Stealing Game

Chapter 108 Half Bronze Half Stone

Sacrifice with my blood?This is too unlucky.

I lifted my boots from Toth's half-drawn head, and pondered the transfigured inscription.It was still [Take Your Blood as a Sacrifice] before, so now you are going to sacrifice your life for righteousness?
At this time, Patrick was no longer by the altar, and he turned his back to the crowd to study the headless stone statue.Kawaii Sang muttered words, and kept bowing to the stumps of the statues all over the floor.

"Tsk tsk tsk, the gold alone is worth a lot of money, right?" A Hispanic man's eyes lit up.The Australians also recovered from the shock at the beginning, and bent down to pick up the fragments of the idol with great joy.

"No, it's not gold, it's bronze." Teacher Bai said.

Although the ancient Egyptians believed that the bodies of the gods were made of gold, I have never seen a gold statue, and the surface of the bronze that has not been oxidized will indeed be golden.

I squatted down and weighed that half of Toth's good head, and couldn't help feeling a little puzzled.

This is at least 3000 years ago, but there is no rust.Either someone is constantly wiping it, or there is no oxygen here.But along the way, there is no trace of any human beings or life activities, and we are still breathing.

There is only one possibility, that is, the flow of time here is different from that outside.This conjecture is even more outrageous than the previous two.

I gently put Toth's head back on the ground.

"Do you treat things differently if you destroy them?" Yano asked puzzled.He motioned me to look at the stone statue with a missing head behind the altar, and the broken bronze statue at the feet.

I am also very puzzled, I have to go and see the altar.

Above the twelve steps, a stone statue of a headless god sits on a golden throne.The steps were higher than my knees, and at the end of the climb, I had to bend over hard to step up, bowing every step.The altar was also quite high, almost reaching the chest of the statue. I stood on tiptoe to see the inscription written on the base.

It is indeed [Sacrifice with my blood].

This is strange.

The headless stone statue behind the altar is made of granite excavated from Aswan, and its color is even better than that used in the pyramids. Even judging from the remaining body, its polishing skills are also at the peak.

The ancient Egyptians used stone materials to construct a sense of eternity, but this statue was destroyed overnight.It takes a lot of work to make and destroy such a stone statue. Why did people at that time do it?

Transient and eternity, order and chaos, nature and fabrication conflict and coexist on this headless god before us.

The fate of this granite colossus can be regarded as good. The bronze statues of gods all over the place range from missing arms and legs, to pieces that can't even find a complete limb.

I picked up a heavy broken leg from the edge of the altar, and after searching for a long time, I couldn't pull out the rest of the corresponding part from the wreckage everywhere.Although the original appearance of this statue can no longer be spelled out, judging from the shape of this leg, the original bronze statue should be in a sitting shape.

Before entering the temple from the holy lake, there are also kneeling statues of gods and pharaohs on both sides of the Shinto.Kneeling and sitting in such a posture will not last long for humans, but being made into a statue becomes eternal, as if waiting for something.Even if the pharaoh's kneeling statue is plausible, after all, the pharaoh can kneel to the gods, but the god is the incarnation of the gods, why is it portrayed as kneeling?And the statues were dismembered.
The altars that appeared before were all written "Sacrifice with your blood", but after passing the stone wall with a banyan tree, the altar here wrote "Sacrifice with my blood".Is it a metaphor that it is no longer human beings who perform sacrifices, but gods?

So who is going to sacrifice this time?
Li Yuan walked up to the altar.

I knew that the sacrifice this time was different from the past, so I hurriedly stopped him: "Don't worry, I think something is wrong. After we entered the temple, the things we encountered became more and more strange. Didn't you listen to what Patrick said? That stone wall was a death sacrifice, that is to say, there should have been a person who died there at that time, and that person's body was a sacrifice to attract the 'God'. Now that there is no dead person, who will the 'God' come to?"

"God?" Li Yuanchao glanced at the wreckage of the bronze statue on the ground, "Didn't ancient Egypt pay attention to the integrity of the body as the key to resurrection? It seems that the gods are dead, so that's fine."

According to the inscriptions engraved in the pyramids during the Old Kingdom, the moon god Kongsu would prey on the gods attracted by the pharaoh's body, and the pharaoh would replace the eaten gods in the immortal class.So what kind of roles are the three people who performed the "death sacrifice" at that door but did not die?

Hassan had lost a lot of blood just now, and now he was leaning against one of the pillars without the inscription.Although Laila bleeds the least, she is no match for the two strong and strong men after all, and there is absolutely no reason to let a little girl go again.Li Yuan's face was pale but he refused to show weakness. At this time, he had already been sent to the altar by himself.

Although I was in a hurry, and felt that the inscription [Take my blood as a sacrifice] was very unlucky, but now I can only let him go.After all, other people's blood is not good, unless there is another person who is willing to stand up.

Before the steps, Alex picked up the knife and walked up.

Boothwell's expression changed, and Morgan had already run over to stop her.

"What are you going to do?"

Alex took out a notebook from his pocket, his green eyes reflected the golden light in the room: "You knew from the beginning that Mom came for me."

Morgan froze for a moment, he didn't deny it, but he refused to move. "She wouldn't want you to do that."

"I never wanted her to do that. Now, I want to get her back." After speaking, Alex walked around Morgan and walked to the altar.I breathed a sigh of relief, and then let go of Li Yuan's arm.

Only then did Li Yuan see Alex, and he strode to the altar. Alex didn't give him a chance to speak, and quickly cut a hole on the inside of his upper arm, and the altar swallowed all the dripping blood.

The mural behind the altar reveals its original appearance.A blood-weeping Eye of Horus emerged from the darkness, as if growing on a headless statue, and stared at us gloomily.

The moment it stared at it, time seemed to freeze.

"It's too risky for you to do this." Li Yuan took the bandage from Alex, and helped her bandage the wound patiently with a cold voice.

"Why, only you can be a hero?" Alex lowered his green eyes as he carefully wrapped the bandage.

Something must be wrong. Alex did not perform the "death sacrifice", so she did not meet the prerequisite of "becoming a god", and she could not use the corpse as bait.But as a living person, her blood can be sacrificed instead of gods.This is no longer what "ancient blood" can explain.

While Li Yuan and Alex were trapped by each other, I walked down the steps quickly.However, the murals on both sides were still shrouded in darkness, so I had to stand anxiously by the bare lotus column and stare at nothingness.

"Yu, don't worry." Yano patted me, "What do you think these are expressing?"

He was asking about the bad things that happened along the way.First, Seth was placed on the altar, and Li Yuan used his blood to untie and open the wall; then there was the room equipped with Alex's mother; not long ago, it was the tree in the wall that was watered with the "death sacrifice" , followed by the remains of the gods all over the ground and 【Sacrifice with my blood】.
What do these signs express, whose blood is sacrificed, and what is the sacrifice?
"Seth!" said a fool standing in the darkness before me, as he crossed the barrier of the lotus column. "Come and see, Seth is painted in this mural!"

Although the darkness cannot see through the light, the sound can be heard far away.When everyone came to hear the sound, the man never replied.

Carl shifted his gaze to Hassan and Laila.I was afraid that he would kill me if he disagreed with me, so I hurriedly said, "Don't act rashly. Doing things here will probably lead to unforeseen consequences."

"Then what do you say?"

I looked at the peeled lotus pole Hassan was leaning on. "If I'm not mistaken, the twelve lotus pillars that have been stripped of their inscriptions should also be altars. If sacrifices are made here, maybe there will be changes on both sides."

Everyone reluctantly gave me face.

After Hassan rubbed the blood on the pillar, the darkness on both sides faded away, and many unrecognizable patterns appeared on the wall, as well as a corpse with a distorted face lying on its back beside the wall.

It turned out that there was not only a layer of light-absorbing paint on the mural, but it was even poisoned.This design is really insidious. I thought it was just a little trick to bluff people, but I didn't expect it to kill people.I pursed my lips, secretly blaming myself for not reminding everyone that there was a problem, and letting these idiots walk the road for us.

Chang Xiao prevented Teacher Bai from re-bandaging Hassan, and dragged Hassan to the wall where his original shape was revealed, holding his arm to let his blood seep into the painting on the wall.

After the blood flowed into the inexplicable mural wall, it went in one direction.Only then did we see that this was an ancient Egyptian inscription, not a mural.Patrick also came down from the stone steps at this time, only staring at the bloody streak.

Although I can't read ancient Egyptian, the writing in ancient Egypt has always been chaotic, so people will read according to the direction the characters are facing or any directional guidance.

So I also looked in the direction of the blood flow, only to find that the incomprehensible inscription slowly evolved into a familiar pictograph, and finally converged into a figure.

It's Benu.And those dark eyes were staring at us.

Time seems to stand still under His gaze, and the Eye of Horus behind the altar gave me the same feeling just now, and this feeling is simply terrible.

At this time, the twelve lotus pillars whose inscriptions were stripped also quietly changed.Scattered colors climbed onto the column, but did not form a complete pattern, as if something forcibly tore the mural into pieces.I reached out and touched it.There are actually countless cracks on the seemingly smooth pillars. It is these invisible marks that hinder the restoration of the murals, making the supposedly holy pillars mottled like old bark.

Teacher Bai whispered: "Xiao Wang, these lotus pillars seem to be different from the ones over there. You see, these are traces that only metal can have."

Sure enough, upon closer inspection, the twelve pillars were not stone pillars, but copper pillars.I was also shocked by this unprecedented technique in the history of ancient Egyptian architecture, so I heard Teacher Bai continue: "The wall where Yuechen and the Egyptian brothers and sisters sacrificed before entering here is made of the same material as the twelve pillars. .”

I can't help frowning.

The sense of incongruity here is imminent.The wreckage of idols and the split pillars all over the ground are made of bronze, while the headless statue and the other twelve lotus pillars are made of stone.

Arnold is right, this is discrimination, as if the designer had a split personality.But why?I don't understand, and the Egyptians also said that they have never seen such a situation.

"Did you follow the archaeological team in the Temple of Karnak for nothing?" Chang Xiao followed up with eccentric words.I have long since stopped being angry with his attitude and waited for his enlightenment. "Do you think it's outrageous for the pharaohs of the new dynasty to modify the buildings of the Middle Kingdom according to their own aesthetics?"

"You mean, the giant stone statue and the bronze statue were made by different people at different times, as were the two pairs of pillars, so there is a sense of discord?"

Chang Xiao gave me a look of "you are not too stupid".

"But it's not right!" I shook my head. "Couldn't one group of people repair the twelve bronze pillars first, and then another group of people repair the twelve stone pillars? How could the two sides reach an agreement?"

"This way it can be explained." Teacher Bai stroked the bronze pillar with dark wounds. "These twelve pillars originally had a layer of stone camouflage, so they were stripped off later."

This is indeed possible.In contrast to the dismembered bronze statues that were thrown all over the ground, the headless stone statue behind the altar could still retain a whole body.If it was two groups of people who attacked the two statues, then it is indeed an explanation.

"It's just that we don't know exactly who did this and why."

Maybe someone has the answer.

Patrick followed the changing inscription to the opposite wall before the ancient Egyptian language disappeared.

I can only recognize the Benu bird on the mural and some other ceremonial sacrificial inscriptions, and the rest are not as good as me, and I am even more clueless about the problems in front of me.Everyone had to wait for Patrick to finish reading, and then went to ask him what happened.

"In the material culture of ancient Egypt, stone represents eternity, what does metal represent?"

Just as I was studying the asymmetrical 24 lotus pillars and trying to figure out why there was such an operation, Jacqueline's voice came again.She sounds real and eager.I didn't expect Jacqueline's death to affect me to such an extent that I even felt that she hadn't left us yet.

It seemed that I was not far from insanity in this stressful environment.I decided not to entangle with the inexplicable ancient Egyptian architecture, anyway, there are more professional people.Li Yuan and Alex came down from the altar before waiting for Patrick.They found something there.

It turned out that when both Alex and Hassan performed sacrifices, this space was truly "alive".

There are large expanses of blue on the mural behind the altar, like a vast ocean.Then, as if connecting all sea areas, the blue flooded into the other two walls, even filling the ceiling with sea water.While speaking, we were already surrounded by "sea water", and even the twelve stone lotus pillars were filled with deep blue.This also makes the other twelve copper lotus pillars inconsistent with the environment.I thought to myself that if there was any breakthrough in this weird situation, it would be in this abnormal place.

It's not a good feeling to be surrounded by "sea water".

First, in the ancient Egyptian imagination of death, the world after death is watery, and in the main tomb where the owner of the tomb is buried, the walls are often painted dark blue.The current situation is like being locked in a tomb.

Second, it may be my own assumptions.I always feel that this "sea water" is very real, as if when the wall will not hold up, and the endless water will pour down, making this place really a grave for everyone.

Patrick didn't care about the "ocean" that seemed to flood the entire space, he was still studying the last small piece of mural that hadn't been soaked.

Others do not have such good concentration as him, and at this time they are already disturbed by the thick water color that is becoming more and more oppressive.What was even more frightening was that there seemed to be the sound of water splashing.

"You heard that too?" I confirmed with Li Yuan in disbelief.

He frowned: "Speaking of which, is there a lot, a lot of groundwater under the Sahara Desert?"

I looked up stiffly at the crumbling ceiling.The water in the mural is too real.

"I can't stay here any longer." I didn't care about unraveling the mystery of ancient Egyptian architecture anymore, I hurried to Patrick's side: "I don't want to disturb you, but I don't have time to study the murals now. You've seen this before So, what shall we do now?"

Patrick slumped his shoulders, and he sighed.But when he turned around and faced a dark blue room, his eyes were full of longing.

"Have you ever heard of Atlantis?"

Who the hell cares about Atlantis after all this time?

Everyone became restless, and my heart was pounding, so I said to Patrick: "I only know that Poseidon will not save us if we don't leave. If there is something to do, we will talk about it first."

Patrick has the calmness of a scholar and the philistine of an Ansa, and he can act in a comprehensive manner even when the crowd is angry. If Jacqueline had him, she might not have to die.He was not busy making decisions, but just led everyone to look at the ceiling.

When we looked up, we all gasped.

　After writing it, I found that there are still a lot of details that need to be explained. When can we start Temple Run? !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)