Illusion Report

But even after that scare, he was still dead set on making the deal tonight, which just went to show how important that Illusion was.

"I’ll have Green send you an address. Thirty minutes from now,"

Westley got that far when someone beside him seemed to whisper a reminder, and he corrected himself, "No, one to two hours from now. I’ll be there then."

’Fu Tailan thought the person in the background had murmured something like, "It needs to be verified."’

’Verify what?’

’The only thing that would need verification was the Illusion he was about to acquire.’

’In other words, he doesn’t have the Illusion yet. He needs to set aside time to verify it... And the verification process will probably take longer than Westley first estimated. Much longer.’

’As long as I have an address, the rest will be easy.’

"Use that address as the center point. I want a helicopter in the air immediately, circling a radius equivalent to a thirty-minute drive. Have them look for his security convoy, for any signs of heavy guard. We’ll drive over, too."

Longzhen carried out Fu Tailan’s orders swiftly, though she still didn’t understand why the Hunter Chief wanted to tail a client.

"So, what about Huangli Roslin?" After dispatching the helicopter, Longzhen proactively picked up her phone. "I’ll call her right now. What should I tell her?"

"She’s just a backup. Tell her to come."

As Fu Tailan said this, he had yet to realize he was making a mistake. "Even if we don’t need her tonight, the Family Faction will need someone with her talents eventually."

Longzhen quickly got the call through and relayed Fu Tailan’s words, adding a special touch: "It’s our Family Faction’s Hunter Chief—he’s especially impressed with you." After all, flattery will get you anywhere.

"Hm? Yes, we can meet your conditions... That’s right. We can even double the offer."

At this point, Longzhen stressed, "But here’s our condition: you need to get over to us within thirty minutes. A situation has come up, and we might need your help."

From the car’s speakerphone, Huangli Roslin’s perpetually cheerful voice came through. "What’s the address?"

Longzhen glanced at Fu Tailan. He thought for a moment, then nodded.

After she gave the address, the line went quiet for two seconds. Then, Huangli’s voice came through. "Ah, my apologies. I can’t make it."

Longzhen’s brow furrowed instantly. She laid on the horn at the car in front of them before speaking into the phone again. "Where are you right now? I can send a helicopter to pick you up."

"Ah, I’m sorry, I’m really tied up over here," Huangli Roslin said, pausing as if genuinely disappointed. "...Does this job offer hinge on tonight?"

Before Longzhen could speak again, Fu Tailan placed a hand on her arm.

She turned to face him. Fu Tailan shook his head and mouthed the words, "Hang up."

"What’s wrong?" Longzhen asked, hastily hanging up the phone.

Any Hunter who could survive in a Nest had to possess the ability to glean warnings and hints from the faintest of clues. This skill, which began as conscious analysis, was eventually refined into pure intuition. The more exceptional the Hunter, the less likely they were to ignore even the slightest, hair-thin feeling that something was off.

"She’s with someone," Fu Tailan said, his tone leaving no room for doubt.

Longzhen was stunned for a moment. "...How do you know?"

’That was the hard part.’

’Intuition was an ethereal, hazy thing. It was like mist—it dissipated the moment you tried to touch it. It was impossible to pin down with words, let alone analyze methodically.’

’Maybe it was the way Huangli Roslin had paused both times before answering. Maybe it was her momentary hesitation to reveal her location.’

’Or maybe he’d heard the faint rustle of her collar as she turned her head, as if she were looking at someone. All these phantom clues were things his subconscious might have latched onto, but to bring them up and state them as fact felt like grasping at straws.’

"...Because I’m a very good liar," Fu Tailan finally said, fobbing her off with a simple explanation. "So I can tell she wasn’t being honest."

He didn’t know if that had convinced Longzhen, but for now, she seemed to accept his explanation.

"So what do we do next...?"

"Doesn’t matter. Keep driving."

Fu Tailan curled back into his seat like a big cat, his voice relaxed and airy. "Her having company doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Forget our line of work... no one ever knows what’s happening out in the wide world, or what might come knocking to turn your life upside down. But it doesn’t matter. We’ll handle problems as they come."

After a moment of silence, Longzhen let out a wry laugh. "You... you really don’t seem your age."

"Is that so?"

Fu Tailan looked up and smiled at her profile. "They say the brain doesn’t fully develop until you’re twenty-five. For all you know, I’m still a fool right now. Want to see what I’m like when I’m twenty-five? If you do, then you can’t quit on me."

In the nearly two months she had been on the job, it was the first time he had seen Longzhen laugh genuinely.

"You know," she said as she drove, "I actually have a Path, too."

"Oh?"

Longzhen’s tone became conversational, like she was talking to a friend. "But I’m not like you. I only had to see a Nest once to know I could never be a Hunter. I’m terrified of them, I despise them, and I had no confidence I’d make it out alive a second time. That’s why I chose to only take jobs within Blackmoor City."

"...This world is so strange," she mused. "Something like the Path... it isn’t always given to the people who are a match for it."

Fu Tailan couldn’t help but think of Westley—and of the bounty he had yet to post for the acquisition of a Path.

Regardless of what Carter Morgan was planning, Westley was still the Morgan Family’s most important client. He was also one of the last people in Blackmoor City you’d want to cross.

Even if he located Westley, it didn’t mean Fu Tailan could interfere with the transaction, let alone hijack it. The time was far from right.

But just finding out *what* he was buying and what it was for... that wasn’t impossible.

To find the answer, he didn’t even need to alert Westley himself.

’After all, every transaction has two parties in the know.’

"Found them,"

The helicopter pilot’s voice came through Fu Tailan’s earpiece about ten minutes later—so quickly that it actually surprised him. "Westley’s headed to his private marina, where his yacht is docked."

If word of tonight’s deal hadn’t been leaked—in a way that felt almost deliberate—the location would have been perfectly safe and convenient. ’I almost forgot,’ he thought, ’billionaires live in a world of their own.’

"No need to tail him further," Fu Tailan said, checking the time on his phone. "The deal is probably happening on his yacht. Post a few men on the road outside the marina. I want to know who goes in after him. Get me the license plate and car model."

’Barring any surprises, the other party to the deal should be the first one to leave the yacht.’

’In other words, all Fu Tailan had to do was lie in wait outside the marina to see which Hunter left after dealing with Westley. Once he confirmed their identity, he could get to his own meeting point with Westley ahead of time and continue spinning his tales for the billionaire.’

Fu Tailan got out of the car and pulled up the hood of his sweatshirt, a shadow falling over half his face.

He sat on the hood of the car, gazing at the rolling high-rises and lights of Blackmoor City across the water as the white smoke from his cigarette curled and dissipated into the night.

All that was left was to wait.

But Fu Tailan never expected that the first person to arrive wouldn’t be the one he was waiting for.

When another black Mercedes-Benz slowed to a stop in the middle of the road beside him, Fu Tailan merely glanced over. He hadn’t even gotten a clear look at the person pushing the door open, but a visceral, instinctual revulsion shot through him like an electric current, making his brow twitch.

A tall figure in a suit straightened up outside the car and slammed the door shut with a sharp BANG.

Chaisi Monroe stood in the darkness, staring toward the distant marina. Without sparing Fu Tailan a single glance, he slowly cracked a smile.