Artifact Report

Chapter 275: Chai Si: Good Luck Sucked Away

Kaironan never actually went through the adoption process.

Legally speaking, Chase's guardian remained his elderly and taciturn aunt until her death many years later.

At that time, Chai Si had just turned sixteen, which was an age at which the child welfare agency would not make arrangements for him as long as no one mentioned it.

After his aunt died, no one in the world cared where Chase Monroe was living, who he was living with, or whether he was living a good life. It was just that by some miracle that he could not understand, his entire growth process ended up being far more affluent and comfortable than that of most people.

He forgot how he gradually settled down in Kai's house.

At first, Uncle Kai visited him from time to time and sent some living expenses to his aunt; the next year, when he was old enough to go to school, Chai found that he and Damian had entered the same private school - they had the same sets of clothes and school bags; even though he was young, he could see that they were all expensive things that his mother would have to work for a long time to afford.

During every holiday, Chai Si would go on trips with the Kai family, attend summer camps, sign up for equestrian lessons, fighting lessons, shooting training... He had his own room in the Kai family and never lacked pocket money; the maid who only came to work four days a week also knew his tastes and preferences very well.

Gradually, he spent more and more time staying at Kai's house. I don't know since which grade in elementary school he stopped going back to his aunt's house.

At first, my aunt would come to see him, but later she would call him only once every few months.

The last time the two met was when Chai Si gave a speech at her funeral, only to realize that she was almost a complete stranger to him.

My entire childhood, until I was thirteen, seemed like a dream.

It was as if his mother had known that he would live a good life only if she died, so she handed him over to Kaironan before she died.

In the past, Chai Si would think that what his mother gave to Uncle Kai was not only him, but also a part of herself - it seemed that the part of her as a mother was also taken over by Kailonan along with Chai Si.

After being raised by the Kai family for nearly twenty years, Chai Si never felt that Aunt Hai was like his mother - if he had a mother-son relationship with any other woman, it would be like a betrayal to Daisy Monroe - so Uncle Kai became both his parents at the same time.

Of course, he never showed this feeling; especially in front of Aunt Hai and Damian, he was even more careful.

Kyronan can call him "son", but Chase cannot call him "father".

This is how things are in this world.

"...Do you remember? By then, the Kai family had grown quite large, and I rarely went into the lair alone. I always took you on trips..."

When he was trapped in the abyss, the father who would never be his father was still leading him out with words and voice, one sentence at a time.

How could I not remember?
That was the best time in his life, and it would never come again.

Before he was thirteen, Chai Si had been to the West Coast several times with his uncle Kai, visiting the coastal mountains and the interstate desert.

March to September is the best season to view the Milky Way in the Northern Hemisphere.

He once sat in the mountains, smelling the scent of trees and soil; he once lay in the desert, feeling the fine sand that he could never shake off, which was stuck between his toes and in the insoles, feeling rough and light.

Uncle Kai talked about the universe and the constellations, and Aunt Hai laughed from time to time. They lay under the inky black sky, with billions of silver stars stretching from the front to the distant horizon.

Under that starry sky, Chai Si would temporarily forget that his future had already been determined.

Uncle Kai once told him that one of the best places to see the Milky Way is in central Australia; Chai Si imagined that when he grew up, he might be able to cross distant continents and oceans and chase the stars with his life.

Although Chai Si actually knew very well that he had only one path to follow when he grew up, which was to become a hunter of the Kai family.

“…I have no complaints.”

Chai Si whispered to the darkness, "I just didn't expect that the only thing I was destined to do in this life would be impossible to accomplish."

Damian was once very tired of the repetitive passage tests and declared that he would never be a hunter in the future, but a painter.

Two years later, he became fascinated with movies, so Aunt Hai bought him a video camera. He filmed "martial arts clips" during combat training classes and asked Chai Si to wear a children's suit that his family had custom-made for formal occasions, because that would make it look like a "spy film."

Chai Si is just the opposite of him.

He never considered quitting being a hunter, because he knew he had no choice; he always ended up wearing a suit and leather shoes to combat training classes.

However, the access test that started when they were six or seven years old continued for many years, until one of them was thirteen and the other was twelve, and they still had no hope of opening the access - with every passing day, Chai Si's torment deepened.

It was as if he had told a huge lie to Uncle Kai, as if he had sneaked in and stolen things from Kai's house, as if he was seeking fame and reputation and was just filling in the gaps, and he deserved to be kicked out immediately.

Yes, the reason why Shibashi wanted to be a hunter at that time was no longer to avenge his mother.

He had been influenced by the Kai family and had a deep understanding of the nest. Revenge on the residents was too unrealistic. He didn't even know whether the residents were still alive or where to start looking. Revenge had gradually become a false fantasy.

Other children, like Damian, simply had their parents when they were born with their eyes open, but Chase couldn't. He had to grow taller, run faster, be stronger, have a smarter mind, and be more responsive... He had to become the best hunter, only then could he have parents.

If there is a God, he must be a vicious sadist.

Why give his mother that kind of access but give him nothing?
...He doesn't even have a path, so what use is he?

But Damian was very happy.

“It would be better if there were no access!”

Damian, only twelve at the time, possessed a certain sophistication not often found in other children. "Once you have a path, you're a lifesaver. Who knows when you might never come back? I don't want to be a hunter, and my mother doesn't want me to be one either. There are so many hunters in our clan, we don't need you and me. Paying them is just to get them into our lair. Don't worry, you're like a brother to me. You'll always have a place in the Kai family."

As long as you hold on to a piece of fragment tightly and think about it repeatedly, you will gradually summon more fragments - even the experiences that Uncle Kai is unaware of will return to Chai Si little by little.

Damian, perhaps wanting to comfort him, continued with a smile, "You know, I'm the only one in the Kai family who thinks you're my brother. You've got to follow me closely."

After that, Chai Si began to secretly look for a passage on his own when no one was watching.

He had fallen from a tree and felt dizzy from holding his breath underwater; he had jumped on the zebra crossing, first stepping on the odd line and then changing to the plural line amidst the whizzing traffic, and had been scolded countless times.

Chai Si borrowed a family Hunter motorcycle and drove straight into the wall of an abandoned warehouse, only to end up staying in the yard for a while. He spent the whole day watching horror movies, crime documentaries, and underground gore films until he couldn't hold on any longer and fell asleep - he did have many nightmares, but none of them led him to the lair.

I wonder if if you cut open the skin and flesh, you can see traces of the passage in the human body.

He looked at his hands and thought.

After several months of hard experimentation in private, Chai Si stopped temporarily when Thanksgiving was approaching.

Aunt Hai pays great attention to holidays. At the end of the year, he must appear clean and intact at family dinners and Christmas card photos - he can't have a bruised face on such important occasions.

Damian felt that the lack of access was a blessing.

Chai Si sucked away his good luck, whether he wanted it or not.

That day was November 18th.

It was Damian's second to last day on earth.

Chai Si forgot why he was so tired that day. He only remembered that he went to bed early. However, after only two or three hours of sleep, he suddenly opened his eyes in the dark.

Chai Si sat up silently.

He stared at his door, his muscles tense; one hand quietly reached up to the bedside table and gripped the heavy base of the desk lamp.

Although he had used various weapons during training, Uncle Kai did not allow weapons to be kept in the children's room. Chai Si never thought that there would be a time when he would need to use weapons at home.

The bedroom door stood quietly in the darkness.

He didn't know what had woken him.

After waiting warily for a few seconds, someone knocked on the door twice.

"Who is it?" Chai Si asked in a low voice.

"Chai Si, you're still awake?"

Outside the door was Damian.

He sounded a little different than usual, excited, confused, or dazed, his tone almost like... like a younger, bewildered child.

"Come out, quickly, and be quiet," Damian said softly and urgently, "Don't let Mom and Dad find out... I want to show you something."

"what?"

Chai Si had already let go of the desk lamp. Before he finished asking the question, his body had already taken action out of habit and got out of bed.

"I was just playing in my room... I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden... I, I seem to have opened a channel."

Chai Si stood still in the darkness.

He had never hated someone so much as he did at that moment.

(End of this chapter)