Artifact Report

Chapter 410 Mai Minghe's Mercury: A Killer Move
"Put the gun down,"

Mercury clutched her injured shoulder and sat up from the ground. Her face was deathly pale, floating in the dark rain, as if the world had been frozen and lost its soul on her face. "...If you're a qualified hunter, you should have heard of me."

The Knight family driver, panting, turned his eyes from behind the gun, his gaze sweeping over Mercury's face.

He paused for a moment, it was unclear whether he had recognized the mercury; the next second, he suddenly laughed.

"So you were just a street cleaner who'd do anything for money. Can't you even lift an arm anymore? Can't fire a gun, huh? Who hired you to overturn our cars?"

Whether from injury or excessive excitement, he was panting heavily. The muzzle of his gun trembled, yet it remained pointed at Mercury and Mai Minghe. "It's alright, once we bring you back to our faction, everything will be clear."

The driver gestured with his chin toward Mai Minghe, indicating a direction opposite to that of the mercury.

"You! Raise your hands and kick both machine guns over there. Otherwise, I'll shoot you next."

Suppressing his shock and anger, Mai Minghe raised his hands and slowly walked to the machine gun.

“Listen to me,” she said, knowing it was futile but having no other choice, “we were also tricked by the nest, controlled by dreams, which is why we overturned the tanker truck…”

As she spoke, she glanced at the mercury.

Mercury was shot in the right shoulder and couldn't lift her arm or fire the gun—besides, when Mai Minghe tackled her, the machine gun had already slipped from his grasp and landed a few steps away.

Mai Minghe had fired a gun in her dream, and vaguely remembered how to use it, but she was constantly being stared at by the driver's gun. Naturally, the speed at which she bent down to pick up the gun was no match for the speed at which the bullet pierced her.

If there's any chance of a turnaround, it's only...

“I was sleeping at home,” Mercury said in a low voice, as if she could read her thoughts from her face. “When I woke up, I was already here.”

Mai Minghe was startled. He looked at her closely, and his heart sank.

How come you only realized it now?
Under the cover of the pitch-black, blurry night, Mercury was dressed too loosely and thinly, not even wearing a raincoat—no, clearly not even shoes, his feet had long since turned bluish-white from the cold.

When no one is home sleeping, he would be fully armed; that means Mercury has neither weapons nor decoys? He might not even be able to call for backup?

After that machine gun is kicked out, won't they be left to their own devices?

“You seem to be dreaming,” the driver gasped for breath, then continued, “This is Blackmore City. How does the lair control you? I’ll count to three, and if you don’t kick the machine gun over here—”

no solution anymore.

Mai Minghe could only kick the machine guns out one by one—the driver was obviously worried that Mercury would block the machine guns halfway, so he specifically asked for Mercury to go in the opposite direction, so that she wouldn't even have a chance to grab them.

After kicking the gun away, he continued to keep an eye on the two men with the muzzle of the gun while quickly walking over and bending down to switch to a machine gun.

In this way, the possibility of escaping the gun barrel is almost non-existent.

“Tie her up,” the driver continued to order.

"But she was injured—"

"Stop talking nonsense. Either you tie her up, or you die."

Mai Minghe held up his hand, remaining motionless for a moment.

Does this driver really think she can't tell?
He recognized Mercury at a glance, indicating that she was a well-known hunter. The driver believed that Mercury was hired to attack him, and naturally, while considering her the biggest threat, he also considered her the biggest source of information.

In contrast, what need was there to keep the unknown Mak Ming Ho alive after she was bound with mercury and the driver was relieved of her threat?

Rather, keeping her alive would actually increase the unpredictability of the situation.

Mak Ming Ho is just kind-hearted; she's not stupid.

"I...I don't have anything to tie her up,"

She could only stall for time, rambling on and on regardless: "I didn't lie to you just now. It seems the nest has sent inhabitants into the world, and we've fallen for their trap. What is this 'original liquid'? Where did you get it from? The nest's purpose must be to overturn it and drain it dry..."

The driver, who had yelled at her twice to shut up, suddenly paused when he heard the last sentence.

Puffs of white vapor kept billowing out, almost completely obscuring his face.

"The Nest... Could it be that the Nest doesn't want it to fall into our hands... After all, this time they used that Golden Snow Pear's method... No, that's not right, this isn't the first time they've taken the original liquid. They could have taken it before..."

Mak Ming Ho captured the name "Kim Shirley".

Leaving aside why he was involved in a game of Nexus, it's a bit strange that he started talking to himself.

Generally speaking, when facing the enemy, any thoughts you have will only pass through your mind, right?

What's even stranger is that when he speaks, why does more white steam come out of his mouth?
He can't breathe while speaking, so apart from the exhalation required for vocalization, there shouldn't be any exhalation... but now the driver's entire head looks like a steam engine.

All he could see was swirling white fog. Could he really still see anything clearly?

"Hmm? Impossible, impossible. Someone must have hired them to sabotage our family's plans... Their information network is incredibly efficient. If we could find the mastermind behind this, hahahaha..."

"Hey," Mercury called out softly to Mai Minghe.

Her gaze remained fixed on the driver, and in the torrential rain, she whispered, almost inaudibly, "This guy has the original liquid on him."

"What? How did you know?" Mai Minghe lowered his voice as well. "Do you know what the original solution is?"

"Isn't the original liquid nest material?" Mercury raised his chin and said, "It seems he's about to become something of the nest as well."

The driver had fallen silent.

His head was completely enveloped in a cloud of dark white mist; whether it was a psychological illusion or not, Mai Minghe felt that the color of that swirling white mist seemed to be gradually darkening, and it looked somewhat familiar.

"You have a cell phone on you, right?" Mercury said. "Give me your cell phone."

She certainly didn't have her phone with her while she was sleeping—Mai Minghe handed the phone over, glanced at the driver, and whispered, "What are you going to do? Should we run away now?" Mercury thought for a moment.

"Do you dare to grab the machine gun at his feet?" she asked in a low voice.

For the first few seconds, the driver didn't react to any of their movements; but no one knew whether he was watching them or when he might suddenly attack.

Mai Minghe glanced at the machine gun at the driver's feet, then at the mercury.

If, as she rushes to grab the gun, the driver turns the gun on her...

Then all her struggles during this period, and the second life she hadn't even had time to begin, would vanish in an instant, with no chance to start over.

"And what about you?" Mai Minghe asked.

“I have no illusions, but my most famous illusion is one that can neither be brought into the world nor should be,” Mercury said. “It is just a phone number that I memorized.”

what?
A phone number? Is it a fake?

So, an artifact can actually be a string of numbers? Didn't they say there aren't any cell phones or similar things in the lair?
Mai Minghe thought she had seen everything imaginable and unimaginable since being awakened by the thief, but she found that the world still had new surprises waiting for her.

“I need to call that number,” Mercury said, staring at the driver. “My contracted resident has to answer so I can take over the nexus network and attack the target. But just in case, I need you to get the machine gun to buy me some time. So, are you up for it?

Mai Minghe glanced at the driver again.

It wasn't her imagination; the white mist was indeed gradually darkening, turning into a dark gray fog. When it completely turned black... wouldn't it resemble the Black Abyss?
“I’ll go,” said Ma Minghe.

Mercury raised an eyebrow, seemingly slightly surprised.

They were both trapped in the same situation. Mercury had things it could do, so Mai Minghe had to do things she could do as well—and of course she was afraid.

But fear is just an emotion, not an action.

Throughout her life, Mak Ming Ho stood confined to a corner that society had designated for her, anxiously trying to hold onto it, calculating day and night—she never took any action, never stepped outside.

She has 25 days left before her second chance at life; she should take a risk to make it worthwhile.

Mai Minghe tentatively took a step forward, waited, and then took another step; the driver remained standing there, unresponsive.

Could it be that he was shrouded in fog and couldn't see clearly after all?

Since that's the case, let's just finish this quickly—

But just as Mak Ming-ho was about to pounce on the driver, he suddenly moved.

Even though his head was shrouded in a thick fog—no, the Black Abyss—the driver still turned around and raised the machine gun muzzle towards Mai Minghe.

In that instant, Mak Ming Ho realized that he had reacted a step too slowly.

And this brief moment is her only chance to survive.

Under the pouring rain of the night, Mak Ming Ho slipped and fell onto the flooded road.

The next second, a long string of white flashes, accompanied by deafening gunshots, tore through the rain like a beast, leaving a dazzling crack above her head, as if the world had been briefly pulled back from its curtain.

When you fire a gun, doesn't that mean you're simultaneously caught up in the bullet, its kinetic energy, and its recoil?

Mak Ming-ho lay prone in the wet, rain-soaked ground, swept one leg across, and pulled the machine gun next to the driver into his hand.

In that instant, she knew that anything could happen.

Tonight's outcome could be that she gets the gun and holds it against the driver; or the driver could turn the gun on her and fire dozens of bullets at once.

Whether it was the black abyss headband on the driver's head, her reaction speed, or just a tiny bit of luck—Mai Minghe managed to turn the machine gun around and aim it at the driver, yelling, "Don't move!"

The driver, gun in hand, remained silent and stopped.

He hadn't said a word for quite some time.

"Drop the gun," Mak Ming-ho ordered.

The driver actually dropped the gun—without even a moment's hesitation.

Mai Minghe finally relaxed her grip on her chest. She got up, still pointing the gun at the driver, and turned to call out, "Mercury, are you alright? Have you contacted your decoy?"

Mercury reacted quickly, lying down in advance to avoid the driver's gunfire.

She nodded, pressed Mai Minghe's phone to her ear with one hand, and replied loudly, "Don't worry, the call has been connected."

As soon as he finished speaking, Mercury said "Hello?" into the phone.

Looking at her, Mai Minghe felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

"Mercury...?" she exclaimed.

Mercury held the phone between his shoulder and waved it at her, still talking into the phone: "This is Mercury, can you hear me? Hello?"

Mai Minghe called her name again: "Mercury".

Mercury looked up at her. "What?"

Mai Minghe looked at her, then at the darkness behind her.

Mercury seemed to sense something and slowly turned its head behind it.

A smiling resident with bulging eyes was holding a cell phone to his ear when he answered, "I can hear you, I can hear you... Hello."

(End of this chapter)