Just as Alan was about to enter through the city gate, Tom stopped him, pointing to a scale at the entrance of the city. The scale was empty but not balanced.
Tom took out a golden Galleon and placed it on the upper end, and the scale slowly sank but still remained unbalanced.
"Greedy!" Tom complained, unsure if he was complaining about the goblin at Gringotts or the tax collector in the ancient city. He took out another Galleon and put it on, and the scale balanced.
"Not necessary, right?" Alan thought Tom was being redundant, but Tom gave him a cold look. "Then I can retrieve the money, and you can enter alone."
Alan dared not say anything in response, so he stood still and followed Tom through the gates.
Midway, Doctor Hunter suddenly pulled Alan, pointing a finger towards the tunnel, and Alan looked up and broke out in a cold sweat. At the top of the passage, a dizzying and vibrantly colored mural was painted, and next to it, a mural whose colors and designs continued to pulsate with the passing of time, clearly conveying the artist's message: Those who attempt to enter the city without paying the entrance fee are cursed.
In this environment, the curse was not an intimidating word.
"It's always good to be cautious," Dr. Hunter said, patting Alan on the shoulder. "These paintings must be pigmented with powdered gemstones that will never fade as long as there is no sand."
He pondered for a moment, took out his camera, and took a few photos.
"If my predecessors were here, they would have found a way to remove the murals." Dr. Hunter spat out the barbarity of those English knights from decades ago.
"If you're so dominant in this city, then I believe you won't make it out of the Sahara Desert alive," Tom said coldly. "I still want to return to school, so please don't cause trouble."
Dr. Hunter sarcastically smiled. It was Alan who showed his youth and defiance, "What dominance! That's because those countries are incapable of protecting these precious artifacts. They don't belong to just one country; they belong to all of humanity. And those who came before us were saving the heritage of human civilization! You should have seen it all the way here. Egypt is completely unable to protect the ancient Egyptian artifacts. The destruction and excavation are scandalous..."
Tom rolled his eyes, "America has the best conditions, why don't they move the British Museum to Boston? Theft is theft, don't be pretentious. Nature has done less than one-millionth of the damage that you 'archaeologists' have done—the Obelisk, the murals of Dunhuang, the Parthenon... If I had to list, I could go on all day and night."
Snap!
Dr. Hunter slapped Alan on the back of the neck.
"You can cut the nonsense! Come and help me take photos!" He grabbed his camera and shot pictures of the tunnel murals. After much insistence from Tom, Alan and he reluctantly entered the ancient city of Thoth.
The buildings had not been preserved as they were five thousand years ago, and the outskirts of the city were covered in lush greenery. These weeds and vines, which overwhelmed the walls and deteriorated the beams of ordinary buildings, had managed to spread to every corner except for the walls and pyramids.
Wherever they spread, the houses were reduced to ruins in a decade or so, so now only the remains of the ancient city of Thoth remained. But the ruins were not desolate ruins; they could be described as "lively and bustling." Among the grass, some fat rats, startled by the noise Tom made when entering, squealed and ran. The rats, some as big as kittens, ran together in a large group, which was quite impressive.
The movement of the rats also attracted hunters from the surroundings, and Tom saw over twenty snakes, mostly venomous cobras and wrist-sized pythons, rushing out from various crevices to feast on them.
But here.
It's not these snakes that are at the top of the food chain, but the cats.
As the expedition silently observed the hunting display, something astonishing happened: several cats appeared, swiftly slapping the feeding cobras, rendering them unconscious, and proceeded to enjoy a feast of mice and snakes.
The python coiled, its core contracted, and hissed threateningly. It could have easily killed the cats, but it seemed afraid to make a move, as if it feared something.
"Nya!"
A hairless black cat appeared on a broken wall, and for a moment, the cat, the snake, and the rat ceased their movements. The cat surveyed the snake and the mouse with its gaze, finally settling on the python. It meowed at the python, and strangely, with this simple meow, the python curled into a ball and dared not move.
Gracefully, it leaped from the wall, tore off the python's head, and ate its brain. Throughout the entire ordeal, the python did not dare to resist, it didn't hiss, and it didn't even attempt to escape.
After finishing its lunch, the black cat looked at the seven members of the adventurers' group with a very human expression. It was as if a noble had seen an uncommon slave.
"It seems like it wants us to greet it," Alyosha understood the black cat's expression.
"That appears to be the case," Old Yushadu was ready to bow.
Not seeing any movement or even a whisper, the black cat grew furious and let out another "nya," and a crunching sound echoed all around. Then something happened that made the heads of the seven turn: countless snakes of all kinds emerged from every corner of the ruins. Some were as big as a thigh, while others were as thin as a twig.
"Protego Diabólica!" Without thinking, Tom conjured a wall of fire right in front of everyone, forcing the approaching snakes to retreat. He then turned around and ran towards the city walls, but by then, a monster was blocking the entrance. It looked like a large leopard.
"A Nundu!" Hermione recognized this extremely dangerous magical creature, classified with five stars by the Ministry of Magic. Its breath could cause a deadly illness, and just one of them was enough to destroy an entire village. It would take over a hundred expert wizards to subdue a Nundu.
"Run!" The city gates were definitely off-limits, and even if he killed the Nundu, he would be killed by its poisonous mist. Tom looked at the rushing snakes, drew his wand, and used the explosive spell on the approaching snakes, causing a group of them to explode and buy some time.
"To the Pyramids!" Recalling their encounter in the desert, he decided to try his luck first at the center of the city.