bit stealing game

Chapter 70 To the Stars

The group drank again, shouting some incoherent toasts.

Someone knocked on the wine glass:
Respect the moonlight!To the flame!Respect the stars as bright and immortal!
Arno became interested and passionately quoted a piece of Herodotus' "History".

"Facing the humiliated and furious queen, the servant Jukis gave her his own answer:
'I covet you, and I am willing to die for it'. He paused and continued: "But if you allow, I will kill Candaules who insulted you and replace him!" "

At last Gyges did replace Candaules as king of Lydia, and husband of the queen.

Knowing the origin of [Boiling Snow], Yano's move made people wonder whether he was alluding to something or simply pretending to be coercive.

Jason glanced at Alex, then also raised his glass: "Replace it!"

Alex didn't notice his gaze though.She was asking Laila, who was sitting dazed, to dance with her.

Someone started singing a Spanish ditty.The drunken people swayed around the long-burning bonfire.

A few steps away there is a small sand dune, and a group of people are gathered there.Yano turned his head, looked at it with great interest, and stopped passers-by to ask what it was doing.

"That's a temporary astronomical station. You have to keep an eye on the weather. You can't really rely on Egyptian astrology."

Socrates silently patted the drum with his hands.He was a little Socratic when he wasn't talking.

Ali looked at the night sky: "It's the starry sky. The starry sky above us controls our destiny*."

He was talking about Lyra.Unexpectedly, the liar Ali was still a literary youth.Speaking of literary youth, here is one more.

"The fault is not in the starry sky, but in ourselves*." Arno pressed his fingers on his chest, where his cross was. "Fate is naturally the same."

When the Egyptian looked over, Arno returned to his nonchalant smile.

Li Yuan on the side looked at the flames and took a mouthful of Erguotou.

"What are you doing?"

"Your people didn't bring you to the Temple of Seth, don't you feel bad?" Karl sat down beside him.There was a half bottle of vodka tilted there, Carl picked it up to look at it, and poured it on the fire.

Lao Gao jumped out of the fire, and Yanuo and I both looked over.

Li Yuan ignored Carl.However, Karl did not back down.He leaned in front of Li Yuan and said seductively, "They use you, but they don't want you to know the truth. But I can give you the truth."

Li Yuan turned his head sideways. "Oh, you're here to bribe me." He looked at Carl's blue eyes close at hand, and smiled. "Then what do you want from me?"

"I know that Black gave you the pocket watch, and I also know that you can find the destination by yourself." Carl said firmly, "Since you don't need the pocket watch, why not exchange it with me. I will give you what you want Truth, you give me the compass you don't need."

"It seems that they all come to me to find opportunities." Li Yuan sighed. "Although I haven't seen the world, I know it's not cheap. You can't fool me."

"Is the truth not enough in your eyes?" Carl said with a smile.

"After all, it's what you want. Maybe you'll want to exchange it for what you value most at the moment." Li Yuan also smiled. "But it must be worth it, isn't it?"

"It's really a little thing that can bargain." Carl raised his eyebrows and leaned forward.He was too close to Li Yuan.It's not just a cheap flirting tactic, it's a threat.

But before Karl could complete a desired pose, he was hugged by Arno.

"Why, don't you know that Yuechen has already given me the pocket watch?" Arno narrowed his eyes and approached Karl, saying meaningfully. "I'm not Yuechen, and I don't understand the benefits. If Karl wants it, come to my tent at night, and I'll give it to you."

Carl sat back immediately and subconsciously glanced at Bruce.

Arno laughed.We all couldn't help laughing, too, and Bruce narrowed his eyes without sympathy.

Karl knew that Yano had tricked him, but he couldn't hold his posture.He tried his best to say another sentence to Li Yuan: "Think about it carefully." He couldn't sit still anymore and went back to the tent.

Who would have thought that when Carl was leaving, he would bump into Rhea.But both of them were restless, so they didn't pinch again.

Rhea came out wearing a thick blanket and looked around.Although her eyes are a little red, people who don't know the inside story don't think about her being sad.Rhea didn't care about her image now, she wrapped herself up like a chubby, peeled broad bean.Coupled with her somewhat arrogant look, she is even more cute.But before long, she sneezed several times, making her eyes and nose wet.

Rhea didn't appear here to lose her momentum.She pushed everyone away with her eyes, motioning for me to stay.

No matter how disgusted I was with her domineering, it disappeared after hearing that conversation.So he sat down obediently.

Rhea pulled back a slit in the blanket and handed me a roll of papyrus.I took it in a daze.

"I bought this from an antique dealer in Chicago. His previous family was the head of the Oxford Egyptian Archives." Rhea retracted her hand and wrapped herself tightly before continuing: " I don’t know what’s the mystery here. The antique dealer said that it was taken out of an ancient Egyptian temple in the Sahara Desert by Polish explorers in the [-]th century. The Oxford scholar who resold the papyrus said it was from the Old Kingdom period s things."

I unfolded it.

A complete set of twelve signs of the zodiac unfolded.

This is different from the twelve signs of the zodiac that were introduced to Egypt through Greece in later generations. Each of the gods has a distinct Egyptian color.And besides that, the whole night is drawn into it.

This detailed star map looks familiar.I couldn't help but lift the papyrus up to compare it with the sky in front of me.

Those stars that I don't recognize have been painted in my hand 5000 years ago.Even that untimely moon is no exception.

When I didn't notice, the borrowed full moon had quietly nestled in the night.

"How could this be?" I murmured.

"Don't get confused by what you're seeing. We're in Egypt now, but Egypt isn't the center of the problem. The magnetic field is the root," Rhea reminded me. "There are quite a few people here who know that."

"I'm just an archaeologist, and I'm here to study ancient Egypt." I came to my senses. "Li Yuancai is an astronomer. You are much more reliable looking for star maps than me."

"The study of ancient Egypt went to the desert?"

I frown. "It's part of my job."

"It's okay if you don't want to admit it, but you don't have to lie to yourself."

Rhea shrank herself into the moving blanket fortress.This slovenly shape made her face look more delicate, and her peach blossom eyes, which were exactly the same as Li Yuan's, were slightly red from the cold.

To be honest, Rhea is more suitable for these eyes.She grew up soaking in the soil flowing with honey, and her sparkling peach eyes are full of spirit and elegance.As for Li Yuan, his peach blossom eyes made his expression even colder.It would be fine if it was a tree like weeping willow growing alone by the cold pool, but there is a gorgeous peach blossom blooming in the ice and snow.The cold pool was made even colder by Kazuki's flowers.It is bound to wither, no one appreciates it, and it is even more embarrassing.Just because I accidentally went the wrong way and came to this cold pool, I didn't want to stay for a long time.

"I also thought about giving this thing to Yuechen, but I feel more at ease in your hands." Rhea said, "Only you can keep him alive."

I laughed. "Don't label me, I'm not that capable."

"You make him want to live, that's enough. He can do the rest by himself." Rhea didn't look at me, and said to herself: "I just want to tell you that if you want to find what you want The answer is that Yuechen must not let him find him."

I was speechless, Rhea spoke again. "You and I know the reason why Yuechen came to Egypt, but you probably don't know what his purpose is?"

I shook my head.

"Yuechen is the heir of my family, and the Li family is not a small family. We are not rare in the things of the Yin family. They should belong to Yuechen, and there will be nothing less."

"That's great," I said dryly.

I've become numb to this rich man's world.Now I just want to hurry up and find the temple of Thutmose III to verify my guess.It would be even better if you can earn some extra money from 279 that is enough for the down payment.

"These could be yours too." Rhea glanced at me. "You don't like it?"

I put on a smiling face. "Why don't you like it? I'm sure I'll continue with the pie in the sky. If you said it earlier, I wouldn't come to the desert to eat dirt." I paused, and Rhea stared at me with smiling eyes. "But it's a pity, my family is still alive, and your Yuechen is still alive."

"I'm afraid he doesn't want to live."

"What do you mean?" I frowned, subdued my sarcasm.

In fact, there are clues to this.Li Yuan mentioned that no matter what kind of injury he gets, he will not leave traces, Alex mentioned to me Li Yuan's disregard of his own safety when he was in Antarctica, and his persistent pursuit of things that can hurt him.

"I don't know Yuechen. He is not close to me. In fact, he is not close to anyone. I don't know you either, but I didn't lie to you." Rhea lowered her eyes and showed a sad smile. "I wasn't sure at first, but now I know that if anyone can change Yuechen's mind, it can only be you."

Rhea said she wanted us all to be safe, and she'd make sure of that.

The bonfire was lit again, and the heating was working hard.However, it was still too cold for the eldest lady.Rhea thoughtlessly dropped these words, and an antique papyrus enough to send me in, and went back to the tent by herself.But she didn't tell me what Li Yuan's purpose in coming here is.

I didn't move, just sat by the fire in a daze.

Li Yuan put his clothes on me and sat beside me.When the full moon hangs overhead, there is no need to worry about him catching a cold.So I did not refuse.

"Want to know what she told me?" I glanced at him.

Li Yuan shook his head. "We've heard enough."

He looked calm, but for some reason, I could see some loneliness.Must be sad to hear that Rhea gave up her happiness for him.I wanted to comfort Li Yuan, but I couldn't do it.

Instead, Li Yuan said first: "It's okay, I'm used to it. They care about me because my father and mother think I'm poor and unlucky."

I said, "I don't care about that."

Li Yuan laughed: "Thank you." He then said seriously: "No matter what she said, don't listen."

I scoff. "Your aunt said you were going to die, let me stop you."

"Why, I'm afraid I can't think about it?" During the time I was talking to Rhea, Li Yuan drank a lot of wine, and his white jade-like face turned red.He bent his eyes, which were not stained with drunkenness. "Don't worry, how can I die?"

I looked at Rhea's tent in the distance, and it turned out that this was what she meant.

"Why do you insist on finding the temple of Thutmose III?" I asked Li Yuan.

"I have to go and experience fate." The cold pool reflected a full moonlight. "This is my destiny, you don't need to take this trip with me."

　Both Ali and Arno quoted Shakespeare, namely [King Lear] and [Caesar].

　　The inspiration came from standing in the ruins of ancient Rome many years ago, and undergraduate students came here for such a period.

　　I personally like Herodotus's [History] (as a literary work), so I brought some private goods.

　　Here Arno and Jason are citing a metaphor from the beginning of [History]:
　　King Candaules of Lydia was so confident in his wife's appearance that he secretly brought his servant Gyges into his bedroom and showed him his wife's naked body.But in the customs here, if a woman is seen naked by a man other than her husband, it is a great shame to her.Therefore, the princess who discovered the incident held a grudge against Candaules, and gave Juges two choices:

　　One is to kill Candaules, become king, and marry her; the other is to kill Gyges.

　　Jujis, who coveted the queen's beauty, chose to conspire with her to kill Candaules and seize the queen and the kingdom.

　　Here's why Jason chimed in: "Instead."

　　
　
(End of this chapter)