Artifact Report

Chapter 162: Fu Tailan: Still unwilling to be abandoned by life

He originally thought that he would feel excited and happy the moment he removed the false image from Mai Minghe.

No, maybe there was indeed a moment of joy?

But for some reason, it was not as strong as Fu Tailan had expected.

That little bit of joy was so thin and cool that before I could even feel it, it had already disappeared like a cheap product that could not withstand the passage of time.

When Mai Minghe and Hai Luwei fell to the ground in the corridor, Fu Tailan turned his head away and did not look.

He lowered his eyes and took out his cell phone.

As the human body fell to the ground with a dull thud, he lowered his head and lightly touched the screen.

The wallpaper on the screen lit up; it was a seagull, perched on the long wooden railing of the pier.

Between the sky and the sea, a vast expanse of white fog filled the air. The wooden railings gradually receded, dissolving into the mist. Seagulls gazed into the depths of the fog, unable to see either the sea or the sky, unsure of where to go.

...hasn't come yet.

Sea Reed turned over and got up from the ground. Having escaped death, he coughed and gasped for breath while crawling to another figure.

He heard all this out of the corner of his eye. Fu Tailan didn't look up, still waiting for his phone to vibrate.

"Mai Minghe!"

Sea Reed cried out, his voice trembling, as if he was a little afraid to look directly at her. "Is it really you? You used to... you used to be like this?"

Which one?

Why hasn’t Mai Minghe stood up yet?
The old man can also get up.

A question flashed through Fu Tailan's mind; he still didn't look up. As he stared, the clock jumped to 5:39 AM.

...still no hint of target artifacts.

The last time, when he accidentally got the key, his phone vibrated and rang almost as soon as he touched it, congratulating him on getting his first target artifact in the "Nest Domination Game".

At that time, he was in Blackmore City.

However, this does not mean that you will not receive any information from the "Nest Domination Game" when you are in the nest - didn't Mai Minghe receive a broadcast notification when he was in the library square before?
The notification she received was different from the recruitment notification she had received. Strangely enough, the broadcast even gave her the option of whether to join...but she did not have this right and was directly included in the game and became a participant.

However, this difference in content is not enough to indicate that the form of sending notifications will also change; people in the nest should still receive notifications.

It’s not yet…

Isn't it one of the target artifacts?

If not—

Although he was mentally prepared, disappointment still welled up in him; the black snake-like illusion suddenly began to twist and coil slightly in his hand, as if it were really a snake that was about to come alive.

Fu Tailan subconsciously turned his eyes and glanced at the false image.

Just outside his tiger's mouth, there was a row of numbers.

After entering Blackmore City, a countdown will appear on the pseudo-image. After returning to the nest, the number will pause and remain unchanged until the next time you leave the nest.

Huh?
Fu Tailan was shocked and almost thought he had seen it wrong. He read every word carefully again.

This - does Mai Minghe know?

"Mai Minghe!"

Hai Luwei happened to call out at this moment, and Fu Tailan raised his head following the sound - his eyes finally fell on the person who had just slipped out of his arms.

That... is Mai Minghe?
Fu Tailan was stunned.

...Is that a human?

Thinking back, that was the first time he saw Mai Minghe after the false image was gone, and it was also the first time in his life that he saw an aging human being who was about to die and had run out of energy.

For a moment, Fu Tailan even thought that this apartment building was playing some tricks and was starting to create illusions like in a horror movie - would he see other monsters next, zombies?

When he reacted, he found that his eyes had already dodged and escaped, and were staring at a safe place.

At least the clothes on Mai Minghe were still as soft and thick as before, with no intention of weathering or falling apart along with their owner.

It just looks empty, as if it is not worn by a person, and it is just filled with a ball of gray and dead air.

Fu Tailan couldn't understand.

He never thought about getting old, although he often thought about death.

At thirty, I feel already very old.

But until his life is taken away, he will always be the same as he is now, right?

Only the face, hands, body, and mind at this moment... are his too blue.

How can she still be considered Fu Tailan if she becomes another person?
The agile, warm, and loud Mai Minghe a few minutes ago was definitely not the same person lying on the floor at this moment - no matter what his reason said, he could not admit that the two were the same person after decades.

"Fu Tailan, take the fake image back!"

Hai Luwei suddenly raised his head and shouted, a mixture of anger and fear. He had the audacity to hold Mai Minghe in that state, which was a different kind of courage. "What's the difference between this and killing her?"

Fu Tailan opened his mouth, his breath stagnating in his throat. After a second or two, he said something that he himself felt was very stupid.

"...Where's Mai Minghe?"

He actually asked such a stupid question one day.

Fortunately, no one seemed to hear what he said.

Hai Luwei lowered his head again, apparently because Mai Minghe in his arms moved slightly; Fu Tailan didn't know what exactly happened because he didn't dare to look.

He was still staring at Mai Minghe's shirt, afraid that she would really move, but also afraid that she would not move.

If it had been just a seemingly insignificant dying old man, it wouldn't have been a big deal. I imagine the feeling would have been similar to seeing a strange-looking deep-sea fish—"Ah, so there are creatures like this in the world." But just a few minutes ago, Mai Minghe was one of his kind.

"What? What did you say?" Sea Reed whispered to the person in his arms, "Can you say it again?"

...Can you still speak?

Sea Reed lowered its head and put its ear close to the cracked, shriveled and dark mouth.

Fu Tailan almost developed a certain admiration for him.

Mai Minghe seemed to be able to speak.

There was a sound like air flow, which was hard to tell whether it was dry or sticky. It was intermittent, hoarse and slow, making people's hair stand on end.

He couldn't hear clearly no matter how hard he tried. After a pause, Fu Tailan mustered up the courage and asked, "She...what did she say?"

Hai Luwei raised his head and glared at him angrily. He didn't answer, but gently put Mai Minghe back on the floor and stood up.

"Are you really going to let her die?"

He limped over and demanded, "Even if you're unwilling to return the artifact to her, at least take her back to Blackmore City and send her to the hospital, right?"

Fu Tailan actually took half a step back - then he remembered that Hai Luwei had an injured foot, and it was already a good thing that he could stand firmly. There was no need to retreat when facing him.

"She just said 'Save me,'" Hai Luwei said quickly. "Can you bear it?"

...He is lying.

Perhaps because Fu Tailan was an expert at lying, he was extremely sensitive to other people's lies; as soon as this thought popped into his mind, he became confused.

Now that things have come to this, why would Hai Luwei lie?
The next second, before Fu Tailan could open his mouth, the black snake that he had been holding in his right hand suddenly twisted.

At that moment, it seemed to have suddenly grown two legs, stretched out its tail, and stood on the ground; once it had taken root and stood firmly, it immediately swung its body sideways and swung it vigorously, as if trying to shake off Fu Tailan's hand - Fu Tailan had just turned his head towards the false image, and had not yet seen what changes had taken place in it, when, in the corner of his eye, he saw the sea reed leaping up at him.

...So that's how it is?

When he was hit in the chest by Hai Luwei and fell straight to the ground, Fu Tailan understood everything clearly.

As he leaned backward, the area of ​​the ceiling rapidly expanded, and a dark shadow was rising and expanding rapidly. When the back of his head hit the ground with a "bang", the dark shadow finally got rid of the human hand and stood against the ceiling of the corridor.

It tilted its head and had long, thin limbs, clearly taking on the shape of a human.

As if looking for something, it turned its head around and then took a crooked step in another direction.

It's actually that kind of deformable artifact...

"Don't move," Sea Reed cried angrily, pressing down on him. "Don't even think about getting it again!"

There was a dull pain on the back of his head, which was caused by a serious knock. Fu Tailan's vague fear and confusion seemed to have been dispelled by the knock, and he regained some clarity and composure.

"Get up," he said, looking embarrassed and a little angry. "So this is what Mai Minghe told you just now? Did he tell you to wait for the right opportunity to push me down and make me let go?"

"So what?"

Hai Luwei no longer cared about the difference between men and women. He pressed forward with his entire body, trying to pin Fu Tailan to the ground with his weight - when both of them fell to the ground, the disadvantage of his injured foot was not so great.

"This is her last wish for me, I will definitely fulfill it!"

"Get out of here!" Fu Tailan yelled, punching him in the waist. "That thing has nothing to do with time—"

Hai Luwei was in so much pain that he couldn't even breathe, but he still pressed down on his chest tightly. Fu Tailan was so pressed down by him that he saw stars in front of his eyes. He wanted to draw his gun, but the half of his body where the gun was was pressed so hard that he couldn't move.

"...The word 'last wish' seems to be the wrong word."

The two people who were struggling and wrestling on the ground suddenly stopped.

Hai Luwei was the first to react, his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly climbed down from Fu Tailan; he turned his head and saw the person standing up from the corridor almost at the same time as Fu Tailan.

Mai Minghe's face was pale, with a hint of tears in his eyes, and he seemed to be still in shock.

But her eyes were clearly black and white, her hair and skin were soft and shiny... she had returned to being her young self.

The artifacts are gone.

"If I die, what I tell you will be my last wish," Mai Minghe whispered, smiling softly at Hai Luwei. "Thank you, you saved my life again."

Hai Luwei climbed up; Fu Tailan was still sitting on the ground, staring at her in a daze.

"You... you knew that the artifact would deform?" he asked softly after several seconds. "You knew it would choose you?"

"It seemed like it knew I needed it more than the young man. That was the case when I first met it."

Mai Minghe lowered his head and slowly stroked his waist.

"I knew that if someone let go of it, it would transform into a human form... and in human form, perhaps it would come towards me again. If I wanted to live, I had no choice but to let go of you. In that moment of utter despair... that was my last desperate struggle, an old man who refused to be abandoned by life."

She raised her eyes and looked straight into Fu Tailan's eyes.

It was hard to describe her expression; it was as if the sea had returned to calm and solemnity after a storm of emotions.

"Do you still want to steal it?" Mai Minghe asked almost calmly. "If you do, you still have a way."

Fu Tailan sat for a while and shook his head.

"Are you scared seeing how I looked just now?" Mai Minghe looked at him and continued to ask.

After a few seconds of silence, Fu Tailan nodded almost meekly.

"...Tell me," Mai Minghe paused, then suddenly said, "You don't have to hide from me just because you can't bear it. You saw it just now, didn't you? How long will this illusion last?"

　I don't know whether to blame the current short dramas on social media for shattering people's common sense. In fact, in real life, for ordinary people and ordinary companies, a million US dollars, especially cash that can be taken out immediately, is really a huge sum of money.

　　Speaking of this, I have to admire Ma Zhilong. He found various channels to find financial backers, scraped together 44 billion, bought Twitter, and then turned it into a toilet. So this is what it means to truly treat money as dirt...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)