Artifact Report

Chapter 123 Jin Xueli: The One Who Unravels the Silk Cocoon Is Not Her
...Is this still manpower?
The feeling of having her wrist gripped by Chai Si was like having her hand sealed in steel and cement - Jin Xueli even suspected that if Chai Si wanted to, he could pinch her hand off at the wrist bone.

She was in so much pain that she could hardly hold the phone anymore, but the other party saw it and did not loosen his grip at all.

"What do you want to see?" Jin Xueli suppressed her surprise and said in a calm tone, "We're just collaborating. Why do I need you to check my phone?"

From Jin Xueli's perspective, Chai Si was backlit; the street light fell softly on his shoulders, as if he was afraid of heights and did not dare to fall down again, did not dare to fall into his abyss.

She was shrouded in Chase's shadow and could not see his expression.

Jin Xueli's breathing was heavy with pain, but Chai Si was completely silent. Two seconds passed in silence. Without a word, he gently snatched the phone from her hand.

"This should be something that concerns me personally," he said, finally releasing her hand as if to explain. "I'll return it to you after you've read it."

"How does my phone have anything to do with you?"

Jin Xueli rubbed her wrist and looked at the light from her mobile phone screen, which illuminated Chai Si's face in the darkness.

He looked at the content on the screen without saying a word.

When she thought about how Chai Si could have snatched the phone away, but he took it gently and explained, it didn't seem so infuriating - bah, bullshit, the president didn't even have the right to look at her phone; he could do whatever he wanted, wasn't it because she couldn't beat him?
Maybe I'm a bit like Stockholm, Jin Xueli thought.

"Now that you've finished reading it, you have to show it to me," she demanded. "It's my phone."

She didn't dare to go up to him directly because she didn't know whether Chai Si was willing.

What if he expresses his disagreement through violence? Why take a beating for nothing?

Chai Si stared at the phone intently and didn't answer a single word.

"Hey,"

Jin Xueli called out, but he still seemed not to hear her, with a frown on his face.

Why are you ignoring me when I should be talking to you nicely?

"Is this how you treat your partners?" Jin Xueli shouted. "Given your style, no matter how handsome you are, you're not going to be popular with women. Is it true that women usually delete your number right after sleeping with you?"

This time, Chai Si finally reacted—he seemed startled and almost dropped the phone. He raised his eyes, looking a little embarrassed: "Did you do this on purpose?"

"Of course I did it on purpose." Jin Xueli replied, "Otherwise you wouldn't have ignored me."

Chai Si calmed down and stopped talking again, still holding her phone, wondering what he was thinking. His tongue lifted her cheek and slid across it.

His hands were so big that they almost swallowed her phone. Even if she squinted her eyes to glance at the screen, she still couldn't see anything.

"I said--"

"I asked you today," she began, but Chase interrupted her and whispered, "What do you really want? Do you have an answer to this question?"

……Eh?

Why are you bringing this up suddenly?

"I'm not terminally ill," Jin Xueli rubbed the tip of her nose and said in a muffled voice, "I still have plenty of time to explore slowly. Why are you asking this now?"

Chai Si thought silently for a while and handed the phone back.

"...I didn't expect you to be called up as well."

Conscription? What?
Jin Xueli took the phone and found an Amber Alert on the screen - no, that's not right.

what is this?
As she focused her attention and lowered her head to read the message, she could still feel Chai Si's gaze firmly fixed on her.

The unknown nest domination game

Currently, I have joined three teams, but none of them are as cute as you.
I hate that this sentence will be seen by Chai Si
Team 1: Team Vesile

Big setback! Artifacts scattered everywhere! Progress regressed to 2/7, and the lead was greatly reduced.

Brianna
Currently collected: Black cube (graphic), text editing software (graphic)

Uncollected
Old radio (graphic)

Key (graphic)
Time (text)
A tongue (graphic)

???

*
Team 11: Futai Blue Team, joined on November 15th, progress 1/7
The title of "young genius" is well-deserved! In just four days, he achieved
Currently collected: Key (graphic)
Uncollected
Old radio (graphic)

Black cube (graphic)

Time (text)
A tongue (graphic)

Text editing software (graphics)
???

*
Team 11, Sons of Azalea, Chase Monroe team, joined on November 19th, progress 1/7
Currently collected: A tongue (graphic)

Do you want to take his tongue? Do you want to take his tongue? Take it away. Take it away.
Uncollected
Alas, please refer to the above and calculate it yourself. It’s really annoying when there are too many people.
Now recruiting new competitors - Golden Blood Pear, oh no, Golden Snow Pear
Typo. Hehehe.

...This kind of writing is really annoying.

She stood there, staring at her phone. It felt like an eternity had passed, and Chai Si's gaze was always on her head.

Jin Xueli didn't know what expression she should put on when she looked up again to get through this difficult time. The date Chai Si joined... was today?
She glanced at the time.

November 11, 19:8 PM
No wonder he immediately asked to see his phone when it rang. Maybe he just received the same notification?

She couldn't have kept pretending to read the notice... The most crucial question now was, why did Chai Si show her this recruitment information?

If he deleted it immediately, then apart from complaining a few times, I wouldn't be able to do anything to him, and naturally I wouldn't become his competitor.

In other words, he allowed Jin Xueli - no, to be more precise, he wanted her to join this nest domination game.

He even did not hesitate to expose the fake image he had in his hands.

why?
Her eyes stayed on the "old-fashioned radio" for half a second and then quickly moved away.

No matter how I look at it, it seems to be the one she hid in the lair... If that's the case, then that's why she was recruited, right? Because she was already 1/7 of the way there, so she was recruited?

But Chai Si didn't know this.

Why would he let himself see the call-up information?
"This can't be real," Jin Xueli looked up and said, "What does it mean? If I gather all seven artifacts, I can gain dominance? This isn't a video game... This is a prank from the Nest."

Although it does seem incredible, trying to get away with it by simply saying "I don't believe it" is probably not enough.

"...I've just been wondering what the conditions are to be called up."

In the silence that was becoming increasingly suffocating, Chai Si finally spoke; but the accumulated pressure did not ease, but seemed to be weighed down by his voice, becoming even heavier.

"Do you want to know how I received the notification?"

Jin Xueli really wanted to know.

She was curious, but she also had to pretend to be unbelieving and uninterested. Her expression was a little confused for a moment. "You - do you really believe it? I think it's a prank - anyway, tell me about it first."

In the darkness where light could not reach, Chai Si laughed softly.

"My adoptive father was assassinated today. While I was searching for the person behind this, I accidentally bumped into a woman and had physical contact with her—what's that expression on your face?"

Jin Xueli wiped her face. "Go on with your story."

"...After I met her, a recruitment notification appeared on my phone."

Chai Si tilted his head slightly, and his neck, wet by the rain, was dull with moisture and had a faint luster.

"I didn't know her, but then I thought, Vesile is also buried in this cemetery, not far from where I met her. Is there any relationship between that woman and Vesile?

"If she was from the 'Vesile Team', then I was called up after I met her.

"After I was drafted, I met you, and you were drafted too. So, does that mean the first requirement for being drafted is physical contact with a contestant?"

...seems quite reasonable.

"What?" Jin Xueli muttered, "Is this conscription contagious like a virus?"

She paused and suddenly realized a problem.

"You just said, 'the first condition'? Do you think there is a second one?"

"Correct."

Chai Si tapped her phone screen and said, "Fu Tailan has also joined. Judging from the notification, he joined with nothing; it was only after joining that he obtained a false image. In other words, the Nest has taken a fancy to him. Perhaps it's because of the false reputation he gained through deception?"

From the tone, it seems that they have a bad relationship?
"You don't have any fame at all." Chai Si said, not afraid of offending her at all.

"Yes," Jin Xueli said, accepting the fact. "I'm down to earth."

"It's not just you, I'm not famous either."

Chai Si seemed to know what she was going to say. He raised a hand and said, "Don't forget, the party that is being recruited is the Nest. I'm not a hunter, so I shouldn't be famous in the Nest... In other words, neither you nor I meet the second condition."

"so what?"

"Besides 'having physical contact with players,' I have another characteristic. I think this is the third condition, and the reason why you and I were drafted."

Chai Si took a step forward and pressed into the space around her.

……Oops.

Jin Xueli already knew where this conversation was going.

"I was recruited because I got a target artifact and met a contestant."

He lowered his head and asked softly, "...Which artifact did you get?"

　Today I drew a hand-drawn picture for my second daughter and gave it to Qidian because they want the author to participate in a charity event to help visually impaired children. The hand-drawn picture of a cat will serve as my avatar.

　　Black cats are difficult to photograph, but they are very easy to draw. A black mass and two green circles, and you're done.

　　I haven't drawn for a long time, and now I feel like drawing. I'll draw one for my eldest son and third daughter as a family portrait later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)