A few people exchanged glances, then they all did the same thing: abandoning any leisurely pacing, they sprinted toward the airship. At the same time, O'Connell roared, "Izzy, start the ship, start the airship now!"

The Black man piloting the airship had been casually sipping brandy. When he heard O'Connell's shout and saw him pointing toward the distant desert, he slowly turned his head. The bottle in his hand instantly dropped onto the deck. The Black man yelled, "O'Connell! I knew following you would bring nothing but bad luck, I knew it!" As he roared, he drew the saber from his waist and violently hacked the mooring ropes in two. Simultaneously, O'Connell and the others had already reached the deck, their eyes fixed straight ahead at the fast-approaching sandstorm, while the airship continued to glide forward at a leisurely pace.

"Damn it."

O'Connell was anxious. He grabbed the Black man, Izzy, and lifted him up. "You had a promising job flying an aircraft, why on earth did you switch to an airship?"

Izzy roared back, "If we don't use the airship, should we use your method? Flying the plane straight into the enemy lines and strafing them? Or do you want my backside shot up again? If you don't let me go, I guarantee it won't just be my backside taking fire—it'll be all of our backsides!"

As he spoke, the sandstorm was drawing nearer to them, and its shape seemed to be undergoing some kind of transformation.

Everyone felt a sense of chilling familiarity with the scene before them. Especially O'Connell and Evy; they cried out almost in unison, "Imhotep!"

Indeed, the sandstorm rapidly warped and expanded. The boundless dust suddenly coalesced into the colossal head of a sand golem—a massive, bald visage, unmistakably taking the form of Imhotep. He seemed to open his mouth in a silent laugh, and the giant sand head lunged to bite the airship suspended mid-air. Just as the airship appeared about to be crushed, Izzy violently yanked an iron ring next to the control console. Instantly, two jets of fire erupted from the rear of the airship. In a split second, the vessel shot forward a considerable distance, narrowly evading the colossal head's snap. However, the giant sand head did not relent, maintaining relentless pursuit, its speed matching that of the flame-propelled airship.

Now the giant head and the airship were traveling one behind the other, having covered a significant distance. Ahead of them, a massive canyon gradually came into view, its base marked by the ceaseless flow of a river. Zheng Zha's heart jumped, and he quickly shouted, "Izzy, fly the airship into the canyon! Hurry!"

Izzy, thoroughly panicked, did not hesitate, steering the airship into the gorge. In truth, he had no time to think. He'd just follow whatever instruction was given; all his focus was concentrated on the sharp bends of the canyon ahead.

The giant sand head, followed by endless drifts of sand, surged into the canyon. Glancing back, all they could see was an unbroken expanse of yellow dust, making it seem as if the desert itself was pouring into the gorge. Furthermore, the speed of the giant head appeared to be increasing, closing the gap with the airship.

"No, it's not speeding up—we're slowing down!" Evy reacted fastest, shouting the realization immediately.

Black man Izzy could only cry out in exasperation, "Do you think I have infinite fuel? Of course, I can only accelerate for a short while! Everyone, hold tight!" Before his words finished, Izzy wrestled the airship through a sharp turn. The violent deceleration and change in direction nearly sent everyone sprawling off the deck.

As the giant sand head accelerated, its volume simultaneously began to shrink. By the time it was about to catch the airship, the head was no longer as tall as the vessel. The rate of shrinkage even increased until, by the time the stunned occupants recovered, the head had shrunk to a distance dozens of meters below the airship's level. Slowly, it dissolved into the river water flowing through the canyon, the remaining sand being swept into the current.

The crew exchanged stunned glances, then erupted in cheers. Nothing brought greater elation than escaping death. This joy even eclipsed the fact that the airship was now listing heavily. It wasn't until Izzy shouted warnings while wrestling with the controls that the entire vessel finally succumbed, unable to maintain altitude, and began to fall toward the ground.

"Uh, everyone, hold on tight!" Izzy stammered, finally roaring the warning.

O'Connell tightly embraced Evy and bellowed back, "Damn it, is that the only thing you know how to say besides that?"

Izzy paused, then added, "The airship is going to crash!"

Before the words were out, the airship did indeed crash land at an angle. Fortunately, it had already exited the canyon, slamming down into a spectacularly dense jungle. The vessel was lucky enough to strike the canopy of a colossal tree. The mass of leaves and branches broke the fall, cushioning the tremendous impact force of hitting the ground, though everyone aboard was thrown around violently.

"I knew it, I knew it! Nothing good ever happens when I follow you!" Izzy kept wailing while clutching his head.

The others were nursing various bruises, yet surprisingly, Evy, who had the weakest constitution, emerged completely unscathed. O'Connell had held her tightly throughout the descent, and she had landed against him, making her the first to rise and survey their surroundings.

"This, this must be the Amshot Oasis, right? Good heavens, such a vast forest in the middle of the desert—it's unbelievable! This is the legendary place where the army of the death god Anubis resides, isn't it? Oh-ho-ho, even the Scorpion King's pyramid is nearby! This is wonderful..." Evy let out a queenly, throaty laugh, her eyes shining as she gazed around, looking utterly impatient to explore.

Zheng Zha managed a wry smile watching the woman. He recalled that in the original timeline, Evy hadn't displayed such fervent interest in the pyramids. But then again, in the plot of The Mummy Returns, her son had been kidnapped, given only seven days to live; her attention was entirely focused on him then, leaving no room for pyramid mania. But now, her excitement for the pyramids clearly overshadowed her concern for her husband, O'Connell.

Putting his thoughts aside, Zheng Zha groaned and rolled to his feet. Standing up, he looked at the others with a strange expression. "That was Imhotep just now, wasn't it? But we killed him, didn't we? And his people are excavating the pyramid—how could he have revived? Did he crawl up from the depths of Hell by himself?"

The bearded man in black looked grim. He suddenly lifted his head and let out a sharp, piercing whistle. About forty seconds later, a small, delicate eagle swiftly flew toward them and perched obediently on his arm.

"It's been following us. I feared there might be unforeseen incidents, so I ensured I could contact my people quickly. Don't worry, first, let's ask what's happening at the City of the Dead. Hopefully, nothing major has occurred there." The man in black pulled out a small scroll, skillfully scribbled a note on it with a thin lead pencil, tucked the scroll into the tiny wooden cylinder attached to the eagle's leg, patted the bird, and threw it skyward.

The others watched the eagle recede until it vanished over the horizon. Then they turned back to Zheng Zha, whose face was now etched with worry. He murmured, "If we were fighting head-on, I would surely defeat Imhotep. But he's unkillable right now. If that was truly him, we must use the Book of Thoth to permanently destroy him. Unless we can wait until the Book of Thoth is unearthed, there's no way to fight him head-on. We should enter the jungle first and find the pyramid. Once inside the pyramid, even Imhotep will lose his power."

The others didn't fully grasp why Zheng Zha was so certain, but since he spoke with such conviction, they didn't press the matter. They began to check their weapons and gear. Only Black man Izzy shouted loudly, "Oh, great! The airship is completely useless now! Look, the gas bags are totally ruptured. This runs on gas, not hot air! Gas! How am I supposed to find gas in this jungle?"

O'Connell gave a dry chuckle. "Izzy, don't complain so much; be a man about it. In any case, I trust you can find a way to replace it—hahaha! Yes, you certainly have a way to make the airship fly again!" Before the words ended, he grabbed Evy and hurried forward.

The others muttered a few words and followed O'Connell, leaving Izzy alone by the airship, grumbling to himself. The poor man was left to salvage the half-wrecked vessel by himself.

Far away across the desert, Imhotep threw back his head and laughed, opening his eyes wide. He turned to the figures behind him and said, "They haven't been killed, but they are close. When we meet them again, we will certainly slay them. Go. I heard what they said—no Book of Thoth? Hahahaha!"

Imhotep laughed, striding forward. Behind him followed a beautiful woman, an old man cloaked in black robes, a powerfully built Black man, and a large contingent of cavalry armed with carbines. This impressive procession followed Imhotep toward the canyon behind the temple.