Artifact Report

Chapter 334 Kim Seol-ri's First Encounters in Life: Community Park, Night College

Jin Xueli took off and rushed into the night outside the gas station; but after running only a dozen steps, she suddenly stopped—she almost stumbled and fell to the ground because she stopped too abruptly.

She turned around and saw two figures entangled together on the ground of the gas station not far away, still struggling desperately against each other.

Kim Seol-ri didn't know what percentage of the residents that woman was, but one thing was clear—even if she became a full resident, she would still feel pain.

The muffled thuds as force pierced her body; the occasional groans and low cries of pain... these sounds, like the shards of skin kicked off or torn from her body, fell sporadically into the darkness.

"Hey!" Jin Xueli shouted, "Um—what's your name?"

The woman looked up at her from afar and saw her.

Well, she really is a very resilient and energetic resident.

Even though she was struggling with the shop assistant and the two were more than ten steps apart, Jin Xueli was still knocked off her feet by the oncoming, turbulent roar and howl.

"You're still standing there! You're still standing there like an idiot! What are you made of? How long do you think I can hold you off? Ten minutes at most. Why don't you sit down and have some tea before you leave? I'm letting go! Let go! Let go! Get out of here! I want to kill you! I want to kill you cleanly and beautifully! You dyed light golden brown hair, get out!"

It seems we can't get his name out of him.

The woman was furious, and even unrelated words were thrown into her angry curses, spraying out in a chaotic and rapid stream; she even brought up hair dye, something completely unrelated, and had even chosen the color—the woman had been lying in the shadows, her hair disheveled like lightning-fast thunderclouds, making it impossible to tell what color it was.

Could it be that dyeing her hair was the last thing she wanted to do before she died but didn't have time to do?
Kim Seol-ri knew she should run away, and she wanted to run away as soon as possible; but at that moment, what she wanted to do more was to sigh.

In her twenty-eight years of life, no one—not even her mother—had ever risked their life to protect her like this.

Observing the behavior of every man who appeared in the trailer, noting their long sleeves and trousers, their level of intoxication, and how often they sat near the door... it was Jin Xueli herself who did all these things; she had forgotten how old she was when she started this habit.

No one told her what to be careful about; she just relied on her innate intuition and stumbled her way to where she is today.

When she grew up, she came to Blackmore City. Adult life is already about navigating the darkness with a heavy heart; but she also became a hunter, which exponentially doubled the difficulty, making it like sailing a boat through rocky shallows in the dark.

Traps to avoid, temptations to resist, disasters that can only be averted by spending money, people who have to go along with her (like Chai Si), men on dates who keep glancing at her apartment... all sorts of difficulties she has encountered.

Amidst all these troubles, difficulties, and crises, the only person who risked her life for Kim Seol-ri was herself.

She never imagined that anyone would protect her, so much so that it was only after running this far that she belatedly realized that the first person who would rather be kicked to pieces than let her escape was actually a resident.

Why? The reason can't be a good one, right?

But in any case, that woman was the first.

She couldn't even find out the other person's name before she had to turn around and continue running away.

I wonder if I'll ever meet that resident again after I leave; and if I do, what will it be like?
Ten minutes... that escape window is getting narrower...

Kim Seol-ri didn't know which direction the night school was in, but her first priority was to get as far away from the gas station as possible, so she had to run as fast as she could.

When the gas station became a small, bright sign in the night, she quickly ripped off her vest and threw it to the side of the road—she was no longer in the vicinity of the gas station, so even if the staff chased after her, they wouldn't follow the instructions in the notice and gather all the nearby residents, would they?

After creating some distance, Jin Xueli was finally able to stop and catch her breath.

She was breathing heavily, her heart pounding against her sternum as if a frenzied psychopath was living inside her. Her ears were ringing with the sound of blood flowing, and her vision was blurring; it wouldn't be safe to continue down this path rashly.

Jin Xueli looked around and found herself next to a neighborhood park—though it was really just a small green belt, a patch of trees, and two public benches.

The park is sandwiched between two rows of old mid-20th-century residential buildings, but both of them are dark, and the surrounding area is dim, which doesn't look like a night school.

Jin Xueli listened intently.

Stiff, heavy, and unnaturally dark and lifeless, like a backdrop; like the open mouth of a crocodile that remains motionless.

How long had she been running? Kim Seol-ri wasn't very good at judging time, but she felt it must have been at least five or six minutes.

Even when resting, you can't rest for too long; you have to keep moving. Heaven knows if that shop assistant has one, no, four dog noses—

Jin Xueli suddenly stopped in her tracks.

She squinted and looked into the small park. She stood still, thought for a few seconds, looked around, and finally took out a flashlight from her backpack. Jin Xueli took two steps into the park, stopped at the entrance of the trail, and shone a beam of light into the distance.

...There was indeed a person sitting on that tree in the middle of the park.

Although it was already late November, the leaves had not yet completely fallen. The person's upper body was hidden in the canopy, sitting on a thick branch, leaning crookedly against the trunk, with his legs dangling in the air.

Jin Xueli swallowed, her throat dry and scratching.

"It's none of my business," she thought.

At this time, in this place, the person sitting on the ground certainly couldn't be a human. It must be a resident; once they show their face, who knows what kind of disgusting sight they'll present.

"Hurry up and leave," she repeatedly told herself. She didn't know if she was out of danger yet, and now was not the time to be distracted.

Hurry up and find the night school, move the flashlight away quickly, and turn around and walk away.

Jin Xueli stiffly took two steps back, but the beam of light seemed to be stuck, still shining straight on the tree, drawing a circle of white light and washing away the ethereal darkness of the night.

The ill-fitting, loose-fitting long dress, and the pair of softly drooping feet beneath it, appeared faded and white under the flashlight beam. The grayish-white hue interrupted the pitch-black night, like a long cry suddenly cut short for a moment.

"Go on, are you stupid?" Jin Xueli sharply cursed herself in her mind.

It's probably a trap... no, it definitely is.

Besides, those ordinary dresses with no distinguishing features are everywhere and don't prove anything.

Jin Xueli suddenly turned around, her flashlight beam sweeping in the direction she had come from—the road was empty, with only the vest she had just taken off and thrown away in the distance.

"Who is it?" she called out.

No one answered.

That's natural, she thought as she hurried away from the community park, because there was no one on that road.

She pretended that she heard a noise, deceiving herself that there might be pursuers behind her, and used this as an excuse to leave quickly without entering the park.

Imagine a parallel world, and a parallel Jin Xueli walks into a park, stands under a tree, and looks up at the person in the tree…

It must be a trap.

Jin Xueli held the flashlight in her mouth, determined never to think about that park again, or those drooping feet.

It has nothing to do with her...nothing.

She pulled out the crumpled flyers for the night school and realized that in her haste, she had stuffed several of them into her pocket.

Perhaps because the flyers were all handwritten, residents had trouble getting the font size right; the same amount of information was written in full in some cases, while in others it was split into two pages—so it wasn't until now that Jin Xueli realized that there were hand-drawn route maps on the flyers.

However, the residents' drawing skills were also very poor. Two straight lines represented a road, and another road branched off on the left, without even writing the road name. In the blank space that had nothing to do with these two roads, a star was drawn to represent the night school.

She looked around.

I was indeed standing on a street, with another road branching off to my left, just like on the hand-drawn map. However, there was no university between the two roads; only a paid parking lot.

This lousy map is completely useless. Shouldn't roads be interconnected in all directions? What's the point of just drawing a road with forks?
It would be more difficult to find a deserted street in Blackmore City where no one is around, right?
"How am I supposed to find this?" she muttered to herself, studying the map again for a while, but still couldn't figure it out.

The star representing the night school is sandwiched in a blank space between two roads; apart from that, there are no other landmarks or street names. Heaven knows where this blank space is—

Kim Seol-ri subconsciously looked up and glanced at the parking lot.

The sign for "Rose Ridge Community College" has replaced the previous sign that reads "Parking all day only requires one tear," and it shines stark white under a row of small spotlights.

Whether it was the sign itself or the faint white lettering on it, Jin Xueli was always reminded of a row of teeth.

Those teeth clenched tightly together, slowly pulling out a building that hadn't even existed a moment ago from the darkness.

(End of this chapter)