Echo just smiled at him. She didn’t want to stand off to the side doing nothing.
Seeing Ryan’s bloodstained clothes unsettled her. Normally, an injury like this wouldn’t matter-it was a small thing for someone as tough as Ryan. But knowing he got hurt because of her gnawed at her. Before she could even process those feelings, her hand had already landed on his arm.
Ryan gave her a brief glance, his expression unreadable. Then, without a word, he turned away, quietly intertwining his fingers with hers.
“The one buried here is the Pharaoh’s queen,” Clement said, catching the moment between them with a small smile. “I only figured it out after I took off her mask.”
Ryan’s expression immediately turned cold at Clement’s words. Clement noticed the shift right away and let out two awkward chuckles before lowering his head and continuing to inspect the area.
If he hadn’t messed with the sarcophagus, Ryan would’ve gotten a solid grip on it, and neither he nor Echo would’ve fallen. Clement understood that all too well-especially since the sarcophagus had nearly crushed him on the way down.
Ryan hadn’t reacted slowly-it was just that the sarcophagus had already been tampered with, and with nothing solid to grip, things went south fast. Now, Ryan shot Echo a cold glance.
Echo quickly jumped in, “You told me not to look! That golden mask only belongs on a pharaoh’s face. If the sarcophagus hadn’t been opened, how could it have been stolen? You never asked me about it.”
Echo was a master thief-though tomb raiding wasn’t quite the same thing, the logic carried over. It was a matter of professional instinct.
Ryan’s face darkened, and Echo immediately clung to his arm with a big, bright smile. “Come on, Boss, don’t be mad. My bad, my mistake! I’ll tell you everything from now on, whether you wanna know or not. Deal? I swear I didn’t do it on purpose!”
Ryan gave her a cold snort. “You’d better not.” Deliberately messing things up wasn’t in Echo’s nature-she wouldn’t dare.
He was as domineering as ever, but Echo was used to it. She just held onto his hand tighter and smiled without any resistance.
“Step back, both of you,” Clement’s raspy voice suddenly broke the moment, carrying a seriousness he hadn’t shown until now.
Ryan frowned and snapped, “Too many words.”
Clement shook his head with a faint, amused smile, knowing his good intentions were wasted on Ryan. He reached into his bag of tomb raiding tools, pulled one out, and drove it straight into a stone that looked no different from the others. With a hard twist of his wrist, the mechanism clicked.
A slow, grinding noise echoed through the chamber as the gears began turning.
Ryan pulled Clement and Echo back a couple of steps, and they all watched as the stone wall started to lower into the ground.
Light burst through the opening-a brilliant, dazzling light, completely different from the eerie glow around the sarcophagus above. This light was warm and radiant, like the blazing sun scattering vibrant rays throughout the dark space. Reds, oranges, and shimmering colors swirled in the air as the wall sank lower, filling the room with breathtaking beauty.
Echo instinctively gripped Ryan’s arm tighter, her wide eyes full of wonder.
The scene unfolding before them was magnificent-so extravagant it was beyond words. The chamber radiated opulence and elegance, a dazzling display of artistry that seemed almost otherworldly.
Golden flowers, delicate as feathers, lined the walls-layer upon intricate layer, mimicking real blossoms. Some were fully bloomed, others still budding, and a few sparkled with jade-like droplets of dew.
And there it was-a royal palace. Not the cold stone of a pyramid, but a perfect ancient Egyptian palace. It had everything-a bed carved from ivory, draped in fine silk, and young maidens standing ready, just like they belonged to a long-lost era. Every object in the room seemed to breathe life into the scene, bringing the splendor of ancient Egypt back to life in exquisite detail.
“My God… this is incredible,” Clement whispered, the lifelessness draining from his face. The heat of the vibrant colors reflected in his eyes, and in that moment, the exhaustion and emptiness vanished, replaced by a fire that burned brighter than ever.
“An underground palace,” Echo muttered, still a bit stunned.
It was the first time she’d seen something like this-a royal palace buried underground, decked out in such extravagant luxury. It felt surreal, like it didn’t belong in her mental image of ancient Egypt, which had always been just stone and gold.
“A twin chamber… This is the real pharaoh’s sarcophagus,” Clement whispered, barely able to contain the excitement in his eyes as he gazed at the golden sarcophagus resting on the ivory bed.
“Seen enough?” Ryan’s cold voice cut through their awe. He didn’t care about the grandeur-his only concern was finding a way out of here.
Both Echo and Clement snapped out of it.
Echo rubbed her temples and glanced at Clement. “So, how do we get out of here?” They could always come back later when better prepared.
Clement exchanged a glance with Echo, a small smile tugging at his lips. As he started instructing Ryan on where to search, he turned to Echo and asked, “You’re in the business too, huh?” If she wasn’t, it was hard to imagine anyone else knowing this much about the inside of a pyramid.
Echo followed along, carrying Clement’s tools on her back. “Yeah, sort of. But I steal, and you dig.”
The only real difference was that she swiped things without getting her hands dirty, while Clement did the manual labor. Either way, it was still a “no-cost investment.”
Clement let out a chuckle. “So, you probably stole something from Ryan, didn’t you? That’s how you two met.”
Echo shot him a surprised glance. He sure knew Ryan well. That wasn’t the kind of detail an outsider would guess so easily-only someone who really understood Ryan’s personality could get it right in one go.
She glanced over at Ryan, but his face was as blank as ever. With a small grin, she said, “You’re pretty sharp, old man.”
Clement gave her a stern look as he continued searching. “I’m not that old yet, kid. You can call me ‘uncle.'”
Echo smirked. “Oh, really?”
Their banter carried on, light and meaningless. Ryan didn’t interrupt-he just kept one hand gripping Clement and the other holding onto Echo. In a place full of traps, sticking close was the safest option.
Clement wasn’t in good shape. Even with some food, the blood loss was taking a toll. If it weren’t for the conversation distracting him, he probably would’ve passed out already. Ryan had noticed the issue, but he wasn’t interested in chatting with Clement. Echo, on the other hand, knew exactly what was going on, so she kept the conversation going-anything to keep Clement conscious.
Passing out in a place like this could be deadly.
“Ramses II? Are you kidding me?” Clement suddenly gasped, his voice filled with disbelief. While feeling around the ivory bed beneath the sarcophagus, he had caught sight of the carvings on it. The name made him freeze.
Echo’s expression changed instantly, her eyes wide with shock. “No way. Ramses II? But they already found his mummy! How can there be another one?”
Ramses II was one of the most famous pharaohs in Egyptian history. He ruled for over sixty years, lived to be ninety, and had eight wives, over a hundred concubines, and more than a hundred children. He was the wealthiest and longest-reigning pharaoh of the 19th dynasty, overseeing Egypt’s golden age.
But his mummy had already been discovered in the Valley of the Kings. So how could there be another one here?