bit stealing game

Chapter 30 Another performance by Arnold

We never expected that our first mission after joining 279 would be to attend an unexpected banquet.

Xia Shangzhou took Lou Shiqi and me to a hotel on the east bank of the Nile River yesterday, just across the road from the Luxor Temple.

This hotel was built by British explorers at the end of the 19th century. It has a colonial style and is considered luxurious even today. Howard Carter, who discovered Tutankhamen, is said to have lived here. Even though it is hundreds of years old, it is very old.

It's a bit dated, but it still holds up well. In addition to the restaurant, there is also a banquet hall. You are not allowed to enter unless you are wearing formal attire.

Lou Shiqi and I's room was on the third floor like everyone else in 279. When you open the window, you can see the Nile River and the cruise ships docked on the shore. Most of these cruise ships are traveling to and from Aswan this season, and the decoration is still the same.

It's like the tragedy on the Nile.

I thought to myself, isn’t 279 rooted in the ranks of the people? How can it be as addicted to pleasure as capitalism?

It was a complete surprise.

I happily rolled around on the comfortable big bed and went upstairs to find A Tian and Lao Zhang. It happened that my friends also lived here.

A Tian has already found Sir Black's information. Leaving aside the unverifiable information, Sir Black did not lie on the key issues. His uncle, Sir Black, indeed disappeared in Egypt sixty years ago. The title and inheritance of the Black family

This fell on the head of the Sir Black we met. And he has really spent huge sums of money to fund various archaeological teams and expeditions. He has also gone deep into the desert and the hinterland of various civilizations several times, just for

Find the whereabouts of his uncle.

If someone really spends decades just to make up lies, then he has to be respected as a talent. Besides, Sir Black has done more than that. He has never married or designated an heir. And his legs are under ten years old.

The root of the disease fell when I traveled to the desert in the west two years ago.

If a person reaches this point for a certain purpose without going crazy, he is already very good.

Although I still don’t know what Lord Black’s purpose is and why he chose us instead of the Americans, I’m not too worried. Anyway, 279 will not fight an unprepared battle. As long as I follow them.

In the Valley of the Kings, you can find the temple in the records and watch the sky at night, and you can end it successfully.

So I chatted with A Tian calmly for a long time and even slept in her room.

The schedule of 279 is not as orderly as that of the archaeological team. The next day when the three of us got up to have breakfast, it was already past eight o'clock, but Teacher Xia Shang, Zhou Bai and others were still sitting leisurely in the restaurant.

Meng Weiqing is not here again. Is this person alive by drinking dew?

I introduced Lao Zhang and the others to 279. However, I explained that the reason why Lao Zhang was here was just to have fun.

Xia Shangzhou invited the two of them to sit together. They saw that they had something to say to me, so they declined and sat at another table.

After I sat down, I found a small card on the table, which said:

[We are sincerely invited to attend the farewell ceremony for Director Renault of the French Academic Research Center in Egypt to be held in the banquet hall at 18:00 tonight]

The signature was written in a sultry round handwriting: Chris Arnold.

As one of the three major academic institutions in Luxor, the [Fae Center] changes its director every eight years. The new director will take office in February or March, and the old director resigned before Christmas. I don’t know what this Arnold is like

Why did you bring the old director out at that time?

If only that was it.

The theme of this banquet is: [When Europeans first arrived in Egypt], and Arnold specifically stated on the invitation that he hopes everyone can dress up close to that era. I think he just wrote: [Revisiting Egypt]

Civilization has suffered colonial plunder. They really don’t take political correctness seriously.

I'm afraid this is another trick made by the extremely bored Arnold who is unwilling to be lonely. This guy comes here every day and never does anything serious. He is just a fool.

I was a little surprised and looked at the tables next door. The invitations were placed on the tables casually, as if everyone was there.

Teacher Bai took out a more exquisite invitation and put it on the table. "I saw this at the door as soon as I opened the door in the morning. It was placed at the door of everyone in our team. I also asked a few other guests just now about the door of their room.

No. It seems that they just sent invitations to a few of us individually."

I said, no wonder the three of us didn't see it when we came out.

279 They had almost finished eating, and after saying this, they got up and left. Before leaving, they told me not to go far today, as there might be mission notifications.

When Lao Zhang and A Tian saw that 279 had left, they sat over. The three of us were eating and talking about Arnold's banquet that was made out of nothing. Meng Weiqing spoke in the group chat about "Into Egypt".

Arnold also contacted him and invited everyone to attend the farewell ceremony of Director Reno of the Fae Center in the evening.

In this case, Lao Zhang and A Tian immediately said that they had received the invitation anyway and just went to join in the fun.

I remembered that Director Renault had some friendship with our archaeological team, so I sent a WeChat message to ask Teacher Wang if the team would come today. But the team leader and others did not receive an invitation.

Why is it that when an archaeologist leaves his job, he is replaced by capitalists?

In order to maintain the image of the team, Xia Shangzhou suggested that they collectively buy clothes for the banquet in the evening.

In fact, we are so innocent that we have nothing to do with this topic, but this does not hinder Xia Shangzhou's idea of ​​going shopping. Jiang Can responded positively but falsely, and Teacher Bai also tried very hard to show interest. Meng Weiqing had no choice but to

He did not join on the pretext that he had to arrange a trip to the Valley of the Kings at night. In the end, except for him, Han Wu, who had never shown up, and Li Yuan, who was always unorganized and undisciplined, everyone in 279 went to the shopping street in Luxor.

It's said to be a shopping street, but actually what you can buy is very limited. Everyone goes shopping in their own way when they arrive.

I saw a cool piece of clothing and wanted to try it on. Lou Shiqi followed me all the way to the door of the fitting room, which surprised the shopping guide. He turned a blind eye and insisted on talking to me across the fitting room.

"If I weren't afraid that someone would kidnap you from the fitting room, I wouldn't wait for you."

I was endeared by his reason for having a time difference of several decades, but I got out of my habit of being mean and said, "Teacher Xiao Lou'er is right. This organization has gone through hard work and growth, and has been offline in the Egyptian Development Office.

"

Lou Shiqi was so proud that his kindness was rewarded with my teasing, so he turned to leave. I immediately leaned over and said, "Okay, okay, I know Teacher Xiaolou is kind. Thank you very much."

In the end, we were empty-handed, so we simply dressed up as archaeologists. We borrowed Meng Weiqing's pipe as a prop and went to the banquet wearing the uniforms of the archaeological team.

As expected, Arnold used the retirement of the Fae Center to give his team an opening ceremony.

The entire venue was decorated like a glamorous colonial setting, and there was even a hookah table in the corner. Various people walked through it, making the farewell party feel like a masquerade.

As soon as the banquet began, Arnold, as the initiator, took the stage to speak.

He had his hair neatly combed back, and he was wearing a vest and a small bow tie. He looked quite like the Europeans who came here in the 18th and 19th centuries to plunder.

Arno is still Arno, it's just that he has changed the place for his big scene.

279 These people were obviously here to do business, and no one bothered to fit into the occasion. Even Xia Shangzhou, who was in high spirits, only wore very ordinary clothes, and perfunctorily styled his bunted hair.

Unique wooden hairpin.

The hairpin looked like a deformed nine-link chain, made up of irregular geometric patterns. This was obviously a heavy decoration on the head, but Xia, Shang and Zhou could still maintain elegance.

It seems that Lou Shiqi and I are the only ones who have taken serious precautions and played the role of archaeologists.

Before the dance, I went back to my room to change clothes, and there was a dress spread out on the bed, and a pair of high heels beside the bed. It looked like they were all my size.

I took a closer look and felt that no matter who sent it, the aesthetics were good. Then I took my valuables, put on the archaeological team uniform and went downstairs to join 279.

Compared to our group of people, others are much more serious.

There were many familiar faces in the venue.

Before we left the house in Chicago that day, we saw a group of foreigners circling the venue in an ostentatious manner, as if they were afraid that others would not know why they came to Egypt.

Among them was a young man with green eyes who was a bit out of place. He looked to be no more than sixteen or seventeen years old. Others were busy wandering around, so he drank a lot of wine in a short time. He was an honest kid. I don’t know who brought him here.

Just joining in the fun.

It seemed that they were invited because they were staying in the hotel, and it was not just Lao Zhang and A Tian who were actually present. These two people, under the guise of watching "the people in the profile," sneaked in to eat and drink after they arrived.

Looking around the whole place, apart from Director Renault, it seemed that no one related to archeology was present.

Except for two people.

Mr. Buswell, an independent Mexican archaeologist with tattoos on his face, dressed up as an old scholar today. He wore a pair of unilateral glasses and a hat on his head. The whole face was basically not covered, except for

The tattooed nose struggled to break out of the beard. Although this Buswell looked strange, he was particularly sociable. He had been chatting with the Egyptians wearing traditional robes next to him, and laughed from time to time.

.

In comparison, the other Asian man was very low-key. He was a quiet and timid middle-aged man. I saw him with people from the Japanese archaeological team at the house in Chicago that day. But today there were no people from the Japanese archaeological team.

Come, he actually had a long conversation with Morgan, the leader of Arnold's expedition.

Surprisingly, Lord Black also attended the party. I don’t know who it was for the sake of others. After all, this British aristocrat has basically never participated in such activities in the past.

Lord Black is not in a wheelchair today. He is very tall, has a straight back, and is wearing a tuxedo. He really looks like the airy British people who came to Egypt in the 19th century.

When no one is around, Sir Black usually either supports him or leans on something. However, when talking to others, he refuses to lose his etiquette and has to stand up straight. The three-piece butler he saw at his house yesterday also

Here we are, standing not far or near.

Many people come to talk to Lord Black.

I pretended to be wandering around with Lou Shiqi, glancing at Sir Black from time to time. I saw at least three different groups of people surrounding him.

Now two young men were talking to Lord Black.

One of them was dressed like a British aristocrat, with his blond hair combed meticulously. Standing next to Blake, his temperament was not inferior at all. The man even wore a pair of white gloves on his hands, and was playing with a cane from time to time.

He waved twice slightly, as if to point out the situation; the other looked like he was dressed as a reporter, holding an old-fashioned box camera in his hand. However, his hairline and body shape revealed that he was over-fit.

Judging from his condition, he is probably a mercenary or a member of the Marine Corps in the United States.

Maybe it was because the costumes of these two people were so fond of the old jazz, that the three of them had a very happy conversation.

After a while, Arno walked over with a woman.

Since their backs were to me, I couldn't tell what the significance of this was. But it was probably not easy for this woman to take advantage of Arno, who was always in the limelight, like a toy. And compared to the politeness and distance she treated Arno

It felt like Lord Black was more familiar with this woman. He actually let her help him and sat down on the sofa next to him.

When the woman turned around I saw Rhea's face.

No wonder.

It seems that Rhea has probably joined forces with Arnold, and Sir Black is the one she helped connect the Americans with. If there is such a relationship, it will be understandable why Meng Weiqing insisted on coming to the scene today to keep an eye on him.

Rhea chatted with Sir Black for a while, and then stood up and left after Morgan, the leader of the American team, passed by. Lao Zhang happened to be standing nearby, and when he saw this, he went over to say hello to Rhea. I saw them say a few words, and then

Look into the venue.

Knowing that they were looking for me, I grinned and raised my concave-shaped pipe towards them. Lao Zhang didn't have a pipe, so he could only wave his hand.

After Rhea met my eyes, she nodded reservedly.

Her skirt was so blue that it turned black. Standing in a dark place, the faint lines on the skirt looked like ignited starlight.

Last time I was at the auction, I didn't pay attention to Rhea's appearance. I only thought she had a strong aura. Now I look really beautiful. Especially those eyes, even if they don't have a smile, they still have a twinkle in their eyes.

.

Not to mention us who have become disgraced all day long, not even the glamorous people who appeared out of nowhere can't compare to her.

But Rhea didn't like me in London, and I wasn't going to get into trouble this time. So I admired it for a while and then blended into the crowd again.

Shiqi, who had been walking upstairs with me just now, disappeared at some point. I took the opportunity to look for him and was observing the attendees when Arno came running towards me.

"Yu, what are you looking at?"

"Watching your party."

This topic is of interest to him.

Arno first looked at my archaeological team uniform up and down, and praised it for being very suitable for the occasion. Then he added: "I thought Yu would come in a dress." He said it with regret.

I knew that only Arnold could do such a shameless thing as putting clothes in other people's rooms for his own party.

Before I could open my mouth to be sarcastic, he couldn't wait to express concern: "What do you think of this banquet?"

I complimented him perfunctorily: "It's not bad."

Arnold was not affected by my attitude. Instead, he was very proud of himself and boasted a lot. He said that he knew everyone here, which was a great honor.

Now that Arno opened his mouth, I took the opportunity to ask him about Rhea and Sir Black.

However, Arnold is really not just pretending to be a fool, he is particularly good at Tai Chi.

Seeing that he had already brought the topic to the theme of the next dance, I suggested: "Look at you making such a big scene, it would be a pity not to dance."

Ya Nuo patted his head and said, "Yu, you are so considerate. I will make arrangements right away."

This person said that the wind is like the rain, and I will leave if you pull him.

I quickly stopped him: "Hey, why are you dragging me along to arrange a dance?"

He said matter-of-factly: "Please choose the song you like, Yu. I'm looking forward to dancing with you."

Who said we were going to dance together? I don’t know if Arnold really didn’t think I wanted to get rid of him, or if he was just trying to trick me.

Fortunately, Li Yuan and Alex arrived late at this time.

Li Yuan seemed to be very happy to join in this kind of occasion. He was well-dressed and well-dressed. A starched shirt was wrapped snugly around his body, and he wore a small starched vest, and he pretended to stuff a strip in his breast pocket.

A blue handkerchief. The soft short hair was bent down by the hair wax, almost hanging down to his eyes. But his hand refused to help with it, and he just put it lazily in his trouser pocket.

Every time I see Li Yuan, the appearance of my childhood friend fades away. I guess in a few days, I may really have to admit that I have never known this Yin Yuechen.

Alex was wearing a blue skirt, which seemed to be pulled from the same piece of cloth as Li Yuan's handkerchief. The skirt was sleeveless, and Alex's two white reflective arms were exposed, but he had a pair of gloves on his hands.

Lace gloves. Her blond hair was meticulously tied back with hair accessories, but a handful of it hung playfully next to her delicate cheeks. A pair of smart green eyes looked past the crowd, and there was quite a reserved and arrogant noble lady who came to Egypt to play.

a feeling of.

These two people obviously have a greater appetite for Arnold than me, but he has not forgotten me: "Yu, Yue Chen and Alex are over there. Let's go there together!"

I actually didn’t want to deal with Ya Nuo anymore, nor did I want to deal with Yin Yue Chen. But before I could say anything, a voice rejected him for me.

"I have something to talk to this girl about, please wait a moment."

The last member of 279 is about to appear~

(End of chapter)