Illusion Report

The sound of pounding footsteps and voices from the staircase startled Mai Mingle in an instant.

The jolt snapped her out of it. The long lily petals in mid-air, like curling, ever-expanding fingers, finally slid from her consciousness, freeing her mind from the pitch-black darkness at the flower’s core. Her heart felt as if it would burst from her throat and ears at the same time, and for a moment, the pounding of her own blood deafened her to everything else.

’Run.’

The staircase was behind her, the floating lilies before her. For a moment, all she could do was stagger a few steps to the side, hitting the stair railing with a soft THUD.

Only then did she realize that the people downstairs had apparently already called out several times.

Perhaps because Mai Mingle hadn’t answered, the man stopped shouting for her to identify herself. Instead, he bellowed downstairs, "Get a few people up to the third floor! And notify Tian Xi!"

Not even ten seconds had passed since the glass bottle had shattered on the floor, and already several more sets of footsteps were pounding up the stairs. Amidst them was another unmistakable sound—a series of sharp, metallic clicks ringing through the air.

Mai Mingle had never fired a gun, but she’d seen movies. She knew that sound. It was the click of a gun’s safety being released.

’So they carry guns even inside the Family Faction’s own territory? They can just pull them out whenever they want?’

’No wonder the mansion doesn’t have any security guards. In a place where everyone is a trained fighter, who needs them?’

But this was no time for musing.

Mai Mingle darted around the lilies and bolted back toward the third-floor central living room, snatching a glance over her shoulder as she ran.

As if suddenly remembering they were only flowers, the enormous lilies in the air seemed to fold in on themselves. They dropped straight from the air and hit the floor with a wet SPLAT.

The shattered glass, the spreading puddle of water, and the limp lilies lay on the floor as if pointing the way for the people coming up from below.

’...What in the world was that all about?’

’Was it some kind of warning Illusion?’

’But why just drop a vase on the floor? Why wasn’t the warning more thorough—like an alarm sounding through the whole mansion? Or broadcasting my location right away?’

The footsteps grew closer. Her pursuers only had to round one more corner and climb the last flight of stairs to spot her in the open-plan living room. Her mind buzzed, and for a crucial second, she had no idea where to go.

She had just made a full circuit of the third floor; she knew perfectly well there was almost nowhere to hide.

The first floor of the Kai Family Mansion was a public, open-plan area that included the kitchen and dining room. It served as a common space for the Household Hunters, with many unlocked rooms that allowed them to come and go freely. The second floor, however, housed important personnel and supplies, and opening any of its doors required a certain level of clearance.

But the third floor was different.

The third floor was clearly renovated at some point, with several walls and doors removed to connect half the level. This created a spacious, open atmosphere with excellent lighting—but it also meant that it would only take a few people to get a clear view of the entire floor.

Mai Mingle no longer had the luxury of thinking.

By the time several people stormed onto the third floor and stopped short at the shattered glass, she had already ducked into a hallway beside the living room. One side of the hallway was a semi-circular viewing balcony, and the sunlight bathing half the floor only made Mai Mingle feel even more exposed.

A few meters away, someone let out a sound of surprise.

"Was there a vase here? Where did these flowers come from?"

"I remember these... they’re the flowers from the first floor," a woman said hesitantly. It was Sha Xue.

’So they don’t know what the deal with the lilies is either?’

"Forget the vase. Someone’s definitely here," another, deeper voice said. "Spread out and search. They should still be on the third floor. Sha Xue, you cover the stairwell."

With that, the only way off the third floor was sealed.

In truth, mansions built in the same era as the Kai Family Mansion usually had a back staircase for servants, allowing them to move about their work without being seen by the masters of the house.

But as Mai Mingle had discovered earlier, after more than a century of changing hands and renovations, the back staircase had long since been converted into a freight elevator—and without a keycard, she couldn’t open its doors.

’Which way do I go?’

Gritting her teeth against the pain in her foot, Mai Mingle forced herself to move, not daring to make a sound, but not daring to slow down either. Even so, she knew that no matter how fast she went, she would soon be cornered by the Hunters spreading out to find her. The hallway wrapped around the entire third floor, and she could already hear footsteps approaching from the opposite direction.

She glanced at the hallway window.

’Is my only option to climb out the window?’

She had already glanced out before. Pushing open the window revealed a drop of over ten meters. The exterior wall fell away in a sheer, straight line; there wasn’t so much as a foothold, let alone anything to grab onto.

’And setting aside the question of how long I could even hang there, the Kai Family Hunters aren’t blind. A half-open window with a row of fingers gripping the sill? They’d spot that in a second, wouldn’t they?’

’If it hadn’t been for that bizarre bottle of lilies, I’d probably be clear of the Kai Family Mansion by now. How did I suddenly end up in a corner like this?’

’What do I do?’

Mai Mingle was so frantic she felt like she could climb the walls. The footsteps were closing in from both front and back. In this section of the hallway, there was only a single room, its door shut tight.

When she had passed it earlier, she had only snapped a photo and hadn’t tried pushing the door to see if it would open.

’There was no point. Anyone could see the keypad lock next to it and know that a door that locked automatically when closed wouldn’t just push open.’

"Who’s there?"

An unfamiliar woman’s voice drifted from around the corner of the hallway. She didn’t sound hostile; in fact, her tone was quite gentle, almost conversational. "I know you’re in the hallway," she said. "I can already see your shadow."

A jolt went through Mai Mingle. She shot a quick glance at the floor. ’She’s bluffing, right?’

She quickly flattened herself against the wall beside the door, feeling a vein in her temple throb as if it were about to burst.

’If I walk out and surrender, what will the Kai Family do to me?’

’And either way, I’ll definitely never get that lipstick back, will I?’

"Were you hoping to take advantage of us being short-staffed and our defenses being down to steal some money?" the woman’s voice remained gentle. "A pity, but you’ve come to the wrong place. Put down your weapon and don’t resist. I assure you, your firepower is no match for ours."

She was stalling for time—because from the other end of the hallway, someone was approaching with extremely light footsteps.

’How did I get cornered like this?’

’Should I... should I give myself up?’

CLICK. The sound was like a single, light tap of a finger on the door. It was so faint it nearly escaped her notice.

Mai Mingle’s head whipped toward the door, drawn by the faint sound.

The first thing she saw was a small green light that had suddenly illuminated on the keypad.

For a second, she didn’t even understand what the light meant—but then she saw it.

The door slid open a crack.

Mai Mingle didn’t personally witness the moment the Kai Family Hunters burst into the hallway, sealing it off.

But she could imagine their confusion and shock as they raised their guns, shouting "Don’t move!", and laid eyes on the corridor.

The hallway was empty. By the time the shouts flooded the corridor, she was already inside the room, having silently slid the door shut.

Mai Mingle stood at the door, her back to the room. Aside from a hurried glance as she’d slipped inside, she hadn’t yet turned to get a good look at the space behind her. She only knew one thing: when the door had slid open, there had been no one on the other side of it.

She couldn’t bring herself to think about who might have opened the door for her from inside.

Right now, her mind was fixated on a single thought, one that froze her to the spot.

At the far end of the room was an unmoving, humanoid black hole that seemed to be staring right at her... What in the world was that thing?