Artifact Report

Chapter 87 Jin Xueli: Regular Shape
"...Answer the phone." The policewoman urged.

As she spoke, her mouth opened a tiny gap, and her voice floated out from the dark line. "Really, why did you shine the light on me? Now you can see it."

Where the eyes should have been, only the eyelids were left—that wasn't to say there was a hole under the eyelids.

If what she saw was a hollow hole, Jin Xueli might not be startled, and she might not even hold the phone firmly, and it would drop to the ground with a thud; after all, she had seen hollow eye holes before, and they were not the scariest in the nest.

Between the policewoman's upper and lower eyelids, there were layers of eyelids.

Under the eyes that are wide open, there is a layer of slightly drooping eyelids; under the slightly drooping eyelids, there is a layer of half-closed eyelids... Eyelids of various shapes grow out layer by layer, and eyelashes layer by layer form the general shape of the eyes, with the tightly closed eyelid gap in the center.

When Jin Xueli avoided his gaze, she even felt like vomiting.

"Someone is coming!"

Amidst the incessant ringing of her cell phone, she hurried back a few steps into the cell and shouted, "Chase Monroe! Chase! You got me in trouble. Get me out of here right now!"

The policewoman tilted her head and looked at her with interest.

"In the Nest communication network, you can't reach anyone just by shouting with your own voice. Can the vibrations of the human vocal cords be transmitted through radio signals? Of course not, right? Same principle," the policewoman said. "It seems you've already discovered that I'm not one of Monroe's mercenaries."

"Nonsense!" Jin Xueli cursed.

After a pause, she calmed down a little and realized that she should be safe for the time being - if the thing outside the door could attack her directly, it would have done it long ago, and would not have handed her a cell phone, giving her the opportunity to see the policewoman's face clearly.

"You're a resident, right? I almost fell for your trick because I didn't understand the situation, not because I'm stupid."

"What an energetic girl...but a little stingy." A misty voice came out from the thin black line on the policewoman's face.

The ringing of the cell phone on the ground stopped, the light on the screen went out, and the cell returned to darkness; the face was swallowed up in the darkness, which actually made people feel relieved.

"I am indeed a den dweller,"

The policewoman's words suddenly turned into a sound like thick ink swirling and a sharp wind—as if she were introducing herself. There were many residents whose names were impossible to pronounce with the human voice.

"I didn't expect to be able to speak directly to a little girl in Blackmoor City. It's great. What you say with your voice can only be heard by nearby residents. No one else can hear it... After all, this is already part of the nest communication network."

It must have been Chai Si who did it.

…She had to try to calm down so that she could analyze how she should get out of this situation.

Judging from the current situation, there is only one way to leave the cell, which is to ask Chai Si for help. Although Jin Xueli still doesn't know what means he used, it is obvious that Chai Si is more desperate and unscrupulous than she imagined. In order to get rid of the charges, he actually turned the entire Central Police Station into this state.

Although she was not incomprehensible.

If there was no "Candle Tears" and she could mobilize resources like Chai Si, she would probably do the same thing.

By the way, speaking of this, what exactly does “like this” mean?
Jin Xueli glanced at the hazy shadow standing outside the door in front.

"How can residents enter the human world?" she asked bravely. "Didn't you say this place hasn't become a nest? Then how did you get in?"

"I never said I entered the human world," the policewoman replied. "There are a very small number of residents in the lair who can enter the human world, but the conditions are harsh, and I am not one of them."

Are there residents who can come in...? No, that's not the point right now.

For some reason, the residents in front of me seemed to be quite fond of chatting.

"You didn't come in, so what's going on with this policewoman?"

"She was a kind person who let me borrow her body to see the world. Unlike you, you are so stingy."

Jin Xueli couldn't help but shudder. Another mystery was finally resolved—if the policewoman had become a resident, she couldn't have been blocked by a barred door. The reason the policewoman was blocked outside was precisely because her body was still human, but somehow, it had been... "invaded" by the residents.

"How did you borrow it?" she couldn't help but ask, "Since you already have one... that you borrowed, why did you come to me?"

"There's no such thing as too many human bodies," the policewoman said. "The nest's communication network won't last forever, so I'll definitely have to take advantage of the opportunity to corrupt and contaminate a few more people."

...In other words, in addition to isolating the human world within a certain range, the "Nest Communication Network" is essentially a "medium" that provides nest residents with a channel to invade the human body?

The residents are in their nests, but they are able to extend their tentacles into the bodies of humans in Blackmore City.

Judging from the fact that he was still fine, within the coverage area of ​​the nest communication network, certain conditions must be met before it can be invaded by residents - that is, answering the phone.

Jin Xueli sorted out the currently known information and questions in her mind.

First, she must not answer the phone under the nest communication network.

…But is it enough to just not answer the phone?
Before the lights dimmed, no ringtones rang out in unison for everyone's cell phone in the Central Police Station; in fact, she didn't seem to hear the ringtones at all until the Central Police Station was covered by the "Nest Communication Network."

The call was not connected...So, how did the policewoman get caught?
And think about it from another perspective, if you can’t answer incoming calls, then does that mean you can’t make outgoing calls either?

Second, in the nest communication network, ordinary communication methods such as talking are ineffective because sound cannot be transmitted.

The resident also said that no one outside could hear her if she shouted; since the lights went out, she hadn't heard any sound, which obviously proved that the general law of "sound propagation through the air" was now invalid, or at least it could not be transmitted far away - the resident should not have lied on this point.

She was not without doubts about this: How would Chase communicate with him? The residents said he had hired mercenaries—which was credible—but he would have to talk to the mercenaries, right?
It's pitch black and we can't write to communicate. Could it be that someone like Chai Si would whisper in someone's ear?
She had too little useful information at hand, but judging from these two rules, it was almost equivalent to blocking all avenues for her to seek help.

Jin Xueli couldn't call Chai Si; even if they were on the same floor, Chai Si couldn't hear her shouting.

Isn't this situation really disgusting?
"I can't be the only one in this building who hasn't been invaded by the residents, right?" She thought for a moment and asked tentatively. "Why don't you go find someone else?"

"Because Chase Monroe is annoying," the policewoman replied honestly. "He seems to be looking for someone inside this building, so he's rounding up everyone who hasn't been hacked and locking them up. As a result, those of us who only connect to the Hive's communication network once a year can't catch many targets. It's so frustrating."

As expected, Chai Si not only knew how to avoid being hacked, but also knew how to communicate with his companions within the communication network...

If you think about it calmly, after he was taken to the police station, all his belongings must have been searched immediately. The situation should be exactly the same as mine.

The "Nest Communication Network" first covers the police station, and then Chai Si can break out. This order should be correct.

In other words, Chai Si's method of self-protection and communication after being covered by the "Nest Communication Network" is something that Jin Xueli can also do... No, wait, since he can call mercenaries, it means that he has made a phone call to the outside world.

The fact that he could call the mercenaries meant that he had a phone in his hand - which was nonsense - but it also meant that the phone he was using was not his own.

Speaking of "not your own phone"...

Isn’t there one on the ground?

Jin Xueli squatted down as quietly as possible and groped for the cell phone on the dark cell floor.

She didn't know if the phone was the key, but she had to explore the regular shapes bit by bit. This might not be a nest yet, but what dominated was undoubtedly the various strange "rules" that filled the nest.

"…Looking for this?"

When the policewoman's voice sounded, Jin Xueli realized that she had touched the phone - and also touched the hand on the phone.

　I didn't manage to post this chapter before midnight because I couldn't figure out the plot. I knew what was going to happen, but it was like looking at the road ahead in the dark with the headlights on a car. It was always a little hazy, and no matter how I wrote it, it just didn't seem right. I went through several revisions and finally had a version I was satisfied with, so I quickly posted it.

　　Honestly, I don't even feel like writing anymore lately. Even though I enjoy telling stories, I just can't stand the grind.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)