Artifact Report

Chapter 265 Mai Minghe: Colorful Reality and Undercover Snake

The mood of the crowd, who were looking forward to the Kai family's rescue forty minutes ago, was now satisfied a thousand times by the nest - to be more precise, it was satisfied infinitely.

The real problem is not that each rescue team comes from a different reality; the real problem is that there is more than just rescue coming.

Soon the group discovered that in the endless parallel realities, there were endless reasons for all sorts of difficult-to-define things (or people?) to enter the stairwell with endless motives - but there was only one target, which was Mai Minghe and his group.

The first group of rescue hunters, Chibelli and Connie, were relatively easy to deal with: they seemed to be genuinely in it to save people.

“…Not going out?”

As Qi Baili answered, he had already climbed the stairs below and entered everyone's sight. His appearance, clothing, and tone of voice were identical to the Qi Baili Mai Minghe had seen before entering. Perhaps because the Kai family knew how to circumvent the checkpoints, he hadn't changed his appearance, and the look of surprise and confusion on his face was clear.

"You guys voluntarily chose to be trapped in this stairwell?"

The woman named Connie next to Qi Baili confirmed it again with Su Beihua in disbelief.

She was a complete stranger, not the renamed Sayuki. But Connie still looked like a healthy, mature human woman; their words and actions were rational and normal, even conforming to the behavior logic of Kai family hunters.

"Have you been infected? What's your reason for not leaving?" Connie said rather unhappily. "If you all die here, no one will believe you stayed here voluntarily, and it will ultimately affect the reputation of our Kai family."

At that moment, a vague but sweet thought flowed from one person to the next like a stream of water.

Mai Minghe never verified it, but she always felt that everyone should have felt that silent suggestion.

...These two people are from Floor 0.

The group of five asked the most questions to Tianxi on the 0th floor; as far as they knew, the reality on the 0th floor was no different from their own reality except for the inconsistency in the year and time.

If everything is normal, then wouldn't it be better to go back to the reality of 2019 with these two people than to be trapped in the stairwell forever?
But no one said anything.

Floor 0 is not far above their heads; when they really have to take this step, they still have a chance to climb out from Floor 0... right?

After being repeatedly rejected and asked to leave by Suo Beihua, Qi Baili and Connie no longer insisted. Qi Baili shrugged, turned around and walked downstairs, saying, "I don't care. Whether you are infected or not, I don't have the moral character to force you to save others. Hey, Connie, let's go."

Connie was silent for a few seconds, took one last look at the five people, and turned to follow. Under everyone's fixed gaze, the two of them became smaller and smaller until they could no longer be seen - everyone breathed a sigh of relief and straightened up.

At that moment, Connie's roar of shock and anger rushed straight up the stairwell: "Chi Baili? Chi Baili! Chi Baili! Where are you? Where have you been--"

The vocal cords suddenly stopped vibrating, and no fresh sound could be sent out. Only the dying echoes echoed in circles in the stairwell, gradually sinking into silence.

Mai Minghe felt that he was not the only one with a stiff back and sweaty palms.

The first group of rescuers, Chibury and Connie, seemed to have been sent away and suddenly disappeared from the stairs.

None of them suggested going downstairs to take a look, not because the five of them were united and cautious, but because at this moment, someone on the floor above seemed to cover his mouth with one hand and chuckled from his nose - it was Chi Baili.

"Don't be afraid, I'm not missing. I'm just playing hide-and-seek."

He stood at the top of another staircase leading up the corner and whispered. When everyone looked up, they could only see his trouser legs and feet. "Don't tell them I'm here."

...It was Chibrelli who was sent in from another reality, not the one on level 0; that was obvious.

"Oh, I forgot. Once we're inside the lair, we won't have to play hide-and-seek anymore... Old habits die hard. I was stunned for a moment, thinking, I clearly found you all, so why haven't you five turned into ghosts yet?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Robert asked angrily, his anger seeming forced.

"Those who are found will turn into ghosts," this Chi Baili said vaguely, "The most important rule of Blackmore City is that you cannot be found..."

Deep down downstairs, it seemed as if there was something that silently swallowed up the first rescue group; and on the upper floor, there stood another Chibrelli, slowly telling the history of hide-and-seek in Blackmore City.

Everyone has to play hide-and-seek, everyone has to hide, and everyone has to hide their identity - in that Blackmoor city, those who like to post updates on social media have died out long after the "hide-and-seek" disaster struck.

Suo Beihua looked at Mai Minghe and asked with her mouth: Go down?

Mai Minghe glanced down.

She hurriedly shook her head and poked the air downwards with her fingers, attracting the attention of several people nearby, who all looked down.

Two residents climbed up the stairs. The reason they could be identified as residents at a glance was because one of their pullovers had the word "居" (Resident) printed on it, and the other had the word "民" (People) printed on it.

In addition, their faces are deeply sunken in the middle, like dough that collapses after being punched, which can be regarded as a kind of honest identification.

The two of them raised their heads, as if meeting everyone's gaze from a concave gap, and immediately began to speak in unison and in a very rhythmic manner.

“We,” said the resident on the left.

“Yes, yes, it really is,” said the resident on the right.

“Harmless,” the left resident sang.

"Residents!" the right side continued, "harmless, pleasant, and environmentally friendly."

The left side said: "It's rare!"

Robert cursed.

"There are only four or five floors left," Li Sidan was also panicking, "They are climbing too fast——"

"Don't be afraid," the resident on the right comforted.

“Follow me,” said Left.

"Don't shout no, no, no--" The resident on the right imitated the screams of humans resisting and struggling vividly.

"Saying no means yes!" The left side seemed to complete a section. The faces of those who could still be seen were all pale.

Suo Beihua bit her lower lip tightly, raised her head sharply, and said to Qi Baili's feet upstairs, "We have to play hide-and-seek here too, did you know?"

"Ok?"

"Go hide now, we'll be coming for you soon!"

Mai Minghe immediately understood what she meant - but could she fool him?
"That's not the rule..." said Chi Baili.

Suo Beihua glanced at the two residents rapidly approaching them from downstairs. "The rule of this stairwell is that the more crowded side should approach the less crowded side. It's the exact opposite of Blackmore City."

She seemed to have listened to part of what he said just now; she didn't know whether Chi Baili was really convinced or had other plans. He just laughed, turned around, and ran up the stairs.

As soon as the feet disappeared, Suo Beihua immediately lowered her voice and shouted, "Run up quickly!" and was the first to swim up the stairs.

No one wanted to stay and see if the two residents were really harmless.

The first three waves of "rescue teams", although they arrived one after another, were not the most difficult and deadly group of people - Chi Baili hid somewhere in the blink of an eye, and although the residents walked fast, their attention was diverted by other humans they met on the way.

No one knew who they saw.

Mai Minghe and several other temporary companions who also dared not breathe loudly leaned over the railing handles and listened to the two residents who stopped and said in unison:
"kid,"

"one person?"

"The two of us,"

"He's a good man."

It was most likely a hunter sent from another reality... Whether he was here to rescue them, who he was, or what happened afterwards, none of the five knew.

After the two residents' voices disappeared, silence seemed to return to the stairwell.

When they were escaping, they had already run past the 0th floor and reached the 6th floor in one breath; the muscles in Mai Minghe's limbs felt like they had broken fibers, he felt tired and empty, trembling slightly, and unable to muster any strength.

"...rest...for...a...minute." Robert said, and began to wind up the spring again. Mai Minghe was already very tired of the sound of the winding metal.

Li Sidan's antennas were swaying all over his body, capturing the movements up and down the stairwell; Ai Meili slowly fell to the end, leaning against the wall silently.

Suo Beihua buried her face in her hands.

"You know," she said suddenly, "I didn't have to come for the interview."

Mai Minghe was stunned for two seconds before realizing that she was talking to him.

Li Sidan must have heard it, as the antennas spun slightly, but he didn't turn around, seemingly pretending not to hear. Given Robert and Aimee's current state, it was hard to imagine they still had the energy to pay attention to Suo Beihua's whispers.

"I'm not a lone hunter at all." Suo Beihua put down his hand, looked at the coiled snake tail beneath him, and laughed self-deprecatingly. "I have a family."

sand.

Mai Minghe watched her gradually coiled snake tail and suddenly understood: "You - you want to go undercover in the Kai family? Is that why you are in the form of a snake?"

Snake is not a nice word; so when she saw the snake tail of the Sobei flower, she always avoided delving into its meaning - now she finally had the answer.

"How ridiculous," Suo Beihua muttered, her face a dead look. "I just wanted to investigate Chase Monroe's whereabouts... I knew it was a dangerous mission, but I didn't expect the danger wouldn't come from the Kai family. I actually failed at this interview."

sand.

"It's really not worth it... It's really not worth it."

Suo Beihua chuckled softly, "To find out about Kai's family... it's really not worth it. We have no hope of getting out anymore, unless we randomly choose a 'reality' to crawl out of and then be tricked to death by the nest. Or we can continue to stay and slowly turn into something that is neither human nor ghost."

She turned her head and glanced at Mai Minghe, but it seemed as if he couldn't see her at all.

Whether the person sitting in front of her was Mai Minghe, a cat or a dog, it seemed to no longer matter to her.

sand.

Suo Beihua stopped stroking the snake's tail, her expression hollow, her voice almost inaudible. "What about you? Do you regret it? I just wanted to find some support, some backing..."

"I didn't actually come to the Kai family just to join the clan..."

Mai Minghe paused.

It wasn't because she was afraid that this conversation would be heard by the Kai family; her taboos and worries about the Kai family had now become a distant, shadowy mist.

It’s like after my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, I suddenly no longer had to wonder whether the gas stove at home was turned off, or check again and again whether the door was locked. That kind of worry about the safety of flesh and blood is a luxury for people who know they can continue to live.

She paused because she suddenly noticed that Suo Beihua had stopped stroking the snake's tail scales. Amidst the click of the spring, she could still hear...

sand.

Mai Minghe turned his head.

A thin human-shaped backdrop had half of its body squeezed out from the crack in the wall.

　Friends, although tomorrow is Saturday, I have to be unfilial and apologize to the grandmas who gave me rewards. I plan to use the time when I am not updating to write the extra chapter of Wild Deer Convenience Store. I will make up for it with the thank you chapter next Saturday!

　　To be honest, I don't know if Wild Deer will pass muster. Can it be published if it's full of strange and mysterious things?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)