Artifact Report

Chapter 104: Chasi: The Reason for Being Stalked and the Cell Phone Alarm

Chai Si suddenly stopped.

The tall woman in a black coat and holding a black umbrella walked past him, her steps still steady, her heels tapping on the road, the sound getting farther and farther with each step - he turned around quickly, his eyes fixed on the woman's back.

The woman's long hair was draped over her back, the ends of her hair were wet and slightly curled; she seemed very thin, and the calves and ankles exposed under her coat were thin and slender.

Chai Si frowned, unable to explain why he stopped.

It seemed as if something subtle had scratched the edge of his consciousness as the two of them passed each other, causing him to turn his head... What was going on?

She couldn't possibly be the one controlling the bullets...

Had he seen her before?
Or is it simply because she appeared here and now?
Next Thursday is Thanksgiving; some people traditionally visit the graves of deceased relatives before the holiday, so the cemetery has seen a slightly higher number of visitors than usual lately. After sending Uncle Kai and Aunt Hai to the hospital, Chai Si saw three or four ordinary people visiting the graves nearby. Fortunately, the cemetery is very large and far away, so they were unaware of what had happened on the hillside.

If the woman just now was just one of the people visiting the grave, it wouldn't be surprising.

Intuition and suspicion are two feelings that are sometimes difficult to distinguish; but Chai Si has no habit of distinguishing them.

Whoever made him suspicious should be the one to dispel his suspicion; he certainly would not miss the opportunity to catch that woman in doubt and hesitation.

The thinking process sounds long, but in fact it only took a moment for Chai Si to start running and rush straight towards the woman holding an umbrella. The latter walked neither fast nor slow, which naturally meant that she did not go far. In just one or two breaths, the wind he stirred up hit the woman's back.

The woman was obviously startled by Chai Si's footsteps. When she turned around quickly, even her black umbrella sprinkled a circle of crystal raindrops in the air.

Their eyes met, her face turned pale, and she tried to hide backwards - but at such a close distance, Chai Si had never seen anyone who could escape from him.

His hand was like a snow-white beast, opening its mouth in the pouring rain and biting the woman's shoulder; his fingers were firmly stuck in her shoulder, and he pulled hard, causing her to stumble towards Chai Si, and she gasped in pain.

"The collar is turned down,"

In the shadow of the umbrella, Chase stared at the woman and ordered, "Let me see your face."

...When he said this, even he himself felt that his tone was very much like that of the most despicable criminal.

The woman seemed to be frightened, with one hand still half-gripping the collar of her coat. She just stared at Chai Si for a while, neither speaking nor moving. Chai Si lost his patience and didn't care that she was a woman. He lifted her hand away and pulled open the collar of her coat, clearly revealing the face behind the collar.

As soon as his eyes fell on her face, Chai Si was stunned.

To be honest, before he saw her face, he didn't know why, but he was vaguely sure that he had seen her before; but now that he saw her, he was a little dumbfounded.

This was clearly a strange face that I had never seen before.

Chai Si is very sensitive to people's faces. Once he has seen them, he can recognize them again no matter how long it has been.

Sometimes, he might not be able to remember someone's specific appearance - such as Damian, who had been dead for a long time - but when the other person appeared in front of him again, he would never mistakenly think that he was seeing him for the first time.

And the woman in front of him was definitely the first time he saw her.

Is he really just an ordinary person who comes to visit the graves?

This is a bit embarrassing...

"I'm sorry," Chase said unconsciously, loosening her collar. "I thought you—"

Before he could finish his words, he suddenly heard his cell phone ringing loudly in his pocket; the sudden and sharp ringing cut off the second half of his sentence, which he had not yet finished and did not know how to finish.

As if he was saved, Chai Si quickly took out his phone and took two steps back; the woman seemed frightened. When he looked down at the screen, she looked at him like a madman, turned around quickly, and ran away.

On the screen was a phone number that was not saved in the contact list, but Chai Si was startled and recognized it - because he had received several calls from this number today.

He looked up at the strange woman's hurriedly leaving back, then looked at the phone screen, and finally, after a moment of hesitation, he chose to answer the call.

"...Jin Xueli?"

"It's me," the woman on the phone said, seeming quite surprised. "How did you know? Did you save my number?"

"No." Chai Si stared at the direction where the strange woman disappeared and answered.

She wasn't the one controlling the bullets, and she had never been seen before. She wasn't even seen when searching the cemetery... So she was the one who happened to visit the graves afterwards?

"...Sometimes when I talk to you, I just can't keep the conversation going." Jin Xueli muttered.

"What's your business?"

"That's a lot." Jin Xueli seemed a little embarrassed to speak. She hummed and hawed for a moment on the other end of the phone before hesitantly asking, "I have a few questions for you... The first question is, can you really erase the records from the police system? How do I know you've really erased them? What if you're lying to me?"

Chai Si was already in a bad mood at the moment, and she almost laughed out of anger when she heard that.

"What good would it be for me to lie to you?" he asked. "Why would I just not delete your record? Why would I lie to you?"

"Oh—oh, right." Jin Xueli suddenly realized something, not knowing what she had remembered. "Then the second question is, what will happen to the Central Police Station? Those people who were invaded by the residents didn't die. Won't they continue to pursue us afterward?"

"It's a long story. Mercury has her own way of dealing with things." Chai Si didn't have the patience to chat with her now - even if there was something special about Jin Xueli that made him feel special.

"You can call me back in a couple of days to ask for the details. Anyway, don't worry about this. Their main target is me, and I'm not afraid. Why are you so anxious?"

"I'm just guilty," Jin Xueli said calmly. "Wait, don't hang up yet, I have one more important question!"

How did she know I was about to hang up?
Chai Si suppressed his temper and asked, "What's the problem?"

"The police want to arrest you today, but how do they know where you will appear?"

As soon as Jin Xueli asked this question, Chai Si knew that he probably wouldn't hang up the phone in the short term.

She continued, "Have you told anyone about your whereabouts or where you're meeting me? Have you been followed today?"

"...None of it." Chai Si said slowly, as if a chill had belatedly seeped into his consciousness.

So many things had happened today, one after another, that he had only just begun to think about this.

If the police had caught him in the cemetery, it would have been understandable, because he came there every November 19th to do something useless.

The strange thing is that the place where the police surrounded and arrested him was a place he didn't even know he would go to in advance - that is, on the way to send Jin Xueli home.

"You're the only one who knew where I would be, because we agreed on a meeting place," he whispered into the phone. "...You were also the one who got in my car and asked me to drive down that road."

"Wait, are you jumping to conclusions? Your tone sounds—well, let's not say scary, but I don't like it anyway."

Jin Xueli seemed to realize that something was wrong and hurriedly explained, "I have nothing to do with the police! Think about it, if I wanted to harm you, would I implicate myself as well? Would I allow myself to be fingerprinted?"

Chai Si's tense muscles slowly relaxed.

It’s hard to say anything else, but Jin Xueli’s performance in the police station was indeed desperate, as if she was about to be in great trouble if the fingerprints were not removed.

"I've been thinking about this question ever since I left the police station. How could the police catch you so accurately? You don't seem like an idiot who didn't even know he was being followed."

Jin Xueli was one of the few people who dared to speak up in front of him, and it was unclear where she got the confidence from. "So I was wondering, is it possible that the person being followed wasn't you, but me?"

"Are you stupid?"

“…Sometimes I just can’t keep the conversation going with you.”

Jin Xueli seemed to hold back a breath before she spoke, "Of course I'm not stupid, but I'm easily followed. I'm easily distracted by my surroundings, and I'm not used to being constantly on guard in Blackmore City. Besides, I can't imagine anyone would have any reason to follow me—who would even suspect they were being followed?"

"Get to the point," Chase urged.

Jin Xueli was suddenly silent for a few seconds, as if the next words made her feel very embarrassed.

"I've been thinking about it...if I was being followed at that time...no matter how I think about it, there's only one person who could have been the person."

Chai Si waited for her to continue.

"Um... do you know someone named Molando?" Jin Xueli stammered. "If you don't, don't jump to conclusions. Let me think of other possibilities... Mainly, she was right next to me when I made the appointment with you. But it doesn't necessarily have to be her..."

Chai Si clutched the phone tightly.

"I know him," he whispered.

Jin Xueli was stunned, as if she was greatly disappointed by this answer. "Really?"

"She shot me a few times today," Chase said. "Come over to the address I sent you and tell me in person. I could use some help."

If Morandao was still paying attention to her, then Jin Xueli's move to the cemetery would most likely lure Morandao - or at least Morandao's men - back to the cemetery.

Morando might not be foolish enough to walk into a trap, but he might as well give it a try. The worst-case scenario would be seeing Jin Xueli again.

"Hey, but it's almost dark..."

"Five thousand dollars."

"Has the address been sent?" Jin Xueli immediately changed her tone.

"Send it now," Chai Si said and hung up the phone.

The call interface disappeared; he lowered his eyes and was about to unlock the screen, but found that he had received a push notification at some point, which seemed to be an "Amber Alert".

…Wait. Not an Amber Alert.

Although they look similar at first glance, the first line of words is——

! Important information notification from the nest!

　I spent several hours today going over the story from beginning to end, and finally figured out what had been bothering me, and solved a big problem that I hadn't been aware of... This chapter suddenly became much easier to write, and the pace quickened!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)