Artifact Report

Chapter 416 Mai Minghe - Meeting

"...After we were drawn into the game of domination, every 'Illusion Report' we received concealed a purpose of the person behind the scenes. Someone was using us as puppets, making us fulfill their will step by step."

Mak Ming Ho could say the same thing countless times—as long as the contestants understood the truth, let go of their own obsessions, and stood by her side.

She said it twice tonight; she knew this was just the beginning.

The first time was in the quiet carriage, finally sheltered from the wind and rain, with only the patter of rain outside and Mercury's heavy breathing as he endured his pain as accompaniment to Mak Ming-ho's narration.

"...You, me, Chais, Brianna, Fu Tailan, every contestant has had their desires manipulated and become his pawns. Tonight, Blackmore City has suffered a great calamity, and each of us is to blame."

Because they have a choice.

When the "Hypothesis Report" arrived, Mak Ming-ho could have chosen not to do as it said. She could have refused to sell the lipstick to the mayor, refused to retrieve Evan from the sea... As she fulfilled each of the Hypothesis Report's demands, could she say she never had a single doubt?

She certainly had. She continued anyway.

Chai Si had done it too. Chai Si continued. The other contestants were probably all similar, blinded by various desires, willingly blind.

A few seconds after she finished speaking, Mai Minghe almost thought that Jin Xueli didn't believe her—because Jin Xueli remained silent.

She waited a moment, then couldn't help but say, "Jin—"

"How did you choose?"

As soon as Mai Minghe called her name, Jin Xueli spoke at the same time. She looked up at Mai Minghe in the rearview mirror and asked, "Why did the person behind the scenes choose me?"

Jin Xueli didn't seem to expect Mai Minghe to give her an answer, and her voice gradually rose: "I clearly don't have any family or faction power, nor am I some kind of genius hunter. I just want to make money and live a good life—oh, is it because of money? Is it because he knows I have no money?"

Her voice trembled slightly, and her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, her knuckles white.

"Because I have no money, and no good way to make money. I'm terrible at even basic skills; what others can easily obtain, I'd risk my life for. So as long as he gives me a glimmer of hope, a promise, I'm his most useful tool, right? For that little bit of money, I'd do anything—"

Jin Xueli suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly.

"No, that's not enough. What they promised me wasn't just 'a little money.' Even if it happened again, I'd still be led by the nose, step by step, until tonight—"

She abruptly stopped talking, and the carriage fell silent again.

"What's wrong tonight?" Mai Minghe asked.

Jin Xueli didn't say a word. After a few seconds, she turned on her turn signal and turned onto another road.

“…just a little further ahead is Cain Street,” she said, her voice slightly hoarse.

Mai Minghe didn't want to see if she was crying. Mercury stared motionlessly ahead; for a moment, no one spoke in the car.

"How do we find Brianna?" Jin Xueli asked after a while, her voice heavy. "It's raining so hard outside, she couldn't possibly have been standing motionless by the construction site all this time, could she?"

This was also a problem that plagued Maming River – she had never met Brianna and couldn’t think of a second way to do anything except call her name loudly in the street.

"and many more,"

Just as the car was about to turn the next street corner, Mercury suddenly spoke up. She tapped on the rain-streaked car window with her knuckles, hitting another car with its hazard lights flashing not far away. "That's the person who came to pick me up. Let me out of the car."

Jin Xueli got out of the car slowly as instructed; Mai Minghe, still worried, asked again, "Are you really not going directly to the hospital?"

“No need,” Mercury said, having already opened the car door. “I have a gunshot wound, and it must be treated privately.”

She paused, then suddenly chuckled. "But judging from this... it seems that by tomorrow's sunrise, there will be no laws or police anymore, right? From this perspective, the cup isn't half-empty, it's half-full, isn't it?"

Neither of the two people in the car knew what to say.

"Oh, right, your phone." Mercury stood outside the car, took his phone out of his pocket, bent down, and tossed it to Mai Minghe.

She stared at Mak Ming-ho for a moment, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she just smiled and said, "Thanks."

After the car door slammed shut, Mai Minghe leaned close to the window and watched Mercury get into another car before letting out a silent sigh.

She looked down at her wet phone—such a sophisticated device, yet it's waterproof. Such a sophisticated device, yet it can be tracked and located.

Remembering Hai Luwei's instructions, Mai Minghe, despite not knowing why the police were tracking and intercepting her, turned off her phone again. "It was only on for a short while, it should be alright, right?"
When they left, Mercury's car was still parked in the same spot.

“Go down this intersection,” Jin Xueli said as she drove. “Cayne Street is right in front of us, and the construction site should be on the right-hand side—wait?”

Mai Minghe immediately leaned forward, tense: "What's wrong?"

"What's that?" Jin Xueli slammed on the brakes and pointed ahead. "Did you see that?"

Mai Minghe saw it.

She didn't know what she was seeing.

The streetlights on Cain Street were still on, appearing as hazy, yellowish patches in the rainy night. It seemed as if the streetlights themselves were being battered by the downpour, their dim light appearing as if they might be washed away at any moment, completely diluted in the dark, empty street.

The long, dark white, rubbery thing lying on the road was sometimes dimly illuminated by the streetlights, and sometimes it sank into the dark pool.

It is sometimes bright and sometimes dark, winding and long, like a giant snake crawling towards an abyss where even the gaze can be swallowed up.

When the car was only two or three meters away from the long, white object, Jin Xueli stopped the car. The two leaned out and, using the headlights, squinted to examine the object—until Jin Xueli suddenly gasped.

“That indentation—” she whispered, “is it the spine, the spine?”

She didn't need to explain it in detail; Mai Minghe could tell.

The slight indentation formed by the spine, the back muscles on both sides, and the shape of the ribs below... the form is clear and unmistakable. It is a section of human body.

But how can a human have such a long back? Looking ahead, you can't see the chest or head; looking back, you can't see the legs. As far as the eye can see, there is only a long, endless back, stretching infinitely in the rainy night, leading nowhere.

"I...I think I've seen it before..."

Jin Xueli stammered, "When I was in the nest, a woman with a long body once saved me... I asked her what her name was, but she wouldn't tell me."

She stared blankly for a few seconds, then whispered, "Could that be Brianna? She...she was also a Dominion player, yet she saved me?"

How could that be? That's clearly a resident.

Mai Minghe opened his mouth, about to say "That can't be human", but suddenly remembered that when he was first conscripted, he wasn't really a human either - could it be that residents can be conscripted as long as they meet certain conditions?

If she had once saved Kim Sherry, then perhaps Brianna wouldn't be considered a complete resident; as long as she still harbors goodwill towards people, there might still be room for reasoning with her.

Kim Seol-ri subconsciously opened the car door, seemingly wanting to go closer and take a look.

“Wait a minute,” Mai Minghe grabbed her shoulder, “Don’t get out of the car.”

"why?"

"It's too long, how do you know how long it will take to reach the end?"

Mai Minghe looked around. "You just said the welfare construction site is on the right, right? If this back is Brianna, then she came from the right. If you drive to the left, along this back, wouldn't that be faster than walking?"

Jin Xueli realized what was happening, responded, closed the car door again, and started the car.

She had been lost and bewildered all night, as if she had lost her soul, but now, seeing this long, backless figure, she was visibly invigorated—as if she had finally found a familiar past in this strange world that left her feeling helpless.

Kim Seol-ri seems to trust this resident a lot...that's a good sign, right?

Mai Minghe climbed into the passenger seat, opened the window, squinted, and looked at the white backs that were always parallel to them in the distance.

...Is this really Brianna?
If so, what kind of state of being is she trapped in?

Is she willing to accept this?

Is her wish and desire... related to this?

As he watched, Mai Minghe suddenly unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned out of the car window.

"Briana!"

A strong wind, carrying rain as sharp as ice thorns, lashed against her face and body, making it almost impossible for her to open her eyes—but ahead, she wasn't mistaken, there was a person lying on the ground, dragging a long, long back.

Brianna had her face buried in her arms and was not moving.

If it weren't for the road beneath her, the torrential rain above her head, and the endless rows of bodies behind her, she would look like a student taking a nap at her desk in school.

She felt content just to lie here for a while and sleep for a bit, because the world wouldn't give her anything more.

She remained unresponsive even as the car slowed down beside her.

“Brianana!” McMing called out, “Is that you, Brianana?”

The person who had buried their head in their arms seemed to tremble slightly, but never raised their face.

“You don’t know me. My name is Mak Ming Ho, and I’m a player in the Nest Domination game.”

This is the second time tonight that Mak Ming-ho has explained the truth about the game of domination.

I don't know how many of the people on the ground are still human, nor do I know how much effect or meaning her words will have.

“I mean you no harm. But there’s a host in the Nest who I suspect has been manipulating the game and fabricated reports, exploiting our desires to gradually bring the Nest into the human world… Do you know what happened tonight?”

Brianna kept her face buried in her arms and didn't lift her head.

Mak Ming-ho naturally wouldn't give up; she used herself as an example and explained for a while, but still received no response.

“Brianana? You're Brianana, right? Can you hear me?”

Her voice was muffled; if Mai Minghe hadn't paused just then, he almost wouldn't have heard her say, "Get out."

“Since we brought the nest in, we have a responsibility to drive it out.” Maming stood in the rain, hesitant to get too close to Brianna. “Listen to me, no matter what happens, you—”

"I told you to get lost!"

Brianna suddenly looked up, and from her wide-open, black-hole-like mouth, the shockwave of the explosion reverberated, sending dizzying sonic waves through the air.

"Didn't you hear me tell you to get lost? I'll kill you, kill you, kill you! You'll die if you see me! Gouge out those eyes of yours that saw my face and crush them! Kill me, kill me! I am who I am! I brought this lair here, that's right! The host killed people, and after he was done using them, he went to kill Chaismonro. The more you struggle, the more you sink. You think you can catch him a few times?—"

Her voice stopped abruptly.

Despite the residents' fury, Mak Ming Ho's heart was still pounding in his ears.

Still shaken, her muscles tense, she slowly turned around after a few seconds, following Brianna's gaze.

Kim Seol-ri got off the bus sometime earlier and was standing in the headlights, her eyes meeting Brianna's.

(End of this chapter)