Artifact Report

Chapter 8 Jin Xueli·Heymore City Transportation and Tourism Map
"What I'm about to say may be hard to believe. I find it hard to believe myself.

"I'm still standing in the chalk house. I have nowhere to go. I can't go back, I've tried. There's a box behind me that says 'left hand,' two rows away. I was able to do a handstand on a telephone pole when I came here, but when I go back, I can't reach the pole."

Jin Xueli couldn't hold a heavy backpack and stand upside down with her left hand on her weak side - the hunter only had a passage and could enter the nest, but he didn't become reborn and radiate supernatural powers.

What's more, the breath of the residents was always floating next to her ears; in the corner of her eyes, there was always a face of her own, vaguely distorted, like a reflection looking at her from deep underwater.

The hunting knife had been in his hand for a while.

Jin Xueli closed her eyes and opened them again. The road on the left side of her vision was still in silence, being pierced and opened by the purple light one by one, like wet internal organs exposed under X-rays.

"It seems a kind of...cooperative relationship has developed between Hopscotch and the residents of 'Vulture'."

Jin Xueli whispered to the voice memo on her phone, "I can't think of a better explanation than that they cooperate with each other."

The "vulture" tried to drive her into the chalk-drawn house, and the chalk-drawn house reciprocated by writing "being copied" in the grid ahead when she got too deep to turn back.

If she really stepped on it, the resident following her would probably become the second Jin Xueli.

What will happen to me then?
The original owner was not dead yet, but the "Vulture" had already become the target itself; she had never heard of such a thing.

"Maybe I'm just overthinking it... The traffic light on the road hasn't changed color in nearly ten minutes. It's always purple, leaving me stuck on the sidewalk. Could it be part of this scheme, too? I find it hard to imagine... Unlike the residents, these other things aren't intelligent, so how can they work together?"

Messages recorded in voice memos can be used for information exchange in the future, but they also have another function.

If she could never leave the nest and eventually died there, she could also imagine that one day in the future, her phone would be picked up by a hunter.

Who she was, where she died, her last moments... would not sink with her into the depths of the lair.

Perhaps there was someone else in this world who would hear her final words and know that there once was a Jin Xueli. Even if in the next second, like smoke blowing away the wind, her name would disappear in that person's fleeting thought.

Sometimes she thought about it and felt strange: she was a person with strong desires and a love for enjoyment, but she was also ready to die at any time and anywhere.

Perhaps without this kind of awareness, one cannot become a pseudo-image hunter.

Putting away her phone, Jin Xueli looked at the traffic light again.

In fact, she didn't need to look up to know that the purple light was still on; but what else could she do except look at the traffic light again and again?
The effect of the alcohol had almost worn off, but the energy and strength seemed to have evaporated slowly through the pores along with the alcohol, leaving the body loose and heavy; the muscles in the legs were trembling, as if they couldn't hold on to the bones.

The grid said "Exchange food for the right to stand", but it didn't say whether she could sit down, so Jin Xueli didn't dare to sit down; she only placed the backpack weighing more than ten kilograms on her feet, not daring to let it touch the chalk drawing.

"Just wait," she whispered to the resident nearby, "I don't believe the purple light will last for seven days."

The residents did not respond. Perhaps it also knew that Jin Xueli was just bluffing - even if someone had food and water, standing for seven days without sleep would exhaust him to death.

Alas, this is why most hunters, after breaking into the nest a few times alone, will submit applications to the major hunters' homes... Even Jin Xueli, who doesn't like to follow orders and hates being managed, couldn't help but sigh: It would be great if I had a companion to take care of me at this time.

She stood in a corner of the chalk house, the night wind growing colder; the longer she stood there, the more foolish she felt - what was she doing?

Did you fall from a high altitude just to stand here like an idiot and act like a human pillar?

Jin Xueli pondered for a while, considering climbing a tree and walking on a tightrope. After being rejected by reality one by one, she even plucked up the courage and shouted "Help come" twice - I don't know whether to say she was lucky or unlucky, because nothing was called out from the row of stone brick houses by her.

After trying several ideas, she returned to her old job as a human pillar.

It would have been great if the radio had given her a reminder. She wouldn't have taken this shabby road.

Having said that, Jin Xueli also knew that it was too unrealistic.

If the "Virtual Guide to Infinite Fantasy" introduced the road conditions of every road in the nest, by the time it finished broadcasting, she would have to return to Blackmore City and would not be able to do anything.

Thinking of the radio, she remembered the map she had marked with many annotations - hey, what if the annotations could come in handy?

Jin Xueli glanced at "Jin Xueli".

It was still standing two steps away, but it looked more and more annoying - when she turned her eyes, it also imitated Jin Xueli, rolling its black eyeballs to the right and its white eyeballs to the front, and it took a long time to turn back.

That was my own face; I'd have material for nightmares for the next week.

Jin Xueli put the hunting knife back into the holster on her waist, took out the map from her backpack, shook it open, and carefully read the markings in the flickering purple light and the dim light of the street lamp.

A few minutes later, she looked up from the map and yelled at a nearby resident: "Fuck your mother!"

"Jin Xueli" was unaware that he was being scolded. He stared at Jin Xueli intently and fascinatedly. His lower lip suddenly drooped, as if he was trying to imitate her lip shape.

"Come here!" Jin Xueli couldn't find any solution on the map, and she was furious. "They say the residents can't be killed, so you don't mind if I stab you a few times, right? Come here!"

"Jin Xueli" just doesn't come over.

The more she thought about it, the more she hated him. She closed her lips tightly, twirled her tongue for a while, and gathered a large mouthful of saliva. With a "Pooh" sound, she spat it all onto the chalk grid under "Jin Xueli's" feet - after all, it was none of her business if she was punished for spitting out the saliva.

Unfortunately, the grid could not be washed off by saliva - it would be great if it could be washed off - the wet mark with white foam dried up in the blink of an eye, as if it was absorbed by the floor tiles, revealing the unchanged chalk drawing.

As a result, "Jin Xueli" imitated her, closed her lips tightly, and her tongue seemed to move.

"Shit,"

Jin Xueli finally panicked a little and quickly raised her backpack, ready to use it to block the resident's saliva - but fortunately, the resident seemed to have a different internal physiology. When he opened his mouth, it was just a dark and dry hole, and nothing came out.

After the episode ended, she was still helpless.

Jin Xueli stared at the words "Heymore City Tourist and Transportation Map," unsure of what to do. Although her eyes lingered on the map, her mind wandered elsewhere, lost in thought.

When she reacted, she realized that she had been staring at the rows of small words in the lower right corner of the back of the map for several minutes. Jin Xueli slowly narrowed her eyes.

The tourist map was accompanied by a lot of additional information, such as the country's emergency number, police number, tourist information website, travel insurance introduction... Among the rows of small print, her eyes were caught on one place.

Taxi service hotline in Blackmore.

Of course, this is a phone number in the human world.

She was in a delusional, nightmarish mirror world, with no cell phone signal...

Mirror World...

The yellow taxi is one of the classic symbols of Blackmore City. It has appeared in countless movies and TV shows. Will it also cast its image in the nest?

The thought was like a hand on the back of my head, almost impossible to ignore.

While Jin Xueli secretly laughed at herself for having an overly vivid imagination and being forced into wishful thinking by the predicament, she couldn't help but take out her cell phone again - of course, the upper right corner showed "No Signal".

She hesitated, but finally entered the service hotline numbers one by one and pressed the call button.

There's no harm in trying; even if you fail, are you still afraid of being laughed at by the "Jin Xueli" next to you?

As she was tensely expecting, a "beep-beep" sound of a phone call rang out from under the night sky sliced ​​by black and purple.

"Hello," a female voice said, "Do you need a taxi?"

She half-opened her mouth, speechless. Could this be an illusion?
"Do you need it or not?" The female voice was not anxious, but asked in a matter-of-fact manner like a robot.

"Yes, yes!" Jin Xueli said, and then she was immediately afraid. "Wait a minute, what are the conditions for calling a taxi? How do I pay? I have to pay, right?"

"Of course, please note the following instructions," the woman said calmly. "One, tell the driver your address; two, don't look at the driver; three, sit in the back seat; four, lower your head between the driver's and passenger seats; five, recall a recent experience; six, don't panic when the driver charges."

"...Memories?" Even though Jin Xueli came to the nest many times, she would sometimes still be stunned by its strangeness.

"Yes, please record the following fare requirements. First, the recollection must be from an experience within the past month. Second, the scenes and events in the recollection must be coherent. Third, the experience in question must have lasted at least three minutes. Fourth, the driver will only accept the first experience that automatically pops into his mind; memories that have been consciously filtered will not be accepted."

"Apart from that? Just memory, nothing else? Can I safely reach where I want to go and get off the bus safely?" She was afraid that the other party would play word games, so she blocked all the loopholes she could think of.

"Correct."

"That's great," Jin Xueli let out a long sigh, "Send a car quickly!"

Not to mention the past month, even in the past ten years, there was no memory that she would rather die than cherish; let alone, it was only three minutes.

"I'm on Colorado Boulevard," she gave the address, then suddenly remembered and asked quickly, "Can you please open the door for me when the driver stops?"

She looked at the grid beneath her feet and the road beside her, measuring them with her eyes. At this distance, she could pounce.

However, "landing" is much more difficult than normal landing; she can neither land on the sidewalk nor on the road - she will decide what to do when the car comes.

It went almost as smoothly as a dream, and the female voice replied "Okay".

Jin Xueli was suddenly rescued, and her heart was beating so fast that it seemed like it was about to fly out; she hung up the phone, and a face half pressed against hers appeared on the screen.

The duck that is about to be caught is about to fly away, so it must be anxious, right?
"Get away from me,"

Jin Xueli used the same method, swinging the hunting knife several times, forcing the resident back a few steps - when she came to her senses, she was sitting in the back seat of a taxi.

……Eh?

The taxi gradually accelerated, steadily passing through the purple traffic light, the meter numbers motionless. A figure sat in the driver's seat, a leather glove clad in its hand as it gripped the steering wheel.

"……where are we going?"

After Jin Xueli finished asking the question, she realized that she was breathing rapidly and her heart was pounding, as if she had just experienced intense physical exertion.

"Museum of Modern Art," should be the driver's answer, but no matter how hard I listened, the voice seemed to come from under my feet.

Jin Xueli decided not to look at her feet.

Although she didn't remember how she got on the bus, it was not difficult to reverse the process; the first experience that popped into her mind seemed to be what had just happened when she got on the bus - the process of her telling the driver her address and having her memory taken away had already been paid as fare.

That was great; it was a blessing in disguise for her, as she could take the bus all the way to the Museum of Modern Art in one go.

She turned around and glanced at the other "Jin Xueli" who was gradually being left far away by her.

Even from a distance, she could see that the resident was extremely angry: it waved its arms wildly like the long inflatable figure dancing up and down in front of the auto shop, and from time to time it threw back its head and howled - another new behavior.

Hopscotch, residents, taxis... everything encountered tonight is new information.

The nest seemed to have changed, but she didn't know if the change was still within normal limits.

But Jin Xueli didn't have the strength to write down the message for a moment. She just slumped in her seat and let out a long breath.

She just wanted to take a break before the next crisis began to torment her.

　I feel like I'm dying. I can't handle the sudden workload of typing again every day... After all, it took me three months to write the drafts I need for a week.

　　The amount of updates I make may not be suitable for the men's channel. If there is a channel that is friendly to people with disabilities, I will go there.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)