Artifact Report

Chapter 33: Chase: The Form of Pseudo-Images

When Chase climbed onto the platform and rolled out hastily, the subway brushed against his back and whizzed into the station.

The coldness of the subway car's metal and the strong gust of wind it stirred up seemed to scrape off a layer of flesh from his entire back; if he reached out and found that the back half of his skull was missing, it would not be surprising at all.

Chai Si climbed up from the ground, panting, and the train gradually stopped; in the reflection of the window glass, he was still a complete person.

...He has always had good luck.

The subway train departing from this station also rumbled into the station soon after, as if it was planned, and stopped the police on the other platform. Even if they wanted to imitate Tchaikovsky's method and catch up, they would have to go around in a big circle first, which would waste a lot of time.

Across the subway, the shouts from the other platform were barely audible, reverberating in the subway station: "You guys chase him... Block him at the other end, and check every person leaving the station!"

Chai Si couldn't help but laugh, stretched his shoulders and neck, raised his head and exhaled.

For just a second, he allowed himself to lose himself in the rush of adrenaline, his body burning with the rush of blood.

When he opened his eyes, all the subway doors were opening and passengers arriving at their stations got off the train and stepped onto the platform.

"Hey!" A man who looked like a driver walked down from the front of the subway car and shouted to Chai Si from a distance: "Are you crazy? You almost got hit and killed--"

Before he could see his own face clearly, Chai Si spun around swiftly and joined the crowd of people exiting the train. The driver muttered a few curses and returned to the subway. Chai Si immediately pushed the person next to him aside and dashed inside before the doors closed.

The entire subway was empty, without a single person.

Looking left and right, the front and rear carriages seem to extend forever, with countless circular handles and plastic seats repeated endlessly; simply without the element of "people", the train becomes a long, narrow and repetitive foreign land, like the abdomen of a roundworm, which is really amazing.

The subway started moving slowly, maintaining a low speed, probably preparing to go to the turnaround line and turn around to pick up passengers; Chai Si walked towards the rear of the train on the slightly shaking floor and entered the last car.

Car body advertisements, handles, handrails, seats, graffiti, food packaging bags, and beverage bottles thrown on the ground... It looks like just an ordinary carriage; there are not too many places to hide things, but not too few either.

...The part that requires the most patience is about to begin.

It's ok.

Whether it's the lair or the human world, no matter what goal you're pursuing, a good hunter needs a lot of patience; and Chai Si happened to be extremely patient.

"If I were a clever fool," he muttered to himself, "...where would I hide the artifact?"

To guess the answer to this question, you first need to know what the artifact you are tracking looks like.

The appearances of the false images were all kinds of strange and varied, and were still endless beyond the limits of human imagination - but fortunately, he did not need to try his luck in finding a needle in a haystack; because the hunters with some skills in Blackmore City had more or less heard of Vesile's false images.

What's more, Kaironan has been a hunter for decades and has a deep network of relationships in Blackmore City. Information related to the false image will almost inevitably pass by his ears.

"I need you to get even just one of the artifacts in Vesile's study."

When the news of Vesile's death came, Caronen called Chase in. The sky outside the window was still a duck egg blue, as if covered with a layer of light mist; Chase later learned that when he sat down at the breakfast table, Vesile had been dead for only three hours.

At that time, Mrs. Wei, who was left alone in Blackmore City, was still sleeping and had no idea that she had become a widow.

And in another hour and twenty-one minutes, Ivan will leave the Wei Manor with the fake image he stole.

"The first artifact he bought from me was a black cube ten centimeters square."

Kaironan's tone was flat, and it was hard to tell whether he regretted the deal now.

The fake images in Vesile's hands laid the foundation for his world-leading business empire; judging from his later wealth and influence, it is even strange why anyone was willing to sell those four fake images to him in the first place - perhaps this is Vesile's extraordinary ability, to discover a future that others cannot see from the same thing.

If they had known how valuable they were, no one would have sold the artifacts to Vesile.

"The second item is a set of tailoring tools."

Kaironan paused and said, "I heard that this set of tailoring tools is the size of a laptop. I don't know if that's true. But this artifact is said to be the most precious and important of the four. I'd trade my entire family for it if I could get my hands on it."

When Chai Si was free, he once calculated the valuation for Kaijiajiapai.

The Hunter Clan is difficult to define; their behavior is like that of a mafia gang, but their operating structure is like that of a modern corporation, so they are probably a hybrid of the two.

Judging by the company's standards, the Kai family pie's valuation is well over 10 million - using such a family pie in exchange, from what Kai Luonan said, it seems like he's actually getting a bargain?

"What does it do?" asked Chai Si.

"If you can get your hands on it, you'll know. Until then, the less you know, the better for you."

Chai Si nodded. "He has two more. What are they?"

Kaironan sighed and put down his coffee cup.

"The later he got the artifact, the less complete my information became... He later blocked many of the ways information could leak. It's said that the third artifact was extremely dangerous. Since he got it, any opponents who stood in his way, even those unable to be eliminated by money, power, laws, or market rules, have been conveniently and rationally eliminated from the world—even the oil traders as far away as Yemen are no exception."

Apart from the fact that it was "very dangerous", he did not give any detailed description, but Chai Si did not object at all.

He was the one who solved the Kai family's problems; the incomplete information was part of the problem he was given. "What about the fourth one?"

Kaironan was silent for a few seconds.

"I've only heard one rumor about it," he whispered, "...and it's a rumor that creates rumors."

Chase even forgot to chew and let the egg stay on his tongue for a while.

After he reacted and swallowed the egg, he asked for confirmation, "Uncle Kai, are you saying that the existence of the artifact itself is a 'rumor', and its function is to 'create rumors'... and all this is just a rumor you heard?"

Kailonan nodded and said, "Yes, it goes around and around, enough to make people think for a while."

What does Vesile want with a rumor that creates rumors?
Besides, how do you find rumors?
But when it comes to nests and artifacts, no matter how strange and bizarre something is, you can't take it for granted that it doesn't exist.

If the object of the search is a "rumor", which cannot be seen or touched, then at least it should have a sound, right?

Since a hunter was able to bring it back to the human world, there is no reason why Chai Si couldn't find it.

Standing on the subway, he listened attentively for a while, and gradually classified the environmental noises into categories in his mind: the sound of the rails rubbing against each other when the train was running, the sound of the wind in the air outlet, the noise of the materials when the car body parts moved... None of them were close to human voices.

Since there are no whispers like a ghost, does it mean that the fourth pseudo-image is not here?
He didn't expect to find the fake right away...

Chai Si sighed and complained about his height for the first time.

He lay down uncomfortably on the ground like a giant spider trying to curl up its legs, and his eyes cast under the seat, revealing the floor under the entire row of seats: a forgotten shopping bag, a pair of headphones, fire extinguishing equipment, stains... and even a shoe. He didn't know if the owner of the shoe had gotten on the bus barefoot.

It sounds like there are a lot of things, but in fact, the space under most seats is empty. You can tell at a glance that there is nothing that can be called an artifact - however, even a piece of chewing gum cannot be easily let go.

Chai Si pulled out a dark short stick from his waist, opened it with a few "snap" sounds, and stretched it into a heavy pole as long as an arm, with a T-shaped cast iron on one end and a hand-grip thread on the other.

Blackmore State law prohibits citizens from carrying guns outside, so sometimes carrying a gun may cause unnecessary trouble - unexpectedly, this weapon that he carries with him so easily and always has with him has another use today.

Although he was very patient, when Chai Si used his favorite weapon to move the various garbage under the seat, pick out the smelly shoe, poke a few pieces of chewing gum, and then straighten up and scan the car body advertisements, he still couldn't help but feel that this job should be assigned to a low-ranking newcomer in the family.

But someone else might not be as quick and meticulous as him; in less than a few minutes, he had searched the entire carriage.

Chai Si stopped and looked out the train window.

The subway did not go on the return track and return to the departure platform as he expected; instead, the speed of the train slowed down and finally stopped.

The tunnel outside was dim, and the dim yellow light barely illuminated an open ground - under the empty cave-like dome, several tracks ran parallel and crossed each other, like a condensed aerial view of an overpass.

This place is obviously not intended for passengers... Where was he taken by the subway?

As Chai Si continued to check the next carriage, he heard footsteps coming from the other side.

As the man walked, his key chain jangled and he hummed vaguely; he seemed to be unable to sing anything else and kept humming the same phrase "baby please don't go" over and over again.

Chai Si stood up straight, holding the T-bar in one hand, and stood quietly in the middle of the carriage, waiting for someone to come.

A man in a subway employee uniform was stunned before he even entered the second car - it was the subway driver who had just yelled at him.

"When did you get on the train?" His face suddenly hardened, trying to suppress the confusion and subtle fear underneath. "What are you planning on doing? This train is being prepared. You must get off immediately."

Being a standby car means that it will not carry passengers for a while.

At his rate, he would be able to search the entire subway in another forty minutes... Not having to go back and forth to pick up passengers was actually more convenient for Chai Si; however, if he wanted to stay on the subway, it would be best to have the cooperation of the person in front of him.

Chai Si has a T-bar and a wallet filled with a large amount of cash - in today's electronic and credit card payment era, carrying cash is almost solely for one purpose.

Just as he was considering how to get the driver to cooperate, the driver looked at his face, then at the T-bar, and suddenly frowned, gradually showing a fear that he could not suppress.

"You, you can't be..." He said, stumbling back two steps and said, "I have a family and children... Please..."

Who do you take me for?

Chai Si was stunned. He had always been cautious, and outside the hunter community, virtually no one knew who he was. How could he act like a notorious criminal just by driving through a few blocks?
Wait… “notorious”?
A flash of electricity suddenly struck Chai Si's mind, like lightning illuminating thick clouds; although he could not see clearly, he grasped the most important idea.

The next moment, the driver murmured, "Are you really the rumored subway serial killer?"

Chase licked his lips slowly.

…He found the artifact.

　Friends, fellow countrymen, I know that some people are not used to the writing style of switching perspectives, but this is my vision for the new story. The various character lines piece together a big world, and in this big world, the characters influence and entangle with each other. This makes me very excited just thinking about it. Other writing styles of this article do not excite me.

　　Compared with the traditional online novel method of writing from one character's perspective, it is true that a large number of readers will be lost. My path is getting narrower and narrower. There is no need to remind me again, thank you. This is the writing style I decided to do. No one forced me to do it. It's my own fault.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)