Artifact Report

Chapter 458 Mak Ming Ho: Punishment, Analysis, and New Developments
The hand graphic on the card reader flashed in the red light, as if urging Mai Minghe to put his hand on it quickly.

...At this point, there's no way to disobey.

Mai Minghe's mouth was dry and bitter, and she couldn't guess what the punishment would be; following the instructions broadcast, she placed her right hand on the card reader.

With a "beep" sound, two lines of text lit up on the small electronic screen.

"Passenger Mai Minghe's first violation, 1 point deducted, no points added."

"0 points remaining"

Mai Minghe read those two lines at least ten times before he withdrew his hand in a daze.

...Is the punishment just a deduction from my account?
Still in disbelief, she moved her limbs—they were all part of her body, nothing more, nothing less—and when she turned around, she almost cried out in surprise at the sight of Ashley's face on her shoulder.

"Deducted fees?"

Ashley had walked up there at some point, and seemed to have seen everything. "Where did you get the fee deduction?"

Mak Ming-ho had the same question.

She quickly stepped back from Ashley, her face darkening. "Don't you care at all about the people you've hurt?"

Ashley glanced at her, said nothing, but simply pressed his right hand onto the card reader as well.

With a "beep" sound, text lit up on the electronic screen.

"Passenger Ashley Pei, 2 points remaining"

"Me too? Two?" Ashley turned his palm over, then looked at the back of his hand, as if he were looking at it with newfound respect. "Where did they come from?"

...Could it be that the voice in her head, or the owner of the finger in her ear, didn't tell her the whole set of rules?

"I have no idea,"

Suppressing his displeasure, Mai Minghe said, "If you hadn't ruined that young girl's life, maybe she would have come to check the fare. Maybe she could have gotten off the bus smoothly and lived a good life..."

The young woman in the raincoat sat blankly in the "stalker's seat," seemingly oblivious to everything around her; a man's body hung down from above her head, his various body parts stuck to her.

Ashley remained silent, staring at the ground.

For some reason, her eyes seemed to be trying to break free from between her upper and lower eyelids, and they were getting bigger and bigger, bulging more and more.

"You should accept reality sooner rather than later."

Ashley's voice was low, and she didn't look at Mak Ming-ho, as if she were talking to herself. "There are over eight billion people in this world. People are neither precious nor special. What's the big deal about a little loss?"

If there were any other idea in the world that could be even more contrary to, and completely different from, Mak Ming-ho's lifelong beliefs, she simply couldn't think of what it could be.

"You—is this something a police officer should say?"

"Yes."

Ashley suddenly smiled, but it looked more like a muscle spasm from an electric shock.

"It is precisely because I am a police officer that I understand this principle even more. Do you think we treat everyone the same? The entire way human society operates is an implication that you are not entitled to any special human rights or anything special just because you are a person."

Mai Minghe pursed his lips tightly, not wanting to say a word.

“We are protecting ‘assets,’ not human lives. Your treatment depends on your value. Fortunately, everyone has some value… For example, the poor are a kind of property, and women are a kind of social stabilizer. You don’t even treat each other like human beings. If you don’t believe me, try disagreeing with someone else.”

Ashley's eyeball slowly rolled into the corner of his eye, and from the side, the pupil looked a bit like a half-open door crack.

"...If I didn't even dare to knock over a bottle, how could I have fought my way to where I am today? Without killing and fighting, what kind of protection do you think a dark-skinned woman from the slums could have? What could she have? What could she have done?"
"No matter how nicely they talk, humans have long defined themselves. Humans know best that they have nothing of value."

“I just don’t want to be a liability anymore. I want to climb above people, above those things in the nest, to gain the greatest power in the world, and to be free from the suffering of threats. As for who gets hurt in the process, that’s inevitable, and I never thought about avoiding it.”

She was finally satisfied and gave Mai Minghe a slight smile, revealing her teeth.

Mai Minghe then realized that one of her pupils looked strange, as if the edge was a little... a little uneven.

That's strange. Were her eyes like that when I saw her at the police station last time?
“You’re so quiet,” Ashley said. “I thought you were going to put on a show of heartbreak.”

“I haven’t lived these years in vain.”

Without looking at her, Mak Ming-ho said softly, "No one can persuade another adult to change their outlook on life with just a few words."

All we need to do is stop her.

Ashley laughed, looking up. Behind her, the young woman in the raincoat sat blankly, as if lost in a fog.

"So what do you rely on? Action?"

Ashley looked at his hands and said, "I don't know where the fare came from, but you're really lucky. They only deducted a little bit from your fare, and that's it? Hey, broadcast! You didn't give her a special treatment because she's a contestant, did you?" The car radio remained silent and did not respond.

Ashley shrugged, seemingly unsurprised.

"The bus trap certainly won't make an exception for me," Mai Minghe thought to himself.

She had a vague guess, but she certainly wouldn't tell Ashley a word—however, Ashley wasn't stupid; after one more stop and another test of the card reader, she would be able to guess it herself.

The man in pajamas who boarded the bus violated the rules and was directly sat on by the pregnant woman, who then sucked him into her belly and turned him into a fetus.

Mai Minghe violated the rules but was only charged one point of the fare—she didn't even know she had a fare.

The male and pregnant woman were both in the car the whole time, and both violated traffic rules, so why did they face such different punishments?

In other words, what are the differences between Louisa Mak and the man in pajamas, besides irrelevant differences such as age and gender?
Most importantly, what are the differences between the two that relate to "buses"?
Starting with just this one issue makes it difficult to analyze; however, by adding two other pieces of information, the essence of the situation begins to become clear.

Ashley has two points for transportation.

Mai Minghe should have had a separate fare, but it was "not counted" due to a violation.

The man in pajamas didn't pay the fare, but the pregnant woman actually "carried" him away. Does this mean he didn't have any fare at all?
Ignoring the consequences of violating the rules, what gave her and Ashley two points for the fare, while the man in pajamas who just got on the bus didn't get a single point?
After much thought, Mak Ming Ho could only come up with one reason.

She and Ashley rode for two stops.

The man in pajamas broke the rules as soon as he got on the bus, and the bus wasn't even full for one stop.

...In other words, if you ride a full stop, you will be charged an extra point of fare; but if you violate the rules, not only will you be charged an extra point of fare, but you will also not be charged for the stop where you violated the rules.

If her guess is correct, then next time she breaks the rules, won't she suffer the same fate as the man in the pajamas?

Mai Minghe quickly glanced at Ashley—this information was crucial, and she had to stall Ashley and make sure he understood as late as possible.

Fortunately, she knew exactly what to use to distract Ashley.

“Seven,” Mak Ming-ho said loudly.

“What?” Ashley turned to her.

“Seven reserved seats,” Mak Ming-ho said, across the entire aisle of the bus. “There are a total of thirty-five seats on the bus, including seven reserved seats, leaving twenty-eight regular seats. Subtract the regular seats occupied by those two pregnant men, and there are twenty-six left.”

Ashley stared at her expressionlessly.

"Twenty-six seats are more than enough for us. Why insist on putting that girl in the priority seat? You know perfectly well that there are no consequences for sitting in a regular seat, but the consequences of sitting in a priority seat are unpredictable... What's the point of saving that one regular seat?"

"two."

Ashley said calmly, "She's one, and the guy who was following her is the other. They were originally going to take up two regular seats, but now they're combined into one priority seat, which is a pleasant surprise."

Mai Minghe imagined herself grabbing the man who was stalking her by the leg and swinging her hand down at him.

Of course, she didn't actually make a move.

The man who was following him had just rolled his leg under a seat in front of him, which happened to be an ordinary seat.

Mak Ming-ho walked over and sat in the seat; with every bump of the bus, a heel would bump into her.

"You're not stupid, you've noticed it too."

Ashley waved his hand in the car and said, "At each stop, a few priority seats will be added randomly, and the remaining regular seats will become fewer and fewer. There are plenty of seats now, but that may not be the case after a few stops, so every single one is precious. You should thank me for doing the dirty work for you."

Sure enough, both of them realized this.

The "Pregnant Woman Under the Spell of Antonyms" station has six more priority seats; the "Reflection in a Puddle" station has one more priority seat.

The number of reserved seats seems to be random; theoretically, it's not impossible for twenty more to suddenly appear at the next stop.

“You should be thinking about how to get through this safely,” Mak Ming-ho raised his voice, “not busy harming others for your own benefit before the situation gets worse!”

Ashley suddenly fell silent—she once again adopted that attentive look in her eyes.

...Was that a voice in her head?
“I’m not like you,” Ashley said calmly. “I know how to get off. I just need to make sure there are enough regular seats until I get off at my destination.”

what?
Before Mak Ming-ho could speak, the bus radio switched on again, blaring throughout the entire bus.

"Passengers are asked to take their seats as soon as possible and remain friendly, cheerful, and socially enthusiastic for the next ten minutes."

"There is a traffic jam ahead. During the ten minutes that this bus is stopped, unidentified individuals may enter the bus. Please assess the situation carefully and proceed with caution. This bus service will not be responsible for any loss of property, life, or cells."

As soon as he finished speaking, the bus went dark again.

(End of this chapter)