Illusion Report

She had a very clear understanding of herself.

She was a fast-talking, emotional, upbeat person who could chat happily with anyone. She was easy to get close to, always sidling up to people.

Combined with her face, Jin Xueli knew that in others’ eyes, this personality made her seem like a naive, lively little animal. Just as a beautiful woman could hardly be unaware of her own beauty, she was well aware of the impression she made on others.

This impression was her shell for navigating the world; honestly, it offered her a great deal of convenience.

Used well, she could even escape suspicion of murder.

It was a shell, but it was also a part of her.

It was just that, if she were truly the same person on the inside as she was on the outside, she never would have been able to do—

’Ah, can’t think about it.’

Despite having the muzzle of a submachine gun locked on her, Jin Xueli found herself in an untimely daze. Her thoughts seemed to become a fine mist drifting in the rainy night, scattering who knows where.

Perhaps there was an "audience" watching her right now, listening to her self-analysis, secretly sizing her up.

’No matter what, I can’t think about what happened back then...’

Luckily, there was no shortage of things to distract her at the moment.

"...You lied to me?"

Chaisi’s words abruptly snapped her back to her senses.

"Huh?"

"You said your only goal was money."

Chaisi stood four or five steps away, holding the gun with one hand. If one looked closely, the muzzle was trembling slightly. It seemed he was also at the end of his rope.

"Did you lie to me, or did you change your mind and decide to compete with me?"

Jin Xueli let out a small "ah." Starting to understand, she glanced down at the black cube in her hand.

It was about the size of a Rubik’s cube, small enough to be held in one hand. In her other hand, she clutched her phone.

The message on the screen congratulating her on obtaining the target Illusion hadn’t finished before being interrupted by the word "Wait—". Now the phone was silent, as if holding its breath, waiting to see how this drama would play out.

During the car chase earlier, she had dazedly felt her body go light, then she was once again broken down into countless component parts. Inside the Black Cube space, she and Tian Xi had wobbled and morphed into two large "groups" of people.

Perhaps because her memories had also been disassembled, her recollection of the events inside the Black Cube was always a bit blurry, the details unclear. She only vaguely remembered that Chaisi didn’t seem to be inside—she had no idea how he had escaped, or what he had been doing on the outside.

She only remembered that after an unknown amount of time, the world spun, and a force threw her back onto the road.

The pain of that moment made a string of curses roll through her mind.

’What is this piece of junk? Doesn’t it know how to handle with care? So rude.’

The moment she was thrown out, Jin Xueli felt like a cartoon character stuffed into a cannon and launched out with a BOOM. Thankfully, she was very experienced at falling from heights. She managed to adjust her body in time and roll upon landing, avoiding any serious injury.

But the fall still made her vision go black, knocking the wind completely out of her.

’Thank goodness...’ As Jin Xueli scrambled to her feet, her first thought was one of relief.

’Thank goodness the height wasn’t great enough when I was thrown, or I would’ve been tossed right into the Nest. That would have been just my luck.’

"What the hell?" she called out from a distance, sucking in a sharp breath as she recovered. "What happened?"

"We’ll talk later." Chaisi was a good dozen meters away at the time, holding up his phone’s flashlight and searching for something on the road in sweeping circles.

Through the fine curtain of rain, behind him on the sea-crossing bridge, the mist bled the light from countless cars and streetlamps into streaks of red and white that stretched into the distance. Distant sirens, car horns, human voices, the occasional CLICK of a phone camera... The disturbed bridge had become a stage backdrop.

Behind them, a car burning like a bonfire flickered in the rain. The cold rain evaporated into hot steam, rolling up into a thick white fog that saturated the air, making everything feel like an otherworldly scene, nothing like the real Human World.

"Tian Xi."

Not far from her, Tian Xi had just groaned and gotten to his feet when his boss assigned him a task. "Go tie up that bodyguard on the ground and put him in the car."

Only then did Jin Xueli see that there was another person lying on the ground in the distance.

Tian Xi grunted in acknowledgement and dragged his rain-soaked body toward the person. Just as the thought, ’I wonder how much the Kai Family pays to make people risk their lives like this,’ crossed her mind, she heard Chaisi shout her name. "Jin Xueli! Get away from that truck."

She turned and realized the giant truck next to her hadn’t been in an accident, but had stopped on its own. Through the driver’s side window, she could vaguely see a face pressed hard against the glass, staring in her direction.

Although she didn’t know what role she’d ended up playing tonight, Jin Xueli still didn’t want the truck driver to remember her face. She called out an acknowledgment and started walking forward.

Somehow, she felt dazed. It wasn’t just her body walking through the rain and fog; her mind also felt like it was submerged in water, floating, expanding in all directions, light and unfocused.

’I must have hit my head when I fell.’

Jin Xueli lowered her head, rubbed the back of it, and rolled her neck back and forth, hoping to lessen the effects. As she did, her gaze was suddenly drawn to a square-shaped object.

She froze, took two steps forward, and picked up a black, Rubik’s Cube-like object from near the truck’s rear wheel.

’...It can’t be, can it?’

Every Hunter nerve in her body began to hum, telling her this was an Illusion.

Whether it was from the fall or the intensity of the feeling, she suddenly felt dizzy, a ringing vibrating through her skull. It took her a long moment to hear someone calling her name.

"Jin Xueli!"

She looked up and saw Chaisi standing not far away, one hand extended toward her. The submachine gun was in his other hand, pointed at the road. "Give it to me."

If she had been her usual self, she would have immediately realized the delicate... and dangerous... nature of the situation.

But her dizzy attention had turned to something else—she seemed to recall her phone ringing a moment ago.

Her usual lively, talkative shell seemed to have cracked from the fall and was no longer fitting properly. She looked at Chaisi, said nothing, and with a blank expression, pulled her phone from her pocket to glance at it.

’...The Nest is congratulating me for getting the target Illusion?’

’The Nest said, wait?’

’Wait for what?’

When Jin Xueli belatedly raised her head, she saw a gun barrel aimed at her.

The anger was a step behind, but it finally arrived.

The "Jin Xueli" in the eyes of the world, the quick-witted, fast-talking "Jin Xueli," would have simultaneously cowered and erupted in anger at this moment. She absolutely would not have calmly explained herself before handing over the Black Cube.

"What do you mean I lied to you?" she raised her voice, her words flying almost as fast as bullets. "I zoned out for a second, and suddenly I’m a liar?"

"...Give me the Black Cube." Chaisi and his gun remained motionless.

"Take it, then. Who cares about your stupid little toy."

Jin Xueli raised her hand and tossed the Black Cube over. He caught it with a smack.

"You think I don’t know my own situation? I have no money, I don’t belong to any Family Faction, and I certainly don’t have a bunch of underlings at my beck and call. I’m not a strong competitor, and I’m too lazy to rule over anyone, which is why I thought you’d be a good partner who could help me get the most benefit."

Chaisi held the Black Cube and lowered his gun. At the same time, both of their phones chimed, but neither looked down.

He looked at her, saying nothing.

"I know my situation isn’t as good as yours, you don’t have to remind me at every turn. I happened to find it, and I was a few seconds late handing it to you, so what? If I wanted to compete with you, I could have just let you die back at the hospital, couldn’t I? If you think I’m just waiting for a chance to trip you up, then why are you even working with me? Go on your own! Look how much I’ve helped you so far, and I haven’t seen much benefit, but I still get a gun pointed at me for my trouble—do I owe you something?"

It was as if Chaisi had been stunned into silence by the sheer volume of words hurtling at him.

"I’m so pissed off," Jin Xueli said, getting angrier the more she spoke, her face flushing. She turned to leave. "Get out of my way! I’m going home."

"You don’t have a car—"

"So I don’t have a car, do I not have feet either? Can’t I just get off this bridge and hail a cab?" she said, walking past Chaisi without a backward glance. "You think I’m like you were before, swaying with every step? I was the one fucking holding you up, you know."

Tian Xi had just shoved a person into the back of the SUV. He stared at her, his mouth half-open, completely stunned.

After taking a few steps, Jin Xueli remembered the most important issue.

"You know my account number. As for me saving your life, you can figure it out. However much you think your life is worth, that’s how much you can transfer to me. If you don’t give me a single cent, I won’t come asking for it. I’ll just make sure to tell everyone I meet that Chaisi Monroe’s life—"

She swallowed the word "dog" and said, "—that his life isn’t worth a single cent, by his own valuation."

Fueled by her anger, Jin Xueli stomped away quickly, tossing one last line over her shoulder. "I wish you and the Nest a long and happy life together!"

No one called out to her from behind. No one shot at her.

As she walked past Tian Xi, he was looking at something behind her. Something in his expression made her stop and glance back as well.

A dozen or so steps away, Chaisi was still standing in the same spot, watching her. His expression was unclear through the curtain of rain, but it seemed he had been standing there in a daze, lost in thought.

Their gazes met from a distance, and Chaisi seemed to snap out of it.

"I’m about to take Han Liuyue to see the mayor," he said in a low voice. "Aren’t you coming with me?"

Han Liuyue—who knows where the creepy thing had been hiding—immediately floated up from the side of the road upon hearing this. A large, snow-white face emerged from the dusky fog.

"Hi," Han Liuyue said, waving at her.

Beneath her shell, suspicion began to rise.

’Is Chaisi testing me?’

Completing the action point "Take Han Liuyue to see the mayor" would grant a clue for the next target Illusion.

If she had no strong desire to rule the Nest, but insisted on going along and completing the action point anyway, it would be suspicious.

This thought process was not reflected by her "shell."

"Me go? What for? Are you, her, or the mayor that good-looking? I haven’t seen a single cent, and I haven’t done enough already? No way. Only a dog would continue to be your escort."

Tian Xi sucked in a sharp breath.

Chaisi didn’t get angry.

"Tian Xi," he just turned and ordered, "let’s clean up the scene here. It’s time to go."

’So that means I’m dismissed, right?’

Jin Xueli crossed her arms and started walking off the bridge.

She had been walking for less than half a minute when she heard Tian Xi call out to her from behind, hurrying to catch up.

"What is it?" Jin Xueli asked.

"Is this... your Illusion?" Tian Xi asked, holding up a round, tube-like object for her to see.

’Oh. So Chaisi isn’t giving me money.’

The rain and fog blurred her vision. She only glanced at it, feeling for a moment that it was both familiar and yet something she had definitely never seen before.

"Not mine," Jin Xueli said, still not in a good mood with Chaisi’s underling. She may have loved money, but she wouldn’t risk taking something that belonged to someone else.

"It probably belongs to those two from earlier," Tian Xi said, putting it in his pocket. "I’ll take it back and put it in the Family Faction’s warehouse."