Illusion Report

Chapter 142: Chapter 110: Hai Luwei’s Feint Attack on Mai Mingle

Just as Hai Luwei came running, kiting the resident Mai Mingle like a runaway kite, the youth shot up from the ground. His movements were so clean and sharp that Hai Luwei felt a sudden surge of hope.

The next second, the youth turned and fled.

’...Where are you going?!’

’Weren’t you so confident just a moment ago?’

Hai Luwei desperately wanted to scream his thoughts aloud, but he was using every ounce of strength just to flee and still couldn’t shake off the relentless Mai Mingle. He was genuinely afraid that if he tried to speak, he’d end up biting his tongue off.

’Fine. If I can’t shout, I’ll just run right at him.’

The youth sprinted halfway across the square, then looked back. When he saw Hai Luwei kiting the resident Mai Mingle right behind him, he had the audacity to demand, "Why are you chasing me?"

A bitter taste filled Hai Luwei’s mouth as he ran. ’The nerve! Weren’t you the one looking for her in the first place?’

With a THUD, the youth leaped onto the trunk of a car, scrambled to its roof, and shouted down at Hai Luwei, "Don’t come any closer!"

Thoroughly exasperated, Hai Luwei finally found the breath to yell back, "Then where am I supposed to go?"

"How should I know?"

Even in such a critical moment, the youth didn’t forget to adjust his hood, his face remaining hidden in the shadows. "Why did she turn into... this?"

’I already told you, so what the hell are you so surprised about—’

Just as Hai Luwei was about to start thinking like a resident himself, he heard the youth suddenly shout, "Watch out!"

Instinct flared in his mind. He bent his knees and, with practiced ease, dropped to the ground again.

’It doesn’t have to be a fancy move, as long as it works.’

A long shadow cut through the night sky over his head, like a shark breaking through black waves in search of prey. It grazed past him, snapping at the empty air where he’d just been. He felt like a small fish cowering on the seabed, wondering how much longer he had left.

The resident Mai Mingle landed on her feet on the ground ahead, kicking up a faint cloud of dust. She was clearly displeased.

"Are you going to use that trick forever? So annoying, so annoying, so—huh?"

Her rapid-fire repetition was cut short by a flicker of confusion.

Mai Mingle had noticed the car in front of her.

She straightened up, her neck gradually elongating. In the space of a single breath, she was face-to-face with the youth on the car’s roof. For whatever reason, he hadn’t seized the chance to run and was still standing there.

It was too late to turn and run now; that would mean exposing his back to the creature. For the moment, the youth could only stand frozen atop the car, not daring to move.

"...I’ve seen you before. Not long ago." The resident Mai Mingle tilted her head, studying him. "Hmm... let me think. The name’s on the tip of my tongue... what was it again, mmm..."

Even if that youth’s name was Jesus, it wouldn’t have convinced Hai Luwei to stay a second longer.

Seeing Mai Mingle distracted, Hai Luwei knew this was the perfect chance to escape the square. ’If not now, when?’

But Hai Luwei had barely made a move when the youth on the car suddenly shouted, his voice filled with renewed hope, "Look! He’s getting away! Aren’t you going to chase him?"

Mai Mingle’s upper head remained motionless, but her lower head whipped around to face her back.

’...Not a single decent person among them, these Hunters.’

Hai Luwei knew full well that if he kept running like this, he would eventually be caught by Mai Mingle.

She had just transformed into a resident and wasn’t yet fully adapted to her new body. This was when she was at her weakest—though, of course, "weak" was only relative to her own potential.

But if he let her chase him and warm up, the situation would become much more dangerous.

"Wait, wait,"

he yelled at Mai Mingle’s first head. "Why kill me? I was trying to save you just now! You don’t have to repay my kindness, but you shouldn’t return it with hatred! He’s the one who came looking for you, go deal with him!"

At his words, the second, higher head also snapped around to face him.

"Youmade me like this you kept buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing in my ear it’s your fault I got stuck I’ll kill you use your blood as lubricant to lubricate lubricate lubricate slide slide slide slide out"

It was impossible to reason with a resident. Aesthetics, logic, conscience—all were concepts that no longer existed in a resident’s mind.

In his entire life, Hai Luwei had never been so angry he wanted to cry. Now, he was about to experience it for the first time.

"Wait!"

Perhaps fate decided it wasn’t his time to die. Just as Mai Mingle was about to pounce, a shout rang out, stopping her in her tracks—and it didn’t come from the youth.

The shout was so unexpected that all three-point-seven of their faces—Hai Luwei’s, the youth’s, and Mai Mingle’s—turned toward the source of the sound.

It was a human body lying on the ground.

At first glance, the body appeared to be headless, yet it spoke, its voice muffled. "What’s the point of killing him? He’s just an ordinary Hunter. There’s no sense of accomplishment in killing him."

Caught between gratitude and confusion, Hai Luwei stared for two seconds before he recognized the speaker: it was the Dream Screenwriter.

The reason he hadn’t recognized it at first glance was because the blow from Mai Mingle had been so brutal. The Dream Screenwriter was lying flat on the ground, but its neck was bent all the way back, its head pinned underneath its own back with its face pressed flat against the pavement.

’As expected of a resident,’ he thought. ’To be bent into that shape and still be alive.’

"Listen to me," the Dream Screenwriter said hurriedly. "See that person on the car? Now he’d be satisfying to kill! Kill him first kill him kill him he’s so empty and fresh and tragic and beautiful and full of poison, absolutely delicious—"

"You’re kind of annoying, you know that?" the youth protested, but he shut his mouth when Mai Mingle turned her heads toward him.

Hai Luwei held his breath and silently took a step back.

"Why is it that I know you...?" Mai Mingle murmured, staring at the youth, seemingly still unable to remember.

’Great, she seems to have forgotten about me for now.’

Hai Luwei took another step back.

The Dream Screenwriter, ever so reasonable, was very considerate of Mai Mingle’s needs.

"You don’t need to remember, just kill him. You’re very strong now; killing him would be a piece of cake. Kill him first. As for this ordinary Hunter, let Daddy save him for you to kill later. Isn’t that the best of both worlds?"

In the span of a few sentences, it had propped itself up on its elbows and risen like a reverse spider. With its head still dangling down its back, it scrambled on all fours toward Hai Luwei, blocking his path.

’...If I fight it, won’t Mai Mingle attack me from behind while I’m distracted?’

Trapped between two residents, Hai Luwei gritted his teeth so hard they felt like they would shatter.

"A resident transformed from a complete human... she’s truly powerful. Even I’m a little scared."

The youth on the car was clearly nervous too, yet he let out a short, breathy laugh. "But I’ve already seen Jonah... and I know where that Illusion is. To get it, I don’t need to fight you at all."

"Jonah?"

Mai Mingle looked confused, her two heads tilting to the left and right.

"Sounds familiar. I know that name. I know he has some connection to you. I have to figure it out—is that what you thought I’d say? Did you think I’d be distracted by him? So naive. The one I want to kill most is you, only you, only you, my beloved Hai Luwei—"

By the time Hai Luwei realized Mai Mingle had only been pretending to be distracted, her newly grown head was already lunging for his face.

The violent wind whipped his hair back, each strand slicing through the darkness by his ears. The face, which looked no different than it had an hour ago, rapidly consumed his entire field of vision.

A few steps behind him, the Dream Screenwriter was slowly straightening up, blocking his escape.

"Wait,"

but the Dream Screenwriter called out urgently. Instead of closing in for the kill, it spun past Hai Luwei and faced the rapidly approaching Mai Mingle. "We can’t let Fu Tailan get away! He’s a contestant now!"

’Contestant? Fu Tailan? That name—’

But what that name meant was irrelevant to Hai Luwei now, because in front of the resident Mai Mingle, the Dream Screenwriter was like a toy frisbee, offering no resistance at all.

With what seemed like a casual wave of her hand, Mai Mingle sent the Dream Screenwriter flying high into the night sky and the streetlight’s glow once more.

Hai Luwei didn’t even have time for his brain to process this information before his body was struck by a heavy force.

The concrete ground seemed to rush up to meet him, as if determined to shatter every bone in his body. Hai Luwei’s vision went black, and he briefly lost consciousness.

When he came to and his vision returned, he was lying on the ground.

Mai Mingle’s two faces, one above the other, stared down at him without blinking. Her body formed a giant canopy, trapping him in her shadow.

’...It’s over. Looks like this is really the end for me today.’

"I’m going to enjoy your death slowly," Mai Mingle’s two faces said, slobbering in unison. The sound was loud, yet her tone was almost gentle. "A human who carries old wounds but still has a sliver of goodness left in their heart... there can’t be many of you. I’ll have to eat you sparingly. Just like how I used to save my packaged snacks when I was little..."

How she planned to eat him was something Hai Luwei, lost in a haze of shock, blankness, and despair, could no longer imagine.

Perhaps it was a self-preservation mechanism, shutting down his perception in advance. Even as his body trembled uncontrollably, his emotions went numb. He couldn’t even squeeze out a cry for help.

’Even if I could cry for help, what good would it do?’

Would Fu Tailan, who was now quietly approaching Mai Mingle from behind, casting a long shadow on the ground, really save him?

Fu Tailan didn’t even glance at him—his eyes were fixed intently on Mai Mingle’s waist and abdomen.

’I never thought the last thing I’d see before I die would be Mai Mingle’s two faces...’

The thought had barely formed in Hai Luwei’s mind when he saw the eyes on Mai Mingle’s lower face flick slightly outward.

Before he could react, a lightning-fast shadow slashed out from Mai Mingle’s side.

By the time Hai Luwei realized it was Mai Mingle’s arm swinging at Fu Tailan, it was too late for even someone with Fu Tailan’s agility to dodge.

He staggered backward, narrowly avoiding the apex of the blow, but her hand still swept heavily across his chest. The sickening thud of the impact on his jaw was so painful it made one’s own flesh crawl, as if the night itself had been gagged and snapped in two.

"Don’t think I didn’t kn—"

Mai Mingle didn’t get to finish her sentence. A sharp, cheerful melody suddenly blared from a nearby car’s radio, making everyone present jolt in surprise. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

"Attention! Now broadcasting an emergency notification from the Nest for Mai Mingle!"

A synthesized, childlike voice, sounding extremely excited, announced loudly into the night:

"Following the Westley Team and the Fu Tailan Team, the ’Nest Dominance Game’ now summons Mai Mingle, currently in a resident/human superposition, to become the game’s newest contestant! You possess an unprecedented state! The power to sweep away all obstacles! As a special privilege for a resident, you will be given a period of consideration! If you decide to participate, please respond within 24 hours!"