Artifact Report

Chapter 360 Fu Tai Lan: Piecing Together People and Memory Fragments

Fu Tailan sighed.

He put his hands on his hips, thought for a while in the darkness, and then let out a long sigh.

"Sister Han Liuyue..." he whispered, "If you have an afterlife, don't blame me for not saving you from death."

The large, blurry, and barely recognizable human figure in the darkness could not possibly answer a single question.

In the boundless darkness, it felt as if I were all alone.

“Although I don’t dislike you, and it doesn’t seem right for me to lay a hand on my older sister, you are still a core hunter of the Kai family.” Fu Tailan thought for a moment and said, “If you and Chai Si were to die together, the Kai family would be thrown into chaos. After all, you are a valuable asset to the Kai family…”

The shadowy figure still floated faintly in the same spot.

"You used to be such a straightforward and decisive person... It must be hard for you to gradually drift apart in the darkness now, right? Although I personally don't mind, I quite like it."

Those who hope to disappear cannot disappear, while those who wish to live can only die. Isn't that how the world is?

Fu Tailan asked, "Are you still conscious? Do you still know that you are Han Liuyue?"

She probably fell in here in a daze after being infected.

After being mutated by the energy surface, Han Liuyue's method of resistance was not surprising; it's just unknown whether she will still be confused or afraid when the snow melts and disperses from her body.

He suddenly felt a little reluctant.

“If you’re scared, I’ll stay with you for a while,” Fu Tailan said, sitting down and addressing the shadowy figure. “I’ll leave after you’ve dispersed.”

It was both to accompany her on her final journey and to ensure that Han Liuyue could truly disappear.

Don't let Chai Si interfere. Even if we manage to save him—but how? He's on the verge of collapse. Even if we find Han Liuyue now, how can we save him?
Fu Tailan thought for a while but couldn't come up with a solution—he couldn't focus all his attention on thinking about the problem, and he also had to repeatedly confirm his own existence in order to barely resist the dissolving darkness.

A problem can only be considered for a few minutes before it is interrupted and put aside. Even with Fu Tailan's brain, it is difficult to analyze and deduce any remarkable truth.

Forget it, he doesn't need to figure out how to save people.

He just needs to make sure Han Liuyue can get rid of...

Ok?
Fu Tailan squinted, trying to pierce the darkness with her gaze.

His eyesight wasn't very good here; he only vaguely felt that the shadow in the depths of darkness hadn't changed since he arrived.

Right?
Shouldn't it gradually diffuse until it disappears? Or is it just an illusion?

“…Sister Han Liuyue?” he called out. “Are you still conscious? If you are, wave to me?”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Fu Tailan felt that the request was excessive—that huge mass of shadows, which couldn't even be seen as human, was slowly scattering away, where were the hands? Where were the hands?
I am Fu Tai Lan. I am Fu Tai Lan. I am Fu Tai Lan.

The shadow itself was particles about to spread and melt into the darkness, like countless fish being slowly and scattered by an invisible fishing net; when Fu Tailan confirmed his existence again, he suddenly felt that the particles on one side of that large "fishing net" suddenly swayed left and right twice.

……what?

Is Han Liuyue really waving her hand?

Wait, is she still conscious?
So it wasn't my imagination; Han Liuyue really did stop spreading it because—

Fu Tailan slapped her forehead hard with a "smack".

Am I stupid?

Sitting here calling out Han Liuyue's name again and again, telling her that she is the core hunter of the Kai family, and reminding her that she has hands, isn't that the same as helping her confirm her own existence?
Didn't he just do the work for the clerk?
No wonder that huge shadow stopped spreading; its spread was stopped by Fu Tailan himself—what to do?
Fu Tailan sat there blankly for a few seconds, then finally stood up with a sigh, as if his bones had changed from seventeen to seventy. He slowly walked over and said to Han Liuyue, "I'm sorry, I have to make my move."

This time, when he swung his arm again, forcefully scattering that large, drifting shadow, he was mentally prepared—

"Get down!"

The roar had barely begun when it was drowned out by the distant, heavy rumble of an explosion.

The dust and sand obscured the sky, and the earth trembled faintly. Han Liuyue covered her ears tightly, lying on the ground, feeling the body of her comrade pressing down on her getting heavier and heavier, as if it was about to pass through her and sink into the depths of the ground.

During those long ten seconds, her comrade's body would tremble from time to time; she understood then that it was the aftershocks and ripples of the shards piercing into her flesh.

Fu Tailan was startled, stopped what she was doing, and took a few breaths.

It turns out Han Liuyue had been on the battlefield... He couldn't comfort her that that part of history was in the past; he couldn't say anything now, so as to ensure that Han Liuyue would continue to disappear.

He carefully patted his body to make sure that Han Liuyue's memory fragments had not merged into him.

In the darkness where everything is constantly dissipating, in addition to repeatedly confirming oneself and resisting dissipation, one must also make sure not to absorb fragments of others, lest one unknowingly become a piece of a composite.

Fu Tailan simply tucked her arms into her sleeves and gripped them with her hands—

Wait a minute, I can still feel my clothes? That can't be right, they should only exist in my consciousness, they should be a product of my imagination, right? But he didn't have time to think about it deeply, and had to put aside his doubts again, and first checked himself several times.

Once "Fu Tai Lan" had been gathered up, he continued to grab his sleeve and vigorously pound into the clump of "Han Liu Yue" fragments.

Sure enough, the invisible "fishing net" seemed to be disappearing, with countless fragments and particles floating and drifting gently, like a firework darker than darkness itself, about to rise into the sky before its curtain falls.

A shard slightly larger than his companion suddenly struck him on the forehead; Fu Tailan was startled and before he could react, the world spun around him, and when he came to his senses, he was lying on the ground.

...No, it was Han Liuyue who was lying on the ground.

Her consciousness seemed to be gradually suppressed, sinking into darkness, but her five senses still existed vaguely.

The floor tiles were cold, and above her was a flat, open cement ceiling; it seemed as if she were lying in a fairly large underground exhibition hall, and in the corners of her vision, she could vaguely see the exhibit descriptions posted on the walls.

Fu Tailan did not remove the fragment.

He held his breath and stared intently into Han Liuyue's eyes without moving.

In the air, there were tiny, white, fingernail-sized objects floating about, like a lot of cotton wool scattered in mid-air, but they didn't fall down, they just kept floating and swaying in the air.

What is this? Fu Tailan subconsciously tried to squint to take a closer look; but all of this was a memory left behind when Han Liuyue lost consciousness, and since she couldn't see it clearly, he couldn't see it either.

"...You're such a useless thing,"

A deep, gentle male voice, with an almost tolerant smile, said softly, "After finally entering the human world, I was captured by humans and sent back."

Was he talking to Han Liuyue? No—

The next second, Fu Tailan heard another unfamiliar voice, tinged with fear, say, "You, how did you know we were coming here? I, I was calling my companions... Can you hear our internal calls?"

“My words and actions don’t resemble those of a resident, do you really think I’m human?” The pleasant male voice laughed again. “You don’t even know what I’m good at. The shrill, piercing cries of you vultures circling near the dying always annoy me to no end.”

"So the other vultures didn't come to my aid, was that because you interfered?" The unfamiliar voice seemed to have grown angry: "This huntress has already fallen for your trap, what more do you want? You can let me go now."

When did vultures become so clear-headed and organized?

The vultures that Fu Tailan had seen before were like low-level creatures, with confused minds, driven only by instinct. Even if they imitated human appearances, they were just a group of low-level creatures with human faces.

Han Liuyue lay motionless on the ground. Although her five senses were still present, her consciousness, which could record them, was gradually fading away from her. Through her, Fu Tailan could only vaguely sense that someone was approaching the vulture who had been speaking step by step.

"What are you doing?" the vulture became alert.

"The Domination Game allowed you to enter the human world, and it also gave you sanity and self-awareness. But I never expected that you would become my opponent, and even after entering the human world, you are still thinking about killing all the players in the Domination Game."

"Wait, wait, big brother." Having seen something, Vulture's tone suddenly became obedient and friendly. "Don't you want to kill them? If they win the game, we can't afford another Anlu..."

"Don't act stupid."

The vulture closed its beak, but after a while it couldn't resist again.

"Oh dear, it's a misunderstanding, brother," the vulture mumbled. "How about this, what do you suggest? Do you want me to go back into the human world? I can bring all my companions with me—"

“I don’t need you anymore,” the male voice interrupted. “I’ve found something better.”

As these words were spoken, a single piece of white cotton drifted gently down from the sparse, floating white cotton fluff in front of Han Liuyue and slowly floated past her.

...It was a small, snow-white noodle.

Countless tiny Noh noodles floated slowly in the air, like snowflakes that refused to fall to the ground.

Their dark, curved, smiling eyes stared unblinkingly at Han Liuyue, each tiny face, no bigger than a fingernail, crammed with an expectant smile, as if awaiting her rebirth.

"...Those Noh masks?" The vulture's voice sounded very distant.

A deep, pleasant male voice chuckled and said, "Besides you, there are many other things that can enter the human world... like face spores..."

"Why did you let us... in..."

Han Liuyue's hearing began to deteriorate intermittently.

"...Enter from the lair...penetrate, squeeze...the Black Abyss...in thinner areas, you can...drill holes, seep in..."

Fu Tailan knew that all of this was Han Liuyue's memory, but she still couldn't help but prick up her ears and try to listen; but soon, the memory stopped.

As Han Liuyue, acting as a "noodle maker," took a breath, he also opened his eyes from the darkness.

After thinking for a moment, he took one last look at the scattered shadow behind him, then turned and left.

He still held that fragment of memory in his hand.

(End of this chapter)