"Where am I?"

Chen Xu shook his head and stood up from the ground, looking around in confusion. Wooden railings, walls made of yellow soil, and wooden boards surrounded him.

Groups of men with bare feet, ragged clothes, and scarves wrapped around their heads were walking back and forth. The deafening shouts seemed to prove that this place was lively.

But none of this had anything to do with Chen Xu. He looked coldly at everything around him while trying to recall his memories before he arrived here.

He remembered sitting on a bus ready to go to work when the vehicle suddenly shook. Then there was nothing else; his memory stopped here and he couldn't remember anything more.

"Forget it, never mind. But where is this place?" Chen Xu looked around in confusion as he felt an odd sensation that reminded him of being imprisoned.

"It seems like a prison."

"This is indeed a prison." A scruffy-looking man took over Chen Xu's words.

"Oh! This used to be a prison? No wonder I feel like..." Chen Xu paused for a moment before shouting out loud: "Why am I in jail?"

For any Chinese citizen, prison is not a good word; naturally, Chen Xu did not have positive feelings towards it.

"Either you were caught or someone brought you here; there can't be any other reason," said the scruffy-looking man.

"Yes! Someone brought me here but how did they catch me?" Chen Xu was about to lose control. "I was just sitting on the bus normally; how could I end up here all of sudden? Even if there was an accident, shouldn't I be in hospital instead?"

"I don't know either." The scruffy-looking man turned away as if he didn't want to talk anymore with Chen Xu.

Seeing this reaction from the man made Chen Xu anxious: "Friend! Can you tell me where this is? Which prison is this?"

"This is Cairo, and the name of the prison is also Cairo." The scruffy-looking man looked at Chen Xu strangely. "You don't know where you are?"

Chen Xu ignored him and muttered to himself while searching his memory for the word 'Cairo': "Cairo? I think I've heard of it before."

"It's probably a city, but I can't remember which one," he continued.

"The capital of Egypt - Cairo," reminded the scruffy-looking man.

"Yes! That's right; it's the capital of Egypt." Chen Xu was happy that he found an answer but soon became unhappy again: "But why am I here? Shouldn't I be in China?"

"China? That mysterious country with many great wonders?" A woman's voice interrupted them. "Oh, excuse me for interrupting. We found your magic box and want to ask you some questions."

The woman wore a plain gray-brown cloth dress with a large hat on her head. Beside her was a well-groomed man wearing all white with neatly combed hair.

"That's not right." The scruffy-looking man shook his head.

"What do you mean?" asked the woman curiously.

"That’s not right; you're here to ask me about Hamunaptra," said the scruffy-looking man coldly.

"Hamunaptra?" Chen Xu wondered why this name sounded so familiar to him.

Shh! Shh!

The well-groomed man kept making hushing sounds while looking around nervously as if afraid someone might overhear their conversation. However, upon hearing what the scruffy-looking man had just said, even the woman seemed shocked: "How did you know that Hamunaptra has something to do with our box?"

"Because that’s where I found it," sneered the scruffy-looking man.

"How do we know you're not just bragging?" The well-groomed man couldn't hold back anymore.

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"Hey, hey, hey! You guys are talking about Hamunaptra, the city of the dead with Imhotep," Chen Xu finally remembered where he had heard this name before.

The Mummy - a movie directed by Stephen Sommers that tells a tragic love story between a mummy and an undead woman. In it, a group of evil modern people try to destroy their love for their own greed but eventually justice prevails over evil. Imhotep and Anck-su-Namun defeat the modern people and live happily together in hell."

Okay, Chen Xu admits that he really likes Imhotep in "The Mummy". Although Imhotep is ruthless in his actions, his love is unwavering.

"Do you know?" The woman finally noticed Chen Xu beside her. "How do you know about the City of the Dead and Imhotep? Do you even know where the City of the Dead is?"

"I don't know," Chen Xu shook his head jokingly. Although he had watched the movie, he only knew that Hamunaptra was located in a desert but didn't know its exact location.

"But he knows." Chen Xu pointed to the scruffy man and cautiously asked, "Excuse me, are you O'Connell?"

"I'm O'Connell?" The scruffy man or rather O'Connell looked at Chen Xu strangely. "How do you know my name?"

Chen Xu ignored O'Connell and pointed to the woman instead. "Are you Evelyn?" Then pointing to the man in white suit, he said: "And who are you? Evelyn's brother?"

"Jonathan," hoping that Chen Xu could recognize him as well, Jonathan immediately shouted out loud. "Remember my name - Jonathan Carnahan! Evelyn's brother! Well maybe I have too common a face for people to recognize me."

"Jonathan Carnahan huh? Are all of you planning on going to Hamunaptra?" Chen Xu asked again.

He had almost confirmed that he was now inside 'The Mummy's world', and this scene was exactly when O'Connell was imprisoned; however, he didn't understand how he got here.

"The main god space? Time travel? Hope it's not either one!" Chen Xu felt conflicted deep down.

He wasn't some protagonist with invincibility like an indestructible cockroach; if someone stabbed him once even if they missed his heart by an inch or two then he would die. Going to the main god space with such luck was undoubtedly seeking death, but as an orphan, he had almost no friends and was somewhat willing to time travel.

"We are planning on going to Hamunaptra," Evelyn replied.

"Take me with you." Chen Xu said very single-mindedly. "I don't know how I ended up here, but it's obvious that I can't go back now. I don't want to wait for death in prison either, so take me with you."

"But..." Evelyn hesitated.

"Don't 'but' me. The more people we have, the stronger we are. As for the gold, I don't want it. I just want a book," Chen Xu said.

He had already figured out that getting gold from Hamunaptra was basically impossible. In the desert, water was more important than gold and squeezing space for water and food to make room for gold was foolish. As for gems, they could be taken sneakily.

In fact, what was most precious inside were not the gold or gems but two books with supreme magical power.

He had seen movies like "The Mummy Returns" where reciting spells from the Book of Amun-Ra would unleash its power and he believed that it would be similar with the Book of Dead as well.

Thinking about the power of magic made Chen Xu envious.

Every person, especially men, craved power even more than wealth and status because they believed that once they had power everything else - wealth, women - would come rolling in. Chen Xu was no exception to this belief.

"I don't want any gold? Alright then remember to help me carry some when we leave. Remember though: it's mine," Jonathon quipped before Evelyn could answer him back.

"This Jonathan is quite clever," Chen Xu remarked after sizing up Jonathan again.

Gold is heavy; one person can only carry so much but two people together can double their load of treasure.

"However he's only a little smart." Chen Xu added another comment since focusing solely on acquiring gold showed shortsightedness; a real man shouldn't fear lacking in riches if he has strength!

"The books are mine!" Evelyn protested while pulling her brother closer to her side.

"You can copy them down." Chen Xu suggested: "How about this? One book each - I'll take The Book of Dead while you take The Book of Amun-Ra."

The Book of Amun-Ra's main function was resurrection which, for Chen Xu at the moment, was a bit useless. The Book of Dead on the other hand contained terrifying magic spells and just thinking about Imhotep's spell that could cover up the sun made Chen Xu excited.

"Stop considering it. One book each - equality! Besides I don't want any gold," Jonathan added his persuasion since he believed that books were not worth as much as gold.

"Fine." Evelyn thought for a moment before agreeing to this arrangement.

"Hey hey hey! You guys seem to have forgotten me!" O'Connell protested after seeing how quickly they had agreed upon their terms. "Without me you wouldn't even know where Hamunaptra is!"

"How can you tell us then?" Evelyn asked him.

"Come closer." O'Connell smirked and looked at Evelyn who moved closer to him before suddenly grabbing her shoulder and kissing her hard on the lips.

"If you want my help finding Hamunaptra then let me out first."

"Guards! This prisoner has molested Miss Evelyn!" Cairo prison warden appeared in time and glared fiercely at O'Connell: "I'll send him straight to the gallows!"

Suddenly two people rushed in from behind them and grabbed O'Connell away.

"Evelyn, please save me first then we can go back for that damn O'Connell later okay?" Chen Xu leaned against the wooden railing with resignation in his voice.

"All right but what did you do wrong?" Evelyn asked when she saw that they had taken Chen Xu away too.

"I didn't do anything wrong actually. I think I sleepwalked here or something but never mind how I got here; please get me out now. Trust me, all it takes is some money," Chen Xu said.

In movies like these, Cairo prison wardens loved money.

"One hundred pounds and we'll let him go."

"No way."

"Two hundred!"

"We want five hundred."

"Three hundred!"

"Four hundred!"

"All right, deal."