Pet King

The tunnel continued stretching upwards. This was the legendary corridor. In architecture, the legendary corridor’s structure and artistry were all so complicated it was hard to believe it had been made by humans.

The gigantic pyramid was mostly solid in its interior and had very little open space. It was a huge problem to let an enclosed space endure tens of thousands of tons of weight above it without collapsing on itself.

The Egyptians had beautifully solved that problem. They had set up stones by the two sides of the slope seven levels high. Each level protruded out seven centimeters from the one below it. By the time they reached the top level, there was only a meter’s worth of space between the two stacks of stones.

The corridor was covered with a gigantic stone plate, a groove carved into the area where the wall met the stone plate so that the plate could be slotted into the stones and fixed there. The plates overlapped each other, supporting each other’s weight, but they were, at the same time, independent. If one of them were to loosen or become detached, it wouldn’t affect the other stone plates at all.

Looking at the breathtaking work, Zhang Zian could almost see the Ancient Egyptians carrying their pharaoh’s coffin with stern faces, walking up the corridor step by step and finally placing the coffin in the king’s grave.

Electric light hadn’t existed 4,500 years ago. The slaves had to have been carrying fire torches to chase the darkness away, sweat pouring down their youthful cheeks, the pine oil burning to form suffocating smoke, eating away the already-scarce oxygen in the chamber even more. Their breaths were heavy, but they said not a word, worried that they would disrupt their pharaohs’ well-deserved rest.

The devoted priests walked around the coffin, humming foreign and hard-to-understand hymns and prayers. The burning flames were reflected in their eyes, as though the fire would never go out.

The once all-powerful pharaohs were mummified, heavy golden masks on their bodies, lying quietly in their stone coffins and waiting for the day when they would awake again to lead the Egyptian army to world domination…

Of course, all these were products of his imagination. There was only a broken and dilapidated stone coffin in the King’s grave now, and the body of the pharaoh was nowhere to be found. Neither was his queen’s body. Not a single mummy was in the huge pyramid, nor were other items usually buried with a dead pharaoh. Some might even think that this pyramid was an unfinished one, and that created a huge buzz.

Walking down this corridor to the peak, it was as though they were walking alongside the people of 4500 years ago during Khufu’s reign. Even the usually-noisy Richard was affected by the solemn atmosphere and kept quiet, taking in the whole scene.

At the end of the corridor was the King’s tomb, its entrance facing northeast.

The moment he stepped into the chamber, Zhang Zian was stunned. It wasn’t because he had seen something. Instead, it was because he hadn’t seen something—something that should’ve been there but wasn’t.

“Gah gah! What is it?” Richard rushed him. “Why are you standing here like an idiot? Hurry and go to the stone coffin. See whether a zombie is lying there.”

“Weird,” Zhang Zian muttered under his breath. “Where are all the people?”

When he had bought the tickets, he’d counted that there were about sixty people that had entered the pyramid, but only fifty or so had come out. He thought that there would still be some tourists inside, and he had made some guesses as to why they hadn’t left yet, but he hadn’t expected to see absolutely no one in here.

There was only one entrance and exit to the King’s chamber. Who knew why the grave chamber would need ventilation, but the square vent cut into the wall was only big enough for a human to fit their head through. If anyone said that there was someone hidden in there…that would be scary.

His fists were clenched tightly, palms sweaty, as he walked towards the only ancient artifact in the room—the stone coffin.

When he saw what was inside the coffin, he let out a sigh of relief. It was just as he had heard. There was nothing in the coffin, not even someone suddenly jumping out to scare him.

The stone coffin was missing a corner. It had already been lost when the coffin was found, so there was nothing to look at. It did look similar to the stone feed boxes that Chinese farmers used to feed their cows or horses, though.

Other than the lights and surveillance equipment, there was nothing else in the King’s chamber.

Zhang Zian traced his finger along the walls made out of stacked granite stones and walked once around the coffin as he mulled over the mystery, unable to stop thinking about the number of tourists.

He really wished that a primary school student wearing spectacles would jump out and point out that this was a mysterious, closed-door, missing-persons case, insisting that there was only one truth.

“Zian, what is it?” Old Time Tea asked quietly, seeing his confusion.

He turned his back to the surveillance camera as he told them their dilemma.

“Did you count incorrectly?” Fina asked.

“Definitely not. Even if I missed one or two or miscounted, I wouldn’t be this wrong,” he answered confidently.

He turned to contemplate, looking at Richard.

“Gah…what?” Richard shivered, a bad premonition creeping up on him. “Are you trying to harm me again?”

Zhang Zian walked next to the vent, looking inside. But the light didn’t travel far in there, and they could barely see anything.

He rubbed his chin. “Why don’t…you fly in to take a look?”

“No! I refuse to go in! Not even if you beat me to death! It’s so dark! It’s scary!” Richard protested violently, flapping its wings.

Old Time Tea volunteered itself. “Why don’t I head in to take a look?”

The flexible cats really were the most suited for these tasks. Even if other mammals were able to go inside, it might be difficult for them to turn around and come back out.

Zhang Zian was only joking, trying to scare Richard. Adults couldn’t possibly fit into a vent that tiny unless they were extremely flexible.

“Forget it. Let’s go. There’s nothing much to gain from this trip.”

Since they couldn’t understand it, there was nothing else they could do. They could only turn back the way that they’d come from.

Even the elfins were a little unsatisfied. How could more than 10 living humans just disappear into thin air?

Walking back the corridor, they reached the starting area. Something tugged on Zhang Zian’s calf. Lowering his head, he found Old Time Tea tugging on it.

Old Time Tea didn’t speak as it pointed in a certain direction.

Fina and Famous seemed to have felt something weird too. Their ears stuck up straight as they looked in that direction.

Zhang Zian was confused until someone suddenly popped up from there.

“Wanna come in?”

His eyes focused sharply. That was an employee wearing the pyramid’s uniform and looking at him, scheming written all over his face as he gestured towards him, pointing at his back.

When he had passed by this area, Zhang Zian had seen this employee blocking the way to a restricted area, guiding the tourists to the King’s chamber instead.

“Only 10 dollars! Good value!”

Worried that Zhang Zian didn’t understand him, he pointed at the pitch-black side corridor, the salesman look on his face not much different from the looks of the vendors outside the pyramid.