Artifact Report

Chapter 238 Mai Ming River·Signpost·Wooden Man·Hide and Seek

When leaving the theater, before closing the door, Mai Minghe caught a few words from the speakers:

"...Instead of saying 'the last person,' should we say 'the survivor'? Um, 'the person who survived after killing the others'? ...Or 'the Gu King'?"

It is concentrating on improving its rhetoric, and seems to be trying its best to prevent the next hunter from surviving.

The traps and inhabitants of the nest are vast and countless.

The speaker seemed like—wait, was it a resident? Or was it part of some other undefined, unclassifiable chaotic danger in the lair?

In short, the speaker does not seem to be one of the things that opposes the "rule game" and wants to kill Mai Minghe.

Otherwise, it might not have followed the rules, allowing Mai Minghe to survive after the breakout.

There are many "traps" and "scripts" in the nest, just like the Black Heart Restaurant game she participated in. As long as the hunter solves the puzzle according to the rules, he can generally survive - "generally speaking".

If the residents repent and start killing people, it seems that the nest will not stop them.

She gently closed the door, shutting out the speaker's voice. Through the door, she could only hear a muffled sound, unable to distinguish the words.

The supplies the Kai family had prepared for them were comprehensive, encompassing everything a hunter would bring into their den. She opened her bag, found a pen, and quickly wrote a few words on the gate. The writing was faint and faint on the painted gate, but there was no better way.

caveat:

There is a trap inside, and many versions of you will appear. When you are deceived and start to kill yourself, you will eventually die.

Don't kill yourself! Try acceptance and embracing.

Residents are speakers (?)
Will anyone believe this hippie-looking message?
Mai Minghe carried the bag of supplies and walked out for a long time. He looked back a few times with concern, fearing that the speaker pretending to be a speaker would follow him.

The speakers didn't catch up. The streetlights, railings, theater posters, trash cans... all looked exactly the same as in Blackmore City. Nothing had quickly regained its original shape when she jerked her head around.

After walking for a few minutes, Mai Minghe realized that her biggest worry was no longer the residents, but another more practical problem -

Where is the meeting point "Annie's Warehouse"?

This warehouse area, built in the early 19th century, is too big, right?

Standing at the intersection and looking around, it seems that there are red brick warehouse buildings everywhere, row after row - do I have to walk over to see them one by one?

Shaxue said that the hunters of the Kai family would wait at the warehouse door for three hours. Hunters who did not arrive within three hours would be considered to have failed the interview and could go home directly.

Mai Minghe didn't spend too long in the theater. From the time he landed until now, it was only about forty minutes. But if he failed because he couldn't find the way, it would be too frustrating.

Just now she had praised the Kai family for distributing a complete range of supplies, but now it was no longer the case: Why not draw a map?

But then again, it's really not possible to draw a schematic diagram of the assembly point's location - if someone encounters an accident and the map falls into the hands of the residents, then everyone at the assembly point might be caught in one fell swoop.

It was probably decades ago that she went back and forth from the Mai Ming River to the Old Port. She stood at the intersection, not knowing which direction to go first, and was a little dumbfounded.

Her eyes swept around, sweeping over the road, the overpass, the road signs, and a pole at the intersection with several road signs hanging on it.

Why isn't there even a signpost nearby?
Mai Minghe walked back and forth a few steps, stretched his neck, and looked around the empty road several times.

This area is no longer used as a storage terminal. Instead, it has become a popular venue for theater troupes to perform, and is usually crowded with tourists. At the very least, the same location in Blackmore City should have many road signs installed to facilitate tourists.

Mai Minghe walked along the sidewalk for more than ten steps, looking at the roadside coffee shops, ticket offices, and signs pointing to the tourist information center, but he didn't see a single sign.

……and many more.

She turned around suddenly.

On the pole in front of me was a poster for a touring African theatre group; it was old, faded by rain, and the paper was bumpy.

Perhaps it's because the poster isn't completely dry yet? The lead actor's eyes are slowly sliding down to the sides of his chin.

I felt like I had just seen something worth noting... but it wasn't the pair of eyes barely covered by the chin.

This kind of anomaly is not uncommon in the nest.

Mai Minghe glanced at the sign on the pole that read "Tourist Information Center, 350 feet" and felt a surge of anxiety. Why hadn't the nest copied the signs from Blackmore City as well? It didn't have to be the sign pointing to "Annie's Warehouse"; any sign would have given her some confidence. But in such a large place, there wasn't a single sign.

She looked up again.

Below the sign pointing to the tourist information center, there is another sign pointing in the opposite direction that reads "Suicide Art Group, 550ft."

She lowered her head and couldn't help feeling a little anxious.

No...something just doesn't feel right.

It was as if a beat skipped in her head, but she couldn't tell what it was.

Anyway, the source of this strange feeling was right beside her, and it occurred when she was searching for signposts but couldn't find any.

Mai Minghe thought for a moment and took out his cell phone from his pocket.

Isn't that kind of plot common in horror movies?

There is nothing to the naked eye, but when you take a photo and look at it again, suddenly there is a ghost among the crowd.

Although it was still a cloudy day in the nest, Mai Minghe couldn't say that she didn't feel any anxiety when she pressed the shutter button while recalling the horror movie.

However, the cellphone photos showed the same emptiness, everything looked normal: electrical boxes, storefronts, trees, road signs… except for the lack of any road signs.

Mai Minghe sighed. "Forget it. I won't argue with the sign. If it's not there, it's not there."

She lifted her foot, picked a random direction, and walked away. After a few steps, she suddenly had an idea and glanced down at the photo on her phone. The next second, Mai Minghe suddenly turned around and shouted to the empty road, "I see you!"

The road sign stood firmly before my eyes.

The lover, who had just emerged from the closet, seemed to have been caught off guard and had no time to put on his pants.

Even if Mai Minghe lived another 86 years, it would be difficult for him to express the feeling at that moment in words:

There was a road sign clearly printed on her retina, but it seemed to be shrinking and fading from her brain bit by bit.

"I've seen you. Stop! It's too late to run."

If someone heard Mai Minghe shouting this at the empty road now, they would probably think she was crazy.

The signpost finally stopped moving—no, that’s not right, the signpost had never moved in the first place.

It was clearly in the center of my field of vision, but it felt as if it was in the "peripheral vision" of my mind, and would disappear if I pulled back.

"What the hell?" Mai Minghe was almost laughing out of anger. "Why is there something as childish as you in the nest? Are you playing hide-and-seek like a child? Show me, where are you pointing?"

Under her gaze, the road sign trembled almost painfully, like a mimosa that was about to close - no, that's not right, the road sign hadn't moved at all. Why did she always have this hallucination?

But Mai Minghe still shouted, "Don't move."

There are five signposts on the pole. In addition to the four signs of restroom, suicide art troupe, subway station, and ferry port, there is also a signpost pointing to the southeast, which is the most meaningful to her.

Visitor Information Center, 700 ft
700 feet, about 200 meters, not far.

Since it is a tourist information center, there should be a layout map of the nearby buildings; this way, there will be hope of finding the location of Anne's warehouse.

There is a line of small words under the road sign.

"Please be careful and don't be fooled by fake information centers."

　Sometimes I come across posts teaching people how to write (because I have to click on them), and I see people teaching how to stop writing sentences like “He was stunned” and “She looked at it” and use other descriptions instead.

　　Well, I found that I quite like writing like this... Before reading these posts, I didn't realize that others thought this was a problem.

　　Maybe it won’t change in the future.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)