Illusion Report

The black car cutting through Blackmoor City in the dead of night seemed to dissolve into the darkness itself — just another drop of black rain, sliding past the hazy blur of streetlights, past the corners of eyes belonging to the drunk, the wandering, the ones drifting home from parties that had run their course. It slipped into the web of roads and was gone.

Nobody gave it a second glance. Nobody could have guessed it was a predator, silently exchanging a constant stream of signals and information with every corner of the city.

"No good — still can’t get through. It’s been ten minutes now."

After a short string of flat beeps, Tian Xi glanced at his phone screen and ended the call — the third attempt. "You think this guy already ditched his SIM card?"

Not long after leaving Between the Backlight, Chaisi had told Tian Xi to use his own phone to call the man named George Green. Not once had any of the attempts connected.

"Give it a few more minutes, then try again."

Chaisi had several phones balanced on his lap — his own, the dead thug’s, and Han Liuyue’s, which he’d commandeered on the spot. Han Liuyue was in no state to be using a phone anyway, so it might as well serve as a second screen for pulling up maps.

"I need to know whether he’s destroyed the SIM card or just powered down temporarily. Depending on which it is, we adjust our approach accordingly."

"Understood," Tian Xi replied.

Jin Xueli glanced back and forth between the two front seats. "Do you Kai Family people communicate telepathically or something? When did you work out a plan? Nobody told me anything. Mind filling me in?"

Chaisi wasn’t taking the bait.

Time was short and every second counted — getting drawn into a conversation with Jin Xueli was the last thing he needed.

"You’ll see soon enough."

He kept it brief, then turned his attention to his own phone and said, "Jasmine — anything yet?"

"Got something," a woman’s voice answered over the phone, accompanied by a few quick clicks of a mouse. "Twenty-seven results in Blackmoor City connected to the Westley Group."

"Strip out anything held through joint ventures, subsidiaries, or controlling stakes. Remove construction sites and publicly operated premises. Leave only properties that are owned outright by the Westley parent company and currently in active use."

Green was a personal secretary. Without going through official corporate channels, he almost certainly couldn’t access Westley Group assets on a whim. Only properties that Westley himself used directly would fall within Green’s reach.

Jasmine came back quickly. "That narrows it down to three."

"Send me everything you’ve got on all of them."

Running backend support wasn’t technically her specialty — most Hunter Family Factions didn’t even need someone filling that role — but Jasmine had always been sharp and efficient. Chaisi could have sworn his words were barely out before his phone chimed with a new email notification.

"What about George Green himself?" he asked, already scanning through the message.

"Almost nothing on him in Hunter circles."

Jasmine sounded slightly frustrated. "Based on what I’ve found, he’s never hunted an Illusion, never joined a Family Faction, never sold a single Illusion artifact.

"His background is completely ordinary. Born in the Midwest, graduated from Benzhou State University, then landed a job in Blackmoor City as a construction cost estimator. Then, out of nowhere, two years ago, he became Westley’s personal secretary."

...That was strange.

A completely ordinary man with no apparent connection to Westley, suddenly vaulted into the inner circle — and somehow holding something like the Black Cube in his hands on top of it.

"What about Brianna?"

"She’s the only daughter of Westley’s first wife. After the first wife died and Westley remarried and had children with his new wife, Brianna’s relationship with him apparently deteriorated steadily. She moved out of the Westley Family home as soon as she came of age and has been living alone ever since, seemingly off a trust fund. Around five or six years ago, there were rumors that Westley had cut her out of his will entirely, but that was never officially confirmed."

Chaisi couldn’t figure out what connected the two of them. A romantic relationship, maybe? Was that why Brianna had felt comfortable handing the Black Cube over to Green?

"No way."

He’d barely voiced the thought before Jin Xueli jumped in. "You forgot what he looked like already? I didn’t. If that man is straight, I’ll give you my head."

...Keep it. It’s not much use anyway.

Since there was no answer to be had, Chaisi set the question aside. Even if Brianna and Green had somehow produced Westley between them, he couldn’t have cared less — nor did he need to.

All that mattered was getting the Black Cube and putting Green and Brianna in the ground.

With nobody to bounce off of, Jin Xueli was left sighing to herself. "Is there a single person in this car who knows how to hold a conversation?"

Chaisi worked through the email carefully. Of the three Westley-owned properties, two were in the main urban district, one on Central Bay Island. All three used the same upscale property management company and the same security firm — the latter worth noting: the firm handled only building security, strictly standard commercial work, with no personal protection services offered to clients.

...Which meant that if Green had gone to one of the Westley Family’s properties, it wasn’t because it offered him any particular safety.

Chaisi was sixty or seventy percent sure Green had gone to one of those three buildings. But he still needed to confirm which one.

The fourth call to Green went unanswered, same as the rest.

"Good. That means nobody else can reach him either."

Chaisi had already made up his mind. He checked the time. Seventeen minutes had passed since Green left Between the Backlight.

"Perfect timing for a phone call."

"A phone call?" Tian Xi looked puzzled. "To who?"

To someone who would know where Green had gone, obviously.

Chaisi picked up the dead man Pete’s phone and dialed the property management company’s central after-hours line. It was three in the morning, but the call was picked up after only two rings.

"Hello, hi there — I’m Pete, Secretary Green’s driver from the Group’s head office." Chaisi kept his voice easy and natural.

He paused. On the other end, a man’s voice responded without a hint of hesitation: "Oh, right, hi — is there anything else I can help you with?"

It was exactly as if he were picking up a conversation that had already started — one that hadn’t involved Chaisi at all.

"So, the thing is, Secretary Green’s phone isn’t going through," Chaisi offered, letting the fragment of information drop casually.

The man on the other end picked it right up without the slightest suspicion. "Yeah, he mentioned that. The number he called from wasn’t in our system — if he hadn’t had his employee code, we wouldn’t have been able to verify him at all."

"Right, yeah, phone’s been acting up — real pain in the neck."

Chaisi kept his tone relaxed and let the vague, content-free remark hang in the air. "I got instructions earlier to go pick him up, but I didn’t quite catch the address. Only thing I remember is that I was told to call your line if I had any questions."

"Our line?"

Handling the travel arrangements of head-office staff was an unusual request for a property management company, and sure enough, the man on the other end sounded briefly surprised.

"Right — because he mentioned he’d be in touch with you, so I figured..." Chaisi let his voice trail off slowly.

"Ah, yeah, that makes sense — he did reach out to us. I set up his access clearance." The man said.

Before he could continue, Chaisi cut in smoothly. "Perfect. Do you mind just giving me the address? I’ll go wait for him at the entrance."

For Green and Chaisi, this was information that could mean the difference between life and death. For the property management employee, it was just another unremarkable task in a routine shift — the secretary of the late Westley, somewhere in the Westley Group hierarchy, didn’t even rank as a position that warranted any particular concern for personal security.

"Sure, the address is on Central Bay Island..."

A moment later, Chaisi ended the call.

The car went quiet for a few seconds. The first to react was Tian Xi — he wrenched the wheel hard, swinging a sharp right turn into an intersection where right turns weren’t permitted, throwing both passengers in the back seat sideways.

Now that the destination was confirmed, the only thing left to do was get there as fast as possible.

"What weapons do we have in the car?" Chaisi asked.

"One MP5, one .45."

"The MP5 should come in handy."

Tian Xi turned around and said to Jin Xueli, "There’s a kit bag by your feet — grab it, will you?"

"Wait — you mean I’ve been sitting on top of a submachine gun this whole time? What if it went off? Who’s liable for that?"

That was all just talk, though — Jin Xueli wasn’t the least bit rattled. The protest was clearly nothing more than something to say. She’d already unzipped the bag and pulled the submachine gun out herself, passing it along with the bag to Chaisi.

"Just getting a feel for it," she announced, to no one in particular. "I’ve never held a submachine gun before."

Only Tian Xi bothered to acknowledge her with a polite "mm."

Chaisi glanced up at the rearview mirror.

From his angle, all he could see was Han Liuyue’s chin — pale and round and utterly still.

One last-minute betrayal was already one too many.

"Han Liuyue," he said, keeping his voice low.

Han Liuyue’s chin didn’t so much as twitch. Not a flicker of a response, as if she hadn’t heard a word.

"I’m going to call the mayor’s secretary. Give him a heads-up that someone may be planning to make a move against the mayor."

That got an immediate reaction from Han Liuyue. "What? That’s not what we agreed on. Why would you do something that hurts both sides? If you warn him in advance, won’t that just make it harder to get to him?"

"’The mayor is an important client of ours, and I can’t sit on this information. Allow me to continue the investigation — I’ll report back to you in person once I have more. In the meantime, please try to limit the mayor’s contact with anyone unplanned or unnecessary.’"

Chaisi paused. "That’s what I’ll say."

By the time he was halfway through the words, Han Liuyue’s face had already pushed itself into the gap between the two front seats, round and taut as an overfilled balloon about to burst its string.

"Brother Chaisi... that’s not fair. You’re pulling the rug out from under me..."

Chaisi pivoted the handgun and pressed the muzzle against her throat.

"No. I’m making sure you understand that after I make this call, I’m the only one who can get you in front of the mayor. I’m your only play. You’ve got no choice but to ride this out with me."

"But... you still need to acquire an Illusion, don’t you? What if you drag me along and—"

"Once I have Green’s Black Cube, I can take you straight there. No need to acquire anything else."

"Really?" Han Liuyue’s voice jumped up a pitch with sudden delight.

"Really. Now sit back down," Chaisi said. "And give me a few more fragments."