Illusion Report

The atmosphere in the car was incredibly awkward.

This was, in fact, understandable. After all, just a dozen or so minutes ago, Mai Mingle’s strongest desire had been to eat the young man in the back seat.

The desire was gone now, but the memory lingered. Neither of them had forgotten.

How one should start a conversation and smooth things over with one’s former meal was perhaps a topic never before raised in human society.

Mai Mingle felt she should say something, to properly reassure Hai Luwei.

But the harder she tried to think, the more the words wouldn’t come, and the silence in the car grew heavier, more unbreakable. After fumbling in near desperation for a moment, she finally blurted out a question: "Wh-why were you sitting on the side of the road just now?"

In the rearview mirror, Hai Luwei was staring warily at the back of her head.

After two seconds, he finally said, "...I wanted to get away from the trouble, so when you started driving around crashing into things, I escaped from the plaza."

"Ah, oh, right, right."

Driving down the road at night, Mai Mingle maintained her speed and, just to make conversation, said, "Then why didn’t you keep running? It’s not safe to sit on the road."

Hai Luwei’s gaze felt so tangible as it swept over her that it was like being struck on the back of her head with a branch. "...Didn’t you fracture my ankle? I was in too much pain to walk."

...That made things even more awkward.

"Um, I’m really sorry," Mai Mingle said sheepishly.

She’d lost count of how many times she had apologized, but compared to Hai Luwei’s current predicament, words felt empty and meaningless. "I really didn’t mean to—well, no, that’s not right. At the time, I definitely did mean to."

"How about you stop making the kind of apology that only makes the other person angrier?" Hai Luwei suggested.

She had put him through such misery; no matter how angry he got, Mai Mingle felt she deserved it.

’On second thought, for him to muster the courage to get in the car after nearly being eaten was incredible.’ Mai Mingle decided to use this angle to comfort him.

"You can relax. I guarantee I’ll get you back to Blackmoor City safely," she said. "I’m completely back to normal. If you don’t believe me, touch my head."

"Not for all the money in the world," Hai Luwei said, clearly displeased.

"Hey, I’m really fine now. If you don’t believe me, how about I touch it to show you?"

Mai Mingle, on the contrary, grew a little anxious, wanting to prove she was perfectly safe. Even if Hai Luwei didn’t trust her, she still wanted him to feel at ease.

She raised her hand and vigorously ruffled her hair, parting it to expose her scalp. She then rapped on her skull a few times—THUD, THUD. As the muffled sound echoed, her hand froze, and they both fell silent for several seconds.

"S-see? I’m really fine now," she said, stammering a little.

Hai Luwei, however, was as sharp as ever. "Did you just think of Fu Tailan’s line? ’Knock on a head, and a second one will answer the door’?"

’...Yes.’

Even the mere thought of a second head emerging from her own was enough to make her blood run cold.

Hai Luwei sighed. "You remember everything?"

Mai Mingle swallowed.

"Yes... It’s like having a nightmare, but remembering every single detail with perfect clarity. Do you know that feeling? It was something utterly absurd that shouldn’t have happened, yet when it was happening, it felt perfectly natural... I even remember the sensation of turning two separate heads. Just thinking about it now gives me goosebumps."

She thought for a moment, then found a silver lining. "Oh well, it was an experience! A pretty peculiar and rare one, at that. Life is all about constantly having new experiences, otherwise you haven’t really lived."

"I was the price for your ’experience.’"

"...I’m sorry."

After another moment, Hai Luwei spoke up. "You... you really were planning on eating me back then, weren’t you?"

’Of course.’

’Back then, there was no taste in the world more tempting and delectable than him.’

"...You were in real danger back then," Mai Mingle said with a sigh. "I still remember that craving, that hollow, intense hunger that made me want to devour you and be done with it... But I was also reluctant, because once you were all eaten, you’d be gone. I would have had to eat you slowly. Besides, the way ’residents’ eat isn’t quite the same as how normal people eat..."

She went into great detail but heard no response. Turning her head, she realized she probably shouldn’t have been so descriptive—Hai Luwei was pale, avoiding her gaze, and shrunk into the corner of the back seat, one hand on the door handle, looking like he was ready to jump out at any moment.

"That’s all in the past," she said, quickly trying to reassure him. "I’m human again. I have absolutely no desire to eat people now, and I’ve never killed anyone. Look, aren’t I driving you to that hideout of yours right now?"

"Speaking of which..."

Hai Luwei began hesitantly, his hand still clamped on the door handle. "How do you know this safe route?"

"Do you remember me saying that when I turned into a resident, the Nest flooded my mind with a massive amount of information?"

"Yeah... The safe path near the library, that was part of the information?"

"Right. It’s just that from a resident’s perspective, it’s not called a ’safe path.’ On the contrary, it’s a route that residents need to pay special attention to and avoid tonight. And places residents can’t go generally have fewer traps and rule domains, which means for humans, they are safe paths."

Normally, a Hunter on the move would have to carefully scout and observe their surroundings, but no matter how cautious a person is, they still often end up stumbling headfirst into a trap.

Mai Mingle didn’t have that concern at the moment. She just needed to drive based on the information in her memory—which was also one of the reasons she’d been able to leave Fu Tailan far behind.

No matter how many men that boy had under him, their movements couldn’t be as efficient as Mai Mingle’s, who knew exactly where to go.

The only pity was that most "safe paths" weren’t permanent. After a while, the path might change, and then she wouldn’t dare to travel so boldly—after all, now that she was no longer a resident, the time-sensitive information in her head would no longer be updated.

"So how long do the safe paths last?" Hai Luwei’s interest was piqued. "And why do safe paths exist in the first place?"

"There’s no telling how long they last. The Nest is a place of chaos and darkness, after all."

The Mai Mingle of today spoke about the Nest with clarity and logic, as familiar with it as if she were talking about a place she’d worked at for years.

"Some safe paths have been around for over a decade, while others change after just a day or two. Sometimes an entire path becomes unusable all at once, or it might just require a small detour. All sorts of things can happen."

As for why they were created, she couldn’t really say for sure.

"The Nest is filled with countless... what should I call them? Force fields? Rules? Concepts?"

Mai Mingle thought for a moment. "In short, these ’force fields’ each have their own characteristics. They pile up, overlap, and interlock in a chaotic mess. In places where some ’force fields’ conflict, it’s fine for humans, but very dangerous for residents."

"To use an analogy, safe paths are like the fissures between two tectonic plates. If a resident walks on the fissure, they might get crushed by the plates into a pile of rocks, or they might get pulled apart by the two plates and torn in half."

’It was a strange feeling. The things she was now explaining with such confidence would have sounded like the ramblings of a lunatic before, yet the listener in the back seat was actually listening with great interest.’

"I never would have thought... I was supposed to be your guide, but now you’re the one telling me so much about the Nest."

Hai Luwei remarked, glancing at his watch. "Hmm, there are still over seven hours left. Once we get to the hideout, I can sleep—"

He shot a wary glance at Mai Mingle and corrected himself. "Actually, I’m not that tired."

’Why can’t he just trust me?’

The terms of Hai Luwei’s punishment were to act as Mai Mingle’s guide for twelve consecutive hours. Since neither of them had died nor been eaten by the other, they had to assume the "twelve hours" requirement was still in effect. Mai Mingle suspected that if not for this, Hai Luwei wouldn’t have gotten in the car at all.

"Is your hideout well-hidden?" Mai Mingle asked, a little worried. "Fu Tailan won’t find it, will he? I’m afraid he’s still looking for me."

She didn’t even consider the possibility that Fu Tailan had been taken out by the Dream Screenwriter. That kid was so cunning and sly, she was better off worrying about the Dream Screenwriter instead.

"If he’s dead set on searching the entire Nest for you, then it doesn’t matter how well-hidden it is."

Hai Luwei seemed listless, perhaps because of his injured foot on top of his exhaustion. "Why is he so determined to cause trouble for you? Is it because of that—that Nest Dominance Game? Even though you’re human again, he still doesn’t want you to participate?"

Mai Mingle fell silent.

She glanced at the car’s screen, which had remained dark the whole time. Hai Luwei had told her that when that small screen lit up, it meant a broadcast was coming through.

"He wants the Illusion I have."

Mai Mingle said softly, "In my previous life, in this world, I never managed to acquire many precious things. That’s why this Illusion is the one thing I can’t give up, no matter what. When it expires, I expire too. I just want to protect it... If I can protect it, I can try to live a full and rich life for once. As for that dominance game, I have no interest in participating."

’She just yearned for a new world; she wanted to witness wonders she had never seen before.

’Scheming and plotting just to rule and control another group of people sounded so boring. Besides, if you ruled the Nest, didn’t that indirectly mean you ruled the Hunters, too?

’Once the Nest has a "king," how boring would that be?’

"Even though I don’t believe for a second that game is real, I can actually understand where you’re coming from," Hai Luwei said after a moment’s thought. "So, do you know?"

"Know what?"

"The expiration date on your Illusion."

Mai Mingle froze for a second. "I... I don’t know yet."

"It should be written on the Illusion itself," Hai Luwei said, pointing ahead. "My hideout is in that apartment building up there. If you need a safe place to check the expiration date... I can lend you my place for a bit."