Artifact Report

Chapter 155 Mai Minghe: Catching

The paintings and ceiling lamps are not considered big in daily life.

However, when they turned into bombs and exploded simultaneously with a distance of less than three meters between them, it seemed as if even the space itself began to rapidly expand, shatter and break, giving Mai Minghe the illusion that he was about to die there - human speed turned out to be so slow; the human body turned out to be so weak and heavy.

The ceiling, the wall where the paintings are hung, and the other side is the outer wall of the corridor...

In just a short moment, it seemed as if everything was exploding, collapsing, and falling into pieces.

The countdown of three numbers saved Mai Minghe's life; but she only kept one life: in the smoke, flames and collapsed apartments, she stumbled and ran amidst countless air currents, and was hit by a piece of cement on the back of her head. She felt a sharp pain and lost consciousness for a short time.

Mai Minghe didn’t know how long he had been unconscious.

When she finally opened her eyes again, the apartment had already been restored to its original cleanliness and integrity - it felt as if even the dust had returned to its original place, not a single grain more, not a single grain less, not a single grain moved, together with the walls and floor, creating the illusion that nothing had happened.

The ringing in my ears was no longer there, but it felt like the ear tubes were filled with water, and I couldn't even hear my own moans.

Mai Minghe opened and closed his mouth several times and tapped his ears lightly with his hands before he could barely confirm that he was not deaf.

At least I'm not deaf yet.

If it happens a few more times, I won’t be able to say for sure.

"Sea reed?"

Even though I was shouting, it sounded hazy and vague, like I was underwater. "Can you still hear me? Are you okay?"

She struggled to get up, each step she took like a zombie in a movie.

There were still no unexploded bombs nearby, not even anything close to a "black ball".

Mai Minghe considered whether the unexploded bomb was actually very small, or was blown under the sofa by the air current; but within his sight, everything was the same as before the explosion.

……how so?
There was no unexploded bomb after the explosion on this side, so there should be one on the sea reed side, right?
When Mai Minghe walked through the corridor and entered Room 305, the still life painting that had just exploded seemed to be hiding behind the glass frame, trying very hard to hold back a smile, and the light and shadow on the glass were shimmering and trembling.

...I'm afraid even her eyes are blurry.

Not far ahead, Hai Luwei was sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall, opening and closing his mouth, as if he was shouting at Mai Minghe; however, she could hear nothing.

They soon discovered that when they kept a distance of more than one meter, they could not hear each other.

Forget hearing, Mai Minghe felt as if she was wrapped up in the murky water - she slid down the wall and sat down, smiled bitterly, made a circle with her hands, and pointed at the sea reeds.

Hai Luwei understood immediately, shook his head, and pointed to the Maiming River.

Mai Minghe also shook his head.

…Neither side found any unexploded bombs.

How can I describe Hai Luwei's expression at that moment? It was as if he knew he was about to be slapped, but still held on to a chance; in the end, he was slapped in the face despite his luck.

Twelve explosions, zero unexploded bombs.

Mai Minghe sat on the ground in a daze. For a moment, he didn't even have the strength to struggle out of his blank mind due to disappointment.

By the way, are there any clues in the information input from the nest that can help solve the current problem?

My head feels dizzy, as if I need to push it forward to move my thoughts forward.

She was soon disappointed - although the information input from the nest was rich, it could not explain why the rules given on the third floor of the apartment were so different from the actual situation.

No matter what, the unexploded bombs should have appeared by now, right?
She grabbed a few handfuls of her hair, feeling anxious and worried about being blown up again. Suddenly, a question occurred to her: "Hai Luwei, what time is it?"

Mai Minghe said this and made a gesture as if he was looking at his watch.

Hai Luwei took a look at his children's cartoon watch - it was a miracle that the watch was still working.

Then he made a "four" gesture and then two "five" gestures.

Four fifty-five?
They were both half dead, yet only twenty-five minutes had passed since she last checked the time on the microwave?
In those twenty-five minutes, she exploded three times—no, that's not right, that doesn't count.

After all, Mai Minghe was unconscious for a while.

Considering that Hai Luwei didn't go looking for her, we can infer that she wasn't unconscious for long. Assuming she was only unconscious for about five minutes, then it should be said that she was blown up three times in twenty minutes: once by the door frame, once by a particle of soil, and once by the ceiling light.

...Is it too frequent?

She and Hai Luwei went up to the third floor shortly before 3:40, and the first explosion, when the microwave exploded, occurred at 3:42 AM.

From 3:42 AM to 4:29 AM when she saw the microwave again, a total of thirty-seven minutes, she was only exploded twice.

Isn’t the difference between the first thirty-seven minutes and the last twenty minutes too big?

Could it be that the explosion frequency is also random?
If it's random, then there's nothing to say, you can only keep on getting bombed.

But if not... something must have happened before 4:30 in the morning, which suddenly caused the frequency of her and Hai Luwei being bombed to increase.

Mai Minghe shuddered at this thought and was about to shout, but stopped herself. After a moment's thought, she frantically gestured toward Hai Luwei, but then gave up. What she wanted to ask was complicated, and gestures wouldn't work. She had to find paper and pen.

Before Mai Minghe could get up to look for it, he saw Hai Luwei on the opposite side turned around and rummaged through his backpack for a while; as if he could read her mind, he raised a piece of paper and pen and gestured to her, as if asking "Do you want this?"

This kid is quite smart. After all, he is an experienced hunter and he brought all the necessary things.

He rolled up the paper and pen and threw it over; Mai Minghe caught it and quickly wrote a sentence on the paper.

"Do you remember the approximate time of the explosion in the no-man's land? If not, you can guess."

Hai Luwei looked at the paper, frowned, and thought for a few seconds.

Then he made a "four" gesture - his hand paused in the air for a moment, hesitantly, and made "two" and "five".

In other words, a few minutes after the "no man's land explosion", the frequency of explosions around them increased?

Why is this happening?

Moreover, that was the only "explosion in no-man's land" so far - isn't it too special?

Even though Mai Minghe couldn't hear anything now, if there was an explosion somewhere on the third floor, she should have felt the vibration with her feet on the floor.

There has been no vibration...

shock……?
Wait... She looked up blankly at the painting on the wall of Room 305.

Several shadow-like thoughts that had been circling in the depths of my mind since a while ago now surfaced one after another.

The width of the corridor...isn't it more than one meter?

About one and a half to two meters?
That is to say...that is to say...

Mai Minghe became increasingly uneasy about the speculation in her mind; in her mind, she put together the facts and clues she had sorted out so far, wanting to see the final picture they would form.

There was only one explosion in the no-man's land, which occurred around 4:25.

When Hai Luwei went to check, he did not find any unexploded bombs at the explosion site.

Next, starting from 4:29 AM, the frequency of bombings against her and Hai Luwei increased, but no unexploded bombs were found.

The apartment rules may seem unfair, but they can be secretly balanced - for example, explosions occur close to people; then, conversely, people can prevent large furniture from exploding by staying away from them.

An empty "corridor" without furniture was cleared in the living rooms of 301 and 303.

At the same time, there was an area in the center of the living room of 303 where the dust was obviously more and thicker than other places.

...and, people holding unexploded bombs are unaffected by the explosion.

Mai Minghe stood up suddenly, which seemed to scare Hai Luwei, and she herself gasped in pain.

She hurriedly signaled Hai Luwei to give her paper and pen, and then hurriedly wrote a few lines - to be honest, she was lucky to be able to finish it successfully without an explosion.

"We have to think about what to do!" Knowing that Hai Luwei couldn't hear him, Mai Minghe still shouted while Hai Luwei was reading the note.

After reading the message, Hai Luwei looked up at her with a confused look on his face; however, although he must have still had many questions, he still nodded.

Mai Minghe didn't dare to waste time, so he turned around immediately and limped towards Room 301. According to the instructions on the note, Hai Luwei should have been calling out to her from behind at this time; but of course she couldn't hear anything.

After walking a few steps, she looked back.

Hai Luwei seemed to have finished shouting, turned around, and left in the direction of Room 309 - both of them had injuries on their feet, and even if they tried their best, they couldn't walk very fast; next, they could only pray that there would be no explosion on both sides.

If her guess was correct, there would only be one explosion next, and that would be next to her.

About a minute or two later, when Mai Minghe was about to reach the door of Room 301, he discovered the countdown to the next explosion.

This time, the scales of luck finally tilted a little towards her.

This time, not only did she see the countdown numbers in advance, but the thing that was about to explode was just a puppy figurine that was no bigger than a fist; however, once the explosion occurred, it meant that her position would be exposed.

When a small ball of fire exploded behind her, Mai Minghe no longer cared about the injury on her foot. She pulled open the door of Room 301 and rushed into the corridor. At that moment, although she had not yet seen the situation in the corridor clearly, she was already certain in her heart.

"do not move!"

Mai Minghe took the lead and stood in the middle of the corridor. He raised his eyes and roared, "If you dare to move, I will rush over!"

More than a meter in front of her, Fu Tailan was standing in the middle of the corridor.

For some reason, he was holding a broom and a dustpan in his hands; he stared at her blankly, blinking a few times, as if he had not yet realized what was happening.

　Today was particularly productive. Although I didn't post the update early, I still had a blind confidence in my efficiency. I'll try to write some extra chapters later. Today's small goal is to set it to 20,000 words -

　　Have you guys finished laughing? Let’s talk about where to go for fun during the National Day holiday.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)