Artifact Report

Chapter 317 Brianna's Last Apology and Surviving Tonight
At that moment, countless deafening shouts and screams echoed in Brianna's mind.

Like a choir of countless residents, all opening countless dark, gaping mouths; the sound waves occupied her thoughts, the air, and everything in the world she could perceive.

Every mouth was talking its own thing, its voices reverberating through the skull.

Should we save her? We should. If the mother could know from beyond the grave, she would be heartbroken that her father and daughter had come to this.

That old guy's got a really tough life. Maybe I inherited it from him? What does it take to die?
How could you kill your own father? He's your own father! You can't commit such a sin!

Great, I can kill him again. This time I'll give him hope, then fear, then deliciousness, then kill him again...

"I'm...I'm sorry...Brie."

The countless deafening screams in my mind suddenly turned into a silent, snow-white silence.

Brianna lost her footing and slowly sat down on the ground.

She longed to lie down, curl herself into a small ball, and lean against Vesilé like a child leaning against their parents.

Dad didn't open his eyes; it seemed like he was having a hard time opening them, as if it was a lot of effort.

It's good to keep your eyes closed.

She also wanted to close her eyes and stop looking at this weary world.

After what seemed like a long time, ideas gradually began to re-emerge in Brianna's blank mind.

Huh?
Was this his way of trying to save his life? Was he trying to move himself to stay alive?
Given Vesilé's calculating nature, it is highly likely that he would resort to a conciliatory approach.

But one thing makes it seem so unrealistic.

Vecile would at least have to realize that he might have done something wrong before he would think of trying to soften her heart by apologizing—but according to Brianna’s years of observation, he did not think he was wrong.

Brianna was like a tumor that grew larger and larger on the body; ugly, mutated, and completely out of place, yet stubbornly clinging to its own flesh and blood, refusing to disappear.

How could someone who wants to have a tumor removed feel they've done anything wrong? How could they apologize for the tumor?

Although that's what she thought, she could only ask in a low voice, "Why did you apologize?"

But Dad fell silent again. That wisp of remaining life force seemed to be drifting away, and it was unknown whether it would ever return.

Brianna waited patiently for a while, thinking he should be dead by now. Just as she was about to give up and get up, her father suddenly spoke in a hoarse voice: "I'm sorry."

Clear and distinct, absolutely true.

She didn't know what she did or how she reacted. She might have screamed or not; she might have cried or been indifferent, or even laughed.

When Brianna came to her senses, she found herself saying softly, "...It's okay."

"I...I'm going to die?"

"Yes."

Even if someone were called now, they could still save his life, but Brianna had no intention of doing anything about it.

You see, the logic is like this:

Only when Vesildère dies, and dies knowing full well that he will die and that there is no hope left, will his "I'm sorry" have any meaning.

How could she let the possibility of being "rescued" tarnish his "I'm sorry"? Wasn't that right?

Death is the most sincere and purest apology.

"I don't blame you..."

"Oh."

I hope... you can recover... and be happy.

She remained quiet for a while.

Recovery? Happiness? Are those the two words he used? Does "recovery" mean "restoring to the original state"?
Happiness? He knows his own happiness is Morandau, isn't it?

Brianna nodded blankly, not believing she had truly understood. The meaning of the sentence was abstract and incomprehensible to her.

Vesilé fell silent.

Brianna called out "Hey," reached out her hand, paused for a second or two, and then carefully nudged him. "Is he already dead?"

A muffled groan escaped his nose.

"Who?" He seemed to have forgotten where he was. "Who...are you?"

“It’s me, Dad.” She lowered her head and said, “I’m Brianna.”

Vesile's throat bobbed, and she coughed halfway before choking back down. "Bree...you have to win..."

“I will,” Brianna blurted out instinctively, then realized what she meant. “Nest Domination Game?”

Vicilai said weakly, "Take...take away...the rumors..."

Ah, right. I got too excited just now and killed him without even thinking about how to take the rumors after Dad's death.

Fortunately, my father isn't completely dead yet; he can still speak.

“Then say it,” Brianna urged, “say that one sentence.”

Vicilai was in a daze, and after a while he only vaguely uttered a "hmm?" as if he couldn't even understand the meaning of the language.

His consciousness must have faded. It's already quite remarkable that he's managed to hold on until now.

“Dad? Look, repeat this with me, ‘I have a rumor to tell you.’”

He had to tell her before Brianna would believe that Vesile genuinely wanted her to win.

If you truly wanted her to win, then you must have genuinely apologized just now, right?

Dad opened his mouth, his tongue trembling slightly. "I...I have a...rumor to tell you."

Brianna was trembling all over; she didn't understand why. Her hair stood on end, and she felt like crying and laughing at the same time.

“I’ve heard a rumor,” Brianna heard herself reply gently.

The handover was complete; the next second, she felt her tongue slide to the side, creating a bump on her cheek.

The rumors have been withdrawn.

Vesile stopped speaking. He seemed to have completed his final task as a father, falling into complete silence; he would never speak another word to his daughter, never look at her again.

"Thank you, Dad."

Brianna slowly stood up and wiped away the cool tears on her face.

Three of the four artifacts have been successfully recovered. All that's needed is to retrieve the key from Fu Tai Lan, and her progress in the Domination game will be completely unaffected.

Once the real vulture enters the human world, it can even continue to impersonate Vesile and continue to use his resources... I suppose his wife would be willing to do that, right?

After being electrocuted, Fu Tailan remained lying motionless in the corner next to an overturned chair. It seemed that even if she wasn't dead, she was probably out of the woods.

Since he has been removed from the game of domination, let's spare his life after we get the key back.

She is very tolerant now.

After all, that was the only child in the world who truly understood him.

A few minutes of resonance was also a lifetime for her.

lifetime

lifetime

Brianna stopped walking.

She tilted her head and stared at Fu Tai Lan on the ground, vaguely feeling that something was not quite right, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

When she knocked him down with the stun gun, there was still a lot of white smoke in the room; so Brianna couldn't say for sure what direction, posture, or appearance he was in when he fell...

Was his face hidden in the shadow of the chair?
Was there an arm draped next to your head just now?

Which direction was he looking when he fell?

Brianna racked her brains for a while, but apart from the fact that he had indeed fallen against the wall, she couldn't be sure of anything else.

She looked around.

The compression artifact that Vesilé used, no one knows where she kicked it; it probably rolled under some furniture, I couldn't find it anywhere nearby.

She turned around again and saw Fu Tailan.

The boy leaned against the corner of the wall, looked at her, and sighed softly.

"It's good that you were alert in time, sister."

He looked at Brianna and said almost gently, "It's only two steps away... I don't want to spend the rest of my life thinking of you as a compressed vacuum pack."

Brianna's eyes slowly widened.

It was as if her upper and lower eyelids were not under her control, gradually moving up and down, as if they were about to meet at the back of her head... She herself knew that Green was showing more and more of his eyeballs.

Was the electric shock he received not as severe as I imagined? He woke up so quickly. No, he actually woke up a long time ago.

Did he find the compressed artifact by taking advantage of his father's last words? What incredible luck!
Oh no, this is getting complicated. The distance is right, there's attack range.
Brianna took a few quick steps back, staring at him, her heart pounding.

"Don't be afraid. If you had entered my attack range, I would have already made my move. Didn't I tell you, we're still two steps away?"

Fu Tailan held a gun in his left hand—no, that's not right. It looked somewhat like a gun, but the "trigger" was on his back, and his right hand was hovering over the "trigger," seemingly ready to pull it down at any moment.

"Although it's quite powerful, you see, this thing is really awkward to use."

Fu Tailan lowered the gun barrel slightly, pressed the trigger with his right hand, and pulled it upwards with force. The stun gun on the ground crackled and popped, and after a distorted white flash of electricity, it was compressed into a dark, shapeless mass.

"You have to hold it with both hands, pull it like this, and then press it back... No wonder he compressed his wallet but didn't have time to compress the lighter."

The only piece I have left to use for attacking is the black piece.

But compared to a "weapon," Black is closer to a trap.

She had to take it out, turn it to the correct direction in her hand, find the "character input surface," and give the command... Before she could finish this series of actions, she would probably have already been crushed into a ball of flesh by Fu Tai Lan.

"Okay, what do you want?"

Brianna raised her hands in a gesture of surrender and said, "Are you going to kill me?"

Fu Tailan tilted her head and looked her over for a while.

"Shouldn't you be counterattacking me immediately? You have three target illusions on you. Is it because none of your three illusions are suitable for attacking? Hmm, that black one does seem to need to be set up in advance..."

Brianna gritted her teeth and remained silent.

"Although I don't want to kill you, it's not that I can't bring myself to do it."

Fu Tailan frowned slightly. "It's strange that you didn't die tonight. The things on you aren't suitable for attacking, and I was prepared to kill you, but you still survived the night..."

Did he think he still had a backup plan?

That's why we didn't act rashly?

But even Brianna herself didn't know what could save her now. No, since she survived, she must have played a card that Fu Tailan couldn't refuse...

Just then, a long screech suddenly rang out from the safety room hall.

(End of this chapter)