Illusion Report

"I understand..."

A young man with curly brown hair had a faint smile on his lips and the glint of tears in his eyes. With what seemed to be all the tenderness in the world, he undid his shirt one button at a time.

He pulled the shirt free from the mangled flesh. He suppressed a pained gasp, and as his chest heaved, a fresh, copious gush of blood bubbled out once more.

Leaning against the corner of a wall, he gazed at the head resting in the crook of his arm and said in a low voice, "It’s not like... it’s of any use to me anymore..."

"Please, please, please, please,"

The head had long, curly hair, but there was nothing beneath it—only the young man’s arm, reaching out from between the silken strands, cradling empty air.

A voice pleaded from behind the long hair: "I need your biological material. I’m about to die. I don’t want to die in the Nest, I don’t want to become a resident. Please, I’m begging you. I just need a little bit of protein, red blood cells, calcium, amino acids, hormones to form a new body. It doesn’t have to be much. I can be a dwarf, I don’t mind being a dwarf as long as you still love me."

The curly-haired man stared fixedly at the head, as if still holding onto some hope.

"I’m not going to make it. I know how bad my injuries are. If you can take it all, let me become your flesh and blood so you can live, then that wouldn’t be so bad..."

The head was silent for a moment.

Then, under the young man’s gaze, it suddenly let out a shrill laugh.

"Really? Really? Is that really true? That’s wonderful! Just wonderful! Then what are you still clinging to? Hurry up and die!"

Jin Xueli didn’t look away, but the scene instantly faded to black all the same.

Perhaps it was because all that remained was that brief moment and a few lines of dialogue. ’That’s for the best. I didn’t want to see the curly-haired young man’s final expression anyway.’

"Is this it?"

A middle-aged woman with soft, round features, her face a mixture of lingering tears, panic, and hope, turned her head and asked, "Is the exit through this door? Will I be able to go home?"

Behind her was another human—a man.

He was around forty, with a clean-shaven bald head and a thick, long beard trimmed into the shape of a spade, jutting out into the air.

"That’s right," he said, staring at the woman and jerking his chin toward the door at the end of the alley. "You go on. I won’t go with you."

"Thank you," the middle-aged woman said, wiping away a tear. "You have my contact information. Contact me when I get home, and I’ll be sure to thank you properly..."

She turned and walked away. The bald man waited where he was for a moment.

When the CREAK of the door opening echoed from the end of the alley, he gave a cold smile, pulled a gun from the small of his back, and crept after her in small steps. Soon, this scene too disappeared into the darkness.

"How romantic,"

The English teacher had appeared beside Jin Xueli at some point, silent as a ghost. "They think death is like a candle being snuffed out, that everything just disappears. But that’s not true! The Nest isn’t such a heartless place!"

It grew excited, flinging its two arms about, its black robes whipping in the dark.

"The look on their faces when struck by a truth they refuse to accept, the shadow of death falling over them, the secret delight of thinking they’ve beaten the Nest yet again... Even when humans die, they leave behind countless imprints of intense moments, and the Nest preserves every single one. This is *carpe momentum*, baby!"

The English teacher was so pleased with its speech that it brought a hand down for a hearty slap. Luckily, Jin Xueli saw it coming and reacted instantly, twisting on her feet and slipping out from under its palm.

"Yes, yes,"

she replied placatingly, unwilling to look into the plastic bucket on the ground again.

It looked like a simple bucket filled with black, muddy water. But a single glance inside would send the final moments of countless strangers flashing before her eyes like a macabre carousel.

Most of them were moments when their lives were abruptly terminated, when the midpoint of their story suddenly became the end. Regret, remorse, fear... they lingered like the long tail of a comet streaking across the night sky.

"Is it only humans?" Jin Xueli asked. "Do you collect moments from us residents in there too?"

"Some, but not many."

The English teacher clicked its tongue, its excitement dimming a little.

"There aren’t many resident corpses, and they don’t leave behind many ’moments’ either. There was this one bug-like fellow who specialized in building nests in human brains and using their bodies to birth its children. It had some bad luck at the hospital a while back, got squeezed out, and somehow ended up beaten into lumps of ground meat... Every lump is still alive, but I figured it must be suffering a fate worse than death in that state, so I put it in here too."

"Huh? But if it’s still alive—?"

"Does it matter?" the English teacher said. "Once it’s poured in, there’s no difference between life and death, is there? You want me to fish it out for you to see?"

"No, no, that’s not necessary."

Jin Xueli had seen enough. She just wanted to get rid of the English teacher and get back to the store. "Being alive doesn’t matter... I’ll turn on the pump for you."

"I wish you could die sometime soon,"

the English teacher said, its voice full of both anticipation and regret as it watched her take out a green-handled key and insert it into the lock. "A flavor as precious as yours can’t just be casually poured into a pump for recycling and refinement."

Jin Xueli did her best to keep a straight face as she pulled open the side panel of the pump.

’Residents are highly sensitive to human emotions,’ she repeatedly told herself. ’This is a resident. It’s not worth getting angry. In its mind, it’s paying me a compliment.’

After opening the side panel, four or five pipes were visible inside. Jin Xueli twisted open the valve on one of them and said to the English teacher, "You can pour it in."

"So you didn’t start this job without any training after all,"

The English teacher hefted the plastic bucket. The black liquid inside sloshed, and amidst the splashing sound, a half-formed human voice sputtered out a muffled "Wait for me" before falling back into the dark water.

Jin Xueli watched as the fragments of countless lives, the moments imprinted with intense emotions, the innumerable final instants, the memories that could never be relived... were poured GULP GULP GULP into the pipe by the black-robed resident.

There were indeed some resident remains among them: a few slender insect legs, a hand sealed in a vacuum bag, a tangled mat of filthy hair...

They all disappeared into the pipe along with the human moments.

After settling and refining, they would become the "fuel" at the "Nest Gas Station."

Jin Xueli tightened the valve again and locked the pump’s side panel. The English teacher looked very pleased, watching the pump with its hands on its hips.

The bucket hung from its arm, a final whimper lingering at the bottom.

"Well, I’m off,"

it said, facing the pump. But one of its eyes swiveled sideways to look at Jin Xueli. "I’ll be back. I won’t forget you. You’re really not human, are you?"

Jin Xueli said earnestly, "I’m really not."

’Was that... a false alarm?’

She watched the English teacher disappear into the night, her legs still feeling a little weak.

In fact, countless scenarios had already run through her mind: for example, the previous clerk had actually been killed by the English teacher, which, upon returning to the scene, discovered Jin Xueli filling in and decided to silence her too.

Or maybe the English teacher had known she was human all along and was just playing with her like a cat with a mouse, giving her a sliver of hope only to let her die in it...

’But in the end, none of those terrible possibilities came to pass?’

Jin Xueli was afraid the English teacher might still have a trick up its sleeve. But she stood her ground, remaining on high alert for several minutes, and sure enough, the resident left and didn’t look back.

’Is that it?’

’Next, all I have to do is get the Original Liquid, and then I can—I can—’

Jin Xueli suddenly let out a long breath, her whole body nearly collapsing with relief.

She still couldn’t quite believe her luck tonight... but one of her principles was to never question a good thing when it happened to her.

Jin Xueli walked back into the store and found that the power cord for the refrigerated display case had been plugged back into the wall at some point.

"Oh, we can’t have that," she muttered, squatting down. She reached into the gap behind the case and pulled out the power cord. The gap was only wide enough for one hand, which was why the face deep inside it was squeezed out of shape.

Jin Xueli opened the lid of the food warmer and turned the sausages. The chicken wing had already settled back into place; it seemed to be tired too.

’Next, I still have to mop the store floor...’

’At some point, a Hunter secretly came into the store. Judging by the smell, it was very recent.’

’The Hunter circled the store several times, stayed for a while, and touched a lot of the merchandise. Now there’s a layer of chaotic, hormone-scented impurities on the floor. I’ll have to wipe down the products, too...’

’Ah, but all that can wait... Getting the Original Liquid is the most important thing right now.’

’Original Liquid, Original Liquid~!’

’Nine million, nine million~!’

’Why are humans so repulsive, yet they can create such lovely, such charming items?’

’A hundred million, a hundred million~!’

Jin Xueli sang a cheerful little tune about money in her head as she took a water bottle from her backpack, dangled the keys, and walked back to the pump.

’Honestly, what was I even worried about before? Getting the Original Liquid from the pump is the easiest thing in the world, isn’t it?’

’There’s no need to worry about what currency to pay with. I just have to open the pump, twist the biofuel pipe valve, and stick the nozzle into my water bottle. I’m the clerk. As long as I don’t empty the whole station, taking a few liters is no problem at all.’

’Money, money, it’s all money!’

Jin Xueli had never felt so carefree and exhilarated.

’So this is what it feels like to have so much control over my own life and destiny. I know what I want, and I know I’ll get it.’

’The English teacher was right. There are so many moments in life worth remembering—like this one.’

’Soon, my life will be free of bitterness and comparisons. No one will be more beautiful, wealthy, or happy than me.’

’No unfulfilled desires, no tiptoeing around, no mockery from fate... I just have to grip this water bottle and walk toward my future. Money, money, money!’

The water bottle was full. She locked the pump again and turned to leave, her steps as light as if she had springs on her feet. But after just one step, her body froze—someone had grabbed her clerk’s vest.

’What’s going on?’

Jin Xueli turned her head.

From the dim shadows between the two pumps, a woman had appeared.

The woman was lying prone on the ground, her upper body exposed while her lower half was hidden behind the pumps. She had one arm stretched out long, tightly gripping Jin Xueli’s vest.

"Take it off," she said in a low voice.