Artifact Report

Chapter 11 Mai Minghe - Rock, Paper, Scissors

In fact, Mai Minghe didn’t really think that the red-haired man would stop and not go out immediately after hearing her shout.

The hope of escape is right in front of us, who would not take that step?

So what happened next was indeed far beyond her expectations: the red-haired man hurriedly retracted the foot that was about to step into the corridor, and even almost lost his balance because of the violent movement; he held the wall with one hand, jumped back two steps on one foot, stopped between the door and the round head, and cursed.

"How do you know?" His eyes passed over the round heads and fell on Mai Minghe.

Although the room was packed with "residents" who wanted to attack them, there was a thin gap between the blades at this moment, a rare opportunity to exchange a few words.

Mai Minghe immediately replied, "I don't know what's going on. I just know I can't go out. What did you see? You didn't stay out because the old man told you to, did you?"

"Don't pretend to be my senior." The red-haired man wiped his face irritably and said, "There's a resident at the door."

The door of the ward was wide open, revealing an empty, bright corridor; in the light of the corridor, there was not even a shadow on the floor tiles.

"Really? That's incredible! Could they be able to become invisible?" Mai Minghe was surprised and couldn't help but sigh, "Has this technology really been successfully developed? I remember back in 1975 or 1979, some scientists said they could use electromagnetic waves..."

"Don't ramble on," the red-haired man interrupted her, his expression becoming even more grim. "How do you know I can't go out?"

Mai Minghe first looked at the slender patient.

When she was young, she was 1.72 meters tall, but she could only see the belly button of the slender patient; the hospital gown was much too short and hung on the chest, leaving a black hole on the belly - she didn't dare to look any longer and immediately turned her eyes away.

Mai Minghe hasn't forgotten the inexplicable step he took.

The slender patient was still unwilling, but as the round-headed one said, as long as she was surrounded by the round heads, it seemed that it would not dare to come in.

She had a respite, but she didn't know how long it would last.

"These things are here to harm people, right?" Mai Minghe explained. "They're so kind-hearted and want to help me get out, so I definitely can't get out."

The red-haired man paused, as if Mai Minghe's words were a handkerchief, choking him. "...That's it?"

"There are other reasons, but there are two," Mai Minghe said embarrassedly. "I don't know if you agree or not. I see you are familiar with the nest. Look, don't you see a lot of wrinkles on the faces of these big heads?"

The red-haired man nodded - only half of his energy was on Mai Minghe, and the other half of his attention was always on guard between the round-headed, slender patient and the empty doorway.

“Same as stretch marks,” he murmured, “but they’re on your face.”

The red-haired woman didn't look like a married woman, but she did have some knowledge in this area. Mai Minghe couldn't help but think that in the past, it seemed a shame for men to know a little more about women.

Young people nowadays seem to be different. I wonder if they have changed much.

"Yes, their heads are stretched like they're pregnant for ten months, so it's not surprising that they have wrinkles like a pregnant woman's belly. However, wrinkles only appear when the skin of a living person is stretched to the point where the fibers are broken.

"I thought to myself, these bird residents of the nest aren't human, so why bother with stretch marks? If the big heads were originally living people... what made them like this?"

A watery eyeball turned and looked at her.

The red-haired man stared at the door, nodded, and said, "That makes sense. It means that the person who turned him into this kind of resident hasn't appeared yet, so he's lurking somewhere."

Although it cannot be seen, the thing is right at the door; thinking about it this way, it is no wonder that the round-headed people all stood in the middle of the room, but made way for the door instead of blocking it.

If Mai Minghe had not rang the bell four times, and if the thing hidden at the door was the only resident she had called, she would have definitely bypassed the figures in the room and ran straight to the door - in that situation, she would inevitably have run headfirst into the hands of that thing.

From under the ceiling came the slender voice of a patient: "Have you had enough of the deduction game?"

The sound slid into his ears stickily, and Mai Minghe felt dizzy again and nauseous and wanted to vomit - it is a biological instinct to expel the bacteria and toxins that have invaded the body.

The slender patient slowly bent down, and his face was about to emerge from the darkness into the bright light at the doorway.

The red-haired man suddenly shouted, "Don't look at it!" Mai Minghe immediately turned his eyes away and retreated behind a round head. His heart started pounding again and he found that his mouth was dry and bitter, and he didn't know how long it had been.

"Give me,"

The slender patient bent over, its head suspended above the Maimin River. The sound echoed and fell down in a dripping manner, making people almost feel that the sound was mixed with mucus and minced meat.

Its hand circled over the crowd several times, as if trying to grab Mai Minghe, but it never reached down. It only howled, "Give it to me! Give it to me, give it to me, give it to me!!"

Mai Minghe arched his body, and gastric juice surged up uncontrollably, splashing onto the ground.

Feeling dizzy and weak, she reached out and grabbed the arm of a round-headed person. The round-headed person immediately groaned and whispered, "It hurts... It hurts so much..."

It doesn't hurt when your skull is split, but it hurts when I hold your arm?
Mai Minghe panted, stood up, let go of his hand, and kept silent with his round head.

"Damn it, this guy's obsessed with the Fake Image." The red-haired man stood by the wall, staring at the slender patient. "There aren't many residents in the lair who want the Fake Image, but you happened to run into a tough one."

Even if she didn't look or approach, just listening to the slender patient's incessant howling was unbearable. If Mai Minghe continued to vomit, she would soon become dehydrated and pass out, becoming a prey. The red-haired man not only had experience, but also might have a way to deal with it. She was about to ask him what to do when he spoke again: "...Rock, paper, scissors."

what?
There was a rustling sound under the ceiling, and even the slender patient seemed to turn his head towards him.

"Are you chanting a spell?" Mai Minghe asked with a wry smile.

"No, I just suddenly thought of this game." The red-haired man stood against the wall, away from the Maiming River and the other residents. He said, "Why do you think the tall and thin guy wanted to catch you, but didn't reach out to grab you?"

"It... is taboo?"

"Yes, it doesn't dare to move against the round-headed one. The round-headed one said that they are its nemesis. So it doesn't attack the residents at the door, because as soon as it turns around, the round-headed one behind it can pounce on it." The red-haired man continued: "I don't know why exactly. And the tall and thin one is your nemesis, there is no doubt -"

After hearing this, Mai Minghe understood.

"Just like rock-paper-scissors, they counter each other in a cycle," she said, tentatively reaching out to the round-headed man. "So what's next... me countering the round-headed man?"

As soon as she touched the other person's arm, her round head suddenly started to buzz, and even her legs and feet began to tremble like a sieve.

"I don't understand why they are afraid of you," said the red-haired man.

"I'm not afraid..."

The slender patient laughed bit by bit, as if he realized that he could use his voice to torture Mai Minghe - it must be said that he found the right direction.

"These humans were captured by the guy at the door, and then they were pumped full of their own bodily fluids and turned into flesh tentacles. Each one stood upright on the ground, specifically to be used against other residents."

Mai Minghe wanted to hear more information, but he didn't know if his internal organs were enough to vomit.

As the slender patient spoke, she half-bent over, feeling as if a giant beast was churning deep in her stomach, trying to squeeze out of her throat; she had no other choice but to arch her back and spasm like a shrimp.

"A person must be alive to serve as a flesh tentacle. If provoked by another living being, the anesthetic effect of the body fluids will be reduced, and the flesh tentacle may regain consciousness, separate from the body, and die," the slender patient explained almost patiently. "If you touch them, you'll reawaken them and plunge them into unimaginable pain."

"Shut up," said a round head in the front calmly.

Mai Minghe and his hero had the same opinion - shut up.

"I see. The situation is at a standstill." The red-haired man breathed a sigh of relief and said, "If the flesh tentacles attack the tall and thin one, they will have to move. If they move, they will expose you. If the tall and thin one seizes the opportunity to grab you, he can use you to make the flesh tentacles wake up and fall off, and in the end, both of them will suffer. But this has nothing to do with me. It's really unfair to drag me into this."

From humans to residents, no one paid any attention to him.

...He probably planned to take advantage of the opportunity when the residents attacked him to escape?
Mai Minghe was angry, spitting, and envious at the same time, wishing he could switch places with him.

"We can learn from the human spirit of negotiation. I'll give you the person," the slender patient said, not caring at all whether Mai Minghe would vomit out his stomach. "I'll give you the artifact."

Oops.

"How do we give it?" asked a round-headed man.

"You let the flesh tentacles separate," the slender patient said, "I'll take off the artifacts on her body and throw her at the door and into your mouth."

"Promise?"

"Of course. I'm not interested in her."

The round-headed man was silent for a moment, then replied, "Sure."

Mai Minghe felt that this was unacceptable.

But sweat broke out on her back, and she didn't know how to stop it. Even if she could overcome her head, so what? Could she really destroy her only defense?
Seeing that the round-headed people had indeed separated from her, all she could do for the moment was to run behind them - wherever they retreated, she would follow. For a moment, it was like playing a deadly game of eagle catches chicken.

"If you had given me the false image from the beginning, I might have kept you alive as an old lady." The slender patient didn't care about the delay and resistance at all, and smiled flatly, "But you insisted on being clever and ended up losing your life..."

It had barely finished its words when Mai Minghe involuntarily doubled over, retching again. She had already vomited out everything she could, her consciousness dazed and blurry, and she could feel the round head beside her hastily retreating.

No, I have to go with them—

Before she could straighten up, the slender patient reached down and grasped her calf tightly.

　1. My saved drafts are like snow falling from the sun; every time I see one, it's gone. I'll just sit there and eat it all up... Last chapter, I saw everyone enthusiastically asking me to take a day off. On a male-centric platform where you might get scolded for updating once a day, how can we not be considered a revolutionary force? I'll definitely make arrangements, I'll definitely make arrangements. I'll make sure everyone is satisfied, feel at home, and come in, sit on the kang, take off their shoes, and chat.

　　2. I will be on a plane again on the 23rd. The theme of this year is a long and bumpy journey. I calculated that in the next few weeks, I will have to stay on the plane for a total of to hours. Life will be less interesting without me on the major airlines.

　　3. The worldview of "False Image Report" is quite complex, with so many settings and perspective-shifting writing. I wonder if you're enjoying it so far? Does the setting need to be more straightforward? Although it's set in a modern Western setting, isn't it jarring to read? I still used Western translations for the background place names, otherwise it would be a bit off-topic when Jin Xueli gets into trouble on Hongqi Street.

　　4. I just love talking nonsense. I only have one mouth. When I’m bored, I either eat or talk. Talking nonsense won’t make me gain weight.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)