Artifact Report

Chapter 225 Mai Minghe: Alone

"Are you sure?"

When sending Mai Minghe out the door, she was leaning on a cane with one foot higher than the other, which made Tianxi look at her again.

Tian Xisheng had straight features and thick black hair and eyebrows; he didn't show a single unnecessary expression, and he didn't say anything superfluous. But he didn't need to say anything, because Mai Minghe still understood what he meant.

If she couldn't even take care of herself, she couldn't expect anyone to help her when she was in danger - once she entered the nest, her life and death were in the hands of God, not to mention that there were only a group of strangers around her.

"Don't worry," Mai Minghe smiled at him, hoping he wouldn't notice that his smile was forced. "I know what I'm doing."

Of course I know, she's basically courting death.

If it's just to get yourself killed, then that's fine...

"See you tomorrow morning, then." Tianxi nodded and said, "I'm also looking forward to entering the lair with a hunter who can escape from the settlement."

Mai Minghe knew that as a hunter, she had almost no qualifications.

In order to pass the initial screening, she picked and chose from her limited experiences and told everything she could; finally, when she mentioned that she had briefly become a resident, she saw Tianxi raise one of his thick black eyebrows - at that moment, she knew she had passed.

"...See you tomorrow morning." Mai Minghe said with some difficulty.

Several times during the interview, she almost told the truth.

Tianxi didn't feel like a bad person, so she felt tempted, as if as long as she talked to him reasonably, he might return the lipstick to her.

But if there is one lesson Mai Minghe has learned in her life, it is that you should never expect others to do the right thing as a matter of course; even if they look like good people, that doesn't work either.

What's more, "correct" is something that varies from person to person.

She had to go on as planned.

No matter how many years a person lives, there will always be moments when she doesn’t know which decision is right and which choice is definitely wrong.

What kind of future path your decision today will lead to is a thought that makes every human being tremble with fear throughout their life, and Mai Minghe is no exception.

She really didn't want to go into the nest with Tianxi and his group.

Not only will she be in danger, but she is also the primary hunting target of many residents in the nest - will the team traveling with her suffer because of her?
Tianxi didn't know about this, but Mai Minghe couldn't pretend it didn't exist.

Of course, even without her, the hunters would not be short of dangers. As long as they were alive, they would be the targets of the nest and its residents to kill quickly.

But what if, after she comes into being, the danger that was originally five points becomes eight points, and the people who could have survived die, what should she do?
But if she doesn't enter the nest, is there any other way for her to sneak into Kai's house and get the lipstick back?

It’s all for the “time artifact”… She still wants to see the world nine months from now, and she doesn’t want to leave yet.

With their heads full of tangled thoughts, the two of them had already reached the door.

"Shayuki?"

Tianxi called out, and immediately someone popped their head out from the porch on the right side of the first-floor hall—it was the girl who had just led Mai Minghe in.

"I'm here. Is it over already?"

The girl named Shaxue seemed to be only in her early twenties, and she was so young that she seemed to glow naturally.

Her appearance and temperament were gentle and calm - it might sound strange to say this, but she also gave people the feeling of a thick snowfield.

The reason why it is smooth and clean is that the heavy snow has filled and smoothed out the bumps and cracks on the ground.

Well, maybe she was just imagining things again.

Sometimes, Mai Minghe only needs a glance or a few words to form a vague understanding of a person; of course, most of the time, people just pass by her and she has no chance to know whether her understanding is correct or not.

"Yes, please lead the way for her." Tianxi said. "When will the next one come?"

After emerging from the corridor, the gate was actually only seven or eight steps away from Mai Minghe, and there was no need for anyone to lead the way.

Rather than asking Shaxue to "lead the way for her", it would be more accurate to say that Tianxi was politely saying, "Take her out and don't let her stay."

As expected of a large hunter clan, they're quite aware of this...

Mai Minghe gently stroked his cane and an idea came to his mind.

If she could get the lipstick before entering the lair, she wouldn't have to worry about others suffering because of her, right?
Sayuki checked her phone and replied, "The next one is at 3:30, which is 20 minutes away."

After Tianxi thanked Mai Minghe and said goodbye, he turned and left. Mai Minghe immediately straightened her back and put all her weight on her feet - in front of Shaxue, she tried her best to take every step steadily and normally.

Shaxue was walking in front. She turned around and smiled at her, then asked, "Did you drive here?"

My driver's license expired 20 or 30 years ago.

"I'm sorry," Mai Minghe smiled sheepishly, paused, and asked, "Can I use the restroom, please? It's like this, I didn't have the nerve to ask Tianxi just now..."

Sayuki understood immediately.

"I'll take you there,"

She pushed open a double door on the right side of the hall and led Mai Minghe through a side hallway and into another corridor. "There's a box in the bathroom with all the necessary feminine products. Go ahead, I'll meet you at the door. It's so big here, I'm afraid you'll get lost."

Being afraid that she would get lost was definitely not the biggest reason, but it was also true that the place was too big.

Mai Minghe stayed in the bathroom for the necessary amount of time. When he came out of the bathroom, Shaxue was indeed guarding the door without moving an inch.

"You're going into the lair tomorrow morning, right?" Sand Snow seemed quite fond of her, and as they walked out, they chatted for a moment, "Is it okay to go in at this time?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

Mai Minghe felt embarrassed by her concern. "As a hunter of the Kai family, you don't usually go into the lair, so do you have to work here?"

For a job hunter, this question is obviously normal.

"It depends on whether our faction needs us. We've been a bit short on manpower lately, and I happen to be free, so I'm here to help look after the house. I can also help Tianxi receive the person who came for the interview—oh, he's my captain. We hunters in the Kai family are divided into teams."

"Will you go into the nest tomorrow too?" Mai Minghe asked, listening intently.

Without the sound of the cane tapping on the ground, the huge and empty building was completely silent except for the two of them; it seemed that even the dust had been silent along with the floor and walls for hundreds of years.

The Kai family is short of money...it seems that there are indeed not many people around.

"right,"

Shaxue pressed a black button on the wall next to the dark wooden door, and the lock clicked open. She said, "We'll try to prevent any accidents from happening to the interviewing hunters. We'll have to arrange for more people to accompany them. Otherwise, if word gets out, it'll tarnish the reputation of the rival faction."

"Then I'll have to ask for your help tomorrow," Mai Minghe said with a smile. "I hope we can work together in the future."

After a few polite words, she walked into the daylight outside the mansion.

The door behind him closed gently; Mai Minghe looked up and saw that there was indeed a camera hanging on the corner of the door.

Inside the Kai family mansion, Mai Minghe saw no security cameras. Perhaps it was because the only people allowed inside were members of the family—even if they were on guard, they couldn't do so openly. The door was heavy and solid, and on the wall next to it was a keypad with a call button. If you didn't know the code, you could only ring the doorbell to ask someone inside to open the door. Just figuring out how to do it took Mai Minghe half a minute.

She walked quickly down the driveway and stood behind a bush, looking across the lawn at the first-floor windows of the Kay family mansion.

Shaxue returned to the side hall on the right side of the first-floor lobby and was looking down at her cell phone; Mai Minghe waited for a few minutes, but didn't see anyone coming or going - it seemed that the Kai family really didn't have any extra staff to patrol the house at the moment.

She looked back.

There is a private driveway in front of the mansion, and if a car comes from a distance, Mai Minghe can be seen at a glance.

She looked at her watch. 3:15 PM.

Mai Minghe sat down next to the neatly trimmed bushes to prevent Shaxue from turning around and seeing her through the window.

Next, it’s all about waiting.

The next interview hunter was very punctual. At exactly five minutes before 3:30, an inconspicuous Citroën drove into the private driveway and slowed down. Mai Minghe jumped up, ignoring the dull pain in his foot. Before the car stopped, he hurried to the door of the Kai family mansion and rang the doorbell several times.

The Citroen stalled beside the private driveway and someone pushed open the door.

Footsteps sounded behind the door, and then Mai Minghe heard Shaxue's voice coming from the speaker of the password pad. "Mr. Li Sidan?"

She was lucky, as the next interviewee was a man.

The rear door slammed shut and the car lock clicked.

"Sorry, it's me," Mai Minghe glanced back and said as the man approached the mansion, "I forgot my cane in the bathroom."

When Shaxue opened the door, she seemed a little unresponsive.

"Look, my foot was almost healed, but I forgot about it when I left and took a cane with me."

Mai Minghe spread his hands and smiled sheepishly. "Do you still remember the cane I brought with me when I came here?"

"Oh, I remember." Sayuki suddenly remembered, "Hey, I didn't notice if you had a cane when you came out..."

There is a reason for that of course.

Mai Minghe walked steadily in front of her and used the topic of the nest to divert her attention, just to prevent her from realizing that she had left her cane in the bathroom.

However, if Shaxue asked her to wait outside the door while she went to the bathroom to get the cane for Mai Minghe, then this method would also be completely ruined; so Mai Minghe took the opportunity when the next interviewer arrived and rang the doorbell - at this moment, when she heard footsteps approaching behind her, she immediately stepped aside and made a gesture of invitation to the person who came.

The man named Li Sidan looked between the two of them in confusion and said to Shaxue, "I'm here for an interview..."

Shaxue responded subconsciously, "Mr. Li Sidan? Please come in."

Mai Minghe secretly said "good" in his heart.

As soon as the next interviewee walked in, even if Shaxue reacted, it would be inappropriate for Li Sidan to go out and wait; Mai Minghe quickly followed the interviewee, repeatedly saying "I'm sorry, I forget things so easily" while seizing the opportunity to enter the room.

In fact, she also knew that she was able to take advantage of the opportunity to sneak in because Shaxue did not regard them as potential enemies - the psychological setting of "there is a possibility of working together in the future" inadvertently reduced many obstacles for Mai Minghe.

"I can get it myself," she said to Sayuki apologetically. "You seem quite busy."

Now that the person is in, it's easy.

Whether Shaxue asked Mai Minghe to get the cane or went herself and let Mai Minghe and Li Sidan stay where they were and wait, it would not hinder the next plan - fortunately, Li Sidan was a man, and Shaxue could not take him with her, so she followed Mai Minghe to the bathroom.

Sayuki's eyes shifted between the two of them.

"Go quickly and come back soon," she said to Mai Minghe, "I'll wait for you here. Don't wander around."

Mai Minghe secretly breathed a sigh of relief and assured, "Okay, I won't."

She endured the dull pain in her foot injury, walked quickly to the bathroom, grabbed the cane by the door, and immediately turned back. The whole journey took her less than half the time of last time - because she had to spend the saved time in the side hall.

Fortunately, Kai’s house is not one of those modern buildings that makes it difficult to open the windows.

Mai Minghe gently opened the window lock, leaving a gap.

When she returned to the hallway, Shaxue and Li Sidan were still waiting there, seemingly trying to find topics to talk about, and their conversation was awkward - she came back early enough, so Shaxue didn't suspect anything.

"Thank you," Mai Minghe said, raising his cane slightly. "I got it back. Now I'm leaving. See you tomorrow."

Soon, the door closed behind her for the second time.

There wasn't much time left for her.

It would probably take Shaxue a little over a minute for her to lead the interviewee to see Tianxi and then back; Mai Minghe would have to go around to the side of the mansion and climb into the side hall through the window within a minute - before Shaxue came back, she had to hide deep inside the mansion.

From outside the house, the bottom edge of the window was about chest height.

Mai Minghe endured the pain of her injured foot, grabbed the window sill with both hands, and pushed one foot against the wall. After a lot of effort, she finally climbed into the window, making a muffled sound - which almost scared her to death - as for whether it was all recorded by a camera, she had no time to think about it.

What to do next?
Her heart was pounding against her sternum. She didn't dare think about what would happen if she was caught; she had seen what happened to those who crossed the Kai family.

Where would the Kai family keep the artifacts?

After Chai Si got the lipstick, did he bring it into Kai's mansion?
No, what if the lipstick never fell into Chai Si's hands?

Thinking about it this way, there were too many possibilities for the lipstick's whereabouts. What if her efforts were in vain, she was caught, or lost the opportunity to join the Kai family...

Before Shaxue came back, Mai Minghe carefully turned into a corridor.

She had to stop and calm her pounding heart, suppressing the countless sharp doubts, confusion and fears surging in her mind.

No, no matter what, she had to search Kai's house first.

Before the interview, from Tianxi's phone call, it seemed that Chai Si was busy with something and had no time to spare; if he wanted to find lipstick, now was the best time.

Okay, let’s do this—

Suddenly someone gently bumped into Mai Minghe's shoulder.

It’s like walking on a crowded road with people coming and going around you, and someone accidentally bumps into you; your shoulder shakes and you return to normal.

Mai Minghe's scalp exploded.

She stared at the empty corridors in front and behind her, unable to move for a long time.

　Finally posted! This chapter is over 4K long... It's too long, it's driving me bald.

　　I wonder if you all remember “your father said with a hearty smile”, I think everyone must remember it heartily, right?

　　Your father cheerfully said that he didn't need to write a sequel, but he wanted to appear as a character, so bang bang bang! Sand Snow cheerfully appeared.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)