Illusion Report

She fired at Fu Tailan—

Bullet after bullet burst through her eyeballs, blasting out from their sockets and shooting into the endless darkness.

Huh?

What was happening?

Was she going to die again?

The thought of her last death—surrounded by countless residents, crawling forward endlessly—flashed through Brianna’s mind.

Then, they all materialized.

So many residents, laughing shrilly, weeping bitterly, wailing countless names as they burst from the crown of her head and the back of her skull. They swam, walked, stumbled, and rustled as they crawled away, vanishing into the darkness with the bullets.

’Don’t go,’ Brianna cried. ’Don’t leave me alone.’

A resident with Morando’s face glanced back at her as if scalded by her ugliness—it turned and fled with a look of disgust. Its arms and legs flailed high and erratically in the air, like four ribbons, before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

’Why did you look at me like that? Where are you going? Why won’t you look at me anymore?’

Brianna wanted to scream and weep, but—but—

...she didn’t have eyes or tear ducts, did she?

She blinked her non-existent eyes.

’Right. She had no idea what her own torso and head looked like anymore.’

Ever since she’d submerged her upper body into Green’s corpse, she hadn’t even felt her own face...

’If she didn’t even know if she still had a head, how could countless residents have burst from her skull one after another?’

’What’s going on...’

Brianna strained to open her eyes, but she could no longer see the world through Green’s eyes as she had before.

’What happened?’

’Is Green broken? Or did I fall out of his body?’

’No, no... Calm down. She hadn’t fallen out of Green’s body completely.’

Although everything before her was pitch-black and she felt as if she were shrink-wrapped in plastic, if she strained to listen, she could still vaguely hear some distant, muffled sounds...

There were constant screams, but they were all cut short, lasting only a moment.

The dull thuds of heavy objects falling one after another.

She could also smell the stench of scorched flesh...

Someone was speaking; their voice was light and smooth, perhaps because it was saturated with blood.

"...If you don’t have kids, think about cats and dogs. Happy thoughts... Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Keep your eyes closed at all times."

Fu Tailan.

It was Fu Tailan—he must have used some kind of Illusion, right?

He had warned everyone not to open their eyes and told them to think only of happy things. Combined with what she had just experienced...

Brianna understood at once.

’Thoughts can materialize and burst through a person’s skull? He actually has an Illusion like that?’

’All these people... he killed them just like that?’

Even though Brianna didn’t care about human lives, wasn’t Fu Tailan still a person?

She had always felt that the young man’s words and actions seemed to float outside a layer of mist, separated from the mortal world. That must be why he could kill without hesitation or regret, right?

’Ah, in that case... isn’t it a good thing she’s already died once?’

She was neither human nor truly a resident. Although the Illusion still had an effect on her, it couldn’t work fully because she was already dead. The only consequence was that it had caused her to "loosen" her grip on Green.

’Thank goodness, thank goodness, thank goodness the Upper State Manor isn’t within the Nest’s range.’

So even if she lost her grip for a moment, she wouldn’t fall all the way back into the Nest. She was still barely "stuck" inside Green’s body.

’All I have to do is slowly readjust... like putting on clothes, I just need to slip back into Green’s body properly, and I’ll be able to stand up again.’

’Fu Tailan probably thinks I’m long dead. He could never have foreseen my "resurrection." If I just find a gun on one of these corpses, even a Genius Hunter will—’

"How could this be?"

Fu Tailan, seemingly believing he was the only living person left in the security center, muttered softly, "Don’t tell me I’m the one who ends up killing Westley?"

Brianna froze in the darkness for a moment.

...Huh?

Huh huh huh huh?

HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH?

’What does he mean? What does he mean? Does he mean what I think he means?’

’Could that sentence possibly be interpreted any other way? Is there? Is there? There isn’t, right?’

Brianna pretended she could take a deep breath to calm down. If she got too excited, she might lose her footing and slip over to the residents’ side.

’No, wait, how could anyone possibly calm down at a time like this! Don’t ask the impossible!’

’Fu Tailan meant he knows Westley is going to die! But how does he know Westley is going to die? Is there some kind of Illusion that foretells the future?’

’She wanted to see that future prediction, too! Thinking about it, it all made perfect sense. Westley had already collected the four target Illusions, which meant the end of the game was very, very close. His life was in more danger than ever before, which explained why he was acting so terrified. It wouldn’t be surprising if he died.’

’Westley is doomed to die.’

’So Dad was as good as dead.’

’Wait, I should still try to get the truth from Fu Tailan... but that man is too cunning. How could he possibly just tell me the truth...’

"Oh, found it."

Fu Tailan’s voice suddenly rang out right beside her.

Brianna’s thoughts screeched to a halt.

She was suddenly grateful that she hadn’t had time to properly slip back into Green’s body; she didn’t have to worry about being discovered by Fu Tailan if she accidentally moved.

"...Dead?"

Fu Tailan seemed to crouch down beside her and poke Green’s face with something.

Like a child poking a dead bird on the roadside with a stick.

’Who on earth raises a child like that? If you can’t raise them right, you might as well just kill them.’

"How strange..." Fu Tailan muttered.

Brianna knew exactly what he found strange.

Everyone else had died when their thoughts materialized and burst their skulls. But Green, of course, was at no risk of that—he was already dead and wouldn’t have a single thought.

When Brianna wasn’t "wearing" him properly, he would revert to his original state: a dead man.

A dead man who was, indeed, dead, but whose head was intact—a state of death that was naturally out of place in the security center.

"Is he really dead?"

He seemed to lean in a little closer. Brianna felt a hand press against Green’s chest, checking for a heartbeat. After a long moment, Fu Tailan seemed to reluctantly accept Green’s death.

"He really is dead... Hmm. Then it wasn’t you who called me on the 26th."

’He knows the future! He really does know the future! Then Westley is really dead! When—’

"...Eh?"

Fu Tailan seemed about to say something, but he stopped and just chuckled softly.

For the next minute or two, because Green’s vision was still dark, Brianna could only guess at Fu Tailan’s actions from the rustling noises around her. He seemed to search Green’s body for a while, looking for something he couldn’t find, and even scolded Green for being inconsiderate.

Then, he placed his hands on Green’s eyelids and seemed to pry them open.

But even with the eyelids pried open, there was still only darkness.

For a while, there was no movement around her.

She thought Fu Tailan had left, but she wasn’t sure if she had heard his retreating footsteps.

Brianna suppressed her impatience and slowly shifted within Green’s body, gradually returning to her proper position.

Just as she finally managed to slip halfway back into Green, and the darkness began to lighten and blur, she was struck with horror—Fu Tailan was still standing right beside Green, watching her silently.

’He’s discovered me?’

’No, no, I haven’t finished putting Green on... Right now, Green is still just a corpse.’

Fu Tailan smiled faintly.

Even Brianna was momentarily mesmerized.

The moment he smiled, it was as if the clouds had parted and the mist had scattered, revealing the stars and moon.

...But that expression, like the words that came from his mouth, was just a lie.

Fu Tailan glanced at a card in his hand, then turned and left.

Brianna watched him walk away step by step. She heard him say "Bye" to the alpha wolf, heard the door open...

The moment Fu Tailan disappeared, it was as if the lid to hell had been thrown open. The security center was instantly filled with the thick, cloying stench of blood and burnt flesh. It seemed there were still some who weren’t dead, whimpering with their teeth chattering.

After waiting a little longer to make sure he wouldn’t suddenly circle back, Brianna finally climbed up from the floor.

Fu Tailan’s target was clearly Westley in the manor’s main building, but she didn’t immediately raise the alarm.

She stepped over the piles of bodies on the floor and walked to the surveillance monitors.

Just now, Fu Tailan seemed to have walked over to the monitors as well, and he even called the manor’s bodyguards... What he said was, "Secretary Green" will be there shortly, right?

’Does that mean he used that identity-stealing Illusion to turn himself into George Green?’

Because her current state was so hard to define, even if the Illusion took effect, its impact on her would be unpredictable. Brianna couldn’t be sure if Green’s identity had been stolen.

She looked from one monitor to the next, and before long, she found Fu Tailan on one of the screens.

Even though his identity was no longer Fu Tailan, she still recognized him at a glance, because it was impossible—it was simply impossible for her not to recognize him.

Brianna stared intently at the screen.

Brianna parted her lips.

Brianna thought she was about to laugh out loud.

In the security center, it was the alpha wolf whose mouth was hanging wide open, but the long, winding, all-consuming howl came from Brianna’s throat.

Perhaps she really was laughing; she didn’t know. The sound tore through the air, threatening to tear her throat as well, making Green’s eardrums tremble.

In the corner of her vision, the alpha wolf remained motionless, staring at her like a black hole.

"Did anyone see that?" Brianna pointed at the screen, laughing loudly. "Did anyone see that? Did anyone see that?"

No one answered her.

On the screen was a hallway in the manor’s main building. The back of a young woman could be seen, walking forward with light steps.

"That’s me! That’s me! That’s me!"

Brianna threw her head back and laughed uncontrollably, pressing her hands to her eyes.

Even if it was her own back, a view of herself she rarely saw, it was still her, and she recognized it in a single glance—isn’t that strange?

The young woman walking briskly forward, as if nothing had happened, as if her life still led to Morando—

It was Brianna.

The identity Fu Tailan had borrowed this time was Brianna’s.

’Does he even know?’

Brianna stared at the screen through her tear-blurred vision.

After a few seconds, she took out her phone and dialed Westley’s number.

He seemed to be sound asleep, as the phone rang several times before he answered. When he picked up, Brianna could faintly hear Jacqueline complain unhappily beside him.

"Dad," she called out softly.

Calling him "Dad" so presumptuously was sure to displease Westley.

But before he had a chance to scold her, Brianna spoke again.

"Dad, the Vulture has just entered the mortal world."

"...What? Really?" Westley’s voice was suddenly wide awake, as if ignited with life and hope.

Of course it was. He had always hoped the Vulture could become him, drawing all the risks to itself in his place.

"It’s true. The rumor took effect; the Vulture has entered the mortal world. I just tried it out and found that it really can become a double of oneself."

Brianna licked her dry lips.

"...It turned into another Brianna."