Artifact Report

Chapter 209: Zebra's Perspective: Escape and Hiding Place
"...Yes, it's in the alley behind 310 Juan Road. Yes, I heard several gunshots. It seems someone is dead. Please send the police immediately."

"Sir, may I ask your name?"

Brianna hung up the phone.

After coming out of the "Backlight Room", she ran all the way, her heart beating wildly and her breathing becoming rapid. She had been holding her breath for fear of arousing the operator's suspicion, and only after she hung up the phone did she quickly take a few breaths.

After a few breaths, 911 called back.

Brianna hung up the call without even looking at it, then stopped outside a sliding glass door that was stained white by light.

She had never realized before that the lights in Wendy's were so bright, so bright that it made her feel like she could not hide.

Brianna peered into the store through the glass door.

The fast food restaurant, which was still open at two or three in the morning, was empty except for a homeless man sleeping on a table in the corner. There was no sign of any employees even behind the ordering counter; the night shift employees probably took a break secretly when no one was around.

She looked back and saw that there seemed to be no pursuers on the night road behind her.

Chase had forgotten about her, but the people around him hadn't.

An image of a chestnut-haired girl popped up in her mind, and Brianna pressed it down.

That thing called Han Liuyue—a resident, perhaps?—was always wavering in its stance, agreeing to cooperate with whoever offered the best conditions. Brianna had worried that it would betray her without hesitation if her back was turned.

If Han Liuyue betrayed her immediately, the situation would be very difficult; but at this moment, it seemed that the resident-like thing actually helped her stop Chai Si temporarily.

This means that Chai Si and his group are still staying near the murder scene - if they don’t call the police now, when will they?
Although she didn't know whether the police could catch up, she had to make sure that Chai Si's pursuit path was as full of obstacles as possible.

However, even if Han Liuyue tried to stop him, she couldn't keep Chai Si away forever. He had probably realized that he had been tricked.

In other words, from now on, Brianna needs to put in some effort.

The car keys were still on the dead Pete, so she couldn't drive away or wait for a car on the roadside; the Kay family might have already set up a search net, and to successfully escape from this area, she had to find a way that the hunters could not imagine.

...like a fast food restaurant.

Brianna quietly opened the door a little, trying not to make any noise, and slipped sideways through the crack into the fast food restaurant.

She came to the ordering counter and stood there for a while, but still no employee came out to greet her - this meant that the night shift employees couldn't see her from where they were taking a break.

That's good.

Brianna put her hands on the countertop, sat on it, twisted herself around, slid down from it, and entered the kitchen.

The greasy and salty aroma of French fries and the charred smell of beef patties filled the air with a sticky paste.

It was the first time in her life that she walked into the area where fast food restaurant employees worked, and she didn't know where to go to the back door of the restaurant. Looking around, Brianna tried to push open a door that she thought was the back door, but she guessed wrong and startled a middle-aged woman who was taking a nap, causing her to jump up in fright.

"Don't be afraid,"

Brianna quickly smiled at her and said, "I'm not a bad person, that—Oh, congratulations, you're very lucky."

"……what?"

She realized she was still holding her phone, and immediately raised it and pointed at it. "I'm a video blogger, live streaming. I have a program where I randomly choose passersby, ask them what they want, and then give them some money."

A mixture of suspicion and joy appeared on that tired, puffy brown face.

Nowadays, as long as you say you are a blogger, recording a video, or live streaming, even if you take off your skin in the street, others will think it is natural.

"But... at this time?" asked the female employee.

"It's a fan-appointed time," Brianna said with a smile. "Do you have Venmo?"

Sure enough, the other party's attention shifted from the suspicious aspects to "whether he was really going to get the money."

What always puzzled her was that the same number, the same amount of money, seemed to have completely different weight in her eyes and in the eyes of others.

It was just a thousand dollars, but the female employee kept looking at her phone, closing the app once and opening it again, as if she suspected that the thousand dollars was just a short trick.

"Really? For me?" She covered her mouth and said, "My daughter is about to give birth... I have a lot of money to spend."

What’s the use of a thousand dollars?

"As long as you're happy, my fans will be happy too. However, I hope you can keep it a secret for me and don't tell anyone else that I've been here. You know, some fans are crazy, and some will even follow my live broadcast all the way here."

Compared to excuses like live broadcasts at three in the morning or crazy fans, most people seem to think that it is even more unbelievable that someone would give away money for no reason - so the reasons that come with money, even if they are absurd, are convincing.

When the female employee nodded emphatically, Brianna asked, "Where's the back door?"

"I'll take you there," the female employee said immediately.

But after pushing the door open and looking at the street outside, Brianna didn't rush to leave.

Of course, she didn't go through so much trouble just to find a different way.

The terrain near the back door of the fast food restaurant was similar to what she had estimated just now. It was a short road with closed doors and gates. There were main roads in front and behind, and there was no place to hide.

If someone was searching for her, they would have passed by once and seen that the road was empty, and probably wouldn't have come again.

So she can't go out.

"I'll call a car," Brianna said with a smile. "It's raining outside. I'll wait here." "No problem," the female employee said happily. "Are you hungry? I'll make you a set meal."

Brianna nodded, watched her leave, and immediately turned on her phone to find the contact information of Vesile's bodyguard team.

After his death, Vesile's widow was very angry with the bodyguard team.

She said that not only did the bodyguard team neglect their duties, but the missing bodyguard named Ivan must have done something wrong and disappeared - as she spoke, she burst into tears and couldn't control herself.

Brianna didn't know how much of it was sincere and how much was acting.

The security company naturally found it difficult to accept such an explanation, and the situation became very tense for a while. As a secretary, she had to mediate and do countless unnecessary work; but her understanding and protection of the bodyguard team were always real.

They really didn't make any mistakes.

Dad——The bodyguard team cannot be blamed for Weisilai’s death.

Perhaps because of this favor, the captain known as "Sister Honey" quickly agreed to Brianna's request.

Even when faced with this unexpected call at three in the morning, she simply said, "Okay, I'll send Dylan to pick you up right away."

"Tell him to wait outside for me. My number is about to be disconnected," Brianna said.

The captain replied with only two words: "Understood."

After hanging up the phone, Brianna peeled off the phone case, took out a card ejector pin stored in the case, took out the SIM card, bent it, and threw it into the trash can beside her.

Chase would not leave Pete's phone untouched; and the last call Pete made before his death should have been made by himself.

No one can really live under the premise that they may die at any time, so Pete must not have cleared her call history; it can be assumed that her mobile phone number has now fallen into Chase's hands.

Hunter clans rarely needed to track phone numbers, so it wasn't likely that the Kais would be able to locate her using that information. Just to be on the safe side, Brianna couldn't carry her SIM card anymore and turned off her phone.

Is there any other information in Pete's phone that Chase might find?
Brianna thought about it for a moment.

When the car arrived, she went downstairs, opened the door, and got in. Peter greeted her, started the car, and raised his hand to tap his phone...

Ah, the map.

Pete seemed unfamiliar with "Backlight Between", so he used navigation... and the navigation he used seemed to be Google Maps, which records the route history.

Her location when she got on the bus tonight was probably recorded, and she might have been seen by Chai Si.

She could not return to the suite allocated to her on the top floor of the Wei Group headquarters.

***
"He won't go back," Chai Si muttered, leaning back in his seat and looking at the Google Maps on the burly man's phone. "This location has been exposed. If he's not stupid, he'll figure out we can set up an ambush here."

"Then should we wait for an opportunity to strike later?" Tian Xi asked. "Once we know his name and identity, he won't be able to escape."

"No, he now has a fake image that I want."

As Chai Si pondered, he said, "He's busy escaping now, so he probably hasn't had a chance to hide it yet. Before he has a chance to regroup... we must strike him tonight."

***
She still has the black square on her... With it hanging on her, Chai Si will never let go easily.

If he just found a hotel or something like that to stay, it would be difficult for Chai Si to find her from the vast Blackmore City like looking for a needle in a haystack.

There were not only hotels, restaurants, theaters, subways, but also internet cafes... There were countless places open all night in Blackmore City; as long as she was not caught up on the road, there were endless places where she could hide temporarily for a night.

***
"Tell them to find all the industries related to Vesile, and only look for those in this area."

Chase zoomed out and pointed at Blackmore City in the upper half of the map. "Don't worry about the lower part of the map for now."

Jin Xueli couldn't help but wonder, "Why is this part of the city left alone?"

"The Kai family and 'Between the Lights' are both on this side, and we're also starting from this direction."

Blackmore City is divided into the main city and the central bay island. Their current location is in a "bag" shape below the main city.

Whether from an intuitive or logical point of view, prey will choose to stay away from where the tracker may appear, the farther the better - so Green is likely to go to the urban area outside the "bag", and it is not impossible to go to the Central Bay Island.

"Why does he have to go to the Wei family's property?" Jin Xueli continued, "If it were me, I could just book a room in any hotel and you wouldn't be able to find it by the morning."

Chai Si just said "hmm".

***
"Where are you going?" Dylan turned around and asked.

Brianna hesitated for a moment.

"...Central Bay Island," she replied. "Wei's group has a building there."

　Why is it a zebra perspective? Because it switches back and forth very quickly later on, just like zebra patterns, a black line followed by a white line... Well, I think the metaphor is reasonable anyway.

　　Why is the illustration a very dark photo (it doesn’t look dark to the naked eye, and I don’t know why the photo turned out like this), because my PS subscription has expired… I can’t draw on the computer anymore, so I can only draw one by hand. Anyway, it’s okay as long as I can understand the meaning.

　　The handwriting is so ugly!

　　Fortunately, there were not many people watching, otherwise it would be embarrassing!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)