Artifact Report

Chapter 245 Mai Minghe: Her Favorite Nest

No one can save you, said the old woman.

Mai Minghe was sharing a narrow room with it.

The room had no doors or windows, and looked more like a solid, dark, hollow iron block; she had forgotten how she had gotten in.

The room was only as high as a squatting person; she squatted on the ground, the ceiling pressing down heavily on her head, there was no space, and she couldn't straighten her neck.

The old woman pressed her tightly, squatting beside her, behind her, and in front of her. Mai Minghe was squeezed in the middle, and could only curl herself into the smallest ball, holding her calves with her arms.

No one can save you, said the old woman.

Aside from Mai Minghe, the other two interviewed hunters were also held captive by the residents, unable to break free. Aimeili had unknowingly even attracted two residents to attack her, as the den dwellers favored confident individuals.

Mai Minghe didn't know how she knew it, but she just knew:

Li Sidan was struggling to maintain his sanity, but his control over his own mind was becoming increasingly loose and difficult to maintain.

Every time he lost control, a corresponding part of his body would go awry. If someone bent down to look at his ear at this moment, they would find an eyeball rolling around in panic deep in the ear canal.

"I feel like I'm almost dying... Maybe it was a mistake for me to go through with the Kai family interview."

Li Sidan was in another world twenty meters away, muttering to himself, "If I die in the nest... I must write a description of my appearance before death so that I can crawl into it, crawl into that description, and then I can be resurrected from that text. Is that okay? Anyone who hears or sees it must write it down—"

Ai Meili, from another perspective, your death might be a very lucky one.

She had no idea anything was wrong.

As far as she knew, she had just put her phone into the gap again, trying to record the voices in the gap; in order not to face the door of the tourist information center, she was very cautious and only turned her head to the side.

She believed that she was still maintaining a high level of vigilance and would immediately notice any movement around her.

But there was no movement around.

The streets were quiet and peaceful, nothing unusual, no danger.

So Ai Meili just kept squatting, squatting, squatting, squatting, recording, recording, recording, recording.
It was obvious that only one bullet would be enough to shoot down the "back drifter" resident and bring Ai Meili back to her senses, but no one nearby could do it.

I heard that the other two interviewed hunters were lucky because they landed far away from you, so they were not affected by you. They found the clues early and went to "Annie's Warehouse".

The old woman covered her eyes with her hands, revealing a mouth that could not be looked at.

From every angle, it told Mai Minghe that only these two were unlucky to have run into you. Now that everyone else has gathered, there are no hunters left nearby who can save them.

Give it up, said the old woman.

Let go of the hands that are holding your calves, and everything will be over. It will end sooner or later anyway, so why bother to endure it a little longer and suffer a little longer by letting go of the hands that are holding your calves?
Just like life, after living for decades, you will eventually die, and 99% of people will eventually be tortured by illness and die in pain. So why bother to endure it? Give up early and be a resident in the nest who is free, free to do whatever he wants, to take revenge, and to feel comfortable. What's wrong with that?
Mai Minghe hugged his calves tightly.

The only things she could clearly feel seemed to be her legs and feet.

The heavy concrete roof pressed down on her head, making it impossible for her to lift her neck. Her body curled up tightly like a shrimp, but these sensations were not very distinct - she did not feel any cramps in her back muscles, nor did her neck feel sore.

Only his legs and feet, as if supporting an unimaginable burden, trembled and shivered, yet he still struggled desperately.

Use force... Use force for what?
Mai Minghe shuddered and remembered.

She was walking towards the road that was packed with "Tourist Information Centers".

She didn't know when she was thrown into this narrow stone cage; when she realized that there was a resident lying on Aimee's back, she also found that she had no way to get rid of the old woman.

It stuck tightly to Mai Minghe's neck and drilled into her skull little by little. She was helpless to do anything about it and couldn't even shout for help or warn others.

Since there's no getting rid of the old woman, there's only one way, isn't there?

The dumbest way.

If you can't get rid of it, just pull it and move while you can still move.

Mai Minghe was on the verge of losing consciousness, struggling and taking a step around the corner.

Another step.

Every step was so long and difficult that it felt like reliving the past eighty-six years.

The old woman only grabbed her neck, but her feet were still free. Even if it was so difficult that it seemed like a life-threatening situation, even if it seemed like she was dragging a thousand-pound burden forward, she could still move her feet - then there was still a glimmer of hope.

Ah, yes, it seemed that when she finally turned the corner, Mai Minghe found herself squatting in the stone house.

The old woman squeezed Mai Minghe everywhere, and the stone house was filled with the smell of her mouth.

Mai Minghe initially thought it was saying "Let go of the hands holding your calves." But after listening carefully, he discovered that beneath the sounds and words, there was another set of words hidden:
Give up, you’re so tired… so tired that you can’t even open your eyes.

You have to listen to your heart and your body for once. You've been fighting life head-on for so many years... You're so tired, you're really exhausted...

The old woman's presence, her voice, the pressure on her stone house, all seemed to emanate from within her brain—it had already entered; but at the same time, it was still behind her, tightly gripping Mai Minghe's neck. Mai Minghe took another step.

Most people would have given up long ago, right? She wanted to give up, too.

She really didn't know why she risked her life like this: to get into Kai's house through an interview? To steal the lipstick and sell it to the mayor? To get the "time" artifact clue and regain her life?

It's such a long road, one step after another, it seems like it's endless, with no end in sight. How easy it would be to give up.

No, I don’t want to go to the end either, Mai Minghe thought, I just need to take one more step.

Just one step, and then give up immediately.

She took a step forward.

Take one more step, just one more step, and then you can give up and feel relieved.

"Didn't I tell you to give up?"

The old woman's howl suddenly and distinctly rang out beside my ear, this time no longer an echo in the stone house of my mind: "Haven't you just lived your whole life drifting with the flow? Have you forgotten? You've wasted eighty-six years in a muddle, and now you want to pursue your goals? Why? Because you're special?"

Mai Minghe opened her mouth and moved her lips several times, but because her vocal cords were squeezed so tightly that there was no space left, no sound came out. In fact, it was a miracle that she could still move forward.

"What?" the old woman asked, her voice suddenly pausing.

……what?

Speaking of which, the residents always make people realize at unexpected times that they are all things that come from humans - there are some residual human things in them that seem to be stronger than those of humans.

For example, curiosity.

Mai Minghe opened and closed his lips twice more.

"What?" The old woman really shouted, "What do you have to say now? What on earth do you want to say? I won't change my mind unless I strangle you to death. I won't be curious, but what on earth do you want to say?"

Ai Meili was not far ahead... Mai Minghe seemed very anxious, and his lips twitched rapidly several times.

"Is it a plea for mercy? Is it a plea for mercy? Is it a negotiation?"

Mai Minghe took great pains to make a sound of denial through his nose.

The old woman was silent for a moment, during which time she took another step forward.

"I'm only loosening my grip a little bit, don't think I'll let go. Tell me, what do you want to say? Let me hear it, and then I'll laugh at you."

The airflow and sound began to flow more vigorously from the neck and chest again.

The old woman did not give Mai Minghe any chance to break free out of curiosity; she was still squeezed by the stone house, and her consciousness was still trapped in the old woman's voice. The only difference was that she could barely make a few hoarse sounds, just like the voice of her husband who had throat cancer before he died.

"You know why... I like... nests?"

The old woman was quiet for a few seconds. "You like the nest? You like it now? Even after being tortured to death?"

"Yeah... I like it."

Mai Minghe spoke hoarsely, taking another step. The muscles and bones in his legs felt as if they would break and shatter at any moment, tumbling to the ground in a tumble of scattered bones.

"The world... looks vast, but it's so cramped. So many invisible... walls. No, they look like walls... but in reality, they're all people. What's blocking you, what's restricting you... are all people, and the tools they've created. The path left for you... is so narrow..."

She had already walked behind Aimee Li.

The old woman seemed to be able to only choose one part of the human body to attack. If he changed from grabbing the neck to grabbing the legs and feet in order to prevent her from leaving, then all the deformation that Mai Minghe had undergone so far would be in vain - you see, when others get into your mind, not only do they affect you, but you will also understand others.

“So, I can only go with the flow…

"But... the nest is different. It has so many rules and so many residents... but what I want to do, what I can do... is up to me... Fighting you is also interesting. It feels more like being alive than before. I would rather fight a hundred of you than be weighed down by a mountain of... debt, making me anxious and crying in the middle of the night..."

Mai Minghe pulled out the empty pistol from his waist.

People born in her generation are generally more frugal and thrifty.

Even if the pistol was empty, she would not throw it away casually - such heavy metal, such fine craftsmanship, how could she just throw it away like garbage just because the bullet was gone?
Mai Minghe raised his pistol high and smashed it on the back of Ai Meili's head as she lay motionless.

Because her neck was tightly grasped by two hands, she couldn't even look down and could only grope and feel her way, hitting it again and again; Mai Minghe couldn't see whether the "back drifting" residents jumped down or whether the real rules fell down.

Before the old woman tightened her grip again, she managed to squeeze out a cry: "Aimeili, tear up the rules and call the posters!"

　I've been on a roll lately with "one good horror novel after another"!
　　This new book I just started reading is also very interesting, especially the way the author writes the protagonist so well. His dishonesty, arrogance, narcissism, confusion, and disrespect for others make you want to slap him in the face.

　　But don't worry about getting too angry when reading it, because you know from the beginning of the book that the protagonist will die in the end.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)