Illusion Report

Carter Morgan was approaching fifty. The brown, curly hair on his head was visibly thinning, but still combed immaculately, curling over his pink scalp.

Just as Fu Tailan had expected, every move he made exuded the unhurried ease of someone for whom privilege had become a habit—and he was well aware that his status set him apart.

Perhaps it was this self-awareness that made Carter’s affability and enthusiasm seem somewhat superficial and slick. It was as if this warmth he projected was a well-practiced routine, one that felt both ill-fitting and overly familiar.

"I’ve heard so much about you,"

he said the moment he saw Fu Tailan. Unlike most people, he didn’t even flinch. As Carter stood up, his face held just the right amount of admiration. "I’ve been wanting to meet Blackmoor City’s finest Hunter for a long time. Now that my wish has been granted, this trip has already been worthwhile."

Fu Tailan glanced at his outstretched hand, sank lazily into the sofa, and only then raised his own hand into the air.

"Praise me like that and I might actually start to believe it. Last time I checked the mirror, I wasn’t Superman."

Carter Morgan was unfazed. He lowered his hand to meet Fu Tailan’s and actually laughed. "In the eyes of an ordinary person like me, who has no Path, you’re not that different from Superman."

Fu Tailan shot him a glance.

Carter was the second generation of the Morgan Family. Unlike the founder of the previous generation, he did not have a Path.

But he didn’t want a Path, either. He was more than content to live in the mundane world as a director and major shareholder of the Hunter Family Faction. Fu Tailan knew that despite Carter Morgan’s polite words, it made little difference to him whether it was Hunters, financial analysts, or racehorses and greyhounds that were making him money.

A thing like the Path was only prized because it could generate profit, just like anything else in the world.

If you were born into the leisure class, who would be willing to open a Path and enter a Nest, to let their life hang by a thread in darkness and blood?

"Fu Han already showed me your contract."

Fu Tailan curled his legs up on the sofa and said slowly, "I told him as much. Under normal circumstances, no Hunter in the world is worth the price you’re offering. I’m curious—what exactly do you plan to have me do after you sign me?"

"I do love talking with people who are frank and get straight to the point."

Carter Morgan said, pouring him a glass of whiskey. "Your father told me you’re inclined to sign, you just need to clear up a few questions. Is that right?"

At this point, there seemed to be no sense in dwelling on whether or not to sign.

Even if he rejected the Morgan Family, Fu Han would just find him the next one—the Roth Family, the Martin Family, or some Pig, Cow, Sheep, or Dog family... ’Forget it. It’s only for ten years.’

’In ten years, I’ll be twenty-seven. I’ll never have to enter a Nest again then.’

Fu Tailan looked at the clear, amber-colored liquor in his glass and felt a sudden urge to laugh.

He was seventeen, not even of legal drinking age, but no one would so much as blink an eye at it. Nor would they have any opinion on what he smoked or what he did—simply because, compared to a normal seventeen-year-old, he was valuable.

Money was the measure of all things.

Even power, which could bring freedom, would inevitably be traded for money by those who possessed it—so what hope was there for anything else in the world?

Fu Tailan downed the drink in one gulp before saying, "That’s right."

Carter Morgan’s face brightened.

"Good. Then we’re on the same side now." He took a sip of his drink, slowly savoring it before continuing. "...What I’m about to tell you is known only to you, me, and Westley himself."

Fu Tailan tilted his head, not expecting to hear that name. "Westley? The one from the rich list? What does this have to do with him?"

Carter turned to look out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the panoramic night view of Blackmoor City and the distant sea, where a faint, bloody crimson still lingered on the surface. He considered his words for a moment before finally speaking.

"Westley is in possession of a crucial piece of intelligence.

"He’s kept every Hunter in Blackmoor City in the dark. Even I have only sensed the existence of this intelligence, but I don’t know its specific contents."

"Then how do you know he has it?"

"His actions betray his ambitions."

Carter Morgan smiled, revealing a row of tightly packed teeth. "It’s precisely because his recent activities have become more and more frequent that my curiosity was piqued. I did a little digging... and that led me to this hypothesis."

Fu Tailan weighed these words in his mind before asking, "What did you dig up?"

"You’re aware that Westley himself doesn’t have a Path, right?" Carter asked out of the blue.

Seeing Fu Tailan nod, he continued, "He and I are the same type of person. I know very well that we’re not cut out to be Hunters. But I’ve heard that he’s recently been planning to use an intermediary to quietly release an anonymous request to the Hunter community—he wants a Path.

"I was shocked when I first heard it. Aren’t Paths something you’re born with? You either have one or you don’t. On top of that, he doesn’t want anyone to know that he’s the one asking for a Path... I honestly don’t know what to make of it."

Carter shook his head. "But the very fact that Westley has this idea might suggest that acquiring a Path later in life isn’t entirely impossible."

"What does he want a Path for?" Fu Tailan asked.

’What does it have to do with me whether the richest man in the world wants a Path or not?’

’But I’m facing my future boss, so I have to ask a question or two just to show I’m listening.’

Carter smiled. "I don’t know. That part’s already strange enough. Westley entering a Nest? Isn’t that just a death wish? But on top of that, there’s something even stranger."