Artifact Report

Chapter 396 The Golden Pears: Something Born from the Black Waves

……what happened?

Isn't this Blackmore City? Why are there vultures here?

"Hey," Tianxi suddenly called out to her, drawing Jin Xueli's attention. "Look over there."

Before he could even finish his sentence, he had already turned around and walked out as if in a daze—leaving behind another couple, Tianxi and Jin Xueli, who had just gotten out of the car.

The other version of myself was standing there, but he turned and walked away?
Jin Xueli was startled. She kept her eyes fixed on the two people beside the car, and staggered after Tianxi, asking anxiously, "Where are you going?"

Just like a duckling that sees its mother as the first thing it hatches, she unconsciously developed trust in the Tianxi beside her—at least more than the other Tianxi beside Jin Xueli.

“…Look,” Tianxi murmured, pointing to the rainy night ahead.

As Jin Xueli looked up, a flashlight beam pierced through the rain and shone directly into her field of vision.

She squinted, startled by the light; then she heard a familiar voice calling out softly from afar.

“That’s you,” Tianxi said. “There’s another you, just walking over.”

……what?

***
Jin Xueli sat by the window on the fifth floor, staring blankly at the machine gun in her hand for a while.

The machine gun was still hot.

The muzzle of the gun protruded from the half-open window, and torrential rain poured in, soaking half of her body and making her shiver with cold.

...Yes, she did shoot at a car on the road while she was lost in a dream.

When she woke up, she saw the big truck veer off at an angle—no, it wasn't a truck, it looked like a tanker truck—she didn't seem to have hit a vital spot. The tanker truck, with one tire missing, was still sliding forward at an angle, struggling to escape her fire.

Why would I—

Before she could finish her thought, a car parked on the other side of the road burst into a bright white flame.

Someone fired a shot from that vehicle, targeting the tanker truck that was about to escape.

Gunfire echoed through the rainy night, like a ferocious beast unleashed, like a never-ending barrage of bright bullets, completely overturning the tanker truck in seconds; the tanker truck roared into flames, pushed by the remaining force into the depths of the rainy night, disappearing from Jin Xueli's sight.

Why would someone launch a relay attack on that oil tanker?
Jin Xueli quickly peeked out, squinted, and saw herself gripping a machine gun tightly in a car across the street—

That version of myself took a deep breath, as if waking up from a dream.

***
As soon as Tianxi got out of the car, Jin Xueli immediately climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine.

"What are you doing?" Tianxi suddenly turned his head and shouted angrily.

"Something's not right," Kim Seol-ri exclaimed. "I need to go check the surrounding area!"

"What else do you want to see?" Tianxi waved his hand forcefully, as if gesturing, and shouted through the rain, past the several scattered figures in the distance, "Didn't you see two of me and three of you standing over there?"

"I only realized something was wrong after I saw it!"

As Jin Xueli spoke, the car screeched to a halt and reversed; in her panic and helplessness, her voice drowned out the sound of the engine, the rain, and the cracking of the tanker truck not far away—"I want to see how many versions of myself there are around here, and how many tanker trucks there are!"

***
...The same face of Kim Seol-ri appeared in the car that had just passed by her.

In the instant the two cars passed each other, the eyes of the two Jin Xueli met, and in each other's eyes, they saw the pale confusion and panic in each other's eyes.

...The other Kim Seol-ri must have also sensed something was wrong and was driving around checking the situation, right?

Since everyone here is like Kim Seol-ri, it's perfectly normal that a few of us might have the same idea.

and many more.

Jin Xueli slammed on the brakes, and the car came to a sudden stop in the middle of the road.

She pushed open the car door and rushed into the rain; looking back, she saw the car that had just passed by, its taillights also flashing red as it braked.

Kim Seol-ri stood in the rain, panting, watching as the driver's side door of another car was opened.

...Sure enough, they were thinking the same thing again.

Back when she was by the candlelight in the underground hall, Kim Seol-ri realized that her only true confidante in the world was herself.

But is it vultures again on the other side this time?
"Which direction did you come from?" another version of myself shouted before I could even stand up straight. "How many did you see?"

“Six,” Kim Sulli replied. “I drove from 99th Street, and you are the seventh Kim Sulli I’ve met.”

“I came from the opposite direction,” another version of myself nodded, wiping away the rain, and said, “I saw four Golden Pears and four Heavenly Wests along the way.”

"I also saw several Tianxi..."

"So, you did the same thing as me?" another version of yourself asked. "When you woke up, you had already overturned a tanker truck?"

"right,"

For a moment, Jin Xueli almost doubted whether she was still dreaming and hadn't woken up yet. Besides dreaming, was there any other explanation?
"But I... I didn't knock it over. I just watched the car drive away. When I followed, I saw another couple, Jin Xueli and Tianxi, who seemed to have been lying in wait. When it passed by, they completely destroyed it..."

"It wasn't the same tanker truck, was it? The driver escaped from the truck I overturned. He was about to call for help when Tianxi spotted him..."

The other Jin Xueli gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Forget it. Anyway, we're not afraid of offending the Knight family even more."

"The Knight family?"

Jin Xueli's heart sank. "Are all the tanker trucks we overturned from the Knight family's? I had a strange sense of familiarity earlier, and the liquid leaking out didn't seem like gasoline. Since they're Knight family trucks, that means—"

***
“…Every tanker truck is filled with raw liquid,” Jin Xueli murmured to Tianxi.

"You mean, the essence that makes people smarter after drinking it?" Tianxi frowned deeply, completely puzzled.

“If Scott dilutes it hundreds or thousands of times, and then you drink just a tiny bit, it might have the effect… But if the concentration is slightly higher, it will produce a mutation that I can’t even understand after contact.”

The more Jin Xueli spoke, the more she wanted to cry. "God knows how much raw material they shipped to Blackmore City... 80% of it is already... all of it..."

***
"Speak!" Jin Xueli gripped the pistol she had just taken from the driver, pointed it at the driver who was lying on the ground covered in blood, and shouted, "Why did you bring in the raw material? How did you manage to get so much raw material all at once?"

The driver gave a cold laugh amidst the blood.

Although he had his hands raised in mid-air, he was unhurried and did not seem to be a mercenary hunter from the outskirts of the Knight family.

"You must be Jin Xueli? I didn't expect you to dare attack an oil tanker just to block our family's path to wealth... You do have some guts. Didn't you tell us how to get the raw liquid? You said it was a one-time opportunity, which is true. But you don't know how to maximize the use of a one-time opportunity—have you forgotten?"

Jin Xueli was stunned.

What I told you? What are you talking about?
She stared at the driver and slowly opened her mouth.

"Wait, wait... No, that can't be! Could it be that you—"

“After several Knights successfully replaced the residents as shop assistants,” the driver said almost calmly, “we emptied out all four gas stations in the lair.”

Jin Xueli couldn't help but glance at the overturned tanker truck.

Under the cover of night, amidst the pouring black rain, she could no longer distinguish where the original solution had flowed; nor could she tell how much of what was in her eyes, ears, and mouth was rainwater and how much was the original solution.

She couldn't help but take a step back.

"No, impossible...it's not that simple..."

"How did you and your accomplices find out about our plan?" the driver asked, staring at her.

Accomplices? He wouldn't possibly think that Kim Seol-ri's accomplices are also Kim Seol-ri, would he?
The driver said coldly, "This truck just received the raw material from the lair. Even we ourselves don't know when we can set off; we just leave as soon as it's full... yet you still managed to ambush us on the way to the warehouse. How did you find out?"

Jin Xueli was stunned for a while before she suddenly understood.

"How many vehicles are there in your batch?"

Could it be that because there are so many oil tankers... that so many Jin Xueli are needed?
***
Even on a stormy midnight, Blackmore City was not a deserted ghost town—a situation that should have happened, but when it actually occurred, Kim Selena was still taken aback.

"Go inside quickly,"

Tianxi quickly grabbed her arm, pulled her along, and took a few steps back into a small alley.

From the narrow darkness at the alley entrance, red and blue lights flickered and swirled; the headlights of fire trucks and ambulances illuminated half the road, their brightness swaying and shifting in the storm.

Yes, there was a large-scale shooting and a rollover, and it was a tanker truck that overturned, so emergency rescue personnel will definitely need to arrive...

"Why are you still carrying a machine gun?" Jin Xueli asked, her voice trembling with tears. "What if we're discovered..."

“You didn’t take it—oh, you really didn’t take it.” Tianxi was taken aback, then gave a wry smile. “There are our fingerprints on the gun, that’s evidence.”

Jin Xueli was stunned.

But to be honest, even knowing that she had left evidence on the street and that the police would take it away soon, she still didn't feel nervous—not that she wasn't afraid, but because she had too many heavy emotions tonight, making it hard for her to breathe.

Panic, confusion, and helplessness... all intertwined, forming a violent turbulent tornado that plunged her mind into darkness; she had no energy left to worry.

How did that happen?

Just a few days ago, her life was full of possibilities; she had just ascended to a world she had always dreamed of, and gained wealth that ordinary people could never obtain in a lifetime.

In the blink of an eye, fate took a sharp turn, plunging her into something she couldn't even comprehend—

She couldn't understand—

Speaking of things I can't understand... what's outside?
Jin Xueli hid behind the outdoor computer case, staring at the section of road at the alley entrance, her mind almost blank.

Um...the one wearing a firefighter's uniform should be a firefighter, right?

After he jumped out of the car... why did he crawl forward on all fours like a crocodile?

Halfway up, the firefighter stopped, pursed his lips, and slurped a large mouthful of water from the ground.

He quickly crawled over; behind him, another chubby paramedic followed, ignoring his unusual behavior.

Perhaps it was because the paramedic himself was also strange—he had a big smile on his face, one hand pressed against his chest, and the other hand pressed against his back, pressing hard on his upper body, as if he were holding a sandwich between his hands.

As he walked, he said softly, "Don't rush, I'm working. Let's stay together and not rush out."

……what?
Jin Xueli stared blankly at the world beyond the alleyway, and for a moment, she almost doubted that she was drunk again; floating in a hazy, drunken state, she must be seeing nothing but a shattered dream.

Otherwise, what exactly is going on?

***
Why are there so many versions of me?
What kind of space is inside an elevator? What is the observer?
What happened in Blackmore City?

What is the nest trying to do?

What consequences might the undiluted solution cause?
???

? ? ? ? ?

On the night of December 5th, Mak Ming-ho, Chai Si, Kim Suet-lee, Kim Suet-lee, Kim Suet-lee…

Almost everyone is like an insect wrapped in layers of silken cocoons, tightly pressed down by countless problems, unable to see a ray of light or breathe.

The floodwaters, the storm, and the massive amounts of the original liquid, mixed with countless confusions, anxieties, bewilderment, and doubts, surged into the streets and alleys of Blackmore City.

***
Dear Nest Domination players:

This is a mass message.

Congratulations! Thanks to everyone's hard work and collaboration, the final illusion has been created.

It appeared in the location of—

Human world, Blackmore City.

(End of this chapter)