Artifact Report

Chapter 327 Kim Seol-ri: Shop, Paradise, Murder (?) Incident
The nest is actually a place with quite a few principles.

Everything spoken to humans in the nest, or any information conveyed using human language, conforms to human language habits and expressions, and is even constrained by human cultural background. It rarely uses "language errors" to create traps or take lives.

For example, since the host said that the shop assistant might "watch" the customers, then the shop assistant must have "watching tools"—in other words, eyes.

Besides, didn't the host always assume she was a resident? Kim Seol-ri thought uncertainly.

Residents wouldn't harm other residents, right?

She had never been a resident, so she didn't know whether residents, if they moved to a different place, also had to carefully abide by the rules of that new nest... Perhaps they did, which is why the host reminded her?
If she had been found out, the host probably wouldn't have given her the prize so easily, right?
In conclusion, gas stations don't seem to be a trap.

There didn't seem to be any living creatures with observation tools in the convenience store.

Jin Xueli stood sideways outside the door, not daring to push it open directly. She stretched out her arm, held up her phone, and took twenty or thirty photos through the glass.

She crouched down, hiding in the shadows outside the door, her back pressed against the wall. She zoomed in on the photo, sometimes zooming in to pixels, sometimes zooming out to the minimum, squinting as she looked at it... The light from the phone screen shone up on her face, making her upper eyelids appear bluish-white.

There was no need to worry about being exposed by the host; Jin Xueli thought to herself that if anyone saw her looking so sneaky and gloomy, they would all think she was a resident.

If a hunter were to appear at this moment, Jin Xueli was quite confident that she could get a bullet for free simply by slowly opening her mouth and smiling at him.

However, as far as these wild thoughts may be concerned, there were actually no hunters or residents around; the convenience store didn't even have security cameras installed, so the possibility of "watching through a camera" could be ruled out.

In that case, let's go in and look for clues?
Jin Xueli always had an untimely optimism; what if the gas price list was standing on the cashier's counter? What if the Knight family hunters had opened a membership account here?

Hey, what if there's a fake image inside?

When she heard the jingling sound of the glass door being pushed open, she suddenly realized that what if the shop assistant heard there was a customer and followed them out?

The thought popped into her head a step too late; she was already standing inside the convenience store—but whether she was lucky or not, the store was still empty, without a single person in sight.

It's a little embarrassing to admit, but Kim Seol-ri has always had a special fascination with convenience stores, supermarkets, and shops.

When she was a child, besides school, open spaces, and home, there weren't many places for her to play.

My mother receives a limited number of living allowance coupons each month, so she can only buy the same batch of the cheapest items. Both the taste and the packaging are so repetitive and boring that it gets tiresome. But if she changes to a different brand, she might not have enough coupons left.

Occasionally, her mother would take her into the city—a small city of less than 100,000 people, but in Jin Xueli's eyes back then, it was just as prosperous as Blackmore City is today—she loved to stroll around large supermarkets like Walmart.

Brightly colored products that only appear in TV commercials, the frozen food section radiating cold air and the shelves overflowing with a dazzling array of goods, canned goods piled up in pyramids, fried chicken and baked goods that she knew didn't taste good but looked very tempting, and employees who would always hand her samples...

The store is like Kim Sulli's Disneyland.

Looking back now, that was the first time in her life she experienced "abundance".

So even the convenience store inside the nest—no, precisely because it's a convenience store inside the nest—excited Jin Xueli even more; it was more like a paradise that blended richness and wonder.

For example, she'd been a hunter for years, and she had no idea that Time magazine was kept in the lair.

"Isn't this the president?"

Jin Xueli wrapped her hands in her sleeves, picked up a magazine, and was at a loss for who to admire—whether to admire the old man for being able to appear on the cover of Nest Magazine, or to admire Nest for being so up-to-date with the times.
There was indeed a pair of eyes on the cover—half-hidden by thick, drooping eyelids, revealing murky, sewage-like pupils whose color was indiscernible; but at least they didn't glance at her as she had feared.

Since the shop assistant can look at it or not, and can even have a conversation, it must be a living being with the ability to think; in Jin Xueli's opinion, even the president himself doesn't quite meet this standard, let alone his photograph.

Jin Xueli boldly flipped through a few pages and discovered that the Nest's columnists were eager for the president to die in the Nest.

"...The lair will become dozens of times darker and more chaotic, turning into an unparalleled hell... Such an exceptionally talented candidate has no way to reach him, which is arguably the lair's greatest regret... The chaos in the human world is now almost surpassing our own!"

Kim Seol-ri put the magazine back.

Not far from the magazine rack, next to the cashier, was a warmer displaying sausages and chicken wings; behind the cashier was a shelf of cigarettes and alcohol. She squinted at it for a moment, then heard a "thump-thump" sound. Turning around, she saw the chicken wings had stood up.

That's it, I just tapped on the glass.

This is obvious, because there is an extra oil stain on the glass.

Chicken Wing pointed with the tip of his wing at the cigarettes and alcohol, then pointed to a label below.

"If you wish to purchase tobacco or alcohol, please provide proof that you are not human and have lived for more than twenty years."

What exactly does "twenty-one bites" mean? Kim Seol-ri felt that chicken wings couldn't give her an answer.

...The staff member isn't selling chicken wings, is he? Nor is he selling sausages? Doesn't he have any special visual aids?

She waved her hand, indicating she wasn't buying. The chicken wing seemed relieved, as if a heavy burden had been lifted, and it collapsed back next to the dark, hard, and dry sausage, refusing to move. Being a meat product for sale has quite a few things to worry about.

Jin Xueli walked among the shelves with great interest, and as she browsed, she gradually began to understand.

Like the gas pumps outside, the items in the store also lack price tags, making it impossible for customers to see what they need to pay or how much they need to pay to buy them.

Jin Xueli examined several packages of goods, and her suspicions became increasingly clear—this gas station and convenience store might actually be catering specifically to residents.

If the shelves were stocked with something like dried hunter flesh, it might be used to intimidate humans, but the products here all have clear targets and intended uses:
Breath Freshener

Even though she has tried her best to transform her appearance to be exactly like a human, she is still one crucial step away from fooling the hunters—because the moment she opens her mouth, it's something like, "Hello, hello! The moment I see you, I want to wring your brain like a towel and wring out all your stupidity!!!"

The hunter would run away immediately upon hearing that.

However, if you ingest this product, your breath will become just like a human's. Feel free to chat with them in a human-like manner, leading them into utter ruin!

Note: Humans naturally believe that only their own breath is good, but in reality, this product should perhaps be renamed "Fake Breath Candy".
Although it's completely useless, Kim Seol-ri just finds it very interesting.

Anyway, the concentrate is in the gas pump outside, it can't run away. And she doesn't know how to pay, so why not take a look around now?
Let's see what methods the residents have; they might be able to save lives in the future.

"Crystal Ball Membership Monthly Subscription Service"

This card offers a 30-day Crystal Ball membership. After activation, you can search for and view worldly phenomena through the Crystal Ball. For detailed terms and conditions, please contact the Crystal Ball platform.

Take care of the crystal ball yourself.

No, it's impossible to see everything, right?

Jin Xueli looked around, but unfortunately, it seemed that the convenience store didn't sell crystal balls.

"Radar repellent"

The all-natural, non-toxic plant-based formula has a psychological fear-reducing effect.
Powerful repellent, kills and harms people

Give you a refreshing and deserted spring, summer, autumn and winter

Needless to say, it seems that among the residents, there are also shy types who don't like to interact with people—it would be great if everyone were this type.

“Egg Sandwitch”

Jin Xueli took another look and realized that she hadn't misread it; that was how it was spelled.

Product ingredients: eggs, sand, witch, lettuce.

Kim Seol-ri thought the product was very honest; however, she would absolutely not take a bite to try it.

The longer she walked and the more she saw, the more excited she became—because the convenience store was surprisingly safe, so safe that it almost made her suspect it was a trap.

She touched and looked around, and when she saw something particularly interesting, she would take it down and shake it a few times, but she didn't trigger any traps; there was no human face appearing between the goods on the shelves, nor did anyone stick their head into the refrigerator.

It seems that residents don't harm other residents, so it's safer to face convenience stores run by residents.
Jin Xueli became increasingly confident and bolder, to the point that she even considered stealing something—stealing from residents didn't seem to be a moral offense.

"Ah, I've got it!"

She clapped her hands and cheered softly in the empty convenience store, then muttered to herself, "Oh dear, it's all my fault for being so easily distracted. I got distracted by the merchandise as soon as I came in... I should have thought of that sooner."

Doesn't the store have a cashier?
If you want to know what to pay for, isn't going to the cashier the fastest and most reliable way?

Even if she couldn't figure it out from the cashier, she remembered that the cashier could control the gas pumps...

At least gas stations in the human world are like this, so should nests be too?
Encouraged, Jin Xueli strode towards the cashier and tried pushing the small sliding door next to the counter, which opened easily.

She happily took a step inside, then abruptly stopped.

She stared at the things on the floor behind the cashier, her mind blank.

Wait a minute, something's not right. This feels like I've wandered onto the wrong set. This scene shouldn't be happening in front of her..., right?
Kim Seol-ri found the shop assistant on duty.

Judging from the scene...it, it...

It seems he was murdered.

(End of this chapter)