Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness-Chapter 840 - 836: Splendid

"Open the sarcophagus?" Bi Fang looked surprised as he glanced around the tomb chamber, still unarranged and full of damp air, "Isn't that a bit hasty?"

Bi Fang was utterly an outsider when it came to archaeology.

The reason he seemed to know everything about ancient Egyptian tombs and was an expert in the field was entirely because he excelled in the historical aspect.

With the ability of a memory palace, Bi Fang could nearly transcribe more than ninety-five percent of an Egyptian history book after reading it once.

Before every adventure, Bi Fang would conduct extensive research.

Local flora and fauna, climate, and environment were the basics; he would also look into local customs for easier interactions with residents.

And then there were myths and history.

This information greatly enriched the content of Bi Fang's livestreams, allowing him to narrate a local historical anecdote, myth, or little story about a river or fish while he fished.

However, even as an amateur, Bi Fang instinctually felt that opening the sarcophagus right after entering was somewhat inappropriate; as far as he knew, some large tomb excavations could even take months to complete.

"Do you mean there's no need for any preparations?"

A middle-aged man with graying temples stepped into the pit, splashing through the water, and after examining the integrity of the sarcophagus with gloved hands, shook his head.

"There's no great need. You all view the opening of the sarcophagus as too mystical. In a normal opening, if the sarcophagus itself is not an artifact but a regular coffin, many are simply pried open with a crowbar. As long as the internal arrangements are not damaged, the reason for not opening them often is just the overly complicated application process."

"I've already opened hundreds of such sarcophagi."

[Hundreds?]

[Damn, this guy's a big shot.]

[A professional at opening sarcophagi, huh?]

"This is Mostafa Waziri, the head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt. He is in charge of all archaeological work this time; basically, if he says we can open it, then we can."

Ambassador Liao, who was standing beside Bi Fang, whispered an introduction of the man's identity to him. Although they had briefly met earlier, Ambassador Liao worried that Bi Fang hadn't remembered and repeated it.

"Last November, he publicly opened dozens of ancient coffins with numerous reporters present."

Bi Fang was startled: "Dozens?"

Was this wholesale?

"Yes," nodded Ambassador Liao. "Right across from Djoser's Pyramid, under a massive white tent, there was a press conference held, and I went there myself to watch. It was indeed astonishing."

The main stage had rows of sealed sarcophagi and mummies lined up in an impressive display, exposed under the media's flashing lights.

Most unbelievable was that at the press conference, there were experts who opened the sarcophagi for examination and used an X-ray machine to scan the condition of the mummies wrapped within, all in front of the public.

This move practically made Ambassador Liao's jaw drop at the time.

Rows of pharaohs' coffins were laid out like cabbages in a market, and then opened one by one.

"Between September and November, over three months, the archaeological team excavated more than a hundred sealed mummies, stone sarcophagi, masks, and over forty statues of Ptah-Seker, the chief deity of the Saqqara burial site," explained Waziri inside the pit, obviously having overheard the "whispers" between the two.

Bi Fang and Ambassador Liao had no intention of hiding their conversation from him.

In this enclosed space buried dozens of meters underground, even the sound of breathing could be clearly heard.

[Damn, over a hundred in three months?]

"Can't they just open it on the spot? Are feelings worthless now?"

"What, are there gold treasures in every ancient tomb in Egypt? Waiting online, it's urgent."

"What's up, thinking of digging it up yourself?"

The upper chamber was already somewhat damp, and the lower crypts were even more so.

The air had become much heavier, the thick moisture mixed with high temperatures made breathing almost impossible.

Water stains were everywhere, and almost one centimeter of water had accumulated in the square pits where the coffins were placed.

"Let's clear the area."

Mostafa directed the crowd, the entire cleaning process was orderly, clearly a complete team that had worked together multiple times.

Items submerged in the water were quickly rescued, each moved outdoors.

The drone flew out of the cave, showing a huge white tent being rapidly erected; the helicopter that had brought people over had also flown away.

Clearly, more people were expected to arrive.

Several expensive gold artifacts, covered in thick dust and looking unimpressive in the underground chamber, shone brilliantly in the sunlight once moved outside and wiped clean.

"Due to antiquity, most tombs are dark and damp like this," said Mostafa Waziri, handing over a stone sculpture. His words were clearly not just for the on-site audience but also the viewers in front of the drone. "The groundwater level might also have risen; often the ground is submerged in mud, and archaeologists can only search for buried artifacts by hand in the mud, ensuring nothing is missed."

They had decided to open the sarcophagus immediately for a few reasons. Although opening a sarcophagus wasn't unusual and didn't need the careful approach many imagined, opening it as soon as they entered did indeed pose certain risks that could damage the internal objects.

However, once the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities learned of the situation they decided to open the sarcophagus on-site, in front of Bi Fang.

Of course, this wasn't to promote any global image of friendship or to please Bi Fang.

The real reason was that even the most foolish realized that this was an excellent opportunity for promotion.

Why did they open dozens of Pharaoh's coffins last November and have many media journalists observe and take photos on-site?

What if someone accidentally smashed a gold mask or a bronze sculpture, wouldn't that be devastatingly expensive?

With so many people and the chaotic situation, such incidents were definitely possible.

Ultimately, all these events aimed to attract more world tourists.

Money, it's all for money!

Tourism is one of Egypt's economic pillars.

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council report, tourism accounts for 13%–15% of Egypt's Gross Domestic Product, directly or indirectly creating 12% of the national employment opportunities.

This amount was huge, and the dazzling tourism industry naturally relied on the Sahara Desert, and most importantly, the Pyramids in the desert.

Each successful promotion represented a massive amount of interest and achievement.

Bi Fang's journey across the Sahara was not under the radar; he had reported the journey through each country he might pass, which is why Algerian authorities released him shortly after confirming his identity when they suspected him of being a spy.

There was a record above.

It was just that the locals' work efficiency was somewhat slow.

Furthermore, Bi Fang had used a "Wilderness Traveler" skill identity coupon and obtained two certificates from the System: a Hunter's license, internationally recognized, allowing him to hunt most non-endangered species.

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Secondly, there were the permits; whenever Bi Fang traveled to any corner of the world or handled related affairs, he could quickly gain local government recognition, which opened doors of convenience for him.

Bi Fang's glorious history of driving the tourism economy with each adventure had long caught the attention of Egypt's tourism department, which had been watching him closely, just waiting for him to come to Egypt and then advertise.

What nobody expected was that not only had Bi Fang arrived, he also pulled off such a grand event.

And it was a fantastic one at that!

Open!

Vigorously open!

Isn't it just a coffin?

The Pharaoh had been dead for thousands of years, and now he could still contribute to future generations, shouldn't we feel happy about this?

Therefore, the only condition for prying open the Pharaoh's coffin was to do it in front of Bi Fang, in front of the live broadcast cameras.

That's what the notification Vaziri received said.

Otherwise, given his professionalism, he wouldn't have opened the coffin right after his arrival; at a minimum, he'd have waited a few days to get a sense of things first.

Amidst everyone's hustle and bustle, the deepest chamber of the tomb was finally cleared up.

"After cleaning up the peripheral items, we come to the most important step, which is opening the coffin."

Muddy water stained Vaziri's gloves; he removed them and replaced them with a pair of brand-new white gloves.

White gloves made it clear whether they were dirty or not to prevent damaging the integrity of the antiquities.

"The environment here is quite damp, even the whole coffin is soaked in accumulated water, and sometimes the bodies inside have also decayed over the years."

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"If it's a skeleton, it's still fine, but some have turned into a puddle of spoiled, contaminated water due to environmental factors, and many burial goods or clothing have merged into this filth; we can only carefully clear it out bit by bit, a process you definitely don't want to see—it's quite disgusting."

Vaziri carefully bound ropes around the coffin, and then everyone worked together to lift it out of the pit, delicately transporting it to the cleared space nearby.

Seeing that they were finally going to tackle this coffin, the audience in the live broadcast room was extremely excited.

From the discovery of the relics until now, this was undoubtedly the most anticipated moment.

The viewers hadn't originally thought they would be able to open the coffin and see the mummy directly, because after all, it was a cultural relic and Bi Fang couldn't act rashly. But, to everyone's surprise, it actually happened.

[The big moment is coming, the big moment is coming!]

[This is bloody thrilling!]

[Who else, who else! The most badass in the live streaming world, exploring relics, opening Pharaoh's coffins!]

[It might not even be a Pharaoh's coffin, could just be an ordinary noble's.]

[I don't hear it, I don't hear it; for sure, there's a Pharaoh inside this one.]

[Good for you, if you're happy.]

After Vaziri and several scholars lifted the coffin out of the ground, they took out a series of tools and began tampering with the coffin.

"The Ancient Egyptians had a set of intricately complex burial customs, and they believed these were the necessary steps to ensure their eternal afterlife."

"These burial rites and procedures included the making of mummies, chanting curses to elevate the spirits, as well as burying them with special funerary goods they believed necessary for their life after death."

"At the same time, the funeral ceremonies adopted by the Ancient Egyptians continuously evolved and developed with the succession of dynasties and the development in various areas such as economics and politics; old customs were discarded, and new practices were adopted."

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"Although there have been appropriate 'reforms' to the burial rituals of different periods, several important aspects of the burial process have still been retained, without arbitrary additions or reductions," he said.

"Even though the specific details of these aspects may have changed over time, the processes involved in making the mummy, ferrying the deceased, and preparing burial goods are the most fundamental components of an Egyptian funeral and are unlikely to have changed much," he explained.

"But we can make a fairly intuitive estimation of the approximate time period from these forms."

Bi Fang did not rashly step forward to help.

Not even when lifting the coffin earlier, where brute strength was needed, did he step forward.

With such professional matters, doing nothing at all is the best approach.

Vaziri, who was examining the coffin at the same time, was also explaining to the audience.

For a scholar like him, there was no difference between live broadcasting and lecturing; both involved teaching people.

"For example, during the Predynastic Period, ancient Egyptians dug shallow pits in the desert to bury their deceased relatives."

"Back then, due to limited conditions, coffins were not used, and the dead were typically buried directly in a curled, side-lying position, but this accelerated the decay of the body."

"By the end of the Predynastic Period, burials with mudbrick walls and wooden roofs began to appear; the embryonic form of the mastaba emerged, and people would use mats of straw or baskets woven from willow branches to protect the corpse. Sometimes, they would also use simple wooden or pottery caskets that were readily available."

"It wasn't until the Old Kingdom Period that coffins gradually became widely used. Although archaeologists have not yet found burial chambers of nobles or high officials from that time, we can deduce from some of the common people's coffins that have been unearthed that most burial chambers simply used a rather basic wooden box, and even baskets woven from reeds appeared."

"During the Old Kingdom Period, the practice of straight-body burial and longer coffins gradually became common, and there were two styles of coffin lids, one arched and the other flat-topped."

"Nobles or high officials sometimes would envelop their wooden coffin in a stone sarcophagus, similar to what we would call 'double insurance' today."

"Coffin lids were often carved or painted with false doors to allow the deceased's spirit to enter and exit easily."

"Flat-topped coffins typically had the carved or painted image of eyes at the head of the deceased, so that the deceased could better see the rising and setting of the sun."

"By this point, the burial system of ancient Egypt had largely taken shape. At the same time, the materials used for coffins became richer and more diverse, and the variety of texts and images depicted on the coffins also became more colorful."

"And during this period, the time when the Pyramids appeared, we can see that this is a typical flat-topped wooden coffin."

The flashlight illuminated the flat coffin lid, and everyone could clearly see there were still prominent images of eyes and depictions of the rising and falling sun.

[But what about those frequently seen anthropoid coffins?]

[Gotta say, I don't understand these periods (Dog's head).]

[It's like playing the lute to a cow.]

"The anthropoid coffin appeared in the Middle Kingdom, a considerably distant era. At that time, the coffins of the Egyptian Pharaohs were a bit like nesting dolls, not just double-insured but with three layers inside and out, and each layer had to be fashioned in the image of the Pharaoh, with his name engraved upon it."

Vaziri didn't see the barrage of comments on the drone, and that response was Bi Fang's.

Soon, the coffin began to loosen.

At that moment, everyone held their breath, daring not even to exhale loudly, their pupils trembling slightly, not daring to look away from the ancient coffin.

Vaziri even looked up to check the drone, confirmed that the camera was focused here, then exerted force with his legs and slowly pushed open the coffin lid.

A withered and decayed mummy with crossed arms appeared before everyone, reminiscent of the ancient Egyptian god Osiris.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Bi Fang suddenly felt a disturbance in the stale air of the tomb.

It was as if a breeze had awakened a body that had slept for a millennium and had lifted the veil of historical mystery.

It made one feel as if standing on the shoulders of time, conversing with history.