Illusion Report

"...The thing he bought from me back then was a black cube, ten centimeters on each side."

The first time Uncle Kai told Chaisi about the Black Cube was on the morning three hours after Westley’s death.

"What does it do?"

Chaisi had just been woken from his sleep and had only just sat down at the breakfast table, taking a sip of black coffee so strong and bitter it nearly stung his tongue.

He didn’t know how Uncle Kai had learned that Westley’s Illusion had scattered after his death, which was why he was now being asked to track it down. But then, he rarely questioned the things Uncle Kai didn’t tell him.

"From what I know, it’s an Illusion for querying information. You input a command on one of its faces, and the relevant text-based information appears on the parallel face."

Uncle Kai chose his words carefully, speaking with great caution.

"You query it, and text information appears?" Chaisi raised an eyebrow. "...Like Google?"

Uncle Kai didn’t try to hide his limited knowledge, simply shaking his head. "I was young back then, only seven or eight years older than you are now. I’d had the Black Cube in my possession for only four days before Westley bought it... Even then, I had a faint feeling. But now, I’m certain that the Black Cube’s function is far greater than I ever imagined."

He glanced around, picked up a napkin from the table, and roughly folded it into a square, holding it up.

"Of the cube’s six faces, only one receives the command to start a countdown query. It then projects the countdown date from its parallel face."

After Uncle Kai’s brief explanation, Chaisi nodded, indicating he understood.

"It wasn’t until after I sold the Black Cube that I started to wonder. Of the six faces, two were for inputting and outputting information. So what about the other four? Did they have a function? During my experiments, the other four faces didn’t respond to my commands at all. What did Westley discover that I didn’t? Unfortunately, even if I’d wanted to know back then, I no longer had the chance."

"No, you’ll have your chance," Chaisi blurted out, the words leaving his lips before Uncle Kai had even finished his last sentence. "I’ll find it."

This was a subconscious reflex he’d developed over many years—Uncle Kai’s wish was his command.

He couldn’t stand to see Uncle Kai and Aunt Hai have any regrets.

’Whether it was guilt, loyalty, gratitude for raising him... or some feeling even more difficult to put into words, Chaisi had long stopped trying to figure it out.’

’Whether it was Uncle Kai or Aunt Hai, whenever they wanted him to do something, he would even feel a faint sense of something akin to relief. It was as if every request they made was another chance for him to repay them, to make amends—however insignificant.’

’Even though he knew he could never fully repay his debt.’

Uncle Kai nodded, unfolded the napkin, and used it to dab the corner of his mouth. "Good."

’...I found it, Uncle Kai.’

Chaisi gazed at the empty, dark alley before him and thought—for a moment, he wanted to laugh again.

’He never felt like laughing when he thought of Uncle Kai and Aunt Hai before.’

’The Black Cube had been found, in a way he never could have anticipated and much faster than he’d expected. That was something to be happy about, right?’

’The "personnel input" face must exist independently from the "information input" face; it has to be another, different face. This is because this face only accepts humans, not even Han Liu, so an information command would be even less likely to work.’

’It must also correspond to an output face.’

’He arrived at this conclusion not just by guessing based on corresponding pairs. After a person is taken apart and their Illusion is separated, there has to be a way to get them out, right?’

’Taking things out from the output face—that was a reasonable deduction.’

’Looked at this way, the six faces of the Black Cube very likely operated in corresponding pairs: one pair for information input/output, one for personnel input/output... As for the remaining pair, he had no idea what it was for.’

Chaisi looked up.

’Whatever the upper input face was, he was at least certain it wasn’t the personnel input face. In other words, if a person were to fall in, they wouldn’t be accepted by it.’

’The tricky part was what happened after being rejected.’

The output face corresponding to the one above was very close to the alley floor. The gap between them was wide enough for rainwater, but definitely not for a person.

’If someone fell in from above, would they be ejected from another face, or would they be crushed to death between the Black Cube’s trap and the alley?’

Based on the intelligence he had on the Black Cube, the answer was beyond doubt.

’The Black Cube couldn’t care less what you were. In from the input face, out from the output face. In from above, out from below. As for whether spatial factors resulted in a person or a puddle of a person coming out, it was almost certain that this was not within the Black Cube’s consideration.’

Chaisi was certainly not willing to have struggled and fought for thirty years only to end up as a pulp of flesh with his eyeballs and skull shattered, crushed by a Black Cube Illusion.

’...But was there any other way out?’

’If only someone could test it for him.’

Chaisi glanced down at the man and tugged hard on his legs twice—unfortunately, they wouldn’t budge.

He could lift the man’s legs, move them left, turn them right, even make them do a little dance, but he just couldn’t pull them out.

’Forget it. Even if he could pull the man out, he couldn’t vertically toss a burly man of similar height more than three meters into the air. He wasn’t Superman.’

Chaisi let go, dropping the man’s feet. They hit the ground with two consecutive THUDS. But in the next second, he froze.

’...What was that?’

’He thought he’d heard a third sound.’

It was faint and indistinct, as if trying to blend in with the noise Chaisi was making as he moved the man’s limbs. The moment the man’s feet hit the ground, the surroundings fell silent again.

Chaisi twisted around, staring intently at the corridor behind him.

Between the Backlight was semi-subterranean, with a set of stairs leading to the entrance. He was standing at the top of the stairs, and looking into the corridor, his view was obstructed after only three or four meters.

Those three or four meters of corridor were empty and starkly lit, with no sign of human presence.

’Did I mishear?’

’Could there be a second subordinate of the assassin in the bar?’

’If the assassin had already planted more than one subordinate in the bar, why not send them both at once? Wouldn’t that have been safer?’

’If the assassin sent someone new... he was guarding the entrance, so how did that person get in?’

’No, he was wrong.’

’The most critical question now wasn’t how the assassin got someone into the bar—even if he couldn’t figure it out, he had to act assuming the worst-case scenario, so thinking about it was just a waste of time. The most critical question was *who* the assassin had sent in.’

’A moment’s thought was all it took to find the answer.’

’If he were the assassin, after the first attempt failed, who would he send in the second time to ensure Chaisi stayed alive but obediently walked into the Black Cube?’

Aside from his hospital gown, Chaisi had nothing else on him.

He raised a hand and ripped his shirt open. A row of buttons burst off, clattering to the floor. He tore the shirt off, leaving his upper body bare, and gripped the garment tightly in his hand. Only then did he say in a low voice, "...Han Liuyue, you can come out now."

A second or two later, what slowly emerged from the corridor was not a pair of feet.

When a person approaches a doorway, from Chaisi’s perspective, their legs and feet should appear first. However, what was now rising from the corridor floor, bit by bit like a full moon, was a pale, bloated face.

Half of her raven-black hair hung down to the floor, flowing like crude oil and spreading into a pool on the tiles.

"Brother Chaisi..."

Han Liuyue, who seemed to be lying flat on the floor with only her head stretched out, suddenly looked at him and smiled, her cheeks bunching up high. "How did you recover your strength so suddenly?"

She had no intention of actually getting an answer.

She was only halfway through the sentence when a piece of her face suddenly loosened and cracked off. In that instant, Chaisi knew he was out of time.

He clutched the hospital shirt, his eyes locked on the small shadow hurtling toward him. He whipped his hand through the air, and with a sharp CRACK, seemed to strike something. Even with his extremely sharp motion perception, the cloth had only barely grazed the fragment to knock it away.

Because it wasn’t a solid hit, most of the force was wasted. The fragment merely tumbled backward a few times before stabilizing in mid-air.

"I’m not limited to sending out just one piece," said Han Liuyue, whose chin was now missing a chunk, her tone feigning regret.

Again, before she finished speaking, the single white fragment hurtling toward Chaisi became a small swarm. Chaisi immediately unfurled the hospital shirt to shield his head and face while simultaneously flicking it outward. Instantly, several fragments were enveloped by the shirt. Faintly, the shapes of tiny, wriggling legs could be seen squirming against the fabric, as if trying to drill through it.

He quickly whipped the shirt against the nearby wall, and four or five fragments were shaken loose and sent flying.

He had barely managed to block the second attack, but he had no way to restrain Han Liuyue’s fragments. If this kept up, it was only a matter of time before one of her fragments pierced him and he was manipulated into walking into the Black Cube.

Fortunately, he had been observing Han Liuyue all night and had noticed a phenomenon she had never mentioned—and it didn’t seem like a coincidence, no matter how he thought about it.

"The fragments that break off your face can only pierce a target’s face, right? You’ve never used them to strike any other body part... even though you’d be stealthier and have a higher chance of success if you didn’t aim for the face."

As Chaisi used the hospital shirt to bat away the fragments a third time, he could faintly feel his own strength failing. It was just a stimulant, after all... He was still a long way from a full recovery.

’There was only one path left, in the alley behind him.’

"So what?" Han Liuyue replied.

Before answering, Chaisi glanced at the door. He estimated its height at about two-point-two meters. Adding his own height... it was enough.

’He had no other choice.’

Without a word, Chaisi suddenly twisted, leaped up from the ground, stretched out his arms, and grabbed the top of the doorframe. At the same time, he braced a foot against the side of the frame, hoisted himself up with his arms, and clambered onto the doorframe. The moment his feet touched the top, he felt the door swaying back and forth beneath him, as if it had suddenly come alive and was trying to throw him off.

"Brother Chaisi!" Han Liuyue yelled from inside the room, apparently scrambling to her feet. "Why are you so hard to kill?"

Once he was on top of the doorframe, he was temporarily out of Han Liuyue’s line of sight. But he could already hear her footsteps rushing toward the door—Han Liuyue had always been a good Hunter who never let go once she’d locked onto her prey.

Chaisi crouched, glancing up at the night sky a meter above his head.

It was empty, seemingly holding nothing.

’It was hard to imagine that this scene of night and fine rain could be his tomb.’

Although he didn’t know if the assassin could hear him, he still laughed through his gasps for breath and said, "If I fall out the bottom, I’ll be crushed to death."

The night wind tousled his hair, and the cold, fine rain enveloped his body.

Even if a man could fly, in the vastness of heaven and earth, there was no escape.

’Chaisi knew he was betting his life.’

’He was betting that the assassin wouldn’t dare let him die before getting the "rumor."’

He would use his own death to force the assassin to retract the Black Cube.