Artifact Report

Chapter 43 Jin Xueli: The Fake Image of the Original Plan

Sure enough...it’s me.

There should never be any doubt, the real Jin Xueli is me——

As soon as this thought came to mind, it was as if something that had been tightly binding Jin Xueli suddenly loosened.

She fell to the ground involuntarily, buried her face in her hands, and burst into tears.

She was not sad, nor was she afraid. Rather, her crying was a form of catharsis: the uneasiness and suspicion just now, the memory of near-death after the struggle, the pain and fear of having her throat torn and her shoulder chopped off... all seemed to be released from her body little by little through these cries, leaving only a tired and empty Jin Xueli.

When she stopped, the lingering sound in the exhibition hall gradually faded away, and silence returned to its original state.

There was no trace of what happened in my memory.

There was no blood on the floor, no fire axe or the dents it had made. The artwork, made of long wooden strips, was still sitting there, unbroken, and there were no splinters from it to pierce his face, hands, or feet.

The off-road backpack was thrown in a corner of the hall. Jin Xueli walked over and took out the long towel from the bag - the towel was dry and soft, and had never been soaked by the saliva of another self.

In this world, no one except Jin Xueli herself knows that she died once tonight.

If the residents had not melted the candles and changed the history of meeting Anthony after killing her, she would have remained forever on the cold floor of the underground exhibition hall and gradually become a part of the nest.

Jin Xueli shuddered slightly, as if a thick black fear gripped her bones and shook her.

She walked over to the candle, her sneakers making a soft sound on the floor.

Since the history copied by the residents had never happened, the candle in front of them had naturally never been touched by anyone - the smooth white candle felt cool and hard to the touch; in the shadow it cast, the fire trough was silent.

On May 2026.5.19, , a row of small words floated up from the candle.

Jin Xueli pulled her hand back as if she had been electrocuted.

After a pause, she gave a wry smile. She was haunted by both of these memories.

Although she was able to survive today only because of this candle, the fact that the residents wantonly melted and changed history still gave her a great shock - you know, the residents did not melt the candle to save her; if Jin Xueli also rashly inserted her hand into history, who knows what kind of unexpected consequences would be caused?
In this way, I can’t take the candle back, and I can’t use it with peace of mind...

Jin Xueli sighed, thought for a while, and decided to ignore it for the time being.

Honestly, looking at the candle, I can't help but think of the resident I copied myself; I'd better calm down first and think about what to do with it later.

Anyway, such a big candle is not to be worried about being taken away by others - if someone can really move this giant candle that is dozens of meters long from the underground exhibition hall with no windows and narrow stairs, then Jin Xueli will have to admit defeat.

She picked up the off-road backpack on the ground and touched the cell phone in her pocket. Except for the hunting knife, everything was there.

In the "present" timeline, the hunting knife has always been in Anthony's hand; after seeing it inserted into "her" neck, Jin Xueli didn't really want to take it back.

Anthony…

Only her hatred for him became sharper and more solid, as if she could turn it into a weapon and pierce his belly - the residents had disappeared, and Jin Xueli's anger was all directed at the harasser.

Before she walked into the elevator, she looked back at the huge candle in the distance.

"…The episode is over," she muttered to herself.

Next, we will go to Ninety-ninth Street as planned, get the pseudo-image there, and go back to get rid of Anthony quickly and efficiently - this time, Jin Xueli will not be distracted halfway and go astray.

After leaving the Museum of Modern Art, she realized that being copied by the residents was not entirely a bad thing.

She had originally prepared herself mentally for the fact that it would take nearly two days to reach Ninety-ninth Street.

To be honest, the journey over these two days was only fifteen kilometers, but the road to the nest was difficult to walk on, and there might be unexpected dangers everywhere - "hopscotch" is a clear example.

But now, thanks to a taxi, she'd shortened her journey significantly, avoiding the dangers and traps along the way. Adding a bit of luck, Jin Xueli arrived at 99th Street half an hour later. Standing under the sign, she glanced around before taking out her phone and scanning.

November 11th, 17:2 AM.

She entered the nest before ten o'clock on the evening of the 16th.

After listening to the entire broadcast, she was stuck on Colorado Avenue playing hopscotch for a long time - roughly estimating that she was copied by the "Vulture" residents after 12 o'clock.

Logically speaking, the residents of "Vulture" should wait for someone to die before transforming into that person's appearance, but tonight "Hopscotch" seemed to be providing it with an opportunity and forced it to copy itself...

No, no, that was a thing of the previous memory line. In this timeline, she escaped the fate of being copied.

The "vulture" resident lost his target and might still be wandering on Colorado Boulevard.

Forget it, it's all over - Jin Xueli suppressed the uncomfortable imagination in her mind and brought her attention back to the present.

Under the dark night, a staircase silently extended into the underground and disappeared into the darkness.

A sign with the letter "D" printed on it stood at the top of the stairs, indicating that this was the entrance to a subway station on Line D. Standing on the sidewalk and looking down, the thick black mass seemed like solidified ink, and your gaze would be broken on its surface.

Jin Xueli remembered that when she first saw the stairs leading to the subway station, she hesitated for a long time and didn't dare to go down.

She took out her cell phone, turned on the flashlight, and shone it on the side wall of the stairs.

On the side wall where the name of the station should have been written, there was now only a line of crooked black characters - "There is a surprise when you go down."

Yes, it is still this sentence.

That's all.

November is an odd month; during odd months, the words on the subway station entrance will be "There will be surprises when you go down", and during even months, the words on the subway station entrance will change to "There will be hugs when you go down".

When there is a "surprise", you can go down to the subway station. It is not only safe, but you can also get a pseudo image - the nest will sometimes be honest when you least expect it - but when there is a "hug", you must never go down.

Jin Xueli still doesn't know what will happen when she goes down after the "hug", but she hopes she will never know.

Holding a flashlight, she walked down the stairs step by step, passed through the broken ticket gate, and came to a platform with only a few white lights on.

Most of the platform was dim, with a wall on one side and another on the other.

Jin Xueli had only been to this one subway station in the nest; therefore, she didn't know if all subway stations in the nest were like this - no tracks, no subways, and both sides of the platform were blocked by walls.

In the middle of the platform, several people turned their heads towards her.

"Hunter," said one of the men in the cap, and looked away again, as if he were not interested.

"Yes," Jin Xueli responded, lowering the flashlight a little to avoid shining it on other people's faces. "Why are there so many people here today?"

There were four people in the middle of the platform, all hunters; judging from their positions and distances from each other, they seemed to be working in pairs.

Jin Xueli has been here several times and knows that this place is not unknown among hunters. Many people come here from time to time to obtain pseudo-images.

Because so many people came, an order had been formed. The hunters usually took the things and left in the order of first arrival, without interfering with each other - but this was the first time she encountered a group of four people.

"Look," a gentle-looking woman said, her chin tilted forward. "You came at the perfect time, just in time for the vending machine to be restocked."

　I get stuck every time I hit a transition chapter. You won’t believe how long this one took me…

　　To be a bit shameless, I don't think Artifact Report is the kind of article that can be read at a glance, because I have buried a lot of information in every chapter...so I write it very, very slowly.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)