Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Mike sighed, his thick brows drawing together into a deep crease.

“And then something happened. The crocodile bit Tot and tore off half his arm.”

“Whoa. So the crocodile came back to life? Then why is it still lying there?”

Behind the glass case, the crocodile mummy lay quietly on the display platform, completely motionless. The air around it was calm too, without the slightest trace of Evil Energy.

I tapped on the glass cover.

“You didn’t add another layer of protection after that?”

Mike shook his head.

“I haven’t finished. The museum assigns people to stand watch every night. Tot was screaming so loudly that he woke the night-shift security guard.

“When the guard rushed over, Tot was rolling on the floor in pain, blood splattered everywhere. Tot said the crocodile had bitten off his arm. The guard was terrified and came over to check his injury.

“But when he looked up, he realized the glass cover was completely intact.

“The guard sent Tot to the hospital. The next day, everyone on the museum staff went to visit him.

“You know how it is. Tot is only in his early thirties, and the local young people love to drink. We all thought he’d gotten drunk and hallucinated. This place isn’t far from the Nile River, so it wasn’t impossible that a wild crocodile had come ashore.”

I nodded.

“Your analysis makes sense. Maybe he really was drunk?”

Mike gave a bitter smile. His jet-black eyes were filled with confusion and disbelief.

“If only it were that simple.”

He pointed to a keyhole beneath the glass cover and motioned for me to lean in and look.

“These glass covers can all be opened. I have the key.

“The day after Tot’s accident, I-I don’t even know what I was thinking at the time. I opened this cover.

“And then-”

Mike swallowed nervously, his voice changing pitch.

“And then I saw half of Tot’s arm inside this crocodile’s mouth.”

Egypt was scorching hot, so the museum had the air conditioning turned up high.

A powerful blast of cold air blew from the vent, and goose bumps instantly rose along my arms.

“Only a few of us in upper management know about this. I didn’t dare make it public. A few days later, the museum hired a new cleaner.

“But things got even worse. That new young man, he-he had a huge chunk of flesh bitten out of his thigh, and he was so frightened he lost his wits. He kept saying, crocodile-there’s a crocodile-

“We checked the surveillance footage. The strange thing was, nothing showed up on the cameras at all. Tot was wiping the glass, and then he suddenly clutched his hand and started rolling on the floor. The young man was the same. Out of nowhere, he grabbed his leg and collapsed.

“But after two incidents like that in a row, no one dared gamble with anyone else’s life. From that day on, the museum officially closed and waited for you to come solve it, Master Qiao.”

After listening to Mike’s explanation, I was curious too.

I had seen plenty of bizarre supernatural incidents, but none of them had been like this. Glass vanishing for no reason, a crocodile biting someone, then lying there playing dead again.

The process of making a mummy was very complicated. First, all the organs had to be removed. Then the body was washed clean with palm oil, filled with natron, asphalt, and other substances for dehydration. After dehydration was complete, antiseptic spices were added to the abdominal cavity. Finally, resin was applied to the surface of the skin, and the body was wrapped in linen.

Animal mummies were made in much the same way. After all those complex procedures, a mummy’s corpse was extremely pure, essentially eliminating the possibility of corpse transformation.

So if this crocodile had come alive, it could only have been possessed by some other evil thing.

But that kind of evil spirit carried heavy Evil Energy. Once it saw blood, that energy would only intensify. There was no way it could bite someone and then lie quietly on the display platform afterward.

Mike took me around the museum, showing me the locations of the restrooms and the various control switches. Before long, the sky darkened. Mike shook my hand again and again.

“Master Qiao, I’m leaving everything to you.”

Then he ran off.

At least when it came to cherishing his life, he did look like a rich second-generation heir.