Illusion Report

Chapter 149: Chapter 117: Jin Xueli: A Partnership with Ulterior Motives?

’...No way, he figured it out?’

’I just received a single notification, that’s it.’

’How could one notification make it impossible for her to keep any secrets?’

Jin Xueli tilted her head back. Chaisi’s face, like a dark cloud obscuring the moon, blocked her view.

The trickiest part was that they were so close, she still couldn’t make out his expression.

It was like driving on a dark road at night without any signs. Unable to guess her opponent’s intentions, she could only try to muddle through with ambiguity.

"I have obtained several Illusions before," Jin Xueli decided to feign ignorance, "but I sold them all."

"Don’t play dumb," Chaisi said in a low voice. "It won’t work on me."

She bit her lip and said nothing.

The light rain pattered relentlessly on her plastic raincoat, the soft rustling becoming the only sound between them for a moment.

"At the Central Police Station, you admitted you had a ’failsafe’."

Chaisi seemed to be thinking as he spoke, his pace unhurried. "With it, you weren’t worried about your fingerprints entering the police archives, or even about not getting your personal belongings back. I always felt that your behavior was like you had a ’do-over’ button."

’...Huh?’

"There are seven target Illusions in total. Except for the last one, which is just a question mark, the others all have a graphic or written description," Chaisi said. "One of them is ’Time.’ Thinking about it now, is that situation-saving Illusion of yours related to time? Because it’s related to time, you’re not afraid no matter how the situation develops."

’I really... I really didn’t see that coming.’

Jin Xueli bit her nails, thinking, ’This Chaisi guy is perceptive and skilled at analysis, but he probably never expected that while every step of his deduction was correct, he ultimately arrived at the wrong answer.’

The target Illusion she possessed wasn’t "Candle Tears," but the "Old-Fashioned Radio."

However, Jin Xueli had never revealed any clues related to the radio before, and Chaisi had been misled by the word "time" in the recruitment notice, so it was only logical that he’d reach this conclusion.

In any case, she couldn’t admit it right away. She had to put up a little more resistance to make Chaisi believe it even more firmly.

Regardless of whether the domination game was real, she wanted to protect the "Old-Fashioned Radio" as much as possible, even at the cost of "Candle Tears."

After all, "Candle Tears" had been brought about by the "Old-Fashioned Radio."

The radio could provide her with more Illusion information in the future, but "Candle Tears" couldn’t. Its only function was to "change the past," and it couldn’t even be used precisely as she wished. It wasn’t that useful.

’Judging from the notice, the person who discovered she had the "Old-Fashioned Radio" was the next contestant, not Chaisi. I’ll worry about the next contestant when they show up. First, I need to get through this.’

’Luckily, denials and refutations don’t require any thought. I just have to open my mouth, and I can produce as many as I need.’

"No, I really don’t. If I had an Illusion that could control time, would I need to be earning that five thousand dollars from you? I could sell it for any price! I’d be richer than you..."

Jin Xueli let her mouth run on its own while her mind raced.

’...From the looks of it, Chaisi seems to have completely bought into this "Nest domination contest" thing. He thinks that getting all seven Illusions will let him rule the Nest.’

’And here I thought he was so smart, yet he’s completely convinced after seeing just one notice. It just goes to show, the best liar is yourself.’

’No matter how smart someone is, they can be blinded by their own desires.’

’Since he thinks I have a target Illusion, he’s definitely going to try and take it, right?’

’Wait.’

’Does this mean I absolutely cannot let Chaisi take it by force?’

Even if the outcome was the same—Chaisi taking the information about "Candle Tears"—the process made a fundamental difference to her.

If Chaisi felt he had to use force, not only would she lose "Candle Tears" for nothing, she would probably be tortured, and the partnership they had just formed would go down the drain.

’But if I could turn this situation to my advantage...’

"Even if I did have it," Jin Xueli thought for a moment, then slightly changed her tune, "I would’ve sold it for cash a long time ago."

"So, what you want is money?" Chaisi asked, looking down at her.

Jin Xueli already knew what she had to do.

"Who doesn’t want money?" This, at least, was the honest truth. "If it wasn’t for money, would I have become an Illusion Hunter?"

Chaisi raised his hand, and Jin Xueli’s body tensed.

But he only gently pulled down the hood of her raincoat—seemingly to get a clearer look at her expression.

Strands of rain fell on her hair and eyelashes, and Jin Xueli couldn’t help but blink a few times. Through her water-blurred vision, Chaisi’s gaze pressed down on her face.

His hand still rested on the back of her neck; if he spread his fingers, they could cover the entire back of her head.

With one exertion of force from that hand, she would fall.

She normally underwent extensive physical training and wasn’t afraid of a fight with an ordinary person. But when it came to sheer force, even a professional boxer, let alone her, might not stand a chance against Chaisi.

’So no matter what, I have to avoid a situation where Chaisi becomes my enemy...’

’Besides, what I’m giving him isn’t the real target Illusion anyway.’

"...Is it what you want most, too? The one thing you’d give up everything else to obtain, something that would make this life worthwhile... for you, that’s money?" freewebnovёl.ƈom

’I guess so?’

’No, that’s not quite right either.’

"More accurately, it’s what money can bring."

Jin Xueli felt the words leave her mouth involuntarily.

"You must have grown up surrounded by money, so you wouldn’t understand. Let me tell you, money doesn’t just bring material superiority and comfort. Money can change a person’s species."

"Species?" Chaisi seemed genuinely baffled for a moment.

"A little money can’t change you completely. You need an astronomical amount."

Jin Xueli thought for a moment before saying, "For example, Westley and I are two different species. Our perceptions and ways of thinking about other people, about fate, about the very earth beneath our feet... they’re completely different. Body, mind, environment, information... with the wealthy at the center, anything can be transformed. In other words, different creatures live in different worlds.

"The difference is as great as that between a human and a lab worm."

Chaisi didn’t speak; he seemed to have never thought about it in this way.

The rich young masters and misses generally never had such an experience. If this were a spectrum, the former Jin Xueli would be on the left, Chaisi near the middle, and the small group represented by Westley would be on the far right, signifying "another species."

"You asked me at the police station what I wanted most. I went home and thought about it for a long time... If it’s just about using money for pleasure and acquiring material things, then the initial happiness is fleeting. It passes in an instant."

Jin Xueli knew she had to lay her heart bare, to reveal her darkest self without reservation, in order to win Chaisi’s trust.

She hadn’t told a single lie. She was simply layering the weight of truth onto his misunderstanding.

Although it was an inappropriate time, she actually felt a bit grateful to Chaisi. If he hadn’t pressed her, she might never have thought so deeply about it.

"So I think... what I really want isn’t the money itself, nor the things it can buy. What I truly want is the power that comes with money."

At this, she turned her head and pushed his hand away from the back of her head.

"If I had that kind of power to transform everything, would I still be standing here, taking this from you?"

Chaisi watched her for a moment, then suddenly let out a low laugh.

Even his laugh was dense and heavy, as if it could be used as a suffocating weapon.

"Very good."

He took half a step back, and it was as if the air suddenly began to flow again. "I like people with strong, simple desires. They’re easy to deal with."

’Easy to control, you mean.’

Jin Xueli didn’t say a word, just lifted her eyelids to glance at him.

"You can’t win this game on your own,"

Chaisi said calmly. "It’s not that I look down on you; I’m just stating a fact. And if you can’t win the game, you’ll never have a chance at real money."

"You’re not very pleasant, you know that?"

"But what you want doesn’t conflict with my goal. In fact, if you’re willing to work with me, the sooner I achieve my goal, the sooner you can fulfill your desire."

She stared blankly for a few seconds before asking, "Your goal?"

"...If we win the game," Chaisi said in a low voice, "the Kai Family can rule the Nest, and by extension, the human world."

"You... it’s all for the Kai Family?"

Chaisi turned his head, glancing at the small path leading up the slope beside them and avoiding her gaze. "...Mhm."

"You could have easily used force to get the information and then killed me," Jin Xueli asked thoughtfully. "Why didn’t you?"

"You forgot," Chaisi said with a low, self-deprecating laugh. "I don’t have a Path. I need a Hunter who can get to the Nest. I have plenty of Hunters under my command, but for something like the domination game, the fewer people who know, the better. What’s more, you’ve already been recruited. It’s better to work with you than to kill you and have the Nest replace you with someone even more troublesome."

"...Sounds like you’re underestimating me a little. If I tell you what I know, you’ll tell me all your information too, right?"

Chaisi pondered for a moment and nodded. "Fine."

Jin Xueli raised her hand again and held it out.

"In that case, let’s call this our second partnership."

After denying it for so long, she had to give herself an out. She thought for a moment and said, "I don’t know if what I have is the target Illusion, but I do know of one that’s related to time."

Chaisi let go of her hand. "’Know of’? Not ’possess’?"

"It’s a long story. I’ll tell you slowly."

At this, Jin Xueli looked up at the sky. "But we can’t just stand here talking in the rain, can we? It’d be better to find somewhere safe and private... Where do you live?"

Chaisi gave her a sudden look.

"What’s with that guarded look? It’s not like we can go to my place. I’ve learned my lesson about letting men know where I live."

"Why?"

"Don’t even ask. I ran into a stalker a while back. He seemed so respectable on the surface..."

"Is your story going to take a long time?" Chaisi interrupted her.

"Pretty long, and it has a lot to do with an Illusion."

Jin Xueli thought for a moment and added, "It’s also related to the ’Vulture’ you want to know about. Right, you can tell me why you were asking about ’Vulture’ now, can’t you? What’s going to happen to the Central Police Station? Did Morando come after you because of the domination game? Is the tongue in your mouth right now? Do you have two tongues? How do you eat and talk? Ah, I have so many questions—"

Chaisi closed his eyes and finally said, "...Let’s go. My car is over there. I know a good place."

"Speaking of Morando, about that five thousand dollars..."

"...I know. Give me your PayPal account."

"An electronic transfer, just as I thought. How nice. You definitely don’t have to worry about money laundering. By the way, can I borrow the Kai Family’s tax accountant?"

"...If you’re worried about that, why don’t you just accept Bitcoin?"

Pale gray threads of rain drifted in the dark night as the cemetery slope remained frozen in silence.

Under the veil of night, the slope and the graves watched the two of them walk further and further away, their conversation gradually fading at the end of the road.