Chapter 2 Chapter 1 A Brass Box

After returning from a space base in a certain country, for a full two months, I lived at home, almost staying at home.No one knows that I am at home, they only think that I am still out of town.I don't communicate with anyone except a few closest people, so I can live a life without being disturbed. But this kind of life cannot last for a long time. It was broken because of a box sent by a friend from Egypt. My friend, surnamed Wang, is a water conservancy engineer with extremely high attainments.He was hired by the Egyptian government and went there from the Netherlands to participate in an extremely magnificent water conservancy construction project.

This project, according to his description, can be called one of the largest water conservancy projects in the world. There is an ancient temple, and even the whole thing needs to be relocated. And when he moved the ancient temple, he found the box and gave it to me. This is a very mysterious box, I need to describe its appearance first. It is about one meter long, half a meter wide, and twenty centimeters high, all made of brass.The seam between the lid and the box is exactly half of the height of the entire box, and it is by no means easy to open the box. Because the lock of the box is a very delicate and mysterious ancient lock.I dare say that although the science is advanced now, it is not easy to make such a lock.

The situation of the lock is like this: on the surface of the box, there are a total of hundreds of small grids, and there are ninety-nine small copper pieces embedded in the one hundred grids, which can be pushed freely.Of course, there is only one space in the small grid to push, which can be used as a room for turning around. On the ninety-nine small copper plates, there are some patterns embossed. If the small copper plates are arranged in an accurate order, then the messy patterns on these small copper plates can become a whole picture. My friend believed that if the copper plates were patiently pushed and brought into their original order, the whole picture would be reproduced and the box could be opened.

He knew that I like weird things, so he traveled thousands of miles and sent this box to me. When this heavy copper box arrived in my hands, I was really interested and pondered on it for a few days, but I gave up immediately because I found it almost impossible. First, I don't know what the whole original relief is, so I have absolutely no basis for putting it together. Second, the ninety-nine pieces of copper can't be taken out freely, but can only use the only space as a room for turning around. After extremely complicated procedures. And there are ninety-nine pieces of copper, how can I make them return to their original positions one by one?

After I gave up putting together the pieces of copper, I took a careful look at the copper box. On the other five sides of the copper box, there are relief sculptures, including portraits of people and animals, with thick and simple lines, but none of them belong to the category of ancient Egyptian art, but a different style. Like an Indian work of art. On the sides, there are two copper rings.There are also some characters cast on the copper ring, and those characters are not ancient Egyptian characters. I sent a long telegram to that friend, telling him that I am very interested in this box, but I have no way to open it, whether it can be opened by mechanical force, To see what is in this copper box that should not belong to Egypt, but was found in an ancient temple in Egypt, and I asked him to describe how the box was found.

My telegram was sent in the morning, and in the evening, I received a reply from him. His reply said: "Wei, I am opposed to opening the box with mechanical power. This box may have been made thousands of years ago. Is our intelligence not as good as the ancients? You can give this box to my brother, who studies mathematics. , maybe he can calculate the probability that we can open this box. His phone number is ＊＊＊＊＊＊＊. As for the discovery of this box, it is a story that is too tortuous, and I will tell it later. Wang Jun." Wang Jun is the name of my friend. He is famous for his slowness. The last sentence of my telegram to him made me feel itchy, because even he said it was a "very tortuous story". What happened must be very moving.

And the thing happened in the ancient country of Egypt, which makes people feel its mystery even more. I was more eager to know how he got the box than I was interested in opening it.I immediately asked him to tell me the whole story.And tell him that I am panicking from boredom, and I hope his story can relieve my boredom. At the same time, I made a phone call with Wang Jun's younger brother, Wang Yan. Wang Yan works in a high school. After receiving my call, he promised to come when he was free. At nine o'clock in the evening, I was looking up the information on the achievements of ancient Egyptian copper casting art, and found that my information was correct. The relief on the copper box had nothing in common with Egyptian art. Then, Lao Cai took Wang Yan came in.

Wang Yan is about twenty-six or seventeen years old, his complexion is very pale, but his body is still healthy. Although he is still young, he has the demeanor of a scientist. He and I met for the first time, and he was very polite and a little reserved. I told him about the copper box, and he smiled modestly and said, "I'm afraid I won't be able to open it." I patted his shoulder and said, "It doesn't matter if you can't open it, you can just treat it as an amateur pastime." Wang Yan and I carried the copper box onto his car, and he waved goodbye to me and left.

In the next seven or eight days, Wang Yan didn't talk to me on the phone. Because I couldn't wait for Wang Jun's letter, I gradually forgot about it. That night, about the tenth day after Wang Yan took the box away, it was a return to the south, and the air was abnormally humid, which made people feel very uncomfortable. At noon, I was taking a nap when the phone by the bed suddenly rang. It is very strange to say that the ringing sound of the phone is the same every time.But sometimes, people will intuitively feel that the phone rings very urgently, as if it is announcing something urgent.

I immediately picked up the microphone. It was Wang Yan's voice that came from the phone. His breathing was a little short, and he said, "Mr. Wesley? I... I am Wang Yan." I said: "Yes, if there is anything, you might as well speak slowly." I could hear him take a long breath, and said: "I... have arranged the ninety-nine pieces of copper on the surface of the box into a relief painting." I jumped up from the bed: "I wish you success, then you have opened the box." Wang Yandao: "I haven't opened it yet, but I suddenly have a wonderful premonition that opening the box will be bad for me."

I laughed "haha" and said, "You are probably influenced by the fact that ancient Egyptian spells will work. I can tell you that although this box was found in an ancient Egyptian temple, it is by no means an Egyptian thing." Wang Yan asked: "Don't other ancient peoples have mantras?" I laughed again, and said, "I thought that most people who study mathematics are boring, but you have a rich imagination!" Wang Yan smiled shyly over there: "Okay, I will call you after I open the box." I put down the microphone, raised the pillow up, and padded my back, and lay down comfortably.I think, after waiting for about ten minutes, I will get a call from Wang Yan. However, I smoked seven or eight cigarettes, nearly an hour has passed, and Wang Yan still hasn't called. I felt that something was wrong, but I never believed that Wang Yan would encounter any accidents, because he just opened an ancient copper box! However, time passed little by little, and I had already jumped up from the bed, pacing back and forth in the room, why didn't the master call me to tell me what was in the box after such a long time? What about things?If he can't open the box, he can also give me a call, in my impression.Wang Yan is definitely not a person who does things with a head but no tail! However, when I couldn't help but call him again for the tenth time, and there was still no one answering the phone on his side, it was already dusk. It has been nearly five hours since Wang Yan called me and said that he had successfully put together the picture on the copper box!During these five hours, there was no news. What happened to Wang Yan? Although I thought about it, Wang Yan was not likely to encounter any accidents, but I couldn't help worrying about him. His elder brother gave me his phone number, and when Wang Yan came last time, he never told me his address, so when I got really impatient, I picked up the phone again and asked me for a A friend of a private eye can help. That friend and his assistant spent a very long time compiling a phone book by themselves, and looked up the address of the phone from the phone number.In less than five minutes, I got the address I wanted. Wang Yan lived on the fourth floor of No. 3 Bixian Road. I knew that Bixian Road was a noble residence, which was suitable for Wang Yan's status. I put down the microphone and was ready to find him according to the address. However, as soon as I got to the door, the phone rang and suddenly rang.I quickly jumped to the side of the phone and picked up the receiver.As soon as I picked up the microphone, I heard Wang Yan's heavy breathing. I felt that the matter was very unusual, and I quickly asked: "What happened? What happened?" Wang Yan's panting sound became more and more intense, as if his body was bearing a heavy weight.I asked seven or eight times in a row before I heard his voice, and said: "I... I have encountered some troubles, can I come and see you? Come immediately!" I could hear that although Wang Yan was still saying "I have encountered some troubles", in essence, he must have suffered great troubles!He gave me the impression that he was a very calm and orderly person, but at this time, from the phone, his calmness and orderliness seemed to be completely destroyed. Without thinking about it, I said: "Okay, you come right away." Wang Yan didn't say much. With a sound of "beat", I hung up the phone. I held the receiver in my hand and stayed for a while before putting it down. I felt that a very huge accident was happening to Wang Yan. What was the cause of that accident? Where did it come from? Is it because of the box that should not belong to Egypt, but was found in an ancient Egyptian temple? Bixian Road is not very far from my residence. According to my calculation, Wang Yan will be able to come in ten minutes at most, but I waited a full twenty minutes before I heard the doorbell. As soon as I heard the doorbell, I immediately ran downstairs, and at the same time I heard Lao Cai asking in a rough voice: "Who is it? Who are you looking for?" I quickly said: "Lao Cai, he is the Mr. Wang who came last time, please open the door and let him in." Lao Cai kept his eyes on the viewing mirror on the gate, and when he heard this, he turned his head Come, with a strange look on his face, he said: "Is he the Mr. Wang who came last time?" Lao Cai is by no means such a long-winded person, so I couldn't help becoming impatient and said, "Open the door quickly." Lao Cai didn't dare to make any more noise, opened the door, and a person took a step from the outside to the inside, I looked up, and couldn't help being stunned! Is this Wang Yan? No wonder Lao Cai looked at me just now with a hesitant look on his face, because even I was not sure whether the person who appeared at my door was Wang Yan! The man's figure was the same as Wang Yan's, but because he was wearing a coat with a pair of collars turned up high, gloves on his hands, a hat on his head, and a scarf wrapped around his entire face, and, And a pair of big black glasses! With his attire, even if he was a guest at an Eskimo's house, he wouldn't have to be afraid of freezing to death. What's more, it's a southerly day today, and the weather is humid, so I'm only wearing a shirt! I stayed for a while, and I could hear Wang Yan's voice through the scarf wrapped around his face. Although the voice was not clear, I was still sure that it was Wang Yan's voice , that is to say, the person standing in front of me is Wang Yan. Wang Yan's voice was very hurried, "You... have you been waiting for me for a long time?" I took a few steps forward: "Are you feeling unwell?" Wang Yan gave a wry smile and said: "Unwell, no, no, I'm fine." He was obviously lying, there would never be a "nice" person who would dress like this.I looked at him: "Just now you said on the phone that you were in trouble, what was that?" Wang Yan took a few steps away. He seemed to want to stay away from me, and sat down on a sofa, but he didn't make a sound. I felt more and more that things were very strange, so I took a few steps closer to him and asked, "What makes you uneasy? Are you afraid of the cold? Why don't you take off your hat and glasses?" Wang Yan immediately stood up and said in a trembling voice, "Remove it? No! No!" He said while shaking his hands wildly. Wang Yan and I are not very close friends, so he refuses to take off his hat, glasses and everything that covers his face and body, and I can't force him too much.I just said: "You came to me, of course you want my help?" Wang Yandao: "Yes, I want to ask you something." I made a helpless gesture: "Okay, then tell me!" Wang Yan's breathing became rapid again: "That...that brass box...how did you get it?" The matter was really related to that box──I thought quickly in my heart, and at the same time, I immediately replied to Wang Yan: "It was sent to me by your brother from Egypt." Wang Yan waved his hands nervously: "No! No! I mean, where and how did my brother get this box, and what is the origin of that box!" I have no way of seeing Wang Yan's face, and I have no way of knowing what his face looks like, but from his actions and words, I can see that his nerves are in a state of extreme tension and almost abnormal I didn't care about answering his question, but just asked: "How about that box? Didn't you open it? What trouble did it give you?" Wang Yan didn't answer me, he just screamed and cried: "Tell me, tell me the source of that box!" I sighed and said: "I have no way to tell you. Your brother only said that he got the box and there is a very tortuous story. I sent two long telegrams to inquire, but he didn't give any answer. I!" Just now, when Wang Yan asked me eagerly, he leaned forward and half stood and half sat. At this moment, after hearing my answer to him, he sat down on the sofa again and murmured: "Then ……me……" While muttering to himself, his body was trembling violently.I hurriedly said: "Wang Yan, you must be feeling unwell, do you want me to call a doctor?" Wang Yan stood up abruptly, and said, "No, there's no need. I... I should leave." As he spoke, he faced me and retreated towards the door. Naturally, I refused to let him go like this.Because of the doubts in my heart, not only did I not get any explanation, but it was even worse because of Wang Yan's strange behavior. I went up to meet him, Wang Yan waved his hands and said: "You...you don't have to send it off, I will leave by myself." He wore thick gloves on his hands, why should he wear gloves in such warm weather? As I thought about it, I said: "You came to me, maybe you just want to ask me such a few words." Wang Yandao: "No...no...yes...just ask a few words like this." He was obviously incoherent, and I couldn't just let him go like this! Wang Yan was still constantly retreating. When he was about to retreat to the door, I jumped forward three or four steps, reached in front of him, and stretched out my hand.Already holding the glove of his right hand: "It's such a hot day, why do you put yourself in a 'case'?" Wang Yan's attire at this time is very similar to the "man in a case" described by Chekhov, so I say this.From this it can be seen that when I said that, although I felt that the matter was very suspicious, I did not think that the matter was very serious, otherwise I would not be so relaxed. My action was obviously completely out of Wang Yan's expectation. As soon as I grabbed his right hand glove, I immediately pulled it off, and Wang Yan was still shaking his hands at that time. To keep me from approaching him. However, in less than a tenth of a second, both Wang Yan and I froze. In an instant, I was struck by lightning! I saw that Wang Yan's hands were still in the posture of blocking the drive. His left hand was still wearing a glove, but the glove on his right hand had been removed by me. His right hand, after I removed the glove... Well, how should I put it? What I saw was not a hand—of course it was a hand, but it had no blood and no flesh, it was just five finger bones, intact, and they could flex and flex their fingers!