Illusion Report

Chapter 177: Chapter 145: Mai Mingle: Fortunately, Hai Luwei Is a Person Who Can Be Trusted and Cooperated With

Sometimes, karma comes for you way too fast.

Mai Mingle wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. When she lowered her hand, she saw it was covered in streaks of black ash. ’I must look like a zebra right now,’ she thought.

A series of small explosions had left a persistent, fly-like buzzing in her ears. But that was nothing compared to the injury on her foot. She carefully placed her burned foot on the ground and hissed in a sharp breath of air.

’This second life is certainly an experience,’ she mused. ’In just a few days, I’ve suffered more new and exciting torments than in my entire previous eighty-six years.’

Before they were separated, Hai Luwei had given her a roll of bandages. After wrapping her foot, she could put a little weight on it. She could walk, just barely, but not fast, and with a heavy limp.

It hadn’t been long after they’d struggled up to the third floor and just figured out the rules when a microwave suddenly exploded behind her, setting her shoe on fire. Luckily, the microwave had been next to a window. The shockwave shattered the glass, and most of the flames vented outside. She’d only suffered a superficial burn, which was a true silver lining in this mess.

Ugh. After the "find the face in the restaurant" and "television becomes reality" ordeals, she had fallen into a mindset where she thought all the Nest’s traps could be outsmarted with logic and reason...

But ever since reaching the third floor, she and Hai Luwei had become like two fish forced to swim in separate directions, with no room to think—only to get blown up again and again.

’No matter how fast your brain works, it can’t stop a bomb!’

Mai Mingle sighed and checked the bedroom one more time.

The wardrobe, the pillows, the fan, the curtains... ’Good, nothing has a pre-explosion countdown on it yet. Maybe I can catch my breath for a second.’

Mai Mingle pulled the crumpled sheet of rules from her pocket, intending to read it again and search between the lines for a way out.

The most prominent feature of this godforsaken place was that any ordinary household object could randomly trigger a small explosion. It wasn’t just microwaves; even a cold slice of leftover pizza on the kitchen counter had suddenly erupted into a firework display of Italian sausage-scented shrapnel.

There was no rhyme or reason as to what would explode or what triggered it. Even the pre-explosion warning was just a three-number countdown: "Three, two, one," BOOM.

And that was if you saw it. If you didn’t spot the red countdown numbers on an object, it was simply death erupting from the silence.

’But how is one person supposed to have eyes in the back of their head, watching every single thing all at once?’

And that wasn’t even the most unfair part of the third floor.

Coming up the stairs didn’t lead to the hallway. Instead, you were funneled directly into the adjacent Apartment 302. After running, fleeing, and getting blown up several times, Mai Mingle finally pieced the situation together:

The partition walls between the apartments on both sides of the hall had all been smashed, effectively creating two enormous, sprawling apartments. Inside, some dividers remained, revealing traces of the different residents who had once lived there.

’They even knocked down the walls. Isn’t this just to make it easier to ’bomb the fish’?’

But even if she wanted to rush into the hallway and sprint upstairs, she couldn’t. The rules specifically prevented it.

Mai Mingle had found a pen earlier and circled the actual rules amidst all the nonsense on the paper. This was what she was re-reading now.

A. If another person enters a one-meter radius around a resident, the floor beneath the first person to arrive will explode.

If two (or more) people enter the one-meter radius simultaneously, with no "first arrival," the floor beneath both (or all) of them will explode.

She remembered standing together with Hai Luwei, discussing the rules as they read the paper. The moment they understood that rule, the color drained from both their faces. An instant later, they scrambled away from each other.

At first, they only stayed a meter apart, still within each other’s line of sight. But after being forced to flee from several random explosions, she no longer even knew where Hai Luwei was.

B. Any object can explode at random. Before exploding, red countdown numbers (from three to one) will flash on the object.

C. In the area of an explosion (regardless of cause), there is a chance for an unexploded bomb to appear.

D. A resident carrying an unexploded bomb will be immune to the effects of random object explosions. In other words, they can walk freely on the third floor; even if an object explodes in their face, they will not be harmed in the slightest.

E. An unexploded bomb that is not picked up will detonate in place after ten minutes.

An unexploded bomb that has been touched will quietly disappear after ten minutes.

F. When a person carrying an unexploded bomb and a person without one meet within a one-meter radius, Rule A is voided. The person carrying the unexploded bomb will suffer a double explosion: the floor beneath them and the bomb they are carrying.

If both parties have an unexploded bomb, or if neither has one, Rule A remains in effect. Rule A has priority over Rule D.

G. When twelve unexploded bombs have detonated, the stairways to the second and fourth floors will open. Taking the fourth floor as an example, if anyone attempts to force their way up before this condition is met, every single step on the entire staircase will turn into a bomb and detonate simultaneously.

This would not only kill the person attempting to go upstairs, but would also make it impossible for anyone else to reach the fourth floor. The same applies to the second floor.

...The rules were numerous, but they were easy enough to understand.

But every time she read and analyzed them, Mai Mingle couldn’t help but come to the same conclusion: ’How vicious.’

The third floor was a trap designed specifically for multiple Hunters. And by the looks of it, the more people there were, the harder it was to pass—because every rule was riddled with opportunities to harm others for your own benefit. freewebnoveℓ.com

No, it was more accurate to say that whether you were alone or working as a team, getting through the third floor presented its own unique difficulties. In fact, if a person were to secretly push others into bombs, trading their lives for unexploded bombs, that individual would have a high chance of making it upstairs in the end.

’If I’d known it would be like this, I would have just stayed in the hallway on the second floor...’

But there’s no "if only" in life.

Mai Mingle crumpled the paper into a ball. She wanted to throw it away, but thought better of it and put it away safely.

Although she and Hai Luwei had been separated while dodging explosions, they could still find each other again by following the sound of each other’s voices.

Since they’d come upstairs, there had been a total of seven explosions. It seemed three had been near Hai Luwei, two near her, and another two in unoccupied areas. After those last two explosions, she hadn’t seen any unexploded bombs appear on the scene.

According to the rules, an unexploded bomb was very conspicuous: a large black sphere that would appear in the middle of the floor.

Just a moment ago, she had shouted over to Hai Luwei, asking if he’d seen any unexploded bombs. But it seemed the last explosion had driven him even farther away, and on top of that, his hearing had been muffled by the blasts. With so much distance between them, their conversation became a case of talking at cross-purposes.

"A million what? Who’s giving me a million?"

"I asked if you’ve seen an unexploded bomb!"

Hai Luwei, who seemed to have run into the Apartment 301 cluster across the hall at some point, shouted back dazedly, "Oh, were you asking if we’re a meter apart? We are! We’re definitely more than a meter apart!"

’...Stop shouting. We need to meet up, and fast.’

The rules on the third floor of this apartment building were insidious, but the trap hadn’t counted on the people coming upstairs being her and Hai Luwei.

Mai Mingle, naturally, would never use someone else’s life to test for traps.

And as for Hai Luwei, she had observed and judged him herself, with her own two eyes as a fellow resident. It wasn’t just that he wasn’t that kind of person; even if the thought crossed his mind, he wouldn’t be able to go through with it.

Being able to trust their companion already put them in an invincible position.