Artifact Report

Chapter 20 Mai Minghe: Jonah Seeks Help
Mai Minghe was so shocked that it felt like countless electric currents exploded throughout her body. She hurriedly pushed the door forward with all her strength - she reacted quickly, and before Jonah could get in, the sliding door just pressed tightly against his neck.

If I could suffocate him like this, perhaps things would be simple.

Unfortunately, the door pressed on the artery on the side of his neck. Although his face was bloodshot and his breathing was difficult, his trachea was not fatally compressed. As long as he was still breathing, he still had the strength to hold the edge of the door with one hand and push it hard towards the Maiming River.

This guy can even talk.

"do you know?"

His breathing was labored, but his words were clear and complete. "...Anyone who stays in the lair for more than seven days, or who dies there, will have not only their bodies but also their spirit, memories, emotions, experiences, and even every single thought, broken down piece by piece and transformed into other forms, becoming part of the lair. You've lived a lifetime, and you've experienced a lot, haven't you? You've also had many evil thoughts, haven't you? When you die here, I wonder what wonders will appear... It's rare for someone to die in the lair at the age of seventy or eighty."

I seem to understand, but I don’t seem to understand.

After death, do emotions, memories, and experiences become part of the nest? What does "part" mean? Does it mean that one's own memories will also become individual residents?
As if he could hear her thoughts, Jonah laughed hoarsely, "From these eighty-six years of life, what will emerge one after another... I'm so looking forward to it."

Jonah's words were meant to shake him up again, just like before?
Mai Minghe leaned against the door desperately, gritting his teeth, thinking, he had made a wrong calculation.

"Is it because Jonah always needs to train new people, so you can't help but educate me?"

Even though her muscles were trembling and her whole body was shaking, she didn't hesitate to speak. Her breath was trembling as she said, "You live in a human body like a large intestine roundworm. You have no life experience. How can a person go through life without setbacks and difficulties? But life always gives you a little light and tenderness when you least expect it.

"Even if you killed me here today and used me as raw material to produce residents, I wouldn't feel pain or anger. I don't have many days left, lying in bed day after day like a withered shell. The best is gone forever. But before my life ends, I can be young again, live again, and die as I remember myself. Who can have such luck? This is the kindness that God has given me. I am very happy."

"Shut up!" Jonah cried hoarsely, unable to get a word in. "Shut up!"

"When people get older, it's inevitable that they'll become a bit talkative, and once they start talking, they can't stop."

Jonah seemed very angry. He set an example by shutting up and pressing his lips into a tight line. A man and a head, each breathing heavily, played a reverse tug-of-war quietly for a while.

Mai Minghe couldn't help but speak again.

"You got into Jonah's body. Doesn't that mean he has no independent consciousness left? Hey, boy, are you still in there? You should take care of that brain worm. This is not a solution."

Jonah's face was already squeezed to the point that his capillaries burst, and his face was covered with large, shocking patches of blood, just like a swollen purple grape. But he didn't seem to care, and didn't respond to Mai Minghe's words, and continued to pull the door.

People are afraid of getting stuck in a rut; now it seems that if something is not human, it will be difficult to deal with it if it gets stuck in a rut...

Mai Minghe knew that his physical strength was definitely not as good as Jonah's.

Even if she regained her youth and strength, she was still compared to her eighty-six-year-old self; Jonah was strong and had experienced many life and death situations, so the two were not on the same level - what's more, the elderly have poor appetites. The day before she fell into the nest, she had only eaten a few biscuits and some eggs, and vomited them all. Now, looking at the remains of the "child" on the ground, she actually began to feel a little greedy.

She has been able to hold on until now because she has taken advantage of her position. If she continues to maintain a stalemate, she will be in trouble sooner or later.

Mai Minghe took another look at the remains of the "child" on the ground, and suddenly took a breath of cold air through his teeth: "Huh?"

A moment of doubt appeared in his mind, and he couldn't help but loosen his grip.

Jonah reacted immediately and followed her gaze, lowering his head. Mai Minghe had been waiting for this moment and immediately seized the opportunity, pressing his entire body weight forward and desperately slamming the sliding door forward. Jonah let out a hoarse, dry scream from between the door and the wall, as if a broken soft leather pipe was clamped in.

"It was just a kid's trick, it really tricked you into looking down." Mai Minghe said, but he secretly groaned in his heart.

She had thought that when Jonah looked down, she would have a chance to close the door completely.

Now the situation is exactly the same as before, and I don’t know how long the stalemate will continue.

Air went in and out of Jonah's throat intermittently several times, and each time seemed more difficult than the last.

Is your trachea stuck?

Because he turned his head and looked from the perspective of the Mai Ming River, he was a little unsure.

"I...I..." Jonah turned toward the wall, his voice muffled and hoarse, not like speaking, but more like a balloon leaking air. "It's...the hunters sent by the Morgan family..."

At this time, are you still thinking about introducing her?

Mai Minghe was just beginning to feel doubtful, but then he felt something was wrong and continued to listen.

"My name is Jonah Jenko... This is my fifth day in the lair..." He said with difficulty, "Please... go to the Morgan family... and ask for help..."

Goose bumps appeared on Mai Minghe's skin.

Perhaps because of a key obstruction, temporarily blocking the residents' control, the person speaking to her wasn't a den dweller bent on killing her, but Jonah, a hunter from Blackmore City, begging for her life. "Where are your companions?" Mai Minghe spoke with difficulty. "Can you call them over? You can see I'm in danger now."

Her limbs had long begun to feel weak, and she could only keep telling herself, "Hold on for just one more second," and after holding on for one second, "Hold on for just one more second," and only then did she hold on until now.

"Get out of the nest immediately..." Jonah continued to speak intermittently.

"I can't get out," Mai Minghe interrupted him. "Can you control your body and prevent the residents from chasing me? It's still a long way from here to the lair exit—"

"No, no...it deceived you."

Mai Minghe suddenly closed his mouth, and his teeth clashed.

"How we got here... is how we get back..." Jonah's throat made two clicking sounds and then fell silent.

Just when Mai Minghe's heart was in suspense, thinking that his control had been taken away by the residents again, he heard him suddenly continue: "Falling in from the TV... TV... Go back. You have walked through the passage once, so when you see it again, you will feel it..."

"But, as soon as I let go, the residents will regain control of you, right?" Mai Minghe couldn't hide his anxiety and said, "Don't even mention that I can't escape. Even if I could escape, I don't know if I could find electricity before it catches me—"

The word "see" stopped abruptly in her mouth.

Her gaze remained fixed on the back of the room.

After a few seconds, Mai Minghe whispered, "Is that what you mean? I'll know it's a passage when I see it."

Jonah's throat hissed, and he seemed unable to answer her.

Mai Minghe couldn't help swallowing, his heartbeat was so loud that he could hear it in his ears.

In the dim light, she could just barely make out a small door at the other end of the room.

Although the medical imaging room has no windows opening to the outside, there is a small room separated inside the room. The door leads to the small room, and there is a glass window next to the door facing the X-ray machine.

When she was looking for weapons, she only looked around her and in front of her, so she didn't take the small door and glass window seriously. But at this moment, she suddenly realized something - when she went to have an X-ray in the past, the doctor would often sit in the small room.

Why are you sitting there?
Because the doctor needs to perform the operation and look at the film.

At this moment, from the edge of the window, she could see the shadow of half a computer screen; without light, everything was blurry, and if she hadn't paid special attention, she probably wouldn't have realized it was a screen.

The screen was used for observing medical images and was very large. At that time, lying in bed, the feeling of being eager to get in front of the TV was like a wildfire that suddenly ignited in Mai Minghe's heart and burned more and more vigorously.

Could it be that her channel is not the TV, but the "screen"?
That's not right. Then why didn't you feel anything when you saw the computer screen on the table when you passed by the nurses' station?
This question is not important at the moment, and it is not the time to think about it.

"Hey, Jonah?" Mai Minghe called out. She wanted to confirm her guess with him, but Jonah only made a gurgling sound in his throat.

"How can I find the Morgan family? Do you have... their phone number?"

You can't find Hunter's Pie in the Yellow Pages, right? Oh, yes, there aren't any Yellow Pages anymore. People used to register their phone numbers in public phone directories for fear of being lost, but nowadays, it's the opposite. It seems their biggest fear is a "privacy leak."

The world is different.

How was she supposed to find the Morgan Family Pie? Was it on her smartphone? She couldn't let a good child get killed by a nasty bug.

But Mai Minghe called him a few more times, but Jonah didn't respond.

She glanced at the screen in the small room, her heart burning like wildfire.

If her guess was wrong, and she risked her life by rushing into the small room but couldn't return to Blackmore City, she would definitely die; but if she continued to hold on, she would also inevitably die.

Since there are dangers anyway, we might as well take action.

Mai Minghe took a deep breath and put his foot down from the door.

She loosened her grip, and the pressure on the door eased, and the resident immediately woke up. At the same moment the sliding door was pushed open by Jonah's shoulder, Mai Minghe also rushed towards the small room.

　Today is another day I fly, and I expect to fly at least three more times in the next two weeks. All major airlines are celebrating at the moment - except China Eastern Airlines.

　　When I'm booking a flight, the sight of China Eastern Airlines makes me cringe; I have to cross it out immediately. Isn't there a saying that goes, "People won't remember what you said or did, but they will always remember how you made them feel." That's how it is with me. I've forgotten what initially disgusted me, but that disgust, timeless, remains. The thought of China Eastern makes me feel carsick even when I'm sitting on the toilet. So, I'd rather take a China Southern Airlines flight arriving at 11 p.m. than give a cent to an afternoon flight.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)