The Witcher: The Journey to Transcendence from Marvel...

Chapter 75 The Necronomicon

"Hurry up and pack your things to get out of this awful place." Jonathan had sobered up and was pacing around anxiously, his face filled with fear, feeling very uneasy about the threat of the curse.

O'Connor reassured him, "It's so late now, traveling in the desert at night is a sure way to die."

Evelyn was the one who most wanted to stay: "This is the greatest archaeological discovery of the century. As for the curse, we just need to avoid triggering it."

After she finished speaking, she looked at Wes, hoping to get a positive answer from him.

"I don't know if the curse has been triggered or not." Wes shook his head.

Although in the original storyline, it was Evelyn who recited a spell from the Book of the Dead to awaken Imhotep, which led to the subsequent events.

But everything was too coincidental; it seemed as if someone was quietly orchestrating it all.

Wes wanted to know if he could change anything by intervening.

"Now is definitely not a good time to leave Hamnata. Let's talk about it tomorrow morning."

The next morning, Evelyn and Jonathan had a heated argument.

Evelyn wanted to stay and continue her archaeological work, but Jonathan was afraid of the curse and insisted on leaving.

In the end, he was persuaded by Evelyn, or rather, by the treasure in the dungeon.

"We must leave before dark today," Jonathan declared confidently in the underground palace. "No matter how much treasure there is, you have to be alive to enjoy it. Besides, we agreed that any treasure we find is mine, right?"

That's why Jonathan stayed.

The group returned to the cubicle, where Imhotep's coffin still lay quietly.

"No wonder his coffin was buried at the feet of Death." Seeing the puzzled looks on O'Connor and Jonathan's faces, Evelyn continued to explain, "Only unforgivable sinners are buried at the feet of the statue of Death after they die."

"Having an affair with the queen, causing the death of the pharaoh, and attempting to break the boundary between the underworld and the human world to resurrect the dead—each of these are grave crimes, and this high priest has only himself to blame."

Evelyn sighed and then began to examine the coffin.

After careful observation, she discovered that a mechanism engraved with scarab beetle images matched the mysterious box perfectly.

Excitedly, she took out the mysterious box and placed it on the mechanism. Unsurprisingly, the mysterious box was the lock for the scarab mechanism. Then she gently turned it.

"Click-click," the sound of the mechanism turning rang out, accompanied by a teeth-grinding scraping sound, and the ancient coffin was opened.

To Wes's surprise, despite knowing about the curse, neither the cautious O'Connor nor the timid Jonathan stopped Evelyn's actions.

When the coffin lid was fully opened, what came into view was an inner coffin carved with a human figure. Evelyn was explaining to O'Connor that the sacred law on the inner coffin had been chiseled off, meaning that the person inside the coffin would be cursed for all eternity.

Impatient Jonathan didn't care about anything else. He snatched the key from Evelyn's hand, inserted it into the lock of the humanoid inner coffin, and then eagerly turned the key to open the inner coffin.

Inside the inner coffin was a mummified corpse, the owner of which was Imhotep. His mouth was open in a ferocious manner, indicating that he must have experienced great pain before his death.

Driven by intense curiosity, Evelyn peered closer to examine the body closely, scrutinizing every detail. She discovered clear scratch marks on the inside of the coffin lid, indicating that the person had been mummified while still alive.

She then learned from the scarab beetle corpse she found inside the coffin that the mummy's owner, Imhotep, had been killed by being eaten by the beetle.

"The punishment of being devoured by worms was the most vicious curse in ancient Egypt, usually used against the most heinous criminals. I have not seen any records of anyone being subjected to this punishment in the documents I have read. It is said to bring unimaginable disasters."

Evelyn vividly explained her discovery to everyone.

Her thoughts were immediately occupied by this astonishing discovery, and she began to speculate about the origin and meaning of this cruel punishment.

Jonathan, on the other hand, had no interest in history whatsoever; in his eyes, only the glittering treasures were the focus of his attention.

His eyes scanned the area around the coffin anxiously, concerned only with whether there were any valuable burial items.

"There should be some valuables here, right?" Jonathan muttered to himself, rummaging through the contents of the coffin, hoping to find some valuable burial goods. However, how could Imhotep, a heinous criminal, possibly have any substantial burial goods?

Having found nothing, he decided to turn around and search for treasure elsewhere, seemingly having completely forgotten about the curse and focusing solely on finding those precious treasures.

Hamunaptra was exceptionally quiet at night, with only the occasional sound of the wind breaking the silence.

Jonathan grew increasingly frustrated, constantly complaining about his bad luck.

However, the Americans reaped a great harvest, with one of them smugly carrying a sacred urn as he came over to mock Jonathan and his group.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

"Looks like you guys aren't so lucky. We found a lot of good stuff."

This made Jonathan feel even worse.

At this moment, Wes walked to a corner and chanted a spell: "The Book of the Dead" flew over.

Strangely, nothing happened after a few moments.

He then realized that the Book of the Dead was an ancient magic book, possibly protected by magic, which prevented him from summoning it directly.

Wes could only search for the American who took the Book of the Dead. Since he hadn't had any direct dealings with the Americans since he arrived, he didn't know which American it was, so he could only find a place close to the Americans to observe for the time being.

Evelyn, who happened to be passing by, unexpectedly discovered that the American professor was desperately trying to open a heavy book. Its cover was made of a hard and smooth black stone slab, with strange symbols and patterns carved on it. The book cover also had the same mechanism as the mysterious box. She immediately realized that the American was holding the Book of the Dead.

Then a bold idea popped into my head.

Evelyn decided to sneak up on the American while he was asleep and get her hands on the Book of the Dead.

Under the cover of darkness, Evelyn cautiously crept up to the American.

Her heart pounded, and her nervousness made her breathing rapid. She gently pulled the Book of the Dead from the American's arms, almost holding her breath for a moment, afraid of waking anyone.

"Do you know what you're doing? That's called stealing." Just as Evelyn was about to leave, O'Connor, who was fast asleep, suddenly spoke up.

(End of this chapter)