Artifact Report

Chapter 378 Mai Minghe - A Seventy-Six-Year-Old Who Escaped Death

Mak Ming-ho regretted not wearing a hat or scarf today.

To avoid being discovered, she had no choice but to sit in a corner behind the glass doors of the coffee shop, craning her neck every now and then to glance at the construction site across the street—twenty or thirty minutes had passed, she had ordered several cups of coffee, the sky was getting increasingly overcast, and there were fewer and fewer people on the street, but she still couldn't see Evan.

Could it be that she guessed wrong?

Or did Ivan just run out of steam? Logically speaking, he still has injuries that haven't healed.

"It's been raining heavily for two or three days straight, it just won't stop, waaaaaah." The shop assistant cried, seemingly talking to herself, yet also addressing the only customer. "Waaaaah, it's been raining heavily since the 3rd, you know, waaaaah, the river level has risen."

The tears in his eyes remained low and invisible, but that didn't stop him from crying his heart out.

“Yes,” Mai Minghe echoed, deciding to borrow the phone again to ask Hai Luwei and the other person where they were. “Excuse me, I’d like to—”

Before he could finish speaking, the phone rang in the staff room behind the store.

“Wait,” the clerk said, sobbing uncontrollably, “I’ll go answer the phone.”

Maybe it was sea reeds that came back to find her?
As soon as Mai Minghe started reading, he quickly got up and walked to the counter, watching the clerk disappear behind the door; he vaguely heard him say "Wuuu wuu wei?"—Hai Luwei was probably stunned for a moment.

But after waiting for several seconds, the shop assistant still didn't come out to greet her, and it seemed the call wasn't for her.

"Huh?...Yes, waaaaah."

Fragments of conversation peeked through the door, suggesting the shop assistant knew the caller. "Yes, waaaaah... Yes, I can do it, waaaaah..."

Are you talking about your job? You're wailing even more. Work is something that makes you waile.

Since it was none of his business, Mai Minghe felt embarrassed to listen any longer; he quickly went back to his seat before the clerk came out, lest the shop assistant think he was someone with ulterior motives...

But that's really strange.

Wasn't the person talking to the shop assistant at all surprised by his sobbing?

Didn't you ask a single question?
If the person making the call, like Mak Ming-ho just now, asked him why he was crying, the shop assistant would definitely explain it in the same way—

A soft click came from behind the counter, as if the clerk had hung up the phone.

The salesperson will explain, just like before, "Why would I cry?", right?

The staff-only door was pushed open.

Following the momentum, Mak Ming-ho took another step forward.

If Evan was indeed after him, then the only way he could know the whereabouts of Maming River was through the "workers behind the wall."

Since two things, whose identities are uncertain, can communicate... then...

Mai Minghe turned his head as if possessed.

Before anyone knew it, the weeping shop assistant had climbed onto the counter. He resembled a giant spider, poised to pounce on its prey.

The moment their eyes met, his movements froze for a second—for a moment, all Mai Minghe could see was that face contorted with excessive grief, every muscle twisting and pressing downwards.

"Waaah," he said, bending his knees little by little, "please don't leave."

The next second, Mak Ming Ho turned and ran.

With a muffled thud, the floor shook; the male clerk rushed forward, stirring up a gust of wind that seemed to bite her, making her scalp tingle—just a second before his hand was about to grab Mai Minghe's hair, she quickly twisted her body and almost frantically turned between two empty tables on her right.

The weeping shop assistant rushed forward two steps from behind her, blocking the entrance, and turned around.

He turned to look at Mak Ming-ho on his left, then turned back to look at the corner opposite her—on the right side of the door, on a coffee table, were several empty cups that had once contained lattes and espressos…and Mak Ming-ho’s bag.

This is getting a bit bad.

The gun was in the backpack; to get it, one had to rush past the shop assistant.

The shop assistant stared intently at Mai Minghe, sobbing as she flipped the "Open for Business" sign over without turning her head.

"Just in case," he said, "but thankfully there have been several days of torrential rain, and the streets are deserted."

“Wait, think about it,” Mai Minghe said as he slowly backed away, “Do you really know the person who called you just now? I’m a complete stranger to you. You forcibly imprisoned me, which is a crime of kidnapping…”

Her lower back bumped against the coffee table, and Mak Ming-ho stopped. "What's your name?"

The weeping shop assistant seemed to pause slightly, momentarily stunned by her grief.

"What's your name?" she asked again.

"My name is... my name is Qiaosen..."

"What are your parents' names?"

The young man before him was clearly human, but perhaps influenced by the construction site across the street, he appeared strange—Mai Minghe needed to remind him of his normal, human side. "Where is your hometown?"

“Black Moore State…Angela is my mom, Jaelin is my dad…”

Being able to converse and retain memories is better than anything else; Mai Minghe felt a little more at ease and quickly pressed his advantage: "You work in a coffee shop, which is a service industry. How can you imprison a customer, right?"

The crying shop assistant paused for a moment, then nodded. "Of course we can't imprison customers, sob sob sob."

Mai Minghe could finally breathe a sigh of relief. "So, can you let me take my bag and go out?"

The shop assistant's eyes, devoid of any redness, drifted to her face. "Okay...you're right."

See, who says communication is useless? In society, communication is the most important thing.

“Come here,” the weeping shop assistant beckoned to her.

Mai Minghe had a meal.

"The door is behind me,"

The tearful expression on his face was gradually softening and lifting slightly. The corners of his mouth rose the fastest, almost turning into a smile. "If you want to go out, come here, waaaah."

We can't count on it.

Without a word, Mai Minghe strode to the coffee table and kicked it hard—pain immediately shot up his foot and calf, but the table didn't budge. ...Why does the coffee shop nail the table to the ground? Are they afraid someone will steal it?
She didn't even have time to cry out in pain, because the shop assistant's shadow was already rushing towards her, and the dark clouds almost blocked half of her peripheral vision; Mai Minghe hurriedly grabbed a chair—at least this thing wasn't nailed to the ground anymore—but he didn't have a chance to look at it anymore, so he could only swing it haphazardly in the direction of the shop assistant, which bumped into the shop assistant, causing him to cry out in pain and grab the chair with his other hand.

Mai Minghe gritted his teeth and tried to pull back, but couldn't. Unexpectedly, from under the chair, he kicked the shop assistant's foot.

Even though she reacted quickly and hurriedly let go and stepped back, she still couldn't completely avoid it and was kicked in the lower abdomen. Mai Minghe staggered back two steps, and although her lower abdomen was in dull pain, she managed not to lose her balance; however, this made her even further away from the door and her backpack.

"you listen to me!"

Seeing the shop assistant chasing after her with a chair, she ran deeper into the store; several times she tried to bypass the assistant and rush towards her backpack, but was stopped each time. "Imprisoning me wasn't your own idea—"

"I won't listen, I won't listen," the wailing shop assistant raised her voice, "La la la la, waaaaah, I won't listen, I won't listen."

If the situation hadn't been so critical, Mak Ming Ho would have been amused by his outburst.

I don't know if this shop assistant likes to exercise regularly, but she has pretty good physical strength and power. However, the exchange on the chair just now still made her realize the difference in strength between the two of them.

She couldn't fight back; her path was blocked; the gun was visible but untouchable—no, as Mai Minghe retreated and fled through the store, she couldn't even see her backpack anymore.

“Wait,” she called out, “can I stay here?”

The shop assistant had just raised the chair high, seemingly about to throw it at her, but paused upon hearing this.

The shadow of the chair leg divided his face, which was showing signs of confusion, into several segments.

"I'm willing to stay, I won't run away. Just let me get my backpack, and I'll sit down and have some coffee... Is that alright?"

The shop assistant thought for a moment. "No."

His next words were spoken as the chair flew through the air, grazing past Mak Ming-ho's ear, and slammed against the wall with a thud, almost inaudible—"Who knows if you have a gun in your bag today? It's safer to be half-dead, sob sob sob."

What is "also"?
Mai Minghe forgot to breathe; her chest and mind were burning. Seeing him grab another chair, she had nowhere to run and rushed behind the coffee shop counter.

The shop assistant's tone was as if he knew she usually carried a gun in her bag. The two were complete strangers, so he couldn't possibly know. The only possibility was that the person who called earlier told him.

It really was Ivan.

It seems the wall workers informed Evan of her whereabouts, and Evan then contacted the shop assistant. Evan ordered the assistant to keep her there, even if it meant leaving her half-dead, until he arrived…

Unbeknownst to them, the strange and bizarre things in Blackmore City had gradually formed a network of information exchange.

The anxiety that rose in Mak Ming-ho about the future was replaced by the weeping shop assistant in the next second—he took a running start, braced himself against the counter, and leaped onto the counter once again, landing steadily.

With those skills, isn't it a bit of a waste for her to be a coffee shop employee?
Unable to think of a better solution, Mai Minghe turned and ran again—but her luck ended there.

The shop assistant jumped down and grabbed her faster than she expected; as Mak Ming Ho ran forward, her body was pulled in the opposite direction by a force, and she immediately lost her balance and fell towards the shop assistant.

The shop assistant gripped the back of her clothes with one hand, while his other arm snaked around her neck, quickly tightening its grip, its muscles bulging, pressing deeply against her trachea.

"Waaah, finally caught him," he said, pressing his face against Mai Minghe's head, his arms tightening until even his words were muffled by a buzzing sound. "Half-dead... strangled half to death..."

His vision blurred and dimmed; Mai Minghe kicked and struggled desperately, his hands thrashing and clawing, trying to pierce his eyes.

But from her perspective, she couldn't find the right spot, and he turned his head to avoid her several times—the arm around her neck was still like an iron clamp, making her trachea seem like a flattened straw.

What to do—what's around us? What's around us?

The coffee shop counter was neat and tidy, and there was nothing within reach that one could grab and smash.

No… she absolutely cannot faint here, until Ivan arrives…

She'd escaped danger from so many nests; she absolutely couldn't die in Blackmore City… There were so many, so many lovely things in the world…

I don’t know if there really is such a thing as a revolving lantern when a person’s life is in danger, but at that moment, Mak Ming-ho saw himself approaching the counter again and again, ordering coffee from the clerk.

Ordering coffee... How did this come to mind?

She ordered a latte...and then an Italian...because she'd been sitting for too long, she felt bad...

Mai Minghe suddenly opened his eyes, freed from the confinement of his taut, bulging muscles.

Italian coffee machine.

When she ordered that espresso, she watched the barista operate the machine; it wasn't much different from any other coffee machine she had ever seen or used in her entire life.

The machine is right next to us.

Driven by a newfound strength and anxiety, she struggled desperately once more.

This time, Mak Ming Ho's resistance was no longer directed at the arm around her neck; she frantically groped and grabbed at the espresso machine beside her—ironically, the coffee shop staff were so focused on making her faint that they seemed oblivious to what she was trying to do.

When the familiar "gurgling" sound came from the espresso machine, the clerk was taken aback.

"What……"

Mai Minghe didn't give him a chance to react.

She pushed off the counter with her foot, using her own strength to force the clerk to turn slightly—not a large turn, but enough.

Mai Minghe grabbed the steam nozzle of the coffee machine and shoved it hard into the face of the crying shop assistant.

The machine, designed to produce strong coffee under high pressure and temperature in a short time, was already spewing out bursts of white, high-temperature steam. She couldn't even see exactly where she had burned the clerk. Amidst his screams, Mai Minghe felt a release on her neck. Ignoring the burning pain in her hands, she broke free from his arm, turned around, and rushed out of the counter.

The clerk who was crying was probably seriously injured and kept screaming in pain; Mak Ming-ho had already grabbed his backpack and ran towards the door, but he still couldn't stand up.

"I'm sorry," Mai Minghe whispered to herself. She had successfully retaliated, but felt no satisfaction. The child had been manipulated; attacking people was not his intention, yet he had suffered such a terrible consequence.

If the opportunity arises in the future, perhaps I can return to him under the guise of treatment...

When she pushed open the glass door, she belatedly realized that there was someone standing on one side of the coffee shop.

a man.

The moment Mak Ming-ho turned her head away, she once again felt as if she had fallen back into 2016.

She's seventy-six years old and can't run anymore.

(End of this chapter)