Artifact Report

Chapter 243 Mai Minghe: Rules of Division poster is in...

If someone looked towards the street of the Tourist Information Center at this time, they would probably think that the three hunters on the street were almost finished, right?
The figure behind the glass door still looked calm and human. Only when you got closer could you hear the faint whisper: "...My name is Li Lililililili. The Stanssi human is the top locker in the second row on the right. I live in the cavity on the right side of the second molar of Miss Smith, the history teacher at Rose Hill High School in Blackmore Queen..."

Aimee's head was still turned, facing the wall and the gap, with the back of her head facing the street. Her black hair slowly extended downwards, flowing onto the sidewalk; beneath her black hair were two curled bare legs, their skin dry and cracked, and her yellowed toenails long and thick, twisted, digging into the ground.

One of her hands, holding the cell phone, was deeply sunken into the black crevice, reaching her shoulder; as if numbed and her mind was emptied, Aimee didn't move at all - as long as no one disturbed her, it seemed as if she could squat there forever.

Mai Minghe had been silent for a while. She lowered her head, a yellow warning poster in one hand and a photo in the other, like a standing statue.

The strange sense of disharmony undoubtedly comes from the differences between these rules.

Mai Minghe's gaze returned to the photo on his phone.

2. Resist the lure of "tourist information centers"
Be sure to calmly say no to the "Tourist Information Center".

Don't take the playbill it hands you, don't read the playbill it hands you, don't listen to its directions, no matter how it promises you a good memory, don't buy souvenirs, don't carefully compare the differences between each "tourist information center", don't go in, don't turn your back to its door
……and many more.

Mai Minghe looked at this passage and didn't know why she was so slow to realize it. It was only now that she realized the contradiction between this passage and her actual experience.

The contradiction has been clearly before our eyes... Why is there such a huge deviation and conflict between the rules and reality?
So, the fifth rule, "You must follow the rules on this warning poster and do not rely on other rules of conduct," clearly implies the existence of other rules nearby - where are they? Why haven't I seen them?

The more Mai Minghe thought about it, the more she felt that her speculation seemed to be on the right track; but it was just a guess after all. To confirm it finally, she had to find the third torn poster.

She raised her head and looked at the sky first.

The sky was still gray and gloomy, like a very tired face.

Mai Minghe looked around again.

Just recently, when she had just met Aimeili, she saw the fluorescent orange tag on Aimeili's chest at first sight; she still remembered the feeling at that moment - as if this was the only bright color between heaven and earth.

Now that she looked at it more carefully...it wasn't her illusion.

Everything around me was as gloomy and tired as the sky. Even if there was color, the red bricks, the brass signs, the green trash cans, the posters in the windows... it seemed covered in a thick layer of dirty dust. You had to look carefully to distinguish what color it was originally.

But the warning poster with the rules printed on it is an exception.

Because the warning poster was brand new, the half that was stuck to the distribution box was still flat and hadn't seen a single drop of wind or rain. Even the piece in her hand, though wrinkled, still had a vibrant yellow...

She had seen this bright yellow three times on the gloomy street.

The half-broken poster on the switchboard, the pile of posters found in the trash, and once—she had seen this yellow color once before—

Where is it?

When Mai Minghe suddenly raised his head, he even heard a "crack" sound from his cervical vertebrae.

She remembered.

Mai Minghe turned around and rushed back the way she came, leaving Li Sidan and Ai Meili behind; she strode to the intersection, turned sharply, and stopped abruptly.

At the entrance of Tourist Information Center No. 17, an old woman wrapped in a tattered robe and hunched over was squatting on the ground, covering her mouth with both hands, trying hard to stifle her laughter, her shoulders still twitching; her eyes under her sparse gray eyebrows were two curved black slits.

"...Contestant Mai Minghe,"

A muffled voice came from beneath her hands, whose skin was wrinkled and covered with age spots. As she spoke, the old woman took a step closer to Mai Minghe and finally let out a laugh.

"I've been waiting for a long time. I've been waiting for a long time. Thanks to them for keeping you for so long, I finally found you. Come here quickly. We old sisters want to have a good talk together--"

With every word, it would squat and move forward a step; when the words began to splash out at high speed, the old woman's curled up legs and feet also quickly rotated into a shadow, like a giant spider, and in the blink of an eye it had pounced on Mai Minghe.

Before she turned around and ran away, Mai Minghe still did not forget to glance at the window of Tourist Information Center No. 17.

On the three theater troupe posters standing side by side, the middle one showed a small figure surrounded by people, holding a yellow piece of paper high in his hand.

The third rule poster is hidden inside the poster.

But she didn't have time to read the words on the last poster - how to shoot a gun? Is the safety released like this? And then just aim and pull the trigger?

Mai Minghe fiddled with his pistol while running away, in such a panic and confusion that he almost dropped it to the ground.

The old woman was squatting and walking on the ground, but her speed was much faster than her. Before Mai Minghe could figure out how to shoot, it had passed by her and blocked her way again.

The old woman squatted on the road ahead, her hands gradually moving away from her face.

"Since you and I already know each other, it's impolite to keep covering your mouth like this. So I'll let you see my face." The first bullet that was fired seemed to be very respectful of the old woman's personal space. It didn't even touch its edge, flew far over her head, and hit the void.

Mai Minghe had not expected that the recoil of a seemingly small pistol was actually not to be underestimated. It was as if someone had suddenly hit her shoulder with a hammer, almost knocking the gun out of her hand.

Her hands were shaking violently, but she didn't dare to slow down for a moment. She aimed at the old woman's head again and fired several shots in succession.

At the moment when the old woman's hands were completely separated from her face, a bullet finally hit the center of her forehead.

At such a close distance, the bullet was extremely powerful and immediately flipped its head back, bending its neck and body at a 90-degree angle.

…No, she didn’t see it.

For a moment, this was the only voice left in Mai Minghe's mind.

She did not see the old woman's face. Since it wanted her to see it, she absolutely could not see the old woman's face—

Residents will not be killed by bullets.

As the old woman's neck slowly straightened up from the 90-degree angle, Mai Minghe grabbed the bag of supplies that was miraculously still hanging on her body.

She unzipped her bag, not caring about the things falling out, and with a wave of her arm, she threw the entire bag of supplies over the old woman's head, turned around and ran, rushing back to the direction of Tourist Information Center No. 17.

It's not like it has no hands. Can't it just sweep the bag over its head off with one hand?
Mai Minghe secretly hated the fact that there was no better way, and secretly prayed that the old woman could be delayed a little longer; she stopped in front of the window, and although she didn't know how much time she had, she still immediately leaned against the glass and squinted her eyes - the poster within the poster had jagged edges, and it looked like it could just connect with the second regular poster.

What did you write?
She put her hands to her eyes to block out the sunlight and strained her vision; finally, she could vaguely make out the words on the poster.

This police reminder takes effect:
From February 2026, 12
All the curse words she had ever known in her life flashed through Mai Minghe's mind.

Today is November 2026, 11. Does that mean all the rules she has found so far have not yet taken effect?

What kind of hellish joke is this?

To avoid breaking the rules, she and Aimee-ri walked separately and far away, instead of going directly to the tourist information center to look for a map. If she had known the rules weren't in effect, would Aimee-ri have fallen for it? Would they have stayed there for so long?

If it weren't for Mai Minghe, the others might not have experienced this disaster.

No wonder there is a contradiction with real experience... Where are the real rules?
I'm afraid, as the old woman said, there's something else around here doing its best to confuse the situation—

Old woman.

When Mai Minghe stood up from the glass, there was more than just her reflection in the glass.

The old woman covered her mouth and crouched and crawled around the corner—crouched and walked, should we call it crawling?—she walked to the window, a step or two behind Mai Minghe, and then she straightened her legs little by little, rose up, and slowly stood up.

"Turn, head, yeah."

The old woman's arms had long been lowered from her face, hanging on the ground like long electric wires, forming a semicircle that just surrounded Mai Minghe in the center.

"Chat, chat, yeah."

Although he knew that he must not look, Mai Minghe still felt an indescribable urge to look up at the old woman's face in the reflection - perhaps it was like when a person stands on the edge of a cliff, there will be an undercurrent of urge, even if he doesn't want to die, he still wants to jump down.

She resisted the urge and fixed her eyes on the other corner of the window.

The old woman took a step toward her, one step, and another.

It stood behind Mai Minghe, right next to her.

"Let me help you, bend your head, over, 180, degrees. Then we old sisters can have a good chat."

When it held Mai Minghe's neck with both hands, Mai Minghe's voice was almost squeezed out from a tiny gap, not knowing whether it was due to actual pressure or fear and tension.

"Poster!" She closed her eyes and shouted in a trembling voice, "There's something wrong with the rules here—Poster, come out!"

　Although it's not my holiday yet, with the New Year drawing to a close, I've lost interest in work or writing. Today, I just want to play games... I have a day off for the Spring Festival on January 1th! I heard there won't be a New Year's Eve this year! Then I can post a chapter about the residents' gathering and chatting, so we can all chat together (.

　　Everyone's been asking me what great books I've read. My Best Friend's Exorcism is the best novel I've read so far in January. Well, the title says it all, but it's truly a wonderful novel, a heartwarming and touching story of a young girl's coming-of-age friendship. It's not scary, and the author captures the girls' emotions with remarkable detail. The friendship between the girls is truly moving, and I couldn't help but admire her as a truly female author. It's a delight to read.

　　After finishing the book (I shed a few tears), I read the author's introduction with great interest...

　　A male author!? A male?!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)