Artifact Report

Chapter 351 Mai Minghe's Operation Straight to the Core
When Mak Ming-ho finished narrating, both children stood with their mouths slightly open, their faces pale, unsure of how to respond.

“You don’t need to comfort me,” she said first after a brief silence. “I’m fine.”

“Are you alright?” Amy murmured, “But you only have…”

She didn't finish her sentence.

After having "extracorporeal telomeres" attached, and only having them removed twice, Mai Minghe realized one fact: the next time the "extracorporeal telomeres" left, it would probably be her death day.

Living in a young body for so long, she sometimes almost forgot that her time was borrowed. Death patiently awaited her, no matter how far she temporarily pushed it away.

Mai Minghe was an ordinary person; she didn't want to die, she wasn't ready to say goodbye to this world; but—

“I don’t regret it,” she whispered.

Even if she knew everything, if given another chance, she would still sit down next to Lan Zhui, chat with him about the movies she watched on the weekend, watch him worry about how to file his taxes, and listen to him describe his colleague's child's wedding.

Even if that wasn't a real Lanzhui.

The real Lan Zhui had already fallen silent before his death; during those long years, he had hardly uttered a single word to her.

That's why she needs to hear from him about whether he's doing well or not.

"...I know that's silly."

Mai Minghe lowered his head and said intermittently, "Clearly... the Nest clearly has ill intentions. I understand. But... I always feel like I'm being comforted by the Nest, as if it's telling me that it's okay, that he's doing well in another timeline. I don't need to feel guilty, nor do I need to feel regret. I just need to pay a small price at the end of my life."

“No, that won’t do,” Sea Reed said abruptly. “We won’t pay that price either, or we’ll let the Nest force us to buy it! We still have time, don’t we? We’ll all help you find similar artifacts, right, Amy?”

Amy glanced at him, seemingly looking at him with unusual respect, then turned to Mak Ming-ho and said, "Of course."

Mai Minghe shook his head.

She was grateful for the children's kindness, but if there were still illusions in the nest that could restore youth and that could be easily found by hunters, then wouldn't all the efforts made by the nest today have been in vain?
No matter how you look at it, this was a trap set for her by the "Nest Domination Game"...

It's unlikely that a "second snake belt" could be found; naturally, there's no need for the two children to risk their lives for her.

"Then what do you suggest?" Amy became agitated after being rejected. "You saved my life. You absolutely cannot die before I die."

"What kind of logic is that?" Mai Minghe couldn't help but laugh. "How old are you? I have to wait for you to leave first, which would take many years."

Amy had a long, drawn-out expression; she didn't find her funny at all.

“Evan said I discovered it a step too early. If I hadn’t discovered it, he would have stopped in a few minutes… This shows that his goal was not to kill me, but to shorten the countdown of the snake belt to a certain day.”

After thinking for a moment, Mai Minghe said, "He and the Nest might be trying to force me to do something."

She glanced at her phone—she'd gradually gotten used to checking the time on her phone; it was so easy, much more convenient than flipping through a calendar.

After returning home, he encountered the illusion concocted by Evan, who then called the two children and talked to them for a long time. It wasn't until now that Mak Ming-ho realized how late it was—the date had just skipped a day, and it was now December 4th, 1:13 AM.

“Counting from December 4th, there are still 26 days left… Because of my interference, the snake belt countdown has changed to end on December 30th.” Mai Minghe sorted out his thoughts and said, “In other words, the nest originally wanted to force me to do something or take some action before December 30th.”

"What do you think it will be?" Hai Luwei asked, taking the opportunity to ask.

“Then I don’t know,” Mai Minghe sighed.

It must be something related to the "game of domination," I wonder what evil the lair is plotting against humanity.

There are still 26 days left... Until the last day of 2026, she can still control her body and time.

As long as we are not in the final, desperate situation, there is still hope.

Mak Ming Ho has to remind himself from time to time that there is still hope ahead.

Even if it is death, a sudden death is better than being bedridden and gradually withering away, isn't it?

She had to find some comfort; otherwise, the vast, desolate, and pitch-black void, and the fear that was crushing her day by day, were almost unbearable.

"Fortunately, I discovered it a step ahead, which gave me a few extra days to react."

Trying to clear her head, she sighed, "It's strange, I only participated in an illusion, yet the snake's countdown has been shortened... How is this possible?"

“I do have a guess,” Hai Luwei said after thinking for a while with her arms crossed. “Have you ever heard of the theory that ‘time does not exist’?”

Ai Meili asked, "You mean that quote Einstein said? He said something like, 'The past, present, and future are nothing but a persistent illusion,' right?" Hai Luwei glanced at her, seemingly impressed. "You read books sometimes?"

Mai Minghe coughed several times to stop the two from spewing words at each other and get back to the main topic.

"Einstein said that time is different for different observers. I don't understand the more complex details, but simply put, time doesn't have a... well, it doesn't have a component or equivalent."

"Many people believe that time is just a concept we invented. What we see—flowers blooming and withering, cars driving, children growing up, adults growing old—is actually just a manifestation of the laws governing the movement of matter and the decay of energy."

Mai Minghe understood. "To be honest, the snake belt that restored my youth didn't turn back time, but simply restored my bodily functions."

"Yes, you understand very quickly."

Hai Luwei clapped her twice, though it was unnecessary, but Mai Minghe felt that she hoped to cheer her up.

"If time is merely a concept invented in our minds, but so deeply ingrained that we cannot consider problems without considering time... then the measurement standard for the 'use period of an artifact' is naturally also a product of the human mind."

The sea reeds seemed to be getting quite interested.

"I guess the nest can't directly change your concept of time, nor can it directly shorten the snake's time limit, so it settled for second best and compressed thirty years into thirty minutes, soaking you in it."

"And you're not just an observer; you've spent these 'thirty years' with your loved ones. You're immersed in it, so your sense of time is definitely confused, which has also accelerated the snake's countdown. Oh dear, thankfully the acceleration isn't one-to-one."

Looking back, Mai Minghe felt as if he had spent half his life with Lan Zhui.

Did this illusion affect the "snake belt" so that it accelerated the passage of more than eight months?

“It’s such a simple conclusion,” Amy said. “You started with Einstein, I thought it was something more profound.”

“You were the one who said Einstein first.” Seaweed lowered her face.

“That’s an interesting guess,” Mak Ming-ho quickly interjected, drawing their attention back to himself. “But if time doesn’t exist, what would the illusion of ‘time’ look like?”

Despite not regretting the thirty minutes he spent with Lan Zhui, Mai Minghe still had to save himself.

The closest thing to her now is the "time" target artifact that the "Illusion Report" will give her after completing the action point.

“I can’t think of anything. But I feel that theories and guesses are meaningless,” Amy said, glancing at the sea reeds. “The most important thing is action. Once we get the next artifact report and the time artifact—wouldn’t everything be clear?”

This girl is good at cutting through the Gordian knot and getting straight to the heart of the problem.

She's right; but the problem is, now that Evan is gone, and Ma Minghe hasn't received the next action point notification—who knows if she's even completed the second action point?
The second action point required her to rescue Evan and help him "get back on track"—she did rescue Evan, but it seemed that Evan had long since gone off track, so where was he supposed to go back to?
She didn't even know what Ivan was.

He says he's not a resident, so what is he? He's so far removed from people.

"Where did Ivan go? He's neither human nor ghost, yet he's gone out like this. What kind of impact will that have?" Mai Minghe thought, and his heart sank. "He probably wouldn't target ordinary people, would he? There's no benefit for him."

Thinking about it more deeply, Evan had a whole night last night to create illusions and shorten the countdown of the snake belt; while Mak Ming-ho was asleep, he could shorten the countdown as much as he wanted without worrying about her discovering it in advance.

But why did he wait until today, when Mak Ming-ho returned home, to take action?
The more they thought about it, the more questions arose, but the three of them couldn't come up with many answers.

After discussing it for a while, it was Mak Ming Ho who made the decision first.

"Whether it's for the hint of the third action point, or to control Ivan and prevent him from causing trouble, my first step should be to bring him back. At that time, many questions will probably be answered naturally."

As she spoke, she glanced up at the storage room. "Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of him. I'll have to rely on my own eyes, which isn't easy to find..."

“That’s alright, I can just use AI to generate a photo,” Hai Luwei said. “I’ve seen him before, so I can at least make it look 70 or 80 percent similar.”

"AI? What's that?"

The two children exchanged a glance, their faces showing a clear intention to back down.

“There’s no way to explain this right now,” Sea Reed waved her hand. “By the time I explain it to you, it will be dawn.”

...In the 1970s, ordinary people didn't have so many things to explain all night; simple was just fine, wasn't it?
After reminiscing about the past, Mak Ming-ho turned his attention back to the future.

“Then it’s settled,” she nodded. “You go and work on that AI thing. Once I have the photos, I’ll use it to find people. Oh, and I can also call the police. They’re more professional than me, and they have more manpower.”

Mai Minghe thought about it.

"The Central Police Station in Blackmore City isn't far from this area. I'll go there to file a report tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)