Illusion Report

’...What’s going on?’

’Isn’t this Blackmoor City? Why is Vulture here?’

"Hey," Tian Xi suddenly called out, grabbing Jin Xueli’s attention. "Look over there."

Before he’d even finished his sentence, he had already turned and started walking away as if in a trance, leaving behind the other Tian Xi and Jin Xueli who had just gotten out of the car.

’Another version of him is standing right there, yet he’s turning and walking away?’

Jin Xueli froze. Keeping her eyes glued to the pair by the car, she stumbled after Tian Xi and asked urgently, "Where are you going?"

It was like how a duckling imprints on the first thing it sees after hatching. She, too, found herself subconsciously trusting this Tian Xi beside her—at least, more than the "Tian Xi" standing next to the other Jin Xueli.

"...Look," Tian Xi murmured, pointing ahead into the rainy night.

When Jin Xueli looked up, the beam of a distant flashlight pierced through the rain, shining directly into her eyes.

The light forced her to squint. Then, she heard a familiar voice cry out faintly in the distance.

"That’s you," Tian Xi said. "Another you just walked over."

’...Huh?’

***

Jin Xueli sat by the fifth-floor window, staring blankly at the machine gun in her hands.

The machine gun was still warm.

Its barrel poked out of the half-open window. The downpour lashed inside, soaking half her body and leaving her shivering from the cold.

’...That’s right. When I was trapped in that dream just now, I really did open fire on a vehicle on the road.’

When she startled awake, she saw a large truck veering away—no, not a truck, it looked like a tanker. She hadn’t seemed to hit anything vital. The tanker, with one of its tires crippled, still managed to skid forward, struggling to escape her line of fire.

’Why would I—’

Before she could finish the thought, a brilliant white muzzle flash erupted from a car parked on the other side of the street.

Someone in that car had opened fire, their target the very same tanker that was about to get away.

The gunfire roared through the rainy night like a loosed beast. A seemingly endless stream of bright tracer fire completely overturned the tanker in a matter of seconds. With a BOOM, the tanker erupted into a massive fireball, its momentum carrying it into the depths of the rainy night until it vanished from Jin Xueli’s sight.

’Why would someone else continue the attack on that tanker?’

Jin Xueli quickly leaned out and squinted. Inside the car across the street, she saw herself, gripping a machine gun—

That version of herself took a sharp breath, as if she, too, had just woken from a dream.

***

The moment Tian Xi got out of the car, Jin Xueli immediately climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

"What are you doing?" Tian Xi snapped, whipping his head around.

"Something’s wrong," Jin Xueli yelled. "I need to go check the area!"

"What more do you need to see?" Tian Xi gestured wildly, his hand sweeping across the several figures standing scattered in the distance as he shouted through the downpour, "Didn’t you see the two of me and three of you over there?"

"It’s because I saw them that I know something’s wrong!"

As Jin Xueli spoke, the car was already screeching in reverse. In her panic and confusion, her voice rose above the engine, the rain, and the sound of the tanker cracking apart nearby. "I need to see just how many of me there are around here, and how many tankers!"

***

...From the car that had just zipped past her, an identical Jin Xueli face turned to look.

In the instant the two cars passed each other, the two Jin Xuelis’ eyes met. Each saw her own pale confusion and terror reflected in the other’s gaze.

’...The other Jin Xueli must have also sensed something was wrong and is now driving around to investigate, right?’

’Since we’re all Jin Xueli, it’s perfectly normal that a few of us would happen to have the same idea—’

’Wait.’

Jin Xueli slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a screeching halt in the middle of the road.

She threw open the car door and dashed into the curtain of rain. Looking back, she saw that the car that had just passed her had also lit up its red taillights as it braked.

Jin Xueli stood in the rain, panting, as she watched the driver’s side door of the other car open.

’...Just as I thought. We had the same idea again.’

Back in the underground hall, beside the Candle Tears, Jin Xueli had already realized that the only other person in the world who truly understood her was herself.

’But is it Vulture again this time?’

"Which direction did you come from?" the other her shouted before she’d even fully stood up. "How many did you see?"

"Six," Jin Xueli answered. "I drove over from 99th Street. You’re the seventh Jin Xueli I’ve seen."

"I came from the opposite direction," the other her said, nodding and wiping the rain from her face. "I saw four Jin Xuelis and four Tian Xis on my way."

"I saw several Tian Xis too..."

"So, did you do the same thing I did?" the other her asked. "When you woke up, had you already overturned a tanker?"

"Yes." For a moment, Jin Xueli almost suspected she was still dreaming. What other explanation could there be?

"But I... I didn’t overturn it. I watched it drive away. When I followed it, I found another Jin Xueli and Tian Xi who seemed to be lying in wait. When it passed them, they completely wrecked it..."

"It can’t have been the same tanker, right? The driver escaped from the one I overturned. Just as he was about to call for help, the Tian Xi with me spotted him..."

The other Jin Xueli gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Whatever. It’s not like we’re afraid of pissing off the Knight Family even more."

"The Knight Family?"

Jin Xueli’s heart sank. "Were all the tankers we overturned from the Knight Family? I had a strange feeling of familiarity just now, that the liquid spilling out wasn’t gasoline. If the trucks belong to the Knight Family, then that means—"

***

"...Every single tanker was filled with Original Liquid," Jin Xueli murmured to Tian Xi.

"You mean the Original Liquid that makes people smarter if they drink it?" Tian Xi asked, his brow furrowed in deep confusion.

"When Scott diluted it by hundreds, even thousands of times, drinking a tiny bit might have that effect... But if the concentration is even slightly higher, contact with it will cause mutations that I can’t even begin to comprehend."

The more Jin Xueli spoke, the more she felt like crying. "God knows how much Original Liquid they’ve transported into Blackmoor City... Most of it has probably already, already..."

***

"Talk!"

Jin Xueli clutched the pistol she had just taken from the driver. Pointing it at the blood-covered man on the ground, she yelled, "Why are you transporting Original Liquid in here? How did you get your hands on so much of it at once?"

The driver gave a cold smirk through the blood.

Although his hands were raised in the air, his attitude was unhurried. He didn’t seem like one of the hired Hunters on the Knight Family’s periphery.

"You must be Jin Xueli, right? I didn’t expect you’d have the guts to attack a tanker just to get in the way of our family’s business... You’ve got some nerve. Besides, weren’t you the one who told us how to get the Original Liquid? You said it was a one-time opportunity, and that was true. But you didn’t know how to maximize a one-time opportunity—have you forgotten?"

Jin Xueli froze.

’I told you? What are you talking about?’

She stared at the driver, her mouth slowly falling open.

"W-Wait... no, that’s impossible, right? Don’t tell me you—"

"After a few Knights successfully replaced the residents and became clerks," the driver said, almost calmly, "we emptied out all four gas stations in the Nest."

Jin Xueli couldn’t help but glance at the overturned tanker.

Under the night sky, in the endless black rain, she could no longer tell where the Original Liquid had flowed. She couldn’t even tell how much of what was in her eyes, her ears, her mouth... was rainwater, and how much was Original Liquid.

She couldn’t stop herself from taking a step back.

"N-No, impossible... It’s not that simple..."

"How did you and your accomplice find out about our plan?" the driver asked, staring at her.

’Accomplice? Surely he doesn’t think Jin Xueli’s accomplice is also Jin Xueli, right?’

The driver said coldly, "This truck just picked up Original Liquid from the Nest. Not even we knew when we’d be dispatched; we just leave as soon as we’re full... Yet you still managed to ambush me on the way to the warehouse. How did you get that information?"

Jin Xueli stood stunned for a long moment before it suddenly dawned on her.

"H-How many trucks were in your batch?"

’Could it be because there were so many tankers... that so many Jin Xuelis were needed?’

***

Even at midnight during a storm, Blackmoor City wasn’t a completely deserted ghost town. Although this was to be expected, Jin Xueli was still startled when it actually happened.

"Get inside, quick."

Tian Xi urgently grabbed her arm and pulled her back a few steps into a small alley.

Through the narrow opening of the alley, the flashing red and blue lights of emergency vehicles swirled in the night. The headlights of fire trucks and ambulances illuminated half the street, their brightness wavering in the storm.

’Of course. A major shooting and a vehicle rollover—and a tanker at that. Emergency responders were bound to show up...’

"Why are you still holding the machine gun?" Jin Xueli asked, her voice trembling on the verge of tears. "What if we get caught...?"

"You don’t have yours—oh, you really don’t." Tian Xi paused, then gave a bitter laugh. "Our fingerprints are on those guns. That’s evidence."

Jin Xueli froze.

But honestly, even knowing she’d left evidence on the road outside, about to be collected by the police, she couldn’t muster any sense of anxiety. It wasn’t that she wasn’t scared; it was that the emotions she’d experienced tonight were too numerous, too heavy, and they were crushing the air from her lungs.

Panic, confusion, helplessness... all of it twisted together into a violent, tornado-like vortex, churning her mind into darkness. She simply had no energy left to worry.

’How did it come to this?’

’Just a few days ago, my life was wide open. I had just ascended, entered a world I’d always dreamed of, and obtained wealth an ordinary person could never acquire in a lifetime.’

’How, in the blink of an eye, did my fate take such a nosedive, plunging me into something I can’t even comprehend—’

’Something she couldn’t comprehend—’

’Speaking of incomprehensible... what is that thing outside?’

Jin Xueli hid behind an outdoor utility box, her mind almost a complete blank as she stared at the stretch of road visible from the alley’s mouth.

’That... thing in the firefighter uniform, it’s supposed to be a firefighter, right?’

’After he jumped out of the truck... why is he crawling forward on all fours like an alligator?’

Halfway there, the firefighter stopped, pursed his lips, and took a long SLURP of water from the ground.

He soon crawled past. Behind him, a portly paramedic also walked by, completely ignoring the firefighter’s bizarre behavior.

Perhaps it was because the paramedic himself was also very strange. He was grinning from ear to ear, with one hand pressed to his chest and the other pressed against his back, forcefully squeezing his upper body as if he were holding a sandwich together.

As he walked, he muttered, "Don’t be so anxious, I’m working right now. Just stay put, don’t rush to come out."

’...What?’

Jin Xueli stared in a daze at the world beyond the alley. For a moment, she almost suspected she was drunk again. She felt herself floating in a hazy stupor, certain that what she was seeing was just a fragment of a dream.

Otherwise, what in the world was going on?

***

Why are there so many of me?

What is the space inside the elevator? What is the Observer?

What happened to Blackmoor City??

What does the Nest want??

What are the consequences of the Original Liquid???

???

?????

On this night of December 5th, Mai Mingle, Chaisi, Jin Xueli, Jin Xueli, Jin Xueli...

...almost everyone was like an insect wrapped in layers of silk cocoon, crushed by countless questions, unable to see a sliver of light or catch a single breath.

The flooding waters, the storm, the vast quantities of Original Liquid; all mixed with endless confusion, terror, bewilderment, and suspicion... transforming into a monstrous wave that crashed through the streets and alleys of Blackmoor City.

***

Dear contestants of the Nest Dominance Game:

This is a broadcast message.

Congratulations! Through your combined efforts, the final Illusion ??? has now been born.

The location of its appearance is—

The Human World, Blackmoor City.