Under the setting sun, the earth shimred with golden brilliance.
The long-standing wind and sand erosion had long stripped the Pyramids of their forr glittering glory, casting a faint matt hue as if transporting people through thousands of years.
"Pyramids!"
"It's the Pyramids!"
"Wu Hu, Wu Hu, have we arrived?"
"Yes, the Pyramids."
From afar, the pyramid appeared nothing like majestic; its exterior was battered and worn, with an uneven surface.
Its overall structure resembled stairs and had only two tiers, bearing no resemblance to the towering edifice that people imagined.
"Humans fear ti, yet ti fears the Pyramids," this saying is an ancient Egyptian proverb, which undoubtedly embodies people's hopes and longings...
Bi Fang slowed down Alpha's pace, his tone tinged with inexplicable emotion.
"Nevertheless, after thousands of years, ti has still left indelible marks on it."
"Did you know the earliest pyramids were actually white in color?"
"Eh? White? Really?"
"Isn't it supposed to be golden?"
"Here cos the barrage of bizarre knowledge to attack the brain."
"People have found remnants of white listone on the top of the Giza Pyramid, and scattered around the Giza Pyramid are fragnts of white listone, leading scholars to speculate—the earliest pyramids were covered with a layer of white listone, and the entire building appeared brilliantly white."
"Following this hypothesis, it caused a sensation worldwide."
"Further examination revealed that when the ancient Egyptians quarried stone, they would categorize it."
"Listone, sandstone, alabaster, and granite are of different hardnesses and are mined differently; workers would use distinct tools and carefully select the hardest listone, cutting it into squares, with sandstone cut into large rectangular blocks."
"It's certain that the Giza Pyramid is located on a rocky area, right above a listone quarry."
"After completing the foundation construction, people began to transport listone to cover the Pyramids with a white outer wall, which ca from the Tura quarry, upstream on the Nile River."
"Once all steps were completed, the towering pyramid would sparkle in white glow, radiating brilliance in the sunlight, becoming the most eye-catching building within miles."
"Could there be anything more beautiful than this?"
"Wow, that must have been platinum colored, right?"
"Definitely like diamonds."
The audience was entranced by Bi Fang's description for a mont.
"Unfortunately, in the fourteenth century, Sultan Badr al-Din Hasan of the Bahri Dynasty wanted to build a temple and fortress. Needing more stone and unwilling to waste the significant manpower to quarry anew, he set his sights on the layer of listone covering the Egyptian pyramids, stealing away many of the white stones."
"Furthermore, as ti flowed, the listone on the Pyramids eroded through the years."
"After surviving tremors on the earth's surface, the outer layer of listone on the Pyramids finally collapsed, falling in large pieces around the area, worn down by wind and rain into the rubble we see today, leaving no trace of its original state."
"Today, over eighty pyramids have been discovered in Egypt and not all of them are as spectacular as the Khufu Pyramid. The majority of them in their decaying state represents the true depiction of most pyramids—besides, even the Khufu Pyramid no longer bears its forr gleaming white appearance."
"What a pity."
"Just like the Old Sumr Palace."
"There's always sothing."
Even if the structure before them was in ruins, it was still one of the world's wonders, the Pyramids, signaling that this journey was nearing its end.
Brimming with excitent, Bi Fang did not spur his horse to quicken the pace, letting Alpha continue at the sa speed.
On this journey through the Sahara, he had experienced no less than three sandstorms, and at night, he had to deal with scorpions crawling over him while he slept. As he traveled, he also had to be wary of the ever-present quicksand and venomous snakes.
During the day, temperatures could soar past 45 degrees Celsius, and at night they could plumt to sub-zero conditions, a bipolar experience of fiery heat and icy cold tornting him with hunger and thirst and never-ending states of distress.
Yet now that the hope of victory was in sight, he didn't want it to end so quickly.
Bi Fang reined in Alpha and dismounted, starting to walk toward the direction of the Pyramids.
Egypt is a holy land for tourists, especially for its Pyramids, but among the more than eighty Pyramids, not all of them are majestic and beautiful. They are scattered throughout the wilderness, many of them ignored and uncared for.
The one before Bi Fang was the sa.
No tourists were nearby, it stood alone in the wilderness.
The sun slowly set behind Bi Fang, gilding him with a golden edge.
"Uh, wait, this seems to be a patch of quicksand."
Bi Fang suddenly stopped in his tracks, looking down at his feet that were halfway sunk in, sowhat annoyed.
The quicksand hidden within the desert environnt was utterly unpredictable; once you started walking, you had to be prepared to be swallowed up, but for a survival expert like Bi Fang, such quicksand was re child's play.
Bi Fang unlatched the reins, allowing Alpha to back away a couple of steps, distancing himself from the quicksand.
Then, after tossing out his backpack, and positioning the tree stick behind him for support, Bi Fang began to slowly lean back, inching his way, trying to rise from the quicksand.
"If you find it necessary, you can also take off your shoes, the shoes can create massive resistance when you try to pull your feet out, especially if the soles are flat and hard."
"Wait, sothing's not right..."
Lying on top of the quicksand and preparing to wriggle his shoulder muscles, Bi Fang paused, feeling sothing unexpected under his feet.
Underneath was not the soft grit, but sothing very hard.
Just as Bi Fang was puzzled, a voice that he had not heard in a long ti echoed in his mind.
[Scanning, side quest triggered: The Lost Tomb, would you like to accept?]
'Accept!'
Bi Fang felt a surge of joy.
A side quest!
How long had it been since that word appeared?
So long that Bi Fang's mory had begun to blur, wondering if side quests truly existed.
Almost two years had passed since he'd undertaken a countable number of side quests, and he never imagined that another would suddenly erge. Naturally, he didn't hesitate to choose to accept it.
Looking at the na of the quest, it seed he had stumbled upon sothing quite extraordinary by dumb luck...
To discover ancient ruins near the Pyramids!
Bi Fang remained stationary in the quicksand, with the live streaming audience still dwelling on his recent words.
[What's wrong?]
[What's up, did the quicksand sting your butt?]
"No, the quicksand doesn't sting my butt, I feel like there's sothing under my feet."
With the system's prompt, Bi Fang wasn't in a rush to extricate himself from the quicksand.
Surrounding him was a wasteland, and apart from the distant Pyramid, there were no other ruins to be seen.
Considering the unusual sensation beneath his feet, it was clear where the so-called ruins were.
That was to be expected, if the ruins were truly above ground, it wouldn't be Bi Fang's turn to discover them.
Bi Fang began to rise from the quicksand once more, slipping down gradually, the hard sensation beneath his feet becoming increasingly evident.
Feeling carefully with his feet, it felt like a huge rock, yet it wasn't that hard. When Bi Fang put all his weight on it and deliberately shook to accelerate his sinking, the huge rock under his feet also sank with him.
The viewers' curiosity was piqued, and they began asking what it was.
[What's that?]
[Could it be a treasure trove he's stepped on?]
[Is it Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves or sothing?]
"It's probably a rock, very flat, but not stable. Just wait, I'll co out first."
Bi Fang stopped moving. The quicksand had already sunk to his chest, nearly engulfing him completely.
Just as Bi Fang spread his hands to prepare to "swim" out slowly, the rock that had been under his feet suddenly disappeared, leaving an empty space beneath him.
Imdiately after, the quicksand around him, which had been still, began to flow slowly, then faster and faster, almost forming a vortex.
Bi Fang, who had just half erged, was pulled by the strong suction force of the vortex, unable to extricate himself and sinking deeper and deeper. Soon he was buried up to his chest again, and it was even more severe than before.
Seeing that the sand was about to bury Bi Fang's neck, the viewers in the live stream were completely gripped with anxiety.
[Damn, damn, a stumble at the start gate!]
[What's happening to Old Fang, why is he in trouble?]
[Why is the sand moving so fast?]
[Is this even quicksand anymore? Are you doubting my knowledge, huh!?]
Bi Fang's heart thumped wildly, feeling the pressure around him grow and grow, crushing him so he could hardly breathe. His hands frantically grabbed at anything, but aside from the sliding sand, there was nothing to hold onto.
Realizing that the situation was dire, Bi Fang quickly withdrew his right hand to try to undo the rope tied around his waist.
From his chest to his neck, then to his chin, until at last only his eyes were left, and just as he was about to be completely engulfed, a large hand once again broke through the quicksand, flinging a section of the rope out.
Bi Fang's muscles tensed as one, straining together like a flying fish leaping out of the water, revealing half of his face as he yelled.
"Alpha!"
"Bite!"
"The rope!"
Alpha, who had been anxiously hopping back and forth on the shore, received the command. He saw the end of the rope on the ground, paused for a mont but quickly reacted before the rope could slide away, biting into it and then began to back away.
The rope went taut, but with the help of Alpha, the beast of stabilizing forces, it started to move out of the sea of sand bit by bit.
A reversal of the earlier situation during dinner occurred. Palm, arm, and finally the head, neck, and chest erged akin to a scene of ti flowing backward.
Bi Fang's forearms were as hard as rock, clinging tightly to the rope, and his slight wiggling significantly reduced the pressure around him.
The remaining quicksand flowed into the depths of the earth like water, even affecting the sandy ground Alpha was standing on, scaring it into quickly backing away.
Bi Fang was dragged outward, surrounded by the irritating pale-yellow dust, which from afar looked like a thin fog rising from the ground.
The entire land roared like a ceaseless polishing machine, vibrating the internal sands non-stop.
Not until all the dust had settled did Bi Fang lay on the ground, coughing violently and nearly retching. Tiny grains of sand floated everywhere, and he didn't know how much he had breathed into his lungs.
"It's a good thing I trained Alpha beforehand, haha."
Bi Fang, finally catching a breath, couldn't help but laugh loudly.
Humans have mishaps, as do horses have missteps.
Quicksand is the most ingenious trap designed by nature.
There's an abundance of quicksand in the Sahara, dense and varied in kind, dry quicksand, wet quicksand, and more.
Bi Fang had already pondered the possibility of getting trapped in a perilous situation and being unable to extricate himself, so he had trained Alpha in advance to bite and drag the rope.
[Aweso!]
[It's got to be my Brother Fang!!]
[Give Master Fang so attention!!]
[Bearded baby bottle gives the host Spaceship*1]
[Pig heart and shrimp send out a live broadcast yacht*1—I'm following now!]
[What's that on the ground, is there a hole over there?]
When the drifting yellow fog finally dissipated, Bi Fang cautiously approached the spot where he'd previously encountered quicksand and discovered a small hole with a diater of less than half a ter.
The hole was pitch black; you couldn't see what was inside at all.
But it was shining conspicuously on the ground, and no one could resist the urge to go in and have a look.
[Holy shit, what is this thing?]
[Is it a relic or a cave?]
[Old Fang, you are so damn lucky, you find this kind of thing just like that, you should stop being an explorer and beco a treasure hunter!]
[Go in and take a look, quick, quick, quick!]
The audience in the live broadcast had completely forgotten the dangerous scene just a mont ago, and all were coaxing Bi Fang to go in and have a look.
"Don't rush,"
Compared to the audience, Bi Fang, the professional explorer, beca calm when he saw the hole on the ground.
Or rather, it was Bi Fang's professional deanor that suppressed the impulse to go in right away.
"These unfamiliar caverns, long buried underground, are very likely to contain so toxic gases as well as so flammable and explosive gases; one absolutely must not enter rashly."
"I don't know if you've heard of the curse of the Egyptian Pharaohs."
"This claim was discovered in 1922 when Howard Carter found the tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt."
"The owner of that ancient Egyptian tomb was Tutankhamun. The inscription of the curse roughly ans that whoever enters the Pharaoh's tomb, the angel of death will co to that person."
Hearing what Bi Fang said, many viewers imdiately had an image in mind.
After all, they had seen plenty of similar plots in movies.
Many viewers got goosebumps, looking at that dark cave as if death would co the next second.
Then Bi Fang changed the topic: "Of course, this curse is false, completely exaggerated by the dia. The pace was suddenly increased, and later it was proven that the curse of the Egyptian Pharaohs doesn't exist. Today, the tombs of the Egyptian Pharaohs are housed in the Egyptian National Museum."
Howard Carter beca famous overnight after discovering the tomb of Tutankhamun, with his backer being Lord Carnarvon.
It took them 15 years to find this tomb, but Lord Carnarvon died the year after they discovered it, leading to rumors of the curse of the Egyptian Pharaohs, which grew more malevolent with each telling.
Later, more and more deaths were associated with the curse of the Pharaohs, even to the point of rumors that Howard Carter had died, until Carter ca out to refute the rumors, saying he was still alive and that the Pharaoh's curse did not exist.
Carter eventually lived to be 64 years old, making the rumor backfire.
"Regarding the curse of the Egyptian Pharaoh, why so many people who ca into contact with the Pharaoh's tomb died young, the correct conjecture is that it has nothing to do with the Pharaoh's curse, but it is related to the tomb."
"Biological decay and deterioration in the Pharaoh's tomb could produce pathogenic bacteria or so toxic gases."
"People at the ti didn't have good preventive awareness and rushed into the relics as soon as they were discovered, so many who entered the tomb were easily infected and even died."
"So, we still need to do so preparation before going in."
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