Chapter 30
Ling PingAn looked gleefully at the customer in front of him. He appeared to be shocked at the furnishings of the bookstore. It seemed as if he couldn’t bear to take his eyes off them.
Ling PingAn walked over to the water dispenser, grabbed a plastic cup, poured his customer a cup of water, and handed it to him, “Have a drink of water…”
Situ He was aroused from his shock.
Barely able to suppress the terror in his heart, he took the proffered cup.
He took a small sip.
Sure enough, it was regular drinking water.
Meow!
At this time, a kitten strode out from behind the counter.
It walked over to Situ He’s feet, raised its tiny little head, and gently meowed again. Meow!
Situ He looked down at the kitten.
Then he swallowed hard.
Because he recognized the psionic response from the kitten.
A few years ago, when the King of Egypt had visited, he’d received the king’s family who were visiting in his role as the head of security.
He had felt similar psionic responses from this royal family.
Situ He had also heard from the Governor that 200 years ago, when the Spirit Aura had recovered and its first wave had swept across the world, some parts of the ancient gods’ consciousnesses were awakened.
Among these ancient gods was one who had awakened in Egypt. It was the family patron saint that the Egyptians had worshipped during ancient times: the cat goddess, Bastet.
It was precisely because of this awakened goddess that the Kingdom of Egypt had acquired its independence.
However…
Wasn’t the cat goddess awakened with only a wee bit of consciousness and instinct?
1
Only after a grand sacrificial ceremony could more of her power be awakened.
What was the matter with this cat?
…
Ling PingAn looked at his customer, who was staring at his kitten curiously.
So he picked up the kitten and said, “Her name is Bastet. I found her dumped out like garbage a few days ago…
“What do you think of her?” Ling PingAn grabbed the kitten’s paw and waved hello to his customer. “She’s really cute, isn’t she?”
5
…
Situ He swallowed heavily as he watched this incredible scene unraveling before his eyes.
An existence that could be the cat goddess was being held and fiddled with like a pet by this monster.
He’d even grabbed the paws of the suspected cat goddess to wave hello at him.
1
Situ He’s breathing rose rapidly in spite of himself. He was thinking, “You picked it up from a dumpster?
“I wonder where. How could you pick up a literal goddess?”
All of a sudden, Situ He remembered something.
A month ago, an imperial diplomat in Kunlun State had sent back a report saying that the Egyptian Kingdom was in turmoil.
A local warlord who had been dissatisfied with the kingdom had colluded with foreign enemies and invaded the most sacred place, a place heavily guarded by the country: The Great Pyramid of Giza, which contained a shrine to the golden statue of the cat goddess that her awakened consciousness had been placed upon.
And this local warlord had successfully stolen the cat goddess’s statue from the Egyptians.
Intelligence suggested that in addition to the rebels in Egypt, some forces in the land of Qin had also participated in the operation.
Among them was the Order of the Temple, which had been secretly at odds with the Federal Empire.
Therefore, the Federal Empire’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had issued a warning to all the foreign kingdoms of the federation, demanding that they strengthen their vigilance against transcendent beings.
There was worry that the Order of the Temple could use the looted statue of the cat goddess to carry out operations detrimental to the foreign kingdoms of the federation.
Unfortunately, the subsequent epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease in the Beizhou Kingdom had absorbed all the attention of the Federal Empire.
On the other hand, the Order of the Temple hadn’t acted at all.
Thus the Blackguard had gradually loosened their vigilance.
Now, it seemed apparent that it wasn’t that the Order of the Temple hadn’t done anything. Some accident must have occurred during the looting of the cat goddess’s statue.
It was highly possible that this accident had been caused by the monster in front of him.
And what’s more…
Situ He looked at the kitten the monster was holding.
Within the cat’s amber eyes, it was possible to see much gallantry.
“Could this monster be an awakened ancient god who’d once had an unusually close relationship with the cat goddess of ancient Egypt…?” Situ He had to consider such a possibility.
But the problem was…
Within the federal territory, what kind of god could come into contact with ancient Egyptian goddesses thousands of miles away?
1
“If I ever get back alive, I must ask the Governor…,” Situ He thought.
The Governor was the only human being who had ever defeated an awakened ancient god.
Perhaps he would know more about this situation.
But at the moment, Situ He could only smile resignedly and echo what the monster had said, “Yeah, it’s really adorable!”
Hearing his answer, the monster seemed satisfied, and the kitten in his arms looked even more delighted.
The cat seemed to give him a little wink, telling him “well said”.
6
…
Ling PingAn was very happy to hear this praise from his customer.
Of course, as the owner of a bookstore, he knew that the right thing to do was to make hay while the sun shone and promote his books.
Hence, after observing his customer’s looks, he asked tentatively, “Good sir, I wonder if you prefer to explore history and uncover the secrets behind it, or do you like to study what happens behind the curtains of war?”
He said this for a reason.
In recent years, with the gradual development and popularization of a mobile Internet, netizens in the Federal Empire had gradually become polarized..
Young people were naturally keener on surfing the Internet, playing games, reading novels, and watching video clips.
While for the middle-aged and elderly, their tastes were entirely different.
In his circle of friends, he would often see peoples’ parents’ posts.
Basically, they all reposted web pages or reports.
These web pages and reports mostly were about shocking incidents.
Shocking! This is the truth behind the Battle of New Qinling 200 years ago!
Warning! The genetically modified soybeans of Beizhou are harming our health!
Be careful! Certain things around you may cause a disaster!
In short, they were interested in these kind of titles.
If one wanted to tap into this market, the kind of headlines listed above were basically the standard marketing ID format.
The younger generation felt that these were absurd when they looked at them.
But most of the older generation ate these kinds of stories up.
Some time ago, a news report mentioned that a group of middle-aged and elderly people from a community in a certain area collectively started protesting against the construction of a telecommunications tower in their community.
1
They claimed that the radiation from the telecommunications tower could cause cancer.
7
As a result, the telecommunications construction company had to dismantle the communications tower in that community.
The consequence of this was that mobile phones and networks in that community had no signal. The younger generation stamped their feet in rage as they reprimanded their own parents.
But the older generation answered their rage by showing them an article about the towers causing cancer that they had found somewhere.
4
Ling PingAn figured that this customer would be of a different style.
Ling PingAn, judging from the guy’s retro military uniform from the Taizu period, guessed that he was probably a typical middle-aged/elderly Republican Party supporter who worshipped Taizu, Taizong, and Gojong.
What were the attributes of the middle-aged and elderly who supported the Republican Party?
Their minds were full of conspiracy theories, and they always felt that the many things that had occurred throughout history had been staged by behind-the-scenes manipulators and conspiracy groups.
1
They stubbornly believed that many events that had occurred throughout the history of the Federal Empire had transpired because of conspiracy groups.
They doubted the Cabinet, the Council of Ministers, and even science.
Some of the most extreme among them even suspected that Earth wasn’t round.
8
Basically, except for the neighborhood committee staff in the community center of the area where they lived, where they hung out all day every day, they doubted everything else any other officials said.
And their favorite topic of conversation and reading matter would naturally be anything related to conspiracy theories.
For instance, the sales of three of the top five bestsellers in the Federal Empire at present had been pushed by these people.
Moreover, these books had another common feature as well as being about conspiracy theories: they were expensive and extremely profitable.