Artifact Report

Chapter 174: Fu Tailan: The True Key and the Warmth of Father and Son
A vague, faint red light echoed from the ceiling, like blood diluted by water.

Consciousness turned into a black mist, nearly obscuring his vision. Fu Tailan blinked slowly twice before mentally connecting the visual signal with its meaning.

That's... that's the fire truck light.

He opened his eyes, but this time he held on, not closing them. The more he listened, the more ominous the noise outside the window seemed... Could it be?

"You can let go now!" someone shouted vaguely outside the window.

Who are you asking to let go? What for?
Fu Tailan dragged a body that seemed not to belong to him, crawled to the window, and looked down.

...Should I say this is reasonable or unexpected? Is Chai Si really lucky?

Or should we say that fate is really a strange thing full of irony?
The next thought, in Fu Tailan's hazy consciousness, was doubly absurd:

If he had not intended to kill Chai Si with the black flat blade, Fu Tailan would not have been able to save Chai Si's life.

It was because not long ago, Fu Tailan stood by the window, seemingly with no way out and in a precarious situation, and shouted for help several times, that a passerby below called a fire truck, and the firefighters set up a large, square cushion downstairs.

It seems that even though he was in a daze, Chai Si still managed to grab an open window on the seventh floor in time while falling - he rolled down from the floor-to-ceiling window, not jumped from the roof, so the window of the neighbor downstairs was just within the reach of his arms.

When Fu Tailan looked down, he saw Chai Si, who had just let go of his hand, falling straight down and crashing into the air cushion with a thud, causing the air cushion to shake and tremble.

The crowd seemed to cheer a few times, and then someone seemed to say, "Why...goat head..."

Fu Tailan really wanted to sigh deeply, but sighing was too strenuous. Before being discovered by passers-by downstairs, he slowly retreated into the living room and lay on his back on the messy floor.

He no longer had the energy to regret, and could only lie on the floor, almost numb, feeling his body temperature being continuously drained away by the gurgling blood. Every inch the blood receded was like an inch of ice freezing.

Perhaps Chai Si rarely suffers such a big loss.

Fu Tailan smiled hazily.

Not only did he fail to kill the target, he was also poisoned and fell down the stairs. Even if he recovered after treatment, he would still have to face a series of troubles such as police interrogations.

Chai Si didn't even get a glimpse of the most crucial key.

It is not the key engraved with "7704 days", nor is it the key engraved with "7703 days", and it is not in Fu Tailan's backpack.

The real target key has been in this apartment from the beginning, which is the only artifact detected by Huangli Roslin.

It was placed in a place that Chai Si had glanced at countless times.

"Fu Han Dough" slowly crawled to his side, stretched out its neck and looked at him, as if observing Fu Tailan's injuries and estimating his chances of survival.

Since you saved my life, I will forgive you... Fu Tailan thought vaguely.

This illusion creature that looks like Fu Han has the same personality as Fu Han. Seeing that it cannot escape from Chai Si's hands, it immediately wants to surrender and hand over the key to him obediently - seeing that Fu Tailan does not hand it over on his own initiative, it even wants to do it itself.

That's why it jumps up and down, trying to climb up the kitchen wall...

Because the key is on the wall.

Fu Tailan blinked slowly towards the kitchen, still unable to see clearly. But he knew the key was still there, and that was enough.

Chai Si was truly cautious... After seeing through the black tablet, he remained calm, questioning and waiting...

Is it because he also noticed it subconsciously?

There is actually a gray area between "looking like a key" and "not looking like a key".

The more information Fu Tailan gives—whether it's lies or the truth—the harder it is to hide this gray area.

The real answer lies in a gray area.

The "target key" looks nothing like an ordinary key, but anyone who sees it will think of a key.

Fu Tailan has hardly ever done any handicraft work; he feels both surprised and satisfied with his handmade products.

The day he got the key, he figured out how to hide it.

He first had several copies of his house keys made and had them engraved with numbers from 7702 to 7704. Then he went shopping and saw a picture in TJMaxx that he liked. It wasn't because he liked the picture—although the kitten was cute—but because there was a blank space below it.

The metal letters and glue ordered from Amazon were delivered to the door the next day. Fu Tailan took out the decorative painting, spread it on the table, took out a U-shaped letter, measured it with a ruler, and carefully stuck it in the blank space under the kitten.

He bought the two letters U'R and also pasted them on.

Next, Fu Tailan took out the real target key, picked out the letter E in the key, and connected it after U'R to form the phrase U'RE.

...Yes, the target key is actually three black metal letters.

They can be separated or connected together to form a "KEY".

It has nothing in common with a key, but when it suddenly appears on the coffee table at home one day, no one will think of a key, not to mention Fu Tailan.

He took out the O he bought from Amazon, stuck it on, and connected it to the K in the key.

Just like that, the target key, "KEY," was disassembled and integrated into the phrase "U'RE OKAY." After the glue dried, he carefully placed the target key and the kitten picture back into the frame and hung it on the wall.

...Chai Si probably has never suffered such a big loss in his life.

Not only did he fail in his mission and get himself into trouble, but Fu Tailan also saw him when he was poisoned, curled up on the ground, and retching.

There was a bulge on his cheek, pushed up by his tongue.

In a moment when his mind is unclear and his life is at stake, no matter how annoying Chai Si is, he can't act cool; so there is only one explanation for the bulge on his cheek, right?

Fu Tailan turned his head slightly, and in the misty clouds, he vaguely saw Fu Han's face, who was looking down at him.

"You...you're back?" He seemed to say it out loud, but it also seemed not to be. "Did you go and call someone?"

Fu Han still looked down at him and did not answer.

I don’t know whether I called out or not.

Fu Tailan lay drowsy for a while, then suddenly woke up and said to his father, "Oh, Dad...I saw Mom when I went to the nest this time."

The blurry face of Fu Han was slightly distorted. When he opened his mouth to speak, it seemed as if a few hairs were trembling: "She has been in the nest all these years?"

"Um... no, it's not. It's a parallel reality... In that parallel reality, Mom is there."

"You kid, you don't even know what she looks like."

"Yeah...but I just have a feeling that it's Mom, there's no mistake about it. What a pity...there have been no photos of Mom since then..."

Fu Han fell silent again.

After an unknown amount of time, Fu Tailan whispered, "Dad..."

"Well, I'm here."

"Will you always be there?"

Fu Han paused. "Do you want me to stay here?"

Fu Tailan thought for a moment. "I don't know... It seems like it would be very reassuring, but also very painful. Sometimes I think it would be better if you died, but I'm also afraid of you dying."

He knew he had to keep the Game of Domination a secret as much as possible, but it seemed okay to bring it out now.

"But... maybe I've finally found a way to set everyone free..."

　If the Pseudo-Image also had a post-episode mini-theater like the comics, it would be like this:
　　Uncle Kai was lying on the hospital bed, wondering who had attacked the Kai family, what to do next, and what to let Chai Si do. ​​Turning around, he found Chai Si being wheeled in and lying on the bed next to him.

　　PS: I complained casually yesterday and made the grandmas worry! You are so kind. To be honest, I feel like my mom doesn’t worry about me as much as you do…

　　I feel guilty about that. I shouldn't have said that in such a scary way. I'm fine. Insomnia is an old problem. Many methods haven't been able to cure it. Fortunately, it's intermittent, so I can only wait for it to subside on its own. I'll just have to get through it.

　　There are also people who ask me to stop updating and take a break, which is basically a wish that online writers dare not even burn incense to make...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)