Ahmed felt a headache coming on when he heard the long list of names. Although he was Arabia himself, he hated that people included their father's name and grandfather's name in their names. In official Arabia documents, a person's name must include their given name, father's name, grandfather's name, and surname to be considered complete.
Ahmed was an orphan who didn't even know his own surname. The imam of the mosque adopted him but only gave him a name; the surname was added later.
" Abdullah, is it?" Ahmed noticed his yellowed teeth, took a cigarette from his pocket, and tossed it to him. "Tell me slowly, everything you know."
"Yes, sir." Abdullah Rashad Rashid Buzblah Izjarahhi Tsarasha Mudzil took the cigarette, his expression excited as he lit it, as if he had received a reward from the president.
"I'm the administrator here, I've worked here for over ten years, and I know this place very well. But what happened today is really strange, nothing like this has ever happened before. I was on duty in the Menkaure guardhouse when two Asia climbed up the pyramid. Oh, I swear, I really didn't see them. They climbed so fast, like apes. These two officers can vouch for me."
Abdullah took a deep drag on his cigarette, looking completely innocent. "We were yelling for them to come down, but they wouldn't. To be honest, though, the sandstorm was coming so fast that even if they wanted to come down, they'd probably be blown off halfway."
Ahmed was getting a little impatient. "Is this related to what happened in the underground palace? Get to the point."
"Oh, okay, okay, you wanted me to explain slowly, so I thought this matter was somewhat related to the underground palace!" Abdullah defended himself for rambling, "What I meant was, when the sandstorm happened, we couldn't see anything, but there were three beams of light shining brightly on the tips of the three pyramids."
"Three beams of light?" Ahmed recalled seeing flashes of light in the darkness in the direction of Giza during the sandstorm; he thought it was lightning from the clouds.
"That's right, there were three beams of light, like flashlights shining down from the sky, one of which shone on the couple who were climbing Menkaure," Abdullah gestured with his hands. "Then the pyramid caught fire, turning into three huge bonfires."
"Did you see that?" Ahmed asked the people next to him.
The tourists all shook their heads.
"Oh, I swear, I'm telling the truth," Abdullah said.
"Where is that couple? Where are they now?" Ahmed searched through the crowd.
"They've disappeared." Abdullah waved calmly, as if saying goodbye to someone.
Ahmed found Abdullah's words unreliable and said, "Tell me about what happened in the underground palace, but don't embellish it. I'm going down to see for myself in a bit."
"I swear to the Lord, what I said is true." Adura pointed his right index finger to the sky, "I felt very hot at the time, and the damn sand felt like it had been roasted in the fire. I ran as hard as I could until I reached the open space between Khafre and Khufu before I felt better. I saw two There was a camel lying on the ground. Knowing that it was for tourists to take pictures, I hid beside the camel to avoid the wind and sand. Those vendors who raised camels were really useless. They actually said that I relied on their camels and wanted to charge me money. I gave my name and they knew me and only gave up after knowing that I was the administrator of the scenic spot.
We heard many tourists shouting something, but the wind was too strong to hear clearly, though the direction was towards the Pyramid of Khufu. I thought something had happened, so I asked the camel traders to lead the camels over to check. When we got there, we met some tourists who had just escaped from the Pyramid of Khufu of Giza. They said they had discovered an underground palace inside, and some daring tourists had already gone down.
The camel traders urged me to go in, because I was very familiar with the inside of the pyramids and could navigate the passages with my eyes closed. I said, "Let's wait for the police and experts." But they said there must be treasures in the underground palace, and we wouldn't get anything by the time the police arrived. They ignored my advice and went in on their own.
After the sandstorm stopped, the two police officers arrived. Since the people inside the pyramid hadn't come out yet, we decided to go in and take a look. Officer Aduifu stayed outside to maintain order, while Officer Basaimu and I went in. The Pyramid of Khufu of Giza originally had an unfinished underground chamber, which wasn't open to tourists, but now a new passageway had appeared. In that passageway, we found a body; its abdomen had been cut open, and there was blood and shattered internal organs everywhere.
As Abdullah finished speaking, the patrol officer next to him Basaimu, vomited again.
"How many bodies were there in total? Were any alive?" Ahmed asked.
"I don't know." Abdullah glanced at Basaimu. "The sight was a bit frightening, so we didn't go any further. Allah protect everyone else!"
"You called the police?" Ahmed knew something was amiss, but he didn't understand why the military police had arrived so quickly to cordon off the scene.
"Yes, we reported it to our superiors twice. The first time was to report the possible discovery of a new underground chamber within the pyramid; the second time was after we came out of it and confirmed that people were dead."
Ahmed decided to go into the underground palace before Professor Alef arrived; as a policeman, it was his duty. Besides, the chief was always well-informed and must have known something in advance, which was why he canceled Ahmed's leave and gave him the highest authority to make on-the-spot decisions.
Making decisions on the spot means he can destroy evidence and dispose of the scene at any time, but this requires taking risks and cannot bring too many people in. If there is anything strange in the underground palace, it will undoubtedly put him in danger.
But his adventure was unsuccessful, because Professor Alef arrived soon after.
This was an old man whose hair was already half bald, yet he still kept it long. As soon as he got off the bus, he approached Ahmed and asked bluntly, "How much do you know about Ancient Egypt dynasty culture and archaeology?"
"Not too much, sir," Ahmed said.
"Then you'd better be careful when you go down there, and don't break anything." Alef sounded like an old nobleman warning a country maid who had just arrived in the city not to damage the precious porcelain in the room. "Those officials at the city hall are simply unreasonable, sending someone like you who knows nothing about cultural relics to accompany me into the underground palace! Any random pharaoh's funerary object could be a national treasure!"
Ahmed retorted without hesitation, "I'm a police officer, sir. This is a crime scene. I advise you to be careful when you go down there and not destroy any evidence. Those city hall officials are simply unreasonable, sending someone like you who knows nothing about criminal investigation to accompany me to a crime scene. Even a single footprint could be left by the murderer!"