The truth emerges
The pain was severe, like a red-hot iron stirring deep in the brain, every nerve screaming and breaking.
Ding Wei curled up in front of the cold stone wall. Sweat had already soaked her thin linen clothes, sticking her firmly to the ancient stone carvings.
Her vision was blood red, and the strange and complex symbols on the murals seemed to come alive, turning into countless sharp claws, trying to completely tear her soul out of her body.
Give up... a tired voice echoed in my heart.
If you just give up, maybe you can be freed from this endless pain.
No! Never!
Another, more stubborn voice roared back.
She has come this far, only one step away from the truth, how can she fall before the finish line!
She bit her lower lip tightly, the sweet and fishy taste of blood filled her mouth, and she used this sharp pain to fight against the severe pain in her mind that was almost swallowing her.
Just when her consciousness was about to be completely submerged in darkness, a dazzling white light exploded in her mind without warning!
That wasn't any scene from ancient Egypt.
Flashing neon lights, endless streams of traffic, the cold glow reflected from the glass walls of skyscrapers, and... the rapidly scrolling stream of binary codes consisting of 0s and 1s on the computer screen!
Yes! It was code! It was the logical language of the 21st century that she was so familiar with!
At that moment, it was as if a bolt of thunder split the chaos.
Ding Wei suddenly opened her eyes, the blood color in her eyes faded, replaced by an unprecedented clarity and fanaticism.
She looked at the mural in front of her again. Those originally mysterious and irregular symbols now appeared in a completely different order in her eyes.
These are not simple hieroglyphs, nor are they oracles!
This is a... a coding system that is far more advanced than any known civilization in human history!
Each symbol is like a program module. They are nested, associated, and triggered with each other, together forming a huge and sophisticated narrative program!
Those seemingly repetitive bird and animal patterns are actually loop statements; those complex geometric lines are instructions for defining variables and paths; and those majestic images representing gods are the core functions of the entire program!
"So that's how it is... So that's how it is!" Ding Wei murmured to herself, her voice hoarse and trembling with excitement.
She endured her physical weakness and began to move her trembling fingers quickly on the mural. She no longer read it word by word, but quickly disassembled and reconstructed this "ancient code" from a macro perspective of a programmer.
Her movements became faster and faster, and her mind worked at an unprecedented speed.
The streams of information that once made her feel miserable now flowed gently into her mind and were quickly decoded and translated by her.
Ramses, standing behind her, stared at her in an almost frozen posture from beginning to end.
He saw her struggle in pain, her face pale as death, and now her eyes burst with a divine light.
He didn't understand what the "code" she was talking about was, but he could clearly feel that an awe-inspiring power was awakening in this woman from another world.
Finally, Ding Wei's finger stopped at the very center of the mural, which was a pattern depicting two huge whirlpools touching each other.
In one whirlpool, there were the pyramids and the Nile River; in the other whirlpool, there was a steel forest that was soaring into the sky that she had never seen in this world.
"Time and space...are confused..." Ding Wei used up her last bit of strength to utter these words.
"This isn't a one-way journey... This is a time-space intersection spanning thousands of years! It's an unexpected collision of two worlds!"
The murals do not record the achievements of the pharaohs or the history of the gods, but an inexplicable cosmic disaster, or... a miracle, that occurred in ancient times.
An unknown energy tore through the barrier of time and space, creating a fragile and dangerous connection point between two timelines that would never intersect: ancient Egypt and her modern world.
And she, Ding Wei, is the "beacon" who was drawn into the connection point and thrown to the other end of the timeline!
She is not an alien chosen by God, nor is she a wandering ghost. She is the product of the interweaving of science and mystery!
This discovery swept away the confusion and fear that had been hanging in her heart for a long time, and replaced them with a huge sense of excitement that she was in control of her own destiny!
At this moment, a feeling of exhaustion came over Ding Wei, her body went limp and she fell backwards.
A pair of strong arms caught her steadily.
Ramses held her tightly in his arms, looking down at her face which was as pale as paper due to exhaustion but shining with excitement, his golden eyes filled with indescribable shock and admiration.
"Wei." His voice was low and powerful, with a hint of hoarseness from fear.
"You found...the truth."
Ding Wei leaned on his solid chest, feeling the steady and powerful heartbeat, as if she had found the safest harbor.
She nodded and closed her eyes tiredly: "Yes, Pharaoh... I found it... My way home may be hidden in here."
"No matter where that road leads, no matter what you have to face!" Ramses tightened his arms and promised word by word.
"I, Ramses II, swear in the name of the Nile and the sun god Ra that I will always stand before you and clear all obstacles for you. From now on, your enemies are the enemies of Egypt."
These words, like a warm current, instantly flowed through Ding Wei's limbs and bones, dispelling all the cold and fatigue.
She knew that the man in front of her not only loved her, but was also using the supreme power of a king to pave the way for her future.
This friendship is as heavy as Mount Tai.
However, there are always discordant voices that will ring out at the most critical moment.
"What nonsense! It's misleading!"
A sharp roar came from the entrance of the tomb.
The high priest Amenhotep rushed in with several temple guards. His old face was full of jealousy and resentment. He stared at Ding Wei as if he wanted to eat her alive.
"Pharaoh! You've been bewitched by this witch! These murals were left by the previous king, recording sacred secrets. How can a woman of unknown origin like her decipher them? She's clearly using witchcraft to defile the sacred site and shake the foundations of Egypt!"
Amenhotep accused Ding Wei in a stern voice, and at the same time secretly signaled the guards to go forward and arrest Ding Wei.
Ding Wei sneered in her heart, it was the same cliché again.
But this time, she didn't even bother to refute it herself.
Ramses slowly turned around and protected Ding Wei behind him. His originally warm golden eyes had now turned into two ice-hardened swords, piercing Amenhotep directly.
"High Priest." His voice was calm, yet it carried a sense of oppression as if a storm was about to come.
"You mean to say you're questioning my judgment?"
Amenhotep's heart trembled, and he said with all his might, "I dare not! But for the safety of Egypt and the reputation of the Pharaoh, this evil woman must not be allowed to stay!"
"oh?"
Ramses' mouth curled up into a cold arc.
"Then, could you please tell me how Wei used 'magic' to interpret the mural? Or, High Priest, have you also understood the contents and can point out her mistakes and omissions?"
Amenhotep was suddenly speechless.
How could he understand these weird drawings!
The reason why he rushed in was that he saw Ding Wei was about to succeed, and he was unwilling to accept it. He wanted to take the opportunity to make trouble, accuse her of blasphemy, and kill her on the spot with the help of the guards to create a fait accompli.
"You don't understand." Ramses said it for him, with no disguising the contempt in his tone.
"Not only do you not understand, you even tried to incite the guards to attack my guests right in front of me. Amenhotep, you are truly growing bolder."
Before he finished speaking, Kai, the captain of Ramses' personal guards, stepped forward like a ghost, and the bronze sword in his hand was unsheathed with a "swish". The cold blade was instantly placed on Amenhotep's neck.
The temple guards were so frightened that they fell to their knees with a thud, not even daring to raise their heads.
Amenhotep's face turned pale as paper in an instant. He realized that Ramses was no longer the young pharaoh who needed his assistance, but a monarch who truly controlled power and was decisive in killing!
"Pharaoh... Pharaoh, spare my life! I... I was just confused for a moment!" He begged for mercy in horror.
"Confused?" Ramses snorted coldly.
"From the time you sent people to monitor me, to the time you instigated the palace priests to spread rumors, to today's attempt to commit murder in the tomb of the late king, do you really think I know nothing?"
Every word of Ramses was like a heavy hammer, hitting Amenhotep's heart.
He was horrified to discover that all his conspiracies, which he thought were secret, had already been seen through by Pharaoh.
Looking at Amenhotep's desperate and distorted face, Ding Wei felt a sense of relief in her heart.
This old guy who had been making things difficult for her since she came into this world finally met his end.
"Pull it away." Ramses' voice was calm.
"I will abolish his position as high priest, confiscate all his property, and exile myself... to the mines of Nubia, and will never be allowed to return to Thebes."
The Nubian mines are a hell on earth from which there is no return.
This punishment is even more cruel than killing him directly.
Amenhotep was dragged away, his desperate curses and wails echoing in the deep tomb passage and eventually fading away.
A crisis that had been brewing for a long time was completely crushed by Ramses with thundering force.
From then on, Ding Wei's position in the palace became extremely stable.
No one dared to question her origins anymore, as everyone knew that she was someone protected by the Pharaoh himself.
She also began to truly integrate herself into this era, using her knowledge that far exceeded that of this era to carefully offer some suggestions.
She drew a sketch of a curved plow, explaining how to plow the land more deeply and with less effort; she proposed plans for building ditches and reservoirs to cope with possible droughts; she even popularized the concept of "germs" to the imperial doctors, suggesting the use of boiling water and flames to treat wounds and instruments.
These things seem like common sense in modern times, but they were unheard-of "oracles" in ancient Egypt.
Ramses regarded every one of her suggestions as a treasure and immediately ordered them to be implemented.
He became more and more dependent on Ding Wei's wisdom. Their discussions often lasted from day to night. What they talked about was no longer just love affairs, but more about the future of this ancient empire.
Ding Wei enjoyed the feeling of being needed and trusted, and was also intoxicated by Ramses' undisguised love.
However, in the dead of night, as she stroked the warm ancient jade on her chest, there was always a lingering shadow in her heart.
The murals reveal the grand secret of the disorder of time and space, but they do not explain the root cause of all this.
Amenhotep fell, but would those nobles and priests hiding in the dark, who also coveted power and regarded her as an alien, really let it go?
The stronger her relationship with Ramses, the more of a thorn in the eyes of some people.
On this day, the sun in Thebes was as scorching as ever.
Ding Wei had just finished discussing a new plan for Nile River shipping with Ramses when a court attendant hurried over and bowed respectfully.
"Respected 'Eye of Horus'."
The attendant said, using the honorific title the Egyptians had recently bestowed upon her, "Your Majesty, Pharaoh, requests that you proceed immediately to the council chamber of the palace. All the important ministers are present."
Ding Wei's heart moved slightly.
The royal palace's meeting hall is the core of Egypt's national policy. It is rarely used except for the most grand celebrations and the most urgent military information.
Summoning all the important officials at this moment must mean something big is going to happen.
She raised her head and looked at the magnificent and solemn meeting hall, only to feel an invisible pressure coming towards her.
A new storm seems to be brewing quietly in the power center of Thebes, and she is already in the eye of the storm.
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