Illusion Report

The black SUV took less than half a minute to whip around, drift, and start speeding in reverse. After all, any hesitation, any delayed maneuver, would have meant either crashing into the truck or plunging off the bridge.

Yet twenty seconds was enough for a lot to happen.

"Brother Chaisi," Tian Xi called out in a low voice.

From that moment on, it was as if time slowed, stretching into one long, continuous shot. The world fell silent, sinking all the way down to the bottom of the Black Sea beneath the bridge, leaving only the sound of his own breathing and heartbeat in his ears.

Smoothly, Chaisi leaned out the window and raised his submachine gun.

Ahead, the black SUV’s rear wheels skidded and spun sideways, as if an invisible hand had wrenched it in a new direction. Its tires threw up a torrent of spray. White waves rose to meet the black rain, for a moment blurring the lines between sky, sea, and the Human World—a vast, watery expanse.

Chaisi narrowed his eyes.

White raindrops shattered against the black barrel of his gun. Several tentacles from a small fragment, like a miniature hand, gripped the muzzle tightly, clenching and unclenching periodically.

The moment the SUV’s passenger-side window entered his sights, the MP5 opened fire in the rain.

The impact of the first shot forced the fragment’s tentacles to release the muzzle.

In that instant, Chaisi could almost see the bullet, wearing a tiny turban with swaying "tassels," flying with the fragment into the sky and rain, its tentacles opening, closing, and waving in mid-air.

"Han Liuyue!" he called out, his voice a low growl.

"It didn’t work," a mumbled, indistinct voice came from the back seat. "It hurts so much..."

The rest of her words slipped right past Chaisi, unheard.

The muzzle of his sub-machine gun erupted in a brilliant white flare, tearing through the rainy night with furious flashes of light. A second shot, a third... an untold number of bullets shattered the bullet-resistant window, leaving a trail of dazzling sparks across the SUV.

But Chaisi couldn’t land a fatal shot. The SUV successfully fishtailed around, reversing into the lane to the truck’s left—the one bordering the Black Sea.

Behind the windshield were two figures with blurred faces. The driver had his head turned, frantically steering the SUV in reverse.

Chaisi immediately slapped his MP5. A fragment that had been dangling from his finger instantly wrapped itself around the submachine gun’s muzzle. ’So Han Liuyue didn’t drop the ball at the critical moment after all.’

"Change lanes!"

Having shouted the command, Chaisi fired another burst at the front of the SUV.

"Ah," Han Liuyue suddenly cried out.

At the same time, their car suddenly jerked to the side, wrenching itself from a path that would have ended in a collision with the container truck. The tires, scorching the rainwater on the road, sent a plume of white steam billowing up.

For a moment, there was nothing before them but the vast Black Sea, as if Tian Xi intended to drive right off the bridge.

"I—" Han Liuyue was still shouting, as if she too knew time was running out. But every word seemed to stretch on infinitely. "can—feel—"

’It’s time.’

With his free left hand, he gently opened the car door beside him.

Inertia slammed Jin Xueli hard against the side of the car. Chaisi heard a dull THUD from the seat behind him—the sound of her hitting the door. In that same instant, as his own door swung wide open, Chaisi was flung high into the rainy night.

He remembered tumbling in mid-air. One moment, his vision was filled with the gun clutched in his hand. The next, it was the road rushing up to meet him. And then, it was the vast, boundless, starless and moonless night sky, hazy with rain.

Despite curling up just in time to protect his head and face, the moment he slammed onto the ground, his mind went blank for several seconds. His body, consumed by excruciating pain, refused to think or perceive anything else.

The truck driver seemed to have finally realized something was wrong. A few long, angry roars, like thunder in the rainy night, blasted from its horn, dragging Chaisi’s consciousness back to the bridge.

He scrambled to his feet, panting. The effects of the stimulant had long worn off, and now adrenaline alone surged through his trembling muscles.

His MP5 had been sent flying; he had no idea where it had landed.

Half his jacket was soaked through. He couldn’t tell if it was from the rain or his own blood.

Amidst the endless, swirling rain, a sound, a motion, made Chaisi look up.

He lifted his gaze just in time to see the car he’d just bailed from being tossed into the air, as if by a playful giant.

The car, its hood buckled and twisted, flipped completely upside down, its four wheels tracing an arc against the night sky.

It traced a long parabola through the air. Directly beneath its arc was the black SUV, now slowing down. The Kai Family’s car soared over the SUV’s roof and finally, with a deafening CRASH, slammed onto the bridge deck dozens of meters away, the impact shaking the very night.

Chaisi took off running.

The heavy truck’s path was now half-blocked by the mangled wreck that had just fallen from the sky. The truck was braking, clumsily and urgently. Chaisi sprinted with all his might, catching up to the decelerating vehicle just as it shuddered to a halt. He slid behind it, taking cover behind a massive tire.

He reached behind his back, drew another .45 pistol from his waistband, and gripped it tightly.

A sudden WHOOMPH echoed from the distance. It seemed the Kai Family’s car had caught fire. Chaisi couldn’t see the vehicle itself, but he could see its flames dancing, casting flickering orange-red reflections on the dark, wet road.

’Did the others in the car realize I jumped?’

The black SUV, which had been speeding in reverse, finally screeched to a halt just before it could crash into the inferno. It stopped right where the truck’s cab met its container, leaving it nearly a full container’s length away from Chaisi.

Chaisi knew exactly what lay in the space between them.

After a moment’s thought, he circled to the other side of the truck and quickly ran the length of the container to reach the front of the cab. Ahead on the road, under countless threads of rain, the wreckage of the car burned fiercely.

As Chaisi rounded the front of the truck, the driver in the cab suddenly lurched forward against the steering wheel, his eyes wide as he stared at him.

’He saw my face...?’

Chaisi subconsciously wiped at his eye—thinking rain had gotten in—but his fingers came away slick and sticky, a feeling the rain couldn’t seem to wash away.

He looked down. His hand was covered in blood.

’Good. He didn’t see my face.’

Chaisi raised his gun, paid no more attention to the driver, and peeked out from behind the front of the truck.

In that one glance, he saw the back of the black SUV, both its doors open. Two men, guns raised, were cautiously advancing onto the empty road ahead.

"What did you do?" one of them asked. "Why did that car—"

"I told you I was going to finish them off for good. This is how," the other man said, suddenly stopping. "Stop here. Don’t move. Keep your eyes open. There should be one person nearby."

’No,’ Chaisi thought, ’there are two of us nearby.’

’Besides me, who jumped, there’s also Han Liuyue, who was thrown out with the car. The only ones who "disappeared" are Tian Xi and Jin Xueli.’

’The one speaking was undoubtedly Secretary Green... So you can’t see the prey in the trap unless you get close?’

Chaisi silently raised the muzzle of his gun from behind the truck, narrowed his eyes, and pulled the trigger.

’No sense in delaying what can be settled in one shot.’

At the sound of the gunshot, the bodyguard holding the gun fell straight to the ground, like a puppet with its strings cut.

He immediately swung his gun and fired a second shot at Secretary Green, who was just starting to react. But the man was faster than he’d anticipated. Almost at the exact instant Chaisi pulled the trigger, he dove for the pavement, and for a moment Chaisi wasn’t sure if his shot had connected.

"They’re both still alive, you know," a faint voice suddenly remarked from behind, startling Chaisi so badly he almost spun around and fired.

"The bodyguard’s unconscious. Looks like he was wearing a vest."

Han Liuyue stood a short distance behind him. On her Noh mask-like face, the tentacles of several fragments were writhing, trying to seal a gap and make her face whole again.

In the truck’s cab, the driver seemed to cry out in alarm, then rubbed his eyes hard. But no one paid him any attention.

"Perfect," Chaisi said with a tilt of his head. "Your fragments have a use now."

"My face was already a huge help, you know,"

As Han Liuyue spoke, a fragment had already shot off, flying straight toward Secretary Green, who had just scrambled to his feet and was aiming his gun back the way he’d come.

"If my face hadn’t sensed it, how could you possibly have noticed right away that Mr. Green had seized that split-second opportunity to deploy a Black Cube trap on the road?"

Chaisi had stopped listening at the start of her long-winded tirade. His eyes were already tracking the small white fleck as it streaked through the dark, rainy night.

Amidst the sounds of the rain, the waves, and the distant wail of sirens, the small fragment silently embedded itself in Green’s cheek.

Green stood there stunned, motionless, as if he didn’t understand what had just happened to him.

Chaisi walked over, step by step.

He didn’t trust Han Liuyue, so he grabbed her and dragged her along with him. Han Liuyue didn’t struggle, her compliance was almost nauseatingly smooth.

This was a tall, thin man with fair skin, only half a head shorter than him.

He had no memory of this man whatsoever; it was the first time in his life he’d ever seen this face.

"Give me the Black Cube." It wasn’t clear who he was speaking to. Green was unconscious, so it must have been directed at Han Liuyue.

But it was several seconds before Han Liuyue let out a questioning, "Huh?"

"What’s wrong?"

"It’s weird..."

Han Liuyue’s mask-like face drew closer to Green, scrutinizing his body and face. "So weird... I can’t move him."

"What do you mean?"

"It’s already burrowed into his face, and he’s lost conscious control. But he’s not obeying me... What’s going on?"

’You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?’

"So you can’t make him give me the Black Cube?" Chaisi cut impatiently through Han Liuyue’s string of "so weird, so weird."

"I can’t. He won’t even move a single step." Han Liuyue paused, then added, "Actually, even if I could make him move, I have no idea how to retract the Black Cube, you know."

Chaisi suppressed his anger.

He glanced over at the empty stretch of road beside them. This was the very section they had driven over after Tian Xi had swerved in time to pursue the SUV.

It was true. If he hadn’t wrapped the bullets with fragments from Han Liuyue’s face, and if she hadn’t sensed them passing through the Black Cube, he never would have had the chance to jump. He would have plunged headlong into the Black Cube along with Tian Xi and Jin Xueli. Only the non-human car and Han Liuyue had been ejected from the other side.

The two of them must be floating in the Black Cube right now, broken down into countless pieces.

If Green couldn’t actively retract the Black Cube trap... then in Chaisi’s experience, there was only one other way.

’Fine. It would have ended this way regardless.’

"...Nicely done," Chaisi said in a low voice, walking up to Green.

Green was as if lost in a waking dream, completely unaware.

"Quick reflexes. Plenty of nerve. Who would’ve thought you’d dare set another Black Cube trap while on the run?" Chaisi said with a low chuckle.

Green must have intentionally left a trail of breadcrumbs, just to see if Chaisi could follow. If Chaisi hadn’t found the clues and given chase, Green would have escaped. But if he did, another trap was waiting.

The fleeing prey was, in reality, a Hunter, secretly waiting for the other to take the bait.

Although he didn’t know who Green really was, he was a worthy opponent.

He deserved that much respect before he died.

"Why are you praising him," Han Liuyue grumbled. "It was my face that sensed it..."

Chaisi paid her no mind. He walked over to the unconscious bodyguard, picked up the man’s gun, then dragged Green over to a gap in the bridge’s guardrail.

Chaisi switched to the bodyguard’s gun, the muzzle aimed at Green’s temple.

Beyond the bridge, the surface of the Black Sea rose and fell. Strands of rain drifted down between sky and earth, landing on Green’s cheeks and eyelashes, then sliding down his face as if weeping on his behalf.

A flash from the muzzle at his temple, and Green’s body went limp.

Chaisi looked down, watching as he fell straight into the sea, leaving a trail of blood droplets in his wake.