Chapter 282: Bennu Bird

  Hol, Gladys, Hessel, Theodore, and Laura also gathered around, looking gravely at the invitation in her hands.

  In front of them, Luo Wei opened the envelope and pulled out a square piece of parchment.

  The paper had only a few words, just like Bruce had said—inviting her and her friends to attend a banquet at Siria Temple tomorrow at noon.

  "Why doesn't it list your friends' names?" Sebastian asked aloud.

  "Let me see, let me see!" Theodore called out.

  Luo Wei handed him the parchment. He looked it over several times, front and back: "There really aren't any names, but this letter feels so light, like..."

  He looked up at everyone and suddenly stopped talking.

  Hol took the parchment and rubbed it between his fingers: "Yeah, feels the same as the letter I got before."

  Luo Wei looked around and saw Jack and the others peeking from behind the group. She raised her voice slightly: "His Highness probably doesn't want me to feel awkward alone, so he's letting me bring some good friends!"

  "Do any of you want to come?"

  The noble students behind them were somewhat tempted, but after thinking it over, they felt dining with His Highness would be too uncomfortable, so they shook their heads.

  Luo Wei: "No one wants to go?"

  "Then I'll go with you!" Laura looked at her firmly. "Miss Luo Wei, please let me accompany you!"

  "I want to go too!" Theodore said immediately.

  Hol said wistfully: "I'll go too. For a commoner like me, eating a meal with His Highness—what an honor~"

  Luo Wei looked at him helplessly. This guy was really putting on an act.

  Sebastian took in all their expressions, stretched lazily, and put his hands behind his head: "Ah, the sun's so nice. You guys chat—I'm going for a walk by the lake."

  Hessel: "I'm going back to change clothes."

  Hearing this, Gladys said loudly: "Me too—going back to change clothes!"

  Theodore's eyes darted around: "I have a stomachache. I'm leaving too."

  Hol smiled: "Perfect, Senior Theodore, let's go together."

  Jack looked from one to another. Wait, everyone's just leaving?

  Well, then he'd go to the academy cafeteria to eat.

  The crowd dispersed in all directions. In the blink of an eye, everyone went their separate ways.

  Half an hour later.

  All seven members of the Death Penalty Squad gathered under the willow tree by the lake, sitting in a circle in the shade.

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  "The old guinea pig is still the craftiest!" Theodore expressed his approval to Sebastian.

  "The octopus junior isn't bad either," Sebastian complimented back.

  Two childish guys. Luo Wei slapped the letter between them: "Let's talk business. What do you think about tomorrow's lunch banquet?"

  Theodore: "Definitely a conspiracy!"

  "Obviously," Gladys said.

  Theodore scratched his head: "But what does he mean by having you bring friends?"

  "He must know our identities, so he wants Miss Luo Wei to bring us there to secretly deal with us," Laura worried.

  "Not necessarily," Luo Wei speculated. "He's suspected you guys for more than a day or two. If he wanted to deal with you, he has plenty of methods, but his testing approaches have all been indirect."

  "That's true," Hol fell into thought. "But why is he doing this?"

  Hessel: "Wary of our academy?"

  Sebastian listened quietly, then offered his view: "Could he be trying to recruit us?"

  "Recruit?" Theodore turned to stare at him. "Are you joking?"

  "I have the same feeling," Luo Wei looked at everyone seriously. "It's not a joke."

  Theodore was shocked: "You think so too?"

  "Listen to me finish, and you'll understand why I think this."

  Luo Wei analyzed: "He's tested us repeatedly, but only wanted us to expose ourselves—he never went for the kill. That's very strange."

  "He's a Church Prince. If he suspects you, he could directly control you and force Holy Water down your throats, but he didn't."

  Theodore was confused: "That's true."

  Luo Wei: "I have two guesses. First, he doesn't want you dead—he wants your identities exposed so he can control you or blackmail our headmaster to serve him."

  "Second, he's just purely sadistic, wanting to watch you struggle to survive to satisfy his need for control and superiority."

  Hol said: "I think both are possible. Someone like him definitely likes maximizing benefits, so both reasons apply."

  Theodore didn't care about the reasons—he just wanted to know: "So we won't get killed at tomorrow's banquet?"

  "Probably not." Luo Wei didn't speak in absolutes. You had to consider the worst possibilities.

  A Hongmen Banquet—there's no such thing as a good trap feast. Maybe the other party just wanted to kill the chicken to warn the monkeys, killing one to show the others.

  "There's another reason," Sebastian looked at Luo Wei. "The answer's obvious, but you haven't thought of it."

  "What?" Luo Wei was puzzled.

  "Everything he's done to test us relates to you," Sebastian said meaningfully. "He's already made it very clear—he wants you as his goddaughter. The person he most wants to recruit is you."

  "What's so good about me..." Luo Wei realized. "He wants to spread his religion?"

  But Sebastian shook his head: "Junior, you underestimate yourself too much. Why can't he just value you as a person?"

  "Value my... beauty?" Luo Wei could barely say it—such words were embarrassing to speak.

  Sebastian choked. Didn't realize she was so narcissistic, though her beauty was indeed worth praising.

  "I mean your talent, the power within you," he rephrased, hinting: "I watched the second half of your match against the Divine College today and discovered something very interesting."

  "The Immortal Phoenix is the Sun God's projection, yet you easily extinguished the Sun God's Blessed One's flames."

  That was the blessing the God of Death gave her—of course it was easy! Luo Wei thought.

  She couldn't say that outright, so she feigned confusion: "I inherited my ancestor's ability to extinguish flames, but he shouldn't have known that before this competition, right?"

  "But you're a Blessed One of the Life Goddess," Sebastian stared into her eyes. "The Life Goddess's temple also once had a bird that could resurrect."

  Luo Wei's heart tightened: "You mean the Bennu Bird?"

  Sebastian smiled: "I knew it—a descendant of the Life Goddess couldn't possibly not remember its existence."

  Luo Wei's mood sank. She knew about this not because she was a descendant of the Life Goddess.

  She'd just read Egyptian mythology.

  In the myths, the Bennu Bird was Osiris's soul, emerging from Osiris's heart, and was also considered a symbol of the sun god Ra.

  Mentioning Osiris might not ring bells for many, but mention his wife, the goddess Isis, and everyone would recognize the name.

  In Egyptian mythology, Isis had many roles: goddess of life and health, guardian of the dead, earth goddess, sun goddess, granter of royal power, and queen of the underworld.

  Her husband Osiris was the king of the underworld, as well as god of agriculture and resurrection.

  According to some scholars' speculation, the phoenix in Greek mythology was actually a variant of the Bennu Bird, passed down from Egyptian mythology.

  If in this world, the Sun God's projection—the Immortal Phoenix—also evolved from the Bennu Bird, what did that mean? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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