Artifact Report

Chapter 320 Fu Tai Lan: Deciding the Fate of a Stranger

Whether it was Chais or Brianna, Fu Tailan believed that he had at least fought to a draw.

But he really didn't expect that a mere ordinary bodyguard who appeared out of nowhere would actually put him in such a sorry state—he was sitting under the desk with his knees drawn up to his chest, and in front of him were Wei Xilai's two legs wrapped in pajama pants.

When the study door was pushed open, the identity theft was not yet completed, nor was it possible to complete it in time.

If this is the crucial moment when Wei Xilai's body is discovered, then Fu Tailan certainly cannot be caught red-handed at the scene of the body under any circumstances.

The person could see him as soon as they opened the door, and could rush back into the corridor to call for help by taking a step back; but if he wanted to rush over, he would have to run step by step through this study, which was larger than the living room of an ordinary family—there was simply not enough time.

The thought of the consequences of the bodyguard calling for help gave him a headache; in desperation, he simply crouched down and crawled under the desk along with Wei Xilai's body.

Fortunately, no one knew him, and no one in the world knew that the "genius boy hunter" was actually a genius boy mouse.

"Mr. Wei, I'm coming in... Eh? Ah? Wei, Wei—"

The bodyguard must have thought that Wei Xilai was not there, so he sneaked in. When he saw the figure lying on the desk, he was genuinely surprised. He almost knocked over some ornament. For several seconds, even Fu Tailan under the desk could feel a chaotic atmosphere mixed with fear, confusion and helplessness.

The bodyguard named Evan was momentarily flustered, seemingly afraid to move, wanting to take a closer look, yet instinctively wanting to go out and call for help.

"Mr. Wei?"

He was trembling and at a loss, not like a hunter with a secret plan—what hunter is so easily frightened?

Fu Tailan held her breath and waited for a few seconds.

If he were to go out to call for help, it would be a good opportunity for him to quietly escape... However, immediately afterward, he heard the study door being gently closed and locked with a "click".

...This reaction doesn't seem like something a typical bodyguard would do.

"Why are you like this, not moving at all... Are you... are you dead?"

This question is so poorly phrased that it sounds like a dead person would answer "yes".

Evan dared not approach Vesilai, seemingly only glancing at him from afar across the desk. After a while, Fu Tailan heard his footsteps approaching; a pair of feet appeared at the edge of the desk, and someone stood a few steps away beside Vesilai's body, remaining silent for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.

"He's really dead."

Ivan snorted, his voice trembling slightly, seemingly both nervous and excited. "So it wasn't just your overreaction... I really am going to die..."

He stood there for a while, then suddenly felt a surge of energy. He turned and headed towards the other end of the room with a light step. Just as Fu Tailan was trying to recall what was on the other side, he heard the sound of cabinet doors and drawers being pulled open and rummaged through.

Fu Tailan was a little confused for a moment.

"Ha, you want to fire me too."

Ivan didn't do any heavy work, but he was so excited that he was breathless: "But I was killed by life! What does this mean? People should do good deeds, otherwise you will reap what you sow, and retribution will come knocking... If I hadn't been killed, I would definitely be fine. I did something so ruthless, I deserve to die."

I don't know what he did to get fired by Vesile?

The answer to this question was immediately obtained.

“What bad thing did I do? I just tried on your pants. Let me tell you, they’re too short, they only reach my ankles. They’re really expensive, the material, the workmanship… What’s wrong with me trying them on? Can you take away a piece of fabric? I don’t regret it, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to get the keys out of my pocket.”

Listening to him talk to himself, Fu Tailan felt as if her eyes had been opened.

After thinking for a moment, Fu Tailan quietly peeked out.

A young man was carefully examining the ornaments on the display shelf; he had taken off his suit jacket, tied the sleeves together, and made a makeshift bundle.

He seemed unsure how to determine the value of an item, hesitatingly putting a bone carving into his suit bag, then taking it out again after a few seconds of thought.

Fu Tailan, pressed against Wei Xilai's corpse, crawled out from under the desk, trying not to make a sound.

For some reason, Evan abandoned the ornaments and closed the cabinet doors and drawers again. When he strode to the desk and stopped beside Wei Xilai's body, Fu Tailan had already tiptoed around to the other side of the desk and hid behind the curtains.

“I remember coming from here…”

Evan's entire attention seemed to be occupied by the desk drawer, and he probably never imagined that there was someone hiding behind the curtains just a few steps away.

He suddenly uttered a low cry and took something out of the drawer.

"It's this... I remember it. I saw you take it off and put it in the drawer right away."

What is it? It can't be an illusion, can it?
Fu Tailan couldn't resist her curiosity and peeked out through the crack—Evan was standing there, holding a watch high in his hand; he looked at it repeatedly, unsure whether the gold watch chain was brighter or the expression on his face was brighter.

If it were just a watch that Vesilé casually put into a drawer after taking it off, it probably wouldn't be something priceless... However, even if it were an ordinary item he used every day, it would be anything but ordinary for the average person.

"It must be worth around ten thousand, right?" Evan murmured. "It's fair as my severance pay."

He happily stuffed the watch into his pocket and opened another drawer. As he rummaged through it, he muttered, "What other good stuff is there? You're so rich, letting me take a few things is no big deal, is it? Why do you get to own so much money and such a huge estate? What am I lacking? Why do I only earn a few thousand dollars a month? Does a man have no dignity without money?"

Fu Tailan suddenly had a thought.

He touched the mouth doll in his pocket.

The mouth doll has a cylindrical body, a simple design, and is easy to hold... but now it seems to have another use.

Ivan bent over, stretching out one arm to reach into the drawer and rummage around; he was so focused on searching for valuables that he ignored the corpse of Vesilé beside him and was completely unaware that someone was quietly approaching him step by step from behind.

"...Don't move."

Fu Tailan pressed the cylindrical body of the mouth puppet against the back of Ivan's head. "If there's the slightest movement, I'll shoot immediately."

"You, you are... please..."

Evan stammered, and as expected, he didn't dare to move. With his back to him, he quickly raised both hands. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to take advantage of him... Please, please... I was wrong, I'll put the watch back right away..." "I don't care about that," Fu Tailan said in a low voice.

Evan swallowed hard. He wasn't stupid; he immediately realized what was going on: "I... I don't know anything... When I arrived, I saw Mr. Wei was dead, and there was no one else around."

Fu Tailan had a question that had been nagging at her for a long time: "What went wrong with the manor's lockdown?"

With a gun pointed at his head, Evan answered almost flawlessly, offering no resistance whatsoever: "Something's happened at the security center."

"What happened?"

They must have discovered that quite a few people were dead, right?
"This... well, if I tell you the truth, I'm afraid you won't believe me..."

Fu Tailan's curiosity was piqued: "Tell me, I would never shoot you just because I don't believe you."

Ivan swallowed hard again. "The security center... is gone."

what?
“I’m not lying to you!” Evan seemed to notice his surprise and was afraid of misunderstanding. “The security center was originally in that side building. The upper floors of the side building were the rooms for guards and staff. Secretary Green needed a lot of manpower to seal off the manor. When we went to the side building to call for people… we found that the whole building was gone. Now, if we want to seal off the manor, we simply don’t have enough manpower.”

The whole building is gone?
Fu Tailan couldn't understand what had happened; but Yiwen was definitely not lying—a liar would want to be believed, and there was no need for him to tell such a nonsensical lie.

He frowned and thought for a moment.

Was this Brianna's doing? No, losing an entire building wouldn't benefit her either.

The little eye seems to have never left... nor the alpha wolf. Could it be that they're somehow connected?
Why the side building disappeared is not the most important question at the moment, and Ivan cannot provide an answer either.

“I can tell you seem to be a very ambitious person.” Fu Tailan paused, then changed the subject.

Ivan was taken aback.

"Yes, that's right. I'm really ambitious, and you're very perceptive."

"Do you want to know why Vesilai was able to amass such a large fortune?" Fu Tailan asked almost gently. "It's absolutely impossible to do it through hard work... No matter how smart or ambitious you are, if you know nothing about the 'connections' in this world, you'll only be happy with watches worth a few hundred thousand in your entire life."

"A way...?" Evan murmured. "You...you know?"

“Of course.” Fu Tailan smiled and said, “You know Dylan, right?”

"Huh? Right, Dylan is a veteran—"

"Have you heard anything you couldn't understand from Dylan and the others' snippets of conversation?"

The bodyguard named Dylan seemed to have some knowledge of illusions, hunters, or lairs; but with so many guards in the manor, Fu Tailan found it hard to believe that any junior bodyguard was an insider.

Judging from Evan's actions in just a few minutes, Fu Tailan was practically willing to pay money to bet that he must have been eavesdropping and spying on quite a bit.

“How did you know? There are indeed some things…” Evan said, “They seem to be hiding something from me.”

“You guessed right. Vesilai has some truly priceless things on hand, things that are far more valuable than any watch or estate… I can tell you this: once you have those things in your hands, you can have any wealth in the world.”

Ivan took a couple of breaths. "Is...is it an 'illusion'?"

This guy even managed to detect the "illusion".

“I can give you one of them right now,” Fu Tailan said with a smile.

"why?"

"You do not want?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant..."

“Giving it to you would naturally benefit me, but you don’t need to ask what the benefits are,” Fu Tailan said softly. “If you take it, there are risks involved… Many people will try to snatch it from you because it’s so valuable. Think about it again, do you really want it?”

"I want it, I want it. Where is it? What is it?"

"After I said, 'I have a rumor to tell you,' you replied, 'I heard a rumor.' Got it?"

"Huh? What... what does this mean—"

"You'll see once you do as I say."

After a brief exchange, following Fu Tailan's prompting, Ivan involuntarily reached out and touched his cheek.

"Huh? Really, it seems like my tongue is moving on its own... I wouldn't have realized it if you hadn't told me."

Fu Tailan smiled and said, "That's just an illusion. Someone will follow the scent to find you and try to steal it. And no matter where you hide it, someone will find it by tearing it apart... But I can teach you what to do."

"If I were you, I would leave the manor immediately after waking up. This thing wouldn't be noticed if the other party wasn't aware of it."

"So, you can hide it on a complete stranger who has nothing to do with you, but whom you can find at any time. Like a mail deliveryman, a bus driver... You can find them easily by their work schedule and name, but only you know where to look. This is the safest hiding place."

Let Che Si put in the effort.

Evan breathed excitedly and nodded repeatedly; after a few seconds, he suddenly realized what was going on.

"You just said, 'after I woke up'?"

Fu Tailan raised the doll with her mouth and slammed it heavily into the back of his head where his neck met.

Without uttering a sound, Evan lunged forward, crashing into the desk and collapsing onto the drawer.

(End of this chapter)