Artifact Report

Chapter 414 Mai Minghe - Even if it crawls out, it can be stuffed back in.

There must be a lot of people in the building next door.

Let's go inside and take a look. Yes, let's go inside the building. It's so boring to always be on the street.
Check it out for us.
Why isn't the old lady moving?

Hurry up! What's wrong with that thing with all those eyeballs? Is it preventing the old lady from moving?
Despite all these demands, resident Ted seemed oblivious. He stood with his hands on his hips, one foot stomping on the ground, splashing water in circles in the rain.

Its hair was wet, winding and climbing up its face, and flowing down in a dark stream between its eyeballs.

Because there was so little space on its face, there was almost no room for it to make expressions. It wasn't until it opened its mouth that Mai Minghe realized it was getting impatient: "Speak up! What are the people on the old lady's side doing? You're all so quiet, are you shy?"

……what?

Mai Minghe couldn't help but be taken aback.

The complaints, urgings, and demands deep in her mind were so numerous that they made her brain ache. She had always thought that the resident Ted's silence meant he had other plans, but she never expected that it seemed he hadn't received a single request.

Why is this happening?

Is the interface not configured correctly?
Mai Minghe's mind conjured up images of a mismatched pot and lid—but all those technical terms she'd just heard had left her dizzy; it was probably more complicated than just a pot and lid.

“Say something,” resident Ted urged again, then paused. “The API is working fine, it’s open…”

A hint of doubt drifted from the direction of the mercury.

Mai Minghe remained standing motionless in the same spot.

Resident Ted finally couldn't hold back any longer. He put his hands on his hips, strode over, and leaned close to Mak Ming Ho's face, as if he wanted to take a closer look at her and see what was wrong with her.

The urge to back away and close my eyes for that instant was impossible to translate into action—watching a resident's face approach was an torture to the soul, like watching your brain get hit with a stick.

What is this disgusting thing? How dare it stand right in front of me? Doesn't it have any self-awareness? It's rotten and disgusting. Don't eat it, bury it right now! It's not ice cream, I miss ice cream!
"Huh?" Resident Ted straightened up. "...What?"

Mai Minghe also wanted to ask, "What?"
"What ice cream?"

Resident Ted waved his hand and walked around her, while everyone else looked equally bewildered. "Someone just asked her for ice cream? What kind of weird request is that? No way. Where am I supposed to find ice cream? Tell me something useful."

ice cream……?
Mai Minghe stood there blankly, unable to believe it or find any explanation for it, but she gradually came to understand.

After all, what other explanation is there besides that one?

She received an old-fashioned education and would never swear or use foul language, no matter how angry she was.

...So, apart from a furious Mak Ming-ho, who else in this era could say something like, "I'll give you a dog-leg grandma pancake"?

Besides the resident version of Mak Ming Ho, who else would miss ice cream?
The one speaking is indeed the resident version of Mak Ming Ho.

But... she still only has one head on her neck, and she is still human, so why can she hear the resident version of Ma Minghe's voice?

It can't just stay in your head forever, can it?
Or is its emergence related to resident Ted's nest network?
Never mind that—the most important thing right now is how to escape from this situation.

“Is it because it’s old and broken?” Resident Ted thought for a moment, then clapped his hands. “That makes a lot of sense. I’m so smart, that must be it.”

It looked back at the mercury.

To ensure the network connection remained constant, even after Mercury had accepted the mission and gone far away, one hand would always shine a flashlight on it.

"Hmm... one is enough, right? We don't necessarily need to keep the old lady as a browser window. Although she is a dominant player... but when it comes to players, the more they die, the better. The host will definitely understand me."

Mai Minghe's heart tightened, and she grew increasingly anxious. Her body was beyond her control, so all hope and chance rested on the voices that shouldn't exist in her mind.

Resident version of Mak Ming Ho... Can you say a word?
Mai Minghe waited a few seconds, but apart from the increasingly impatient noise of the residents deep in his mind, he could no longer hear his own voice.

Where did you go? You can't just disappear sometimes and sometimes, can you? Since you're here, why aren't you saying anything?
Resident Ted started tapping the broken eye on its temple again: "Hmm... what should we do? Just twist it off, that's a bit too simplistic and lacks fun. How about exchanging eyeballs with you? A tug-of-war of consciousness? Shutting down the server? Removing the illusion from your body and letting you die of old age again?"

Oh no, she doesn't have much time left. Resident Ted will make a decision in a few seconds—why isn't resident Mai Minghe coming out yet?

Haven't they been lying in wait all along?

...Wait, that's not right.

After Mai Minghe regained his human form, it should have truly disappeared.

This is not a biological issue, but a logical conflict: the "residents of Maiming River" is based on the premise that "the human Maiming River has disappeared"; and vice versa.

The two are contradictory and should not coexist, nor can they coexist.

So... has resident Mai Minghe really been "lurking" all along?
Thinking about those two sentences that just popped out, weren't they just my own subconscious thoughts?

Of course, Mak Ming Ho was not violent or bloodthirsty.

If I had to use an analogy, "resident Mak Ming-ho" is more like a transforming amplifier, amplifying, distorting, and reshaping her ideas into a resident's style, making them resonate loudly in her mind.

But the initial ideas all seem to have originated from Mak Ming-ho himself. If what "resident Mak Ming-ho" says all comes from himself...

"I like irony. It's no fun having that illusion clinging to you like this. It's time to let you go back to where you came from."

As resident Ted spoke, he reached out and grabbed the corner of Mak Ming Ho's shirt.

Wait, wait, stop! Stop! If you don't stop, I'll chop your hand off! I've asked so many times, why can't you hear me? Gouge the eyeballs out of your ears!

Resident Ted paused, then looked up.

Tell her to check the driver's license. Hurry up, how many times do I have to tell her?
"Who's there?" Resident Ted, still half-bent over, looked like he was about to steal eggs from Maming River's clothes. "What do you need a driver's license for?"

I need to find this driver's address. I need to go to his home. I need to visit, comfort, and soothe his wife and children, who are worn out, broken, and battered. Seeing his driver's license, I realized this is truly the human world. My wife and children, my wife and children, I'm here!
Just as Mak Ming-ho had predicted, once these words were spoken, both resident Ted and the vast number of residents deep in their minds were overjoyed and practically scratching their heads in excitement.

Great idea!

Ideally, you should also carry the body on your back and use the body's hand to ring the doorbell.

His wife asked from behind the door, "Who is it?" He replied in his voice, "It's me, darling."

While resident Ted was delighted, he didn't forget to consider the practical issues involved.

It looked at the flashlight in Mai Minghe's hand, made her bend down next to the driver, and made her put her right hand into the driver's pocket while making sure that the flashlight in her left hand was shining firmly on her.

This guy is quite cautious... In this way, with Mercury shining on it from behind and Mai Minghe shining on it from in front of it and beside the driver, it is always within the light of the two, and neither of them can escape.

The driver was standing on the right side of the Mak Ming River. It was relatively easy to reach into his pocket, which was close by, but the other pocket was a bit more difficult—unfortunately, his wallet was on the other side.

Maming River pulled out the wet wallet and, at the command of resident Ted, opened it.

She looked down at her wallet with a blank expression.

In his mind, "resident Mai Minghe" suddenly gasped.

How could this be?! How could this be?! This is so strange! Something's not right! I've never seen anything like this before!!!

...Every resident of the nest was filled with an almost unreasonable curiosity.

Whether they're threatening to kill, angry, or halfway through a yoga session—once curiosity is aroused, they'll drop everything to satisfy it first.

Fortunately, resident Ted was no exception.

"What?" It didn't move its feet, but immediately stretched its neck. "What did you see? Speak up, what's wrong with your driver's license?"

Mai Minghe looked at the driver's license; only silence answered him.

Resident Ted urged her twice more, but still received no response. Frustrated, he strode towards Mak Ming River, cursing under his breath. He stopped to her left and peered into her hand. "Are you sure you're not a newborn's brain? It's so intermittent. Are you using me as bait? Come on, take a look. What's wrong? What do you see?"

It glanced at it a few times, still not understanding, and moved a little closer, as if it wanted to crawl into Mak Ming Ho's arms.

"I don't see anything strange about it. Name, age, address...aren't these all things that should be on a driver's license? What's wrong with it?"

Mak Ming-ho gently released his grip and tossed the phone away from his left hand.

For a moment, resident Ted didn't realize that he had already slipped out of the beam of her flashlight when he walked to the left side of the Mak Ming River and strained to see his driver's license.

The nest network connection has finally been lost.

Mak Ming Ho had been planning for this moment for a very long time.

She knew that even if she disconnected the nest network, she would still be no match for the residents—even the useless machine gun had long been thrown aside; and she was no match for the residents with her bare hands.

So what happens after the connection is broken? How do you take it down and escape?

No matter how hard he tried, Mak Ming Ho could only come up with one almost fanciful solution.

Before resident Ted could react, her left hand had already reached out and grabbed the hair on the back of resident Ted's head.

Grabbing its hair, Mak Ming-ho immediately used all his strength to shove its head straight into the Black Abyss belt above the driver's head—resident Ted didn't even have time to struggle.

As soon as its head disappeared into the black mist, Mai Minghe immediately stepped forward and stood behind it, blocking the flashlight beam from Mercury.

"Mercury!" she cried out without turning around, "Is it disconnected?"

A moment of silence passed amidst the rumbling rain.

"...It's broken!" Mercury's voice trembled as he responded loudly.

"Get the gun," Mak Ming-ho shouted, "and put it back!"

(End of this chapter)