1161 The Book of the Dead (1/2)

The sun continued setting in the west.

Egypt's poor vegetation coverage made the earth's capability to retain heat to be almost zero. When the sun was strong, the ground heated up rapidly. Just as the sun rays weakened, the heat would dissipate equally quickly.

It was only at this time of the day that local Egyptians came out from their homes and offices to start outdoor activities. These would last until three o'clock in the morning.

Foreign businessmen who had just arrived in Egypt generally found it difficult to adapt to the Egyptian work and rest cycle. Yet in a foreign land, one had no choice but to fit in and do as the locals did.

Therefore, if you were traveling to Egypt during the peak season and wanted to avoid the bustling groups of tourists, the best way was to get up early.

Zhang Zian, mimicking the other elfins, squatted amongst the ruins and silently watched Fina's back.

It sat alone amongst pieces of the broken wall, sometimes giving off a stupid look, sometimes an angry one. It made the group feel for Fina, yet it was a seemingly unbearable feeling—a feeling reminiscent of the loss of love.

Zhang Zian could not decide if bringing Fina here had been the correct choice. He was worried that he was being cruel, deliberately re-opening Fina's wounds and making it bleed once more.

Yet even as it continued to put on a strong front, it should seek to remove the armor protecting its inner, weak self. By letting the sorrow flow out, one could preserve oneself much better. Much like a dam, storing too much water would only lead the dam to collapse one day.

Since arriving in Egypt, Fina had been behaving normally. Yet the normalcy in behavior was in itself abnormal. It should not have been so calm. It was precisely this sense of calm that had led it to firmly decide to come to this place, which had the effect of removing the disguise.

It had simply...been too long in the ruins.

Not even Zhang Zian had expected the pain in Fina's heart to run so deeply. Would today's venting get it settled, once and for all?

”In my opinion, if the Temple of Bastet had not been destroyed, it would've been the best place to store the statue of the cat god,” Old Time Tea said. ”A powerful pseudo-god is nevertheless still a false god. If we place it in the Temple of Bastet and under the supervision of the goddess, it should no longer be able to cause trouble.”

”This is not necessarily true.” Zhang Zian offered a different opinion. Although he had a great deal of respect for Old Time Tea, he would not allow his mistake to simply slide away out of respect.

”Oh? I want to hear the details,” Old Time Tea said, asking humbly without flinching.

Zhang Zian took a moment to organize his thoughts and explained his views to them.

The ancient Egyptians had a very complex relationship with the cat god Bastet. On one hand, their belief in Bastet was very strong. There were many legends about Bastet, especially in later periods of ancient Egypt, such as the era of the Ptolemy dynasty. Almost every household had a statue of Bastet, and they worshipped the god every day and night...

The Temple of Bastet was not the grandest of temples, and the initial Bastet Carnival was not very grand. It was only when generations upon generations of pharaohs supported and built it up that the worship of Bastet reached its peak.

Yet on the other hand, if Bastet had been an important cat god, it was puzzling as to why it was not included in the ancient Egyptian book of gods. In other words, Bastet was not an official god of ancient Egypt, which was difficult to explain.