Artifact Report

Chapter 171: Fu Tailan: The Trap and Breakthrough of One Sentence
……wrong.

Fu Tailan tried to block out his father's screams, gasps and pleas, and tried to focus on what Chai Si had just said.

This passage is very strange.

In Chai Si's words, everything else can be ignored, but the most crucial part is "How do you know it is the key?"

He had said long ago that it was because he found it "very similar to the key in Vesile's hand."

Doesn’t Chai Si believe this explanation again?

Or did he just want to find out more details?
Fu Tailan had a strong feeling that he seemed to be one step slower than Chai Si in thinking, but he couldn't figure out where he was slower.

The fog of nest dissociation seemed to rise from the corner of my mind again, floating up in the air and obscuring my thoughts at times, making them bright and dark at times.

"You won't tell me? Did you notice something's wrong?"

Chai Si suddenly smiled and shook his head gently, like a teacher looking at a slow-witted student. He had seemed to be waiting for an answer just now, but now it seemed that he had the answer.

"You're a little slow-witted today. You've figured it out a little, but you haven't fully understood it yet."

Fu Tailan raised her head in a daze.

"Then I'll just say it straight."

Chai Si stood up and threw the black flat object into the corner of the room - the corner farthest from him. The black flat object bounced off the glass floor-to-ceiling window and fell back to the floor.

Fu Tailan looked at where it landed.

"You didn't hide that fake image in the trash can beforehand. You just pretended to take it out when you opened the trash can, right? Actually, it's been with you all along."

Fu Tailan didn't say anything, but his expression must have betrayed him.

"You're wondering why I know this?" Chai Si tilted his head and said, "You're really not your usual self today. Didn't I just tell you clearly that I've searched your house and your apartment?"

Fu Tailan was suddenly startled—yes, he was clearly wondering why the search didn't seem very thorough...

"Thanks to a new recruit on our side, I knew before I even walked in that there was only one other artifact within a five-kilometer radius of your apartment. I searched the entire apartment but didn't find anything worth mentioning... but I did find a few guns in the bedroom."

Chai Si stood in the middle of the apartment's living room. He was the only one there, but he seemed to be blocking every possibility.

...Forget it. Anyway, I didn't expect to be able to get into the bedroom and take out the gun under his surveillance. If the gun is gone, it's gone.

Fu Tailan bit her lip.

"And after you came, the number of artifacts increased by one."

Chai Si said slowly, "The black flat piece you handed me is undoubtedly an artifact. It should be what you just brought into the house. I was able to get it smoothly because you wanted to give it to me. If I kept holding it, wouldn't I be in danger?"

Fu Han took a breath, looked at his son, and asked, "Really? Is what he said true?"

Fu Tailan just wanted to rub his temples hard to clear the fog in his mind so that he could think of a way to gain the upper hand again.

Although he was reluctant to admit it, what Chai Si said was right.

Although the black flat piece has an unknown name, it has a "master recognition function": it only "recognizes its master" once when it is captured, and can no longer change its owner.

This is also the reason why Fu Tailan can keep it - theoretically speaking, after signing the contract, all the artifacts obtained by the Morgan family's hunters during the dispatch operation are the property of the Morgan family, and the hunters can only share them afterwards; even as the head of the hunters, as long as they don't pay for it themselves, they only have a short and limited right to borrow it.

The black flat piece is what Fu Tailan captured.

Once it is handed over to another person, within three minutes, it will slowly begin to produce neurotoxins that can penetrate the skin. Instead of selling it as an ordinary poison, the Morgan family simply went with the flow and did it a favor, allowing it to belong to Fu Tailan.

At this moment, Chai Si was speaking slowly, "You told me the truth. When you returned home, the 'key' was already on the table. As soon as you saw it, you identified it as one of the seven target artifacts. The reason you gave was 'because it was very similar to the key in Vesile's hand.'"

"So what?" Fu Tailan asked back with a stiff upper lip.

...Chai Si is really a difficult person to deal with.

Affected by nest dissociative disorder, Fu Tailan almost let slip the fact that "the mobile phone would ring to notify you", so he quickly found another excuse to cover it up - "it was very similar to the key in Vesile's hand."

On second thought, the lie has already been told, wouldn’t it be a shame not to make use of it?

Using this excuse, he set a "black flat sheet trap" for Chai Si; but he failed at the last moment and Chai Si finally climbed out of the trap.

The trap is simple, but deadly.

All keys in the world look similar.

If Vesile's "key" looked like an ordinary key, then when Fu Tailan saw the strange key on the table for the first time, he shouldn't have thought of Vesile at all - because any key in the world, to be honest, is somewhat similar to the "key" in Vesile's hand.

In other words, since Fu Tailan was able to immediately think of the "key" in Weisilai's hand, the target "key" must look very different from an ordinary key.

Once he figured this out, Chai Si naturally wouldn't believe that the first key engraved with "7704 days" was the real thing, because it looked too much like an ordinary key.

As it turned out, he really didn't believe it.

The subsequent knife-throwing attack and the snatching of Fu Han were all preludes to Fu Tailan's plan to deliver the black tablet to Chai Si. Of course, if Fu Han could escape first, that would have been the best. However, the knife wound to Fu Han's calf was truly unexpected—in that instant, Fu Tailan's internal organs seemed to shrink into a small ice cube.

Judging from the results, Chai Si was indeed fooled for a short time; although the time was not long enough to poison him to death.

Everything had been going smoothly up to this point, but why did he become suspicious again?
"...It seems you haven't understood my question yet."

Chai Si said slowly, "If Vesile's 'key' looks completely different from an ordinary key, how do you know which artifact he has is the key? The person who originally found the key has been murdered. Could Vesile have written a suicide note specifically to tell you?" "So, either you have a deep connection to Vesile, or your excuse is a lie. Which do you think is more likely?"

Fu Tailan really wanted to sigh.

He hadn't thought deeply enough when setting the trap, and was a little panicked - whether it was because of nest dissociation or because of Fu Han, he didn't know.

In the past, even if there was a slight negligence, there would be no serious consequences, because most people could not think as fast as him.

But it’s different when you meet Chai Si; the slightest delay or negligence can be caught, exploited and bitten back by the opponent.

"Since your excuse is false, then the black flaky artifact you painstakingly sent me is definitely not a good thing."

Chai Si pulled out a pistol from his back and pointed it at Fu Han.

"So, let me ask you again. How did you identify the 'key'?"

He was really like a hound, always able to smell the scent of blood in the wind first - even if that scent of blood was not his original target.

"I understand," Fu Tailan buried his face in his hands and rubbed them heavily behind his head. "I say, you don't have to bluff."

Chai Si's response to this was to open the safety catch.

"24 hours after obtaining the target artifact, you will receive a notification on your mobile phone, congratulations on obtaining the target."

Fu Tailan sighed and said, "Just like the 'Amber Alert', it won't stay in the message center. You can only believe it or not. The notice not only congratulated me but also said that the next contestant would see my possession information... Who would have thought that the next one would be you?"

Chai Si was silent for a few seconds, then locked the safety on his pistol. Fu Han let out a long sigh, as if he was about to cry.

The "Fuhan dough" on the kitchen counter was still climbing up the wall and falling down again.

"Why 24 hours?" Chai Si suddenly asked.

In a long paragraph of truth, he immediately seized on the only lie and questioned it...

Fu Tai Lanzhen would rather he tortured her violently than use his brain.

If he had only used violence, Chai Si would have been a corpse by now.

"This point is also explained in the notice."

He replied fluently, "You have to hold the target artifact for 24 hours to confirm its ownership. I think so. Otherwise, if someone just touched the target artifact but didn't actually get it, wouldn't those who later came to trouble them have come away empty-handed?"

Chai Si glanced at the key on the table with "7704 days" engraved on it.

Fu Tailan already knew what he was going to say and spoke first, "There's something wrong with your previous inference. The black flat piece is the artifact I placed in the house, and the 'key' is the artifact I just brought in."

He took a risk - the newcomer under Chai Si who could detect artifacts should be Huang Li Roslin; her detection range was extremely large and vague, and she could not accurately determine whether there was an artifact stuck in the trash can of a small apartment.

"Is it the one on the table?"

"No, the real 'key' is in my backpack." Fu Tailan remained relaxed, but the muscles in his back tightened slightly. "I'll get it, don't worry. I don't have any weapons in my bag."

Chai Si snorted softly through his nose, like a mockery, like a sneer.

"Don't move." He turned the gun around and said, "Your father can go now."

Fu Han was startled. The "Fu Han dough" on the kitchen counter immediately stopped moving.

"Chai Si, what do you mean?" Fu Han asked with a trembling breath.

Is that even a question?
Regardless of whether Chai Si believed what he just said, the range of the "key" had been narrowed down to a point where there was no need to leave Fu Tailan alive.

"Dad," Fu Tailan whispered, staring at Chai Si. "Go now and call someone."

Chai Si remained calm at the words "go get someone," as if he wasn't worried at all. Instead, he warned the man who was limping toward the door, "Don't touch the backpack."

Seizing the opportunity when Chai Si's attention turned to Fu Han, Fu Tailan moved.

...Even if it was like hitting a rock with an egg, he had no choice but to use his own body to create a way out.

Moreover, among all the hunters in history, only a few people know this rare information -

When nest dissociation becomes severe enough, it can become a weapon.

　I am used to piling up information in chapters.

　　For example, in a chapter of maybe 3K words, I have piled up five information points, ABCDE, and two foreshadowings, FG. I can’t guarantee how good it will be, but I can only say that the amount of information is there.

　　So since you have already paid for the subscription, you might as well take a closer look. Otherwise, if you miss three of the five information points ABCDE and only see BE, doesn’t that mean you are losing money?
　　My feeling is that you are not happy, and neither am I. We might as well use the subscription money to buy a kebab.

　　If you have doubts about FG's foreshadowing, that's normal. If you still have doubts after I finish writing this section, you are welcome to discuss it.

　　For example, in the previous chapter, Fu set a trap, but Chai saw through it, and the two of them wrestled secretly without making it clear. I hope the trap will be explained more clearly in the new chapter (I'm quite worried that Fu Tailan's talent for lying will confuse people).

　　When I wrote about the end of the world in the past, I was very troubled. I always felt that what I wrote was different from what many people saw.

　　One time I saw someone posting something that was unreasonable about a certain plot. After reading it carefully, I realized that I had never written this plot before...

　　Why is this happening? I have always been confused.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)