Illusion Report

...Was he supposed to be shocked?

Yes, he was certainly startled. The person in the car, who should have been in his grasp by now, had suddenly been launched high into the sky, car and all. Anyone would have been startled.

But Fu Tailan found that along with his surprise, there was also a sense of calm, as if this was not entirely unexpected. The shock surged up, but as the car crashed to the ground in the distance, the event solidified into fact.

’After all, when he really thought about it, something like this was bound to happen, wasn’t it?’

Fu Tailan just hadn’t expected it to be so fast, so violent, so reckless.

It was as if whoever ordered the murder knew perfectly well that the laws and rules governing Blackmoor City didn’t apply to him, and that nothing would hold him back.

Fu Tailan had seen the weapon that flipped the car with his own eyes before.

The kiss of a single round from a Bazooka anti-tank rocket launcher made the car explode on the spot, like a steel firework blooming in mid-air. Flames spread along the leaking gasoline, setting half the road ablaze in a red glow. After a hit like that, anyone in the car was beyond saving. It was too late.

Because of the limited line of sight from the angle of the road, the person who fired the rocket from the building probably hadn’t noticed the two cars further down the street.

’So the most important thing now was to get away from the scene immediately...’

He had barely finished the thought when several sharp gunshots—BANG! BANG!—rang out from the small building. The sound was much crisper than the Bazooka’s blast and seemed to come from a rifle.

’Strange—’

In that instant, Fu Tailan suddenly understood.

Just as he whipped his head around and darted onto the road, a dark figure caught up to him from behind.

"...Was it Westley?"

In the blink of an eye, Chaisi was at his side, even though he’d been half a street’s length farther away than Fu Tailan a moment ago. From the sound of it, he wasn’t even out of breath.

’So he figured it out too,’ Fu Tailan cursed inwardly. ’That bastard.’

The car and its driver had been turned to a fiery wreck by the Bazooka blast; not even a god could have escaped that. Yet the sniper had still switched to a rifle and fired several shots into the darkness. Naturally, there could only be one explanation.

Someone had jumped from the car before the Bazooka hit.

This meant that if they hurried over now, they might find a survivor. At the very least, they could find clues to the victim’s identity. However, running toward the crash site meant running straight into the sniper’s sights.

In case the sniper hadn’t left yet, both men instinctively began using the nearby walls, warehouses, and other structures for cover, ducking and weaving through the gaps to get closer.

Fu Tailan considered himself to be an excellent fighter, but Chaisi’s skills were practically inhuman. To keep Chaisi from getting there first, Fu Tailan forced out the words between breaths, "...If it wasn’t him, was it you?"

"Interesting," was Chaisi’s only, terse reply.

He dropped into a crouch behind a low wall for two seconds. Seeing the small building across the street remained silent, he suddenly sprang up and bolted forward.

Fu Tailan wasn’t as tall and his strides were shorter, but being slower had its advantages. As long as he stayed behind Chaisi and followed his path, he could avoid the sniper’s line of sight from across the street. A minute or two later, they reached the blazing section of the road, one trailing the other.

The fire made the night’s expression flicker between light and shadow. The surrounding dock buildings were snatched from the gloom by the flames, then thrust back into darkness, as if taking turns to watch the show. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

The very air seemed to warp in the intense heat. Fu Tailan, standing behind cover, scanned the shifting light and shadows again and again. At last, in the darkness cast by a set of eaves, he spotted a pair of limp, unmoving legs. He was about to leap out when he saw Chaisi lunge forward at the exact same moment.

The man was on his back, his body covered in so much blood it was impossible to tell where he’d been hit.

One glance was enough to see he didn’t have much time. He was beyond saving. His eyes were welling with tears and his mouth hung half-open. As their shadows fell across his face, a wet, gurgling sound of blood and air bubbled up from his throat.

"You just made a deal with Westley, didn’t you?" Fu Tailan crouched beside the man and said in a low voice. "An ambulance is on the way. Hold on. Answer me."

Chaisi glanced up at him.

Fu Tailan leaned in closer and spoke to the wounded man again. "Hey, listen to my voice. Don’t close your eyes. Did you just make a deal with Westley?"

The man seemed to be barely tethered to consciousness by the sound of his voice. A puff of air escaped his half-open lips, forming what sounded like a single word. "Yes..."

"What did you sell him?"

Even with Chaisi listening right beside him, he had to get this information. This dying Hunter was likely the only person in all of Blackmoor City, besides Westley himself, who knew the details of the transaction.

This wasn’t the first time Westley had done business with Hunters, but it was the first time he’d resorted to murdering them for their silence afterward.

’What kind of Illusion would make him go so far as to kill a Hunter?’

Westley had also commissioned the Morgan Family, but he couldn’t possibly silence one of the largest Family Factions in Blackmoor City after the fact. The repercussions would be too massive—tantamount to a small-scale war.

’In other words, the Illusion from tonight’s transaction was fundamentally different from all the others, both those already traded and those yet to be. What was it?’