Artifact Report

Chapter 232: Fu Tai Lan Exchange Game

...It’s really interesting, Fu Tailan thought.

He had been forced to see Carter Morgan's pig-like face so many times that it was familiar enough to bore him, and only a few minutes ago, Fu Tailan had wanted to do only one thing: to stick the burning cigarette butt in his eye.

However, at this moment, his face became Fu Tailan's greatest source of pleasure.

"Stop laughing!"

Carter was anxious, angry and frightened, with a scorching light still in his eyes; like a person who had been hungry for a long time, smelling the scent of a banquet in the air - for the first time, such a real and strong emotion appeared on his well-maintained, smooth and pink face.

"You heard me, I told you to stop laughing! What 'rule game'? Explain it clearly—"

Carter inhaled sharply and wiped the spit from the corner of his mouth. "Right... rule over what? The nest? Really? It can't be the nest, right? How could humans... how could humans..."

Fu Tailan gradually stopped smiling, breathed lightly, and glanced at him.

“…That’s it.”

As soon as the six words "Nest Domination Game" came out of his mouth, it was as if someone had stepped on a mechanism, causing Carter's eyebrows to fly up; even if he pretended to be suspicious, he could not suppress the blush rising on his face.

"You understand correctly. Whoever first collects all seven artifacts will gain dominion over the lair."

Fu Tailan then carefully considered every piece of information released, as if it had become a control knob.

As he teased him with one sentence after another, Carter's face turned red with greed, and his eyes widened with shock. He could not hear a few words before his cheek muscles began to tremble slightly and his saliva wet his lower lip.

Fu Tailan couldn't think of any other analogy to describe him except a stud pig that became impatient after seeing its target.

"……pity,"

As Carter's body began to heat up, Fu Tailan smiled and said, "This matter has nothing to do with you and me. The ship left the port long ago, and you are just standing there like an idiot."

Carter's face froze.

"Do you think you're so clever? You attacked my father, took the fake image, and used it to threaten me? But because I lost the fake image, I was expelled."

Carter stared at him, her pale eyelids circled by a circle of brown and yellow lashes.

"Listen to me," Fu Tailan gave him a sympathetic smile, "You have completely ruined your chance to even get close to the 'Nest Domination Game'."

It took nearly ten seconds for Carter to react.

"Impossible," he said, sitting up again, regaining some dignity. "Impossible... What evidence do you have?"

It was unclear whether he was looking for evidence of the "Nest Domination Game" or evidence of his own removal; at this point, the two made no difference.

Fu Tailan threw the phone to him and Carter grabbed it; he lowered his head and his eyes were immediately glued to the last three notifications.

...When he raised his head again, Fu Tailan wanted to tell him not to move and take a picture of the expression on his face.

People of Carter's class rarely have the opportunity to be ironically treated by fate. His appearance at this moment is refreshing to see.

"You can keep the key yourself, Mr. Morgan."

Fu Tailan spoke as he lifted the covers. He dragged his heavy, aching body to the edge of the bed and put his feet down. "Don't worry, I'll spread the word about you replacing me as a contestant and starting to collect target artifacts."

"Wait, I didn't become a contestant at all..."

"The Lair isn't a pig farm, so of course they look down on you. But Chase Monroe doesn't know that." Fu Tailan suddenly asked, "By the way, have you ever met Chase Monroe in person?"

Carter was startled.

"You've heard of his reputation, right? Have you asked the doctor about my injuries?" Fu Tailan said with a smile. "How long do you think you can survive in the hands of someone who could injure me like this? Can your bodyguards withstand the tracking and assassination of the Phantom Hunters?"

He hadn't told Carter any details just now - for example, the contestants could see the list of contestants before they joined; it was also possible to find out who the other contestants were at the moment through other means.

Since Carter didn't know these details, he naturally couldn't tell whether Chai Si had a way to tell whether he was a real contestant.

Carter pursed his lips tightly, his eyes fixed on Fu Tailan's phone, unable to tear it open.

"The Domination Game has nothing to do with me anymore, but if you don't want me to inform every contestant about the key's whereabouts—oh, I forgot to mention, there are more than a dozen contestants, and they're all very difficult people."

Fu Tailan got out of bed and stood beside Carter's chair, with an IV bottle still connected to one hand; the IV tube was pulled straight in the air.

He didn't like the look on Carter's face now.

Carter's expression was not one of "fear" or "worry"; he was still staring at the phone screen with his eyeballs bulging out.

The emotions that distorted his face were closer to "greed" and "reluctance".

Fu Tailan knew very well that his threats were real and fake, true and false, and there was no imminent pressure. If Carter was not afraid, how could he retreat?
But he still said, "If you don't want to die, send my dad home and let me see the case of the female corpse solved and concluded. As for the employment contract between you and me, it will naturally be invalidated from tonight."

Carter seemed to have just heard his voice and slowly raised his head.

"Voided?"

Fu Tailan looked down at him.

"No, no... that's not happening." Carter shook his head and whispered, "It's not invalidated. It can't be invalidated. I almost forgot. You're the kind of person who traps everyone with every word. It's impossible... You can't just be willing to be expelled without making any effort or trying to make amends, right?"

Fu Tailan said nothing.

"Thinking about it carefully... I don't have to worry about you telling people that I'm a contestant."

As he spoke more and more, Carter gradually calmed down visibly and was almost returning to his normal self.

He tapped on his phone and said, "Didn't you receive a notification when Chai Si got the artifact? If I were a contestant and I got the key, then Chai Si should have received a notification as well, right? I'm not a contestant, so he didn't receive a notification, so naturally he wouldn't believe you."

Fu Tailan tried his best to remain calm.

Carter Morgan may have won the birth lottery, but he's no fool.

"Besides, even if they all believe I'm a contestant and want to kill me, so what?"

A light burned in Carter's eyes.

"A ruling nest... This is a ruling nest. With this nest... even if I take this country into my pocket, it won't be a big deal."

A smile expanded from under his face, pulling up the corners of his mouth, revealing his dark mouth and a mouth full of white, neat teeth.

"I have almost everything there is to be had in this world. What else do I need? I thought I had everything—that besides more money, what else was there to be desired? But no, it's not like that."

Fu Tailan's phone screen was black. Carter's breath stained the screen, leaving a white tinge. "You want to blackmail me? Do you really think you can? Since you told me about the 'Nest Domination Game,' I don't care if you're expelled or how you were expelled."

He sat on the chair, twisted his body suddenly, and looked up to face Fu Tailan.

"I don't care what method you use. If you can join once, you can join a second time. Go collect the artifacts! What's the point of being a contestant or not? It's just an identity. Once you've restored your identity, get me in too. I don't believe that if you get six of the seven artifacts, you won't be eligible to resume your contestant status. Even if you don't, go kill everyone else! I want to see how this game can continue without a single contestant."

Fu Tailan stretched out his right hand and peeled off the tape on the back of his left hand.

Carter was already so excited that his face was covered with sweat and his gums were covered with saliva.

"Listen carefully, Fu Tailan. Your father is in my hands. If I choose, he can go through the entire death penalty process without you even seeing him. The next time you see him, he'll be sitting in the electric chair. If you want Fu Han--"

Before he could finish his words, Fu Tailan had already pulled out the IV needle from the vein on the back of his hand.

The upper body, which was barely tied together with painkillers, seemed to be about to break apart again when he suddenly raised his hand; the sharp pain made Fu Tailan's eyes go black - but it didn't matter, he had already seen the position of Carter's trachea.

The needle tip, still covered in blood, pierced straight and precisely into Carter's neck, slightly above the center of his collarbone - beneath that thin piece of skin was his delicate trachea.

The needle was short and thin, and while it might have caused pain elsewhere, it would have made Carter scream for help.

Fu Tailan was not going to give him a chance to call for help.

He wanted to cut open Carter's trachea and let him die in this ward amid the gurgling sound in his throat.

As for Fu Han—after Carter's death, he still couldn't escape the disaster, so Fu Han's life and death would be in the hands of fate. He was already very tired, and he didn't want to—

If it were the old Fu Tailan, facing the emotionally agitated and unprepared Carter, the needle would have successfully penetrated his trachea.

Just because he likes to manipulate situations with his mind doesn't mean he won't use violence.

However, at the last moment, the muscles in his back seemed to collapse, swallowing up a lot of his strength - the needle pierced Carter's skin but failed to penetrate the trachea.

"Help!" Carter threw himself up, landing on the vital signs monitor along with the chair, and screamed, "Help! He's doing it!"

He really released the person outside.

Fu Tailan grabbed an unidentified wire and kicked the chair away. Since he couldn't pierce the trachea, he might as well crush it.

What a pity, it would be nice if the symptoms of nest dissociation were still there, he thought calmly.

During the two days of deep sleep, he occasionally had moments when consciousness almost surfaced; but the reason why it took him two days to wake up completely was because he had not yet gotten rid of his nest dissociation disorder.

Fu Tailan clearly remembered that when he was half asleep, he could still reach out his hand across the dark abyss and onto the distant other side, just like when he was fighting with Chai Si. He couldn't remember where he reached out to at that time.

Why is it gone now?
If there is any more——

"director."

Fu Tailan paused.

It wasn't because of that word "supervisor".

Along with the word "supervisor", Fu Tailan also heard the crisp sound of the pistol safety lock being unlocked.

He turned his head and found Remi standing at the door. The light from the corridor cast a halo of light on her black hair.

The muzzle of the pistol facing him was dark and deep, like a spatial rift that one would occasionally see during an attack of nest dissociation - a bit like the rift he had seen in the clinic last time; but naturally, no Dr. Cole's head emerged from the muzzle one after another.

"Stop it," Remi said, almost apologetically. "...You can't kill him. I can't let you kill him."

Fu Tailan loosened the thread in his hand.

He still stared at Carter; between his breaths, he whispered, "Have you been watching me these past two days?"

Remi walked into the house, closed the door, and then answered softly: "I was just following orders. I don't know anything."

Fu Tailan laughed out loud.

Carter pulled out the needle, his face twisted in pain, and he cursed.

He stood up with the help of the machine, keeping his distance from Fu Tailan and grinning at him: "Fuck you. So you can be impulsive? Good, it seems that you two really have a deep father-son relationship. Since you care about your father so much, do you still need me to teach you what to do? Now that you know what you should do, I can wait for your action report, right?"

so funny.

Originally, Fu Tailan thought that once he gained control of the nest, he would be free—he could untie Fu Han's fingers that were wrapped around his ankles.

This is good, but if the risk is too great, it is okay not to compete; after all, the worst that can happen is a return to the status quo.

But it wasn't until he lost his qualifications that he realized he had no way out and had to squeeze back into the game no matter what - and the reason was still Fu Han.

Fu Tailan turned his eyes away, grabbed his phone, turned around and walked towards the door.

"Director," Remi called out. "Where are you going? You can't be discharged from the hospital yet..."

"Get out of the way." Fu Tailan said.

Before Remi could react, Carter smiled.

"Let him go, it's okay," Carter said. "He can't go far, let alone leave. He has to come back. After all, we have a contract between us."

Rui Mi was stunned and stepped away from the door.

Fu Tailan reached out and grabbed the door handle - a strong sense of déjà vu almost made him stumble back - but at the same time, he had already pressed the door handle and opened the door.

……what happened?

Fu Tailan looked at the hospital corridor and was stunned for a moment.

Reaching out into the darkness, he touched the door handle, pushed it down... and gently opened the door.

Why... does it feel so familiar?
It seemed like he had just done the same thing not long ago. When was that? Hadn't he been unconscious the entire time?
Which door did he open?
The doubt flashed by and Fu Tailan's thoughts returned to the present.

Not far behind him, Carter was saying, "...Trade the game for your dad, remember?"

　Sorry for the late update today... Well, I was a little unsure whether to continue writing about Fu Tailan this chapter, so I switched to writing about Mai Minghe from a different perspective. I ended up writing about Mai Minghe for 2,000 words, but it felt off, so I went back to writing about Fu Tailan...

　　The result is good, I wrote 4,000 words in one go! In other words, I accidentally hit my maximum writing limit today, 6,000!

　　My highest record in history is six thousand... I am so tired that I am bleeding.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)