Artifact Report

Chapter 395 Jin Xueli and Her Friends
So that’s it—

Kim Seol-ri finally understood the situation she was in.

She forgot how she got caught up in this nest of traps. When she suddenly came to her senses, she was like a newborn baby. For a moment, she couldn't even remember who she was. She was confused, scared, and almost wanted to cry.

Fortunately, the nest trap didn't torment her for too long; from the layers of shadows around her, the shape of an arcade gradually emerged.

Jin Xueli regained her senses and slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

...So that's it.

If she wants to get out of here, she has to finish the game first—once the game is finished, the memories hidden by the nest will naturally come back.

"The rules of the game are very simple,"

The electronic voice in the game broadcast asked cheerfully: "You and your opponent each have thirty seconds to play. Within those thirty seconds, hitting the moving target on the screen will earn you points. Depending on the criticality of the hit, you can earn points ranging from one to three... After the game ends, the person with the higher score can exchange their points for money."

Jin Xueli felt as if she had been suddenly plugged in, her eyes lighting up. "How do I exchange it? What's the exchange rate?"

"One cent for a thousand dollars."

"So high! If it hits, it'll be at least a point?"

"Yes," the game broadcast was quite friendly, "Your fully automatic general-purpose machine gun is equipped with a continuously reloaded magazine and can fire 600 rounds per minute. Thirty seconds is three hundred rounds."

As long as the gun is constantly adjusted to keep up with the moving target, the automatically firing bullets will earn her points; even if only half of them hit the target, she will still earn at least 150,000 points afterward—this time, she can earn 150,000 dollars in 30 seconds in the lair, which is fantastic.

She has good aim; she'll most likely beat that competitor whose whereabouts are unknown.

"Can we play a few more rounds?" Jin Xueli asked eagerly.

A laugh suddenly came over the game's broadcast. "There are many rounds... where you've been playing."

What? Does that mean she can play a few more rounds?

Before Jin Xueli could ask any more questions, the broadcast cheerfully asked, "Your competitor is in position. Are you ready?"

"Hey? Wait a minute," Jin Xueli quickly sat down, staring at the screen in front of her, gripping the machine gun tightly, and said, "Ready!"

"Alright, the game is about to begin. Three—"

***
...We must fight our way out to escape this nest of traps.

Jin Xueli took a deep breath and repositioned the light machine gun on her shoulder. She had never used such a heavy weapon with such firepower before; she wasn't wearing individual combat gear, and her shoulders were thin and bony, so the pressure on her skin and bones was excruciating, yet she dared not put the gun down.

Honestly, if only it were a light handgun.

...If only the opponent were a resident.

She slowly took another step forward.

Under the soft, bright light of countless spotlights, was once Jin Xueli's fantasy about money.

Or rather, it was a part of her fantasy about money—a vast walk-in closet that seemed to stretch endlessly, filled with countless expensive custom-made women's clothes.

They were reserved and aloof, as if they knew that Jin Xueli, who was walking among them, was not a master worthy of their bowing, restraining, or supporting.

Luster, lines, texture, weight, tailoring... How much time, effort, ingenuity and talent does it take to create garments that are almost works of art?

Now she has to destroy them one by one with bullets.

These were things she used to linger over, but now Jin Xueli dared not look at them too much—she dared not let her gaze wander to the intersection of money and aesthetics.

Because the rules of the game had already been clearly explained to her.

When her attention was off—

Yu Guangzhong's shadow moved.

Jin Xueli suddenly turned around and happened to see the long dress that Qiaoqiao had just taken off; it turned towards Jin Xueli, and the upper half of the neckline sparkling with rhinestones met her gaze.

Her long dress rose and fell slightly at the chest.

As she hurriedly adjusted the gun, her long dress billowed high in the air, and she rushed towards her from between the clothes racks in the distance, like an elegant lady without a head, unable to utter a shrill laugh—

"two--"

***
Jin Xueli sat in complete darkness, unable to see anything.

But she knew exactly where she was.

Everything was so familiar; no light or sight was needed, just as a person doesn't need these things to recognize the body they inhabit.

This is the first home she has known since she was born and has memories of it.

It was also the last home.

From then on, those houses, no longer shaped like trailers or with different appearances and locations, were just houses.

Looking back now, that beautiful and expensive apartment in Blackmore City seems like a daydream of eight-year-old Shirley: distant, unreal, as strange as an alien planet, and she felt out of place in it.

In this trailer, in the only home she ever lived in, Kim Seol-ri learned so many things; that's how she managed to struggle to escape at the age of nineteen, escape into Blackmore City, fall into the lair, and then escape unscathed.

The cheap fake leather beneath her was old and cracked, sticking to her thigh skin, and it felt prickly with the slightest movement.

She was both twenty-eight and twelve years old.

Every corner of the house is crammed full of all sorts of junk and clutter, and there isn’t a single empty space on any of the countertops, yet no one is willing to throw anything away; the trailer is always filled with a stuffy smell of sweat mixed with canned food. Thinking about it carefully, this is simply unreasonable.

Even with the doors and windows tightly closed, the old trailer seemed to be on the verge of falling apart, with wind constantly whistling through its bones.

It wasn't just the wind, but also the summer mosquitoes, the neighbors' arguments, and the footsteps that were now approaching the tow truck... Jin Xueli unfastened the safety bolt.

She couldn't see where the door was, but the direction from which the footsteps were coming was very clear.

Besides, this is her home.

The man's indistinct voice called out his mother's name several times at the door; Jin Xueli heard him clearing his throat, forcefully pulling phlegm up his throat, and spitting it heavily at the door.

The door was slammed shut and shook violently—"Open the door!"

The man's anger grew, and he spat out profanities and threats on the door, demanding that his mother spit out his money.

“…She went to town to buy things,” a neighbor, seemingly unable to bear it any longer, opened the door and shouted, “It’s no use calling her anymore.”

"What are you going to buy with my money?" the man mumbled drunkenly, then suddenly stopped.

...coming.

"Oh, so... Is Sherry home?" The man's lips were almost pressed against the crack in the door. "Open the door, it's Uncle..."

As the car door was kicked open, letting in the dim purple twilight, Jin Xueli also pointed her gun at the figure inside the doorway.

"one!"

***
2026年12月5日，11:31PM
The central section of 121st and 119th Streets in Blackmore
Jin Xueli gasped sharply and woke up from her dream.

***
2026年12月5日，11:33PM
Intersection of Tree-lined Grace Road, Blackmore City

Jin Xueli gasped sharply and woke up from her dream.

***
2026年12月5日，11:35PM
Intersection of 102nd Street and Port Sanctuary Boulevard in Blackmore
Jin Xueli gasped sharply and woke up from her dream.

The moment she woke up, a bright light illuminated her vision; she involuntarily squinted, and the sensations of countless wind and rain lashing her body suddenly flooded her mind, making her momentarily disoriented—until a hand pressed down on her shoulder and pulled her back.

"Run!"

Jin Xueli was stunned. She turned around and found that Tianxi had already rushed out before her.

Why—

She glanced in the opposite direction and immediately understood.

Amidst the torrential downpour, a tanker truck had just lost control.

Its tires, tank, driver's window... were riddled with bullet holes; the tanker had overturned and lay on its side, but the engine was still roaring in the downpour, propelled by the remaining force straight toward this intersection.

The high temperature from the friction scalded the road surface, causing it to emit thick, white steam; large amounts of black liquid, like countless waterfalls finally free, rushed into the world, swept away by wind and rain in all directions, steamed up into the sky by the heat waves, and splashed onto the earth by the massive tremor.

As soon as Jin Xueli let go, the machine gun, which she didn't even remember having picked up, fell to the ground.

As the car approached her like a mountain pressing down on her, she turned and desperately chased after it towards the west.

"W-What happened—"

As soon as she opened her mouth, countless raindrops rushed in. The wind pierced through her clothes, and the rain slid down to her feet, as if trying to grab her feet and pull her back—no, the road was no longer just rain.

"It's the original solution!"

She had no idea whether Tianxi could hear her; she just shouted loudly, seemingly to no one else: "We overturned the tanker truck carrying the concentrate! Where did it come from...? Was it from Knight's family? W-what happened? Why did I—"

Behind me, the tanker truck, like a dying beast, finally crashed into a building by the roadside; the ground beneath my feet shook heavily, as if trying to shake off the water on my body and the people in it.

Jin Xueli finally lost her footing and slipped, falling to the ground.

"Tianxi!"

Tianxi seemed to have finally heard her call and abruptly stopped. Being tall and long-legged, he had already reached the other end of the road in just a few breaths.

"Give me a hand," Jin Xueli hissed, "I think I twisted my ankle... Tianxi?"

Tianxi remained standing motionless in the same spot.

What's going on? Didn't he hear me?

Jin Xueli finally managed to get up, feeling that her ankle wasn't too badly twisted. She glanced at the tanker truck not far behind her, then, enduring the pain, ran over and called out again, "Tianxi!"

This time, Tianxi finally reacted.

He turned around and looked at Jin Xueli—his expression was indescribable.

Tianxi wiped the water off his face, pointed to the other end of the T-junction, and said in a hoarse voice, "Look."

Jin Xueli, limping on one leg, walked over step by step and stopped.

She was stunned.

She suddenly understood the look on Tianxi's face.

On another road a few hundred meters away, a tanker truck lay overturned; faint flames flickered on its body, not yet completely extinguished by the rain.

A car was parked outside the flickering firelight.

The people in the car looked up and met the eyes of the two men. They slowly opened the car door, as if waking from a dream, got out of the car, and stood motionless behind the door.

Jin Xueli and Tianxi watched each other from afar.

(End of this chapter)