Artifact Report

Chapter 368 Jin Xueli: Death and Rebirth
Kim Seol-ri's situation is quite dire.

The pistol had just run out of bullets.

If a hammer were to strike a human with all its might, the power would be enough to make the person who received it buy a liniment the day after their own obituary was published in the newspaper.

Calling the police? Forget about it, the man had already calmly pulled out his gun; with a gun pointed at her, how could she possibly have time to press 911?

There wasn't even time to jump off the building, because she was standing in the middle of the rooftop, too far from the edge. If she suddenly ran to the edge, it would be perfect for that man to practice shooting at moving targets.

How to do?
After a second or two of intense internal struggle, Jin Xueli was at a loss. Finally, she opened her mouth slightly and asked blankly, "Huh? Who is Jin Xueli?"

The man stared at her silently, the muzzle of his gun remaining motionless.

"I...I have money for you," she stammered, raising her hands and desperately trying to get her face close to the tourist who had just been robbed. "Please don't shoot, I'll give you all my money...I just came here to see the scenery...Are you sure you haven't mistaken me for someone else?"

The man slowly walked forward, approaching Jin Xueli step by step.

Those eyes, which looked like black holes from afar, gradually became clear in the dim light: his original pupil color was gray-olive green, but now his entire eyes were a hazy gray-green; the black pupils were still the same size, but no longer in their original positions.

...They were stuck to Jin Xueli's eyeballs.

It was as if two black dots, like ophthalmologists, were peering into her brain through her own pupils.

what happened?

Jin Xueli was startled and quickly took two steps back. She blinked hard and found that the feeling of being spied on had disappeared—the black pupils had returned to the eyes of the man opposite her.

“I see,” the man smiled, “If you were Jin Xueli, I would have asked you a few questions before killing you. Since you aren’t, I’ll just kill you directly—”

“I am Kim Seol-ri,” Kim Seol-ri immediately admitted.

The Knight family is certainly capable of shooting innocent people; living a few more days is better than dying outright. As long as they're alive, maybe they can find a way to turn things around?
The man remained calm. "How did you get it?"

"What? How did you get it?" Jin Xueli knew what he was asking, but she had to play dumb—after all, the more she said, the more minutes she could live. "By the way, um, may I ask... what's your name?"

Who knows, if I ask this question now, I might be able to use it for the face balloon next time.

"I'm asking you, not the other way around." The man surnamed Knight tapped the gun in his hand. "Don't play dumb, how did you get the original solution?"

Don't they know that themselves? Impossible!

Unable to find a better question to stall for time, Jin Xueli simply let the thought slip out of her mouth: "Don't you know how to get the original solution?"

“Of course we know. But what I’m asking is, how did ‘you’ get it?” Knight’s face darkened. “You got the concentrate without paying a price at the gas station.”

In other words... the Knight family has always been law-abiding, relying on "paying a price" to buy the original solution at gas stations.

Kim Seol-ri stole a bottle of concentrate from the gas station without paying anything—so the Knight family wants to know how she did it, right?

"You want to kill me for this?" Jin Xueli was both angry and aggrieved. "If you want to learn my methods, just come and ask me. Give me some money, and I'll answer anything you ask. But you want to kill me for such a trivial matter?"

Even if she were still alive and still talking back and forth with Knight, it wouldn't change the reality; when Jin Xueli looked around, she still couldn't find a single chance to escape.

Even if we chat here for an hour or two, what difference will it make? Where is the turning point?
Even Tianxi didn't know that the reason she was on the rooftop of this building—a dead end from which she couldn't see any way out—was simply because of "a way to get the original liquid."
"A small matter?" Knight licked his lips lightly. "A sum of tens of millions, you consider it a small matter?"

Jin Xueli was taken aback. "What? I... I only took one bottle."

Knight suddenly laughed. "You've never done business as a hunter, have you? You're probably just a lone wolf, aren't you?"

Even though it is true, admitting it like that still makes me feel a little resentful, as if I've been subtly scolded.

"I've also sold fake images before..."

Knight's smile widened, making his eyes appear like two thin, grey-green pools. "You know nothing?"

Jin Xueli stared at him blankly.

"On my way to the rooftop, I stopped by Scott. It was my first time meeting him... I didn't know he used the original solution in brain health products. How interesting. Speaking of which, I have to thank you for bringing us here to Scott."

...What's going on? Doesn't he know what Scott wants the original solution for?

Knight shook his head, his black pupils swaying, dangling from his eyeballs before drifting back into the gray-green hue. "We can smell what Chess Monroe is up to by getting you into his company and giving you shares."

People who have an absolute advantage tend to be less guarded, which is probably why they are willing to say more.

"What abacus?" Jin Xueli asked.

“Our Knight family has always been the exclusive supplier of the raw materials in Blackmore City. Scott is one of the customers who uses the raw materials—except that the customer is Chess Monroe, so we agreed that he would buy our raw materials in bulk and then resell them to Scott, with the Cay family taking a cut in the process. We never knew who he sold the raw materials to.”

As Knight spoke, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of small, colorful spherical pellets; he waved his hand at the ground, and the colorful pellets immediately scattered all over the floor, rolling and covering the area around Goldie.

Even with her eyes closed, she could sense that all these colorful little spheres were the same kind of artifact.

Jin Xueli didn't know exactly what it was used for, but she hoped she would never find out.

"So, you really are partners with Shiba?"

She forced herself to refocus her attention on Knight and asked, "I also have a business relationship with Chess. I don't know why, but I suddenly couldn't contact him recently. Scott needed the serum, so I helped him... Since we're business partners, why do you have to kill me? I didn't take any money from Scott this time, so why don't you just continue supplying the serum from now on?"

“You’re already on the threshold of the truth, Miss Jin Xueli.” Knight said slowly, “If you’ve ever fought for profit, you’ll naturally think deeper… But I think you’ve always lived a very simple life, so you can’t think of that. You think we’re just cooperating? No, in this deal, the relationship between Chess and Knight is one where they’re always looking for an opportunity to squeeze each other out.”

Jin Xueli gasped sharply—really, why did she only think of that now?
It's like the other shoe finally dropped, but it landed too late.

Ever since the day she made that phone call with the lawyer, a question has been lingering in Kim Seol-ri's mind.

Why should I be able to get shares worth at least nine million just because I helped Chai Si a few times?
Even if it's just to thank her savior, giving her a sum of money would be enough, even one or two million would far exceed Jin Xueli's expectations; there's no need to give up such high-value shares and involve her in the business.

Chai Si let her onto the ship partly out of gratitude, but more importantly, of course, because she was useful.

What she's doing deserves nine million shares.

Kim Seol-ri had no objection to this point—she certainly wanted long-term benefits rather than taking a small sum of money and leaving.

However, if Chai Si hadn't suddenly disappeared, she certainly wouldn't have only now finally realized her place in the whole picture—because keeping it from her would have benefited no one.

So, does that mean Chai Si might really be dead?
“The Kai family is just an intermediary. You’re only maintaining this situation because of their power,” Jin Xueli murmured. “But given the chance, you want to squeeze out Chai Si and take his clients directly; Chai Si also wants to squeeze out you and find the source of the original solution…”

The man named Knight snapped his fingers; in his other hand, the gun remained firmly held.

“With our cooperative relationship in place, the Kai family hunters cannot enter the lair to search for the original liquid on their own, at least not openly.”

Knight smiled and said, "This is exactly where you come in! We really didn't expect you to find the original solution so quickly—you know, the information about the original solution that we passed on to Chai Si was all false clues to mislead people. So, I'm very curious, how exactly did you find the original solution?"

...No wonder they were so determined to kill her.

Knight wanted to kill her because with her around, the Knight family's entire source of income could be cut off.

But even if you understand the whole story, what good will it do?

Kim Seol-ri still doesn't know how to get out of this desperate situation.

“I understand, I’ve told you everything,” she could only let out a long sigh, and tentatively said, “My method was a one-off deal, there’s no way it can be done a second time, you don’t need to worry about me replacing you at all…”

He just said that Scott is just "one of" the people who use the original solution, right?
Could there be others in Blackmore City who are also using the original solution?
Jin Xueli was full of doubts, but it wasn't the time to ask.

She began by recounting the transfer of shares, speaking slowly and meticulously, while desperately trying to think of a way to escape.

The two had been talking for ten minutes, and she didn't have much time left. Once she finished speaking, Knight would have no reason to spare her life—what should she do?
The colorful little balls surrounding her feet should be something she absolutely must not touch, right?
But they were densely packed together, one next to another, covering the ground nearby so much that Jin Xueli couldn't even step out; moreover, there was Knight watching her intently from the opposite side.

As she recounted the experience, Knight's dark pupils remained fixed on her eyeballs, as if an eclipse were unfolding in her vision.

“I really wasn’t lying,” she said, swallowing her anger. “I don’t know how to buy the serum, and my method is unlikely to work a second time.”

The black pupils were still peering into her eyes and brain; she couldn't even see Knight across from her.

“What you’re saying seems to be the truth…” Knight murmured. “I heard about the bounty on the radio…”

She deliberately revealed the existence of the radio.

Jin Xueli had already made up her mind. If Knight was interested in the radio, that would be perfect—she could use the excuse of leading the way to retrieve the radio to escape into the lair; as for what to do afterward, she would escape first.

However, Knight didn't ask any further questions, as if "radio" was something that everyone had, and simply nodded, his black pupils immediately rising into the air before retreating.

“Interesting, a one-off deal… not necessarily.” Knight chuckled.

Jin Xueli's heart sank suddenly.

"I--"

She couldn't finish her sentence. Because in the next half minute, things changed so rapidly that she only understood what happened afterward:

A black pupil paused halfway back—at the same time, a low, growing hum echoed from the distant clouds and sky.

A sudden, strong wind howled and rushed between the tall buildings, blurring the view of hair into a hazy shadow.

The black pupil hovered in mid-air, then rapidly expanded as if inflated, until it became the size of a shield, yet still retained the characteristics of an eyeball.

When Jin Xueli involuntarily looked into the black pupils, she discovered that in the center of the pupils, besides reflecting herself, the buildings, the sky, and so on, there was a helicopter that was gradually growing larger.

"Squat down!"

As a roar echoed through the air, Jin Xueli's legs obeyed even before she could react—

The sound of gunfire came on the wind, heading straight for the man named Knight; in that instant, it seemed that even the gloomy rain clouds could not withstand the shock, and were torn apart by the heavy gunfire, and began to fall in large raindrops.

Where is that man? Is he lying on the ground?

Jin Xueli's ears were ringing, and for a moment she couldn't hear or see anything. She crouched between the raindrops, in the strong wind that seemed to be rushing her into a whirlwind of colorful particles, squinting as she barely managed to lift her head toward the helicopter in mid-air.

"Jin Xue Li,"

On the helicopter, Morando, holding a gun in one hand and throwing down a rope ladder with the other, shouted at her, "Get on now!"

(End of this chapter)