Zheng Zha let out a breath: "Yes, burn them all. Damn it, they actually have equipment like sniper rifles now. If we don't burn them, are we going to face a modern army? But I am curious where Imhotep has gone." Chu Xuan still didn't lift his head as he stated: "There is a seventy percent chance he has entered the pyramid, a twenty percent chance he is observing us nearby, and a ten percent chance he has gone to the City of the Dead. Which scenario do you think is more advantageous for us?" Zheng Zha answered without thinking: "That would naturally be entering the pyramid; that way we can deal with him along the way. Otherwise, the other two scenarios could see him suddenly appear and ambush us while we are fighting. Speaking of which, what are you looking at?"

Chu Xuan raised his head and said: "Ancient Egyptian data I obtained from Evie, some legends and myths of ancient Egypt. I am searching for any factual existence within them. If this is but one world, there must absolutely be more than just this one treasure trove, and every single trove could potentially hold the same weapons or something else. This would be of great help in improving our strength."

Zheng Zha quickly asked: "And the results?" "Abandon all of them."

Chu Xuan adjusted his glasses, picked up a glass of water, and took a sip: "The cost-benefit ratio is simply not worth it. Because we cannot confirm the authenticity of these myths and legends. Secondly, we would have to bear all the expenses of our exploration, such as time consumption, and the consumption of ammunition and various items. Furthermore, we would have to face unknown dangers; this is not the familiar plot of a story. It is impossible to know in advance what is there or how to use those weapons. In other words, unless there is a greater than fifty percent certainty, I would absolutely not consider these myths and legends." Zheng Zha felt like laughing but couldn't; he asked curiously: "Then why were you engrossed in reading it? Isn't this stuff mostly useless to you?" Chu Xuan answered seriously: "I had Evie write it out once in both ancient Egyptian and English. After reading it a few times, I roughly grasped some of the methods of arrangement and translation in ancient Egypt. It seems that in any situation, one must accept new knowledge, right?" Zheng Zha quickly nodded: "Yes, yes, you get it. You must accept new knowledge in any situation. Now, back to the main topic, how should we proceed with the great forest burn? Aren't you worried about the wind direction being problematic?" Chu Xuan flipped through a stack of papers without hesitation and pulled out one that looked like a map. This item was clearly hand-drawn and resembled an irregular polygon.

He said: "When you went into the forest, I flew around roughly on the Green Goblin Glider and sketched this topographical map. It might look a bit irregular, but we can see that this forest forms an irregular triangle. According to the analysis, we need to use incendiary bombs at these four locations: here, here, here, and here. The specific method is to use your super high explosives to detonate a large number of incendiary bombs. The distribution range of the incendiary bombs can be within one hundred square meters. This will create the maximum burning effect. Regardless of the wind direction there, we can incinerate the forest in one fell swoop, unless the 'Main God' causes some unexpected event. After burning the forest, it should take us about three days to easily enter the pyramid."

"That sounds simple enough, but what is this 'unexpected event' you mentioned? I have a bad feeling." Zheng Zha suddenly asked curiously after a moment of thought. "Uh, if too many monkeys burn to death, and the 'Main God' causes them to evolve into other creatures, like King Kong, wouldn't we be doomed?" Chu Xuan suddenly smiled faintly and continued: "So, this is a huge gamble. If we lose, we are finished, because there might be other ways to enter the pyramid that don't require killing all the monkeys. But we are using the condition of killing all the monkeys to enter the pyramid. The probability of success is seventy percent that we survive, and a thirty percent chance of total annihilation due to a sudden change by the 'Main God.' That's basically it."

Zheng Zha hadn't thought about King Kong or anything like that. He remembered a monkey piloting a Gundam flying past him—and it was his favorite, the Freedom Gundam. He shook his head: "In short, we'll just do our best. Cough, can you smile?" Chu Xuan smiled again and said: "Yes, by pulling the muscles upwards, I can manage a smile under the right circumstances. Crying is harder to simulate, though. While the facial expression can be achieved, stimulating tears is more difficult. If there were specific stimulating items, then the crying expression could also be managed." Zheng Zha then gave his shoulder a hard slap and went out of the tent, saying: "Don't worry, we will definitely reach the fourth stage of unlocking the gene lock, and don't worry! Partner!"

"Partner?" With the help and assistance of O'Connell and the others, the group finally managed to set up all the incendiary bombs in several locations before dusk that day. They then used the simple detonation controller custom-made by Chu Xuan to set off the four bombs simultaneously. Flying above in the airship, the group watched as four spots in the forest simultaneously burst into flames. The raging fire instantly consumed a large area of the forest on all sides, and thick black smoke billowed higher and higher, while the fire continued to spread deeper into the woods.

"That's basically it. Given the size of this forest, if it burns from all four sides until it reaches the center of the pyramid, it will take about three to four days. Then, waiting for the forest to cool down will take another three to four days. In other words, we need about eight days in total of waiting. Zheng Zha, how much time do you have left now?" Zheng Zha was stunned for a moment: "I still have fifteen days. If we count these eight days in, then I have eight days left. I think that should be more than enough time for us to enter the pyramid and kill the Scorpion King."

Chu Xuan let out a breath: "That's basically correct. In that case, the probability ratio from my previous deduction can be increased somewhat. Our chance of successfully entering the pyramid is 85 percent, and the probability of the monkeys mutating is 15 percent. Because the 'Main God' gave you zero time, it was probably meant for the time required to burn the forest and wait for it to cool down."

Beside the two of them, the dark-robed, heavily bearded man sighed deeply: "It's a real pity about this forest. If it could have been preserved, the whole of Egypt..." He shook his head and sighed repeatedly as he spoke. Zheng Zha patted his shoulder: "Try to relax. Even if the forest isn't burned, as long as those terrifying monkeys are inside, your people won't be able to manage this forest anyway. Moreover, if we defeat the Scorpion King, this forest will likely vanish simultaneously due to the power of the God of Death disappearing. So, something that ultimately cannot be obtained is best not dwelled upon."

The dark-robed man could only watch the raging forest fire, shaking his head and sighing bitterly. As a man who grew up in the desert, his longing for green forest was something others could not easily imagine. If he had known that this forest was unattainable no matter what, he might have actively tried to stop Zheng Zha and the others from burning it.

Regardless, the forest fire finally burned fiercely for several days. Where it had burned, only black and white ashes of trees remained. In many places, stepping down could likely lead one straight into the smoldering remains of the fire, where residual flames still existed. Thus, out of necessity, everyone had to continue waiting. As most of the forest was burned away, Zheng Zha and Chu Xuan never heard the "Main God" announce the acquisition of a single reward point. So, burning the forest indeed failed to yield the reward points for killing the monkeys.

During these several days of rest, neither Zheng Zha nor Chu Xuan rested. One continuously practiced his "Explosion" skill and close-combat techniques, while the other continuously pored over the legendary materials written in ancient Egyptian. This caused Evie considerable complaint; sometimes she had to work with the fervor of meeting a deadline to cater to Chu Xuan's data demands. No matter what, the eight days passed quickly. After Zheng Zha advanced several kilometers alone into the forest without incident, the group finally decided to head deeper. However, because the center of the forest still seemed to be ablaze, it was shrouded in thick smoke, making it impossible for the group to pinpoint the pyramid's exact location at first glance.

"Let's advance towards the center of the forest. I think the pyramid should be around there," Zheng Zha finally made the decision. Then, he took the lead, moving towards the center of the forest, walking several hundred paces ahead of the main party alone.

Along the way, the group continuously found charred corpses of animals on the ground. As they got closer to the forest center, the animal carcasses became scarcer. Slowly, the group began to see the corpses of monkeys. They were piled up in heaps, dead together. Beside these scorched bodies were deformed firearms—pistols, sniper rifles, and even fragments resembling rocket launchers. The most crucial point was the sheer number of these monkeys; the group had seen at least tens of thousands of them along the way. If they all possessed these firearms, they truly were no different from an army, one that occupied terrain most familiar to them, like guerrilla forces.

Seeing the quantity of monkeys made everyone's scalp tingle, especially Zheng Zha. If he had followed his initial plan to slowly clear the monkeys using bombs or other methods, it was likely that in the end, they might have actually been piloting Gundams. At that point, just burning the forest wouldn't be enough to kill them. Fortunately, that scenario never materialized, and the group finally reached this point safely after burning the forest. It could be said that all of this was thanks to Chu Xuan.

Then, the pyramid, shimmering with golden light, appearing as if the entire structure were forged from gold.

Jumped to