Artifact Report

Chapter 57 What Fu Tailan Wei Xilai Knows
Carter Morgan was in his late forties, with a head of thinning brown curls, still neatly combed and curling against his pink scalp.

Just as Fu Tailan had expected, his every move and gesture revealed a calmness that had turned privilege into a habit - and he himself was well aware that his status was different.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this self-awareness that Carter's friendliness and enthusiasm seem a bit superficial and slippery; as if this kind of closeness, when practiced by him, is a little bit inappropriate and too familiar.

"I have long heard of your name,"

When he first saw Fu Tailan, he wasn't stunned like most people would be. As he stood up, Carter's face was filled with just the right amount of admiration. "I've long wanted to meet the best hunter in Blackmore City. Now that I've gotten my wish, it's well worth the trip."

Fu Tailan looked at his outstretched hand, sat down lazily on the sofa, and then raised her hand in the air.

"I'll take that compliment seriously. The last time I looked in the mirror, I wasn't Superman."

Carter Morgan didn't take it seriously. He bent down to shake his hand and laughed, "To an ordinary person like me who has no connection with the world, you're almost as good as Superman."

Fu Tailan glanced at him.

Carter is the second generation of the Morgan family. Unlike the previous generation of founders, he has no access.

But he also didn't want a channel; he was more content to be a director and major shareholder of the Hunter family faction in the human world - Fu Tailan knew very well that although he was very polite in words, it didn't make much difference to Carter Morgan whether it was hunters, financial analysts, or horse and dog racing that made money for him.

Channels are valued simply because they can bring benefits, just like everything else in the world.

If one is born into the rentier class, who would be willing to open the passage, enter the nest, and risk their life in the darkness and blood?
"Fu Han has shown me your contract."

Fu Tailan curled up his legs on the sofa and said slowly, "I told him that under normal circumstances, no hunter in the world is worth the price you offer. I'm curious, what exactly do you plan to do with me after signing me?"

"I just like talking to people who get straight to the point."

Carter Morgan poured him a glass of whiskey. "Your father told me you're interested in signing, but you just need to clarify some questions, right?"

At this point, it seems meaningless to dwell on whether to sign the contract.

Even if he rejected the Morgan family, Fu Han would find him the next Ross family, the Martin family, the Pig, Cow, Sheep, Dog family... Forget it, it's only ten years.

Ten years from now, when I’m twenty-seven, I won’t have to go into the nest anymore.

Fu Tailan looked at the clear amber wine in the glass and felt like laughing.

He was seventeen years old, not yet of legal drinking age, but no one would bat an eye at that, let alone have an opinion on what he smoked or did - simply because compared to the average seventeen-year-old, he was worth money.

Money is the unit of measurement for everything.

Even the power that can bring freedom, when those who possess it, will definitely use that power to exchange for money - let alone other things in the world?

Fu Tailan drank the wine in one gulp before saying, "Yes."

Carter Morgan's face brightened slightly.

"Okay, then we're on the same front." He took a sip of wine, smacked his lips slowly, and then said, "...What I'm going to say next is only known to you, me, and Vesile himself."

Fu Tailan tilted her head, not expecting to hear that name. "Weisile? The one on the wealth list? What's your connection to him?"

Carter turned around and looked at the unobstructed night view of Blackmore City from the floor-to-ceiling windows of the high-rise building, and the sea in the distance that was still floating with a faint blood-red color. After thinking for a while, he finally spoke.

“Wesile has important information in his hands.

"He kept all the hunters in Blackmore City in the dark. Including me, I was only aware of the existence of this information, but I didn't know its specific content."

"Then how do you know he has this information?"

"He has a purpose, so he will do it."

Carter Morgan smiled, revealing a tight row of teeth. "It's precisely because of his recent actions, which have become more and more frequent, that I became curious. So I asked around a bit... and came up with this theory."

Fu Tailan pondered these words in his heart and asked, "What did you find out?"

"You know that Vesile himself has no access?" Carter asked suddenly.

Seeing Fu Tailan nod, he continued, "He and I are of the same kind. I know very well that we are not cut out to be hunters. But I heard that he plans to use an agent to quietly make an anonymous request to the hunting community in the near future - he wants a channel.

"When I first heard about it, I was surprised. Isn't accessibility something innate? If someone has it, they have it; if they don't, they don't. Furthermore, he doesn't want others to know that it's him who wants the accessibility... I really don't know how to understand it."

Carter shook his head and said, "But since Vesile has come up with this idea, perhaps it means that gaining access later in life is not completely impossible."

"What does he want the passage for?" asked Fu Tailan.

In fact, what does it have to do with him whether the richest man needs access or not?
But when facing his future boss, he always has to ask a question or two to show that he is listening.

Carter smiled and said, "I don't know. This is already very strange. Isn't it a way to die for Vesile to enter the nest? But besides this, there are even stranger things."

Before responding, Fu Tailan took out a small plastic bag from his pocket.

He poured the curled green leaves wrapped in broken crystals from the bag onto the cigarette paper bit by bit and said, "Don't mind. I enjoy the process of rolling it."

Carter nodded and smiled.

"When I was your age, I could only smoke it secretly. Back then, unlike today, there were no tobacco shops everywhere. It was very difficult to buy it back then. I had to ask friends to find someone, and then I would spend a lot of money to buy it, only to find that it was filled with shredded newspaper."

Fu Tailan laughed for the first time today, feeling that Carter actually had some human qualities as an ordinary person.

He lit the paper, took a puff, and asked, "...What's even weirder?"

Carter adjusted his sitting position and said, "He just gave the Morgan family a commission. Once you take office, it will be your job. It doesn't hurt to tell you in advance..."

"Wesile has tasked us with entering the lair on the 13th of every month and searching for an artifact related to 'time' within St. Louis Hospital, Broom Street, and the area corresponding to the Law School of Blackmore University."

Fu Tailan slowly raised his head and stared at Carter, as if only now had his vision finally come into focus.

"...Impossible." He said softly, pausing. "How would he know?"

"Correct."

Carter finally piqued his interest and seemed very happy: "You are a hunter, you know best. After entering the nest, where you will be and what kind of illusions you will encounter are all uncontrollable and unpredictable by human power." But Vesile acted as if he knew when and what would be produced in the nest, and he only needed the hunter to follow the map and get it back for him.

"He's not a hunter. He tried to set up his own hunting team before, but the results were not ideal and ended in failure.

"So you hit the nail on the head. How did he know this information?"

Carter hadn't finished speaking yet.

"Also, the commission he gave to the Morgan family wasn't the only one. As far as I know, he also gave another commission to someone else before...but I don't know what exactly they wanted. What exactly did he want these two things for?"

Fu Tailan thought silently for a while.

The information Carter provided was still very vague, and only gave people a vague glimpse of a general outline - but just the outline was enough to make people agree that Vesile did know something that no one else knew.

"Based on common sense, I can assume that Weisilai has... let's call it 'information'. After he grasped the 'information', he had a purpose.

"To achieve this, he needs a passage and at least two artifacts. He somehow knows when and where these two artifacts will emerge from their lair... right?
"So, the key point is what exactly the channel and the false image can bring him. No one in the world knows this except him."

"Talking to you is so worry-free." Carter said, pouring another glass of wine for the two of them.

"Then what do you want me to do?"

"To satisfy Mr. Wei's wish, of course," Carter laughed heartily.

Then, he leaned forward, looked into Fu Tailan's eyes, and said slowly: "...and then take the target he really wants into his hands."

This task cannot be accomplished unless it is handed over to the most capable hunter.

This was what Carter said to him while patting him on the shoulder; but Fu Tailan actually didn't know whether he was a capable hunter, let alone the "best".

It's just that sometimes things in the world seem to have been written and arranged by an unpredictable mysterious force, and the role script given to him is that of a "star hunter".

For example, now, less than two months after Fu Tailan took over the Morgan family's hunting affairs, he did not expect that the next new clue about Weisilai would be provided to him by a financial staff member with no connections - he didn't even look for it deliberately.

"Yes, that's what just happened. I came here with my friends to drink..."

The finance manager was a young woman named Amber, and when she first met Fu Tailan, she was taken aback. Even after she'd started talking, she still seemed in disbelief, then added, "Are you... are you really our new hunter supervisor?"

"How could I lie to you? I never lie to girls."

Fu Tailan sat on the street outside the bar and smiled up at her. "Do you like drinking?"

"Not really," Amber said, her face still slightly flushed from the alcohol. "It was to celebrate... My friend doesn't like drinking even more than I do, so he stepped out for some fresh air. In those few minutes, the last SUV in the convoy suddenly lost control. It was as if someone had pushed it forward, and it slammed straight into the rear door, nearly injuring my friend. Look, the door is bent now and won't close."

Fu Tailan looked at the back door of the bar.

When he arrived at the scene, the car had just been towed away; but judging from the traces, the way it lost control was indeed very unnatural.

"Who is your friend?"

"Oh, she's not one of our hunters. She usually goes into the lair by herself to do some small jobs. Her name is Jin Xueli. She's still in the bar right now, probably chatting with someone. She met a boy who seems to like her."

Women, regardless of their age, always seemed to be unable to help but say a few more words to Fu Tailan when facing him - although she didn't know if it would be useful, Fu Tailan still remembered the name "Jin Xueli".

"The person who got out of the car was a bodyguard."

Amber recounted the convoy's initial reaction and the bodyguard's situation, adding, "He looked familiar to me. After looking at him for a while, I suddenly remembered that he had been to our company once before—as Mr. Vesile's personal bodyguard."

When Wesile gave the Morgan family a commission, he came in person - at that time, Fu Tailan had not yet taken over the position of hunter director, but he was also aware of it.

Amber tucked her short hair behind her ear, revealing a pointy, somewhat elf-like ear.

"I knew him, but he didn't know me. He didn't notice I was standing there watching the fun. Later, a colleague came to meet him, and I heard his colleague say, 'The boss is going to pick something up.' At that time, I thought, no wonder the convoy was so heavily guarded. Could it be that Wei Xilai was going to pick up a fake image? If so, then maybe I should tell Long Zhen..."

Fu Tailan looked at the time on the phone screen.

According to Amber, the car accident happened twenty minutes ago - fortunately, she has a good relationship with Long Zhen; and Long Zhen happened to be very sensitive, so she notified her in time.

There’s still time…

The team, which had been frightened not long ago, had to confirm whether the situation had really changed; they should not be able to complete the original plan in such a short time.

"Have you told your friends about this?"

Amber shook her head.

Fu Tailan stood up gently and raised her chin towards Long Zhen who was waiting on the side; she immediately understood, turned around and went to drive.

"Sister Amber," he smiled lazily at her and said softly, "Can you do me a favor?"

The tips of Amber's ears turned red. "What's the matter?"

"Just go home tonight and give your friend a chance to talk to that boy more."

Fu Tailan said this and tilted his head to think about it.

"This matter is a bit sensitive for the family. If your friend asks, just tell her that I told you not to tell her... and that I came to you after work on Monday to ask about the situation, and then I told you not to tell anyone else. Just say that, okay?"

Amber glanced at the bar.

"Since you're the head hunter of our clan, then this is what our clan means... I understand." She nodded and added, "Sheryl probably doesn't know yet that this convoy is related to Vesile."

　Oh, I often have a lot of nonsense to share when I’m writing, but when it comes time to post, I forget it…

　　Wait! I remembered a nonsense.

　　During the writing process, I really tried my best to maximize the "realism." It's not that I'm being pedantic, but I feel that if a world is too fantastical, money and paper money will lose their realness...

　　But money is the main driving force in the world of artifact reporting, in other words, I have to try my best to make everyone feel the magic of money (as if I need to remind you of this)
　　Then the question comes
　　How can a poor man write about the life of luxury and decadence?
　　I hope we can raise funds to allow the author to experience life, so that he doesn't end up writing a plot where the president points at the clothes on the wall and says, "Take these two rows off."

　　
　
(End of this chapter)