Artifact Report

Chapter 304 Fu Tai Lan: New Friend Little Eyes and Domino's Pizza
It would be hard to find another metropolis in the world as convenient as Blackmore.

At 1:30 a.m. on the 16th, Fu Tailan was driving his recently rented car at high speed on the interstate highway.

The impending death of Vesile will be a seismic event; countless parties will launch a thorough search for his death—he certainly can't just casually take a taxi to Vesile's estate in the middle of the night.

Even if he had an alibi on the 16th, it wouldn't work; moreover, based on his understanding of himself, he probably didn't have such a convenient tool on the 16th.

Unfortunately, the Upper State Manor is not located within the territory of Blackmore City, making it impossible to approach it from the lair...

The lair and Blackmore City completely overlap in area and boundary.

Fu Tailan hadn't seen it himself, but he'd heard from more than one hunter that the edge of Blackmore City on the map was the edge of the lair in reality.

When a person stands inside the boundary of the nest and looks out, all they see is a thick darkness that no light can penetrate, like a wall that seals off the nest from all sides, turning it into a solitary room.

He didn't know if anyone had ever ventured into the darkness out of curiosity.

But if such a person did exist, they certainly didn't return alive—to this day, no one knows what that darkness was, or whether it had any boundaries.

Judging from Vesley's extremely tense demeanor, it was clear that the Vesley Manor was under an incredibly tight security perimeter. If they could approach from the lair, they could naturally bypass the numerous lines of defense he had laid out…

But now, Fu Tailan can only rely on himself, his two guns, and the three illusions he just took from the Morgan family to get through the checkpoints set up by Wei Xilai.

Oh, and there's a box of pizza on the back seat; and a pair of eyeballs peeking out from the gap in the glove box lid.

He should probably thank his nest dissociation for not experiencing more deadly and distorted "hallucinations" at such a critical moment.

It was just a pair of eyes staring at him from the darkness after the glove box was opened a crack—those eyes were honest and quiet, much better than the words on the nest's letter paper, making them a pretty good travel companion.

"Tell me, if you had inexhaustible wealth and resources that ordinary people couldn't even imagine, what kind of security would you set up?" Fu Tailan asked the glove box.

The eyeballs remained motionless.

"You don't know either?"

His eyes darted around twice before returning to Fu Tailan.

"That's true. Neither of us is in that position, so we don't know what choices we have. It's hard for people to imagine things they haven't seen before. Let me consider this issue from another perspective."

That is, what is the worst-case scenario for an intruder?

"The worst-case scenario is that if someone tries to harm him, Vesley will know immediately. But that's unlikely, practically impossible. If he could know the moment someone had a thought, he wouldn't need to be on guard, right, Little Eyes?"

Those eyes widened even more, their eyeballs bulging out of the shadows as if to prove they were not small.

"Besides that, the worst-case scenario... let me think about it."

Driving alone is boring; putting your thoughts into words is also a way to organize your thoughts.

"It's impossible to get close to him. Or rather, getting close would expose you, and being exposed would mean death."

As Fu Tailan pondered, she said, "The manor will use a whitelist system, allowing only those on the list to enter the manor and its surrounding area. Even if someone is on the whitelist, things like bombs and guns simply cannot get past the defense line... Hmm, this kind of interception can be done with armed forces and drones. In addition, they will definitely use decoys."

He stared at the road ahead, the water rushing under his wheels, without turning his head. He reached out and slammed the glove box shut—his fingers, which were quietly reaching out, were suddenly pinched. The thing seemed to cry out in pain, or perhaps not, but it eventually withdrew its hand.

The eyeballs once again temporarily abandoned their attempt to climb out, moving into the corner of the glove box and staring intently at Fu Tailan.

"Suppose there is an artifact that can detect 'malice' within a certain distance and issue an alarm... or once the intruder enters the artifact's detection range, their location is immediately exposed to the guards, while the intruder remains completely unaware. For the intruder, this is undoubtedly the worst-case scenario."

"You know what I mean? For example, I'm all set to climb the fence, and when I look up, I see the drones overhead with their guns already aimed."

The small eyes gradually moved closer to each other, and the two eyeballs pressed tightly together.

"Oh, you flatter me. Thank you. You don't need to praise me so enthusiastically. I'm embarrassed."

Fu Tailan decided that it was praising her for being meticulous.

"Acting based on the worst-case scenario... I'm good at lying, but how can I fool the illusion? Oh, time to get off the highway."

It's less than an hour's drive from where the Wei family estate is located.

Fu Tailan drove off the highway and onto the road, only to find a police car parked on the side of the road immediately following him, signaling him to stop with its lights on.

"Officer," Fu Tailan rolled down her window and asked, "Was I speeding?"

The police officer was very gentle: "Sir, where are you going so late?"

"go home."

Fu Tailan gestured forward with her chin. Thirty minutes ahead along this road was an affluent neighborhood, where property prices were so high that even the dogs there commanded respect.

"I just got back from a business trip abroad, and my wife is still waiting for me at home."

"Could you please show me your driver's license?" the police officer said.

Fu Tailan frowned sharply, looking displeased, and reached into her pocket to take out her wallet. "What happened?"

The police officer carefully examined the driver's license, compared it with the photo, and confirmed the home address. His attitude immediately became much more polite. "Mr. Johnson, you've been away on business for a while now, haven't you?"

"I went to Dubai and stayed there for two months."

“No wonder. We were notified last week to increase security in this area. No one except local residents is allowed to loiter around at night. If someone passes by, we have to make sure they leave.”

"A case has been solved?" Fu Tailan asked.

"No, it's just to be more vigilant," the police officer said, handing back the driver's license with a smile.

...It must be Vesilé.

In this country, money can buy you a presidency, let alone temporarily assign extra work to the local police department.

As Fu Tailan received her driver's license, the streetlight shone on the photo, illuminating the well-maintained face of a middle-aged white man.

Morgan once said that the world is a fraternity.

Middle-aged, white, male, married, wealthy, driving a Mercedes 450. Such a person wouldn't arouse suspicion even on the road at two in the morning. Fu Tailan released the accelerator and slowly stopped the car at a "Private Property, No Trespassing" warning sign.

In the distance, a tall iron gate equipped with surveillance cameras spans a private, tree-lined avenue. And in front of that gate… is that an armed sentry post?

He was a little incredulous, and then looked at the satellite image he had finally managed to get on his phone.

It's about a forty-minute drive from here to the Weiss Estate, isn't it?
Why are the sentry posts set up so far away?

Although we don't know the extent of the surveillance range of that imaginary artifact, it's reasonable to assume that its surveillance range is similar to or smaller than that of the sentry post—after all, beyond the sentry post area, it enters the public road—so the straight-line distance is at most thirty-five kilometers.
"Okay, Little Eyes."

He leaned back in his chair and said to the eyeball in the glove box, "The problem now is how to fool the sentry guards while also fooling that illusion that may or may not even exist."

Its eyes turned away for a rare moment, as if it wanted to find another way to climb into the car.

Fu Tailan took out her driver's license from her wallet, gripped it in her hand, and shook it vigorously nine times. After the nine shakes, she held the license up again and saw that it was a blank card.

If the policeman were to look at him again now, he would find that the person in the car is no longer a respectable local resident—the driver is not only a minor, but also smells strongly of rolled-up leaves.

"Hmm...how about taking a risk?"

He seemed to be consulting with the eyeballs, saying, "I don't think the scope of that hypothetical illusion should cover the first checkpoint. After all, it's very close to the public road, and even without traffic, we can't guarantee that no one will get lost... If an ordinary citizen gets close to the first checkpoint and immediately sounds the alarm, or even immediately starts killing someone... that would cause too much trouble."

Her eyes were fixed straight on him.

“You agree? Great, Little Eyes.” He said patiently, “I have a hat in my backpack, and I’m about to take it out. You can stay in the glove compartment, okay? I’ll be unhappy if I put my hand in my backpack and find you’ve moved into the bag and are about to bite me.”

Although he had tried to reason with him, Xiao Yan still put it in his backpack—but luckily he had expected it.

Fu Tailan put on his baseball cap, stretched, and then grabbed the pizza box from the back seat. He opened the lid, took a bite of the now-cold pizza, threw it back, and slammed the lid shut again.

The car was parked far away; before he approached the guard post with the box in his hand, he didn't forget to wipe the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

"who are you?"

Before he could get close, the guard gate opened, and a guard stood at the door, gesturing for him to stop and not go any further.

They were probably retired soldiers, and they looked well-trained; one of them came out to check the situation, while the other remained in the guard post.

“Pizza,” Fu Tailan said in a muffled voice, holding up the box in her hand.

"What?" The guard was taken aback.

"What? What?" Fu Tailan seemed slow to react, and then slowly repeated, "Pizza. I work at Domino's nearby."

"I didn't order it, you delivered it to the wrong place—"

"And what about him?" Fu Tailan gestured with her chin toward the guard post.

The guard paused, then glanced back at his colleague. "You weren't the one who called, were you?"

Fu Tailan had her other hand hidden in her pocket, holding the mouth doll.

Another guard stood up from under the light, shook his head, and looked at Fu Tailan suspiciously. The moment he spoke, Fu Tailan immediately flicked the mouth puppet.

"Of course I didn't order it. Ask him what the address is, and if he knows who ordered it. How did this guy end up delivering the pizza here?"

The other party became suspicious—he was indeed different from the average security guard who just coasted along.

“How am I supposed to know who placed the order on the app? The note says it’s on this private road, the first guard post… isn’t this the place?” Fu Tailan released her hand from the mouth doll and took out her pocket.

"Leave immediately." The first guard's expression turned serious, and he gripped the gun at his waist. His fingers were stained a pale yellow from years of smoking. "Take your pizza and leave now."

"Ah, ah, I understand, I understand," Fu Tailan, a master of acting, trembled in her voice, "I'll leave right away..."

He turned and walked away quickly, returning to the road as soon as he turned around.

Standing behind a clump of trees, he took out the mouth doll.

“The owner of the last voice,” he said to the mouth puppet. “Begin using it.”

The doll remained motionless, its frozen, snow-white face featuring only a pair of bright red, full lips pursed into the air. How to put it... a little disgusting.

But the way it was used next was even more disgusting.

Fu Tailan sighed.

He didn't understand why he had to kiss a fake. Resignedly, he lifted the mouth doll up, turned it upside down, and placed the back of its head against his lips.

Thankfully, it wasn't lips touching lips.

"Oh, look at my memory!" he said to the back of the mouth doll's head.

"Oh dear, look at my memory!"

Inside the guard post, the second guard opened his mouth, his throat, lips, and tongue resonating as he uttered the same sentence.

"The guy at the guard post behind here told me a while ago that he was planning to order takeout and asked me to pick it up for him... I didn't expect him to order it so late, I completely forgot!"

Inside the guard post, the exact same words rang out simultaneously.

"What should we do then?" The first guard turned to look at the deserted night—this was Fu Tailan's imagination, but he felt that it should not be too different from the actual situation.

"Go and see if he's gone far enough."

Fu Tailan said to the mouth doll, "I'll call that guy and ask if he ordered pizza. You find that delivery guy, and I'll consider it a pack of cigarettes I owe you."

He peeked out and glanced around—the guard booth door was open, and the guard from before was muttering as he walked toward the intersection.

Fu Tailan smiled silently.

(End of this chapter)