Artifact Report

Chapter 62: Fu Tailan Amber Alert?

"Oh, it's gone."

...Fu Tailan had never seen many real old people, but he thought that no matter how old a human face was, it would never look like this.

He didn't even dare to look directly at that old face. He always suspected that his gaze would sink into the wrinkles and be unable to be pulled out, and finally be crushed into pieces.

If you look at it for a few more seconds, even your eyeballs will start to show dense bloodshot corresponding to the wrinkles.

"Yes, I have always been in charge of the key to the gate. But since last week, I can't find it..."

Last week, that was the same time the Bronk brothers returned to Blackmoor City with the keys.

"Alas, as I get older, my memory becomes worse. Can you promise me one thing? If you find the key, bring it to me..."

As the resident spoke, he raised one hand, lifted up the skin on his cheek, and opened it a little, revealing half of his mouth that had been covered by the skin.

Deep vertical cracks, like rays of radiation, pointed to half of the black hole; from the black hole, a voice that seemed to be very far away came: "Take it and put it in my mouth hole. Huh? Why do you ask me for it? I need to replace the lost key. It's not my responsibility if someone else's key is lost. Anyway, I can lock the door. Find it and give it to me. You will definitely not regret it..."

Can the door keys of different places be exchanged with each other?

If Fu Tailan could find a key and try it on the other door, he might get the answer - but this idea didn't work.

Because he couldn't find any keys.

Fu Tailan was mentally prepared for being harassed by residents or falling into the traps in the nest; but what he didn't expect was that since May, every time he entered the nest, he always came back empty-handed and gained nothing.

The hotel front desk clerk didn't lie, keys did seem to be a very common item, found almost everywhere.

But unfortunately, no matter where he looked, the key disappeared for various reasons. There was even a manager who was said to have been sealed in a concrete house along with the key - in short, wherever he looked for the key, he would not find it.

It was as if after the Bronk brothers found a key and rushed back to Blackmore City with it, the Nest suddenly came to its senses and tried to make up for its mistake by burying the remaining keys deep inside.

But...how is this possible?
The nest is just a nickname for this space. It does not have a unified will, nor does it have self-awareness.

Only a group of conscious and intelligent residents could have deliberately caused the key to disappear from the nest.

But, leaving aside the question of whether they have the ability to join forces; why would they do so?
Is their motive for hiding the key the same as Vesile's reason for wanting it?

Fu Tailan has no answer yet.

Entering the nest so frequently has made his human world increasingly thin and pale, as if it were a piece of scrap paper that had been softened and diluted, with only the paper fibers left. In September, Long Zhen took the initiative to ask him to rest in Blackmore City for at least two or three weeks and not to enter the nest for the time being.

"It took you about ten seconds to realize who I was."

After closing the office door, Long Zhen whispered, "I've worked in HR for years, and I know this is a manifestation of 'nest dissociation disorder,' meaning your sense of reality is being challenged. Younger people are more susceptible to this because their roots in the world aren't as firmly established as others."

"If you show symptoms like this, according to the family rules, you can't enter the lair anymore, even if you're the supervisor. Besides, summer vacation is long over, shouldn't you at least go to school?"

Fu Tailan thought blankly for a while before he pulled the "school" closer to his eyes from the white mist. After thinking about it again, he finally understood its meaning - it was not the school he had seen in the nest; it was the place in the human world where he had to attend classes and talk with classmates.

Although he has been trying to act like an adult, he still has the heart of a teenager: once he has a goal, it is difficult for him to sit still.

I didn't expect that I would go to the nest more often without paying attention, which would cause my mind to suffer so many cumulative effects.

"So this is called 'Nest Dissociation Disorder'?"

Fu Tailan murmured, "Ever since I first went to the lair, I've felt it from time to time... sometimes it's more serious, sometimes it's not a big deal."

"Yes, didn't Mr. Fu tell you? Or does he not know either? I require our hunters to stay in the lair for a maximum of fourteen days a month. Any time beyond that doesn't count as performance. That's why." Long Zhen glanced at him and said, "You haven't read the memo and email I sent you, have you? They are all experiences gained through blood and tears by the Morgan family."

"…Because it's really boring." Fu Tailan said honestly.

A family like the Morgan family, which has a very complete system of rules and regulations and operates in a manner similar to that of a large company, has the ability to turn the most exciting things in the world into the most tedious work manual.

"That won't do," Long Zhen said seriously. "We need to hold a meeting this afternoon to emphasize this—where are you skating? Hurry up, you have to go to the meeting."

She paused and said, "Besides, you should also start dealing with the time artifacts that Remi's team brought back."

...temporal artifact?
It was clearly an arrangement made by Fu Tailan himself, but he had to think for a few seconds before he realized that this illusion was not that illusion.

When Fu Tailan was making the action plan, he divided Remi's team and Jonah's team into two waves.

One team enters the nest on the first of each month, and the other team enters the nest on the thirteenth of each month, rotating in order every month.

On the first day of each month, the team will search the entire nest for artifacts that can remind people of "time", regardless of the area. It does not necessarily need to have a real time function, and it does not even need to be very precious. As long as it can remind people of time, they will bring it back.

The team on the 13th of each month would follow Vesile's instructions and search for artifacts related to "time" in several fixed areas given by him.

Remi was extremely lucky this time; she led the team into the nest on September 1st, and returned on September 3rd. Not only did she return, she also brought back an artifact that no one could say had nothing to do with "time" - an alarm clock.

Fu Tailan smiled softly.

"That alarm clock? No rush," he said lazily, slumping in his office chair. "Wait another two weeks, and I'll deliver it to Vesile myself."

Long Zhen glanced at him and nodded.

She didn't look confused or surprised; this meant that she had realized that what the team found on the first of each month was what Fu Tailan really intended to give to Weisilai - it was just a substitute.

What Weisilai really wants is the earnings of the team on the 13th of every month. Not to mention that it has not been found yet, even if it is found, Fu Tailan will have to take a good look at it first. He has no intention of handing it over for the time being.

"Wesile will definitely realize that an alarm clock is not what he wants." Long Zhen thought for a moment and said, "When the time comes..."

That’s right, what Fu Tailan wanted was Weisilai’s reaction after seeing the alarm clock.

This is also the reason why he went to deliver the alarm clock in person: Vesile obviously knew much more than he revealed; after seeing a fake that was not the same as the real thing, would he provide some new information so that the Morgan family could find what he really wanted as soon as possible?
Even if he says nothing, it is still a message.

Fu Tailan wants to see it with her own eyes.

This time, the place where the alarm clock pseudo-image was handed over was no longer Vesile's cruise ship; the place Vesile chose tonight was also the place where he had done business with the Morgan family before - on the top floor of the Vesile headquarters building, an entire floor was Vesile's private office and reception area.

"...Is this what you just brought back from the nest?" The person who took the alarm clock was not Wesley, but his secretary, a man named Green.

Green was a tall, thin man with a fair complexion. He looked no more than thirty years old. Occasionally, there was a hint of femininity in his gestures - for example, when he sat on the sofa, leaned forward, and reached for the alarm clock on the table, his knees were tightly closed.

Perhaps because Vesile came from a conservative area in the South, there seemed to be a rumor circulating in the past that he extremely hated sexual minorities - but now looking at his secretary Green, this rumor was probably just a rumor.

"Did you get it from our designated area?" Green looked at the alarm clock for a while and asked.

"Of course," Fu Tailan said sincerely, "We found it in a house on Broom Street after entering the lair on September 13th. The traps in the house were very dangerous, and our people almost didn't get out. Where's Mr. Wei? Do you want him to come and take a look for himself?"

Green looked at the alarm clock and said without looking up, "No need. Mr. Wei has other things on hand and can't spare time. If the item is correct, I will send the alarm clock to his office."

Fu Tailan said "Oh" and looked at the two bodyguards standing behind Green's sofa.

...In other words, Green knows how to initially verify the artifact?

Vesile is on this floor, but he refuses to come out?
This is a bit strange.

What's even more strange is that although Weisilai is clearly in his own territory, there are still layers of bodyguards and guards deployed all the way from downstairs to upstairs, as if Weisilai is afraid of something - he can't be afraid of Fu Tailan, right?
"It seems like I haven't seen Mr. Wei appear in public recently," Fu Tailan asked tentatively.

"Have you been following Mr. Wei's whereabouts?" Green raised his eyelids and asked coldly.

"I just wanted to get acquainted with Mr. Wei," Fu Tailan smiled at him, seemingly unaware of the sting in the question. "I was disappointed that I didn't get to see him today."

Green turned a deaf ear and just pressed the button on the back of the alarm clock; he seemed to be waiting for something, and after waiting for a few seconds, nothing came, so he gently tried to open the alarm clock again - of course, it didn't open.

"...No." Green put down the alarm clock and said, "This is not what we want."

"What's wrong?"

"That's not what we want," Green repeated, staring at Fu Tailan. "Is that how the Morgan family does things? The commission has been handed over to you for half a year, and the instructions were very detailed. I think you should know better than me whether it's what we want."

"I don't know. You just said it was related to 'time.'" Fu Tailan spread his hands and said, "Don't tell me the alarm clock has nothing to do with time?"

"That's relevant," Green admitted, "but not this."

"How did you know that?" Fu Tailan was secretly getting anxious. "Do you have more detailed information? If you tell me, it will be easier for us to look for it."

He hoped to extract more information from Green, but Green was like a parrot, repeating the same thing over and over again, refusing to utter a single meaningful word: "That's not what we want. Please keep looking."

Fu Tailan felt that he had never met such a stubborn person - since Green was able to preliminarily verify the pseudo-image, it proved that he must know something; however, his vocabulary seemed to have been reduced to only one sentence, and no matter how Fu Tailan hinted at it, he only answered with the same sentence over and over again.

In the end, the only information he obtained was a few actions taken by Green when he verified the alarm clock just now.

...Weisile must also be on guard against his family trying to get information from him, right?
Forget it, even though it’s little, a few actions are still intelligence.

At least from Green's actions, Fu Tailan could infer two points: First, the "time" artifact seemed to be able to change its form, so when Green first saw the alarm clock, he was not sure whether it was what he wanted.

Second, Secretary Green may have been a hunter.

"Okay," Fu Tailan said, not needing to hide her disappointment, letting her emotions clearly show on her face. "Since you don't plan to buy this alarm clock, I'll take it back."

At the same time he reached for the alarm clock, Green pushed the alarm clock towards him.

The two of them accidentally touched their fingers lightly on the alarm clock illusion.

Green withdrew his hand; before Fu Tailan picked up the alarm clock, he heard a trembling, sharp and familiar buzzing sound suddenly rang out in his trouser pocket.

"Oh, it's an Amber Alert," he reacted after a moment of shock and reached for the phone in his pocket.

Once a child kidnapping occurs, the police system will send an emergency alert to the public through various media, including mobile phones. Generally speaking, an Amber Alert will list the information of the missing child and the suspect, allowing the public to become the first line of defense in the search for missing children.

……and many more.

No, something is not right.

When Fu Tailan's fingertips touched the phone, he realized something was strange.

It was clearly an emergency alert for the general public, but at this moment, the only cell phone in the room that made a sharp buzzing sound was the one he had with him.

what happened?

The bodyguard in the room, Long Zhen beside him, and secretary Green... they must have cell phones with them, but why didn't their phones ring?

He rested in Blackmore City for two or three weeks, and his mental state has recovered a lot. It is impossible that "nest dissociation disorder" caused him to hear it wrong.

"...Mr. Fu, oh no, it's too blue."

Fu Tailan had just held the phone and looked up to find that his secretary Green had stood up from the sofa at some point and took a step towards him.

His eyes were fixed on Fu Tailan without blinking.

"I need to borrow your phone now."

As if a muscle had been pulled tight, the bodyguards all took a few steps towards Fu Tailan.

Long Zhen seemed to have sensed the sudden change in atmosphere. She stood up silently and stood beside Fu Tailan, her whole body tense.

Green's tone was still very soft.

"Take out your phone and hand it to me, okay? I hope you won't even look at the screen, let alone take screenshots. I'm just going to take a look. After I've looked at it, I'll return it to you right away... Shouldn't that be a problem?"

　Yesterday's thank you chapter, because the editor was on holiday during the Dragon Boat Festival, I can only wait until she returns to work and then reset it to free for me...

　　When I went to her for emergency help yesterday, the editor was very experienced and immediately told me to change the title. What does this mean? I'm definitely not the first author on Qidian to do this...

　　In addition, I have set this chapter as a paid chapter with more than 3,000 words. After replacing the main text, the fee on Qidian will not change, so it doesn’t matter, you won’t spend more money whether you come early or late!
　　Although I claim to be making money through false pretenses, charging for thank you stamps is indeed a bit too much...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)