Artifact Report

Chapter 434 Fu Tailan: A Plan Completed with Blood

A pampered middle-aged man and a seventeen-year-old boy covered in wounds rushed toward the glass tank that was rolling away into the night—almost at the same time.

Fu Tai Lan couldn't grab the aquarium in time, so just as Carter's fingertips were about to touch it, she kicked it away again.

The difference between an ordinary person and a hunter lies in the fleeting, subtle moments.

Carter wasn't stupid, but he lacked combat experience and simply didn't have time to think.

So he naturally didn't realize that he didn't actually need to be anxious or afraid—the thing he should do at that moment was to shoot Fu Tailan in the head when she lunged at him.

The resident landscape tank is a benefit granted to Carter by the 1998 Nest Humanitarian Act. Even if the government takes it away, he can't use it. Moreover, the way to use it is simply to call out the name of the resident in the tank—so why bother holding it in your hand to call it?
Whether Carter turns around and fires, or stands still and calls out a resident's name, anyone who rushes close to his residence will not fare well.

But just as Fu Tailan had predicted, Carter, in that instant, chose the action most in line with common sense: he chased after the aquarium.

Sigh, we have to put on a show of fighting with Carter for something we don't even need.

Fu Tailan assessed the distance between himself and the apartment building, then raised his hand and fired a shot at Carter's back.

Carter was pushed forward by the bullet, stumbled a few steps, and immediately fell face-first into the mud.

"Oh dear, you're under attack," a resident whispered from inside the glass tank. "Call out quickly—"

Before it could finish speaking, Fu Tailan aimed at the back of Carter's head and unleashed a barrage of bullets.

Carter felt no pain or injury. After being shot once, he instinctively tried to raise his head; but as soon as he did, another bullet came and slammed his head to the ground again—the heavy gunshot echoed in the night, shattering the air in circles and drowning out the rest of the residents' words.

When the gunfire subsided, Fu Tailan had already rushed forward, grabbed the aquarium, and ran away.

“Hey, speaking of which,” said the resident in the yellow clothes in the vat, who was being tossed around but didn’t seem to notice, “this is the first time someone has kowtowed to me so many times.”

"I'd feel bad if I didn't take good care of him," said the resident in the white shirt.

"Fu Tailan,"

Carter scrambled to his feet, his mouth spitting out a torrent of curses and profanities, interspersed with several shots fired at the Fu Tailan forces that missed their mark. "You'll see—"

“Carter,” the resident in green shouted, “Are you stupid? You don’t need to—”

As Fu Tailan ran, she reached into the vat and promptly pushed the little resident against the glass, flattening his face; the rest of his sentence was naturally muffled and inaudible.

"No need to bring the glass jar!"

Just as they finished gagging Xiao Lü, Xiao Bai suddenly screamed, catching Fu Tai Lan off guard. "Just call me by my name!"

"It's just a few kowtows, is it really that big of a deal?" Fu Tailan cursed inwardly—how come he had never encountered such a warm-hearted resident who wanted to repay kindness?
Carter paused, then immediately shouted from behind, "Little Yellow!"

He needs to teleport—

The moment the thought crossed her mind, Fu Tailan bumped headfirst into Carter.

Carter grunted from the impact, but this time he regained his footing; he reached for the aquarium with one hand and called out the next name: "Little—"

Fu Tailan aimed a punch at those round mouths and shoved it straight in.

He knew the consequences of punching it in hard, but he still used all his strength.

Carter's two rows of teeth, which neither felt pain nor fell out, were as hard as steel traps, scraping against Fu Tailan's hand. When Fu Tailan shoved the tooth into Carter's mouth, Fu Tailan tore a strip of skin off the back of his hand.

Fu Tailan was in so much pain that tears welled up in his eyes, but he dared not relax his grip at all. Instead, he intensified his efforts—his teeth dug into his flesh, cutting through his tendons and nerves; he was in so much pain that he could no longer hold onto the ornamental tank, and it crashed to the ground with a thud.

Before Carter could grab him, Fu Tailan took a step back and withdrew his bloodied hand.

"Bah!"

Carter's mouth was full of Fu Tai Lan's blood, and he couldn't say a word. He bent over and spat forcefully onto the ground—which was only natural.

Let alone a pampered rich person, how many people in the world, after being stuffed with human skin and blood, wouldn't their first reaction be to spit it out as soon as possible?

This was a sliver of hope that Fu Tailan had bought with his own blood and flesh.

He knew that being shot, chased, robbed... a series of conflicts and struggles must have occupied most of Carter's attention; not to mention Carter's lack of combat experience, even experienced hunters would find it difficult to pay attention to all aspects when they are highly focused.

Carter seemed unaware that Fu Tailan was heading straight for the apartment building.

He teleported in front of Fu Tailan, so that his back was facing the apartment building door.

As he desperately tried to spit out the blood and flesh from his mouth, Fu Tailan simply stepped past him, pushed open the apartment building door with one hand, and grabbed Carter's collar with her other uninjured hand.

Only by dragging Carter into the apartment building will Fu Tailan have a chance to escape tonight alive.

He mustered all his strength, his body aching as if it were about to break apart—even though Fu Tailan was not as strong as Chai Si, he still managed to drag Carter down and into the apartment building.

This was his plan. Fu Tailan loosened Carter's collar.

“Fu Tai Lan,” Carter scrambled to his feet, revealing a mouthful of blood-red teeth in the dim light of the foyer. “You’re finished. Little White!”

Fu Tai Lan was panting and remained motionless.

Carter blinked his round, bright little eyes. "Little White!"

For the next second or two, the atmosphere became a little awkward.

“…Little White?” Carter said, taking a step back. “Oh, the door’s closed, can’t you hear me?”

Fu Tailan raised her gun and pointed it at him.

“Don’t move,” he smiled at Carter.

Carter snorted and turned to push open the apartment door.

Fu Tailan fired a shot at his foot—in the exact same spot as last time.

The silence was shattered; even after the gunshots had subsided, Carter's screams and cries of pain remained piercing and echoing.

His face was covered in tears, filled with shock, doubt, and anger. He cursed and shouted, then pulled out his own gun and pulled the trigger on Fu Tailan.

The pistol clicked a few times; a moment later, Fu Tailan let out a long sigh of relief.

“Wha…what happened?” Carter stared blankly at the pistol, then at Fu Tailan. “Why…”

Fu Tailan was exhausted, but still pointed the gun at him, and sat down on the steps.

This was only a temporary advantage gained in the first phase, and he had to continue to maintain the deception; the thought of how much effort he would have to put in to see Fu Han made him want to take a deep drag on his cigarette.

"Your humanitarian benefits are gone." Fu Tailan looked at the blood on her hands, dripping onto the ground, and said softly, "Your gun was also part of the benefits, so of course it's also useless now."

"What? By what right? How is this possible? Why?"

Just moments ago he was spouting things like "it's all fate," but now that misfortune has befallen him, Carter desperately needs an answer.

However, the answer is yes, Fu Tai Lan has it.

"What gives you benefits is a 'rule' that exists among the countless scripts and rule traps in the nest."

Fu Tailan patiently explained, "I don't know what happened, but the rules were all broken up and scattered into the human world. One of them took effect on you."

"So what?" Carter's face was glistening with sweat and tears, like a child whose promise had been broken by his parents. "We agreed on an hour!"

“Yes, an hour.” Fu Tailan smiled at him. “That’s assuming you don’t fall into another rule trap.”

Carter looked at him and slowly opened his mouth.

"This apartment building,"

Fu Tailan drew a circle in the air with the muzzle of his gun before it returned to Carter's face. "It's an illusion, isn't it?"

Carter asked blankly, "You...you know?"

"It is a regional artifact. It contains a rule trap in a nest, which will unfold in the human world when it is activated."

So when Carter discovered that the nest was upside down, covering the human world, and that residents were slowly crawling in, he immediately wanted to sneak into the apartment building—an ordinary apartment building, of course, couldn't offer much protection against danger; but a trap with rules set by Carter was naturally the safest place.

"You've never been an illusion hunter, and you've never been inside a lair."

He recalled that Carter was quite proud of this at the time.

“You’ve brought the rules from other places into another rule trap, which will cause a conflict,” Fu Tailan laughed. “Do you think there aren’t any scattered rules in the nest? Let me tell you, even if you’re walking peacefully on the nest’s sidewalk, you might accidentally step on a negative status rule.”

Carter was panting, and didn't speak, his gaze quickly sweeping across the hallway.

"Do you know how we hunters usually get rid of it? It's by walking into another script, or a rule trap."

As Fu Tailan spoke, he reached for his lower back. The socket illusion remained stuck in his belt. "A complete set of rules or a trap naturally has a higher priority than individual, fragmented rules. Therefore, the Humanitarian Act on you has failed."

“I understand,” Carter said through gritted teeth. “Fu Tailan, you are indeed remarkable. However, if you think you have won by removing the benefits from me, you are sorely mistaken.”

He laughed cruelly and raised his voice, "Apartment trap! I'm informing you now, the target is Fu Tai Lan, and I'm broadcasting the rules to him now!"

After several seconds of silence, Fu Tailan smiled at him.

"What?" Fu Tailan said slowly, "So the apartment building is still there even after the rules and traps inside failed?"

(End of this chapter)