Artifact Report

Chapter 226 Mai Minghe: Before Leaving
Mai Minghe pressed his back against the wall and took a silent, deep breath.

Cold sweat still clings to her pores, and her throat feels uncomfortable, but after taking a few deep breaths, she finally pulls her heart out of her dark belly and puts it back in its place.

The wall covered with dark brown wooden boards, in the silence, was frozen with a hint of reflection.

A rectangular piece of light came in from the entrance of the corridor. The thin sunlight mixed with dust and floated in the air.

A bunch of snow-white long-stemmed lilies stood on a table beside the corridor. Each flower looked like a split, open head, some raised, some lowered, each staring at the empty corridor and the intruder.

There was no one anywhere; and it was impossible for anyone to run out of this five or six meter long corridor in the moment she turned her head.

But, it can't be an illusion, right?
The feeling of a light bump on my shoulder was real and clear... This isn't a nest, so there shouldn't be any invisible people or something like that here, right?

What about artifacts?
Mai Minghe looked around again. Was someone using some kind of artifact?
If any of the Kai family had discovered her through some kind of false image, the alarm would have been sounded long ago; the mansion would not be as quiet and normal as it is now.

She couldn't determine the exact reason.

But no matter what the reason was, there was some kind of "foreign object" in the corridor, and this "foreign object" could touch her body - this was the most uncomfortable thing.

Never mind, Mai Minghe let out a breath and suddenly made up his mind.

If that invisible thing suddenly decided to stab her, she wouldn't be able to stop it, right?
It made no difference to her whether there were ghosts, residents, or Kai family killers in this mansion. She had to do what she had to do and leave as soon as possible.

While paying attention to Shaxue's movements in the side hall, Mai Minghe slowly walked to the door of a room in the corridor, tried to push it, and it opened easily.

She peeked in and found that behind the door was a library equipped with several computers, which seemed to be open to the family hunters. There was also a door in the middle connecting to another room.

After quietly closing the door, she took out her mobile phone, turned on the camera, and took a picture of the library. The "click" sound of the shutter was like a thunderclap in her ears.

Mai Minghe quickly recalled what Hai Luwei had taught her, and fiddled with her phone frantically for a while. Finally, somehow, she managed to silence the shutter sound - fortunately, no one heard the noise and came to check what was going on.

She took pictures from all directions of the library. When she was about to open the door to the next room, Mai Minghe realized that the books on the bookshelf did not exist.

Well, that's not quite right - I should say that the books on the bookshelf are all books that cannot be found in the human world.

"Changes and Records of Landing Locations," "Expired Artifact Album (Part 1)," "Logic and Analysis of Some Trap Scripts," "Famous Historical Clearance Experiences," "Interviews with Residents"...

Some of the books seemed to be privately printed by the Kai family, with the paper binding brand new and clean, and many copies of the same book were printed; another part should have been collected from a circle of hunters, with varying degrees of wear and tear, including handwritten copies and a stack of printed A4 paper - the oldest one was actually a memoir printed in 1902.

Judging from the preface, the author of this memoir seems to be the first fake hunter to leave a historical record - at that time, were there cities with a population of over 10 million?

Or does the population standard line rise as the population grows?

So... joining Kai's family and becoming a hunter isn't such a bad idea!
I can learn so much about hunters.

With this feeling and the regret that he wanted to look through the books carefully but couldn't, Mai Minghe quietly left the library.

Before she pushed open a door, she would listen carefully to the sounds nearby for a while; no matter what room it was, as long as she could open the door and go in, she would take a few photos from all angles.

Not only the interior of the room, but also the stairs, corridors, corners, kitchen... including places where there might be dark rooms on the walls under the stairs, Mai Minghe took pictures of them all.

The place where the false image is stored must be an important place of the family. Not to mention how to get in, even the location may be deeply hidden and it is not easy to touch the edge.

The chances of finding the lipstick on this trip alone are too low - if we can find any clues today, it will be considered a success.

If she only knew where the lipstick was hidden, she would not go into the nest with Tianxi and his group tomorrow; by then, Kai's house would be deserted, which would be a good opportunity to get the lipstick back.

Mai Minghe walked as quietly as possible past the large room where Tianxi was interviewing, listening to the murmur of conversation behind the door as she climbed the stairs one step at a time. Standing at the second-floor landing, she took a series of photos, then repeated the same pattern, walking the entire length of the second floor. Occasionally, when she heard voices, she would quickly hide in a corner, only to emerge once the noise had subsided.

Fortunately, the Kai family's house was unexpectedly large, and there were many places to hide. Although there were some twists and turns, it went smoothly and was not discovered.

Half of the rooms on the second floor were locked. The one at the east end seemed to be the office of the head of the Kai family, with a nameplate with "Kai Luonan" hanging on the door - but Chai Si's office was not seen.

I don't think he needs it, Mai Minghe thought to himself. He seemed to be always busy running around outside, so he wouldn't have much use for an office.

Among the other locked rooms, there was a row of three rooms labeled "Equipment Supply," one labeled "Weapons," and two labeled "Evidence" and "Scientific Research"—evidence and scientific research?

Mai Minghe was a little dazed.

The evidence can't be evidence of Kai's own crime, right?

They are a family of hunters, what scientific research can they do?
With all kinds of doubts in her mind, she went up to the third floor again.

Compared to the two floors below, the third floor is suddenly narrower, and the space including the attic is divided into several half floors; the roof has also become a tall triangle.

It took Mai Minghe less than ten minutes to walk through the third floor and take all the photos, but she still couldn't tell where the artifacts might be stored.

The locked room didn't seem to be equipped with any special, high-level security devices. To put it bluntly, it could be opened with a single shot - wasn't it a bit too careless to hide the artifact behind an ordinary door lock?

However, this situation was not unexpected to Mai Minghe.

It is impossible for the Kai family to lock the most important place and leave it in plain sight for everyone to see... She has another way, which may be able to find clues.

In silence, Mai Minghe returned to the stairs on the third floor.

Next, we must leave the Kai family mansion as soon as possible——

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a white shadow bending down towards Mai Minghe.

She turned her head subconsciously.

In that brief yet long moment, Mai Minghe was stunned, not knowing how to understand what he saw.

The snow-white long-stemmed lilies that were originally placed on the side table in the corridor on the first floor were now blooming in the air behind her, one after another bowing their heads towards her.

She had never realized before that lilies could be so big that they could completely cover a person's face.

Water flowed down the lily stem and fell through the air; the glass vase followed closely behind, and with a crisp sound, it shattered into pieces on the ground.

The lilies were still suspended in the air, gradually opening and pressing against her face, revealing the darkness within their cores.

"Who's upstairs?"

A shout came from the bottom of the stairs.

　Well, the update time has come full circle and is back to this time...

　　Everyone who has been following the article has worked so hard. It must be very tiring if the article you are following cannot be updated regularly, right?
　　Oh, if only I could keep a regular schedule. I don't want to keep everyone waiting...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)