Artifact Report

Chapter 137 Kai Family Video Record (I)

2026.11.20
6: 37 AM
REC.
Location: The Nest, Museum of Modern Art, Basement 1

"...Is it fun?" Han Liuyue's voice-over asked.

"Solving problems, how can it not be fun?"

Jin Xueli raised her head and smiled at the camera breathlessly. "My method of moving the corpse is good, right? You still don't believe I can do it."

Next to her was a strange creation made of a corpse and a suitcase.

Vesile was stuffed back into the suitcase again; this time, the body was not curled up inside, only the legs were fixed in the suitcase by zippers; when the suitcase lid was closed, it was stuck just at the body's hips.

The upper body of the corpse was leaning against the handle and tied with a belt; from a distance, it looked like a person had voluntarily sat on the suitcase.

When Vesile was buried, he was wearing a suit, but now his waistband was empty, except for his belt.

"...As long as you're willing to work," Han Liuyue's voiceover says. "We need to melt the January 2026 candlestick."

"okay!"

Jin Xueli pushed the homemade body transport cart with one hand and held the corpse with the other, rolling across the screen, and the whole hall was filled with the echo of the wheels.

In the camera's picture, the fire groove under the end of the candle has been fully opened, lighting up a bright line of fire on the ground.

The small piece of candle turned into wax and hung in the air; the wax hovered in the air, flickering and shining in the light and fire.

At least half of the dripping candle wax was empty and translucent; incomplete images and scenes floated sporadically on the lake like fallen leaves.

"Perhaps it is because the one touching the candle is dead,"

Han Liuyue explained off-screen, "About 60 to 70 percent of Vesile's life history, as recorded in the candles, is missing. I plan to melt all the candles from about a year before his death and then record the history that reappears."

From outside the screen, Jin Xueli said from a distance: "Can you speak seriously?"

"What kind of talk is that? The people watching the video are—never mind." Han Liuyue coughed and asked, "Did you find the part about January?"

As she spoke, the camera followed and Jin Xueli and her homemade body transporter appeared in the picture.

"found it,"

She had just withdrawn Vesile's arm and was in the process of repositioning the body so it sat properly. "The fire trough is now open, and we'll soon be able to see history."

The candle wax slid down softly, reflecting fragments of the scene and the small figures coming and going.

“Hey, this is…”

Han Liuyue seemed surprised - the camera immediately zoomed in, showing a close-up of Vesile.

Her voice, off-screen, explains: "This is the first remaining image from January. All the previous ones are empty."

When the high-pitched buzzing alarm sounded, Vesile seemed to have been waiting for a long time and grabbed the phone from the table.

"As expected, you're here... Now I'm an official participant. Well, even though you joined before me, you're still on my team."

He looked down at his phone screen, swiped a few times, and threw it on the table. "But... is this true? Gathering a few things and being able to control the nest always feels a bit child's play."

Beside him stood a figure.

The figure was sparse and dim, and nothing could be seen clearly except a rough human shape - the other party's answering voice also disappeared in the candle wax.

There was a moment of blankness in the candle wax before Weisilai appeared again and smiled.

"...With our financial resources and no competition, wouldn't it be easy to find all seven artifacts? Moreover, I've seen several that seem very similar to what I have. Do you know how to confirm it?"

Next, there was another blank.

"It seems we can't find out how to confirm it." Han Liuyue called out from outside the screen, "Jin Xueli, come and adjust the time."

A hand that should belong to Jin Xueli gently reached into the candle wax, moving it, and passed through several scenes.

Han Liuyue, off-screen, read the contents of Candle Tears and explained, "Less than half of January's experiences remain. The subsequent history doesn't seem to have much to do with the artifacts or the lair. It's nothing more than memories left from his work and life... Okay, you can speed things up a bit."

"That's right. If we don't speed up, we'll have to spend 24 hours reading the content of Candle Tears for one day. Who can stand it?"

As Jin Xueli spoke, she swiped past January and the screen entered February.

In early February, Vesile received a text message confirming that he had just acquired a target artifact - but it was unknown which one it was.

"In less than a month, I was able to get a target artifact. I'm not bragging."

Jin Xueli seemed unconvinced and scrolled back a few times, fast-forwarding the part unrelated to the artifact. "It's really amazing to be rich. You can even collect artifacts—huh?"

"What's wrong?" Han Liuyue asked.

Jin Xueli paused and moved the candlelight back again. "He just said something that sounded a bit like... Let me listen to it again."

The candle tears were replayed a few days later, and the camera replayed the conversations between Weisilai and several men and women.

"Isn't that the mayor of Blackmore?" Han Liuyue seemed startled. She reached out from outside the camera and pointed at a man sitting behind a desk. "There's a national flag behind them... This room must be the mayor's office, right?"

"Mr. Wei, I don't understand your intention in doing this."

At this moment, in the candlelight scene, the mayor of Blackmore City was speaking in a negotiating tone, "The current chief of the Central Police Department is impeccable in both his qualifications and performance, and has helped us a great deal. His term hasn't even expired yet, and he's suddenly asking for a replacement. This..."

"He always does his job well, and I have no complaints about him."

Vesile leaned back in his chair and spoke in a low voice; the mayor had to lean forward to hear him.

"So, if there's anything I can do to help him with this transfer, feel free to ask. But I need Ashley Page to take his place before October. Consider it a favor."

Off-screen, Jin Xueli took a breath.

"This Page... well, it's not impossible to do." The mayor flipped open a document and took a look. "I want to ask, why?"

But at this point in the conversation, the candle wax became blank again.

"That Ashley, Chase and I both know him!"

Jin Xueli seemed quite excited and said, "We dealt with her when we were taken to the Central Police Station... Eh, so it was Wei Xilai who helped her get the position? Why? Do they know each other? This place with broken candles is really disgusting."

"He might not tell anyone the real reason," Han Liuyue said. "Let's wait and see."

The content of the next ten days or so basically had nothing to do with the false image or the nest - Vesile seemed to have a good relationship with his wife. Even in the incomplete history that looked like it had been chewed by a dog, there were still several scenes of them dining and chatting together.

It wasn't until the end of February that Vesile received a call.

The call was very brief. From the video footage, we could only hear him say a few words like "thank you", "I won't forget this favor", "let him come find me", and then he hung up the phone.

As if realizing the importance of the call, the camera stayed on the candle wax, and no one reached out to fast forward the time.

Vesile sat at the table, thought for a moment, and picked up the phone again.

"...It's me. The mayor has issued an internal order for the transfer... Yes. He asked for some time, but the Central Police Chief should be replaced before October. Since this matter has been finalized, when can I expect to receive it?"

The person on the phone said something, and Vesile frowned.

"...You don't know either? Isn't this your source of information?"

His tone was heavy, stern, and unceremonious. "There's a gap of seven or eight months between receiving it now and receiving it after Ashley actually takes office. In seven or eight months, do you know how much progress we can make? Are we going to wait in vain? So, if I don't hear from you within a week, go into the lair and ask for information."

"It really has something to do with the nest... It seems that once Ashley takes over as police chief, he will receive something." Han Liuyue whispered.

"What did you receive?" Jin Xueli asked in a daze.

"Take a close look at the history of the next week," Han Liuyue's voice became a little more serious.

However, in the week that followed, the remaining history was particularly scarce; in some scenes, even a sentence could not be completed before it ended in a blank.

"Search frame by frame," Han Liuyue said. "Even if only one word is left, we can't miss it."

The video quietly recorded every remaining scene in the candle wax.

At the beginning of March, on an unknown day, Vesile suddenly said, "It will be delivered to me in a form that cannot be forged."

These words rang out from the void, without a beginning or an end, and flashed by in a flash.

The scene, the picture, the people talking... and all the other information are missing, leaving only this sentence.

"What on earth is it?"

Jin Xueli's curiosity was clearly piqued, and she repeatedly examined the candle wax. "If the truth isn't in the candle wax, I'll be terribly upset."

"I'm afraid he's about to receive it," Han Liuyue said thoughtfully, "Let's take a closer look."

Despite having entered the information age, Vesile seems to be a conservative person and still retains the habit of reading paper newspapers every morning.

This scene had happened several times before: when he finished breakfast, the servant would bring him the newspaper.

In the camera, Vesile unfolded the Blackmoor Times as usual, and then paused.

He murmured to the empty dining table, "Got it... I got it."

On the newspaper, where the front-page headline should have been printed, there was only a line of four large characters left.

Artifact Report

　As you all know, I have two cats.

　　These two cats eat the same cat food, eat the same amount, and neither of them eats snacks (one gets a stomachache after eating, and the other doesn't eat at all).

　　They live together, eating and sleeping together, but one cat is skinny and the other is so fat that it gives you a heart attack if you hold it in your arms - I really don't understand why this is happening.

　　PS: I finally got the title of the book! This proves that the title is not chosen randomly! Congratulations, congratulations
　　
　
(End of this chapter)