At the last junction before entering the desert, I stopped again at the red light. There is a small hotel owned by a local in the front right, and I already noticed it when I first came over with Miz.

"Would you like something to eat?" I asked her with a smile.

"No, not necessarily. She didn't look back, her attention was all focused on the car window, like a little girl who had found a magic toy, obsessed.

I know that the desert midnight cold can easily make people frostbitten, and if you don't have enough calories, it's tantamount to asking for trouble. So, after driving through the intersection, I parked my car in front of the small hotel.

"I'm going to go shopping, wait a minute. I opened the door and got out of the car, and she nodded with a different face, never looking back at me, but I saw that the face reflected in the glass was clearly covered with tears. She cried, maybe it was a sentence in our conversation, maybe it was this provocative music that touched the wound in her heart.

I didn't dare to ask more, so I turned around and walked to the entrance of the hotel, where a loud burst of electronic music accompanied by strange neon lights, and several large-displacement American motorcycles swayed unscrupulously at the door, showing that this was not a gathering place for elegant people.

The hostess of the hotel opened the door for me as soon as possible, blinking her long false eyelashes and winking at the same time: "Welcome, my beautiful oriental man." ”

I flicked her ** arm and walked straight to the bar to the side, pointing to a few bottles of spirits at the top of the shelf: "Give me two bottles of whiskey, two packs of fried lamb chops, and two cups of self-heating coffee." "The high heat of those things will effectively resist the cold and not freeze Shevi and me in the desert.

Several men standing in front of the pachinko were talking about sex and women, and they were constantly bursting into ambiguous laughter.

The hostess leaned over again, "Sir, can you stay and treat me to a drink?" Her face was rubbed with heavy fat powder, and her original skin color was not visible at all, and her hair was bulging into the sky in an exaggerated explosion style, like an angry African lion. Her arm expertly wrapped around mine, and her body clinged to mine like a piece of chewed gum without hesitation.

"Sorry, I'm busy. I retracted my arms and watched as the waiter behind the bar packed all the food into a cardboard box.

"For thirty dollars, sir, you can have a night of ecstasy—" the hostess persevered.

A man left the pachinko and pushed the door open, the huge brass nails shining on the back of his leather jacket.

"I'm busy. I tapped lightly on the bar, and there was no smile on my face.

Most of the women in this environment are related to underworld fraud organizations, and many men who are fascinated by women often end up with no money and money, and they are first plotted by others before they touch the woman's bed. In fact, the underworld people all over the world are living in the same way, and although Hong Kong Island is the "Pearl of the Orient", there are countless criminal cases of trap fraud every day, which makes the police tired to deal with it.

"Hmph, no wonder even the marmots in the desert know that the Orientals are the most stingy and incomprehensible!" she angrily left the bar and walked out the door, presumably looking for new prey.

There was a copper engraving inlaid above the bar, and in the dim light, I made out for about half a minute before I realized that it was a sphinx, protruding outwards in a three-dimensional sense, and the eyes on the face were staring forward deeply. Behind the statue, there are three tall pyramids on the heights of Giza, and the name "Agey" is engraved in the upper right corner, which is supposed to be the author's signature.

"Sir, do you want copper engravings? Authentic Aiji local handicrafts, good quality and low price, are the best gifts for friends. "The waiter also did something other than work, and introduced me attentively.

There is nothing peculiar about that kind of craft, and the small shops on the streets of Cairo can be found everywhere, the only difference is the price number.

I shook my head and pulled out my wallet to pay the bill.

The waiter lowered his voice and leaned over: "Sir, in fact, Aiji has more good goods in his hands, do you want the painting of 'Sea of Gold', it is definitely the first in the world, and it is the only one out of print-" His eyes burned with greedy desire, but it had nothing to do with art, but aimed at my wallet.

"The Sea of Gold?" I thought the name was a big joke coming out of his mouth, and he probably thought I was a wrongdoer when he had just arrived in Egypt, and he was eager to kill me.

He glanced left and right, mysteriously took out a crumpled notebook from under the bar, and quickly opened it, revealing a color photo sandwiched inside: "Look, this is it, four thousand dollars, this unique good thing in the world!"

The base color of this photo is golden yellow, and if it is not slightly faded, you can still appreciate the good intentions of the photographer. It was indeed a golden sea, with crests and troughs, and a few old-fashioned wooden boats that sailed far away. On one side of the picture is a rocky bank, and behind the narrow rocky bank is a high mountain with countless niches carved into the mountain, in which statues of meditating gods are enshrined.

"This is the so-called 'Sea of Gold'?" I pushed his hand away.

"Of course, only Aegie can do it, he's the only one who has ever seen the 'Sea of Gold', I can swear. Sir, if you give me a little money, I will take you to Aegie, and I believe that what he says will satisfy you, and such a great fortune awaits the discovery of such a fateful person. Oh my God, this kind of good thing that falls from the sky doesn't happen every day, right?" he became agitated, waving his arm slightly.

There is no doubt that there are not many people in the world who ask for food with golden bowls, and if the young man in front of him knew where the "Sea of Gold" was hidden, he probably wouldn't still be honestly staying in the small hotel and standing at the bar.

I took what I had asked for and was about to turn to leave, when the waiter raised his voice and called out to the waitress, "Sarah, come over here, I have a business for you—" He tugged at my sleeve and looked pleading again, "Sir, please give me a minute, I really have something good for you." ”

The men in front of the pachinko turned their heads to look this way, and one of them chuckled obscenely: "Hey, Sarah, the Oriental man has taken a fancy to you, go, go!"

I don't look like a rich man, and I can see that these arrogant guys don't even look at me squarely.

The waitress squirmed over, leaned over against the counter, and squinted at the waiter: "Sen, what are you telling me to do? This guy is not interested in me." ”

The waiter looked very excited: "This gentleman is interested in copper engravings, you can talk about it, hehe, I only need a hundred dollars, a hundred dollars, okay?"

I didn't show any overzealous enthusiasm for the subject throughout, just took the opportunity to observe a few guests in the corner to see if anything was suspicious. This is the last stop in the desert, and there are usually underworld figures who stop by the task of keeping an eye out for tourists who are particularly generous enough to commit a robbery.

"You?copperplate?Eggie's copperplate?" Sarah sneered, not looking at me.

"Yes, let's talk about copper engravings. I whispered in response, knocking on the bar, "A glass of whiskey, a glass of Baileys for this young lady." ”

The lights on all sides of the hall were even darker, and there were seven people sitting here and there, six men and one woman, all shrouded in misty darkness from the shoulders up. I noticed that on the shoulder of the woman with her back to me, there was a gleaming piece of silver, about the size of a palm, that occasionally flashed with a flash of silver as the shoulder turned.

She holds a bottle of dark beer in her hand and brings it close to her lips, neither drinking nor putting it down, maintaining a sculptural frozen pose. When I see the silver piece, I think of a fairly famous bounty hunter in the Asian rivers and lakes - Tang Mei. It is a legendary figure who only rose from 2003, it is said that he was born in the Yunguichuan area of Chinese mainland, has strange martial arts, superb marksmanship, and is especially good at poison killing, and is inextricably linked to the "Shuzhong Tang Gate" in Chinese history.

Bounty hunters live only for money, which is similar to but not the same as killers, they have their own standards of justice, and sometimes even flaunt a certain political leaning and do some feat of "killing for the country".

I have never met Tang Mei, and I have only read about her deeds from some sources, as well as the "death card" that this person carries on his shoulders.

"No, don't have mulled wine, give me rosemary with ice whiskey, big glass!" said Sarah, snickering, two large, round dimples waggling from her dark cheeks, staring into my eyes with a look of flirtation.

"Give it to her. I instructed the waiter, who was called "Sen", and turned to look out the door. Xiwei still stayed in the car honestly, staring at the window in a daze.

Outside, there was a faint night fog, if there was nothing, hazy. I've decided that no matter what Sarah says, I'll be gone in five minutes and head straight for the Sphinx. I believe that the desert is already empty at this moment, and it is a good time for me and Xiwei to investigate.

"I've repeated this story more than four hundred times, and I've heard the beautiful man, Edge, say that he fell into a cave, and after climbing through a long ancient tunnel that was about to collapse, he saw a sea made of gold, and a real sea, with all kinds of waves, wooden boats, and shores. Hehe, he even picked up a shell made of gold and four small crabs, it was really a magical experience, so when he returned to the city, he didn't sleep for three days and three nights, and tinkled into such a copper engraving. Hey, Sen, get that picture out there......"

The second half of Sarah's words drowned out the men's laughter, and one of the drunken guys staggered over and slapped me the shoulder: "Friend, give me ten dollars, and I'll tell you a more beautiful story than this, it's about the legend of 'Alexander the Great forged a golden lighthouse', but the tower made of gold as a whole sank to the bottom of the sea, and it needs a real visionary to salvage it, hahahaha......"

I pushed his furry palm away and smiled politely, "Thanks, I'm not interested." ”

He took the glass in front of me and drank it down, and unceremoniously threw the glass in front of Sen: "Hey, a dozen whiskey, a dozen dark beer, this friend will pay the bill, hurry up!"

I looked at his black face and smiled again: "Okay, I'm in for a treat." ”

In an instant, the girl with her back to me flashed into a small makeup mirror, and the light on the mirror flashed straight onto the bar. It was clear that she was looking through the mirror and could see everything that was going on in front of the bar without having to look back. Of course, this also reveals some kind of intention on her part, and she must have come prepared.

After Tang Mei's debut, the most famous battle was to hunt down the bookkeeper of the Asian underworld "Money Gang" for the South Korean police, chasing from the Sea of Japan to the "Money Gang" lair in the Alps, which lasted 120 days and traveled tens of thousands of kilometers, and finally arrested the person named "Park Sun-seok" back to Busan and received the largest police bounty in South Korea's history.

Afterwards, a well-informed underworld figure said that when Tang Mei brought back Park Sun-seok, she had already accepted the internal bounty of the Money Gang, as well as a huge amount of money that Park Sun-seo was carrying, and the battle itself made a profit of more than 60 million US dollars, fame and fortune, unprecedented.

The 21st century is a world of young people, from the high-tech talents of Silicon Valley to the mafia of Sicily, Italy, the word "young" is highlighted all the time. Only young is the real capital of shopping malls, love scenes, white roads, and underworld fights.

I don't know the purpose of Tang Mei's trip, and I don't want to know, and I don't want to provoke such a master.

When the scoundrels got the wine they wanted, they stopped pestering me and went back to the pachinko to continue their game.

"And what?" I asked for a second glass of wine and raised my glass to Sarah.

"Aggie said he could find the entrance to the 'Sea of Gold', but so much gold was firmly welded together and couldn't be seen, it was cruel torture for anyone. So he blinded himself and swore that he would never see such a thing as gold again, lest he lose his nature. At first, he could still make a living by making copper engravings, but now that he is blind, it is tantamount to self-defeating, staying in the old house in the old city and eating state relief money to survive, I guess he will not have a few years to live, and then the story that has been passed down as a joke will probably stop completely, and will no longer be recited - "Behind Sarah's unbridled smile is a trace of the sadness of the rabbit's death, those profound things from the bottom of the heart, which can not be concealed by no amount of fat powder.

"It's really a great story. "I drained my wine.

"Sarah, tell me about the copper engraving, this gentleman may buy it at a high price, isn't it? After all, we are also for the good of Age, he will die sooner or later, why not sell that work?" Sen was anxious, and leaned over to snatch the wine glass from Sarah's hand.

"Sell it for that price, a fool will buy it!" This beautiful man doesn't seem to be a fool, hahaha-" Sarah glanced at me shrewdly and pulled out a crumpled business card from her breast pocket, "Hey, this is my business card, if you really need that copper engraving, call me, but I don't have much hope." Also, if you're just having fun and spending the night at my place, you'll need a hundred dollars, goodbye baby. ”

She dropped her business card on the bar and staggered to the corner, sitting directly on one of the men's laps.

There was only one phone number on the business card, and the paper was extremely rough. I glanced at it, quickly memorized the number, blew lightly, and sent it to Sen.

"Your message is pretty bad, so there's no way I'm going to pay you, sorry. I put down my glass and prepared to leave.

Sen sighed in frustration: "Sir, I actually really want to facilitate this deal. Age's ancestors were Egypt's greatest sorcerers, known for their ability to read the past and the present, and he was a professional guide to the Valley of the Kings and participated in the development of many pyramids. Of course, he is destitute now, but I believe he still has some kind of mysterious ability, which is different from ordinary people. ”

Not being able to do my business made him very unhappy.

I ended up tipping him ten dollars, and there are many legends about the "Sea of Gold", and what Mori just described is just one of them, and whether or not there is such a thing, he deserves some reward for his enthusiasm.