Illusion Report

Chapter 169: Chapter 137: Fu Tailan: Meanwhile, He’s Feeding a Cat?

"Hmm, I’m still not sure what I should call you..."

Under the cover of night, Fu Tailan pulled a small pouch from his pocket. He tore it open and picked out two small, heart-shaped pieces of jerky.

"Kitty? Meow-Meow? Here, kitty, kitty? Come on out. I’ve got treats for you."

He tossed the two small pieces of jerky onto the sidewalk, then squatted down and waited patiently.

The nights in the Nest seemed far darker, more devoid of light, than in the human world. It was as if the darkness devoured not only your vision, but also your very soul, inch by inch.

But Fu Tailan quite enjoyed this darkness.

Immersed in it, it was hard to tell where he ended and the Nest began. It felt as if he stayed long enough, he too would become a part of the darkness.

For now, the darkness before him remained utterly still.

"What, you don’t like this one?"

He squinted, peering at the pouch of treats in the darkness.

"The one they bought is salmon-flavored. Hmm, maybe I’ll switch to chicken next time... Ah, Meow-Meow? You came?"

Suddenly, the bushes beside the sidewalk began to RUSTLE, parting as something moved within them.

A massive black shadow, so tall Fu Tailan had to crane his neck just to see the top of its head, emerged from between the leaves. It rose silently, stepping onto the sidewalk in a single stride, seeming to consume one’s entire field of view and personal space.

’...Even though this isn’t the first time I’ve seen it, it’s still just as staggering.’

"The food’s over there," Fu Tailan said, pointing to the treats on the ground. "I’m not the food. Don’t eat me."

The black shadow, larger than a locomotive, stood motionless before him.

He subconsciously touched his jaw where Mai Mingle had injured him.

A hairline fracture, for sure. The skin was swollen and bruised. He’d made do by slapping a large adhesive bandage over the wound, but it seemed even the bandage felt unequal to the task. Soaked with blood, it kept threatening to slide off.

’To the residents and other things, I must be especially appealing right now.’

’Maybe looking for Meow-Meow wasn’t a good idea—but it’s a little late for that now, isn’t it.’

"Meow-Meow, have you gotten bigger again?"

Fu Tailan slowly stood up. The black shadow still towered over him by at least a meter.

"Your presence is getting more oppressive by the day... I told you, the treats are over there. Why are you staring at me?"

In the dead silence, the black shadow lifted one leg, took half a step toward him, and slightly lowered its head.

A moment later, if Fu Tailan hadn’t jerked back, his entire right arm would have been swallowed into the shadow’s mouth, leaving him with just a shoulder. The cat treats and the pouch they came in were inhaled by the shadow, the plastic wrapper CRINKLING in its mouth for a few seconds.

"So, you thought two pieces were too few?"

Fu Tailan let out a breath of relief and smiled. He thought for a moment, then, while it was chewing, he quickly reached out and stroked it.

The black shadow let out a deep "RUMBLE?" from its throat and abruptly turned its eyes toward him. If not for two faint, crescent-shaped glints of light, it would have been impossible to find its two equally black eyes within the massive, inky form.

Fu Tailan put his hands behind his back, pretending nothing had happened.

’Its fur is coarse and long, but it feels thick and smooth. A good cat, indeed. Worth the risk for that one pat.’ freёwebnovel.com

’There are many creatures in the Nest. Though they’re also born from human corpses, they aren’t like the residents; they pose no danger to people—at least, not while you’re healthy and strong. I wonder what cat lover died and ended up creating cats in the Nest.’

’...Well, let’s just call it a cat for now. Ahem. No need to split hairs over these things.’

"Was it good?"

The black shadow didn’t make a sound.

’Of course, cats can’t talk.’

Fu Tailan said with a smile, "I’m looking for someone. A young woman, driving a car. She should have left from this direction not too long ago. Oh, right, she probably had a man in the car with her. Have you seen them?"

Against the night sky behind the shadow, a long, thick, and frighteningly large tail slowly began to rise.

It flicked its tail nonchalantly a few times. When it struck the sidewalk, the ground faintly trembled from the impact.

"...Does that mean you saw them? Which way did they go?"

This time, the tail’s shadow froze in midair, pointing in one direction like a road sign.

Fu Tailan started the timer he had ready on his phone.

After a full five minutes, the tail abruptly shifted in midair, pointing to the right. This meant they had turned right after five minutes of travel.

The cat’s tail gave directions in midair like this for a little longer before finally, slowly, lowering.

The shadow, so massive it was almost hard to breathe, lowered its head. It sniffed left and right a few times, and after confirming Fu Tailan had no more tributes, it turned and vanished back into the bushes.

"Such a good kitty. I’ll come feed you again next time."

Fu Tailan couldn’t remember when he’d first discovered that this type of cat in the Nest would respond to basic requests after being fed treats.

Find a place where a wild animal might hide, like a sidewalk next to some bushes, toss some jerky on the ground, call out, and after a little while, a cat would appear.

Currently, the cat’s appearances spanned nearly all of Blackmoor City, seemingly unrestricted by range or distance. But this one had gotten bigger. He’d have to bring an extra pouch of treats in the future, lest it mistake him for part of the meal next time.

’Speaking of which, it was all that Dream Screenwriter’s fault he’d lost Mai Mingle.’

’The danger of a Dream Screenwriter lay only in its ability to suddenly pull someone into a lucid dream. Once you were on guard, its only remaining tactic was endless harassment—like stepping on a huge wad of chewing gum you can’t shake off. And if you weren’t careful, it would still manage to get a cheap shot in.’

"My skills might not be on par with a resident like Mai Mingle, but for you to tangle with me... it seems you really underestimated me."

He’d been about to leave, but after the Dream Screenwriter obstructed him twice in a row, Fu Tailan was starting to get annoyed.

He planted his foot on the Dream Screenwriter’s chest and asked, "You think just because you can regenerate and can’t die, there’s nothing I can do to you?"

The Dream Screenwriter never stopped trying to pull him into a lucid dream—and it was precisely this that gave Fu Tailan his opening.

"You have to aim your face at your target and hold still for one or two seconds to initiate the lucid dream, don’t you?"

Fu Tailan said, dragging over a pole from an advertising sign. "Your attack pattern is too obvious. Rife with openings."

By that point, the Dream Screenwriter could no longer answer him.

Fu Tailan had fired three shots into its face at close range. The spinning bullets had torn its skull apart, carving out a hole that went straight through from front to back—large enough to stick a hand through.

It took Fu Tailan some effort to bend the pole over his knee.

’If I had Chaisi’s strength, I definitely wouldn’t have broken a sweat over something like this. Will I have that kind of power when I’m an adult?’

’Maybe I should ask around about what the Kai Family eats.’

Letting his mind wander helped ease the pain in his jaw. While mentally plotting how to snag a free meal from the Kai Family, Fu Tailan stuck his pistol into the hole in the Dream Screenwriter’s head and fired at the ground.

The loud BANG and shattered bricks flew into the air, as if a small tornado had whipped through its gaping skull. Shrapnel embedded itself in the bone, making the Dream Screenwriter’s body twitch like a dying fish.

Fu Tailan put all his strength into it, thrusting the straight end of the pole through the hole and deep into the ground.

He used the Dream Screenwriter’s own clothes to bind its hands together. When he was finished, the Dream Screenwriter was like an insect, its head pinned to the ground.

"Try your best to regenerate,"

Fu Tailan didn’t forget to add encouragingly. "If your core is intact and your neck muscles are strong enough, you should be able to sit up after struggling for ten minutes or so... It’s a shame I won’t get to see what you look like with a pole sticking out of your head. It’d probably be pretty funny."

He glanced back, but Mai Mingle’s car was long gone. Hai Luwei, who’d been on the side of the road, had also vanished after her car drove past. ’He’s back to being human, so why does he still have it in for me?’

"See? She’s gone."

Unable to contain his annoyance, Fu Tailan kicked the Dream Screenwriter a few times with the toe of his shoe. "Let this be a lesson to you," he said. "Don’t go around causing trouble for people next time."

’Thankfully, I’d brought a pouch of treats, or I wouldn’t have been able to get back on Mai Mingle’s trail...’

’They’re both creatures of the Nest. How come Meow-Meow is so useful and cute, while this thing is... this? Why is there such a huge difference?’

’With Mai Mingle going on ahead, I don’t have to worry about any dangers along this road. She’s the canary in the coal mine; if there’s any trouble, she’ll be the first to find it.’

Nevertheless, Fu Tailan remained cautious. He walked out onto the road and began to follow the route Mai Mingle had driven, stepping carefully through the Nest’s darkness. He tried his best to stay within the path cleared by the car’s tires.

While she was driving away, Fu Tailan had managed to look up from his struggle with the Dream Screenwriter and get a glance at her speed. He knew Mai Mingle’s car was going about 30 miles per hour.

’The five minutes she drove was a very different distance from five minutes of walking... What a pain in the ass.’

Fu Tailan calculated as he walked, remaining vigilant and constantly scanning his surroundings. Even with Meow-Meow’s directions, this was no easy trek.

He found the car Mai Mingle had been driving after walking for over thirty minutes.

It was parked crookedly at the roadside, its front end nosed into a small alley between two buildings. From its position alone, it was hard to tell which nearby building the pair had entered. The Nest, having inherited most of Blackmoor City’s layout, was just as densely packed with buildings.

"No matter which building it is, they must have stopped here for now, right?"

Fu Tailan muttered, taking a signal transmitter from his backpack.

’The Dream Screenwriter, of course, wasn’t about to keep Mai Mingle’s secrets. A moment ago, without any need for interrogation, it had spilled that Hai Luwei was going to be her guide for twelve hours.’

’This meant they wouldn’t be leaving the Nest anytime soon. Add to that Hai Luwei’s foot injury, which would keep him from going far, and it was highly likely the pair planned to hide and rest.’

’I’ll leave a signal here, wait for the Household Hunters to arrive, and then we can search carefully—’

The thought had barely finished forming when an explosion suddenly erupted from an old residential building behind him. Fu Tailan spun around just in time to see flames burst from a window, illuminating the night for a split second.

’...You’ve got to be kidding me. Was it really that easy to find them?’

’Is this really not a trap? Or a diversion?’

’Whatever. If it’s a trap, it’s a trap.’

Fu Tailan sighed. He knew that, one way or another, he had to go check it out.

Before taking a step, he pulled out his phone and glanced at the time.

November 19, 2026

03:22 AM