Artifact Report

Chapter 312 Brianna – Her Obsession, Her Fear, Her Desire, But
“...Secretary Green.”

Brianna watched as Brianna spun around, revealing a smile in the corridor lights. Her hair, eyes, and teeth shimmered and sparkled in the light and shadow.

Brianna used to always criticize her face in the mirror: her nose was too high, and her lips weren't full enough... Morando rolled his eyes at the ceiling when he heard this.

She stared at her in a daze.

This is clearly the best-looking thing in the world.

Fu Tailan adorned her beauty as a soft silk draped over her body, a white waterfall cascading down, so abundant and bright it was frightening; between the moisture and the luster, the boy's smile, like clouds and smoke, was faintly pervasive.

He raised his hand, his fingertips gently tracing the lines of Brianna's jawline, finally stopping at her lips.

"You're really lucky to be alive," Fu Tailan said softly.

“My life may not be as fortunate as your courage,” Brianna replied.

He must have originally intended to use Green's identity... but after he discovered that Green was actually the daughter of Vesile, how could he dare to spare her life while he himself, under the guise of Brianna, casually walked into the main building?
Logically speaking, wouldn't Vesile's daughter be more likely to fight desperately to protect her father?
"Secretary Green, are you alright?" Dylan, who had been standing quietly to the side, looked her up and down a few times and asked.

Under Dylan's gaze, she finally realized that she had been staring at "Briana" without blinking.

Didn't she successfully burrow into Green's body? If Fu Tailan were to die now, in the form of Brianna, could she then burrow into his body?

“It’s alright, I’ll take her to see Mr. Wei right away,” Brianna said, barely managing to come to her senses.

“I know Mr. Wei instructed that we don’t need to go over.”

Dylan frowned, glancing at Fu Tailan—seemingly instinctively distrusting him. At this level of bodyguard, one's intuition is usually sharp. "But I hope you can advise him that this isn't a good idea. Especially... in the context of a meeting."

Brianna patiently nodded.

“I’ll call some more people,” Dylan said, still not entirely at ease. “I’ll stay here on standby. If there’s any emergency and I need to go over, we still need to have enough people here.”

“It’s up to you,” Brianna said dismissively, no longer caring who was guarding the place or who came and went. She then nodded to Fu Tailan, signaling him to follow her.

Dylan didn't waste a second; after taking a few steps, he had already dialed the phone. "Evan? Come over here now..."

She quickened her pace, leaving his voice behind, and entered a quiet place before speaking softly.

"He will die?"

It sounds like a question, but both sides know there's no need to answer it.

"You hate him?"

The lingering mist in Fu Tai Lan's throat now seeped into Brianna's long-absent voice. To speak with a smile, no matter what one said, was perhaps one of the cruelest ways of speaking.

Brianna knew she didn't need to answer either.

"How do you know he's dead?"

Unbeknownst to her, her word choice had already shifted to the perfect tense.

“I’m from November 26th,”

Fu Tai Lan's tone was as casual as if he were saying he ate eggs for breakfast—Briana suddenly slammed on the brakes, and as she turned to look at him, he added, "Don't get too excited and bump into me. It'll take effect."

So, if it's supposed to revert to its original state upon contact, then even if you kill him and put it back on, it's pointless. No matter how handsome he is, he's still a man, and Morandau wouldn't even glance at him.
Without waiting for what he just said

The 26th? Ten days later?

She wasn't as surprised as she had imagined. A nest...anything is possible.

As long as the future remains unchanged...

“It’s already destined,” Fu Tailan said, as if she had guessed her thoughts. “No matter how much human resistance there is, it will never change.”

For some reason, his voice fell emptily, as if this did not make him happy.

That's true. If you finally manage to go back to the past but can't change anything, what's the point?
“Then why did you come back?” Brianna asked.

"...in order to ensure that the past remains unchanged."

As Fu Tailan spoke, she pulled half a crumpled cigarette from her pocket. "I didn't expect it either; it looks like I'm the one who killed him."

“If I don’t smoke that, he’ll notice something’s wrong,” Brianna warned.

Fu Tailan sighed deeply and put it back. "What did you just say to him?"

She understood what he meant.

“You are a vulture. After you became ‘Briana,’ you thought you had just returned from the nest… That’s not surprising, Dad and I have been trying to get the vulture in.”

Fu Tailan thought for a while and nodded.

"I see... In a few days, I will indeed hear rumors of vultures entering the human world. But... why?"

Why let vultures enter the human world?

"No, the reason is obvious. I mean... why do you want him dead?"

It wasn't until a second or two later that Brianna realized she had stopped walking without realizing it.

A steady ray of light shines from under the door of the study at the front of the corridor.

She vaguely knew that she was standing in the corridor, and another version of herself from the past was softly asking her why she wanted their father to die.

Why is that?

Yeah, why was that again?

Brianna tilted her head to one side, her mouth half-open, and stared blankly into thought for a while.

Rather than wanting him to die...

“Well…or rather,” she said softly, “no matter how I think about it, I can’t figure out a reason why he should be alive.”

Fu Tailan stood in the shadows of the corridor. After a moment of silence, she softly exclaimed, "I...I think I can understand."

He turned around again, pointed to the study door, and asked, "Here?"

“Yes.” Brianna smiled. Fu Tailan walked over, and before pushing open the door, she turned back and smiled at her.

Shadows fell upon her face, with only a sliver of light illuminating her brow bone and pupils. Her eyes were ignited by the light, burning in the darkness; Brianna had never seen a more beautiful inhabitant than herself.

"Big sister, you have to cooperate with me, okay?" he said in a breathy voice.

"Big sister"—what a bright and clever child; he didn't ask her a single question about why she appeared in Grimm's form. In that instant, Brianna felt she could almost like the child.

Of course she wouldn't. It's like a poison that everyone knows the truth about, yet still willingly swallows.

"Who is it?" Wei Xilai's tense voice rang out from inside the study.

Fu Tailan pushed open the door and naturally called out, "Dad, it's me, Brianna."

This is hilarious! Isn't this world so wonderful that I just want to keep laughing forever and ever and ever and ever?

Brianna heard the sound of the chair scraping against the floor as Vessil got up suddenly.

Brianna listened to the long silence that followed in the room.

Brianna saw Fu Tailan step into the study as if it were her natural daughter.

She took two steps to catch up and saw Vesilé standing by the desk, her gaze fixed on Fu Tailan—no, Brianna—and her lips trembled slightly.

Looking back, Vesile did have a chance to win her back that night.

After so long, he suddenly saw his daughter in her original form again; he had so much to say that made Brianna hesitate.

"Is this really...?"

Vesilé's gaze flickered, shifting from Fu Tailan back to Brianna. He asked again, "You really are...?"

Brianna almost laughed.

His words were mumbled, but she still understood them.

At that moment, he was worried that Brianna wasn't really dead. He feared that Brianna had conspired with a man named Green to set up this scheme.

Even though she used almost every means to prove herself back then.

Almost—there's still one more way, because she's always been very resistant.

“Dad,” she said almost calmly, “if you don’t believe me, you can put me in the black box.”

Fu Tailan glanced at her.

“No, no…that’s not what I meant.” Vesilai waved her hand and glanced at Fu Tailan again. “Of course I believe you. It’s just that the vulture…the vulture is really amazing, exactly the same. It feels like the real person.”

"Dad, what are you saying?" Fu Tailan frowned at the opportune moment. "What vulture? Why does he call you Dad too?"

"It's nothing. He's just my adopted son."

Vesile lowered his head, cleared his throat with a cough, and then looked up at him with a smile. "You're back just in time... I have a place I'd like to show you."

He accepted Brianna's suggestion to contact "Vulture" in the safe room.

However, Vesile still dared not be completely at ease and dared not walk alone between her two daughters.

He called Dylan and asked him to come with him to the outside of the security room to stand guard. Before going in, Dylan "voluntarily" searched Brianna's body—Brianna's empty gun had long been thrown away in the security center, and she had nothing on her.

Fu Tailan said he didn't want to be searched by a man, so he took off his coat and went through the metal detector again—it must have been an illusion, because he looked like he was wearing a rather form-fitting women's outfit; looking at his waistband and trouser legs, there was nowhere to hide anything.

Vesile seemed to have already believed that he was Vulture, so he nodded, and Dylan stopped insisting.

However, after opening the first door with his fingerprint, he was still a little uneasy, so he went back out and whispered a few words to Dylan.

When Vesilé came down again, Brianna noticed that his waist was bulging and he had a short stun gun.

...He had no gun training and knew that it would be even more unsafe for him to handle a gun.

Iris, voiceprint, vein, password... Vesilai suppressed her excitement as she went through all the verifications to enter the secure room and opened the second door.

He turned to Brianna and said, "You stay outside. If needed, I'll open the door from the inside and let you in."

Even though he had taken all the precautions, he was still worried and only wanted to go in with "Vulture".

"But……"

“Don’t worry,” he said in a low voice, “I’ve thought of a way to try and trick it out again. As soon as it takes a step out, I’ll close the door from the back—”

Vesile stopped abruptly at this point.

His eyes darted to the corners of his eyes. After two seconds, he turned around and looked at Fu Tailan, who had entered the safe room before him.

Vesilé scrutinized his retreating figure, letting out a low, questioning sound through her nose.

Fu Tailan had her back to the two of them, her hands clasped behind her back, looking up at the angry black square.

Brianna suddenly realized that she hadn't actually touched Vesilé, but the Black Square was still clearly standing in front of her—and obviously, Fu Tailan could see it too.

How could she see it? Shouldn't she have been unable to see it before she encountered Vesilé?

Could it be that the ability for the black player to "disappear" in front of others is also an adjustable setting?

It's quite possible that Vesilé didn't tell her...

“Briana…?” Vesille called out in a hoarse voice.

Fu Tailan turned her head almost obediently and smiled gently. "What's wrong, Dad?"

……Oops.

There was one thing she didn't tell Fu Tai Lan, because she thought it was unnecessary.

Vesil's eyes gradually widened and bulged out. He seemed to realize the truth, but he hadn't fully grasped it yet.

"Aren't you...aren't you afraid of the Black side?"

(End of this chapter)