Artifact Report

Chapter 241 Mai Ming River: Every Tourist Information Center
Aimeili had never described this street in detail. Now that she thought about it, she might not have known how to describe it at all.

Human language, placed in the nest, often seems inadequate.

Mai Minghe stared at it for a while, and what gradually rose up was not adjectives, metaphors or descriptions, but waves of dizziness and nausea.

The entire street is only a few dozen meters long, and calling it a "street" is very generous, but it squeezes in sixteen and a half tourist information centers - the reason why it is called sixteen and a half is because the second half of Tourist Information Center No. 17 is also on the same street.

It was like a car that had been rear-ended, smashed into its rear end by another large, twisting, competing mass of tourist information centers.

At the end of about 350 meters, Mai Minghe and Ai Meili stopped at the same time.

The street was short, and they had reached the end now; ahead was an intersection, and from that intersection, everything became calm again, and there was no longer any distorted, noisy, or car-accident-distorted tourist information center.

The two looked at each other across the narrow road.

Aimeili checked her phone first, probably reviewing the rules on the warning poster to avoid making any mistakes. Then she pointed to the half-tilted door beside her, indicating that she would check the "Tourist Information Center" on her side.

Mai Minghe nodded and said that he would also start searching for clues from his surroundings.

She took a step forward, avoiding the gate across the street, and then turned towards the "Tourist Information Center" on the right - while turning, she was careful to make sure her back was not in the range of the gate.

The wall peeled off layer by layer, and the windows were sunken deep into the wall, like a tunnel.

She looked away and saw Aimeili standing inside the information center door, staring at her.

Mai Minghe took a deep breath and almost screamed; she took a half step back before realizing what she was seeing.

The door frame was barely standing upright, and despite being squeezed by the numerous tourist information centers around it, it still maintained the shape of a door.

But the door panel was gone; instead, there was a huge poster for a theater company that completely blocked the doorway and was affixed to the door frame from the inside, as if it were performing the function of a door in place of the door panel - there was even "No. 1" written in the corner.

Mai Minghe didn't know what the content was before her eyes met the poster.

When she saw it, Ai Meili had already been printed on the poster - the latter was standing in a row of iron railings, half of her face squeezed out from the gap between the iron railings, still expressionless, staring at Mai Minghe with one calm eye.

A thin poster, a flat Aimee... Of course, it’s not a real person, it’s just a 2D flat image.

At the bottom of the poster, there is a line of words: Imprisoned Woman

Performance time: 2026.11.24
Today is the day.

Mai Minghe immediately looked back - across the street, her back was not facing the gate, and there was no gate moving quietly behind her.

Ai Meili was more cautious than her. She didn't even turn around and was facing the tourist information center sideways.

She turned her head, squatted on the ground, and was looking between two stacked windows of the "Tourist Information Center"; Mai Minghe could only see the back of her head and her long hair scattered on her shoulders - the front of Aimeili's body was still facing the intersection ahead, with only the sidewalk behind her.

Mai Minghe finally breathed a sigh of relief.

There was no need to specifically tell Aimee that her image appeared on a poster, and there was no need to make her feel uneasy for no reason - although the child had a calm personality and did not look like someone who would get anxious easily.

Mai Minghe's gaze returned to the poster.

Was this poster there when I walked over here just now?
Even if it existed, it was definitely not the image of Aimee, otherwise she would have noticed it long ago - humans are very sensitive to gazes, even if it is just the gaze of an image.

What's more, it's a life-size picture.

Ai Meili, who was behind the iron railings, stretched out a hand from the gap, as if guiding Mai Minghe to look at the screen of the mobile phone in her hand.

The screen is divided into two parts: the upper two-thirds is a white background with a green dialog box floating on it; the lower third is the keyboard.

Mai Minghe had seen this interface before when Hai Luwei was teaching her how to send text messages.

As for the specific text in the message, she couldn't see it clearly.

…Since it’s not a “playlist”, can I just take a look at it?
Mai Minghe first confirmed the rules, and then pretended to casually glance at the mobile phone screen on the poster - she herself didn't know who she was trying to deceive with this attitude.

I'm locked up at the tourist information center. Please save me.

Click RELEASE on the keyboard letters
You can let me out

Mai Minghe straightened up suddenly and took a big step back, almost stepping onto the road.

She turned her head and glanced across the street. Aimee was completely oblivious to what was happening on this side. She was still squatting there, twisting her head and peering through two windows that were stacked together - the gap between the windows was not a wall or a window frame, but a deep black gap.

...What is she looking at in the gap?
Mai Minghe didn't call her, nor did he reach out to touch the mobile phone keyboard on the poster.

She turned half a circle, turned her back to the nearby intersection, and walked towards the next tourist information center. In fact, all the buildings looked like broken and messy Picasso abstract paintings, with fragments randomly stacked and squeezed together. If it weren't for the fact that each tourist information center had a door left on the street, with numbers on the doors, it would be impossible to tell which was which.

For example, when she walked past a wall, she found a horizontal display window in a narrow crack in the middle of the wall.

It wasn't a window frame or a piece of glass, but a real window connected to the room. When Mai Minghe tilted his head and peeked in, he could even see the show advertisements inside the window and the corner of the room behind the window - or should I say, below the window?

The entire room seemed to be turned upside down and buried in the wall.

"...Where is the door?" Almost as if in response to her gaze, as soon as Mai Minghe saw the room under the window clearly, she heard a faint voice coming from the window.

It was as if someone was hiding behind the window - no, the sound was very close, as if it was hiding inside the wall.

It was clearly a male voice, but it purred into a shrill, feminine one: "Isn't that ironic? I came in looking for a map of the Old Port, and I found it, but then I got lost inside the Tourist Information Center and couldn't find the door. Where's the door? I want to get out. So, if you keep walking, and if you just glance at the door, I'll know where it is, and I can open it and get out myself."

...Old Port Map?
Mai Minghe's heartbeat suddenly seemed to skip a beat. If there were a local map of the Old Port, wouldn't "Annie's Warehouse" be on it?

Of course, she had no intention of releasing that thing - just knowing the possibility of the "Old Port Map" giving her great hope.

Mai Minghe didn't know which room belonged to which numbered tourist information center, so she fixed her eyes on the floor tiles and didn't dare to look at the gate on the side of the road. She walked past what seemed to be three or four doors in silence before she finally felt that she could turn around and take another look.

The door they were about to pass through was a glass door, clean and complete, and the light from inside the house reflected it into a bright rectangle. It simply shouldn't exist on this mixed and twisted street.

"...Mai Minghe?" said a muffled voice with its mouth covered by glass.

Mai Minghe turned his head quickly.

Behind the glass door, Li Sidan was raising one hand, as if wanting to knock on the glass to attract her attention - Mai Minghe's eyes immediately swept over his chest.

Li Sidan had a sling around his neck, but the place where the fluorescent orange sign should have been was blocked by a brass plate on the glass door.

No.07 Tourist Information Center
"You found this place too? It seems no one knows where Annie's warehouse is."

Li Sidan spoke vaguely through the glass door. He seemed quite happy to see an acquaintance: "Would you like to come in?"

Even if there were no rules, Mai Minghe wouldn't have been so bold as to push the door open. She hesitated for a moment, picked up the badge on her chest, and raised her chin towards him again.

Li Sidan understood.

He lowered his head, pulled up the strap, and revealed a fluorescent orange tag.

Through the glass door, he looked exactly the same as before; hanging on his arm was the same supply bag given by the Kai family.

Mai Minghe breathed a sigh of relief, but then her heart tightened again. "Come out quickly!" she whispered. "We can't just go in. It might be dangerous."

Li Sidan shook his head.

"No, I can't leave yet. There's an electronic screen next to the door of this visitor center, the kind that constantly displays photos, you know? When I first came in, I thought I saw a building with Anne or something written on it... I'm waiting for that photo to appear again. Why can't I come in? I've been here for several minutes and nothing has happened."

While he was talking, he glanced to the side from time to time. He was staring at a place blocked by the wall and invisible to Mai Minghe. It was probably an electronic screen?

So... the Tourist Information Center No. 07 is not real either, so Li Sidan is fine?
"Aimeili and I found a rules poster," Mai Minghe said. "It says we can't go into the real 'Tourist Information Center'... I took a photo and can show it to you."

Li Sidan was indeed a hunter. He was only slightly startled and then he reacted.

"So, this isn't a real 'tourist information center,' so I'm fine?"

That kind of strange feeling, like a cloud, without shape, and difficult to put into words, once again floated up in the air.

Mai Minghe really didn't know where this strange feeling came from, so he nodded.

Li Sidan's gaze was drawn to a place behind the wall that she could not see.

"You take a look first," Mai Minghe thought of the first rule, which was not to follow acquaintances, and was about to lift his foot. "If you find anything—"

Li Sidan's eyes, which were staring at the corner, suddenly lit up and he took a breath.

"Here we are! This is it! So this is the Anne's Warehouse." He continued to stare at the screen, quickly waving toward the door and saying, "Come in and take a look. Have you seen this building?"

Mai Minghe's heart brightened - great, there was finally hope of finding Annie's warehouse - she just put her hand on the door and was about to push it open when she stopped.

...Looking closer and taking a closer look, I could see that Li Sidan didn't look relaxed at all.

The hair on his temples was slightly damp with sweat; there was a faint blue vein on his forehead that was throbbing, revealing the speed of his heartbeat.

Through the glass door, Mai Minghe could not hear the subtle sound, but he could clearly see his throat rolling and sliding up and down.

Another question arises.

Why didn’t Li Sidan open the door himself?

Is it the same thing as what we have seen along the way, and it can’t be opened?
When Mai Minghe quickly retreated from the glass door and took a few steps away from the Tourist Information Center No. 07, a long howl was heard from behind the glass door.

"Don't go! Don't go, don't go, don't go! Open the door for me! Open the door for me!"

　I recently read three very good novels in a row and I feel very happy!

　　Ah, it's not really a series. There was a book in the middle whose writing style really annoyed me. I read more than 30% of it and nothing happened. Life is short, so I gave up after reading the spoiler, saving at least two days.

　　But in short, I was lucky to see three good ones and one decent one. Reality is too hard, the virtual world is more interesting.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)