Chapter 036: Exchanging for Gold

The tattooed man drew his scimitar, dismounted, and walked up to Wang Bo. "Defeat me, and I will acknowledge that you are qualified to protect the Book of the Dead, and you may take it away."

Wang Bo did not refuse the tattooed man's challenge. He dismounted and stretched his limbs.

"Are you sure you want to challenge me."

"Yes."

"If I defeat you, I can take the Book of the Dead, and you will stop pestering me."

"Defeat my warrior, and you may naturally possess the Book of the Dead," the tattooed man said matter-of-factly. "And if you can defeat me, it means you are more worthy than I to keep the Book of the Dead."

“Fine, come on up.”

Wang Bo beckoned to the tattooed man.

The tattooed man nodded, suddenly exerting force with his feet, and in an instant closed in on Wang Bo. His right hand shot out as if spring-loaded, the curved knife in his hand like a bolt of lightning, slashing toward Wang Bo's neck.

This strike was like a tiger bursting from its cage, a dragon emerging from its cave, astonishingly fast.

The sharp blade split the air in an instant, emitting a piercing howl like the wild laughter of death.

Yet the next second...

Bang!

A dull thud rang out, and before the crowd could blink, they saw the tattooed man fly backward like a cannonball, hurtling more than ten meters before crashing awkwardly into the desert, gouging out a conspicuous trench.

Wang Bo withdrew his fist casually and said, 'I won, didn't I.'

The tattooed man lowered his head; the scimitar in his hand had shattered, and the clothes on his chest were scorched by an invisible force, forming the imprint of a fist.

"I lost."

The tattooed man struggled to his feet. Though his whole body felt limp and weak, none of his bones were broken, which made him admire Wang Bo's skill even more. To send him flying more than ten meters with a single punch while ensuring he was unharmed—such strength, such technique, he accepted defeat willingly.

"You are more worthy than I to keep the Book of the Dead, and I believe that as long as it is in your hands, that monster will not be resurrected."

"Thank you for the compliment." Wang Bo smiled slightly.

If he hadn't learned the Ripple Breathing Technique last night, he wouldn't have been able to achieve this. With his strength, he could certainly knock the tattooed man flying, but he couldn't guarantee that the man wouldn't be injured.

Even at the moment his fist struck the opponent, he had killed him.

The tattooed man staggered back, threw away the curved sword in his hand, mounted his horse, took a deep look at Wang Bo, and said, "Let's go."

Then, like a whirlwind, he left with the descendants of the guard.

In terms of numbers, he was no match for the enemy.

In terms of martial prowess, he was defeated with a single blow.

Besides slinking away from here, what else could he do? It wasn't as if he would really charge forward and die a martyr's death. Though he wasn't afraid of death, he certainly didn't want to die so pointlessly.

After the descendants of the guard left, O'Connell, Evelyn, and the others couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Jonathan clutched his chest and said, "You know, I was almost scared to death just now. I thought I was done for."

O'Connell nodded in agreement. "I thought we'd be shot full of holes too."

After Wang Bo mounted his horse, he lifted the spell, and Anubis's warriors all turned into piles of yellow sand, merging into the desert.

Evelyn asked curiously, "Is this also a spell recorded in the Book of the Dead?"

“Yes,” Wang Bo said.

"It's truly incredible." Evelyn exclaimed in amazement.

"Yes, I think so too," O'Connell said. "But shouldn't we leave here immediately? After all, this isn't a good place. If that group changes their minds, we'll be in even bigger trouble."

Jonathan nodded repeatedly, thinking the same.

But in reality, this was completely unnecessary worry.

The tattooed man seemed to be someone who kept his word quite well. In the following days, Wang Bo never saw this group again. They did not appear until he left the desert.

Even when Wang Bo and the others returned to Cairo, they did not pursue.

This put everyone's mind at ease.

On the second day back in Cairo, Evelyn could not wait to take the Book of the Sun to the museum director to show off that she had found the legendary Hamunaptra.

Evelyn had once been an employee of the Cairo Museum, and when she found the map to Hamunaptra, she hoped the curator could provide her with assistance.

But the curator accidentally burned a corner of the map, saying that Hamunaptra did not exist, that it was merely a story, and advised Evelyn not to be too naive, nor to waste her time.

Now that Evelyn had found Hamunaptra and possessed the Golden Book of the Sun, she naturally wanted to go and show off to the curator.

More importantly, she wanted to prove that she was right and the curator was wrong.

But Evelyn did not know that the curator was actually a descendant of the Pharaoh's guard. He had burned the corner of the map not by accident, but on purpose.

He did not want anyone to find Hamunaptra, so he tried to undermine Evelyn's confidence. But he never expected that Evelyn would not only find Hamunaptra, but also the Golden Book of the Sun.

Even the curator did not know the location of the Golden Book of the Sun.

Presumably, Evelyn showing up with the Book of Amun-Ra would surely astonish the curator.

But none of this had anything to do with Wang Bo.

He was now with O'Connell and Jonathan, converting the gold in hand into valuable pounds sterling.

Since Britain was the first country in the world to industrialize and once dominated international finance, the pound sterling was the most widely used currency for pricing and settlement in international transactions.

After World War I and World War II, Britain's economic status continued to decline, but for historical reasons, its financial industry remained highly developed, and the pound sterling still held a very prominent position in foreign exchange settlements.

Therefore, turning gold into pounds sterling is one of the wisest choices.

As it happens, there are now many British banks in Egypt.

Although on February 28, 1922, Britain was forced to recognize Egypt's independence, it still retained power over Egypt's defense, foreign affairs, and ethnic minorities. The Egyptian authorities remained a puppet dynasty under British control. According to the Anglo-Egyptian intergovernmental agreement, Britain could dispatch troops to Egypt at any time to protect its interests there.

This situation continued until around 1954.

In other words, Egypt today is still under British administration, and British banks continue to thrive here, using various means to bleed Egypt dry.

Of course, these still had nothing to do with Wang Bo.

He had only come to the bank to exchange gold.

Led by O'Connor, the former soldier, the three of them each exchanged a portion of their gold, obtaining hundreds of thousands of pounds.

This is no small sum.