Dream Guide

"Hello, Director." Ahmed spat out the sand in his mouth, answered the phone, and quickly left the scenic spot through the Giza Highlands.

"Where are you, Ahmed?"

"I'm...on my way to Hurghada."

"You haven't gone far yet?"

"I'm sorry, Director, I've gone too far." Ahmed stood on the side of the highway, watching the military police in the distance begin to block the scene, "I've already got on the highway, and I'll be in Hull in about four hours. Gadda.”

"You boy walk so fast!"

"Hey, something doesn't sound right to me. Don't tell me that my vacation is cancelled. The hotel I booked is a special room and cannot be refunded."

"Vacation canceled, bro."

"Oh, damn! I don't want to be your brother. I don't support 996. I just want a pitiful vacation, and I'm indeed on the road and can't come back."

"No, no! Even if you take off your pants and march on the street, you still have to come back!" The director was obviously a little angry.

"That's really big news - the best police detective in Cairo ran naked on the streets on a sandstorm day!" Alhammed risked his life and refused to go back to the pyramid even if he was killed. "I don't think you want to see it, Director." News like this, especially when Cairo’s police chief ran naked through the streets of Hurghada!”

"Shit!"

Ahmed heard the director curse in English and then hung up the phone.

…

Five days later, Ahmed drove back from Hurghada to report at the Cairo police station after enjoying his vacation on the Red Sea. He was ready to be trained or even transferred to a remote area to manage public security. Even if he no longer wore a police uniform and returned to the mosque to serve the old imam, he was unwilling to say more about what happened in the pyramid.

He gently knocked on the director's door.

"Ah, Ahmed, you came back just in time." The director didn't look like he wanted to tear him into pieces. "There is a case that you just happened to handle. It's a bit tricky and others may not be able to handle it."

"What case?" As long as it's not about the pyramids, Ahmed is happy to handle the case.

"Professor Aleph is dead," the director said.

Ahmed's heart sank, he was really afraid of what might happen.

"But it's been five days. Isn't this case finished yet?" he said.

"Five days?" The director was stunned for a moment, "Oh, no, no, he died just yesterday, and his body is still parked in the forensic room."

"Yesterday?" Now it was Ahmed's turn to be surprised, "What happened? Didn't Professor Aleph go to the pyramids?"

"You also know this? You are so well-informed!" the director said happily, "I didn't forget to care about Cairo's affairs when I was on vacation in Hurghada. Well done, Ahmed!"

Ahmed knew that he had made a mistake. He did not want people to know that he had been to the pyramids with Professor Aleph, whether it was a dream, a curse from the Pharaoh, or traveling through time and space.

He coughed twice in embarrassment and said with a smile: "Ah, that's right, I should share the worries of the director! Well... nothing happened on that day of the sandstorm, right?"

"It was nothing serious at first. The earthquake opened the entrance to the underground palace of the pyramid, and several tourists and vendors in the scenic area who wanted to go in to hunt for treasures died inside. This is normal. Human nature is greedy. Who would not be greedy when they see treasures? !" the director said, "But now things are a bit troublesome. Professor Aleph locked himself in the research institute after coming out of the pyramid. However, yesterday, he died."

"Nothing happened to him in the pyramid?"

"No, he came out fine."

"Where are the others? The ones who went in with him?"

"The others are nice too."

Ahmed felt a little strange, things were a little different from what he expected. He asked: "So how did those tourists die? What new discoveries were made in the underground palace?"

"Oh, this is originally a top secret, but you are about to take over this case and you have the right to know." The director looked mysterious, "A mask that is older and more precious than Tutankhamen was found in the underground palace, but unfortunately it has not been found. The mummy of Khufu. The tourist’s death was tragic and the cause of death is currently unknown. According to Aleph, he was cursed by the Pharaoh.”

"curse?"

"We don't believe it, but Aleph died last night, and the two gendarmes who went to the underground palace with him also died. This is the autopsy report, you can take a look." The director threw a document in his hand over, "Government The pyramid has been sealed and no one is allowed to enter. Of course, if you want to enter, I can help you apply."

"Um, okay. Huh? Oh, no, no, I won't go in!" Ahmed took the autopsy report and confirmed with just one glance that what he had experienced was not a dream, the way Aleph died, and The people who died in the underground palace were exactly the same.

He suddenly thought of Adura, the scenic spot manager with a long name who saved his life, and asked: "Where is Adura? Is he dead too?"

"Adura?" The director looked confused, "Who is Adura?"

Ahmed immediately understood that Adura did not go down with Aleph. He remembered that he had designated Adura to go down with him. If he didn't go, naturally Adura wouldn't go down either.

He felt a lot more relaxed in his heart, and the little worry and guilt caused by his escape disappeared.

"Oh, maybe I remembered it wrong. You know I just finished my vacation and my mind is still soaked in the water of the Red Sea!" Ahmed said perfunctorily.

The director said: "Then pour the water out of your head. From now on, Aleph's case will be handed over to you. Remember, everything about the pyramid and this case is top secret!"

Ahmed nodded and exited the director's office. As he closed the door, he heard the director say "shit", but he wasn't sure whether it was directed at him or because of something else.

…

Aleph's death was indeed very strange. He has a semi-official and semi-private research institute, and it is said that this is the only unofficial research institute in Egypt that is qualified to study pharaoh-level mummies and cultural relics.

He died in the room where mummies were stored in the research institute, and his death condition was exactly the same as that of the deceased in the underground palace of the pyramid. His stomach was cut open, his nose and upper jaw were opened, and all his internal organs and brain except his heart were missing.

Bloody handprints were found both at the scene and in the pyramid underground palace, but strangely no fingerprints could be extracted. The police determined that the murderer was wearing leather gloves, but his fingers were very slender.

Two soldiers responsible for protecting Alef and a female intern at the institute also died. According to the results of the on-site investigation and the medical examiner's autopsy report, they died in slightly different ways.

Residual ether was detected in the blood of the female intern. She must have been injected with an anesthetic before her death. The incision in her abdomen was flat, made with a sharp metal knife like a scalpel; her skull was opened and her brains were removed, rather than being scooped from the face like others.

The two gendarmes died relatively violently. Their necks were broken first, and then their internal organs and brains were removed. Aleph was the worst. His organs were harvested alive without anesthesia. In other words, the other person is not dead yet, watching helplessly as his stomach is cut open and his internal organs are taken out bit by bit. But strangely, both the scene and the autopsy showed he had not struggled.

Judging from the wounds, the murder weapon that cut open the stomachs of Aleph and the two gendarmes could not have been a knife, but a sharp cone. This is consistent with Ahmed's judgment when he was in the underground palace of the pyramid. The experienced forensic doctor gave an incredible guess-nails!