Artifact Report

Chapter 231 Fu Tai Lan Brothers Club
Fu Han is handsome, articulate and pleasant to speak. At first glance, he seems very smart.

Even though he didn't have a proper job, he always had a long-term vision and was always looking for opportunities to make a fortune. He was still able to attract many people from different walks of life who were willing to treat him as a friend and playmate. Before Fu Tailan became a false image hunter, he always felt that even if his father returned home, one foot would remain outside.

"…But that's in the past."

Without even glancing at Carter, Fu Tailan whispered, "Things started to change after I became a Phantom Hunter. Just one trip into the lair earns me more than Fu Han could ever make in half his lifetime... The big deals he negotiated outside, and the great undertakings he was pursuing, gradually paled in comparison."

What kind of business is it? There is no son making money.

In his peripheral vision, Carter still sat quietly, without any reaction to these words.

"Even if he could steal a rare artifact from me, even if he could withdraw a large sum of money from our joint account without telling me—don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he wouldn't do it. If he had to, he probably could. But even if he did, he wouldn't just leave without a word."

Money will eventually run out, Fu Han would never be that stupid.

What's more, he is not without feelings for his own son.

If Fu Han had no sincerity and only used Fu Tailan as a cash cow, that would be fine - he could feel relieved and breathe a sigh of relief.

Carter seemed to have noticed this as well.

"That's a bit cold. Fu Han still loves you," he said with a kind smile. "As a father, I might not be good at expressing myself, but let me be clear, his feelings for you aren't entirely utilitarian."

Fu Tailan didn't want to look at him at all.

"……I know."

Whether from an emotional or profit perspective, Fu Han has no motive to suddenly disappear from the face of the earth; in other words, his current whereabouts are unknown, and it is very likely that he is not there voluntarily.

Of course, Fu Tailan has another detail that can support this speculation.

If he had not been in a coma for two days before waking up and his mind was not in a fuss, he might not have realized this matter only an hour later.

"Let me guess...After Fu Han fell into your hands, he held out for about three or four hours before telling you the whole truth?"

Since entering the ward, Carter's kind and friendly mask finally cracked, revealing a hint of human surprise.

"Let me think about it," he said, rolling up his slightly cloudy blue-gray eyes. "Yes, three and a half hours."

It was as if Fu Tailan had just asked him how long it would take to drive from Blackmore City to the next state.

"How do you know?" Carter asked with interest.

Fu Tailan stared motionlessly at the snow-white quilt on his body, feeling as if his entire body had turned into a buzzing nerve; if someone reached out and touched it, he would not be able to withstand the vibration and would turn into a pile of powder.

He knew his father was definitely still alive, but this did not bring him any comfort - he subconsciously reached into his trouser pocket, trying to find a cigarette to take a puff to numb the unfamiliar confusion and fear at the moment.

Carter handed over a cigarette that was thick at the top and thin at the bottom and rolled very neatly.

"I asked someone to buy it on the way," he said almost sympathetically. "I thought you might need it."

Fu Tailan stared at the cigarette; he wanted to snatch it away and throw it in Carter's face, or he wanted to tear it into pieces and stuff it into Carter's mouth.

After a long while, he finally reached out and took the cigarette. The cigarette trembled slightly in his hand; Fu Tailan leaned over, lowered his head, and let Carter light it for him.

Fu Tailan doesn't have the luxury of saying no to anything that can numb his nerves.

He glanced at the smoke detector on the ceiling and knew that he might trigger the alarm if he took a few puffs, so he took a deep breath, then another deep puff, before pressing the button to extinguish it.

"...How's Fu Han?"

"Don't worry, he's all right," Carter said softly. "Except for the wound on his leg, there's not a hair on his head—oh, that's not right."

He laughed again, as if he thought he was being humorous, and said, "It's true that I lost a lot of hair. I asked the guy who pulled my hair to be as polite as possible, but it still hurt a little."

Fu Tailan looked at him steadily.

"It's not just hair," Carter said. "It's also some pubic hair."

……what?
"These are things that must be done out of necessity. I'm also very reluctant."

Carter shook his head, as if he was embarrassed to speak.

"It's really bad taste to say that to his son. But you have to know, there's nothing I can do about it... Let's put it this way, in addition to plucking some hair, I also prepared a lot of pornographic magazines for him and told him that if he didn't pour something into the cup, he would suffer.

"It's not easy to do that when you're in pain, scared, and surrounded by people, but your father finally completed the task, which is great."

Why put out the cigarette?

If the cigarette butt was still burning, he was sure he could stick it into Carter's eye.

Fu Tailan found it difficult to explain whether what he felt at the moment was pain or shame; or a mixture of the two and beyond, a kind of punishment and torture of being a human being.

"……Why?"

Carter shook his head and smiled.

"Have you ever heard the saying, 'Everything is fate's best arrangement?' I've lived for nearly 50 years, and I deeply feel that this saying is tailor-made for me. God favors me because he is also a white man at the pinnacle of power. The world is his brother club."

For people from Carter's class, they always have a misunderstanding, as if every word they say is different, and is golden advice that ordinary people have never been exposed to, and they need others to hold their chins and listen to them - because this is how they have lived their lives.

Fu Tailan said coldly, "Get to the point." "Okay. Because you're so capable, I always forget that you're actually quite young and don't have the patience we adults have." Carter said kindly, "Let me think... It was probably a couple of days ago. A friend of mine originally just wanted us to get together and have some fun, but something went wrong."

He looked back at the ward door.

Remi closed the door when she left; now a beam of light from the corridor light shone through from under the door. The light was quiet, undisturbed by anyone's footsteps.

But Carter lowered his voice.

"There was a woman who, apparently, didn't know what to do. I'm not sure what the details were, but she died anyway. Things like this aren't a big deal, but they're not small either. It all depends on how well you handle it. My friend knew I had experience, so he came to me and asked what I should do. The person was still lying there."

Fu Tailan already understood.

"It wasn't my son who was in trouble, so I was actually a little reluctant to intervene at the time. But what a coincidence! At that moment, Fu Han called me. He was beating around the bush and was vague on the phone, but I could tell he seemed to have something extraordinary in his hands.

"I was a bit surprised. Logically, there's a set process for the Morgan hunters to retrieve the artifact. Why would they call me? But Fu Han said it had nothing to do with the Morgans; it had only come into his possession by chance. So, a large faction was targeting him, wanting to kill and take the artifact. He was trying to gauge my willingness to pay a high price for it.

"He said that this way, you and your son will naturally escape from danger. You see, I was right when I said Fu Han loves you."

Fu Han probably thought that Fu Tailan had only obtained a fake item of extremely high value that Chai Si was willing to fight for.

Fu Tailan could have expressed his logic for him: Since it is an illusion, it will eventually be sold for money, so it doesn't matter who it is sold to.

Carter Morgan is kind and generous, and he is the owner of Fu Tai Lan. Wouldn't it be better to sell it to him than to someone else?

"...He doesn't know that you've been digging into Vesile's secrets."

Fu Tailan stared at the blank wall and muttered, "Chai Si, Wei Xilai's subordinates, and I... the three of us are fighting for our lives. How could you really believe that the thing involved here is just an ordinary illusion?"

"That's right. Of course, Fu Han was wary at first, being vague and unwilling to tell me the details. But it didn't take me too long to find out two key words... 'Kai's family' and 'key'."

Carter smiled. "Originally, I didn't want to make things so ugly."

Fu Tailan closed his eyes.

"If you can keep your promise and find out the secrets of Vesile for me without any other thoughts, then you will never have to know what happened when Fu Han disappeared.

"But I understand human greed best of all. I knew you might not be so honest... Look, all the extra preparations I made are finally being put to use, aren't they?"

Carter patted the bed lightly. "Okay, let's get back to the corpse."

Fu Tailan opened his eyes.

He looked at Carter's face, watching his facial muscles and lips form different shapes when he uttered different syllables - in a trance, he suddenly had a feeling.

Humans are such strange creatures... He thought to himself. It was as if he had never seen a human before.

Carter said that a female body was abandoned in the most chaotic and dangerous area of ​​Blackmore City.

Of course, this matter has nothing to do with him.

Naturally, someone soon discovered the body and called the police.

Fu Han's saliva, body fluids, hair, fingerprints... all happened to flow out and fall before the female corpse was discarded; he also touched some things he shouldn't have touched.

"You've always been called a young genius. Do I need to explain this clearly?"

Fu Tailan's throat was as dry as sandpaper. "...Tell me."

"There is only one barrier between Fu Han as a free man and Fu Han being arrested, prosecuted and put on the electric chair as a criminal, and that is me."

Carter adjusted his sitting position.

He asked, in a tone of almost enlightened cordiality, "Tell me, what is the secret of Vesile?"

Fu Tailan lowered his head. For some reason, he began to feel spasms rising from his lower abdomen. The spasms gradually moved upwards, shaking his body and turning into laughter that became louder and louder each time.

"You're too late, you pig. I've already lost my qualification, and it's all because of you."

"what?"

It was around one o'clock in the morning when Fu Han disappeared with the kitten and the painting.

But Fu Tailan was not removed from the list at one o'clock in the morning - because around four o'clock in the morning, Jin Xueli and Chai Si received notifications of the fake image, and he received them both.

This means that before four in the morning, Fu Tailan is still a contestant.

When Fu Han took away the kitten painting, it was not considered by the Nest as a loss for Fu Tailan; that is to say, when the Nest really thought that Fu Tailan had lost his key, the kitten painting had already fallen into the hands of someone other than Fu Han.

It was Carter who disqualified him from the competition.

　I was talking to someone in a workshop before. When authors write a lot, they find that they are actually telling the same story over and over again, or the same theme.

　　At that time, Qianshan Tea Guest (Cha Cha is great!) said that her theme was revenge. I thought about it and what mine was, and it might be exploration and redemption.

　　Except for the first article (I didn’t know what I was writing at the time so it doesn’t count), the three articles I have written so far, Doomsday, Wild Deer, and False Image, are all about people seeking redemption and being redeemed.

　　Huh? Did I not spoil the plot?
　　
　
(End of this chapter)