Eye of Horus

Back on Blue Star, Jiang Hao found an internet café, sat down, and searched for high-yield crops.

"Wheat, sorghum, corn, konjac, carrots, daikon... These crops all produce high yields after improvement, but the highest-yielding ones are sugarcane, corn, wheat, rice, and potatoes."

"In terms of yield, any crop on Blue Star beats the crops of the other world hands down."

"But the climate and soil there are different from Blue Star's, and elemental power is everywhere. Blue Star's crops might not be able to adapt to it."

Even on Blue Star, there was a saying that an orange grown in Huainan became a bitter orange in Huaibei. Climate and environment had a huge effect on yields, let alone across two entirely different worlds. Blue Star's crops might fail to adapt to the other world's elemental power, resulting in poor harvests or no harvest at all.

"To be safe, I'll buy seeds for all these crops and take them to the other world. Then I can test which ones adapt to its environment."

Jiang Hao placed the orders online. Once he was done, he turned to his other goals: authority over agriculture and a Divine Artifact with the power of prophecy or perception.

"I can gain authority over agriculture by playing the part of a god. Uka-no-Mitama, Freyr, the god of abundance, Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, and Osiris, god of the Underworld and agriculture, are all connected to agriculture. Playing their roles should grant me the corresponding authority."

"As for a Divine Artifact with prophetic or perceptive powers, Runes can foretell the future, but they don't seem to have a physical form."

"There's also the Norns' spinning wheel, the Wheel of Fortune, which can weave fate. It can't predict the future, but controlling fate is practically the same thing. If you set someone's fate yourself, of course you know what it is."

"The Norns' Rope of Fate works much like the Wheel of Fortune. It can control fate."

"And the Eye of Horus is a Divine Artifact with perceptive powers."

"There are three accounts of the Eye of Horus's origin, but in all of them, it can sense good and evil."

"All three would suit me well."

"I'll start with the recently unearthed Eye of Horus."

After a moment's thought, Jiang Hao turned into a streak of light and flew to a desert.

As soon as he landed, he transformed into a figure in a black robe and a golden hat with miniature mummies carved into its sides.

A golden coffin rested on his back, with an olivewood carving attached beneath it. In his hand, he held a dark crook.

Most striking of all, his eyes were two empty black sockets.

Jiang Hao used the Yata Mirror to check his appearance and nodded in satisfaction.

"My eyes, I've come to find you."

On the blue sea, the amphibious assault ship Central Park passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and entered the Mediterranean Sea.

An elite squad in American-style gear, heavy packs slung over their shoulders, stood about casually on the deck, keeping watch and chatting.

Not far away, Catherine, a woman with golden curls in business attire, watched them curiously. "Professor, who are they? Mercenaries or soldiers? What's their mission? Surely they aren't going to study the Eye of Horus like us?"

"They're mercenaries employed by Blackwater." Professor Felton, dressed in a white shirt and gray suit, paused before continuing. "As for their purpose... supposedly, they're here to protect us."

"Protect us?"

Catherine was startled. "Has something happened in Egypt recently? A war? Or a terrorist attack?"

"No. Nothing's happened. I suspect that's just an excuse they came up with to make it easier to enter the country. Once we disembark, we'll probably go our separate ways." Professor Felton sounded resigned to being used as their pretext for entry.

Two days earlier, someone from Blackwater had called to ask whether he had been invited to Egypt to help authenticate the newly unearthed Eye of Horus.

After he confirmed it, they asked him to travel to Egypt aboard the amphibious assault ship Central Park, with a squad assigned to protect him.

The moment he heard that, he understood they wanted to use his reputation to get into the country.

The thought infuriated him. If that squad caused trouble in Egypt, he might end up blacklisted by numerous countries.

But he couldn't refuse. Anyone who knew even a little about Blackwater knew it wasn't an ordinary security company. It took orders directly from the Defense Department and handled things the department couldn't conveniently do itself.

He was only an expert in folklore, with a particular focus on Egyptian mythology and a modest international reputation. He had no power to turn down Blackwater's request.

"Professor, don't be upset. Didn't you say we'd part ways with them after we disembark? Then we won't have to see them anymore." Hearing his displeasure, Catherine changed the subject. "Oh, Professor, have you heard? Our government has been hiding the truth from us. Gods really do exist. The government just tied atheism to science and fed us the false idea that gods don't exist to keep us in the dark."

"I heard lots of scientists have posted on Twitter saying science isn't the same as atheism."

"I heard about that too," Professor Felton said with a nod. "I agree that science and atheism aren't the same thing."

"But I'm more inclined to believe there are no gods in this world. So-called gods were creations of people in less enlightened times, born from their attempts to imagine explanations for powers they couldn't understand."

"Take this case, for example. The photos and preliminary research materials sent to me by the Egyptian experts show that the so-called Eye of Horus is simply an eye carved into a stone."

"I think someone of that era may have carved an eye into the stone and then proclaimed it the Eye of Horus to achieve some goal of their own."

"But there are videos online of Amenominakanushi bestowing a blessing and the great serpent Jormungandr attacking Iceland. Lots of news outlets reported on it too," Catherine persisted. "There are even victims who experienced it firsthand speaking out online."

"Videos can be faked, news reports are even less trustworthy, and the so-called victims could be hired extras. Back when a film company and the media worked together to promote the hoax surrounding The Blair Witch, they fooled over ten million people. I was one of them."

Professor Felton said with conviction, "This is just another publicity stunt by the media and film companies. Before long, I bet you'll see a movie called Amenominakanushi Battles the Great Serpent Jormungandr in theaters."