Artifact Report

Chapter 307 Double-word: The Death of Fu Tailan

Brianna paused for a few seconds, then pressed the call button.

When she said "Hello?" in a completely calm tone, she suddenly realized that she was laughing.

……what?

She raised her hand and found a smile spreading across her cheeks.

How strange... Her fingertips fell into the open, dark corner of her mouth, and she gently bit down, suppressing the laughter that hadn't yet escaped her lips.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

Sometimes, things that cannot be captured by the five senses, that flutter in the chaos and ambiguity, that escape and wander between words and language, can still be perceived by people somehow—

For example, right now, Brianna felt as if she were seeing it with her own eyes, sensing that Fu Tailan was about to speak the moment the call connected, but suddenly stopped.

What's wrong? Why are you suddenly not talking?

Oh dear, I didn't say anything myself.

"Fu Tailan?"

"...You're awake."

Fu Tailan's soft, indistinct voice rang in her ear under the cover of night. It wasn't a guess, but a statement.

"Why are you awake?" Fu Tailan said softly. "It's almost five in the morning. Prima should have been in bed long ago. But when you answered the phone, you were calm and clear-headed, without the drowsiness of being woken up by me, or the surprise of suddenly receiving my call."

He paused.

"Someone suddenly told those three guards to go find their supervisor right away, which already alerted me."

He asked as if he were talking about someone else, "...Is that supervisor a hunter? Or has he already spoken to you? Do you know how I infiltrated?"

Brianna took the phone away, took a deep breath, and put it back to her ear.

"You're such a nuisance. I thought I could gain an early advantage."

Since Fu Tailan sensed something was wrong from that single word she used when she answered the phone, there was no need for her to pretend anymore.

Fu Tailan seemed to have taken over the reins, and chuckled softly: "Thank you for the compliment. What are you all afraid of? Honestly, I was so careful, but I was still discovered as soon as I came in."

If she issues a warning now, the manor will immediately go into a state of high alert: bulletproof doors will be lowered on every floor of the main building, completely severing the connection between floors; a laser net will light up outside the main building, vaporizing any flying insect that dares to approach.

As for Vesilé, he would naturally enter the safe room immediately.

The safe room even has a separate backup oxygen supply system; because he was worried that in case of danger, even the air coming in from other places would not be safe.

...That's ridiculous.

Brianna, like a cat playing with a ball of yarn, tossed the thought of "warning" around in her mind a few times, watched it roll into a corner, and then couldn't be bothered to touch it again.

"What do you want?" she asked.

Why would you ask such a question?

Fu Tailan's voice sounded like it was laced with smoke—no, it seemed like he had just taken a drag. "You've discovered my presence, and the advantage is completely on your side. Mobilize the entire manor and use every means at your disposal to capture me...it would be quite a spectacle, wouldn't it? Why ask such a question...as if you're being forced into a corner?"

Brianna realized that she didn't know why she had asked that question.

It seemed like I asked it subconsciously.

Ah…no, she knew. She vaguely knew the answer; she just wanted to lie to herself for a while longer.

“I don’t need to issue a warning… After all, if Mr. Wei finds out later that you’ve infiltrated us, even if I catch you in time, he won’t praise me for being loyal to my duty. He’ll just question us about why we let you in.”

These are all true statements, although they are not the main reason.

"To find you, there's no need to put the entire manor on high alert."

She muted the microphone and asked the alpha wolf in front of her, "Where is he?"

Without uttering a sound, the alpha wolf turned and walked into the night; the azure scent floating in the air gradually dissipated around it.

Brianna quickly followed.

During the phone call, Fu Tailan gave a soft "hmm"—his voice was so clear that Brianna suddenly realized he was indeed still too young.

"Then I'll wait for you to come find me." Fu Tailan chuckled softly, and the next second, she hung up the phone.

Where is he? Are you so sure he won't get caught?

Even without issuing a warning, Brianna could still deploy the security center without waking Vesilé—drones, guard dogs, decoys, and countless other means would suffice.

If he's still inside the security center building, then it's even simpler.

She had no intention of making things easy for Fu Tailan.

"Hello? Secretary Green?" The security chief answered the phone immediately upon the first ring. "You're right, of the three who just returned, one guard named Lowell is missing."

"Immediately seal off the entire building where the security center is located,"

Brianna followed the alpha wolf, quickening her pace, and could already discern its destination. "I'm almost there. The intruder is in that building. Don't let anyone in or out except let me in now."

The alpha wolf's ability to pinpoint the location by scent is so precise that it's not even half a meter off; it's certain that Fu Tailan is still inside the security center building, so he can't possibly be hiding somewhere else.

“Once I’m inside, no one is allowed to leave unless we catch him, including you and me,” Brianna emphasized again; she was already striding towards the side building entrance.

“I understand,” the security manager replied.

"I will call your deputy right away."

She laid it all out in advance: "To prevent you from being replaced as well, I will tell her that the side building is under lockdown, and you yourself are not allowed to leave the security center."

The time between Fu Tailan's call and the security supervisor's call was only a dozen seconds, so he probably hadn't been able to make a move against the security supervisor yet; but he still had to be on guard—after all, she didn't know if Fu Tailan could switch between identities freely.

“No problem,” the safety manager said.

One cannot pretend to be two people at the same time.

All that is needed is to warn the supervisor and his deputy separately, instructing them to block off the side building and monitor each other, and there will be no need to worry about the government taking advantage of the situation for the time being.

Before heading towards the gate, she checked with the alpha wolf one last time. "Is the target inside?"

“Yes, Fu Tailan is in the basement security center, in the third room of the first corridor on the right.” The alpha wolf paused, then suddenly smiled. “Oh, no. He moved… He’s gone to the corridor next to the lobby now. How about I go in with you? After all, it’s such a big building… With my scent tracking, no matter where he’s hiding, I can find him right away, okay?”

"Never allow this creature into a building that is being used by humans" is the first rule for properly utilizing the alpha wolf.

Brianna considered for a few seconds.

From afar, she could already hear the emergency alarm sounding inside the building as it was placed under lockdown.

Brianna turned and walked toward the door, tossing a "Come on" to those behind her.

It was as if a stable nerve in my mind, built upon human common sense, snapped with a "snap" when I said that.

...I shouldn't have been bound by this situation until now, Dad.

***
Sometimes, one really has to be grateful for the little bits of good luck in life.

Even though the original plan was thwarted, and he could no longer use a phone call to trick Secretary Green into revealing his identity, Fu Tailan had to admit that the current situation was not the worst.

For example, for some secret and ambiguous reason, Secretary Green did not sound the alarm to notify the entire manor even after discovering him—if Vesley were to hide in a rat hole that he must have secured with impenetrable walls, even if the manor patriarch was confident in himself, finding him would be very troublesome; moreover, Vesley absolutely could not survive tonight.

Because it was destined by fate.

This is Fu Tai Lan's second stroke of good luck tonight.

The first stroke of good luck came when the three guards were already separated when someone came to inform them to meet the security chief—"Lowell" was the first to receive the notification.

This good fortune was not entirely without reason: because Fu Tailan had no idea what Lowell's position was or what he was supposed to do, and had no intention of taking his place; when the person who notified him came to him, he happened to be looking for the office of the head of the security center.

In other words, among the three guards, "Lowell" was the one closest to the security chief, and naturally became the first to receive the notification.

...Could it be that those three have already been suspected?

Fu Tailan nodded, his expression unchanged, and smiled at the female employee who had notified him: "Do you need me to go and call them for you? They seemed to have gone to the restroom to smoke just now."

The female employee frowned as expected: "Why are you smoking in the restroom? Then come with me. You go in and call someone, and I'll wait at the door."

It's not difficult to find an opportunity on the road.

Everyone in the security center was doing their job; no one was wandering around the corridors and rooms, and no one heard the female employee let out a muffled groan.

He had always been very gentle with his older sister, so he wasn't sure if he had subconsciously been gentle when he knocked her unconscious—or perhaps he was afraid of being too gentle, so he hit her especially hard.

However, no matter how long she remains unconscious, I need to speed things up.

Although the situation was completely different, Fu Tailan suddenly understood why the police were gradually narrowing down the encirclement of the serial killer who had been leaving behind bodies along the way.

He honestly went to find the other two guards and asked them to see the security chief; he even spoke with the security chief for a while, telling him that he had not been able to find the guard named "Lowell".

"really……"

The security supervisor was a middle-aged man with thinning hair but still a capable appearance. He glanced at Fu Tailan, his face tense, and said, "I understand. You can go out now; I have questions for those two."

really?

He didn't seem very surprised by "Lowell's" disappearance.

Could it be that the other party has already guessed how he sneaked in?
"OK,"

Fu Tailan took her hand out of her pocket, stopped touching the mouth doll, nodded to the other two guards, and left the person in charge's office.

He returned to the restroom, stood beside the unconscious female employee, shook his "driver's license" nine times, reverted to his identity as Fu Tai Lan, and made a phone call to Green—Green's "hello" put all doubts to rest.

Seriously, couldn't you have given him a few more minutes?

I was originally planning to take over as the safety supervisor and call Green out...

As expected, things in life did not go smoothly for him.

Fu Tailan sighed.

Was Green bluffing? That doesn't seem right.

Green must still have trump cards up his sleeve... After all, the other party is Vesile's man, and their resources, money, and illusions are inexhaustible.

If we know there's an intruder and we know who the intruder is, and we still have to rely on manpower to search blindly—that would be incredibly foolish.

Just in case, he needs to make some preparations.

However, this also means that he must enter the security center as his true self...

After weighing his options for a moment, Fu Tailan felt that time was running out. Finally, he gritted his teeth, took the crumpled hat out of his pocket, and put it back on. He took a deep breath and stepped out the door.

He walked into the security center where guards and staff came and went, and walked step by step along the corridor. After walking for some time, someone saw him from a distance, and a vague look of doubt appeared on that face in the corner of their eye.

The third stroke of good luck doesn't seem to be entirely good luck.

At the same moment that Fu Tai Lan was noticed, red signal lights suddenly flashed in the hall—the alarm sounded, drawing everyone's attention to the air above; for a brief moment, no one looked at the boy in the hat anymore.

"...From now on, entry and exit are prohibited...I repeat, this building is under lockdown..."

The downside is that if you're locked up, you might be caught like a turtle in a jar.

Green knew my location after all—how did he know?
Anyway, he'll be here soon, right?

Green arrived sooner than he had expected.

"Fu Tai Lan!"

A sharp shout from afar stopped Fu Tailan in his tracks. When he turned around, one of the guards who had recently returned with him in the car—whose name seemed to be Jesse?—gave a soft gasp.

Secretary Green stood in the hall and raised the muzzle of his gun at him.

Beside Green, a giant wolf-like den creature was shaking its head and sniffing the surrounding air; wherever its head turned, people would shudder and quickly shrink back.

...Is that the thing that determined his location?

“I’m sorry,” Secretary Green said almost calmly.

Without saying a word, he aimed at Fu Tailan's face and pulled the trigger.

(End of this chapter)