Artifact Report

Chapter 193 Mai Minghe Lipstick

Pretending to look for the waitress, Mai Minghe turned around as if nothing had happened, his eyes swept across the booth in the corner behind him, and then walked around the bar. After finishing the trick, he turned back.

Even though she had never seen him before, she recognized Chase Monroe at a glance - after all, his appearance and temperament were almost unmistakable.

Chase Monroe is not alone.

Next to him sat a girl with long brown hair, who had a bright, elf-like appearance and was very pleasing to the eye; opposite them sat a black-haired woman who wore a sun hat even in the middle of the night, even when she was indoors.

Because the booth was located at the end of the corner, the woman in the straw hat had her back to the entire bar and was facing only the other two people, so her appearance could not be seen.

For some reason, Chai Si and the brown-haired girl refused to look at their companion opposite them. They looked left and right, avoiding her and going their separate ways.

Until Mai Minghe turned around, no one seemed to be talking at the table; the atmosphere seemed very strange.

"Didn't I tell you not to look..."

The sea reed, who had covered his mouth while speaking, was now lying on the table and complaining to her, as if he hoped to melt and flow away along the table.

"Well, didn't you notice it?"

Mai Minghe was so hungry that he scooped up all the ice in his glass. While chewing, he said, "I remember now. I think I've seen him from behind, but this is the first time I've seen his face. He's really good-looking! Tall and strong, you can tell even when he's sitting. Your description made me think he must be really ugly... I can't help but be drawn to his appearance."

The young woman's teeth were so strong that the ice cubes made a crackling sound and shattered into pieces in a few bites. The sound of the ice made it even harder for people far away to hear her words.

Hai Luwei lowered his eyebrows, looking not sure whether he was aggrieved or discouraged, and did not answer her.

"I have a niece who has always been obsessed with handsome men. She would be delighted to see him. They look quite a good match. My niece is tall and pretty... Oh, oh, I forgot. She must be at least fifty this year."

Sea Reed buried his face in his hands.

"It's a bit strange... He just got out of the hospital, right? Why is he coming straight to the bar? Young people don't know how to take care of their bodies."

Hai Luwei took his hand down again, his eyes lighting up with what could only be described as "gossip."

"Hospital? How do you know?"

This time, Mai Minghe looked up to really look for the waitress.

"Good looks are a matter of the features, but he looks sick. Well, I've seen so many sick people, and I can tell at a glance that there's something wrong with him—how dare he drink like that? Besides, his hospital gown is showing under his coat collar."

Hai Luwei was obviously trying hard to resist the urge to take another look and asked, "Really? Why didn't I see the hospital gown just now?"

"Not every hospital gown looks like a hospital gown, but I happen to have seen that style before," Mai Minghe reminded him. "I've lived in Blackmore City for eighty-six years."

Sea Reed seemed to have a faint admiration: "Yes."

The two fell into a brief silence.

Mai Minghe pricked up his ears and felt that no one at Chase Monroe's table seemed to be talking - or maybe their voices were too low and drowned out by the noise in the bar.

"What a coincidence..." she said hesitantly. "What should we do? Will it affect what we're going to do next?"

Hai Luwei thought about it seriously.

"I was startled just now, too... but after thinking about it carefully, I don't think it's a big deal. If our conversation with Dr. Nate really had any special meaning, it was just a phone call from Dr. Nate. He should have known about it long ago. Judging from the current situation, either he doesn't know, or even if he does, it has nothing to do with us."

Sea Reed used "he" to refer to Chase Monroe; after all, people are very sensitive to their own names, and although the bar was noisy, what if he heard it?

"Most people in the bar probably know him, but you see, everyone's minding their own business and getting along peacefully. He might have a bad reputation, but he's not a mad dog. As long as there's no conflict, he won't bite every stranger. As far as I'm concerned, we should just do what we need to do and pretend we don't know him. Don't worry too much."

He convinced himself and nodded; just then the waitress came with a lot of plates.

The moment you see food, nothing else matters in the world.

The two men wanted to shove their faces into the plates; their chewing speed was far behind their angry hunger, which wanted to put more food into their mouths like an assembly line - unfortunately, even hunters could not grow an extra mouth.

After a while, their cheeks began to swell up, just like a chipmunk and a squirrel that had suddenly become spirits. The two mice were still chewing and opening and closing their upper and lower teeth with difficulty, chewing the hill of chicken wings, French fries and hamburger meat in their mouths, and trying hard to swallow them down.

"You guys should take a moment to drink some water," even the waitress couldn't help but look at him as she passed by. "Did you just wake up after leaving the lair?"

"Hey, wake up." Sea Reed was able to find his tongue in a mouthful of food and use it to speak. "Oh, we have such a wish."

The waitress was knowledgeable and didn't change her expression. She even understood: "Do you have any artifacts you want to sell? How many do you have?"

"Swallow."

"Call me later."

When the two of them put down their hands, sweating profusely, all that was left on the table was a mess of cups and plates and a bunch of dirty napkins - Mai Minghe was a little breathless, and leaned back in his chair, feeling happy, satisfied, and having a stomachache.

"Does everyone in this bar know about the lair?" She asked, remembering the conversation between the waitress and Sea Reed. "It seems like everyone is very familiar with the Hunter's characteristics."

"From what I know, from the owner to the kitchen staff, they're all retired hunters," Hai Luwei said. "At first, it seemed like it was just a bar, but then they gradually started doing everything... like creating fake images, finding clients, posting news, finding people, and so on."

Finally got to this point.

Mai Minghe took the lipstick out of his pocket and placed it on the table.

"Then," she herself felt that her eyes must be bright at this moment, "what is the use of this pseudo-image?" Hai Luwei smiled at her, and seemed to be infected by her excitement.

"Looking at you like this really reminds me of when I first started in the industry... Look carefully at the lipstick, is there any trademark, label, color number or anything like that?"

"Shade number? You're quite knowledgeable."

Hai Luwei scratched his head. "That doesn't sound very understanding, does it? Besides, my ex-girlfriend used to love dressing up as a woman for me."

...I don't treat her as an outsider.

Speaking of which, since getting the lipstick, Mai Minghe has really not had the chance to take a good look at it.

There was a line of words printed on the lipstick tube, which was quite conspicuous and she found it easily.

[Countdown: 1173 day 1 hours 02 minutes]

Under Mai Minghe's gaze, the printed words suddenly moved, changing to 1173 days, 1 hour, and 01 minute. She was slightly startled and smiled, "So printed words can count down?"

Just like ordinary lipsticks sold in the world, it also has a label on the bottom.

—A flock of birds flying across the sky—

7g, Origin Nest
The name of the color "A Flock of Birds Flying Over the Sky" is really confusing.

"Go ahead and read the instructions," Hai Luwei encouraged.

The label paper is so small, where is the space left for more instructions?

Mai Minghe narrowed his eyes and moved closer to the lipstick label, and actually saw a few lines of text that were so small that it was almost a headache - strange, were these lines of text there when he was far away just now?
***
After applying it, talk as much as you want.

Say whatever you want to say, regardless of what the other person may not like to hear, or whether your words are contradictory, true, or ridiculous.

In fact, it's best to say the opposite more often and try to cover every angle.

Even if the previous sentence is "I want to kill you" and the next sentence is "I want to save your life", as long as you put on this lipstick (colorless) and say enough words, the other person will grasp the sentence they want to hear, ignore other contradictions, and be deeply convinced and fall in love with you.

As for how many lies you told and how many flaws you revealed in the process, it doesn't matter. It's like a flock of birds flying across the sky, filling the sky for a moment but passing by in a flash. If someone recalls it afterwards, they won't be able to catch even one loophole and won't be able to remember it.

Note: Lipstick loses its effect once more than 50% of its color is removed. No lipstick lasts forever, so be sure to reapply frequently.

***
...What can this kind of lipstick be used for?

It's not a brainwashing effect that can make people unconditionally convinced by just saying one sentence; judging from the introduction, it seems that you have to say a lot, only by luck can you hit the point that the other party wants to hear, and then rely on the lipstick effect to capture the audience.

If you can't catch the person at the beginning, who would sit there quietly and listen to you talk?

Mai Minghe couldn't hide his disappointment and handed the lipstick to Hai Luwei.

Hai Luwei took out his cell phone, took a picture of the label, and said, "I'll need it later." Then he enlarged the photo on the screen - the small print that had given Mai Minghe a headache just now was now much easier to read.

Smartphones are amazing; once I sell this lipstick, I don’t know if I’ll have enough money to buy a new phone.

Hai Luwei looked at the screen and was silent for more than ten seconds.

When Mai Minghe thought he didn't know how to comfort himself, he finally let out a long breath - only then did she realize that he had been holding his breath.

"what happened?"

"This time..." Hai Luwei looked at the countdown, as if he hadn't heard her. "Three years... three years, even the time is just right, with an extra year."

"What's just right?" What's one year longer?
Hai Luwei handed the lipstick back and stared at Mai Minghe, seemingly contemplating something. After a long pause, he finally spoke, "This lipstick... must be a recent artifact."

"How did you get it?"

Sea Reed seemed to find the explanation too much trouble and simply waved his hand. "How should I put it... If it were placed in front of the right person, it could sell for millions."

"How many?"

Mai Minghe leaned forward and lost control of her voice. The brown-haired girl in the corner immediately glanced at her.

Sea Reed didn't look very excited.

It wasn't the mixed emotions of watching others get rich; Mai Minghe couldn't quite put his finger on what that expression meant.

"A million, that should be no problem."

He thought for a moment and said, "The bar will take a cut of your commission, but they have a large client network, so I think it's worth it. I don't think any of the clients I know would need it..."

"What are you not telling me?" Mai Minghe whispered.

Sea Reed paused and nodded.

"Any hunter would sell it for the highest price without hesitation, possibly including me. However, after it is released into the human world... I don't know what impact it will have."

　Ok, the new chapter is blocked again

　　
　
(End of this chapter)