novelraw Chapter 196: The Entrance to the Serapeum
Chapter 196: The Entrance to the Serapeum
The daytime atmosphere of Alexandria felt completely opposite to that of the ancient pharaonic capital, Cairo.
Here, there was no sky full of yellow sand, nor was there a silence that could consume everything.
Broken Corinthian stone columns, marble statues covered in moss, and the arches of ancient Roman aqueducts long since converted into residences or shops together formed the city's skyline, a contradictory yet harmonious blend of beauty.
It resembled a noblewoman of complex lineage, retaining the mysterious allure of ancient Egypt, exuding the elegant rationality of ancient Greece, while simultaneously being wrapped in the commercial air of modern colonialism, presenting a uniquely dazzling charm.
Lin Jie stood silently on the deck, the papyrus fragment bearing a warning clenched in his hand, his gaze calmly sweeping over this city that felt both familiar and strange.
The team did not linger long at the docks.
After disembarking, they quickly melted into the bustling crowds on the pier.
And that young steward who had delivered the message on the passenger ship had long since vanished without a trace.
On the way to the predetermined rendezvous point, Lin Jie signaled for everyone to stop.
"We still have one important matter to handle."He turned his gaze to Ethan, the team's "diplomat" with extensive connections in the Surface World.
"Ethan," Lin Jie said calmly, "We need rubber."
"We need high-quality rubber that can insulate against electric current, and we need a lot of it."
This term seemed largely unrelated to their "archaeological operation," yet it caused Ethan and Julian's expressions to turn grave.
They recalled the key word they had learned from Nephthys on the passenger ship—"Thunderbolt"!
"I understand." Ethan grasped Lin Jie's intention succinctly.
"Alexandria is one of the major rubber transshipment ports in the Mediterranean. The British Dunlop Company has a large transit warehouse here."
"Leave it to me. Within half an hour, I'll use my family's connections on the board of the 'Suez Canal Company' to acquire high-quality rubber products from North Africa for us under the pretext of 'emergency requisition of military supplies.'"
"Nothing complicated is needed." Lin Jie added, "Just a few simple long waterproof raincoats without metal buttons or zippers, along with thick gloves and rubber-soled boots will suffice."
"A trivial matter." A confident smile curled at the corner of Ethan's mouth.
Thus, the team's action plan was temporarily split into two parts.
Ethan went alone to execute the procurement task requiring the use of his financial resources.
Meanwhile, Lin Jie, William, and Julian, the three of them, proceeded first to a corner of a café in the port area to make initial contact with the "guide" who would lead them.
Half an hour later, when Ethan reunited with the others at the agreed-upon location, carrying a large oilcloth bundle emitting a pungent rubber odor, another local guide arranged in advance by Old Ab also emerged from the shadows of the café.
He was a Greek-Egyptian local who looked about forty years old, his skin tanned dark by the sea wind, yet his eyes were as cunning as a fox's.
He introduced himself as "Aristophanes," an underground guide who specialized in providing "private custom" archaeological services for wealthy merchants and collectors from Europe with particular tastes.
"Welcome to Alexandria, gentlemen." Aristophanes wore a worldly, obsequious smile on his face. "Old Ab has already told me all about your needs. Rest assured, in this city, no one knows more about the old relics forgotten in the river of time than I do."
"Follow me. The entrance to the 'City of Gold' is not among those tourist attractions that visitors crowd and fight over."
As he spoke, he placed a prepared, grimy beret on his messy curly hair, then led the group into a labyrinth of narrow, winding alleys known only to locals.
They passed through an open-air seafood market filled with the smell of fish and the cries of vendors, and skirted several ancient Greek temples that had been converted into Christian churches.
Finally, after traversing for half an hour, Aristophanes stopped before the ruins of an abandoned, weed-overgrown, and now only a few crumbling walls remaining ancient Roman public bathhouse located in the old city of Alexandria.
"This is the place." Aristophanes pointed mysteriously at the large, dried-up, moss-covered reservoir in the center of the ruins and smiled.
"Everyone thinks the entrance to the Serapeum is under that Pompey's Pillar trampled flat by tourists. But they are all wrong. That was just a false entrance built by the Ptolemaic-era rulers to confuse the world."
"And the true 'VIP passage' leading to the core of that underground labyrinth has always been hidden in the deepest part of this most unlikely to be noticed, and dirtiest, bathhouse."
Saying this, he led the group with practiced ease down the cracked stone steps into the bottom of the underground reservoir, which emitted a strong musty odor.
Before a seemingly intact stone wall at the innermost part of the reservoir, Aristophanes stopped, then respectfully stepped aside, handing over the lead to Lin Jie.
"The path ahead now requires the key you obtained from that lady to open." He rubbed his hands together, his face still wearing that worldly smile. "My task is complete. I hope you gentlemen can find the 'gold' you seek inside."
Lin Jie ignored his implied meaning. He simply walked forward slowly and gently pressed his right hand, which had been tightly clutching the Holy Sand Scarab Amulet, against that stone wall.
The surface of the stone wall appeared seamless, with no traces of keyholes or mechanisms.
However, the moment Lin Jie brought the ancient amulet, bathed for millennia in the waters of the Nile River, close to the wall's surface.
The entire stone wall seemed to awaken from centuries of slumber.
Countless pale blue spiritual patterns lit up across the wall's surface, radiating from the amulet in Lin Jie's palm.
These patterns, in a manner showcasing the beauty of ancient Greek geometry and with extreme complexity and precision, rapidly outlined a massive circular stone door of classical charm, constructed from countless concentric circles and regular polygons.
Immediately after, that secret passage sealed for nearly two thousand years finally, guided by the key, slowly, inch by inch, began to swing inward.
Icy, damp air surged wildly out from the dark passage, scattering the warm Mediterranean sunlight that clung to everyone.
When Aristophanes saw the stone door open, an unconcealable greed flashed in his cunning eyes.
But ultimately, he was not driven mad by the legendary "gold." After giving everyone a "good luck" smile, he disappeared without looking back into the alleyway they had come from.
The Iron Triangle and Ethan, the four of them, exchanged glances, then stepped one by one into that profound darkness.
They had officially entered this massive underground labyrinth that existed only in ancient legends, created jointly by a genius architect and an ambitious pharaoh.
The interior of the passage was a long, downward-sloping staircase paved with hard granite.
The smell of sulfur and the sense of dampness in the air grew increasingly intense as they descended deeper.
After descending roughly several tens of meters, their view suddenly opened up.
A grand underground space, so magnificent it left one speechless and so rich in imagination, unfolded before them.
What met their eyes was not the imagined treasury full of gold and jewels.
It was a river.
A subterranean river so wide that a small ancient Greek trireme could sail through it freely.
The river water presented a bizarre deep black color, appearing somewhat viscous due to being rich in some unknown mineral.
The turbulent current surged at an extremely fast speed from the darkness to the left of this space before them, then converged before the stone platform at their feet into the equally bottomless darkness to the right, emitting a terrifying roar.
Bone-chilling cold from the depths of the earth, accompanied by a sulfurous scent so thick it was choking, continuously rose in vapors from the rushing river, making the temperature of the entire underground space at least ten degrees Celsius lower than the outside world.
On both sides of that wide subterranean river, at intervals of approximately fifty meters, stood massive serpentine statues over ten meters tall, completely cast from bronze, blending the style of classical Greek tragedy with Egyptian mysticism.
The designs of these statues were eerie.
Their lower halves were massive, powerful serpent tails, coiled and tangled like the giant serpent Typhon from Greek mythology.
Their upper halves were carved with the majestic headdress and visage of an Egyptian-style pharaoh, their hands holding aloft massive golden scepters symbolizing royal authority.
These colossal bronze serpents stood silently on both riverbanks, yet for some reason, these massive statues, mere lifeless objects, gave Lin Jie an intense sense of foreboding from the very first second he stepped into this space.
He always felt these statues were not solid inside.
Their massive bodies, cast from highly conductive bronze, and the complex patterns running from the pharaoh's crown on their heads all the way down to their deeply buried, coiled serpent tails, didn't look like decoration.
They more resembled an ancient circuit system he couldn't comprehend.
An absurd yet fitting thought flashed through Lin Jie's mind.
He subconsciously tightened his grip on the Holy Sand Scarab Amulet in his hand, which emitted a faint, warm current.
"This... this is the outer waterway of the Serapeum." Julian's voice held barely suppressed excitement.
He greedily surveyed this underground engineering marvel, murmuring to himself, "My god... truly incredible... Ancient Greek geometry and engineering, combined with ancient Egyptian mysticism and theocratic ideology... could actually create such a great miracle! This is no longer mortal architecture;
this is a realm carved underground by the scepter of a deity!"
"I'm only concerned about one thing." Ethan's voice, in contrast, sounded cool and purposeful. "Where is the beast? Nephthys said the pharaoh placed it in the innermost core area of this temple. How do we get there?"
His question voiced the key point in everyone's minds.
Lying before them was a subterranean river of the underworld, rushing ceaselessly with no bridges in sight.
The river's current was fast, interspersed with countless tiny whirlpools.
Anyone rashly entering the water would likely be instantly dragged into the bottomless abyss by the turbulent flow.
William silently took out the tough climbing rope woven from special fibers and the steel grappling hooks for securing to rock from his equipment pack.
This experienced veteran was already prepared to forcibly cross this river using the most primitive and reliable method.
"The structure on the opposite bank also appears to be granite." William checked the joints of the grappling hooks while conducting tactical analysis. "As long as I can successfully secure the grappling hook into a crevice in the rock on the opposite bank, I'm confident I can swing across first, then establish a stable anchor point on the other side to set up a temporary cableway."
"Theoretically feasible." Julian adjusted his glasses, quickly estimating the distance between the banks and the river's flow speed. "But this river is thirty meters wide, with a fast current, and unknown underwater conditions. William, if you fall in, none of us can save you."
"It's the only way." William's reply was simple and resolute.
As he prepared for this high-risk attempt, Lin Jie shook his head.
"No, William, the risk is too great." Lin Jie wasn't looking at the opposite bank, but at the towering bronze serpent statues above their heads.
"Why should we 'cross' the river?"
His illogical question made everyone present momentarily stunned.
"Lin, now is not the time for word games." Ethan's tone held some urgency.
"I'm not playing games." Lin Jie's gaze remained fixed on the silent "giants" above. "Look at those statues."
Everyone subconsciously followed his gaze upward.
Under the dim dome above their heads, the golden scepters symbolizing royal authority, held aloft by the two rows of bronze serpents standing silently on either side of the river channel, were less than a meter from the rocky dome.
And the distance between them was also less than five meters!
A bold and insane "aerial corridor" plan instantly surfaced in everyone's minds!
"You want to..." Julian was the first to grasp Lin Jie's intention, his eyes instantly flashing with disbelief, "walk across the heads of these 'gods'?!"
"Why not? Since they are the 'guardians' here, then surely they wouldn't mind us borrowing their sturdy shoulders?"
This plan was far safer and far more insane than William's highly uncertain "armed crossing"!
"I'll go first!"
William immediately aimed his grappling hook at the massive, sturdy coiled serpent tail of the nearest bronze statue!
With a crisp, powerful sound of metal on metal, the grappling hook bit firmly into a crevice in the bronze.
Confirming the grappling hook's stability, this former elite of the Royal Engineers quickly scaled up to the shoulder of the over-ten-meter-tall statue using the rope's strength.
"Secure!"
William's confident, booming voice came from above, injecting a shot of adrenaline into his teammates below.
Next, with William's assistance and protection, the other three also climbed, with some heart-stopping moments but ultimately safely, onto this "aerial bridge" constructed from divine shoulders!
Standing on this cold, historically weathered bronze surface, looking down at the dark, sulfurous river of the underworld rushing ceaselessly beneath their feet, a surge of heroic ambition welled up in everyone's hearts.
This was perhaps the first, and likely the only, group of mortals in the thousands of years since the temple's construction who dared to so "tread upon the gods"!