Artifact Report

Chapter 80: Chase's Reason for Arrest

Jin Xueli didn't know that after saying "I am a resident entering the human world", she almost couldn't get off the bus alive today.

Chai Si once grabbed the back of a man in the passenger seat's head, pressed him down, and smashed the glove box in the car with the man's skin, bones, and flesh; amid the countless fragments flying in the car, the man never raised his head again.

Sitting in his passenger seat is like putting your life in his hands.

But he resisted the urge to reach out his hand at that moment - because Jin Xueli spoke in time, starting from the beginning, and recounted her experience of encountering the "vulture" residents in full.

"...It's scary, isn't it? Not only does it copy you, but it also makes you doubt that you are not actually yourself."

Jin Xueli sighed softly, as if concluding. "If I hadn't shot through the resident's head, causing it to return to its original form... it might have actually usurped my existence and returned to the human world in my place."

No matter how thrilling the encounter and confrontation were at that time, it only took about ten to twenty minutes to describe; during this time, Chai Si listened quietly without saying a word.

After Jin Xueli finished speaking, he finally asked, "So, the way to fight this kind of 'vulture' is to cause irreparable physical damage to them?"

Between the time he finished speaking and the time Jin Xueli opened her mouth to answer, there was a very brief moment of hesitation, which flashed by with a pause.

Isn't this the escape plan she found herself?
"Yes...but there is a prerequisite."

Her speech was slightly slower than her normal speaking speed. The difference was extremely subtle, but to Chai Si, it was still clear enough that he couldn't ignore it. When people talk, think, and choose what to say and what not to say, their speech speed will always slow down unconsciously.

If this was an interrogation, this slight difference in speech speed would be the opening that Chai Si decided to use to pry in.

"It would have to believe itself to be human... and suffer irreparable, fatal damage as a human, before it could 'die.' Of course, it wouldn't truly die; it would simply revert to its resident form."

"That sounds very logical." Chai Si glanced at her lightly and whispered, "What I want to know more is, what are you hiding from me?"

Jin Xueli was visibly startled; if it weren't for the seat belt, she would have almost jumped out of her seat.

"Ah? What's the part you kept secret? You—"

She looked straight at Chase, blinked a few times, and suddenly let out a sigh of relief. "Forget it, you already found out... I promise you, the part I kept secret has nothing to do with the vulture you want to know about. It just involves a little privacy of mine."

Chai Si smiled at her.

"If it has no relevance, there's no need to specifically remove it from your story."

"Who said I picked it?"

Chai Si's right index finger tapped gently on the steering wheel. Unlike hunters, he wasn't tracking artifacts, but people.

Whenever someone exudes a subtle, almost tempting aura of prey, he always feels uncontrollably happy.

"So... let's go over your story again?"

Jin Xueli pursed her lips.

"Just drop me off at the next intersection," she said, turning away from Chai Si and pointing to the road ahead. "I've said everything I need to say."

"East Orange Road?" Chai Si leaned forward to look at the roadside sign ahead and confirmed very friendly.

"……yes."

"Isn't it still far from the place you just mentioned?" Chai Si said soothingly, accelerating his car and driving straight through the East Orange Road intersection, leaving it far behind. "I'll take you there."

Jin Xueli fell into silence.

This was not uncommon; when his victims finally realized their situation, they would often remain silent for a while - although this girl was not his target.

What was unusual was that, a few seconds later, Jin Xueli suddenly raised her voice and spoke. She was obviously afraid, and her voice was trembling slightly, but beneath the trembling, there was also a burning anger.

"Why are you so greedy?"

"……what?"

"You want to know about the vultures? I've already told you. If you don't believe me, get a lie detector and analyze the contradictions and loopholes." She glared at Chase and said, "Why do you have to know this part of the story that has nothing to do with you but is very important to me? You're so greedy. Should all the information in the world flow to you?"

Chai Si was stunned for a moment, and before he could think of what to say, Jin Xueli bombarded him with questions like a machine gun: "You told me my bank account password? Do you want to know what type of man I like? How I make a living in the lair can't be my own secret? How annoying."

Even though her face was completely drained of color, she still closed her eyes and slumped down in her seat, pretending to be about to take a nap. She said, "So what if you're so great at being the second-in-command? If you're capable, kill me. If not, call me when you get there."

Chai Si turned his head and looked at the road ahead again; two or three seconds passed, and he still couldn't find anything to say.

It sounds a bit ridiculous, but I always feel that in this situation she created, he should apologize to Jin Xueli - it is really ridiculous.

What she was hiding was obviously related to the vulture; her ability to adapt stories was average, but she was really stubborn.

Of course, Chai Si has dealt with countless targets who were more stubborn than her.

"I'm not an unreasonable person..."

As he started to say this, he just drove through an intersection; in his peripheral vision, a gray car parked on the side of the left fork road, its headlights just turned on, followed him onto the road.

Chase paused and glanced in the rearview mirror. Jin Xueli couldn't help but open her eyes slightly and glanced at him cautiously.

"If what you're hiding isn't particularly relevant to what I want to know, then I can pretend I don't know..." He couldn't help but stretch his right hand, his slender fingers rising into the air before gently landing on the steering wheel one by one. "I could have said that."

Jin Xueli sat up slightly. "Huh?"

"Today isn't a happy day...even I'm a little distracted. I didn't realize you were a trap until now." Chai Si let out a low breath through his teeth. "Is this why you wanted to get in my car? To lure me into a trap?"

"What are you talking about?" Jin Xueli asked blankly.

Her acting skills are pretty good.

"You're quite courageous, and your acting is very natural." Chai Si turned his head and smiled at her, "You dare to use yourself as bait, you deserve praise."

If Jin Xueli's face was pale just now, it was now as white as paper, as if she was soaked in fear and became translucent; if she was really a professional hunter worthy of the name "pseudo-image hunter", people should start to worry about her life now.

"I...I don't understand what you're talking about,"

Jin Xueli subconsciously reached out and fumbled with the car door, as if suddenly realizing that Chai Si wouldn't give her a chance to open the door and jump out. "How did I... become a trap? What kind of trap? Didn't you ask for information about the vulture?"

At that moment, the sharp and circling sound of sirens suddenly rang out in the sky.

The cars on the road seemed like startled fish, fleeing in panic. Within a few breaths, the misty, gray, gloomy rain in the field of vision was stained with flashes of blue and red police lights. The world became a vast aquarium, shimmering with blue light, and Chai Si's car became a fish in the center, surrounded by layers of police cars.

"police?"

What Chai Si didn't expect was that Jin Xueli was even more surprised than him - she was so nervous that it didn't look like acting anymore, her lips were pale and there was a thin layer of sweat on her forehead; even from a distance, he could hear her light, rapid breathing.

...Could it be that she doesn't know about this either?

She glanced around from her seat, completely forgetting the tension between them. She pointed hurriedly at the only gap in the encirclement ahead and asked anxiously, "They're closing in! Can you get out there?"

Chai Si stopped the car, glanced at her, and raised his chin toward the front.

It was as if someone had rehearsed it according to the rhythm. A dark green military heavy truck drove in from the gap in the encirclement and blocked the gap.

When the letters "SWAT" came into view, Jin Xueli leaned forward, covered her face with her hands, and groaned. "Special Weapons and Tactics Team? Why such a big fuss? What...what did you do? They're coming for you, right?"

"...You have nothing to do with this?"

"How could it be related?" Jin Xueli put down her hand, her face several times uglier than Chai Si's. "How could I be related to the police? I, I can't be caught by the police - let me out of the car, no matter what you did, it has nothing to do with me -"

She was interrupted by several policemen who quickly surrounded the car, with the black muzzles of their guns in their hands.

Jin Xueli stared at them, stunned.

"Put your hands on your heads and come out!" shouted the leading policeman.

Although he was also chased and intercepted by the police when he was driving recklessly on the road two days ago, the treatment today was obviously different. Even a SWAT team capable of going to the battlefield was sent out.

Chai Si had done a lot of things, but he really couldn't think of anything that was worth such fanfare and mobilization of such a large number of people - or rather, the few things that deserved such treatment had long been buried and washed away by time, and should not have been unearthed many years later.

"I don't even have a gun, don't be so nervous."

Chai Si rolled down the car window and smiled at the dark muzzle of the gun outside. "What's the matter? You're looking for me?"

"Chase Monroe?" The policeman, clearly in the upper hand, remained as stiff as a rock as he shouted, "Put your hands on your head and get out of the car!"

"Is it because I violated traffic regulations?" Chai Si said as he opened the car door and gently lowered a foot. "Look, this is what I think. No matter what I did, if I'm willing to run away when I see the police, I'm giving you face, right?"

Several police officers pointed their guns at him. "You have the right to remain silent—"

At the other end of the car, Jin Xueli was also blocked by several policemen; the other party was not so wary of her, so two of them rushed up, pressed her against the car, twisted her arms, and seemed to have handcuffed her.

Chai Si raised his hands to his ears and looked back at Jin Xueli.

Her eyes were wide open, as if she still couldn't believe that she was being escorted to a police car; as if that police car was not a police car, but a black hole that would swallow her up if the door opened.

After all, Shibashi wasn't Superman. Even with the SWAT team dispatched, he had no choice but to give up resistance and let the police handcuff him. The more he thought about it, the more he doubted it was because of his dangerous driving two days ago.

However, the law stipulates that he will not be allowed to speculate for too long and will be given an answer.

"Chase Monroe, we're arresting you on suspicion of attempted murder of Vesile," a policeman said, pushing him forward. "Get in the car."

　My old computer was completely black, and it was only able to survive with its e-ink screen. Today, my new computer finally arrived. I finally spent over an hour setting it up, and then I looked at it with great excitement. It's not compatible with my e-ink screen! It keeps flashing when I connect it!

　　I spent another hour trying to adjust it, to no avail. Staring at the LCD screen, I finished typing this chapter at the last minute, my eyes sore and swollen, and I had no idea how well I had done.

　　If I had known this, I might as well not have bought a new computer... Ahhhh, what a shitty day!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)