Artifact Report

Chapter 389 Chai Si: Giving Up in the End?
Even though he had caused a "significant change in the situation," to be honest, Chai Si still didn't know what kind of situation the two of them were in at that moment.

The faces in the dim light outside the door, as they met his gaze, suddenly revealed a variety of expressions, like ripples on water: some seemed to smile, some were surprised, some frowned as if confused, and others remained indifferent...

The soft click of the safety catch on the pistol beside him brought him back to his senses.

Chai Si turned around and immediately reached out to grab Han Liuyue's gun, saying, "Don't shoot, it's useless."

"Are they from the nest?"

Han Liuyue stared intently at the dense, floating faces outside the door, motionless for a moment. Her pinkish-silver hair clung to her forehead; in her heightened state, she resembled a crystal-like blade, gleaming with a sharp, translucent light of life.

...Fortunately, we brought her back again.

My life isn't entirely without merit.

“Bullets won’t kill the residents, but they can at least drive them away,” Han Liuyue said softly, her finger hesitant to pull the trigger. “I just don’t understand… how can there be residents in Blackmore City?”

Chai Si gently pulled her gun away and locked the safety latch.

Under the unblinking gaze of countless faces, he was thankful that he had something to do to distract himself and prevent himself from suddenly trembling.

For quite a while, those faces kept staring at them.

Sometimes, the depths of the stacked faces will suddenly be empty, as if someone has disappeared, revealing a small black hole like a cavity; but soon, a new face will appear to fill the gap.

There must be at least a hundred faces, right?

Hundreds of faces, layered upon each other, densely packed, blocked the narrow elevator door, floating in the dim light. Each one stared intently at the two people inside the elevator, as if they were some kind of entertainment program—logically speaking, seeing this scene, Chai Si should have wanted to shoot more than anyone else.

“…Perhaps I shouldn’t judge based on appearances,” he said softly. “But judging from their expressions, the ‘observers’ don’t seem to have any ill intentions towards us.”

Han Liuyue hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped.

She didn't want to stand in front of so many faces, so she stood in a corner of the elevator, carefully scanned the room a few times, and finally nodded.

She clearly noticed it too—not to mention malice, some people even looked at Han Liuyue with expressions that could be described as "affection".

“They may not be residents. The place where they are, no, the place where we are right now, may not be Blackmore City anymore.”

As Chai Si spoke, he squinted, carefully examining the face in the dim light.

Occasionally, when his eyes met those of one of them, he could almost feel a sudden gleam in their eyes—a situation that seemed to fascinate those faces as well.

Both their temperament and reactions are vastly different from those of the residents.

"If it's not a resident, then what is it? It can't be a person either, right?" Han Liuyue whispered. "This doesn't look like a nest either..."

A face suddenly smiled and seemed to say something, but it couldn't be heard.

"Brother Chai, do you think if I walk over and reach out to touch them... will I be able to touch them?"

"You stay put and keep your hands and feet to yourself," Chai Si couldn't help but shout.

Han Liuyue obediently put her hands behind her back.

“Whatever it is, as long as it’s an ‘observer,’ it means it can’t directly attack us.” He looked around the elevator and said, “Don’t forget, we’re still in the elevator; we haven’t been able to get out yet.”

"yes,"

Han Liuyue suddenly realized the most crucial question facing the two of them. "Brother Chai, how did you find the 'Observer'? Can we find a way out using the same method?"

"It's a guess derived from two sets of information complementing each other," Chai Si said, smoothing his wind-blown hair back. "It's very dry in the elevator, isn't it?"

1. Moisture is less likely to accumulate in well-ventilated areas, and the environment is more likely to be dry and safe.

2. The elevator is windy and very dry.

"The elevator car is a relatively enclosed space. I looked inside the elevator but couldn't find a fan or ventilation machine. In a place that shouldn't be ventilated and is more likely to accumulate moisture, it's so dry. The wind even messed up my hair a few times... Where did the wind come from?"

Chai Si raised his chin towards the elevator door and said, "With this question in mind, another set of information began to make me doubt what we see."

1. A premise accepted without question will immediately become the reality you find yourself in.

2. We've arrived at the first floor. Don't force the door open; moisture is seeping in.

"The heavy rain in Blackmore City is indeed a bit strange, something you discovered when you went out to inquire. So when we heard that 'the humidity is invading,' we had no doubt about its authenticity."

As they spoke, Chai Si looked at the human face, and the human face looked back at Chai Si.

"The first half of the sentence, 'We've reached the first floor, don't force the door open,' implies that the door is closed, right? But even if it's a premise that's told to us along with the facts, is it necessarily true?"

Han Liuyue, quick-witted, suddenly realized, "We were misled from the very beginning!" "Yes," Chai Si said, "My previous reasoning was not entirely accurate. The premise that we accepted was not a true 'objective reality,' but rather a 'subjective reality' that we created and that was real to us."

Just like the elevator doors, they believed the elevator doors were closed, and they looked closed; when Chess reached out and knocked on them, he could even feel the cold metal and hear the knocking sound.

Only when they temporarily set aside or change their "subjective reality"—for example, when Han Liuyue thought the elevator had arrived at the third floor and the door had opened, and she rushed out of the elevator—does "subjective reality" give way to objective reality again.

In other words, this is why Han Liuyue didn't crash into the elevator door.

"The doors we see are all doors we 'create' ourselves after being misled by information..." Han Liuyue murmured, "During this time, the observer has been standing at the door watching us?"

Chai Si nodded.

He guessed that the "observer" was located at the elevator door because when he faced the elevator door, he had a very strange feeling for a brief moment—it was almost as if he saw himself as seen by someone else.

Even if there were observers outside the elevator, it would be difficult to explain why he would suddenly "see his own reflection in someone else's eyes"—because a person is born and can only ever see outward through their own eyes.

Why would he briefly see himself from the perspective of an "observer"? How does that make sense?
...What exactly is this elevator?
"Brother Chai, what do we do now?" Han Liuyue asked. "You said there's another Third Will here that's hostile to us, right? The Third Will can directly attack us; it's the one that almost deleted me?"

“Yes,” Chai Si said, then thought for a few seconds.

No matter how adaptable a person is, it is difficult to adapt to the unwavering gaze of hundreds of faces and hundreds of pairs of eyes.

He subconsciously took a step toward the elevator and stood in front of the elevator buttons—and many faces followed him, turning around as if waiting to see what he would do next.

"Although that third will is dangerous, it seems to have to abide by some rules of the game and can't do whatever it wants. Otherwise, it could have wiped us all out in one go long ago."

Apart from observers who cannot intervene, neither they nor the third will can act outside the context and rules...

Chais gently pressed the number "6" key.

As the elevator began its ascent with a hum, Han Liuyue couldn't help but exclaim, "Huh?"

“We were about to be deleted, so we couldn’t change the situation by going upstairs. Now it’s different,” Chai Si said, giving a cold laugh. “Isn’t that what elevators are for?”

In this set of rules, people take the elevator to go up and down floors; sure enough, even the third will couldn't stop them from operating the elevator.

The darkness outside the door gradually faded, and the countless faces seemed like a nightmare that was gradually dissipating, growing fainter and fainter; when the number jumped to 2, not a single face could be seen outside the door.

The elevator returned to the hospital building.

The reinforced concrete building swept past the elevator doors. As the elevator car ascended, the bright white lights of the second floor, the floor, people's footsteps, and conversations were revealed... only to be left behind by the continuing elevator as it ascended.

Chai Si didn't say anything, nor did he need to; he and Han Liuyue, without prior arrangement, carefully examined every floor that passed by outside the elevator.

When the elevator finally stopped on the sixth floor, there were only a few people in the waiting area outside.

Just like downstairs, no one glanced at the elevator.

They didn't look like people coming for medical treatment; they seemed to be passersby who had fled in to escape the rain. Everyone's hair was soaked and stuck to their scalps; their clothes were wet and wrapped around their limbs, and their skin was pale from being soaked in water.

"...How is it?" Chai Si asked.

“There is moisture on the sixth, fifth and third floors,” Han Liuyue said. “The fourth and second floors… at least from the elevator, are dry.”

Chai Si nodded. "What do you think?"

"Based on the rules we heard, the fourth and second floors should be safe and suitable for refuge because there is no moisture."

Han Liuyue frowned as she said this. "But I still feel uneasy..."

Chai Si glanced at her.

"The Third Will seems to harbor great malice towards us, setting up so many traps to try and eliminate us. 'Dry floors can provide refuge'... So if we see a dry floor, go in, and that's it? That we're all safe? It's that simple?"

"That's just your suspicion. To make a decision, I need a more reliable reason than 'suspicion'."

Han Liuyue remained silent for a while.

“Brother Chai,” she suddenly exhaled, smiled, and said, “when you tell us to find the answer ourselves, it’s often because you already have the answer in your heart.”

Chai Si shrugged, neither confirming nor denying. "There are less than two minutes left before the elevator starts descending again."

Han Liuyue nodded and said, "I understand."

As soon as she finished speaking, she stepped out the door and into the sixth floor, where the floor was covered with wet footprints.

(End of this chapter)