Artifact Report

Chapter 363 Chess's Prison Wallet
...Fu Tai Lan is dead.

Chai Si slowly lowered the gun, waves of backward thrust still emanating from his arm muscles, his veins feeling like buzzing strings.

He could hardly believe it.

Fu Tailan often concealed three hidden plans in a single sentence, making him cunning and unpredictable. Attacking him was like trying to grab a piece of lard—slippery and impossible to get a foothold. Yet, in the end, he died like an ordinary person from a bullet.

...Besides that, there doesn't seem to be any other possible outcome, right?

After pulling the trigger, Chai Si watched as the bullet shot out from behind Fu Tai Lan's head, through a spray of blood and bone fragments, and struck the opposite wall.

When Fu Tai Lan was shot and fell backward, the detail that impressed him the most was that Fu Tai Lan's arms suddenly went limp.

They swayed and wobbled, as if searching for a current that could lift him back into the world; when the boy's body crashed heavily to the ground, his arms also fell down in despair, bouncing slightly on the ground, like a dying fish, finally returning to silence.

Now, Fu Tailan has transformed from a human into a lifeless object lying on the ground.

"Really dead?" Han Liuyue seemed somewhat incredulous as she climbed to the foot of the bed and peered at the corpse a few times.

Fu Tailan kept her beautiful eyes open, her gaze fixed on the ceiling. Apart from the burn wound on her forehead, she looked no different from usual.

"He was shot through the brain,"

Chai Si closed the safety latch. Even though he hadn't exerted any physical effort, he felt slightly breathless, as if he'd been trapped in a blissful dream. "Do you have the strength now?"

“There are plenty,” Han Liuyue said as she rolled off the bed, her movements indeed nimble.

At this moment, the sounds of voices and footsteps could be heard from outside the ward, some of them heading this way—after all, even a gunshot with a silencer is far from the subtle, crisp sound seen in movies, and it is bound to cause some commotion.

Han Liuyue bent down and quickly pulled a sign from under the bed; on the white background of the sign was a line of calm and gentle blue text: "Nothing happened here."

The hunter organization, which specializes in handling the aftermath, offered the Kai family a price several times, but Chai Si couldn't bear to sell it—and it did indeed come in handy time and time again.

Han Liuyue opened the door and placed the sign at the ward entrance; it stood there by itself.

A security guard hurried down the corridor. His face, which had been tense and wary, softened instantly when he saw Han Liuyue and the sign, like the night sky softened by a summer breeze. He greeted her, "Good evening."

Han Liuyue nodded, her clear voice ringing out with a laugh: "Hello. What happened?"

The security guard stopped at the door and glanced inside before speaking.

Chai Si had already tucked the gun into his waistband, grabbed the bed sheet, wrapped it around his hand several times, and tied it tightly. He was searching for the fake image on Fu Tai Lan's body—he hadn't forgotten that black sheet.

The security guard watched the search of the body, nodded, and said to Han Liuyue, "It sounds like someone heard a gunshot. We're investigating. Does he need any help?"

“No need,” Han Liuyue said. “Thank you, you can go back to what you’re doing.”

A death occurred in the hospital. Although it was unfortunate, it's not a very normal thing.

In this calm and ordinary atmosphere, the security guard indeed strolled away leisurely.

Han Liuyue looked back.

Just then, Chai Si pulled a rather unpleasant-looking doll out of Fu Tai Lan's pocket; it had a cylindrical, snow-white body, a bald face with nothing on it except for a pair of red lips.

"Is this what he was using just now?" Chai Si said, placing the mouth doll on the hospital bed and continuing to rummage through another pocket. "June, go and see if David really was locked in the storeroom. Take a gun with you."

"He might have accomplices?"

“Not necessarily,” Chai Si said, pulling out another blank card that looked somewhat like a driver’s license with the information erased. “He trusts no one, and no one trusts him; he can only be alone. But you should still be careful, just in case.”

Han Liuyue readily agreed with a "yes," then pulled another gun from the toiletries bag on the bed, casually put it in a plastic bag, and with her hospital gown, she probably wouldn't get a second glance in the hospital.

"If you find the storage room, see if there are any medical staff uniforms," ​​Chai Si added. "I'll get one for you."

Han Liuyue nodded, and before leaving, she added, "Brother Chai, be careful while you're away."

Even though Fu Tailan has become a corpse, it still doesn't seem to put people at ease.

But he was dead, and the black shards on his body were found by Chai Si and put into a small bag; the gun, the two fake images, and his cell phone, keys, and wallet were all found, leaving nothing on Fu Tai Lan's body.

What other unexpected situations could occur?

Chai Si grabbed Fu Tai Lan's body and threw it onto the bed; it was as if he had thrown out a heavy, human-shaped dead fish. The hospital beds all had wheels, so once unlocked, they could be pushed out the door—then, by covering the gunshot wound with bandages, he could pretend to be an emergency patient and sneak out of the hospital.

He stood by the hospital bed and looked at the two fake images in his hands.

Can this red-lipped doll make the target say what you want them to say?
Fu Tailan's luck wasn't too bad; she just happened to get a fake image that could pry away the "rumor"... The "rumor" should have been the least worrying thing to lose.

Just to be safe, perhaps we should ask Uncle Kai to get it back.

Uncle Kai wouldn't misunderstand him.

...The ward was very quiet.

Chai Si raised his head. He glanced at the corpse on the bed first, then scanned the room.

Actually, saying the ward was quiet isn't entirely accurate. He could still hear the hum of the diagnostic equipment, the sound of the ventilation fan, and the indistinct sounds of voices and footsteps in the distance… all the typical background noise and unease of a hospital. So why did it feel quiet?

It seemed as if there was a sound that should have been there but wasn't... The absence of a sound made the silence feel excessive.

What is it?
When Chai Si's gaze swept over the Fu Tai Lan phone on the bedside table, he suddenly understood.

He clearly killed one of the players in the "Nest Domination Game", so why didn't he receive a progress notification?

The last time Chais shot Green, not the "Briana" of the Wesley team, so it was normal that he didn't receive a notification last time; but this time he killed Fu Tai Lan, no matter how you look at it, you should have received a notification.

Could it be that Fu Tailan was indeed removed from the game after losing his illusion?

But Chai Si found it difficult to explain the vague, unsettling shadow in his mind.

He walked towards where Fu Tailan had been shot, and looked up at the wall still embedded with bullets—after that instant, Chai Si didn't know what had saved his life.

Perhaps Heaven didn't want him to die, perhaps he had a gut feeling at the moment of life and death, perhaps he merely caught a change in light and shadow that shouldn't exist in his peripheral vision, or felt an unusual airflow on his brow...

Even the faintest warning signal is enough.

After the first shot rang out, a second shot followed immediately; the sounds of gunfire collided and echoed each other, as if the entire ward was about to collapse—two bullets, one after the other, pierced through the air, grazed the head of Chai Si who was rushing toward the ground, and embedded themselves in the wall next to the ward door.

...Who's shooting at me?
As the thought belatedly flashed through his mind, Chai Si bumped into the ground with a thud.

When a person is between life and death, thinking and analysis alone are not enough to save their life.

Despite his mind being blank, his years of combat experience had already taken over his body's reaction: before he could see anything clearly, Chai Si rolled quickly on the ground, instinctively rolling towards the direction from which the bullet came—the shooter was in the hospital bed.

He pulled the gun from his waistband with a backhand motion, and as soon as his body stopped at the foot of the hospital bed, the pistol snapped open and was raised into the air; the lingering echo of the gunshot drowned out his rapid breathing.

“…Fu Tai Lan,” Chai Si lay on the ground, pointing the gun at the air at the foot of the bed. “You’re quite good at playing dead.”

As soon as someone peeks out from under the bed or gets out of bed, he can quickly seize the target and unleash a barrage of fire—but is the fire still effective?

After a moment of silence, the muffled, indistinct voice of a young boy indeed rang out from the hospital bed.

“I’m not faking it,” he said, as if with a smile, “I really am dead.”

Chai Si snorted, keeping the gun barrel firmly in place, and quickly scanned the area.

Fu Tailan did not quietly peek down from the other side of the bed.

"You don't believe me?" Fu Tailan said, "Even you and Sister Han Liuyue know to fake your death to deceive people, so why would I follow suit and fake it again? That's why I'm really dead, which is why you almost fell for it."

He seemed still unwilling to accept it, and clicked his tongue. "Didn't you see the bullet go right through my head? How could you still dodge my shot? You even thought to check the wall."

The wall, studded with bullets, was so clean.

A spray of blood and bone fragments erupted from the back of Fu Tai Lan's head, yet not a single drop of blood was splattered on the wall; he hadn't had time to examine the floor closely before Fu Tai Lan launched his attack—because if Fu Tai Lan hadn't fired, Chai Si would have had no chance to shoot once he discovered the floor was also clean.

“That’s an illusion,” Chai Si scoffed. “What illusion did you use? Where are you hiding it? I couldn’t find it.”

"Why won't you listen? It really isn't an illusion," Fu Tailan said, her voice rising as if she cared a lot about this. "You really have blown my brains out! Why won't you believe me? The Tonglu illusion too, are you too obsessed to understand human language?"

Chai Si's heart skipped a beat.

Fu Tailan is indeed cunning, but he still hasn't completely shaken off his childlike nature. It's like he's always being pulled by a string; as long as you find the right spot, a gentle tug can stir up his emotions and temper.

"I understand,"

As Chai Si spoke, he visually estimated the distance between himself and the vital signs monitor. The machine was quite large, serving as a natural cover. "You hid the fake death in your prison wallet."

Fu Tailan was clearly taken aback—even the sound of him rummaging through the toiletries bag on the bed stopped for a moment.

"What prison wallet?"

Chai Si smiled silently.

"People going to prison are searched from head to toe to prevent them from smuggling contraband into the prison. But the human body always has places where things can be stuffed in that are difficult to inspect..."

Fu Tailan was quick-witted and reacted quickly; the moment he realized what was happening, he completely transformed into the person he should be at that age.

“Shut up,” he said, his anger unusually sharp. “You disgusting old man with no imagination! If you want to know, I’ll tell you. You’ve been to the Black Abyss before.”

How did he know I had been to the Black Abyss?

Before Chai Si could think further, Fu Tailan continued her rapid-fire speech: "I brought the vulture into the Black Abyss Belt, you didn't expect that, did you? Just like a human, it disintegrated into countless fragments and particles in the Black Abyss Belt. I'm not afraid to tell you because you couldn't possibly—"

Chai Si almost jumped up from the ground.

"You fused the vulture fragments into your own body?"

(End of this chapter)