Artifact Report

Chapter 408 Fu Tai Lan - Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four
This is a play personally arranged and directed by Fu Tailan.

He was obsessed with seeing the final, crucial scene, and he used every means at his disposal.

The play isn't over yet, the climax hasn't arrived, so the director certainly can't die—even though one of the actors could explode at any moment and snap Fu Tai Lan's life with a single gesture.

So when he touched his sunken forehead in the car, Fu Tailan knew that he had to find a way out of this situation; to conjure up a trump card from nothing.

Fortunately, it seems that even the heavens think he hasn't reached the end of his road yet.

The reason why Fu Tailan dared to chat with Chai Si and slowly dissect his flesh and blood with words was because he had four pieces of information that Chai Si's side did not know.

First, he has a gun.

That was the gun he had taken from the bodyguard captain before Carter could get there.

Chai Si dragged Fu Tailan out of the car and tossed him around like a doll, beating and pounding him mercilessly. There was bound to be physical contact during the process, but he never noticed that Fu Tailan was hiding a gun on his person. Logically speaking, this was impossible. Putting aside everything else, the gun would have been thrown out long ago by the force of Chai Si's throw.

So Chai Si obviously thought he was unarmed.

That's why Chai Si let himself be overwhelmed by his emotions and lowered his head in front of Fu Tai Lan.

“…I hope this is a cry of relief,” Fu Tailan laughed indistinctly, then groaned softly from the pain, clutching the arm that had been curled up in front of her. “Otherwise, you’re just too boring.”

"Brother Chai!"

Han Liuyue suddenly shouted angrily, no longer caring about Carter, and turned around to point the gun in her hand at Fu Tailan—really, her reaction was too fast.

However, even with Han Liuyue's quick reaction, she was still a step too slow.

It wasn't that she didn't do a good enough job, but rather that it would be hard for anyone to imagine that Fu Tailan could pull a gun out of her empty arms.

Han Liuyue held the gun, its muzzle aimed at Fu Tailan, but dared not move—because Fu Tailan's gun was also pointed at Chai Si.

"What..." she gasped for breath, and asked through the white mist, "What's going on? An illusion?"

Chai Si finally raised his head and met Fu Tai Lan's gun barrel in eye.

Apart from his blood-red eyes, every line on his face looked as if it had been carved with a knife, solidified and unmoving.

He glanced at the gun barrel, then at Fu Tailan's arm.

Fu Tailan rolled up her sleeves.

The patch of skin formed by the vulture particles was connected to Fu Tailan's arm at one end, while the other end had not yet completely peeled off the pistol.

To outsiders, it looked as if Fu Tailan's arm skin had somehow formed a pouch, encasing the pistol; and Fu Tailan had just pulled a gun out of her skin.

"Who said vulture particles can only stay inside my body?"

Fu Tailan couldn't help but feel a little smug and said, "Look, I can actually be a kangaroo too."

Chai Si lowered his eyelids and stared at him coldly—the next second, a pale white shadow suddenly pierced through the night rain.

Perhaps only Chai Si would think that he could snatch a gun faster than Fu Tai Lan could pull the trigger.

Perhaps only Chai Si could snatch the gun faster than Fu Tai Lan could pull the trigger – by the time the muzzle flashed, the gun had already been deflected by a large hand, the bullet grazing Chai Si as it flew away, the wind splattering a line of blood on his ear.

Once Chai Si grasped the gun barrel, he could only drag you away by force; if Fu Tai Lan hadn't immediately let go, he might have even dislocated your fingers.

The gun in Chai Si's hand was turned around and aimed at Fu Tai Lan.

He lowered his eyelids slightly.

The vulture particles were still on Fu Tailan's arm, resembling a stack of empty skin bags, and hadn't been moved yet—even if they were, it was unclear what area they should cover.

Chai Si didn't say a word, and Chao Fu Tai Lan pressed the trigger.

Fu Tailan laughed.

“I ejected all the other bullets a long time ago,” he said. “I only kept the one that shot you just now, just in case.”

"Brother Chai," Han Liuyue called out immediately from a distance, "I'm coming, please make way."

“No need,” Chai Si threw away the bodyguard captain’s gun, reached behind him and pulled out another gun, saying, “Don’t let him get away.”

Han Liuyue was startled, but immediately realized what was happening and quickly turned her head—sure enough, while the two sides were fighting, Carter had already slipped away without a word, sneaking off quite a distance.

“Yes,” she said, walking step by step forward and raising her gun towards Carter’s retreating figure, “Did you kill him?”

"killed."

As soon as those two words left his mouth, Chai Si also raised his gun towards Fu Tai Lan.

In that instant, Fu Tailan felt as if he had just smoked a cigarette—unfortunately, his remaining cigarettes had been soaked by the rain and were no longer safe to smoke—his mind was filled with a light, warm, and relaxed feeling, and everything in the world seemed to have slowed down.

The world moves forward frame by frame, and the rain falls into the world one frame at a time.

Fu Tailan looked at his hand, watching it tear through the rain inch by inch. He was surprised, wanted to laugh, and felt that it was all meaningless: if he hadn't been able to block the muzzle with his hand before Chai Si fired, it wouldn't have been anything to regret.

If there's one regret, it's not being able to witness the final climax.

However, he actually had a vague premonition about what the final scene would be like—

Gunshots rang out from Fu Tailan's palm.

Countless pieces of flesh, broken bones, and severed tendons exploded from the back of my hand, splashing into the rainy night like a small handful of fireworks, or like a hot air balloon that suddenly opened.

It was as if an invisible rope was pulling the bloodstains and bits of flesh, causing them to open into a small umbrella shape. Instead of falling further, they were being pulled back rapidly into the bloody hole in the palm by the invisible rope.

"Again!"

Fu Tailan stared at Chai Si, her voice soft and indistinct, her arm empty. "...I can use this hand to block you as many times as I want." Chai Si seemed to feel that even responding to him would be beneath him, and only gave a cold laugh upon hearing this—just as he was about to turn the gun around and pull the trigger again, a second piece of information that Fu Tailan knew but Chai Si did not finally arrived belatedly, slowly plunging its head into the rainy night.

It actually stuck its head out of the car window and into the rainy night.

Second, the driver's head is the Black Abyss Belt.

Moreover, there is something in the Black Abyss.

When Chase drove his car into the SUV, it was impossible for him to see the driver's face—the windows of the Caterpillar were tinted, so even in the daytime, let alone in a torrential downpour at midnight, it was impossible to see the person inside the car.

After he hit the SUV, Chai Si still didn't see the driver. He probably knew that Fu Tai Lan wasn't the one driving, so he didn't even glance at the driver's seat.

Even if he glanced at the driver's seat, he probably wouldn't be able to tell the result—Fu Tailan had seen the driver's appearance before; the driver was slumped in the seat, his head drooping into the dim light inside the car.

If you said that a driver with the Black Abyss on his head would die from being hit by a car, Fu Tailan would laugh.

He watched as Chai Si stood frozen in the rain, the gun still pointed at him, but his gaze involuntarily flashed quickly towards the driver's window of the SUV.

The black mist that had replaced the human head now protruded completely from the car window and turned towards the two people beside the car.

If it weren't for the fact that there were no facial features in the black mist, but only a small, white hand, it would almost look like it was watching a good show.

“Hi,” Fu Tai Lan waved to it, “You’re here.”

The hand, covered with twenty or thirty fingers, stretched out little by little, bringing out a slender arm.

Chais turned his head toward it little by little.

A series of gunshots suddenly rang out not far from the road; followed by the muffled thud of a body falling to the ground.

If the dream hadn't already vanished, Fu Tailan would have suspected that Chai Si had also been trapped in the dream—he seemed oblivious to Han Liuyue's gunshot and didn't even blink.

He just stared blankly as the residents crawled out of the Black Abyss, not even noticing that Fu Tailan slowly straightened up and took two steps out.

"...What?" Chai Si asked, almost bewildered.

"Never seen this before?" Fu Tailan shouldn't have spoken, but she couldn't help herself: "You've never been a hunter, how could you not recognize what this is?"

Chai Si raised his hand and slowly wiped the rain from his face. The movement was so slow that it seemed he was waiting for the residents of the Black Abyss to disappear when he lowered his hand.

...That's not quite right.

Given Shichi's temperament and personality, he wouldn't have lost his composure so much just from seeing the residents. Even if he hadn't entered the lair, it's impossible that the Kai family hunters had never described the residents.

He looked... almost like—like—

"You...you did this?" Chai Si didn't even glance at Fu Tailan, his voice trembling slightly. "You...I know your pathways are rare. Could it be that you can..."

Wait, is he afraid? Why?
The inhabitants have come into the world, isn't that fun?

Han Liuyue killed Carter and was walking back. Fu Tailan didn't have time to waste words with him.

“Of course I didn’t do it. How could I bring residents in? Even if my access road is top-notch, isn’t it still for people to walk on?” He said this with righteous indignation, glancing at Han Liuyue not far away. “However, I just received some news…”

"What?" Chai Si asked as expected.

Okay, with this question from him, Han Liuyue won't raise his gun and kill Fu Tailan before he gets the answer.

The inhabitant was now almost fully emerging from the Black Abyss; its body was emaciated and disproportionate, with a thin, dry thigh embedded in its chest cavity.

As it took a step outward, it brought forth a series of leg shadows in the air, as if countless layers of limbs were compressed and overlapped together, and as soon as it moved, there would be limbs that could not keep up.

The body was already standing on the earthly ground, but the neck was still stretched out at an angle, and the head was still submerged in the black mist, not yet showing itself.

"What does the Knight family's original liquid mean to you? I heard it's been spilled all over the streets and alleys, washed away by the rain." Fu Tailan said, then called out to Han Liuyue, "Look, it's a resident."

Han Liuyue stared blankly at the resident, then called out softly, "Brother Chai Si..."

Fu Tailan smiled. Heaven really didn't want him to die yet.

Third, the head belongs to the driver brought by Hei Yuan; there are two of them.

Another driver, from the car behind Han Liuyue, had just silently opened the door and walked towards the group.

It was still the driver's body, and the black mist above his head was gradually dissipating; the black tide receded, revealing a naked, grayish-white, slippery, writhing brain.

Fu Tailan raised her chin towards Han Liuyue. "Hey," she called out, "big sister."

Who are you—

As expected of Han Liuyue, she realized what was happening before she even finished speaking, and quickly turned around to face the brain-teasing driver behind her.

When she instinctively raised her gun, it was as if Chai Si had finally snapped out of a dream.

As the two men unleashed a burst of bright gunfire at the two residents, Fu Tailan quietly slipped to the side, moved to the back of the car, and began to run away at full speed.

He lunged into the second SUV and slammed the door shut. Amid gunfire and rain, he started the engine, carrying the bodies of several bodyguards, and sped off with a sudden burst of speed—but Fu Tai Lan quickly slammed on the brakes.

He lunged into the passenger seat, crouched down, pushed open the car door, and yelled at the person lying in the road, "Stop playing dead, get in!"

Fourth, what Chaisi's side didn't know was that Carter had a self-defense decoy on him.

Carter opened his eyes, his face completely drained of color. Not daring to waste even a second, he quickly climbed into the arms of the bodyguard's corpse in the passenger seat.

He restarted the car, and amidst the torrential rain and the kisses and farewells of countless bullets, Fu Tailan burst into laughter.

(End of this chapter)