Artifact Report

Chapter 34: Chase: A Logical Story

Ever since he started chasing the subway, Chai Si has always had a question in his heart.

There are at least several thousand subway cars in service in Blackmore City, and the cars can be dispersed and reassembled later; once the car leaves, it is as if it has disappeared into the sea. Trying to find the same car later is as difficult as winning the lottery - not to mention that there are people cleaning the trains every day.

How could Ivan be so sure that he could get the fake image back?

As he watched the subway driver step back and turn around to run, the answer suddenly became clear and took shape in Chai Si's mind.

The target that Ivan wanted to find again was not one of the hundreds of identical, untraceable subway cars; but a subway employee with a name and a fixed job - if he couldn't find the car, wouldn't it be easy to find the person?

He almost wanted to laugh out loud. He thought that Ivan was a smart fool, but he hadn't guessed his stupidity and genius accurately.

Ivan actually placed a priceless artifact that could change his destiny on a stranger - he didn't know whether it was stupid or bold, or perhaps there was no difference between the two.

Ivan's true genius lies in the fact that, apart from himself, no one else in the world can connect him with the fleeing subway driver - because they are two distant and random people in the vast crowd of Blackmore City; there is no connection between the two of them.

It seems that Ivan is also very clear that if someone targets him, even the delivery man who delivers pizza to him will be dug out and carefully dissected; not to mention those who are related to him.

Then, a complete stranger who has never had any connection with him becomes the safest place.

After placing the false image on the driver, he can feel free to contact whoever he wants; in fact, the more people he contacts, the more he can mislead those who are tracking him and waste their time and energy - didn't Chase waste a lot of time on the pizza delivery man?
It seems that Ivan didn't think of this, otherwise he wouldn't have stayed indoors that day.

As Chai Si thought about it, he stretched out a big hand and gently grabbed the driver's clothes on the back.

When Chai Si grabbed the driver's back and pulled him to the ground, the latter seemed not to understand what was happening - he fell face down with a blank look on his face, as if he couldn't figure out when Chai Si came behind him.

It wasn't until the back of his head hit the ground with a "bang" that the driver was brought back to his senses. He hissed in pain and struggled to get up while shouting, "Please! Please, don't kill me, I didn't do anything!"

This was probably true, but Chai Si naturally wouldn't express his approval.

He placed a large hand on the driver's chest, his long, white fingers imprisoning his chest like a cage.

Chai Si didn't use any force, but the driver didn't dare to move; his shadow, like the crown of a giant tree, covered the driver's face.

"What do you want to do to me?" the driver asked in a trembling voice, supporting himself on the ground with his elbows, not daring to get up completely or lie down completely.

He actually hit the nail on the head.

In fact, Chai Si had never expected that he would find the most incomprehensible false image in this way.

He had caught the person, but for a moment he had no idea what to do next.

First of all, Ivan did not have the time and opportunity to make up a suitable excuse to trick the driver into taking something that day; the driver could not have known that he was carrying a false image, and he did not seem like someone who knew the existence of the passage and understood the world of the nest.

Besides, it was impossible for Ivan to hand over the false image to someone who was related to the nest... After all, he would only have hope of getting the false image back if the other person was an ordinary person who was ignorant of the nest.

Ivan must have attached the false image to him when he was not paying attention.

When you think about it this way, there are many questions.

What are these "rumored" artifacts? How do they attach to people? What do they look like? How can they be removed?
"I'm still on duty. If they see me not working properly, someone will definitely come to check on me..." The driver pleaded softly, "Please let me go. I beg you. I have face blindness. I can't remember what you look like..."

Chai Si had never met anyone in his adult life who, after meeting him once, he could not recognize him the next time.

"No rush," he murmured, thinking about it.

How do you get the truth out of a target who doesn't even know the truth himself?
He had personally tortured many people, but he had never encountered a situation like this: the target clearly had key intelligence, but still knew nothing.

Judging from Ivan's route that day, he had no time to interact with anyone; the fake image must have been exchanged hands somehow after the first encounter, and the driver might not remember him.

Although there was little hope, Chai Si decided to give it a try; after briefly describing Ivan's appearance, he was met with a blank face.

"Where did you hear about the 'subway serial killer'?" He thought for a moment and decided to approach the issue from the perspective of a driver who could explain something.

The driver glanced at him quickly from the corner of his eye, then quickly fixed his eyes on the handrail in the distance.

He paused, then tentatively spoke into the air, "...Well, wasn't a female corpse found a few nights ago after the C Line subway stopped running? I remember it was on the news."

Chase frowned.

It was true; but it was so common for someone to die in Blackmore City that if the driver hadn't mentioned it, the news would have disappeared from his memory forever.

"The subway employee thought she'd fallen asleep and forgotten to get off the train, but they couldn't wake her. They pushed her shoulder, and she tumbled to the ground," the driver said, his eyes glancing at the seat beside him, as if he had seen the body tumbling to the ground. "The person who found her happened to be a colleague of mine, with whom we sometimes played poker... When he described it to me later, his face was as grim as paper."

How does a person's death relate to an artifact—especially a rumor? How did the rumor of the "Subway Serial Killer" originate?
The driver seemed to mistake Chai Si's subtle expression for something else, and hurriedly explained, "Of course, I thought about it again, and I felt that I must have been mistaken. You are so handsome and tall, how could you be a serial killer? Well, it's my fault for being scared lately. I've been a little suspicious when I'm alone on the subway. When I saw you holding a pole in your hand, I immediately thought of something else... At that time, the female corpse was leaning against the wall, and I couldn't see anything. It wasn't until she rolled to the ground that my colleague saw a collision wound on her head..."

When some people are panicked and nervous, their mouths are like unbridled, they talk more and more, faster and faster, as if they want to use their words to create a foundation for themselves to stand on - this driver is probably one of them.

Chase decided to make his fear bigger, to burn a darker hole in his sanity.

He looked down at the driver and slowly cracked a smile.

When Chai Si smiled, his lips grew thin. His teeth were white, not a brilliant, lustrous white, but a dull, cement-like white. His lifeless teeth were tightly packed between his thin lips; when he smiled, they stretched out, as if a zipper had been unzipped around his lower face.

"You see, it takes skill to invent a logically coherent story," Chai Si said softly, "and you don't have that skill."

"Ah? Me?" The driver was indeed surprised. "I'm not lying. The news is true. If you don't believe me, just search it! I misunderstood you because I read the news. I was indeed rude..."

The news is true, but it cannot explain his behavior.

"How can he be called a serial killer if he only killed one person?" Chase asked like a conscientious editor, searching for inconsistencies in the story. "Or, in other words, why do you think the person who died was killed by a serial killer?"

The driver opened his mouth slightly, as if he was asked a question he had never thought about.

A lump suddenly rose up from one side of his cheek, slid down his cheek, and then disappeared - as if he had poked it with his tongue.

"I... you misunderstood. I haven't mentioned the second incident yet. It's because the security in the Blue Blue District has been bad recently. After the female corpse was found, another attack occurred. The man got off the night shift and walked out of the subway station. As soon as he showed his head, someone hit him with a stick - I mean, a stick, on the head..."

He swallowed.

"The detectives who came to investigate questioned several people from the subway company. They didn't say it explicitly, but it sounded like they suspected someone was committing a series of crimes..." The driver pricked his cheek with his tongue before continuing, "That's how the rumors spread. I'm not kidding. One of the detectives was quite beautiful, and she and her partner seemed like a perfect match, with a rather ambiguous relationship... All these things spread, and everyone knew about it."

Chase was silent for a second or two.

Although many people didn't filter their words when they were nervous, the sudden appearance of such gossip still surprised him. "...What?"

"It's quite ambiguous,"

The driver, so nervous and frightened, spoke so fast it seemed almost as if he were running away. He immediately replied, "They were talking back and forth, and no one else could get a word in. The man didn't seem to be a police officer, but a criminology professor invited from another university as a consultant. I heard he was divorced once, or something. Anyway..."

Chai Si released the hand that was pressing on him and took out his cell phone from his pocket.

Life is such a weird and unpredictable thing.

For example, this morning he would not have expected that he would be driving through Blackmore City at noon; and when he drove through Blackmore City, he would never have expected that thirty minutes later, he would take out his mobile phone on a subway, open the App Store, and start downloading Netflix.

"What are you doing?" The driver's angle allowed him to see his phone screen, but he couldn't see it clearly.

"You have an account." Chai Si said this not as a question but as a statement. "...Log in to it."

"W-why?" the driver was puzzled, but he obviously didn't dare to argue. He quickly entered his password and asked, "If you give me my account, I can leave?"

Chai Si took the phone without saying a word.

On the homepage, in the "Continue Watching" column, there are several TV series that he has watched; he swiped to search, and in a few seconds, he had locked on the target.

He looked at the screen, then at the driver.

The latter didn't know what he was doing, and still raised his face blankly, with fine sweat slightly shining on it, and his mouth half open, as if there was a small hole on his face.

Unless the subway driver is also an Oscar-winning actor after get off work, it is obvious that he has no idea that what he just said about "a female detective and a male consultant investigating a serial killer case" is the plot of the first season of a crime detective drama on Netflix - even though he has seen it.

Chai Si couldn't say anything now, his story wasn't flowing smoothly.

　Hello friends, I have to take another flight today. I don't know if I will have time to write and update after I land. I'll give you this chapter first. Eat it first, and order more if it's not enough. (I don't know when the food will be served after I order.)
　　While not as complex as Jin Xueli's plot, this section of the storyline with Tsai Siu-ling took me the most time to research. Something you might skim over quickly when reading a novel requires careful scrutiny in writing: for example, was the train running at the same time on the same day the same car? I searched endlessly, but I finally found a Reddit channel for New York City subway enthusiasts (what a niche hobby!), posted a question, and finally got the answer: it wasn't the same train; once the train departed, it was forgotten.

　　There's also the structure of subway stations, spare car U-turns, and so on. Anyway, there's a lot of research but very little use.

　　Blackmore City is fictional, but other than that, I want to make the background details as real as possible. It would be better to have a full sense of reality.

　　I'm finally going home! My cat almost forgot what I look like. I don't know how many socks he saved for me to eat during this month of absence.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)