amaotonovel Chapter 4601 The Day of Brightest Day (6)
Chapter 4601 The Day of Brightest Day (6)
Chapter 4601 The Sun Shines Brightest (Sixty)
Dr. Hall's plan was progressing quite smoothly. He spread the news of the murals through fellow experts and scholars, which quickly generated a buzz in the field. Diana felt that collaborating with other experts to study the murals was a good approach, so she didn't object.
Haivin fell for the trap, openly and secretly investigating the location of the mural, clearly still unwilling to give up. After all, he had seen the mural with his own eyes and knew how exquisite it was, and how high its cultural and artistic value was. Even in Egypt, where there is no shortage of cultural relics, it could be considered a national treasure; acquiring one would be enough to retire.
Hall seized the opportunity to expose several moles embedded in the Midway Museum, as well as many colleagues within the circle who colluded with Haivin. This prince, born into the court of Ramses the Great, was no ordinary person, and a bloody storm swept through the entire ancient Egyptian archaeology and research community.
Then there was the mysterious priest, Shit. He wasn't foolish enough to attack the Justice League headquarters directly, but Hal, summoned back by Diana, discovered that someone was lurking suspiciously near the headquarters. After arresting a few, they didn't reveal anything; they simply assumed some people were trying to take advantage of the situation.
Having discovered that Hall had found a new backer and suffered heavy losses, Shit temporarily ceased his operations. Meanwhile, Green Lantern Hal, upon returning, gleaned some clues from the murals.
Hall's main research focused on the moon, but Green Lantern Hal immediately recognized that the little men surrounding the moon were clearly the Blue Men, the guardians of the universe.
It's important to know that the little blue man has an inseparable connection with the power of the Seven Lamps. This discovery excited the Justice League, proving that they had found the right path, and the secret to the anomaly of the Seven Lamps' power might be hidden on the moon.
Hall lived up to expectations, using his extensive knowledge of ancient Egyptian history and culture to find the sacrificial procedures related to the moon god Khonsu.
In ancient Egypt, "sacrifice" was extremely important. Not only were there dedicated priests in the palace, but there were also ordinary priests who took on the responsibilities of doctors, teachers, and even police officers, and there was a very complete set of sacrificial procedures.
However, compared to the sun god, the moon god Khonsu is not well-known, and few of his sacrificial rituals have survived. Fortunately, Hor was a genuine ancient Egyptian who preserved a great deal of related knowledge, and he eventually managed to reconstruct it.
"Do we all have to participate in the ceremony?" Diana asked.
Hall nodded and said, "The key is not who participates, but who the moon goddess chooses. Only those chosen by the gods can enter his kingdom. The criteria are varied; it could be simply a special birth date or being left-handed that leads to being chosen by the gods."
“Then let’s all go,” Hal said. “It would be best if Diana and I were chosen, but if not, anyone else from the Justice League is fine.”
Hall shook his head and remained silent. At the ceremony, the Justice League wasn't all present; Diana, Hal, Barry, and Arthur were there, but the others were absent. Schiller and Deathstroke also participated in the ceremony.
Schiller didn't really want to participate, because he knew Consuelo would definitely choose him, just to get him to work a little more overtime. Deathstroke wasn't much more interested either, because he wasn't interested in this kind of mystical stuff. But they had both signed contracts, and their employers required them to come.
The ceremony was held in the base's backyard, under a high moon. Hall laid out many items on the ground and inscribed some ancient Egyptian characters. As he began reciting ancient Egyptian, the moonlight grew brighter.
Two beams of moonlight fell, and I thought they would be Diana and Hal, but by sheer coincidence, they landed on Deathstroke and Schiller.
“It seems the Moon Goddess doesn’t like full-time employees,” Hal said.
Hall shook his head and said, "No, it's possible that they had contact with the moon goddess when they went to Egypt, but they didn't know it. You haven't been to Egypt, so naturally you don't have any mystical connection with the moon goddess."
This reason sounded much more plausible, and Diana had nothing to say. After all, the two of them had been wandering around Cairo and even entered the pyramids; who knows what they might have provoked? It wouldn't be surprising if they were targeted by the Moon Goddess.
“Please stand here,” Hall said, pointing to the center of the magic circle. Deathstroke hesitated for a moment, but last time during the escape from the Cairo secret chamber, he had struggled much more to get in because he was a step too slow. This time, he was smarter and quickly went to stand in the circle.
Schiller didn't hesitate and stepped into the magic circle. Soon, moonlight enveloped them, and the world turned into a hazy, pure white. After another familiar moment of disorientation, a huge, pure white palace appeared before them.
Beneath their feet lay a gray desert that looked remarkably like lunar soil, but they were clearly not on the moon, but rather in another unique space belonging to the mystical moon.
Upon seeing the palace, Schiller began to feel a headache coming on, while Deathstroke's head was buzzing. In Cairo, they had already witnessed the skill of the escape room designer—there was no design whatsoever, just repetitive work.
However, perhaps it was their negative reviews that displeased the Moon Goddess, prompting her to diligently study modern game level design. The result, however, was that it would have been better not to have studied at all.
The previous puzzle-solving segments at least had some of the simplicity of artists, but now it's more like taking the worst parts from many sources and discarding the best, creating a complete piece of garbage.
Upon entering the palace gates, the first obstacle encountered is the Tree Guardian, a creature that looks like a final boss—somewhat resembling a multi-headed unicorn—appearing in the palace hall. Its fighting style includes infinite airtime, fast and slow attacks, healing while you use drugs, and reading commands, making even a cyborg like Deathstroke curse in frustration.
However, as they say, there's no limit to the strength of cyborgs. Deathstroke managed to block, parry, and roll endlessly, plus the incredible damage from his multi-metal greatsword, killing the boss with just three strikes. He was truly worthy of being the chief disciple of the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Sect.
Schiller wasn't bad either. Before attending the ceremony, he had taken precautions and brought that revolver. The revolver did a bit of damage overkill when shooting people, but it was a different story when shooting monsters. One shot blew the unicorn's head off, providing Deathstroke with long-range fire support.
After defeating the monsters, it's time for the much-anticipated fuse-finding phase. To enter the main hall through the passage, you need to find eighteen runes on six discs, scattered across a dozen or so rooms around the hall. These rooms contain various scenarios, such as "the door cannot be opened from this side," "the door is bolted," "you feel a dark force lurking on the door," and "the door seems glued to the entire space, completely immovable."
The only doors that can be opened lead to several monsters, including the three dogs, an evil warlock who can unleash a fireball at you, a crazy nurse who can strike you head-on from behind a door, a self-destructing monster that falls from the sky, and a legendary machine gun turret with the "infinite firepower" modifier. Inside, there are also landmines with no tripwires, bear traps set by top-tier hunters, and man-eating plants that might suddenly bite you, among other monsters.
After frantically searching for all eighteen discs, a long CG animation ensued: "7450 years ago, the wheat in the Nile Valley ripened, and the first ancient Egyptian tribe in Fayoum was celebrating their harvest festival..."
Schiller was stunned; the story was starting from the origins of ancient Egyptian civilization. To make matters worse, Schiller had practically worn out his skip button, while the other character, for some inexplicable reason, refused to skip. They were forced to watch an hour and a half of promotional material on ancient Egyptian history and culture.
Thankfully, the story's background goes from the origins to the birth of Khonsu, rather than from the origins to the destruction; otherwise, it would have taken at least six or seven hours. It's fortunate that the moon goddess cult arose early; otherwise, Schiller's first act after leaving would have been to make soup with the head of the terrifying falcon.
After a long cutscene, they finally entered the corridor. Then came a series of bizarre jumping puzzles. The passage shattered into fragments at the end in a pure white space, the fragments rising continuously, jumping from one end to the other. There were also various moving platforms and mechanisms; besides swinging axes and fire-breathing traps, two monsters were crammed into two large platforms they had to pass through. One could unleash a spiral whirlwind attack, and the other could perform an invincible aerial kick. That kick almost ripped the seams off Deathstroke's uniform.
The revolver came in handy at this point. It wasn't that it could hit the two monsters, but rather that the hearing damage from the previous shooting greatly enhanced Schiller's strength. The mental torture from the video also played a significant role; he directly slammed the small, ankylosaur-like spinning top off the platform.
After completing the jumping puzzle, the next task is unclogging the toilet. Room A contains clues to quest B. Go to room C to find item D and put it in the cabinet at E. Then go to F to get the proof, and return to A to complete the quest. This involves running up and down sixteen floors, navigating over two hundred staircases, and going through thousands of meaningless conversations.
All of these tasks are simply to show you how ancient Egyptians made a hand-woven carpet. Six extramarital affairs, four generations of feuds, two large-scale wars, and the fall of a kingdom all revolve around this carpet. But the carpet itself is never seen, and its weaving process remains a mystery.
Schiller finally understood that Konstantin was a coward who preyed on the weak. He wouldn't dare bring Hall in, because Hall was clearly the kind of person who would clear all the question marks off the map and still seem unsatisfied – a true master of map-opening. While Konstantin was a god of ancient Egypt, he might not actually know as much about ancient Egypt as Hall, and it would be laughable if he couldn't come up with anything.
That's why they say if you walk the dark road too often, you'll eventually run into a ghost. He used ancient Egyptian murals to spread the Pharaoh's curse, and now this is his retribution. On the bright side, with a more solid understanding of ancient Egypt, he can create even more fake artifacts. But on the other hand, he probably never wants to create artifacts again.
After a series of hardships, they finally reached the end of the gate, and unsurprisingly—the Pharaoh's coffin.
Deathstroke had already drawn his sword. He'd become numb from fighting monsters everywhere he went. He just needed to draw his sword whenever he saw a box, chest, or cabinet. A glint of cold light flashed first; death always lagged behind.
Schiller didn't have high hopes either; the final boss design probably wouldn't be much better. The best outcome would be a giant falcon head popping out and beheading Consug, which would be satisfying.
Thinking this, Schiller manually pushed open the coffin. When a familiar face appeared before him, Schiller froze.
The deep blue eyes slowly opened, and the person in the coffin was clearly stunned the moment they focused on Schiller.
"Mortal, why... how could it be you?!"
"Anatole?!"
With a "bang," the coffin lid slammed shut—as if unable to accept reality, thinking it was still a dream, and preparing to lie down and sleep again—leaving Schiller's hand frozen in mid-air.