen, how do you feel at this moment in the face of such a strange hole?"

"It's better to retreat and close the net. I replied to him in an old Chinese language.

Chinese people have always had this characteristic of not being afraid of death, and I am proud to have met an oriental hero like you. His face was a mixture of surprise and ridicule, because this kind of heavenly and earthly inquiry has always been done by the firefighters in the city, and the "ignorant and fearless" young people are used as the stepping stones regardless of life and death.

I didn't want to ignore him as he carefully checked the power of the flashlight. Gennie took out a red hard hat with a spotlight on his forehead from his backpack and glanced at Tom's face before silently handing it over.

Everyone involuntarily backed away, except for Syvi, who followed me and held my arm up the stairs.

"Wait for my good news—" I couldn't say more, smiling reluctantly down the steep staircase. At first glance, my actions were a bit sloppy this time, and I went into the cave without more security measures or communication equipment, completely contrary to the guidelines of a good explorer. But I have a very clear and clear sixth sense, just like the little lady lotus said before she blew herself up, "Bai Xiaoxie, the disciple of the Snake King, is below", I also felt the existence of Mai Ye, Bai Xiaoxie, Lao Ban and so on. Even if they only exist in a "state of mind", I insist on going down to the end of the deep hole to see clearly.

"Mr. Chan, take care. Syvi's voice floated down.

I didn't raise my head, I just raised my right hand and waved it casually twice. The handwriting in red on the wall of the cave is very wild, just like the drunken and wild grass strokes of the Tang Dynasty Zhang Xu, flying and shuttling, and he can't recognize a single word. After descending more than 30 steps, I stepped onto a small platform, turned around and continued down. After repeating this six times, the light above his head had completely disappeared, leaving only the white light of the miner's lamp, dutifully illuminating the gray stone steps beneath his feet.

As a rough estimate, I've descended more than thirty meters, but nothing is visible, all I see is a large expanse of dizzying red letters.

Walking down again, on the side of the stone wall, a half-meter-diameter round hole will appear every other section, black like a common flood pipe in underground engineering. I've tried shining a flashlight at these holes, which are empty and empty, reaching infinity.

Finally, I stepped down the last step of the stairs, and in front of me was an iron-blue metal door.

"A door?" I couldn't help but laugh self-deprecatingly, because metal doors are a product of modern industry and shouldn't be behind a series of cold stone steps. According to normal logic, even if there is a door leaf here, it should be an ancient stone door or wooden door, so that it can be used to match the stone steps, iron ingots, and red charms.

I reached out and knocked on the door a few times, and suddenly an LCD panel appeared on the small door that looked like it was forged from special steel, and the cursor was flashing brightly and dimly.

"Enter the password?" I was even more confused, the IQ of the ancient Egyptians didn't seem to be able to make electronic products, how could they bury the cipher mechanism here in advance?

Cracking the code is Cai Xiaofo's strength, but the program compiled by the twelve-digit password can't be hidden, and it only takes me a few seconds to make it clear the forbidden symbol on the LCD screen, reaching out and pushing the metal door, silently sliding open, revealing a pure and flawless white light.

It was a square room full of books, computers, dirty clothes, leftover dishes, like a big garbage heap that had just been dumped. On an easy chair in the center of the room lay a young man dressed in white, with a pipe in his hand curling green smoke.

"Bai Xiaoxie?" I recognized him and calmly said his name.

The little lady of the lotus was right, and here he was, lying gracefully, holding his pipe and glass, and living very comfortably. Of course, because of the lack of enough sunlight, Bai Xiaoxie's face looked sallow, and his expression became eerie.

"Chen Ying, I guess you'll find it here. He said hello as he took off his pipe and gulped down the whole glass.

"Do you have anyone else here?" I looked around at the metal house, which was less than thirty square meters, and saw all the furnishings, and there was no other passage other than this door.

"Of course, right here—" He patted his temples and lifted his bloodless lips to give me a miserable sneer, "the people you're looking for are probably here, and a lot of thoughts are settling in my brain, and then rubbing against each other, and eventually becoming my own. ”

This is the result that I had guessed a long time ago, and he used special techniques to kill people, and then knocked out the bones and sucked the marrow, so as to get the thoughts of the slain. This kind of evil kung fu has been extinct in the rivers and lakes for many years, but I didn't expect it to reappear in him again. He was dying when he was taken away by the people of the Indian king, who would have expected to reappear here?

"Chen Ying, welcome to the underground world—" He staggered to his feet, threw the wine glass into the corner of the wall, and shattered into dozens of pieces with a thud, "Look at what an interesting place this is? It is a place where the mind can run free and throw off all constraints to the limits of the mind's functioning. I longed for such a space for a completely liberating mind a long, long time ago, and now I finally got it. ”

My knife is in my trouser pocket, ready to kill the enemy, but the dragon elephant girl is not there, is Bai Xiaoxie just a victim imprisoned here?

"Where's the Dragon Elephant Girl? Is this her lair? The disappearance of the strange case born in the mansion was all caused by her, right?"

Along the way, my biggest fear was to encounter the Dragon Elephant Girl, because I was not sure to fight against the incredible martial arts she possessed. It is not terrible for a person to die, but it is the people on the mouth of the cave, the people in the building, and the people in the city of Cairo that are terrible...... A human monster like her would be the public enemy of all mankind.

"Dragon Elephant Girl?" he patted on his temple, and immediately came to his senses, "It's Mai Ye's name for her, in fact, she has her own original name, and to put it mildly, Mai Ye also lied to you." Her name should be—" He spat out a long string of strange words, like the one the dragon elephant had inadvertently uttered before.