Artifact Report

Chapter 407 Fu Tai Lan: The Most Ironic and Appropriate Thing in the World

Just like when she first woke up in the morning, Fu Tailan stretched out her limbs.

It felt as if a thousand-pound stone was pressing on his chest, making it so that he could only breathe laboriously through the gaps in his sternum.

But he couldn't help but smile; almost content, he closed his eyes in the pouring rain.

"Keronan's supply route is lost? Then what are you worried about?"

He chuckled softly and said, "Didn't Chironan retire? Isn't the supply chain useless? Are you heartbroken that he's so old and still has some grand ambitions left unfulfilled in the lair?"

The weight on my chest suddenly increased—then it was forcibly lightened in the next moment.

Fu Tailan, enjoying the almost tangible anger and pain of Chai Si, said, "...Ah, I understand."

After saying that, he shut his mouth, lay down on the spot, and said no more.

After several seconds, Chai Si gritted his teeth and finally asked, word by word, "Did you think I was going to ask you what you understood?"

Even with my eyes closed, I can imagine his thin lips clenched.

"You've just changed the format and asked the same question," Fu Tailan almost laughed.

He opened his mouth as if to answer, then turned his head and spat out a mouthful of saliva with great emphasis and deliberate intent.

"Ah, rainwater got into my mouth. It's raining so hard, it's not good to talk while lying down."

Fu Tailan took the opportunity to scan the area and found that apart from Carter, who was held at gunpoint by Han Liuyue, all the other bodyguards were nowhere to be seen. He was furious: look at Chai Si's men, who took down Carter's bodyguards within minutes of the car accident. This was a waste of talent, a waste of talent.

Niu Fen Chai Si gave a cold laugh and suddenly bent down to sweep it.

Fu Tailan is almost 1.8 meters tall, but when he grabbed her by the collar and lifted her off the ground, it was as easy as a bag of spaghetti. Fu Tailan didn't even have a chance to resist before Chai Si threw her heavily against the twisted car body and pinned her down.

"path,"

Behind Chai Si, the headlights illuminated only his hard features. He seemed to be struggling to suppress his anger and regain his composure: "Speak."

Fu Tailan looked at him and smiled.

“Your dear Uncle Kai, the head of a prestigious sect, has lost the most fundamental thing about hunters and suffered such great losses and humiliation. It’s normal for you to be angry.”

He raised one hand, making a two-shape. "But that reason only accounts for 20%, right?"

“If you utter another word of nonsense, I will kill you immediately,” Chai Si said almost calmly.

“You can’t.” Fu Tailan laughed again. “You’ve forgotten that lies are my servants. You’re not good at it, you’re not that flexible, you’re as stiff as a block of cement.”

Chai Si remained silent—at this point, saying nothing was tantamount to acquiescing, wasn't it?

Fu Tailan raised another finger, and now "two" became "three".

"The reason you're angry is because you're afraid."

Chai Si's breath hitched. In the cold, rainy December night, under the bright headlights, every breath was white.

"The person you cherish most in the world, without your knowledge, has been approached by someone else, and their lifeline has been stolen... What if that person wants more than just the lifeline? What if that person kills Kaironan? While you're thinking you're so great, wandering around Blackmore City marking your territory, your adoptive father is suddenly killed. Just thinking about that makes you—"

Fu Tailan was unable to finish her sentence.

Both of them knew that Chai Si wouldn't kill him; so the attacks and pain that Chai Si was currently inflicting on him like a torrential downpour were nothing to worry about—Chai Si should know better than anyone that pain was useless against Fu Tai Lan.

Nest dissociation also keeps physical pain at bay.

There's no need to even realize where you're being punched, where bones are broken, or where you're bleeding.

Sure enough, the car stopped very quickly.

He squatted down and looked at Fu Tailan, who was lying askew next to the wheel.

A few seconds later, Chai Si suddenly whispered, "So what?"

Ok?
“Even if I’m scared, even if I regret it, so what?” Chai Si said through gritted teeth, “After all, you didn’t kill him. You still have a little bit of rationality left.”

Sigh, he thought Chess was going to say, "So what if Caronan is dead?" — Chess Munroe was indeed a rigid and boring person.

“I didn’t kill him,” Fu Tailan said vaguely.

He paused, spat out the blood from his mouth, checked with his tongue to make sure all his teeth were still there, and then continued, "Want to hear more? There's still a 10% chance... that you're the one who's agitated."

The fact that the pathway was taken from Kaironan naturally implies a possibility: the pathway can be implanted into someone else. "As a 'Muggle,' this is something you've longed for your whole life. You must have tried countless times, right? You must have suffered countless injuries because of it, right? Deep down, you've always harbored a bit of hatred towards me, Han Liuyue, or anyone who can easily open the pathway, haven't you?"
"Now that the passageway has been moved... you finally realize that passageways aren't immutable. You, even you, even Chess Monroe who was adopted as a future hunter but ultimately became nothing, finally have the chance to touch the edge of the lair."

To Chai Si's surprise, he said nothing and showed no reaction whatsoever.

Han Liuyue's gun was still pressed against Carter's head, but she stared fixedly at Chai Si, pleadingly calling out to him, "Brother Chai Si... Brother Chai Si, don't listen to him."

Chess Monroe seemed not to hear.

“Oh, not only that,” Fu Tailan said almost gently. “You’re not a complete idiot after all. In that one second when you were driving and following me, didn’t you also have a thought that flashed through your mind? If we can find the route through Kaironan, then is it possible that… ‘Uncle Kai will hand over the route to you’?”

The slight pain that Chai Si's force brought to Fu Tailan could be repaid a thousandfold with just a few words.

"You've fantasized about it, haven't you? Even for just a second... You must have fantasized about it too, about a true inheritance that transcends blood ties and genes, existing between father and son. You've inherited his pathway. You will be Kaironan's rightful, only son."

That was the core essence of Kaironan as a hunter; that was Kaironan's entire life, and when he handed it over to Chess, it would be Kaironan's ultimate recognition of him.

"How come such an exciting fantasy, no, such a thrilling fantasy, only accounts for 10%?"

Fu Tailan stopped laughing.

What about the remaining 40%?

"Brother Chai," Han Liuyue finally spoke again, "let me kill him—"

Fu Tailan didn't let her finish speaking.

"The remaining 40% is what you're afraid of."

His voice, without his own awareness or intention, began to become so soft and indistinct, a gentle murmur. "After all... you can't help but recall what I said in the hospital room when you and Han Liuyue were hunting me down."

Looking back now, it seems like only a few hours ago, yet it feels like a lifetime ago.

Fu Tailan repeated the sentence verbatim, word for word.

"The pathway artifact has been used up and is now useless. You have no hope, and you will never be able to enter the lair in your lifetime."

Even if he heard it again, Chai Si would still be clinging to a sliver of hope.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Fu Tailan said calmly. "You don't want to believe me. That's okay, because the facts are the facts, and they won't change based on whether you believe them or not."

Even he himself felt a touch of irony when he said those words.

But that's far from the most ironic part of the whole thing.

Fu Tailan wanted to burst into laughter in the rain whenever she thought about what she had done.

“You don’t understand yet… I did you a favor.” He shook his head slightly and said, “Now, our situations are, in a way, strangely similar. No, that’s not quite right. It’s more like… a ‘mirror image’.”

Finally, Chai Si asked with difficulty, "...What do you mean?"

“Your father always complained that you had no way to enter the lair and could not be a hunter. Now, his way is gone too.”

Having said that, Fu Tailan really wanted to tell him "You're welcome".

“As for my father,” he continued, laughing, “he’s always been pushing me to use my connections to get more into the nests and make money. Now, he has his own connections.”

The rumbling of the rain continued for a while, as if striking the world and the minds of the few people present into an incomprehensible blank void.

Carter finally cried out, realizing what was happening: "What? You mean—you mean—no, that can't be, he's always—"

He wasn't stupid, but his reaction was just a step too slow.

See, didn't Chai Si realize it long ago?

Watching Chai Si kneel in the rain, slowly lower his head, and uncontrollably curl up, Fu Tai Lan realized that what she felt was not satisfaction.

Fu Tailan wanted to laugh, but not because of Chai Si's current pain.

He almost felt a pang of pity and wanted to advise Chai Si to laugh with him.

"...I gave the passage to Kaironan to Fu Han."

Fu Tailan could neither hear nor see clearly.

But he knew that Chess Munro was sobbing uncontrollably in the dense, torrential rain.

(End of this chapter)