Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1686 The real hero

“I am not a hero,” the priest said in a deep voice. “I grew up in Alexandria, where we worship the Greeks as our pharaohs. I have no right to speak from the perspective of my nation, because the premise of my being chosen as the high priest of Amun was my loyalty to the Ptolemaic dynasty, which allowed me to be made into a perfect mummy and to be preserved to this day.”

"Wait a minute." Shang Luo was taken aback. "You're a mummy?"

“If I weren’t a mummy, how could I have transcended history and stand before you all?” He rose and opened the cabinet beside him, revealing a golden briefcase. “I won’t open it. Inside this briefcase are my canopic jars, my stomach, intestines, lungs, and liver. The only active internal organ in this body is my heart. All of this, including the methods used to mummify me, was to ensure the deceased could be fully resurrected in the distant future. The more advanced the mummy, the more perfectly preserved it is.”

The priest underwent a complete mummification process, the sophistication of which rivaled that of a pharaoh. Therefore, after the boundary between life and death was broken, he could appear here like a normal person, moving freely in the sun. He appeared before countless tourists daily, and no one could discern his true identity. Now, he revealed his bald head and arms to Shang Luo, and Shang Luo still couldn't tell that he was actually a living dead.

"This technology is really good."

“Of course, there are limitations.” He closed the cabinet door and returned to his seat. “I can’t actually eat earthly food because I’ve already eaten Aru’s wheat, so I have to return to Aru regularly to eat. The last time I went back, I saw you all eating bread there. Aru hasn’t been this lively in a long time. You can come often. Egyptians love guests, and we are happy to know that you like Egyptian bread.”

Shangluo felt a pang of sadness. He had thought the man before him was merely a survivor caught in the cracks of history. But now, it seemed he too was a hero. He had witnessed the world of the living and the dead, the dramatic changes in Greece, Egypt, and Rome. After all this, when he returned to the mortal realm, his view of the world remained unchanged. He still accepted the status quo of Thebes, leading the daily sale of blessed bread and offerings.

"May I ask what your name is?"

He shook his head: "I don't know. Just call me priest."

"You can leave your name."

“No, it’s not that I didn’t want to stay, it’s that I couldn’t stay. I’ve forgotten my name. Yes, I’ve forgotten. Because when those alchemists were mining in the Valley of the Kings, they cast a [Memory Erasure Curse] on the entire Valley of the Kings—I don’t know where they found the authentic Memory Erasure Curse. All records about us have been deleted, and I completely forgot my name after I woke up.”

"Huh? Why would they do that?"

The priest covered his forehead: "Castrated pigs are more willing to eat, and castrated warhorses are more efficient at work. To use mummies as spellcasting materials, everyone's name must be erased. Alchemists grind mummies into powder when using them, and a bottle of powder may come from many different people. Only by erasing names can 'powder' from different people be mixed together for use—and most importantly, weaken their autonomy."

"Then...wait, aren't you a specific priest?"

He shook his head: "I'm not sure, but I don't think I am. Maybe I'm just a representative of all the priests of Amun. After all, after my name was erased and my soul was glued together, I'm not sure if I woke up in my own body. Although my body is still intact, considering that I don't remember my own name, my identity is not important at all."

Even so, you still don't hate the Romans?

He shook his head: "Oh, my King of Rome, this wasn't done by the Romans of this generation. The alchemists' mining of the Valley of the Kings happened hundreds of years ago. Even if I had boundless rage, could I sustain it for that long? The dead are dead. I have to think more about the living, about the living Coptics. Now, there are even more Dragon Tooth soldiers who can truly be called angry. Forgive my bluntness, my lord, they are indeed the targets you need to persuade."

What do they want?

"Living. They want to truly come back to life, but before they can, they first need to reclaim their names. The amnesia curse has erased their names; without their names and their internal organs, they cannot truly be resurrected—and if their internal organs cannot be found, they will probably need to go through some rituals to reacquire some of their internal organs."

This means that these undead may be going to war with the living. "I can give them a chance," Shangluo said. "I hope to negotiate with their representatives."

“I am actually their representative, but I don’t think I can represent them, because even I don’t know how many people in Thebes are the living dead. As you can see, you can’t tell at a glance that I am a mummy, so other people probably won’t be able to tell so easily either.”

"That's easy. We brought a lot of people with us, specifically to deal with this kind of emergency."

Shangluo picked up his phone and dialed Phaethon's number in Alexandria, receiving an affirmative answer from her.

"Okay." Shang Luo put down his phone. "Within 24 hours, a whole squad of Dan Dogs will come to Thebes to carry out the mission."

"That is?"

"A kind of spirit-modified beast. It looks like an ordinary dog, but its intelligence is extraordinary. Its nose is extremely sensitive to magic, and it can use its nose to find the living dead hiding in this city. But before that, I want to test it out first. Wait a moment."

Shangluo picked up the phone again.

"Big brother, you called me?" Han Xingzhi's voice came from the other end of the phone. "Are you finished talking? Can we go have lunch now?"

"Come up here for a moment, someone needs your attention."

"Oh."

Han Xingzhi responded and then took the elevator downstairs to his office.

What do you want me to see?

“This one,” he gestured to the priest beside him, “come closer to take a look.”

"Is there anything different about him?" Han Xingzhi approached step by step, his expression unchanged. However, when he got a few steps away, his eyes involuntarily drifted to the cabinet next to him containing internal organs.

He looked at the cabinet, then at the priest.

"A ghost!!!" He was so frightened that he ran away and ran outside.

"Alright, this is it." Shang Luo nodded. "It seems that Xuanxiu can distinguish them. Now let the dog sniff them."

(End of this chapter)