Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1703 Arrest
"Big brother! I've caught a mummy! Look!"

"Take it away quickly." Shang Luo glanced back; the emperor's portrait was still hanging there. He walked a few steps to Han Xingzhi by the door. "How dare you bring these things here? What's in this box?"

It is the Guangling San!

"What are you pretending to be if you're not making a scene?"

"mummy."

"It's a good thing you didn't bring it in, so why is it in the small box?"

"It seemed to contain internal organs or something. I had a lot of cats surrounding a mummy, and he seemed to be frightened—and after being frightened, a jar burst out. I picked up the jar, put it in a box, and brought it here."

The process was so simple that Shangluo didn't even want to count his military merits.

That's too easy. After all, Shangluo had already provided him with the cat necessary for capturing mummies, and he also had the ability to identify mummies. So all he had to do was scare the mummy unconscious, open the box, pick up the entrails container, put it inside, and then close the box—and everything would be done.

"Alright then," Shangluo said, taking the box in his hands. "But why is there only one jar? Shouldn't a mummy have four jars?"

The jar had a baboon head relief on it, indicating that it contained someone's lungs.

Theoretically, there should be four such jars, corresponding to the four sons of Horus.

Domtef, the jackal-headed one, guards the stomach in the East.

Kebshanaf, with his eagle-headed head, guards the intestines in the West.

Habi, with the head of a baboon, guards the lungs in the north.

Amset, with his human head, guards the liver in the south.

These are essential items produced after mummification. Important but easily perishable internal organs are removed from the chest and placed in a separate bottle, to be used if the deceased is resurrected.

"By the way, where's the heart?" Han Xingzhi asked. "Why isn't there a heart?"

"The heart should still be inside the body," Apollonia replied. "It's like your identification documents. When you go out, you probably need to carry many documents with you, such as bank cards and ID cards. And you need to use a monthly pass for the tram, right? Then you would keep the documents you need to take out along the way in the nearest place, and properly store the documents you don't need to take out along the way."

[In Egypt, the heart is considered extremely important, as it is the part that is used immediately after death. The deceased takes their heart with them for weighing to determine their final destination, so the heart must remain undisturbed inside the chest—this is to facilitate passage through the ticket gates. These viscera containers are kept in a backpack, stored in a separate cabinet.]

"Oh right, what about the brain?"

[The brain. The brain was taken out and thrown away.]

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus documented this process, calling it brainwashing, a profound art.

Removing the brain without damaging the face requires ingenuity.

Only the most skilled artists were permitted to perform this task. They would use a chisel to break through the fragile boundary between the jaw and brain by hammering into the pharaoh's left nostril, then use a whisk-like wire to mash the brain into a paste, and finally use a long spoon to scoop out the mashed brain, spoonful by spoonful, through the hole.

A spoon can't clean it properly. Ancient Egyptians were very hygienic, and to ensure the brain was thoroughly cleansed, craftsmen would pour strong liquor into the hole. The cleaning tools resembled those used in dentistry. After cleaning, the craftsmen would fill the cavity with dry grass or spices.

In principle, family members should not be allowed to watch this process.

[In principle, family members should not be present during this step. It's not that we're afraid they wouldn't be able to handle it—although it certainly would be. The main reason is that this process is so complex that even the craftsman himself isn't sure if he can execute it perfectly. And if he accidentally damages the deceased's face, rendering the body incomplete and unable to be reborn, the problems that arise will be far more complex than just disputes over medical treatment.]

In fact, according to archaeological findings, besides the mummies of pharaohs, many mummies of princes and ministers buried in the Valley of the Kings showed signs of poor quality control. The case of the 21st Dynasty priestess Huntawi was particularly tragic; it seems that the craftsmen damaged too much of her head, forcing them to stuff it with filler to maintain its shape.

This was important because, although family members couldn't be present and could only check after the head was wrapped, they could still tell if it had collapsed. To avoid being held responsible by the priest's family, the craftsmen stuffed the priest's head with so much cotton that it stretched his cheeks open. Although it appeared quite full from the outside of the bandages, it was completely filled with cotton wool.

This is also a case of something that looks good on the outside but is rotten inside.

"Ah!" Han Xingzhi recalled, "No wonder those mummies' faces were so terrifying, it turns out the quality control was lax."

"Judging from your tone, aren't you scared?"

"Well, if I had to say I was scared, I definitely would be. But I had a cat next to me, and I knew I would be fine no matter what, so it was no different from watching a horror movie. Although the scene was indeed a bit realistic."

"You're quite good at convincing yourself." Shang Luo shook his head. "Alright, this counts as one. Go catch two more, and I'll count that as one more merit."

"Can I become a commander of a thousand households?!"

"It's not that easy for you to pass the review. Finish your work first, then we can talk about compensation."

Shangluo, carrying the box, did not return to the temple where the emperor's portrait was now enshrined.

If he goes in, he'll be the one who hears, "How dare you come here?" He might even see the "Lingxiao Shangqing" memorial tablet emerge from the darkness. After all, that old Taoist priest dislikes anything unclean coming before him.

Shangluo took the box to the priest's office.

"Oh," the priest said as soon as Shang Luo entered the room, realizing what was in his hand.

"This is... a fragment of someone's."

"Fragments? What do you mean?"

"It means that you need to collect four of them to make up a person."

"???" Shang Luo was stunned for a moment. "So you get a treasure every time you fight it, and you have to fight it four times to capture the whole mummy?"

“Five times,” the priest replied. “The first four times should be the jar falling down, and the fifth time is the real thing.”

Five times?! Meng Huo was captured seven times! You have to try to capture a mummy five times?

(End of this chapter)