Artifact Report

Chapter 430 Chai Si · Old Jiang
"No need."

When those words were uttered, Damian had only just raised one hand into the air; the act of "calling" had barely begun when it was frozen in place.

He froze for a second, then slowly turned his head and lowered his hand.

"What?" Damian said, almost bewildered. His expression was almost like that of a child who had just been told that his trip to the amusement park had been canceled.

Kaironan looked at him and repeated, "No need."

The night fell silent for a moment; the nest listened intently from above.

“If you’re trying to show me what it will be like after I gain ultimate power, then don’t bother,” Kaironan chuckled. “Your father isn’t a fool.”

“Wh…what do you mean?” Damian asked. “Don’t you want to see?”

Why would I want to watch it?

Kaironan shook his head and said, "'Supreme rule over the world' has already said everything that can be said. Anyone who isn't a fool who likes to indulge in fantasy can use their brain to think about what it means. Since I know what it means, why should I read the script you prepared for me? If I want to watch a movie, there are plenty of more professional works than yours."

Damian's face flushed red instantly—whether it was anger or embarrassment, Chais couldn't tell, or perhaps both.

"That's completely different—what do you know?"

For the first time, Damian revealed a hint of his true emotions, though it was unclear whether they belonged to "Damian" or to the residents. "You think I'm going to show you a movie? You foolish old man, don't try to fool me with your preconceived notions!"

Just as he was about to walk toward Karonan, Chais immediately stepped forward, shielding Uncle Karonan behind him, and stared at Damian, saying, "Watch your step."

Damian seemed not to hear him at all, still furious: "You have no idea what you're missing! The future I'm describing is something that movies can't compare to! You were going to experience a sense of power that permeates every cell of your body, and feel the absolute joy that comes with absolute control! After experiencing power firsthand, it's like someone walking out of a dungeon and seeing the world for the first time—you'll realize that you've been playing house for the past fifty or sixty years!"

Was Uncle Kai doing this on purpose?
Faced with Damian's somewhat unrealistic human face as he raged, Chai Si suppressed the urge to punch him, remaining firmly on his feet, but a question arose in his mind.

Seventeen years ago, when Damian had just decided to make movies, Uncle Ke was extremely unhappy.

He suppressed his displeasure and, at the insistence of Aunt Hay and Damian, watched two of Damian's "movies"; when his son made a third one and wanted him to watch it, Caironan said the exact same thing.

“I’m not watching,” Keronan said. “If I want to watch movies, there are plenty of more professional productions than yours. If I want to torture myself, I can go to the Nest. You’re willing to spend your time on such boring stuff, but I’m not.”

Even Damian was unable to suppress his melancholy that afternoon, locking himself in his room and refusing to come out no matter who called him.

Damian, a resident today, clearly still remembers.

Even if he doesn't remember the specific conversations from that afternoon, he does remember the scars from that afternoon.

If Damian weren't a resident, Chase would love to punch him to calm him down—but even if he desperately wanted to drive the resident back to his lair, he couldn't let things escalate in his hands until the right moment came.

After all, Uncle Kai and Aunt Hai were both there.

“I understand everything about you now,” Kaironan said somberly. “I’m very disappointed.”

Chai Si had to grit his teeth to prevent any feeling of gratitude, relief, or guilt from overwhelming him.

“You’ve been growing in the nest for seventeen years. If this is all you’ve achieved, then I think even if you hadn’t died back then, you wouldn’t have accomplished much. You’ve wasted your talent.”

Despite facing such powerful residents, Uncle Kai seemed utterly fearless.

He would never let Uncle Kai get hurt unless he was dead.

“Your goals, your thoughts, are all too shallow, like…” Kaironan looked down at the concrete ground. “As shallow as a puddle on the road after the rain.”

Damian was speechless—although Chais was tense and ready to fight back at any moment, he did not expect Damian to take a few steps back as if he had been hit.

“You want to use me as a pawn,” Kaironan said calmly. “But you haven’t considered that you have no ability to control me at all. If you have manipulated anyone before, I think it was just luck, not because you are so good, but because of the Nest Domination game.”

“Dad, you don’t think I wouldn’t dare lay a hand on you, do you?” Damian suddenly laughed. “I know, the ‘rumor’ is just a hoax coming from you. You think once you’re dead, it won’t be able to be used? You think I’d hesitate to act? An ordinary hunter might be helpless, but I’m different. Just wait until I drag your corpse back to the lair—”

Damian stopped.

Kaironan said nothing. He had simply shaken his head and sighed silently, as if he found the conversation as boring as a movie made by a twelve-year-old.

This left Damian speechless.

"You're thinking too superficially."

"What's shallow?" Damian's voice lowered, but Chais could tell he was only a few times more resentful and angry than before. His voice and breathing were trembling slightly. "Are you saying you're not afraid of death? Do you think I'd believe that?"

Damian paused for a moment.

He suddenly turned his head and glanced at Hepburn not far away.

“…Shut up,” Chess muttered.

Don't say it.

Even Chai Si himself didn't realize that he had taken a step forward—but as he grabbed Damian's chest, Damian's words also came out at the same time.

"You're not afraid of death, but are you afraid I'll kill her?"

Chai Si's anger at that moment was so intense that he couldn't even understand it himself—it was clearly a woman who hated him to the bone, yet his mind went blank, as if his blood vessels had exploded.

He didn't care even if the other party was a resident.

But one sentence from Kaironan made Chess stop in his tracks.

"stop."

Chess's fist remained suspended in mid-air; he stared at Damian in front of him, slightly out of breath, unwilling to lower his hand.

When he finally turned around, he deliberately avoided looking at Aunt Hai. "Uncle Kai..."

“He’s not one of those ordinary humans you can suppress with force,” Kaironan said. “Your strength and violence used to be very useful weapons in the hunter circle of Blackmore City, so I let you develop them. But you’re a smart man, you should be able to see that anger is no longer effective.”

As if Heper weren't present, Caronan continued, "Damian, your mother is the most precious person I have in this world. But if you think you can use her life to blackmail me, that only proves two things."

First, you know too little about me.

"Second, for the past seventeen years, you have been a fool who is completely immersed in revenge fantasies and amuses himself."

Damian became a resident at the age of twelve.

It seems that even if he grows into a seemingly shrewd adult, when provoked, he might revert to a mixture of a twelve-year-old child and a resident—in other words, a madman.

Caronan gently pulled Chais aside, gesturing for him to stand to the side; as Chais reluctantly moved aside, Caronan pulled a gun from his lower back.

Damian's angry roar had barely begun when his gun drew everyone's attention.

Keronan's gun was pointed at the ground, and the safety catch was not engaged; it was less of a threat and more of a way of showing Damian that he carried a gun, nothing more.

"What are you doing?" Damian paused, then sneered, "This won't work on me. Who are you trying to scare with a gun?"

No one present could understand Kaironan's answer as soon as he uttered it.

Chai Si sometimes thought that perhaps he was really too lucky.

(End of this chapter)