Pet King

Salem’s opening remarks succeeded in attracting the curiosity of the audience. Why had he said it was the second day of his rebirth?

Instead of eagerly explaining, Salem in the video turned halfway to point at the shack and the campfire behind him and the people singing and dancing around the campfire. “This is my tribe. These are my relatives and friends. At present, our tribe stays near the Siwa Oasis and will stay here until winter. If you want to visit, my tribe and I are very welcoming. In winter, we will start to migrate again. We don’t know where we will go.”

Salem was speaking English, and Zhang Zian added subtitles to the video, allowing the audience whose English was not good to be able to understand as well.

The Bedouins’ unique way of life had further attracted the audience’s interest. Some audiences had heard of the Bedouins, but most of them were hearing of this especially independent tribe for the first time.

Salem paced leisurely, with video cameras and viewers walking around the tribal village randomly.

The endless desert, the stone wells more than ten meters deep, the burning bonfires, the ventilated shacks on all sides, the ethnic minorities who stuck to their tradition in peace and contentment, the ruminating humpback camels, the men smoking water cigarettes, the masked women baking the cakes, the silver bell laughter of the children, and the amazing pure starry sky could not be fabricated. The cost of fabrication would’ve been much too high.

The audience watched intently. Except for the paid accounts who were still clamoring, they forgot everything else. The bullet screens were full of amazement at the primitive beauty.

Salem showed this not just to surprise the audience, but to prove his identity. The implication was: if you have doubts, feel free to come here and see for yourself.

He stopped walking, and he once again said shocking words. “I have betrayed the tribe.”

Audiences had been entirely attracted by the video, and every word Salem said seemed to touch their hearts.

Salem explained, “Before, I didn’t like tribes and hated living the primitive life day after day. I wanted to flee the tribe to work in big cities and yearned to settle there one day. Of course, maybe in your opinion, the Port of Mersa Matruh is not a big city.”

His words resonated with many audiences from rural areas and small areas. Like him, they wanted to escape from that life, facing the yellow mud and back facing the sky. In order to earn more money, they left home to work in big cities. They preferred to face several times more hardships than the local residents. They were eager to buy houses in big cities and let their children have a different fate. Let them live the same happy life that children in big cities live.

They were no different from Salem.

Salem smiled. “In addition to working to earn money, my biggest hobby is surfing. As long as I can get a vacation from the black-hearted boss, even if it’s only for half a day, I will borrow a car and drive to the beach to practice surfing. Yesterday, I went surfing too. It was at an open beach famous for Cleopatra VII’s bathroom.”

The audience was pulled back to reality by his words, guessing that he was the protagonist of the rescue event and listening attentively to his next words.

“I went to that beach several times, and everything went well before. I never knew there was an unknown danger beneath the sea.” With a stern look and difficulty breathing, he recalled the thrilling moment again.

“Suddenly there was a storm, a unique storm in the Sahara Desert called the Harmattan Wind. It was not very strong, but it especially affected sight. I had not enjoyed my rare holiday, so I didn’t want to go back. I wanted to find a calm part of the sea and wait for the storm to pass. I found it, swam happily on the surfboard, and then… I was carried off by the offshore current.” His face was twisted by pain. It was not easy for him to recall the near-death experience.

In editing the video, Zhang Zian inserted subtitles explaining the offshore current and the fact that the beach had claimed the lives of four Chinese students a few years ago, as well as related reports.

The audience watched, feeling deep regret for the four Chinese overseas students.

The bits and pieces of the jigsaw puzzle were reassembling to form the truth of the event.

Salem shook his head and reflected, “I am not familiar with the sea. I forgot two crucial rules. One is that I should not swim in unfamiliar waters, and the other is that I should not abandon my surfboard… I jumped into the sea and tried to swim back on my own, but the offshore current took hold of my feet like a devil and dragged me under the water… I struggled and resisted but to no avail. The seawater passed over my neck, chin, mouth, and nose, and I sank…”

He swallowed his saliva with difficulty. “If you want to ask me what I was thinking, I had regrets, and I did not want to resign myself to my fate. I prayed to God. I said, I want to live, I still have a lot of things to do, I want to see the world further from here… I thought I was going to die. No one knew that I had come to this beach, and it would take a long time for my family to know about my death, but even my body would not be found. They would not be able to bury the bones in the sand according to tradition, but the sea…”

Salem’s face showed visible longing and overwhelming fear of memories. “Just then, a blurry figure appeared on top of my head, slender and soft. Something was shining in front of her chest. I thought it should be an angel who’d come to pick me up, and I could finally get rid of the pain… She held out her hand to me, and then I lost consciousness. When I woke up again, I thought I was in heaven.”

He stared at the camera and said, “I later learned that the person who saved me was an internet anchor from China. She has a very beautiful name, which is as beautiful as her face. She is called Sihwa.”

Salem personally confirmed it, and the supporters of Sihwa immediately felt exaltation and took great pride in Sihwa.

“She and her friend came to the beach to broadcast live, and her friend guessed that I might be in danger, but he could not swim, so they informed Sihwa, who was good at swimming… You all know what happened after. God is above me, and I swear that everything I say is true!” Salem vowed solemnly.

Although the majority of Chinese society were atheists, people with common sense were all aware that swearing to God was a very serious matter for these religious minorities. It was not a joke.

Salem’s tone turned to indignation, and he glared at the camera. “My parents gave me life, and Sihwa gave me my second chance at life!” he said. “I thought I would never get a chance to repay her, but if her friends hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have believed that such an angel-like pure and beautiful girl would have been slandered on China’s internet by evil people!”