Illusion Report

What happened next was a whirlwind, so fast it caught everyone completely off guard.

In the blink of an eye, a dozen or so police cars arrived, sirens wailing, and surrounded the crash site. A crowd of onlookers seemed to pop up out of nowhere, gathering on the nearby streets. Even the windows of the surrounding buildings opened, revealing rows of blurry faces peering out.

’Did they have to be so efficient?’

’If only they’d given me two minutes to ask that purple-haired woman about the Family Factions.’

Having lived for over eighty years, this was the first time Mai Mingle found herself complaining that the police had arrived too quickly. Seeing the purple-haired woman surrounded by officers, she knew she couldn’t ask her questions, but she wasn’t willing to leave. Unexpectedly, after a brief exchange with the woman, several officers holstered their guns.

"The ambulance is almost here," one of the officers asked. "Can you stand up?"

Wedged in the crowd, Mai Mingle managed to overhear a few snippets: "...drove straight through..." "...kidnapped a woman..." "...didn’t catch the suspect..."

’Kidnapped?’

The purple-haired woman seemed to have some connection to Illusion Hunters, and Hunters were supposed to be formidable. Besides, judging by her tone earlier, it seemed like she knew the man who was driving.

Mai Mingle couldn’t figure it out. She tried several times to ask someone about the situation, but the moment anyone saw her, they pretended she didn’t exist and casually moved away.

She couldn’t blame them. She was a pretty sorry sight at the moment.

Her bare feet were so filthy you couldn’t tell their original color, and here it was, mid-morning, and she was still in her pajamas.

Because she’d been bedridden for years, her hair had never been properly trimmed. Now that it had grown back thick and full, it was an even more tangled mess. She reached up and felt a crust of dried vomit stuck to her face.

Mai Mingle spotted a kind-looking woman and, no matter how the other woman backed away, persistently tried to get closer. In the end, the woman shoved a couple of wads of cash into her hand and fled in a hurry.

’...Well, what do you know. Looks like I’ve found a side hustle.’

Being someone everyone avoided did have its advantages, though. Exploiting the fact that nobody wanted to get near a homeless person, Mai Mingle clutched the cash and easily made her way to the front of the crowd. From there, she got a clear view of the police leading the purple-haired woman away.

"Y-Yes, he forced me into the car at gunpoint... The location? Uhm, I can’t remember, my head hurts so much..."

The purple-haired woman’s steps were unsteady as she was supported by an officer on each side, walking toward the ambulance that had just arrived.

Her hands, bound with zip ties, hung in front of her. She slurred, "He tied me up, but then he made me read the map for him... Oh, no, he didn’t hurt me. But I’m so dizzy, and I feel a little sick..."

Watching her, Mai Mingle felt that the purple-haired woman had suddenly become much weaker and less coherent the moment the police arrived. Just a moment ago, she’d been cursing someone out in a perfectly clear voice.

’Could this have something to do with Nests or Illusions?’

Whatever. Regardless of what she and her companions were planning, one thing was crystal clear: if she wanted to learn about the Morgan Family Faction, the best way was to ask a Hunter.

But the only person in front of her with any connection to the Hunters was being led away into an ambulance, and then the doors slammed shut with a THUD.

She watched as the Mercedes was towed away and the ambulance departed in a grand procession, escorted by a convoy of police cars. Mai Mingle looked down at her feet and sighed.

She was tired, hungry, and her whole body ached. It looked like her feet had been cut, too.

"Sorry to put you two through this," she said to her hard-won, young, bare feet. "The shoes are gone, so we’ll have to keep walking for a bit."

In her long life, she had encountered countless uncomfortable, painful, and unpleasant situations. Mai Mingle had long since developed her own methods for coping—for example, she had just named her feet. One was Xiaozuo, and the other was Xiaoyou.

To make things more interesting, she decided Xiaozuo would be her right foot, and Xiaoyou her left.

Mai Mingle had companions now. Xiaozuo and Xiaoyou led her onward, toward the nearest hospital.

When they passed a relief station, Xiaozuo was tempted to turn in, get something to eat, and find a pair of shoes. But Xiaoyou, seeing the bigger picture, laid out the situation:

The purple-haired woman looked like she had a concussion at most, and she was probably faking it.

She didn’t need a large, fully equipped hospital, so the ambulance was bound to take her to the nearest emergency room—at Clayden Hospital. Normally, the police would also go along to take an immediate statement. That meant for the next hour, the purple-haired woman would be at Clayden Hospital.

Plus, since she didn’t seem to be a suspect or in danger of being detained, if Mai Mingle went to Clayden Hospital and waited by the entrance, she should be able to catch the purple-haired woman upon her release.

But if Mai Mingle stopped at the relief station to eat and got delayed, she wouldn’t know how to find another Hunter in the vast expanse of Blackmoor City.

A person’s life was more important than a meal and a pair of shoes, right?

Xiaozuo was convinced. Together with Xiaoyou, it dragged the exhausted Mai Mingle step by painful step to Clayden Hospital.

The moment she saw the hospital entrance, Mai Mingle collapsed by the side of the road like a crumbling building. She had been walking for at least four or five hours straight since fleeing her apartment. On top of that, she hadn’t had a single drop of water since last night and her stomach was empty. Even a young person would have broken down.