Artifact Report

Chapter 348 Dual Perspectives, Double the Peace of Mind
In his entire life, Chai Si had never felt so tired and exhausted as he was now.

Hunters often say that when they return from their den, they feel like a lost soul that has wandered for a thousand years has returned to its body; but at this moment, Chai Si felt even more so, as if his mind had become a dried-up leaf.

Whenever he thought, he could hear his stiff, heavy nerves rubbing together dryly.

He had already briefly lost consciousness once after being pulled out of the Black Abyss and restored to his original state.

It was the thought that "we must save Han Liuyue" that made him open his eyes again and struggle to walk to the humanoid black hole once more. He fell down and sat there for two days without closing his eyes for a moment, retrieving Han Liuyue's flesh and blood from the Black Abyss, word by word.

Doesn't he deserve a rest?

It's one thing for McMurray to come and call him, but who is Nate anyway?
"Get out," Chai Si said in a deep voice.

There was a moment of silence outside the door. "But—"

He should be grateful that there was a door separating him and protecting him; most people would be tempted to kill when their sleep is frequently interrupted, let alone Chai Si.

“I called you, come back now, get out of here.”

"No, you don't understand. Open the door quickly, I need to talk to you—"

Chess grabbed the pistol from the bedside table, released the safety, and a crisp "click" in the darkness interrupted Dr. Nate.

"If I open the door, there will only be one outcome," Chai Si said in a low voice. "Do you understand?"

He never expected that the first "get lost" wasn't enough; Nate wouldn't leave and made him say several more words.

Nate is greedy but cautious and pragmatic. What's going on now?

"Aren't you afraid to listen?" the man outside the door asked softly. "Are you afraid to open the door?"

what?
"You probably just want to hide in your room and live safely, so you're afraid to know what really happened. You've committed a terrible crime, but you're afraid to face it; you're afraid of the consequences..."

Chais closed the safety latch again.

There's no need to fire the gun. Firing it would just make your ears ring and disturb your sleep.

He wanted to grab Nate's hair and slam his face into the wall, until the wall and his face were indistinguishable...

As Chai Si walked toward the door, his mind was buzzing, and a blood-red mist burned before his eyes.

Perhaps due to severe sleep deprivation, the murderous rage came too quickly and too fiercely; it wasn't until he had reached the door and grabbed the doorknob that he suddenly snapped back to reality.

He gently removed his hand from the doorknob.

Something's not quite right...

First of all, how did Nate get in?
In his drowsy state, he subconsciously assumed that it was a hunter from the Kay family who had let Nate in. The Kay family had several doctors they regularly worked with, and Nate was one of them. It was normal for someone to know him and let him in—but it was impossible for them to let him go upstairs alone.

No Kai family hunter would knowingly let an outsider wake Chai Si while he was sleeping—not even Mai Minghe, who had just saved him once.

The Kai family mansion was deathly silent.

"Are you alone?" Chai Si asked, pressing hard on the corners of his eyes and temples.

Now is not the time to be tired or sleepy... Wake up!

There was a moment of silence outside the door—a simple yes or no question that finally silenced Nate for a few seconds.

Chai Si's grip was strong, pressing so hard that it made my skin ache slightly; the feeling of drowsiness and heaviness was only barely dispelled to some extent.

He instinctively looked down and saw the doorknob slowly and silently turn downwards. It turned all the way down, then slowly loosened again.

"...Open the door! Aren't you right behind it?"

Nate's voice was very close, as if he were speaking through a crack in the door, his breath hitting the door frame and echoing slightly damply.

If you raise your hand and place it on the crack in the door, you might be able to feel his warm breath.

Of course, Chai Si didn't do that.

Not only did he not place his hand on it, he also took a step back—because at that moment, a deep, long inhale could be heard coming from the crack in the door.

Chess couldn't see Nate's facial features; but in his imagination, two nostrils opened behind the narrow slit, trying their best to draw all the scent from behind the door into the depths of Nate's body.

What is he doing?
Could it be that the person outside the door is not Nate, but an enemy using some kind of deception?

Hiding behind the door without uttering a sound is not Chai Si's style. In the past, even if the entire nest's inhabitants were outside the door, he wouldn't be afraid to open it and risk his life to meet them—but now things are different.

His death is insignificant, but the "rumors" still circulate. Now that he's dead, Uncle Kai won't be able to get it.

This matter is probably related to Fu Tai Lan... Is it because of the "rumors"?

Chai Si's mind was still foggy; he had spent several seconds just thinking about such a basic question; each thought felt like it was being dragged through mud.

In the silence, Nate suddenly asked, "Is this the room you lived in when you were a child?"

Chai Si was stunned.

"……how do you know?"

“I heard about it,” Nate replied, smiling. “Really?”

……Yes.

After Damian's death, Uncle Kai and Aunt Hai continued to live in the mansion for a few months; but after Uncle Kai took him home, the presence of Chess seemed to stir up the pain that had been silent in the mansion—Aunt Hai refused to continue living there no matter what.

Less than six months after he returned to the Kai family home, this place became the Kai family's office.

Every trace of what was once home was gradually stripped away: his bedroom had its wallpaper and carpet removed, his bedside table taken away, and his memories swept clean. From age five to thirteen, "Chai Si" was banished like a ghost; now it's the resting room for the Kai family hunters.

Chai Si had no complaints. Because if you went down this corridor, the next room, which was also the last, was also...

He dismissed the thought.

"Is the last room in the corridor Damian's bedroom?" Nate asked abruptly.

He came prepared—he wanted to provoke me, which was ridiculous. I would only make him die a horrible death, his flesh turning into a pile of mud.

"Why aren't you answering? But it's okay, that's not important. I have something urgent and important to tell you."

Nate seemed oblivious to his anger, urging him repeatedly, "You haven't already heard a bit about this, have you? That's why you're hiding in your childhood home, not seeing anyone, has it? Hey, you were so good at bullying defenseless people, but now that you've run into some trouble..."

Chai Si pulled the door open.

***
Mai Minghe tried several times to swallow the lump in his throat and tried to calm his voice.

She remembered everything clearly. She knew that she had lived for eighty-six years and that this year was 2026. She knew that she had entered a fantastical realm outside of common sense, called the "Nest".

This scene shouldn't have happened, yet it did—was it an illusion? Or the residents?
Few of the residents will be able to enter the human world, right?
The husband has gone back to the kitchen and continued cooking.

Mai Minghe didn't dare to follow him in rashly. He stopped outside the kitchen door, where the floorboards creaked.

"...Where is Ivan?" she asked in a trembling voice.

He couldn't bring himself to ask the next question, "Are you Ivan?"

“Evan? Same old spot, of course,” the husband replied without looking up. “What would you like to drink tonight? Juice or wine?”

Mak Ming-ho turned around and looked around.

The apartment was small, and everything was arranged just as it had been fifty years ago. The television set was heavy and bulky, taking up so much space, yet the screen was so small—the news had ended, and the advertisement for ivory bath soap, after more than fifty years, lit up the screen once again.

This situation... must be very dangerous, right?
But Mai Minghe couldn't figure out where the danger might come from.

The song my husband was humming in the kitchen was one I hadn't heard in over fifty years.

It turns out she once had such a vibrant and bright time; the world gradually improved, life gradually improved, everything was familiar, she didn't have to learn to adapt, she didn't have to ask young people about everything, and she didn't have to make frequent mistakes when typing information.

As if in a dream, Mak Ming-ho first went to check the restroom, but no one was there.

The wheeled, height-adjustable hospital bed in the master bedroom is gone, replaced by two narrow single beds, facing each other awkwardly, just like she and her husband usually do.

Of course, Ivan isn't here either.

The storage room—no, it had finally fulfilled its owner's expectations and was now a nursery. The walls were a light duck-down yellow, and a small crib stood against the wall; the wind blew the toy wind chimes, and the baby inside the crib babbled and laughed intermittently.

Mai Minghe knew that all of this was related to the nest and wasn't real; but at that moment, she simply couldn't help but go up and take a look.

She carefully bent down beside the crib.

...She found Evan.

(End of this chapter)