Artifact Report

Chapter 390 Chess House: Home is in the Depths of the Rainstorm
As soon as Han Liuyue steadied herself, she turned around abruptly, as if afraid that the elevator behind her would disappear; she only breathed a small sigh of relief when she met Chai Si's gaze.

Chai Si was still standing in the elevator, smiling at her. "Are you sure this is the floor?"

"Ah, isn't it?"

Han Liuyue was easy to talk to, and seemed to want to turn back, but Chai Si raised his hand to stop her. "First of all, the dry second and fourth floors can be ruled out."

As expected of someone he personally selected, he's got a sharp mind.

"The elevator takes us to the first floor and the underground, which is not the normal world we live in, nor is it a nest... In that 'space,' there exists a third will and many observers."

Han Liuyue glanced at Chai Si, who was still in the elevator and seemed a little puzzled, but continued, "I was just thinking, if the first floor is an 'alternate dimension,' does that mean every other floor is the normal world we live in? The elevator announcements have never guaranteed that, have they?"

“That’s right,” Chai Si snapped his fingers, but his feet remained motionless.

The strangest thing about the rules and information is that "dry floors can be used for refuge".

The "difficulty" they needed to avoid clearly referred to "humidity," or more specifically, the heavy rain in Blackmore City.

Just from this message, it seems that as long as they choose a dry floor, they will be safe—of course, this may not be a lie, and they may indeed survive safely on a dry floor.

“But no matter how I think about it, it doesn’t make sense,” Han Liuyue said, spreading her hands. “My ward is on the fifth floor, and on the fifth floor I met a group of people who came to the hospital to take refuge. They were all soaking wet, and there was a strange person walking like a crab in the middle of them… They ran into the hospital from outside, all the way up to the fifth floor, and then went to the rooftop. In other words, they went through every single floor. And they were only a small part of the refugee group.”

She paused, glanced at Chai Si, and said emphatically, "Black Moore has been experiencing continuous torrential rain and flooding. Tonight, the entire hospital is filled with people who have come in to take refuge, all soaked to the bone... In the hospital, 'our hospital,' how could there possibly be any dry floors?"

"Yes, the message only said, 'The dry floors are safe.'"

Chai Si smiled, looked up, and glanced at the elevator. "But he didn't mention that we could go home from the dry floor."

The city of Blackmore, where their "home" was located, the real Blackmore that belonged to them, had long been washed away by the flood that filled the air with the scent of their lair. How could they be safe?
If you choose to walk to the dry shore, how can you return to your home amidst the raging waves?
What illusion hunters want is never stability and dryness.

Moreover, there was another message that clearly told them: Please discard unnecessary items.

The message "go to the dry floors for refuge" was unnecessary for them.

The only place they wanted to return to was Blackmore City, where torrential rain was pouring down, strange signs were appearing, and it was gradually becoming distorted.

Han Liuyue couldn't help but raise her wrist to check, only to realize that she hadn't been wearing a watch since being hospitalized. "Brother Chai, how much time is left? What if the elevator goes down? Are you worried about...?"

What she meant by the second half of her sentence was quite clear.

The dry floors have been ruled out, but there are still three damp floors: the sixth, fifth, and third floors.

If the "incorrect floor" leads to another "space," then which of the three damp floors leads to the real Blackmore City?
"Could I have guessed wrong?" Han Liuyue suddenly became alert and asked—if she were a rabbit, she would probably be standing upright on her two hind legs by now.

“No, I think the sixth floor is the right answer, just like you.” Chai Si thought for a moment and tentatively took a step out of the elevator—but he didn’t step out completely.

He stood at the doorway, his back against where the elevator door should have been, and waited patiently for a few seconds.

The elevator remained silent; the announcements did not sound.

“The situation has changed significantly now, so there’s no need to worry about the elevator going down. We have plenty of time to talk.” As he spoke, he was pointing at the elevator: “The sixth floor is the Blackmore City we came from, but what are the other floors? What is this elevator? What is the Observer?”

Even knowing that Blackmore City is "the sixth floor," Chai Si still has endless and intense doubts that he cannot answer through reason and logic—even if Blackmore City has undergone an anomaly, it is still a part of the human world and should not have things like "elevators" or "observers."

Even if it's adjacent to the nest, it's understandable; but the elevator seems to have nothing to do with the nest.

So what exactly did they experience?
Han Liuyue took a breath, and began to understand. "Brother Chai, you're not going to keep riding the elevator to get the answer, are you?"

Chai Si raised his eyelids and slowly smiled into the elevator. "If you're so capable, then cut off half of my body and take it with you." He said, crossing his arms. "If you can't, then tell me the answer."

The elevator remained silent.

Han Liuyue glanced back – the people sitting in the waiting room not far away seemed to have been attracted by them, and some of them had already looked up and glanced in their direction.

Even though they were soaked and their clothes weren't completely dry, no one's face was covered in "beads of sweat"; they were just pale from being soaked in water.

"Want me to throw out a suggestion?" Chai Si smiled and waved towards the elevator. "The third floor is a self-service restaurant where you can recover your strength. You need to be fully stamina to continue taking the elevator. The people on the fifth floor are all covered in 'sweat,' just like Han Liuyue was before."

"Before?" Han Liuyue was taken aback and reached out to touch her forehead.

When a person is indoors, the air should be dry under normal conditions; especially when she is distracted, it is even harder for her to realize that something is wrong with the dryness.

"The 'physical strength' and 'sweat' corresponding to the third and fifth floors are rules and information that should not exist in the real Blackmore City, just like the 'dryness' of the second and fourth floors."

After Chai Si finished speaking, he glanced at Han Liuyue and said, "After you were almost deleted and brought back, the sweat on your forehead disappeared."

"why?"

“I don’t know,” Chai Si replied, “but I guess it’s because the elevator brought back only a ‘Han Liuyue,’ not a ‘Han Liuyue soaked in moisture and covered in sweat.’”

"……what?"

Han Liuyue opened her mouth slightly, thought for a moment, and said, "Then... does that mean it can actually bring back a Han Liuyue who is 'incredibly strong and just full'?"

Why? Chai Si seems quite regretful that she didn't take the opportunity to make a request earlier?
"Please leave the elevator."

After more than ten minutes, the elevator finally announced again, "Please do not occupy the elevator or obstruct its operation."

"What exactly are you?" Chai Si ignored him and asked again, "The Observer, the other floors, what are they? Why are they attacking us? What happened in Blackmore City?"

These are just the beginnings; if you really delve into them, they could unravel into a tangled and thick ball of confusion and doubt.

"You have so many questions, okay, okay," the elevator announcement suddenly became intermittent, "so many questions, so many questions... so many questions... ask... ask... ask... okay."

Like a battery running out of power, the broadcast grew softer and softer until it could no longer be heard.

Chai Sigang shouted angrily, "Come back!" The next second, he heard a beep in the elevator, and the elevator door, which had been absent all along, suddenly pressed against his back and began to forcefully close.

"Brother Chai," Han Liuyue called out hurriedly, grabbing his wrist, "Come out quickly!"

There's no point in resisting any longer; even the elevator announcements have been taken offline.

After a harrowing ordeal and half an hour of torture for nothing, Chai and his companion were left with nothing but countless questions.

When they turned around, they were still faced with a chaotic, waterlogged hospital. Outside the dark window, the torrential rain continued relentlessly, its roar washing over the world.

They went home.

"Brother Chai, what are we doing now..."

Chai Si took a deep breath and took out his phone.

“Uncle Kai went back to his apartment in Blackmore City this morning. He must have been trapped by the heavy rain too,” he said in a low voice. “I’ll contact Uncle Kai now, and once I pick him up, we’ll leave Blackmore City immediately.”

(End of this chapter)