Artifact Report

Chapter 228: Fu Tailan·Bai~
Fu Tailan heard himself call out softly: "Dad..."

He could not find his body, his soul having long since boarded a distant ship. What remained of him seemed to have transformed into dark waves, rising and falling again and again; though he could not see the moon, he was still forever driven by it.

Even in this state, he could still hear Fu Han's answer.

"Well, I'm here."

"Will you always be there?"

...So familiar.

It seemed like this conversation had happened once before. For example, he knew that Fu Han would ask after a pause -

"Do you wish I'd stayed here?"

He also knew his own answer. Sure enough, he heard himself say:
"I don't know... It seems like I would feel at peace, but also very painful. Sometimes I think it would be better if you died, but I'm also afraid of you dying."

The darkness was silent again.

Hmm, that's a bit strange.

Why isn't Dad angry?
Fu Tailan was vaguely confused.

It's impossible for him not to be angry when he heard such words.

Fu Tailan remembered that the third time he emerged from the lair, he was only twelve years old, during his last summer vacation in elementary school. While his classmates were away with their parents on summer vacations, traveling, and attending summer camps, he finally managed to bring back his first artifact.

After a series of incredible, puzzled, curious, experimental and ecstatic processes, Fu Han soon found a buyer - he was very talented in this area, perhaps because he often sold things and was well-trained - Fu Tailan didn't know the exact price.

"That's great," Fu Han said excitedly, "Haven't you always wanted a mountain bike? No problem, buy it! Also, where do you want to go? Dad will take you there. I'll buy the tickets right away."

They didn't make it.

Fu Han suddenly disappeared for nearly three weeks.

His best clothes, cell phone, wallet, keys, all disappeared with him.

To this day, Fu Tailan doesn't dare say that he has fully figured out where his father went at that time - he only knows that when Fu Han finally came back, his eyes were dark, his face was tired, and there was a strong and complex smell on his body, which was very unpleasant, like cigarettes, alcohol, sweat, perfume, and vomit; but his clothes were brand new.

Facing Fu Tailan's crying protests, Fu Han rushed into the kitchen, took out a cookie jar, opened the lid, and shouted angrily, "What are you doing? Look! Didn't I leave money for you? Isn't this enough for food?"

There were three hundred and seventy-two dollars hidden in the cookie jar. For a child, it might indeed be a huge sum of money, but it was not enough to eat for three weeks.

But for three consecutive weeks, Fu Tailan dared only live on water, bread and jam, and only bought a hamburger occasionally; because he didn't know when Fu Han would come back, or whether he would come back, and he didn't know how long he could rely on these 372 dollars.

One night during that period, Fu Tailan sat alone in front of the TV, licking Nutella on the spoon, and thought almost calmly: Giving the fake image or money to my father might be a mistake.

"How could I not come back? You are my son. How could I abandon you?"

Fu Han looked at his son, whose eyes were red and swollen, and his tone slowed down. He rubbed Fu Tailan's shoulder with one hand and said, "...Besides, if you are worried that you don't have enough money, you can just go into the nest again."

He raised his head towards Fu Han.

Before his father actually said it, Fu Tailan had already heard Fu Han's next words.

"By the way," Fu Han said. "Isn't it time for you to go into the lair again?"

According to him, he didn’t sell the fake product at a good price last time, and the little money he had wasted.

"You just want me to go, why don't you go?"

During that time in Fu Tailan, every night he dreamed of the messy fragments of his experience in the nest. He didn't know when he started crying again, his palms covered in cold sweat, and he shouted, "Don't say you can't get in. Even if you could get in, you would definitely die in there immediately—"

Fu Han's slap came unexpectedly.

"Do you really want your father to die?" Fu Han's face flushed red, with a strong anger that came from nowhere. "Will you be happy if I die? Am I annoying you if I live?"

Fu Tailan was stunned.

He was still young at the time, and his first reaction was to defend himself: "No, that's not what I meant..."

Fu Tailan opened his eyes and the dark waves gradually receded, and no more tides rose.

The light and colors in his field of vision were hazy, then gradually became clearer and clearer, allowing him to distinguish the ceiling, the IV bag, the white sheets, and a person sleeping in the corner of the bed.

The man was still holding a cell phone in his hand, his back was slightly heaving, and he was wearing a coat.

Following the regular "beep-beep" sound, Fu Tailan turned around and found that he was connected to a vital signs monitor by many wires.

He said that sometimes he wanted Fu Han to die.

Fu Han didn't react at all after hearing this, not because Fu Tailan was seriously injured and on the verge of coma at that time; because that was not Fu Han.

Fu Tailan looked at the ceiling quietly.

He was lying on the floor at that time, confused and dazed, and said a lot of things, but it seemed that he was talking to the "Fu Han Dough" that did not actually exist.

...In other words, Fu Han probably doesn't know about the "Nest Domination Game"?

He also didn't hear the nonsense he was saying about setting everyone free.

For some reason, Fu Tailan seemed to suddenly calm down from the "Nest Domination Game".

The end is far away and vague. If we die now by killing each other, it can't be considered freedom.

...Since when did the person I was talking to change from "Fuhan Dough" to Fuhan?
He was very clear that before he completely passed out, Fu Han did come back to the apartment to find him.

Fu Tailan remembered that the floor shook his mind and woke him up from his stupor; he remembered someone gently lifting the back of his head and saying anxiously and repeatedly, "I've called someone," "The Morgan family has sent someone," and "The ambulance will be here soon."

At that time, the "Fuhan dough" disappeared... At that time, the people around him were Fuhan.

That is to say...

On the verge of losing consciousness, Fu Tailan struggled to speak to Fu Han. "The kitchen... on the wall, there's a picture of a kitten. Take it away, don't let anyone see it..."

What was Fu Han’s reaction at that time?
Did he ask Fu Tailan what it was? Did he ask why it was so important?
Fu Tailan couldn't remember it at all.

There was a vase of flowers on the bedside table next to him, but no cell phone, let alone a picture of a kitten - this was understandable, and Fu Han couldn't be so confused about the importance of things.

What time is it now? What day is it?
Fu Tailan slowly propped himself up and sat up; he could not tell exactly where he was injured, because his entire upper body seemed to be about to crack, and his vision was black from time to time.

He pulled out the oxygen tube from his nose, stretched out his arm while gasping for breath, and touched the screen of a mobile phone held in someone's hand at the corner of the bed. The screen lit up, telling him that it was November 11, 23:11 pm.

This touch also woke up Ruimi.

"director?"

She sat up sleepily, her coat slipping off, and she quickly grabbed it. She looked at her phone, then at Fu Tailan.

"You finally woke up? If you don't wake up soon, the doctor will suspect something is wrong."

"…Am I okay?"

Remi smacked her lips. "Depends on your definition of 'fine'... but no vital organs were ruptured."

That's okay.

"Where's my dad?"

As soon as he said this, Fu Tailan couldn't help but feel a little regretful - he shouldn't have said "Where is my dad", he should have said "Where is Fu Han".

"I don't know." Remi rubbed her eyes. Perhaps because she slept on her stomach, her eyeliner was slightly blurry. "He disappeared after you were admitted to the hospital. We've been trying to contact him for over a day, but his phone is off, there's no response to the messages, and no one answered the door at home."

Fu Tailan sat on the hospital bed, staring at her blankly. "Has anyone seen him?"

"Yes, I met him once when he asked me to come to the hospital." Remi had an indescribable look on her face, as if she wasn't sure whether to feel sympathy or not. "He said he was going out for a cigarette and then left... That was around 21: PM on the st. I couldn't contact him after that."

"Did he tell you anything, or give you anything to keep?"

Before Ruimi answered, Fu Tailan had already heard her next words.

"No."

Fu Tailan lowered his head and looked at his bloodless fingers, which were bent and hanging limply on the white bed sheets.

"...What about the family faction?"

He had originally intended to ask if the family had seen Fu Han, and when they had last seen him; but Remi misunderstood and immediately said, "Ah, you reminded me. Mr. Carter Morgan told me to notify him as soon as you woke up. He wanted to ask you personally what had happened... Why did it seem like there was friction with the Kai family?"

She glanced at Fu Tailan with some hesitation and said, "This is no small matter... Wait a minute, I'll make a phone call."

Remi is not his person, but a member of the Morgan family; although he feels tired at the thought of dealing with Carter, he can't ask Remi not to notify Carter.

We can only fight it out as it comes and talk about it later.

Before she stood up to make a phone call, Fu Tailan finally squeezed in a question: "Where are my things? Where's my phone?"

Ruimi put the phone to her ear with one hand and opened the door of the bedside table with the other.

"We also found your black film artifact in the apartment, but no one dared to touch it. It's still in the apartment and hasn't been brought here. Don't worry, someone has been watching it there for the past two days, so it hasn't been lost."

Fu Tailan wanted to ask if there was still a painting of a kitten hanging on the kitchen wall, but he held back.

He found the backpack he carried home, a set of clothes prepared for discharge from the hospital, and the most important mobile phone and charger in the bedside table.

When Fu Tailan turned on his cell phone, he hadn't actually thought about what he would see - he had just woken up from a serious injury, every cell in his body was screaming in pain, and his brain was blank.

It was just a vague instinct, an automatic hope, that he felt he should check the messages and hear if there were any phone messages.

When he recognized the nest notification for the first time, Fu Tailan subconsciously thought that it was a notification of Chai Si's death - he was poisoned and fell from the building, so he must be dead, right?
But three nest notifications came in a row, all piled up at the bottom of the screen; no matter how lucky Chai Si was, he couldn't die three times in a row.

As a result, the reality was worse than he expected.

Judging from the first two notifications, for some reason, Chai Si not only did not die, but instead took another target pseudo-image from a player named Jin Xueli. His current progress has reached 2/7.

He actually found an ally in the "Nest Domination Game"?
Fu Tailan took a deep breath and clicked on the third notification.

—

Sure enough, the young contestant is still too young, Fu Tailan:

Oh, how did you end up like this?
He almost died at the age of seventeen. It is really heartbreaking and scary.

You originally didn't have any target artifacts and didn't meet the recruitment conditions; the reason you were able to enter the Nest Domination game and participate in the competition was entirely due to the "Nest Special Invitation".

The status of the specially invited players depends on the target artifact in your hand!

If you can't get the target artifact, or lose it after getting it, do you think you can still maintain your status as a special guest player?

Why, didn't I say that before?

It doesn’t matter. It’s not too late to say it now. It’s not the Nest’s fault if it hasn’t been said. The Nest is never wrong.

Yes, this notice is to tell you the ugly truth directly.

Your player status has been revoked. What a shame! So sad! What an unexpected development! But no matter what, as a veteran hunter with five years of experience, you were still able to lose your target artifact. It's really your own fault, isn't it? The lair can't be blamed. Anyway, you're free now. You don't have to collect target artifacts anymore. You're no longer a member of the game. Bye.

　I just realized that the last time Fu Tailan appeared was in October 2024... Okay, I almost forgot there was such a person (bushi
　　Speaking of which, maybe I am a little out of touch with the world. Is online literature marketing really that powerful? I discovered it on xhs... Various accounts of book recommendation, reader account and others repeatedly posted and replied to the posts for promotion. After seeing it several times, I confirmed that the book recommendation posts were bought, and the enthusiastic replies were from water army. Of course, the book titles cannot be revealed.

　　I feel like there are probably only a few people who do this.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)