Artifact Report

Chapter 108 Mai Minghe: Experience after Rationalization
The night permeated the air, and when there was occasional wind, the coolness caused layers of black ripples.

Two people?
Is there anyone else here besides me and him?

Mai Minghe slowly turned his head and glanced stiffly at his side; there was no one beside him.

Under the cover of night, the silhouette of the nest looked like the distorted Blackmore City after a disaster; the square under the steps was open and dim, and also empty.

...So it's behind you?

She turned around little by little, like a painting unfolding bit by bit, and from the edge of her vision, she gradually revealed a shoulder, an ear, and hair...

Mai Minghe finally saw clearly that there was a person a few steps behind her.

She was a young girl with short, messy curly hair and a pale face. Her eyeliner was slightly smudged, perhaps from sweat or tears.

She stared at Mai Minghe, as if trying to prevent herself from screaming, with one hand tightly covering her mouth. There was a star tattoo on her wrist - the reason why Mai Minghe could see it so clearly was because she was moving back slightly and happened to move into the light on the edge of the steps.

Why are you hiding from me? Who should be hiding from whom?
When he realized what was happening, Mai Minghe was completely stunned.

"When did you..."

Before she could finish her words, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded from the other side, causing Mai Minghe to turn around immediately. It turned out that the young man had also realized that something was wrong. He quickly climbed the stairs, stared at the two of them from a distance, and whispered, "You... don't know each other?"

“No, I don’t know him…”

The young girl slowly stood up, still staring at Mai Minghe, and said, "I didn't see her on the way here... When you mentioned there were two people just now, I was startled. I looked up and suddenly saw her."

"Wait a minute," Mai Minghe, regardless of his fatigue, also stood up from the stairs. "I don't understand what's going on - when did you appear behind me?"

She looked at the girl and blurted out the first conclusion that came to her mind: "Are you a resident?"

Without waiting for the girl to answer, Mai Minghe turned to the young man and asked, "Can residents disguise themselves as humans? The fact that you can serve as a guide means you're an experienced hunter. You should know this, right?"

The young man paused for two seconds, then suddenly sighed heavily, fell down on the steps, and hugged his head.

"How could this happen——"

He lamented deeply, "I just want to finish my guiding job quickly and get home! I don't have much time left in the nest, so why does even being a guide have to be so full of twists and turns..."

Mai Minghe took a look and found that the curly-haired girl was as dumbfounded as himself - if she was a resident, her emotional reaction would be too normal and too vivid, right?

"I don't know if you are a human or a resident, though."

The young man raised his head, a look of dejection on his face. He didn't look at anyone. "But I'll explain it to you two. My punishment is to serve as a guide for twelve hours. So no matter which of you is the one who's in charge, the sooner I start, the sooner the punishment will end."

"She's a resident," the girl immediately broke in. "I know myself, she's a resident!"

The young man wiped his face vigorously, as if he was very reluctant to be the judge.

He checked his watch before continuing, "All residents, artifacts, rule domains, and the trap areas found throughout the lair... Let's put it this way: everything you see in the lair comes from a single source: humans."

Mai Minghe was on guard and waited for him to continue.

"When a person dies and dissolves within the Hive, a vast amount of... 'Hive Matter' is born from their body, hobbies, thoughts, personality, experiences, and even genetic makeup. This includes the inhabitants. It's not uncommon for a single body to produce two or three inhabitants. It varies from person to person; I've heard of someone whose death produced over ten inhabitants in their 'Hive Matter' alone."

This young man is really suitable to be a guide. Even when facing one resident at a time, he can explain so much in a clear and logical way.

"So you're asking the wrong question. It's not 'Can residents disguise themselves as humans?' It's that some residents are originally humans—or rather, they look like humans. These residents, who look exactly like humans, are numerous in the lair and are a real problem, as they can easily be mistaken for hunters."

He gave a wry smile and said, "To put it more bluntly, you can't be sure I'm not a resident now, right? So, encountering this kind of resident is really annoying."

"Then... what should we do?" Mai Minghe glanced at the girl. "You're a hunter. You should be able to tell who among us is a resident, right?"

"Why are you looking at me?" the girl frowned. "Are you planning to keep acting like this?"

"...Residents are residents, after all. Their behavior is bound to differ from humans, and many possess special abilities. If you look carefully, you'll find many clues. For example, as you just said, you didn't see it all the way, but suddenly turned around and found it right next to you."

The young man tightened his coat again. "But now that the residents are determined to sneak in, disguised as humans, they'll naturally be careful to disguise themselves... I'm not sure how effective the few identification methods I know will be in this situation." I see... Then they can hide for a while longer.

"What is the purpose of this resident infiltrating among us?" the girl asked, staring at Mai Minghe.

That girl is really rude.

“There are many possibilities, but the essence remains the same.”

The young man smacked his lips, reached into his trouser pocket, then stopped again, looking frustrated.

"Forgot... I'm quitting smoking. In short, a human being is a very valuable resource for the residents. A human who dies at the hands of the residents and is promptly digested by them can bring various benefits to the residents...

"Well, I'll just mention a few of the most common ones. Note that a resident can't claim all of these benefits; we can only say they are common.

"First, the human body can be used by the inhabitants as nutrients for reproduction. On their own, the inhabitants are infertile. In other words, once a species of inhabitant is born, it becomes unique. If it wishes to have more compatriots and develop a tribe, it must borrow a human body, finding similarities within that person's body and mind, and use that to reproduce."

In other words, if an old woman died in the lair and gave birth to a resident who was extremely eager for youth, then it would also look for the same desire to "stay young forever" in other humans...

Mai Minghe put her own situation into context and understood this, but of course she didn't say it out loud.

"Secondly, as of now, residents can only be seriously injured, not killed. At least I haven't heard of anyone being able to kill a resident. But this doesn't mean they are immortal. Residents themselves also have a limited lifespan."

The young man's eyes swept between the two of them, and he walked up two steps, as if he wanted to hide in the library to talk.

"Killing someone gives you a certain amount of lifespan from them. The specific duration of the extension is random. From a resident's perspective, even a random extension of one day is better than no extension at all, right?"

"Don't go up," the girl cried out, feeling a little uneasy. "I don't know much about nests, so I need you as a guide. If you leave me here alone with it, what if I get bitten?"

The young man's face froze for a few seconds before he finally sighed again.

"Yes... You can't die. I mean, the person who asked me to be your guide can't die. If she dies, I won't be able to complete the twelve-hour tour. God knows what will happen to me."

"What benefit will the residents get from killing humans?" asked Mai Minghe.

The young man glanced at her. "There are quite a few. But one of the most coveted goals among the residents is the ability to gain certain special abilities by killing humans."

"What kind of special ability?"

"There are so many." The young man crossed his arms and said, "There's a resident called the 'Vulture'. It can transform into the person's appearance after death. This is its special ability. I've also heard of another one that, when activated, can make a person forget everything that happened in the previous ten seconds... It seems like it almost wiped out a family hunting team."

"In any case, it's better to find the residents now."

The girl said quickly, "You're going to have to tell us apart eventually. You're not comfortable spending twelve hours with a single resident, are you? How about this? No matter how you decide, don't tell us. Just do your thing and surprise us. When you find the resident, I'll help you defeat it—that resident. Do you agree?"

"That's the only way, but it's easier said than done."

The young man took a breath and stood up. "If the residents themselves don't know they've become residents, it'll be even harder to find them."

Mai Minghe was stunned. "...Don't you know you're a resident? Is there such a thing?"

"Of course." The young man smiled bitterly and said, "Generally speaking, if the hunter who died in the nest was experienced and knew the nest very well, then the residents created after his death would have a strong sense of self-awareness and would not think of themselves as human. But what if the deceased was a person who stumbled into the nest by mistake and had no knowledge of the nest at all?

"That person might not even know what a 'resident' is. Naturally, there's a certain chance that the residents born from him won't even know they're residents. They might even continue to think of themselves as human, rationalizing the process of their birth in their minds and making up a plausible story, like being saved before dying."

Mai Minghe stood motionless in the night, but he felt as if something in his mind was gradually becoming brighter.

"I heard that even residents themselves believe they are human. Their appearance and behavior are completely indistinguishable from humans. They can even return to Blackmore City like humans. However, this state cannot last for long. The instincts of being a resident will gradually surface."

...So that's it.

Mai Minghe seemed to understand.

So that's how it is. ...

　I couldn't sleep every day a while ago, and I can't wake up every day these days... It's already this late, and I still have to gulp down several large cups of coffee before I finally finish writing the update. How am I going to sleep at night later?
　　
　
(End of this chapter)