Artifact Report

Chapter 376 Mai Minghe: Yes, no, this is a construction site.

Startled, Mai Minghe forced back his pounding heart and instinctively called out, "Evan?"

On that eyeball, the eyelids opened and closed, and it blinked once.

When he actually called out, Mak Ming-ho had already realized that it wasn't Evan behind the wall, because the eye color didn't match: Evan's eyes weren't yellow or green, but a messy, dirty color, while the person behind the wall had a pair of ordinary brown eyes.

Hmm, one. I haven't seen the other one yet.

Before the person behind the wall could answer, Mai Minghe waved his hand and said, "Hey, you startled me. Are you from this construction site? I'm here to find someone."

"What?" asked the eye behind the wall.

He took a step back and saw a narrow face, short black hair, and a blue plaid shirt.

“I’m looking for someone; a friend of mine has gone missing.” Mai Minghe also took a few steps back, showing him the AI ​​portrait. “Have you seen this person around here? He should be wearing a gray shirt…”

“This is a construction site,” a worker behind the wall said.

This person doesn't seem to be very good at communicating—does he mean, "Outsiders can't get into the construction site, so Evan isn't here"?
In any case, you shouldn't just guess; it's best to ask for a clear answer.

“I know this is a construction site. Have you seen him around here?” Mak Ming-ho asked again.

“Yes,” the worker behind the wall said.

"Really? Where?" Mai Minghe exclaimed in surprise. "When? Is he at the construction site?"

“No,” the worker behind the wall said.

...What is "and not"? Have you actually seen it or not?
Talking to this person is really difficult; he's even less perceptive than the locals. He doesn't have an accent, so it doesn't seem like there's a language barrier...

"Which question are you referring to, 'not'?" Mai Minghe regretted asking so many questions at once. With so many questions, some people will only answer the last one.

The worker behind the wall looked at her, paused for a few seconds, and said, "I don't know."

...Could he have an intellectual disability?

I don't think I saw the construction site gate when I came here... Maybe we should go inside and talk. Since there are people on the site, he can't be the only one. Asking his coworkers is also an option.

"Excuse me, where is the entrance to the construction site?" Mai Minghe asked. "I'd rather go in and follow you—"

She blinked and came to her senses.

……what?

Seriously, why is she sitting on the ground by the roadside? Even if she's tired from walking, she shouldn't sit on the ground like that. The streets of Blackmore City are notoriously dirty.

Mai Minghe quickly jumped up and used his other hand, which wasn't holding the phone, to pat his pants.

She glanced at the screen.

She seemed to be browsing apps out of sheer boredom. They were all downloaded by Hai Luwei, and once you clicked on one, it was dazzling and disorienting. Before even opening the post, an ad popped up first.

When and how did she come to see the advertisement—no, how did she come to see the phone?
Mai Minghe hesitated for a moment, then looked up at the residential renovation site across the street.

Looking out from here, all you can see is a simple, light blue wooden fence stretching for most of the street, disappearing around a corner, seemingly extending for who knows how far.

The AI ​​portrait she just pasted up looked like patches, as if several rectangular windows had been opened in the wall, each containing a human face looking back at her from afar.

The missing person notices were all posted, and the worker behind the wall couldn't say whether he had seen Ivan or not... There was no point in staying any longer, so she had to leave.

Mai Minghe just couldn't understand why she would sit down on the roadside and start playing on her phone after crossing the street. Even just checking the time would have helped; she should have gone home earlier.

Hai Luwei was absolutely right. Smartphones are so addictive and distracting. She didn't even remember when she crossed the street. No wonder he said, "Without realizing it, you're already scrolling through your phone." She didn't understand it then, but now she understands the power of smartphones.

She glanced at her phone and said to it, "Don't distract me again next time. I'm busy with something."

The phone looked at her with an innocent expression.

That's true, there weren't even any messages or calls on my phone, so I can't blame it for taking my attention away from it...

Hmm, speaking of which, those two kids were unusually quiet today.

They said last night that they would come along to help look for someone... Are they busy today?

However, the sea reed clearly stated, "When I'm not in my nest, I'm so bored. If you don't let me go, I'll just rot in front of the TV like mud."

Amy said at the time that she was different from Ni, as she had regular physical training and shooting lessons; but it would be absolutely unacceptable not to let her come along, and she believed that Mak Ming-ho would make the right choice.

Today, however, my phone is completely silent.

The sky hung low, a somber gray, heavy with clouds; the construction site was eerily quiet, and the streets were nearly deserted. The whole world seemed to be demonstrating to her what "the calm before the storm" truly meant.

Mai Minghe glanced at the construction site again.

Something feels off... Since I need to take a taxi back anyway, it doesn't matter where I take one. I'll just cross the road and go back to check it out.

As she pondered this, she stepped onto the zebra crossing.

As luck would have it, when Mak Ming-ho was standing in the middle of the road waiting for the next traffic light, he saw an elderly couple of tourists turn the corner, walking and looking around with their phones on their phones—Mak Ming-ho knew this, since phones nowadays have maps too.

Even having a map didn't seem to stop them from getting lost; the two craned their necks, looking ahead along the road, as if wanting to see where the wall ended before expending the energy to walk further.

You can't tell anything just by looking, because the project site covers a lot of land; so the next step, naturally, is to ask someone.

The couple turned their heads and, across half the road, met the gaze of Mak Ming Ho from afar.

The weather was bad, and with a construction site nearby, there were few pedestrians. Mai Minghe coughed, ready to offer directions without hesitation—just as she was about to wave for them to wait, the wife suddenly turned around, as if she had heard something. The wife looked at the wall, then tugged at her husband's arm; the two turned around, walked to the gap between two simple planks of wood, and waved to the person behind the wall.

...Was it that worker?

Mai Minghe couldn't explain why she suddenly felt a tightness in her chest; she glanced at the traffic light, and without waiting any longer, she dashed across the road under the gaze of the bright red figure.

"Hello, I'd like to ask about something,"

As Mak Ming-ho ran closer, he could already hear the wife standing in front of the gap, asking the person behind the wall, "How far is it from here to the 'Red Swan Garden Hotel'? We're following the map, but the cursor keeps spinning around..."

Hearing the noise, the husband turned around and glanced at Mai Minghe.

Blackmore City is not known for its good security, and he couldn't figure out what Maming River was going to do by rushing across the road, so he carefully held his backpack to his chest.

“This is a construction site,” the worker behind the wall said. If he hadn’t immediately added, Mak Ming-ho would have almost thought he was a robot—“This is a welfare housing construction site, not Red Swan Garden.”

“I know,” the wife said, somewhat bewildered by the man’s words. “Is it far from the Red Swan Garden?”

Through the crack, the same brown eye blinked once more and said, "No."

The couple perked up and took a step closer to the crack. "Great! Which way should we go?"

etc--

Before the words could be stopped, Mai Minghe heard the worker behind the wall speak up: "That's a construction site too."

what?
The elderly couple and Mak Ming Ho were both taken aback.

“The ‘Red Swan Garden Hotel’,” a worker behind the wall said, “is also a site for the renovation of welfare housing.”

"What are you saying?" The husband was stunned, then a hint of anger rose within him. "That's the hotel we're staying at, we just—"

He stopped abruptly.

Mai Minghe had already walked up to the two of them, but before he could even call out to them, he was caught off guard by Mai Minghe's sudden interruption—what's going on?
Her husband ignored her, his backpack dangling from his arm.

The couple stared intently at an eye peeking through the slit, and the eye in the slit stared intently back at them.

Under a gloomy, rainy sky, Mak Ming Ho stared blankly at the three of them, who remained motionless as they looked at each other for a few seconds. After a while, the elderly couple turned away without saying a word.

“Hello, wait a minute,” Mai Minghe called out, “who are you…”

She had barely begun to speak when she paused again.

As if no one had heard her call, the husband walked to his left, while the wife walked step by step to her right. They didn't look at each other, exchanged a single word, and walked away from each other, gradually growing apart until they were separated by a considerable distance.

Who should I catch up with?

For a moment, Mak Ming-ho was at a loss. After a few seconds, he decided to hurry up and catch up with the wife. He called out to her several times, but she did not respond at all. She just kept walking forward step by step until Mak Ming-ho patted her on the shoulder and finally stopped her.

"Where are you going?" Mai Minghe, fearing she might be delirious, grabbed her and pointed behind her. "Isn't that your husband? He went that way."

“I know,” the wife said calmly.

"You know?...Why did you suddenly split up?"

This is not a question a stranger should ask, nor is it something one should answer for a stranger. But the wife still said, "He went to look for a hotel. Our hotel has become a construction site, and we have nowhere to stay, so we have to find another hotel."

This was the first time Mai Minghe had heard something so reasonable yet utterly nonsensical.

She had too many questions, all jostling and vying to be answered, which only made things more complicated; in the end, she could only grasp the first question that surfaced in her mind: "Then what are you going to do?"

“I need to go back to the Red Swan Garden Hotel,” the wife replied. “I need to go there and let them know that their hotel has been turned into a construction site.”

Mai Minghe couldn't help but close his eyes and pinch the corners of his eyes hard.

“Listen to what you’re saying,” she said, opening her eyes. “This doesn’t make sense at all—”

His wife's face was almost pressed against hers.

Those eyes, not young and already cloudy, filled most of Mak Ming-ho's field of vision; their noses almost touched.

Startled, Mai Minghe involuntarily staggered back a step or two—a sharp car horn pierced the air and her eardrums from not far away; she suddenly realized that she had stepped onto the road, and when she turned around, under the dark sky, a pair of car headlights had already come into view.

...After she hurriedly and awkwardly stumbled back onto the sidewalk and was even cursed at by a speeding driver, Mai Minghe looked around again and found that his wife was walking very fast. She had not only walked far away, but had also already hailed a taxi.

She slammed the car door shut with a "bang," as if bringing this interlude to a close.

Mai Minghe took a few breaths, still a little confused as to why he had insisted on stopping her earlier.

She just wanted to go and check out the welfare housing construction site, didn't she?
People in this world have all sorts of desires; if the wife wants to see it, then let her...

Hmm, something just doesn't feel right. I can't quite put my finger on what it is right now.

Mai Minghe glanced back at the welfare housing renovation construction site not far behind him. It was still completely silent; unless you got close, it seemed no one would know that a person was standing in the gap in the wall.

After hesitating for a few seconds, she took out her phone and dialed Hai Luwei's number.

The phone rang several times before it was answered.

"Mai Minghe?" Hai Luwei seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and said, "We've finally heard from you! Was your phone off or something? We couldn't get back to you with our messages, and we couldn't get through on the phone..."

(End of this chapter)