When Ahmed tried to access the institute's internal surveillance footage, some unexpected complications arose. The institute's management told him that although the institute was semi-private, its surveillance network was connected to the National Museum, and he would have to go to the museum to view the footage.
When he arrived at the National Museum, he was told that the Cairo police did not have the authority to view the National Museum's surveillance footage and that he needed a higher-level order.
This aroused suspicion in Ahmed's mind: why would a small, semi-private research institute have a surveillance network connected to the National Museum? And why didn't the Cairo Police Department have the authority to access its surveillance footage? It was hard to believe that there wasn't something shady going on.
He reported the matter to the director, who told him to wait. He could only check the surveillance footage at various intersections around the research institute, but found no suspicious individuals. Of course, the murderer could easily avoid these cameras with a little care. Compared to some developed countries, Cairo's surveillance density is too low, and the government's investment in this area is far too small.
After waiting two days, he was finally allowed to go to the National Museum to retrieve the surveillance footage. To his annoyance, he was told upon arrival that he could not take the video with him, had to sign a confidentiality agreement, and could only view it in the presence of designated personnel. Of course, he had the right to ask the accompanying personnel any questions he might have.
But he soon understood why the museum was so sensitive to surveillance and had such high access requirements: they were doing something completely shady.
Surveillance footage shows that around 9 p. m., Alef, dressed in a clean white uniform, came out of a room, followed by two military police officers who were pushing a hospital bed. However, the person lying on the bed was not a patient, but a the Mummy.
The research institute specializes in studying the Mummy and ancient artifacts, so this wasn't unusual. However, such a complete the Mummy is rare. Ahmed felt it looked familiar and casually asked, "What kind of the Mummy is this?"
The accompanying person hesitated, as if wanting to say something but then stopped.
Ahmed immediately realized something was wrong, so he slammed his hand on a stack of documents on the table and said, "I've signed a confidentiality agreement, and I have orders from the police headquarters!"
Seeing that he couldn't hide it any longer, the man said, " Ramesses II."
"What?" Ahmed thought he had misheard. " Ramesses II's the Mummy is a national treasure, isn't it in your museum?"
"You know, museums often make replicas of some important cultural relics," the accompanying staff member said.
"Oh..." Ahmed initially thought the one in the surveillance footage was a replica, but then he realized that Professor Alef would never need a replica, and that the one in the museum was the real one.
"You mean... tourists pay a fortune every day to visit your museum, only to see fakes?!"
"Most of them are genuine. There are many things we need to study, and while we're studying them, we'll put out the replicas. Only after we've finished studying them will we switch back to the real ones. Actually, it doesn't matter to tourists, since they can't tell the difference between the real and fake anyway."
Ahmed sighed and decided he would never go to a museum again. He turned his attention back to the security camera and saw them push the Mummy into another room.
At eleven o'clock, a woman arrived at the research institute. Alef spoke to her briefly in the lobby, and the woman went to the changing room to change into the same white work clothes. Then she followed Alef to the room where the Mummy was.
Ahmed zoomed in on the surveillance footage and recognized the woman as the female intern who had died that night. It seemed she had been called in by Alef to help. But why would they need an intern to study such an important the Mummy Ramesses II? A possibility began to surface in Ahmed's mind.
The scene remained unchanged for a long time afterward: two military policemen were dozing on the sofa in the hall, while Alef and the female intern did not come out.
"Aren't there any cameras in the room?" Ahmed asked.
"No, officer." The accompanying officer seemed to have guessed something and said with disdain, "Even though you're a police officer, you shouldn't be intruding on other people's privacy."
"I'm handling a case," Alef emphasized. "What you're thinking and what I'm thinking might not be the same thing at all."
It was two in the morning when Alef finally came out of his room. He looked like he had tripped and fallen somewhere, and his white work clothes were stained with large dark red stains.
Ahmed perked up and zoomed in to examine the image closely. Although the colors weren't quite right, he quickly determined that it was blood.
But Alef's steps and expression were very calm, showing no signs of injury or panic. Moreover, his hands were clean, which was quite incongruous with his red-stained sleeves, suggesting that he had just washed them.
Ahmed, who had only vaguely guessed before, was now almost certain—the female intern was killed by Alef! And he had reason to believe that this matter was related to the museum or even the country.
He turned to the museum staff member who was showing him the security footage and said, "You bastards have been conducting the Mummy resurrection experiments?! How could you come up with such cruel methods? I now suspect you're an accomplice of the murderer, and I can arrest you!"
"No, sir, we have never conducted such an experiment. If things are as you suspect, then it was Dr. Alef who did it; he is in charge of the Mummy project, and it has nothing to do with us. Moreover, you signed a confidentiality agreement and cannot tell anyone except your immediate supervisor."
Ahmed nodded, finally understanding what the chief's "shit" meant. Perhaps the chief already knew something, and he was merely a pawn pushed along. Thinking this, Ahmed couldn't help but curse as well, "Shit!"
Alef emerged from another room carrying several garbage bags and returned to the room where the Mummy was. Then the surveillance footage went silent for a long time.
It wasn't until four in the morning that the door to that room opened again. Alef came out of the room with his head down, and for some reason, he had a bed sheet on his head, like Arabia turban, but it was so long that it dragged on the ground like a cloak, covering his face and the blood-stained clothes on his body.
Ahmed glanced at him and immediately determined that this was not Dr. Alef. Alef was only 1.65 meters tall, while this man was clearly much taller, probably around 1.75 meters. Moreover, his walking posture was different; although his legs were longer, his stride was shorter than Alef's, and he walked like a missionary.
"He's not Alef, he's the murderer!" Ahmed said definitively.
The "murderer," wrapped in a bed sheet, held his hands to his chest, gripping the sides of the sheet. He went to the living room, where two military policemen were sleeping on the sofa. He walked up to one of them and grabbed him by the neck. The military policeman struggled for a moment, then went still.
Another military policeman was awakened, but before he could do anything, the "murderer" had already moved in front of him and snapped his neck with a bang.
However, at that moment, the sheet covering the murderer slipped to the floor. He had his back to the camera, revealing a head of sparse red hair.
He seemed to sense that someone was watching him, and suddenly turned around to look in the direction of the camera.
Ahmed's heart pounded. He saw a face withered like carbonized tree bark in the desert, with empty, dark eye sockets like two bottomless wells.
The museum curator who was watching the security footage with him was clearly taken aback by this outcome, and screamed, covering his mouth, "Oh my god! It's him! It's Ramesses II! Of all the Mummy, only his hair is red!"