Artifact Report

Chapter 403 Fu Tai Lan: Things Unseen in the Corner of the Stage

The image of myself standing in the Black Abyss unconsciously resurfaced in my mind.

Back then, Fu Tailan watched as countless particles that had once been vultures gradually dissipated, and just like now, she stretched out her hand forward.

He could only grasp a handful in each hand; the remaining particles slowly drifted away before his eyes, never to re-coagulate into a vulture questioning why he had lied to it.

The last remaining fragments of that vulture were now congealing and covering his left hand.

The particles enveloped each of his cool, slender fingers, guiding his fingertips deeper and deeper.

So this is what it feels like when a dream can be touched... His fingers, under the thick, soft pressure, slowly separated the dream.

The rain pounded against the night, and the aftershocks of gunfire still lingered in his ears, so unless Fu Tailan listened carefully, he couldn't hear the screams that came from his dream.

...Don't I feel like I'm dreaming right now?
He chuckled softly, but it was unclear who he was laughing at.

On a deserted, rainy night street, he slowly reached his hand into the depths of a dream.

Nobody knows what he's doing, and nobody wants to know.

A much bigger story is unfolding in Blackmore City; but Fu Tailan can only linger on its edge, wandering in corners where the stage lights don't reach.

Fu Tailan was not wallowing in self-pity.

He's no longer the dominant player, which naturally means less attention is being focused on him; that's just a fact.

But when he stood between the world and his nest, he found himself perfectly at home in the darkness, like a wanderer returning home—after all, the half-light and half-dark was the place Fu Tailan knew best.

In the dim light, where no one was watching, he did... he did so many things.

Fu Tailan chuckled softly again.

To this day, no one in the world has discovered what he actually did.

I can't help but laugh when I think about it.

I can't wait any longer... I really want to see what kind of expressions they'll make when they find out.

Fu Tailan was in a good mood and even hummed a song softly.

His tinnitus was persistent; he was probably off-key, but it didn't matter. It was still better than the intermittent screams and curses that echoed in his dreams.

Fu Tailan hummed a tune she'd forgotten the lyrics to, squinting as she watched dreamscapes ripple beneath her fingertips, unable to escape.

"How did you do that—stop—"

It seemed like a dreamscape of countless overlapping layers, with different dreams intertwined and permeating each other like wisps of mist; in order to escape, it tried many methods, sometimes with the voice of the man cursing angrily, and sometimes with the voice of the hazelnut begging for mercy.

"Isn't it strange?" Fu Tailan said with a smile, her eyelids half-closed. "I listened... and felt nothing at all."

He didn't pay attention to whether there was a response in his dream.

“Since you’ve come to me, you’d better be prepared to face me,” Fu Tailan said, her words muffled. “Now it’s my turn to speak, so listen carefully.”

The dream swayed in the torrential rain, yet it could never break free from his grasp.

“I once took a part of a vulture’s body,” he said. “In other words, as long as it can be separated and taken away, even a resident’s part can be taken away—well, that’s just stating the obvious, isn’t it?”

His fingers gently opened, sliding down one by one, pressing into the depths of the dream—they closed, grasping a part of the dream that could not have been held in the first place.

"It's really convenient that residents can run into each other."

Fu Tailan said softly, "It feels so strange... like... like cotton mist, or like being enveloped in some kind of musical melody. Hmm, it's quite hard to understand. You, such a tasteless resident, have such an interesting body. If you ask me... it's a bit of a waste."

He tugged at that small clump of dream, pulling it out little by little; within the countless overlapping, swaying layers of dream, endless cries of pain and curses rang out, like wave after wave of ocean waves, never ending.

Fu Tailan listened intently.

"You want me to stop?"

"Yes, yes, stop right now! What are you trying to do? How did you do that? Can't you do it? No, I'm fine, I'm not wasting a single bit!"

"How did you enter the human world?" Fu Tailan suddenly asked.

The dream ended. "Oh, so there are things you don't know."

It was quite sensible, knowing that if it couldn't trap Fu Tailan with its dream and instead was captured by him, it would have no advantage. Therefore, it quickly explained: "I am a resident who has a passage to enter the human world."

"How many times have you come in here?"

"The first time," the dream said honestly, "because my path was too tricky."

"What is it?" Fu Tailan gently stroked a small piece of dream with her index finger, as if to soothe it, yet also as if to threaten it.

"Only when another inhabitant enters the world, whose path is cut off and who falls back into the nest, can I step on it to enter the world."

...That's really too tricky.

Not to mention that the number of residents who can enter the human world is extremely small, the "pathway being cut off" happens in an instant. If it were any later or earlier, the dream would miss the opportunity to enter the human world.

Fu Tailan thought for a moment. "Such a tricky passage... Don't tell me you just happened to step on a resident whose passage was cut off." The dream hovered under its fingertips, and after a few seconds, it said, "If you already have a guess, why ask?"

“Who says otherwise?” Fu Tailan smiled. “How about I do you a favor?”

"...What's the matter?"

The dream's tone was almost wary. "All I can do is create dreams, trap people inside them, so they can't wake up until it's over. If you want to regain control of the game, I can do more than just that—"

"Ah, not that one."

Fu Tailan's fingers tightened, a small punishment for it. He hadn't let it guess blindly. "Even if you had the ability to get others to hand over the target illusions to me in dreams, the person behind the scenes who controls the game's direction would never allow you to do that."

"I don't understand what you mean by 'the person behind it all,' but you said it yourself. It has nothing to do with me, nothing to do with me. Sigh, human minds are so complicated."

“I’m going to take you to see someone next,” Fu Tailan interrupted. “I’ll tell you what kind of dream to weave, and what that person should do in the dream. Just cater to their preferences and give them what they want. It’s very simple. You shouldn’t mess it up, right?”

“While I’d be happy to help you with this,” Dream said in a smooth tone, “I still have things I need to do…”

"What target do you want me to attack?"

"what?"

Fu Tailan bent down and picked up the machine gun. "They're using such heavy weapons; the target is unlikely to be a single person. Is it a vehicle? Is the target inside the vehicle?"

"……what?"

"Huh? Isn't this what you want to do? Let's just say we're making a deal." Fu Tailan raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Tell me, what's the goal?"

Although his dream was interrupted, fortunately it wasn't delayed for long.

When he reached an intersection and waited quietly for a while, sure enough, a pair of headlights lit up from the dark rain in the distance.

The light pierced the darkness, making the dream in his hand seem even more unreal.

“It’s a tanker truck,” Fu Tailan said softly, propping the machine gun against a distribution box with one hand. “Why did you knock it over?”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Dream said. “I can’t say anything about the fact that the Knights’ car is carrying Nest Essence.”

They really cooperated.

The original liquid flowing into the world will definitely not bring good things, but Fu Tailan doesn't care about the world at the moment.

There was no need for so many spare bullets; because he was awake, not dreaming, and could aim at the driver.

After two shots, the tanker truck, wobbling and with its tires slipping, crashed into a building on the side of the road. With a loud crash, half of the truck was embedded in the building. It finally lost its balance, overturned completely, and the tanker was crushed by the broken building.

Beyond the flickering, unpredictable flames, Fu Tailan took out her phone and made a call.

"...Yes, you can just send a car to pick me up."

His voice was still soft and indistinct, not much different from usual. "There just happened to be a car accident on this street, a tanker truck that overturned and caught fire, and I was about two hundred meters away from it... Hmm? Really? This is the first time you've heard of this kind of road sign?"

Fu Tailan smiled. "Believe me, there are many more things you'll hear about for the first time tonight."

He grasped a part of the dream, like a large cloud floating in his other hand.

To it, trapping humans in dreams is like a wolf eating meat or a bird spreading its wings—it's part of its natural instincts. So even if it suddenly has another target, it has no complaints—or rather, it's somewhat eager to try.

When Fu Tai Lan opened the car door and pulled it into the car, it was the driver who was startled.

"What...what is that?"

The driver couldn't help but twist his body, staring intently at his hand. "Is...is it a dream? How strange, why do I feel...but it is a dream, right? What's going on, did I fall asleep?"

Fu Tailan had never seen this driver before, and she didn't know if he was a hunter.

“You’re not asleep. Drive your car,” he said.

He leaned back in the back seat, slid down, and put his feet up on the front passenger seat. His clothes were soaked through with rain, and water seeped into the leather seats, making the back seat dirty and wet in no time.

The driver glanced at him in the rearview mirror but didn't say a word.

Fu Tailan, warmed by the heating, drifted off to sleep, yet still clung tightly to his dreams; he was in and out of consciousness, and for a moment, he mistakenly thought he was at sea. He kept walking forward, the sea and sky stretching out before him.

See, it really was a dream.

He was still somewhat drowsy when the driver stopped the car and opened the door for him.

"Fu Tai Lan," a voice called out to him from outside the car.

Fu Tailan closed her eyes and first let out a long breath.

After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes, still leaning against the back seat. As if his bones had been removed, he lazily turned his head.

“Carter,” Fu Tailan laughed, then asked in a hoarse voice, “Are you happy?”

(End of this chapter)