Artifact Report

Chapter 433 Fu Tai Lan: The Beginning of Weaving Lies
"...My name is Xiao Lü,"

A faint, low sound emanated from the aquarium in Caterto's hand, as if it might disappear into the darkness at any moment.

Fu Tailan couldn't see clearly whether the tiny resident clinging to the tank wall was actually green.

"Now I will introduce the abilities and how to use them..."

Fu Tailan hid behind the car, holding her breath and straining her ears, wishing she could grab her heart and stop it from beating.

"My ability is... as long as... I can..."

Very well, I didn't hear a single word of the crucial part.

Little Green's voice was so low that even Carter pressed his ear against the ornamental tank; as he listened, he kept scanning the streets in the darkness.

After a while, he suddenly laughed loudly. "That's amazing! Even 1/30 is amazing enough. I definitely didn't make the wrong choice."

Aren't most residents loud? Why is Little Green so shy?
“My name is Xiao Huang,” another resident said. “I’m amazing, I can…”

What can you do? Can you speak louder?
"My name is Xiaobai, and I'm very different." The third resident seemed to think he was quite cute, his voice high-pitched. "Just call my name, and then you can use my abilities..."

Its long opening remarks were all clear, but when it came to the key content, the voice became lower and lower with each word until it could no longer be heard.

Fu Tailan couldn't even muster a curse. He absolutely refused to believe that the three residents in the vat hadn't done it on purpose.

After listening for a long time, the only information he gleaned was that Carter had to call out the name of the resident before using their ability. However, even if he heard the name, without knowing the ability's details, wouldn't it be pointless?

Fu Tailan leaned out of the car window and glanced at the sidewalk.

Carter was still standing at the entrance of the apartment building, a few dozen meters away from him, holding the ornamental tank to his ear, seemingly still listening to what the residents were saying.

Fu Tailan bent down again, momentarily at a loss—in some ways, Carter Morgan was more troublesome than the residents at this moment.

He was covered in wounds and had no physical strength to his advantage. Neither his weapons nor his illusions were of any use... Just like when he first entered the lair at the age of twelve, all Fu Tai Lan could rely on tonight was his mind and lies.

However, intelligence and lies seem to be of no use.

Carter knew Fu Tailan very well and was wary of him, his only goal being to kill him as soon as possible; even Fu Tailan didn't know where to begin in deceiving him.

"Hi,"

Carter's voice greeted him from above.

……what?
In that instant, Fu Tailan was so shocked and doubtful that he almost thought he was hallucinating—he didn't even have time to look up before he hastily lunged outwards; a gunshot suddenly shattered the silence of the rainy night in his ears, the bullet grazing his back and embedding itself in the road, splashing up countless puddles and pebbles.

Fu Tailan rolled over and jumped up from the road, his blood gushing out; in the lingering shock, it took him a moment to truly confirm that he had not been shot.

Carter was standing on the roof of the car, holding a landscape tank in one hand and a gun in the other, aiming at Fu Tai Lan.

A dark, gaping gun muzzle, and a set of snow-white teeth.

When did he—

“The rats are fast,” Carter said, pulling the trigger again.

Even though Fu Tailan reacted quickly and dodged early enough, he still couldn't avoid the bullet—it grazed his left arm, tore through his clothes and flesh, and carved a bloody groove, splattering blood in the darkness.

How many times do I need to be shot tonight?
Fu Tailan groaned in pain, not daring to stop, and turned around to rush towards the car that was coming towards him.

"Trying to run away? Don't you want your dad anymore?" Carter laughed loudly.

The vulture particles spread out all over his back, forming a thin armor that barely protected the most critical parts of his torso, and that was the limit.

Fu Tailan's head and neck remained exposed to the gun barrel—he could only pray that Carter wasn't a sharpshooter who couldn't hit a moving target's head in the dark.

Or legs.

Fortunately, his luck wasn't completely bad tonight.

Once the target starts running, hitting it becomes twice as difficult; moreover, Fu Tailan was running in a zigzag pattern, so the third bullet didn't even get close and completely missed.

Carter cursed under his breath, jumped off the roof of the car, and fired several more shots at Fu Tailan.

Although his aim was average, one of his shots hit him squarely in the back—if it weren't for the vulture pellet, Fu Tailan's spine would have been shattered.

However, even without being injured, Fu Tailan could not escape the laws of physics. She was pushed by the kinetic energy of the bullet and immediately fell half-tumbled and rolled onto the road.

He managed to roll over, and just as he was about to push himself up, an idea suddenly struck him.

Fu Tailan lay on the ground, watching Carter slowly emerge into her field of vision, gradually taking up part of the night sky in front of her.

...He has found a way to lie.

Lies don't necessarily have to be spoken.

"I never realized before that hunting could be so much fun."

Carter seemed to have already concluded that Fu Tailan was either dead or seriously injured. He stopped a few steps away from him, not in a hurry to fire another shot. "You think you can penetrate my protective decoy? Why don't you try shooting me again? Your decoy can't be affected by the nest's rules, can it?" ...He really thought that Fu Tailan had penetrated his protection with a decoy.

"An illusion that penetrates a protective illusion" is indeed much more common than Chess's socket - something that can shut down the illusion of the opponent's weapon is so rare that even Fu Tailan has never seen it, let alone Carter.

Fu Tailan opened her eyes wide, her mouth half-open, but when she tried to speak, only a wet, gurgling sound came from her throat.

He was certainly not injured—or rather, he did not suffer any new injuries.

However, Fu Tailan had suffered countless serious injuries in his life, and he had also pretended to be seriously injured countless times. He could easily recall at least three times when he turned the tide by pretending to be on the verge of death. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. It was enough to fool Carter, let alone deal with experienced hunters.

Fortunately, he was shot in the back, and Fu Tailan was lying on the ground, so Carter couldn't see the wound; on a rainy night street, it was also difficult to tell whether he was lying in a pool of blood.

"What do you want to say?" Carter was still wary of him and didn't dare to get too close.

"The rules of the hive are... absolute..."

Fu Tailan stared blankly at the night sky, her voice choked with emotion. "The illusion didn't work... Why, why not me?"

Carter laughed heartily.

"Why are there so many whys? Life and the world are inherently unfair. Why don't you ask why you weren't born with a silver spoon in your mouth? Why did you end up with a father like that? There are no answers; it's all fate."

He raised his pistol, seemingly with a hint of regret.

"Fu Tailan, I truly admire your talent. It's just a pity that you are a wild horse, and no one can destroy your temperament... The higher your talent, the greater the threat you pose."

As soon as he finished speaking, he fired two or three shots into Fu Tailan's chest.

Gunshots echoed in the night sky as Carter lowered his gun. While the air was still trembling with heat, Fu Tailan had already drawn his gun, aimed it at Carter's chest, and swiftly returned fire with three shots.

He knew, of course, that Carter wouldn't be hurt, much less die—but when he was shot just now, Fu Tailan realized something.

The rules only protect Carter from harm and threats, but they don't say they protect him from the physical rules.

At close range, the kinetic energy and force of the three bullets struck Carter, causing him to stagger backward, lose his footing, and fall to the ground with a thud, letting out a scream.

Fu Tailan leaped up, seizing the brief moment before he could react, and rushed towards the SUV, diving into the car and lying on the seat—several bullets followed closely behind, striking the car body and scattering sharp metallic sounds in the flashes of fire.

"Are you struggling in your death throes? Look at me, I'm perfectly fine!"

Carter got up cursing; Fu Tailan hurriedly closed the car door, started the car, and the SUV, like a drunkard, swerved half a circle and headed straight for Carter.

Even if someone knows they won't get hurt, probably no one would remain completely still.

Carter, holding the aquarium, sprinted onto the sidewalk. As the SUV drove past, he yelled, "Where do you think you're going? Your dad's still in my hands!"

Fu Tailan stepped on the brakes.

"Oh, you think you can hide for an hour and come back after my protection period is over?"

Carter thought he understood, measured the distance with his eyes, took two steps toward the SUV, and suddenly called out, "Little Yellow."

The next instant, he was standing outside the driver's side window, giving Fu Tailan a sinister smile.

...Is Xiao Huang's ability to teleport to the target enemy?
“You’re wrong,” Fu Tailan said to Carter outside the window, suppressing a torrent of curses. “I don’t need to hurt or threaten you to make you hand over Fu Han. Have you forgotten the seven fake images I collected for you?”

The nest rules also do not protect Carter from being tricked.

Carter was taken aback.

He's not a fool; besides, it had only been less than two hours since he was foolishly scammed last time.

"You—I know, you want to use that dream—"

Fu Tailan didn't even wait for him to raise his pistol again.

The SUV roared to life, narrowly missing the Carter, and sped into the night ahead; the apartment building where Fu Han lived flashed past the window on his right. Fu Tai Lan wasn't far from the place where he escaped from the dream, and the residents were all curious creatures—

However, the next second, the building was frozen back to the view outside the window.

Fu Tailan slammed the accelerator to the floor, the engine hummed in vain, but the car didn't move at all; the stillness lasted only a moment, and the next instant, he fell down with the SUV and hit the ground hard.

...The front left tire of the car flew high into the night sky.

Carter teleported back to the outside of the driver's seat.

"You have no chance," he roared, raising his gun at Fu Tailan. "You'll die here—"

When he suddenly realized that Fu Tai Lan hadn't closed the car window, it was too late.

Fu Tailan reached out the window and punched the aquarium; the spherical glass tank flew out of Carter's hand, fell to the ground, and rolled twice.

(End of this chapter)