Artifact Report

Chapter 440 Mai Minghe - Of course she wanted to save people

According to Brianna, if Mak Ming-ho found a nightclub called "Temptation," he would naturally find the host and Chester.

"I don't know if what you said was naive or hypocritical... but it doesn't matter. I won't count on you. I won't count on anyone."

Brianna sneered, "I'd like to see how likely you are to come back after you go. Even if you don't die at the host's hands, you'll give up when you realize your plan is a joke. You definitely will."

Mai Minghe did not rush to refute her.

“How do you know so much about where the host went?” she asked. “Could it be your ability as a resident—as a semi-resident? Residents are amazing… Oh, or did you use an illusion?”

Brianna looked at her with an expression as if she were mentally challenged.

“Because he set the destination on the car’s GPS at the beginning,” she said dryly. “I was still in the car at that time, and I saw it with my own eyes.”

As she spoke, she pointed to the two deep holes on her face.

“Oh,” Mak Ming-ho responded, then stopped. After a moment, she asked, “What’s GPS again?”

It seems that after being reborn, I don't know where I heard it, but it sounds familiar; but if you ask me what it is, Mak Ming Ho can't remember - eh, what is WI-FI again?

“You’re playing me,” Brianna’s face slowly drooped.

“I’m not kidding you,” Mak Ming-ho said, pointing to the screen in the car. “Jin Xue-li was driving just now, and I don’t know how to use this screen. Is this the GPS? Can you help me set it up?”

“I understand,” Brianna said almost calmly. “You’re neither naive nor hypocritical, you’re just plain stupid.”

Forget it, explaining my age now and trying to convince her would take too much effort; I can talk about it next time we meet.

Brianna refused to help her set up the GPS.

“Just keep walking east along the Hysen River, don’t cross the bridge, and don’t let it out of your sight, and you won’t go wrong. When you see a nightclub called ‘Temptation,’ you’re there.” Brianna said impatiently, “If you say another word, I’ll flatten you and the car right here.”

Just follow the river?
Even Maming River, who wasn't a suspicious person, couldn't help but start to have doubts. Could it be that Brianna wanted him to walk along the riverbank because of tonight's downpour, so that she could get swept away by the flood?
Of course, she didn't ask that question aloud. While Brianna's human side still had the upper hand, Maming quickly got into the car and left.

After I got on the road, the heavy rain seemed to be starting to subside.

The reason why Mak Ming River can't drive fast is mainly because she has to keep an eye on the dark, reflective surface of the river while driving, and feel her way in the right direction; sometimes she makes a mistake and goes the wrong way, and then she has to turn back.

After driving for twenty minutes, Mak Ming-ho's back started to hurt.

Because the river was on her right, she had to lean over and crane her neck to look out from the passenger seat; thankfully there were no cars on the road, otherwise she would have been in a car accident.

With a muffled thud, the car crashed hard into something; the shock threw Mai Minghe onto the car's screen, and he slammed his head against it with a thud.

As she slammed on the brakes, she quickly sat up straight—the road ahead was empty.

A figure sped past the driver's side window.

Mai Minghe was startled and quickly turned around to look, but the figure had already run away and disappeared from sight.

Her heart was pounding. After a moment's hesitation, she grabbed the machine gun, opened the door, and got out of the car.

On the dark, rain-soaked road, a figure was running wildly, getting further and further away; the swinging of his limbs was so extreme that every swing of his arm and every step he took made one fear that his limbs would be thrown off his joints.

"Hey!" Mai Minghe called out from afar.

Aside from a simple "Hey," she really didn't know what else to say. Should she yell "Were you hit by a car?" at someone walking briskly?
The figure ran extremely fast, and disappeared around a corner in no time.

Mai Minghe stood there stunned for several seconds, then went back to the front of the car to take a look—it was indeed hit something, the front bumper was bent.

If the person she hit with her car was the same figure from earlier, then it's unlikely that he was a person.

If he's a resident, and clearly not interested in the Mak Ming River... then, can I leave?
For the first time in 86 years, I realized that you could hit someone and have no consequences.

Mai Minghe wiped the rain off his face.

The rain has indeed lessened considerably and is gradually showing signs of stopping. That fierce storm, it departed without a trace of lingering reluctance…

She slowly raised her head.

The nest lay upside down over Blackmore City, looking back at her.

Mai Minghe gasped.

When...? Was this—was this also done by the host?

When the hive invades the human world, can it also fall from the sky?

It loomed heavily over Blackmore City, so close it was terrifying; if someone were to jump from the top of the highest building in the lair, they could probably land in the river in Blackmore City without getting hurt.

Wait, can the residents just jump right in?

"Mai Minghe!"

Mai Minghe froze, almost wondering if he was hallucinating. Yes, the shouts were indeed coming from the nest in the sky, and the voice sounded very familiar… Who was it again?

"Mai Minghe!" The voice rose again, urgent and eager, almost overwhelming. "It's me! Please, get me out of here!" Mai Minghe had been found.

That apartment building, along with the entire block around it, replaced the sky of Blackmore City, as if it were slowly reaching out to the world.

Even though it was reversed, Mai Minghe could still recognize it at a glance—it was the apartment building where she had entered with Hai Luwei and encountered Fu Tai Lan; each floor of the apartment building was a different challenge.

“Cynthia!”

Mai Minghe never expected that when she saw the apartment building again, it would be in such a state; she was surprised, delighted, and doubtful all at once, and shouted loudly, "Cynthia, you—you're still alive? You've held on until now?"

At that time, Cynthia was trapped behind the door of the first-floor apartment, and no matter how many methods the three of them tried, they could not open the door to rescue her.

Until Mai Minghe had to leave, Cynthia was still like a tightrope walker, caught in the narrow gap between the "trap" and the "outside world," unable to move forward or backward.

Although Cynthia was just a hunter she met by chance, the fact that she couldn't rescue her remained a thorn in Mai Minghe's side, like an ancient, petrified fishbone—no, no, she was too ashamed to say that, and even she herself wouldn't believe it.

After all, Maming River has been completely obsessed lately, only thinking about the Nest Domination game and never once thinking about going back to save Cynthia, has he?
When did I become so indifferent?

"I climbed along the crack until I reached the top-floor apartment, so it wasn't easy for me to see outside and see you..."

It turns out she was still trapped in the crevice; no wonder we still couldn't see her.

From the cluster of nest-like buildings in the sky, Cynthia's distant voice continued to drift: "But I can't get out on my own. Please, can you find a way to pull me back to the human world? I want to go home."

The word "good" was about to rise in his throat, but Mak Ming-ho swallowed it back down.

"The day I met you at the apartment was November 19th..."

She wasn't sure if her voice would carry into the nest, because Mai Minghe's voice sounded a little weak. "Today is already December 5th."

She didn't check her watch; if it was past midnight, it would be the 6th. In short, it was well past seven days.

"Isn't it said that humans can only survive in the nest for seven days?"

"What are you talking about? Seven days have passed? I have a watch, today is only the fourth day!" Cynthia sounded so anxious she was almost crying. "Please help me, things keep passing by outside this crack—"

She stopped abruptly halfway through her sentence.

Confused, Mai Minghe tilted his head back, squinted, and walked back and forth on the road a few times before he finally saw it clearly.

A long, huge black shadow was slowly climbing up the apartment building; like vines growing from the sidewalk, it climbed up in circles, gradually wrapping around the apartment building—for a moment, it reminded Mai Minghe of the snakes wrapped around his body.

"Who is it...where is it..."

The dark figure spoke indistinctly, its speech hesitant and unclear, as if it were not yet accustomed to using human language.

"Where is he/she...? How annoying...There are people here, but I can't find him/her..."

Mai Minghe clenched her teeth, afraid to utter a sound; all she could hear was the pounding of her own heart. If that dark figure were to pounce into the world now, it would land right beside her.

She shouldn't stay standing there; she needs to find Chai Si and the host as soon as possible.

But she had to abandon Cynthia's memories, so vivid they seemed like yesterday, gripping Mai Minghe's mind so tightly that she couldn't take a single step.

Mai Minghe stared intently at the dark figure until it disappeared from the building without a trace, then he slowly exhaled.

"Cynthia!" she called out. "I saw that thing. Are you alright?"

Several seconds passed before Cynthia dared to respond.

“It’s been looking for me for the past few days,” she said, her voice much lower this time, barely audible to Mai Minghe. “I have to get out of this crevice before it finds me…”

Mai Minghe's heart skipped a beat.

Cynthia was trapped in the gap between the trap and the outside world, which was almost an independent space. At that time, Fu Tailan couldn't resist Mai Minghe's insistence and went into the apartment room trap with them, only to find that Cynthia could not be seen from inside the trap; after they came out of the trap, they still couldn't see her from the lobby outside.

Could it be that the flow of time within the gap is inconsistent with that of the outside world?
If only four days had passed since Cynthia was born, it is indeed possible that she would still be alive...

“Maiming River,”

Cynthia called out from the air again, "I think I know how to get out. But without you, I can't try this hypothesis... Can you help me?"

Mai Minghe swallowed hard. "...How can I help you?"

“It’s not difficult or dangerous, don’t worry!” Cynthia said hurriedly. “I just… I just can’t remember how I got stuck in this crevice at all. I remember you, and I remember you trying to save me, but that memory is very blurry. I think… as long as I can remember, I can find a way out.”

Mai Minghe subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

For a moment, she thought Cynthia would beg her to enter the lair—or find a way to connect the lair apartment building to the human world.

"How I got trapped...did I tell you? Can you help me remember?"

(End of this chapter)