Illusion Report

Chapter 180: Chapter 148: Mai Mingle: Caught Red-Handed

In everyday life, a framed painting and a ceiling lamp aren’t considered very large.

But when they transformed into bombs, exploding simultaneously less than three meters apart, it was as if space itself had begun to rapidly expand and shatter. The blasts gave Mai Mingle the distinct impression she was about to die. ’Humans are so slow,’ she thought. ’The human body is so fragile and heavy.’

The ceiling, the wall with the hanging picture, the exterior wall of the hallway on the other side...

In just a few short moments, it seemed as if everything was exploding and collapsing, crashing down in a thunderous rain of debris.

The three-digit countdown had allowed Mai Mingle to save her life, but that was all she’d managed to save. Amidst the smoke, flames, and crumbling apartment, she stumbled and ran, buffeted by countless shockwaves, only to be struck on the back of the head by a piece of concrete. A sharp pain lanced through her, and she briefly lost consciousness.

Mai Mingle had no idea how long she was out. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

When she finally opened her eyes again, the apartment had long since returned to its pristine, whole state. It felt as if every speck of dust had dutifully returned to its original position—not one more, not one less, not one out of place—joining with the walls and floor to form the perfect illusion that nothing had happened at all.

The ringing in her ears was gone. Instead, it felt as if her ear canals were filled with water, muffling even her own groans until they were barely audible.

Mai Mingle worked her jaw open and shut a few times and gently tapped the outside of her ears. Only then was she able to tentatively confirm that she wasn’t deaf.

’...At least, not yet.’

A few more rounds of this, and she couldn’t be so sure.

"Hai Luwei?"

Even though she was shouting at the top of her lungs, her own voice sounded faint and distorted, as if she were underwater. "Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

She struggled to her feet, each step as slow and clumsy as a zombie from a movie.

There were still no unexploded bombs nearby, not even anything resembling a "black ball."

Mai Mingle wondered if the unexploded bomb was actually very small, or if the shockwave had sent it rolling under the sofa. But as far as she could see, everything looked exactly as it had before the explosion.

’...How could this be?’

’If the explosion on my end didn’t produce an unexploded bomb, then surely the one on Hai Luwei’s end must have, right?’

As Mai Mingle crossed the hallway into Room 305, the still-life painting that had just exploded seemed to be hiding behind its glass frame, struggling to suppress a laugh, the light on its surface rippling and trembling.

’Her eyes must be playing tricks on her,’ she thought.

Not far ahead, Hai Luwei was sitting on the floor, leaning against a wall. His mouth opened and closed, clearly shouting at Mai Mingle, but she couldn’t hear a thing.

They soon discovered that as long as they remained more than a meter apart, neither of them could hear the other speak.

It wasn’t just her hearing; Mai Mingle felt as if her entire being was submerged in murky water. She slid down against the wall, gave a wry smile, then made a circle with her hand and pointed at Hai Luwei.

Hai Luwei understood immediately. He shook his head, then pointed back at Mai Mingle.

Mai Mingle shook her head as well.

’...So neither of them had found an unexploded bomb.’

How to describe Hai Luwei’s expression at that moment? It was like he knew he was about to get slapped but held onto a sliver of hope anyway, only to get slapped right in the middle of hoping.

Twelve explosions, zero unexploded bombs.

Mai Mingle sat on the floor in a daze. For a moment, her mind was so blank she didn’t even have the energy for disappointment to struggle to the surface.

’Wait, was there a clue in the information provided by the Nest that could help solve the current problem?’

Her head was groggy; it felt like she had to manually push each thought forward for her mind to work.

She was quickly disappointed. The information from the Nest, however extensive, couldn’t explain why there was such a huge discrepancy between the rules given for the third floor and the actual situation.

’No matter how you looked at it, an unexploded bomb should have appeared by now, right?’ ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

She ran her hands through her hair in frustration. Amidst the gnawing anxiety of not knowing when she’d be blown up again, a question suddenly popped into her head. "Hai Luwei, what time is it?"

Mai Mingle said, then made a gesture as if checking a watch.

Hai Luwei glanced at his children’s cartoon watch—it was a small miracle that it was still working.

He then held up four fingers, followed by two fives.

’Four fifty-five?’

’They were both half-dead, yet only twenty-five minutes had passed since she last saw the time on the microwave?’

’In those twenty-five minutes, I’ve been blown up three times... No, that’s not right. I can’t count it like that.’

’After all, I was unconscious for a little while.’

’Considering Hai Luwei didn’t come looking for me, I can deduce that I wasn’t out for long. Assuming I was only unconscious for about five minutes, that means I was blown up three times in twenty minutes: once by the doorframe, once by the dirt clods, and once by the ceiling lamp.’

’...Isn’t that too frequent?’

’Hai Luwei and I came up to the third floor shortly before 3:40. The first explosion—the microwave—happened at 3:42 AM.’

’In the thirty-seven minutes from 3:42 AM to 4:29 AM, when I saw the microwave again, I’d only been hit by two explosions.’

’The difference between the first thirty-seven minutes and the next twenty is just too great, isn’t it?’

’Could it be that the frequency of the explosions is random?’

’If it is random, there’s nothing to be done but take the hits as they come.’

’But if it isn’t... then something must have happened before 4:30 AM that caused the frequency of explosions for me and Hai Luwei to suddenly increase so dramatically.’

A jolt went through Mai Mingle at this thought. She opened her mouth to shout but stopped herself.

After a moment’s thought, she made a flurry of gestures at Hai Luwei, but then gave up. What she wanted to ask was too complicated; hand signals weren’t going to work. She had to find a pen and paper.

Before Mai Mingle could even get up to look, Hai Luwei turned and rummaged in his backpack. It was almost as if he could read her mind. He held up a notepad and pen, gesturing to her as if to ask, "Are you looking for this?"

’This kid is sharp,’ she thought. ’Then again, he is an experienced Hunter. He really came prepared.’

He rolled the paper and pen into a tube and tossed it over. Mai Mingle caught it and quickly scribbled a sentence on the paper.

"That time we had the explosion in an empty area—do you remember about what time it was? If you don’t, a rough estimate is fine."

Hai Luwei read the note, furrowed his brow, and thought for a few seconds.

Then, he held up four fingers. His hand paused in midair for a moment before he hesitantly gestured a "two" and then a "five."

’In other words, the frequency of explosions around us increased just a few minutes after the one in the empty area?’

’Why would that happen?’

’Besides, that’s been the only "empty area explosion" so far. Isn’t that too much of a coincidence?’

Even though Mai Mingle couldn’t hear anymore, she figured that if an explosion had gone off anywhere else on the third floor, she should have felt the vibrations through the floorboards.

But there had been no vibrations...

’Vibrations...?’

’Wait...’ She looked up blankly at the painting on the wall of Room 305.

Several shadowy ideas that had been circling in the back of her mind began to surface, one after another.

’The width of the hallway... It’s more than a meter, isn’t it?’

’Maybe one and a half to two meters?’

’Which means... which means...’

The speculation made Mai Mingle increasingly uneasy. She arranged all the facts and clues she had gathered in her mind, trying to see what picture they formed when pieced together.

The "empty area" explosion happened only once, around 4:25.

When Hai Luwei went to investigate, he found no unexploded bomb at the scene of that explosion.

After that, starting from 4:29 AM, the frequency of explosions targeting her and Hai Luwei increased, yet they hadn’t found a single unexploded bomb.

The apartment’s rules seemed unfair, but they contained a hidden balance. For example, explosions happened close to people. Conversely, people could prevent large pieces of furniture from exploding by not getting close to them.

An empty "pathway," clear of furniture, had been created in the living rooms of 301 and 303.

At the same time, there was a spot in the center of the living room in 303 where the dust was significantly thicker and heavier than anywhere else.

...And the person holding an unexploded bomb is unaffected by the explosions.

Mai Mingle shot to her feet, startling Hai Luwei and sucking in a sharp breath against the pain it caused her.

She urgently motioned for Hai Luwei to give her back the pen and paper, then hastily scribbled down a few lines. To be honest, it was a stroke of luck that she managed to finish writing it without an explosion going off.

"We have to figure out what to do!" Mai Mingle shouted, even though she knew Hai Luwei couldn’t hear her as he read the note.

After reading the note, Hai Luwei looked up at her, his face a picture of confusion. However, despite the many questions he must have had, he still nodded.

Not daring to waste any time, Mai Mingle immediately turned and limped toward Room 301. As instructed in the note, Hai Luwei should have been shouting something behind her, but naturally, she couldn’t hear a thing.

After a few steps, she glanced back.

Hai Luwei had apparently finished shouting. He turned and headed off toward Room 309. Both of them had injured feet, so they couldn’t move very fast even if they tried. All she could do now was pray they wouldn’t both be hit by an explosion.

’If my theory is correct,’ she thought, ’there will only be one more explosion, and it will happen right next to me.’

About a minute or two later, just as she was approaching the door to Room 301, Mai Mingle spotted the countdown for the next explosion.

The scales of luck had finally tipped a little in her favor.

This time, she not only saw the countdown numbers ahead of time, but the object about to explode was just a small dog figurine, barely the size of a fist. The only problem was that once the explosion occurred, her position would be revealed.

When a small fireball erupted behind her, Mai Mingle could no longer afford to worry about her injured foot. She yanked open the door to Room 301 and charged into the hallway. In that instant, even before she could get a clear look at the situation, she was absolutely certain.

"Don’t move!"

Mai Mingle planted herself in the middle of the hallway, her eyes flashing as she roared, "If you dare move an inch, I’m coming right for you!"

A little over a meter directly in front of her, Fu Tailan was standing in the middle of the hallway.

For some reason, he was holding a broom and a dustpan. He stared at her blankly and blinked a few times, as if he hadn’t yet registered what was happening.