Illusion Report

Jin Xueli’s Escape Plan One:

Immediately shut and lock the door, barricade it with the corpse, then slip out quietly through the bathroom window.

Jin Xueli stood behind the slightly ajar door, one hand still on the handle. The idea sparked a jolt of energy in her, and she immediately glanced around—

Great. The bathroom didn’t have a window.

Plan One was dead on arrival.

Jin Xueli’s Escape Plan Two:

Grab the high-backed chair, rush out with it held high, and bring it down hard on the resident’s head to knock it out. Then, flee the convenience store without stopping.

Plan Two was a bit too wild, but that wasn’t the main reason Jin Xueli rejected it. Even if she could overpower the resident, what if it opened its mouth and called for help?

According to the notice on the back of the door, one cry from a resident would summon all the nearby regulars to surround and annihilate any Hunter... She only had two legs. How far could she possibly run?

Even if she made it out, she couldn’t handle a whole train of residents chasing her.

Besides, and most importantly, she still hadn’t gotten the Original Liquid.

Jin Xueli’s Escape Plan Three:

Lock the door from the inside, hide, and not answer no matter how much the resident calls out. Pretend no one is inside and wait for it to leave before going out.

This plan had so many holes that if you used it as a fishing net, you probably wouldn’t even catch a single fish.

No, it wasn’t so much a plan as it was wishful thinking.

Jin Xueli’s Escape Plan Four:

None at the moment.

She stared at the thin crack of the doorway as beads of sweat crawled down her back like insects.

’What do I do, what do I do, what do I do—’ The resident’s voice was practically echoing in her head. Unfortunately, no matter how many times she repeated it, she couldn’t turn into one of them.

Why isn’t there an opposite of "fresh breath mints"?

’It’s so unfair. Why can residents disguise themselves as humans, but humans can’t—’

...Huh?

Jin Xueli suddenly froze.

Residents can disguise themselves as humans...

So why couldn’t she be a resident pretending to be human?

"Hello?" The resident outside spoke again, each word floating in the air like a greasy globule. "You’re in the bathroom, aren’t you? Why won’t you answer me?"

Jin Xueli’s Escape Plan Five:

Pretend to be a resident.

She knew the idea seemed naive and absurd at first glance—and upon closer reflection, it was even more naive and absurd.

But other than this, what other way was there to save her own skin?

’I’ll keep up the act for a while. If it falls apart, I can still switch to Plan Two... maybe there’ll still be time.’

But how was she supposed to pull off the disguise?

To act like a resident acting like a human, she needed some kind of proof—

She subconsciously glanced back at the clerk, and an idea struck her.

"Just a minute!"

By the time Jin Xueli shouted, she had already slammed the door shut and locked it.

Through the door, she heard the resident’s muffled "Hm?"

She rushed back to the clerk’s corpse in two steps. Under the gaze of its wide-open eyes, she flipped it over. The high-backed chair, still attached to its chest, toppled toward the floor. Just as it was about to smash onto the tiles, she quickly shot out an arm. It hurt like hell when the chair hit her, but at least she stopped it from making a sound.

Jin Xueli set the chair down. As she did, the clerk’s body turned, revealing a face on the back of its head, red and pressed flat. Its style was unchanged—teeth grew from its lips, using them as gums.

If she wanted to remain sane, she absolutely could not look for long.

Thankfully, murdering a resident didn’t leave a pool of blood.

This meant that as long as she stripped the vest off the clerk and put it on, Jin Xueli could pretend to be a Nest Permanence convenience store clerk. Wearing a resident’s clothes was inevitably disgusting and repulsive, but if you let things like that bother you, you could never become a Hunter in the first place.

She put on the vest and called out, "Coming!" Just as she was about to pull the door open, she jolted, realizing something. She quickly yanked off the clerk’s name tag and shoved it into her pocket.

’My hammer and backpack are behind the counter. As long as the resident hasn’t been in there, it shouldn’t be able to see them...’

Jin Xueli looked down and straightened her clothes. Feeling that everything was in place except for her actual self, she let out a trembling breath and opened the bathroom door.

A person was pressed right against the opening, their round eyeball staring at Jin Xueli.

She choked back a scream and held her ground, standing in the doorway to block the view of the corpse behind her.

"You have to move so I can get out," Jin Xueli said, feigning nonchalance.

She had no idea if her tone sounded natural or not, but a muscle in her face twitched regardless.

The "person" blinked its two asynchronous eyes, one after the other.

It seemed unsure of the situation itself, muttering, "A person? A human? A Hunter?" before subconsciously opening its gaping mouth toward Jin Xueli.

"What are you doing?" Jin Xueli asked.

"...Huh?"

Her question seemed to confuse it. It stopped to think, its eyeball hovering over the gaping black hole of its mouth as it stared at her for a few seconds. Finally, it took a few steps back to make way.

Jin Xueli squeezed sideways through the opening and immediately shut the door behind her.

"I’m not human," she said, insulting herself first. "I’m the new employee."

The resident looked her up and down. Just ignoring its appearance was already draining all of Jin Xueli’s acting ability.

"You’re new?"

Hearing it speak up close was a uniquely unpleasant experience. Each word was greasy and slick, sliding unstoppably into the depths of her ear canal the moment it landed, like a living slug.

"Today’s my first day," Jin Xueli said, turning to lock the bathroom door with a key. "Are you here to buy something?"

One of the resident’s eyeballs turned to the key in her hand, while the other remained fixed on her face.

It uttered a syllable that a human couldn’t pronounce, which seemed to be a name, then asked, "...where did they go?"

’Is it talking about the murdered clerk?’

Jin Xueli shrugged and said nothing—mainly because there was nothing to say. Acting as if she couldn’t care less about the resident following her, she walked toward the counter.

"You’re not human? You’re really not human?"

Its first sentence had already slid down her throat like thick phlegm, and now a steady stream of words followed. Jin Xueli fought the urge to cough and vomit, the hair on her arms standing on end.

"It took a lot of effort to perfect my disguise,"

she said, recalling the notice on the back of the bathroom door. "You know, right? There have been Hunters sighted nearby. I was hired because I can perfectly disguise myself as a human. That way, the Hunters might let their guard down when they see me."

She had no idea if the resident would buy it.

The resident smoothed the long black hair on its cheek with its fingers.

The smooth, silky lock of hair grew from the apple of its cheek, just below the eye, and hung down past its jaw.

"That makes a strange kind of sense," the resident said. "Even I’m feeling the desire to take you completely apart..."

"You can’t do that."

Jin Xueli tried to keep her voice flat. From across the counter, she used the tip of her foot to slowly hook her backpack to a spot where she could grab the hammer by bending over and reaching down.

’Being stuck behind the counter makes me a sitting duck... I can’t just grab my backpack and swagger out the front door. The only option now is to get rid of this resident as quickly as possible.’

"What are you buying?"

The resident slowly straightened up from its haunches. It was only then that Jin Xueli realized that although it walked upright on two legs, those legs could bend backward and fold like a dog’s.

It had been sitting on its folded hind legs, putting it at roughly the same height as Jin Xueli. Now, standing up, its head nearly scraped the ceiling.

Luckily, it wore a black robe that obscured most of its body structure; otherwise, Jin Xueli couldn’t guarantee her expression wouldn’t betray her.

"How... how did you do it? That greed, that craving, that hurt and desire on you... it’s so realistic, so multi-layered..."

It raised its nose—the nose itself sat up on its face—and sniffed hard in Jin Xueli’s direction.

"...A rich after-scent of contradictory coldness and passion, yet still faintly exuding a primary aroma of carnal lust, gluttony, greed, and the desire to explore... Ooh, amazing, simply incredible! Is this some kind of human-scent spray? Who makes it? Why make this? Other than luring us in, what other purpose does it have? Humans can’t even smell it."

Jin Xueli felt the muscle in her face twitch again.

The only way to handle a question she couldn’t answer was to not answer it.

She was about to ask "What are you buying?" again, but a glance at the cash register stopped her short.

’What if I can’t take its "money"? What if it isn’t a tangible substance?’

’What if it asks for a receipt?’

The resident rustled over to the counter and looked down at Jin Xueli.

It opened its mouth.

"Jin..." it said. "Xue... li..."