Illusion Report

Mai Mingle pressed her back tightly against the wall, taking a silent, deep breath.

Cold sweat still clung to her pores, and her throat felt tight and uncomfortable. But after a few deep breaths, she finally managed to fish her heart out from the pit of her stomach and shove it back where it belonged.

The dark brown-paneled wall held a sliver of reflected light, frozen in the silence.

A rectangle of light shone in from the corridor’s entrance, its weak sunlight mixed with dust motes that floated in mid-air.

On a side table in the hallway stood a bouquet of long-stemmed white lilies. Each flower was like a splayed-open skull, some raised and some lowered, all staring at the empty corridor and the intruder.

There was no one around. It was impossible for someone to have run out of the five- or six-meter-long corridor in the instant she had turned her head.

’But it couldn’t have been my imagination, could it?’

’The feeling of being lightly bumped on the shoulder had been real, distinct... This isn’t a Nest, so there shouldn’t be anything like an invisible person here, right?’

’An Illusion, then?’

Mai Mingle looked around again. ’Is someone using some kind of Illusion?’

If a member of the Kai Family had discovered her using an Illusion, the alarm would have sounded long ago. The mansion wouldn’t be this quiet, with everything seeming normal.

She couldn’t determine the cause.

But whatever the reason, some kind of "foreign object" was in the hallway, an "object" that could touch her body—that was the most unsettling part.

’Forget it.’ Mai Mingle let out a breath, suddenly making up her mind.

’If that invisible thing suddenly decides to stab me, I can’t stop it anyway, right?’

Whether this mansion housed ghosts, residents, or Kai Family assassins made no fundamental difference to her. She still had to do what she came to do and leave as soon as possible.

Keeping an eye out for any sign of Sha Xue in the side hall, Mai Mingle slowly approached a door in the corridor. She gave it a push, and to her surprise, it swung open.

She peeked inside and found a library equipped with several computers. It seemed to be open for use by the Household Hunters. In the middle of the room was another door connecting to an adjacent room.

After quietly closing the door, she took out her phone, opened the camera app, and took a picture of the library. The CLICK of the shutter sounded like a clap of thunder in her ears.

Mai Mingle quickly tried to recall the steps Hai Luwei had taught her. She fumbled with the phone for a moment and somehow managed to turn off the shutter sound. Luckily, no one seemed to have heard the noise and come to investigate.

She took photos of the library from every angle. Just as she was about to open the door to the next room, Mai Mingle realized that the books on the shelves didn’t actually exist.

’Well, that’s not quite right—I should say, the books on the shelves are all books you can’t find in the normal world.’

Changes and Records of Landing Sites, Catalog of Expired Illusions (Vol. 1), Logic and Analysis of Partial Trap Scripts, Historical Case Studies of Famous Clearances, Resident Interviews...

Some of the books seemed to be privately printed by the Kai Family, their paper and binding fresh and clean, with many copies of the same title. Others were likely collected from Hunter circles, showing various degrees of wear and tear. There were handwritten copies and stacks of printed A4 paper. The oldest one was a memoir printed in 1902.

Judging by the foreword, the author of this memoir seemed to be the first Illusion Hunter to leave a historical record. ’But were there even cities with populations over ten million back then?’

’Or does the population threshold rise as the global population grows?’

’Looking at it this way... it wouldn’t be so bad to be a Hunter for the Kai Family!’

’You could learn so much knowledge related to Hunters.’

With this thought, and a pang of regret that she couldn’t stay to browse, Mai Mingle quietly left the library.

Before pushing open any door, she would listen carefully for any nearby sounds. No matter the room, if she could get the door open, she would take several photos from all angles.

Not just the interiors of rooms, but also the staircases, corridors, corners, and kitchen... Mai Mingle photographed everything, including walls under staircases where secret rooms might be hidden.

The place where Illusions were stored had to be a high-security area for the Family Faction. Never mind getting in, its location was probably so deeply hidden that she wouldn’t even be able to get close.

The chances of finding the lipstick on this trip alone were incredibly low. Discovering even a single clue today would be a success.

As long as she had a rough idea of where the lipstick was hidden, she wouldn’t have to enter the Nest with Tian Xi and the others tomorrow. When the Kai Family cleared out, it would be an even better opportunity to retrieve the lipstick.

Mai Mingle passed as silently as possible in front of the large room where Tian Xi was conducting interviews, listening to the low murmur of conversation behind the door as she ascended the stairs, step by step.

Standing at the top of the second-floor staircase, she first took a series of photos in all directions. Then, repeating her method, she went through the second floor. Whenever she heard voices, she would quickly hide in a corner and only come out after they had passed.

Luckily, the Kai Family Mansion was unexpectedly huge, with plenty of places to hide. Despite a few close calls, she managed to avoid being discovered.

Half the rooms on the second floor were locked. One, right at the end of the east wing, seemed to be the office of the Kai Family’s top leader; the nameplate on the door read "Kai Luonan." She didn’t see an office for Chaisi, though.

’Not that he needs one,’ Mai Mingle thought to herself. ’That man always seems to be running around outside. He wouldn’t have any use for an office.’

Among the other locked rooms, a row of three were labeled "Equipment Supply," one was labeled "Weapons," and two others were "Evidence" and "Research." ’Evidence and Research?’

Mai Mingle was a bit taken aback.

’Evidence... surely not evidence of the Kai Family’s own crimes?’

’They’re a Hunter Family Faction. What could they possibly need to research?’

Filled with all sorts of questions, she headed up to the third floor.

Compared to the two floors below, the third floor narrowed abruptly, with the space, including the attic, divided into several split-levels. The roof became a high, triangular shape.

Mai Mingle finished exploring the third floor in less than ten minutes, photos all taken, but she still couldn’t say where the Illusions might be stored.

The locked rooms didn’t seem to have any special, high-level security systems. To put it bluntly, a single gunshot could blast them open. ’Storing Illusions behind a common door lock... isn’t that a bit too careless?’

However, this situation wasn’t entirely unexpected for Mai Mingle.

The Kai Family wouldn’t just slap a lock on their most important location and leave it out in the open for everyone to see. She had another method that might uncover a clue.

In the utter silence, Mai Mingle returned to the top of the third-floor staircase.

’Next, I need to get out of the Kai Family Mansion quickly—’

In the corner of her eye, a white shadow suddenly bent down toward her.

She whipped her head around instinctively.

In that brief, long moment, Mai Mingle stared, stunned, unable to comprehend the scene before her.

The long-stemmed white lilies that had been on the side table in the first-floor corridor were now blooming in mid-air behind her, their heads bowing toward her one by one.

She had never realized before that lilies could be so large they could completely envelop a person’s face.

Water trickled down the lily stems and fell from the air. The glass vase followed, shattering on the floor with a sharp CRACK.

The lilies remained suspended in the air, growing larger, pressing closer to her face, revealing the utter blackness within their pistils—

"Who’s upstairs?"

A shout came from the bottom of the stairs.