The Fantasy Crystal Shoes

Valley of the Kings, Egypt.

Gusts of wind swept past, stirring up the dust. Ivanna Neal and her team, on a mission to excavate an ancient tomb, could barely keep their eyes open.

"Ivy, the sandstorm is too strong. Let's pack up, return to the camp, and come back when it subsides!" Steve Caldwell, a young man beside Ivanna, covered his nose and suggested.

"Makes sense, go pack up..." Ivanna looked up at the sky, knowing that the storm would last for some time. It had affected their archaeological research. She picked up the detector and other equipment from the ground before stuffing them into her bag.

"Ahhh..." Just then, Steve cried out loud, and an amused Ivanna looked over.

"What are you doing? The sand will choke you!" Ivanna arched her brow and saw the timid schoolmate jumping and grabbing her sleeve. Pointing to the near distance, he freaked out, "There is... a corpse!"

"Is this the first time you've seen a corpse?" Ivanna helplessly shook her head and looked over. Then her brow furrowed.

"We're not in the tomb yet. No corpses should be out here...."

Ivanna walked over to the spot where the corpse was buried before seeing a man in a suit. His eyes were closed, his face was ashen, his lips were bloodless, and a thin layer of sand covered his body.

"He's still breathing..." Ivanna bent down, felt his breath, and whispered, "He's not dead. It looks like he's injured and unconscious!"

"Thank God, it scared the hell out of me!" Steve heaved a sigh of relief and cautiously came up. Then he was shocked to see the clothes on the man's left abdomen stained with blood, "He bled a lot!"

"Come on, help him up and bring him back to our camp. We should stop his bleeding first!"

Ivanna picked up her backpack, propped the injured man with Steve, and left the valley for their camp nearby.

Steve laid him flat on the bed, wiped his face with a towel, and marveled in a low voice, "This man is as handsome as Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun..."

"Nonsense, bring me ethanol and tweezers!" Ivanna glared at him.

With her head low, she wiped his wound with ethanol. The unconscious man twitched, opened his eagle's eyes abruptly, and gazed at her fiercely.

"Who are you?" The man grabbed her wrist forcefully. His voice was deep and authoritative.

"Your rescuer..." To her surprise, the man boasted great strength despite his injury. She chuckled and cocked her brow.

As he refused to let go, Ivanna poked his wound. The man gasped in pain, and she explained with a smile, "Relax, we brought you back and will not take your life...."

Only then did the man let go of her hand. While cleaning the wound, Ivanna turned to Steve, "Bring me a dose of anesthetics quickly...."

"Ivy, we've run out of them...." Steve shrugged helplessly.

Ivanna pondered for a moment, looked down at the pale face of the man, and sighed, "No anesthetics, so you have to tough it out. We're too far from the hospital. I'm afraid you won't make it...."

"Go on!" The man urged in a low voice.

Ivanna picked up the tweezers and removed the bullet fragments from his abdomen with great care. As the anesthetics were not used, she could feel his body stiff from the pain.

Ivanna felt nervous, lowered her head, looked into his deep eyes, and gritted her teeth before disinfecting and sewing up the wound.