Artifact Report

Chapter 157: Fu Tailan: Cat Head of Pleading
There are two reasons for moving the furniture, both to make it easier for Fu Tailan to track his prey and speed up the detonation.

First, the cleared path fixed the two's range of movement. Fu Tailan was in the corridor, separated from them by a wall, and he could close or distance them as he pleased, and the two of them were always under his control;
Second, if he needed to enter the house, the large pieces of furniture that were pushed together could be used as hiding places at critical moments - he just had to sit behind the sofa. People without unexploded bombs would not dare to wander among the large pieces of furniture.

As for whether Hai Luwei would suddenly turn around and find that the position of the furniture had changed, there was no need to worry - Fu Tailan only had to walk in front of him, and there would be frequent explosions in front of him. It would be difficult for him to save his life, so how could he care about whether he ran to the window to enjoy the scenery after turning around the coffee table?
"Ah, that pocket!"

At the other end of the corridor, Hai Luwei suddenly shouted, "The pocket on his backpack that held the unexploded bomb is deflated! Mai Minghe!"

...With such good eyesight, he must be greedy.

No matter how loud he shouted, Mai Minghe still looked down at his phone; but at the critical moment, Hai Luwei was quick-witted. He squatted down and knocked hard on the floor. The dull trembling under his feet finally made Mai Minghe raise his head.

"Unexploded bomb!"

Fu Tailan looked back and saw Hai Luwei gesticulating with his hands, making full use of every part of his body - "The unexploded bomb in his bag has disappeared. It's time to run!"

The moment Mai Minghe understood, Fu Tailan smiled at her embarrassedly and raised one foot.

As soon as she took a step, her face changed immediately and she turned around and fled to Room 302. Her foot injury made it difficult for her to walk, so she didn't care and stumbled forward and rolled behind the door.

"Ah, let her run away."

Fu Tailan turned back to the corridor with regret, and found that Hai Luwei had also limped into Room 310.

The door slammed shut with a bang, and then the lock clicked a few times.

If he could hear well, Fu Tailan really wanted to persuade him not to try, because he had tried it himself, but the entrance and exit could not be locked - the advantage of tracking a deaf person is that no matter what you do, neither of them can hear it.

Not to mention trying the door lock, Fu Tailan just answered a call on the intercom.

He was still standing in the middle of the corridor, looking with his hands on his hips and smiling silently.

Really, it’s so easy to be fooled.

The characteristic of Fu Tailan is that when others think of one step, he has already thought three steps ahead; although it is not very nice to say this himself, there is no one around to say it now.

"The hunter and prey have exchanged positions," and "if he moves forward, he will be blown up"—these are exactly what he hopes the other party can understand; only when they understand, will they quickly run away.

Otherwise, if you want to kill someone, can't you just pull out your gun? Why wait for the unexploded bomb to disappear?

He never felt that human life was at stake.

No matter what it is, when there are so many of them that they are like cockroaches crawling all over the earth, the sky cannot be shut down, otherwise the sky will be exhausted to death.

However, Fu Tailan didn't enjoy killing. He could save killing for when necessary, but there was no need now.

Besides, if I kill them, will I be the one to be bombed next?
To prevent the two from coming back to their senses and detonating the floor beneath his feet, Fu Tailan moved to the center of the corridor. Both 302 and 310 were more than a meter away, providing ample safety buffer—not to mention, they were also quite far from where he had just set down the broom and dustpan.

The cell phone was still in the hands of Mai Minghe who was running for his life, so he could only estimate the time; at least, there were still four or five minutes left, right?

Just wait... As soon as he relaxed, Fu Tailan yawned a few times.

The effect of the painkiller hasn't worn off yet, and it feels like white mist is floating in my limbs.

When Mai Minghe and the other man realized that he hadn't caught up with them, they would probably think that he had caught up with someone else; for a while, they would both have to continue running for their lives and wouldn't be able to come back -

"Fu Tai Lan!"

Fu Tailan startled and almost bit his tongue because he couldn't stop yawning.

"You're so young, yet you're so deceitful!"

Mai Minghe poked his head out of the open door of Room 302, his face filled with anger. "You're trying to do it again, aren't you?"

Fu Tailan turned towards her with her mouth half open and tears in the corners of her eyes.

"You wrote such a long article, but you didn't include the most crucial part."

Mai Minghe probably thought she was just talking, but in reality, the tremors were causing dust to rain down from the ceiling. She pointed to a dustpan by the wall and said, "There's at least one unexploded bomb in that dustpan, right?"

Fu Tailan blinked a few times but said nothing; it was useless to speak.

"I almost forgot, you have a gun. If you wanted to kill someone, we would have both been dead a long time ago. You didn't have to wait for the unexploded bomb to disappear."

That's correct up to this point; the old lady is not easy to fool.

"You want us to get away so you can retrieve an unexploded bomb from the dustpan and take it with you."

...That's the mistake.

"You never told me why you brought a dustpan, but now I finally understand. Unexploded bombs are obviously heavy and quite large. It's definitely hard to sweep them up with just a broom. You need a dustpan to hold them back so they don't run around."

As expected of someone who has lived a full life, he is very experienced in such basic household chores as sweeping the floor, unlike Fu Tailan, who is holding a broom for the first time today.

"You said on the phone that you stole an unexploded bomb from Sea Reed."

The word "steal" doesn't sound nice.

He went in openly and came out honestly. It was Hai Luwei who wanted to close his eyes.

"But there was more than one unexploded bomb, right? When the ceiling light and the painting exploded because of your presence, Hai Luwei and I fled in opposite directions to escape the explosion.

"So, during those few minutes, we were both very far away from you. When there was no one else around you, the explosion probability around you returned to normal, something exploded, and there was another unexploded bomb, right?"

She shook her head and said, "The chances of unexploded bombs being found are quite high, and it all fell on you, kid. You used a dustpan to catch two unexploded bombs, and you almost hid it from me." Fu Tailan didn't expect her to notice even this, and subconsciously asked, "How did you know?"

Although Mai Minghe couldn't hear, he must have guessed his question.

"As I walked toward the sea reeds, the picture windows flickered with light, but the floor beneath my feet remained calm. Considering I couldn't hear any sound...it must have been something that exploded in the ceiling or the adjacent wall."

Fu Tailan nodded and said, "There's an old piece of chewing gum stuck on the wall that exploded. It's quite disgusting."

Mai Minghe looked at his mouth blankly.

The next sentence sounded a bit like boasting, but he meant it sincerely: "I was carrying an unexploded bomb on my back and two unexploded bombs rolling around in my arms. It was so heavy and really tiring."

Even when Mai Minghe suddenly rushed out, he remained calm. He leaned the dustpan and two unexploded bombs against the wall and covered them with a broom.

At that time, the two unexploded bombs collided with each other with a loud bang, but Mai Minghe didn't hear anything at all - he didn't know when he would meet such a considerate and convenient victim again.

"You scared us both away, took one and put it on your body, and now you want to repeat the same trick, use us to detonate it and steal our unexploded bombs, right?" said Mai Minghe.

...Why is it called stealing?

Fu Tailan thought about it, shook his head, then pointed at the dustpan and made a "two" gesture.

"There are two more?" Mai Minghe quickly understood. "You didn't take any? Ah, so you were standing quite far away from the winnowing basket..."

She looked at the dustpan and asked, "Are you waiting for the explosion?"

Fu Tailan nodded again. She was deaf, but she had made herself mute.

"why?"

I told you but you can't hear me - Fu Tailan gestured to her and asked her to throw her cell phone over.

Mai Minghe said "Oh" and raised his hand.

Just as she was about to throw the phone away, Hai Luwei's voice suddenly rang out from behind her: "Don't give it to him!"

Fu Tailan was ready to answer the phone, but her expectations were dashed. Looking back, she found that Hai Luwei had also returned and was performing a pantomime with lines at the other end of the corridor.

"Don't give him the phone!" He shook his head desperately and raised his hands to show that he wanted to stop him.

Mai Minghe hesitantly lowered his arms.

"We young people," Hai Luwei pointed at himself and then at Fu Tailan.

Who calls you a young person? You look almost thirty years old. Fu Tailan secretly complained in her heart, you really get to take advantage of me.

"Cellphones are important! They're precious!"

He really didn't know how to express this sentence with actions. After shouting, he was stunned for a few seconds, then simply took out his mobile phone, put it in his arm, and supported it with one hand underneath - as if coaxing a baby, Hai Luwei held his mobile phone and shook it gently and rhythmically.

...She even managed to squeeze out some maternal love towards the phone despite her anxious expression.

This guy is really annoying, isn't he?
Fu Tailan suppressed his annoyance and turned around again, only to see Mai Minghe with a look of sudden enlightenment on his face.

She smiled and put her phone in her trouser pocket.

...Why don't these two become partners? They have the same ideas.

Cell phones are certainly important, but when it comes to big things, what's the point of sacrificing a cell phone? Can he really let his cell phone hold him back?

But wait...

This matter of "escaping from the third floor of the apartment" doesn't seem to be a big deal.

The real important thing is to obtain the target item of the nest game from Mai Minghe; escaping from the third floor is their common interest.

He couldn't use the two of them to detonate items, couldn't steal—couldn't take their unexploded bombs. Although there were inconveniences, he hadn't expected to keep his existence a secret forever.

If this experiment successfully verifies his guess, then... cooperation seems to be possible.

No, it would be better to say that if we can gain their trust during the current stage of cooperation, it will be more convenient when we get down to business next time.

Then, just go with the flow and worry about it.

A few thoughts flashed through his mind, and he had already made up his mind. His face immediately stretched out, as if filled with regret, helplessness, and anxiety. He raised his hands and said, "I won't do it anymore, okay? I won't do it anymore!"

Even if they can't hear it, they can still understand the meaning.

"Do you have paper and pen?" Fu Tailan gestured to Hai Luwei, and he quickly threw a paper and pen over.

Half a minute later, on the paper he unfolded for the two of them to see, there were these few lines of large characters written on it:

I'm testing an idea

Can speed up customs clearance
If we cooperate, maybe we can get out soon.
good or not?
I know I was wrong. I won't hurt you anymore. Please return my phone to me when you get out.
On a whim, he drew a cat's head in the lower right corner of the paper with the word "Please" written on it.

　When I look back at the previous chapter, I always feel that the text is not concise and clear enough. However, in order to express a sentence accurately and succinctly, it requires repeated thinking and revision. I am indeed in a hurry to update and have no time, so I can't write short and can only write long.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)