Illusion Report

Chapter 182: Chapter 150: Fu Tailan - The Pleading Cat Head

There were two reasons for rearranging the furniture, both of which were to make it easier for Fu Tailan to track his prey and speed up the detonations.

First, the cleared-out path restricted the other two’s range of movement. Fu Tailan was in the hallway, separated from them by a single wall. He could close the distance or pull back as he pleased; they were always in the palm of his hand.

Second, if he needed to enter a room, the large pieces of furniture he had piled together could serve as a hiding spot at a critical moment—all he had to do was sit behind a sofa. Anyone without an unexploded bomb wouldn’t dare linger among large furniture.

’As for whether Hai Luwei would suddenly turn around and notice the furniture had been moved, that wasn’t a concern. All Fu Tailan had to do was walk ahead of him, and the path before Hai Luwei would be riddled with explosions. He’d have a hard enough time just staying alive, let alone noticing if the coffee table had decided to run over to the window for a look at the scenery.’

"Ah, that pouch!"

At the other end of the hallway, Hai Luwei suddenly shouted, "The pouch on his backpack for the unexploded bomb is empty! Mai Mingle!"

’...Such sharp eyes. He must be desperate.’

No matter how loudly he yelled, Mai Mingle kept her head down, staring at her phone. But Hai Luwei had his moments of desperate ingenuity. He squatted and pounded hard on the floor. The dull vibrations finally made Mai Mingle lift her head.

"The unexploded bomb!"

Fu Tailan glanced back. Hai Luwei was waving his arms and legs wildly, putting every part of his body to use. "The unexploded bomb in his bag is gone! Time’s up! Run!"

The instant Mai Mingle understood, Fu Tailan shot her an apologetic smile and lifted one foot.

As soon as he took a step, the color drained from her face. She spun around and fled toward Room 302. Her injured foot made it difficult, but she paid it no mind, stumbling forward and practically rolling inside the doorway.

"Oh dear, she got away."

As if filled with regret, Fu Tailan glanced back down the hall and saw that Hai Luwei had also limped away into Room 310.

The door slammed shut with a THUD, and the lock rattled, CLICK-CLACK, a few times.

’If they weren’t deaf, I’d tell him not to bother. I already tried; the doors can’t be locked. The advantage of hunting deaf people is that no matter what I do, they can’t hear a thing.’

Forget trying the lock; Fu Tailan had even taken a call on his walkie-talkie a moment ago.

He remained in the middle of the hallway, hands on his hips, and let out a silent laugh.

’Seriously, they’re so easy to fool.’

’Fu Tailan’s defining trait was thinking three steps ahead for every one of his opponent’s. It’s not great to say that about yourself, but there was no one else around to say it, was there?’

’The hunter and prey switching places.’ ’As long as he moves forward, he’ll be the one getting blown up.’ These were precisely the ideas he wanted them to grasp. Only then would they hurry up and run.

’Besides, if I wanted to kill them, couldn’t I just pull out my gun? Why wait for an unexploded bomb to disappear?’

He never felt human lives were all that important.

When anything was as numerous as cockroaches crawling all over the planet, it couldn’t be a matter of cosmic importance. Otherwise, the cosmos would die of exhaustion.

That said, Fu Tailan didn’t take pleasure in slaughter. Killing was something to be done only when necessary, and right now, it wasn’t.

’Besides, if I killed them, would I have to be the one getting blown up next?’

To prevent the two from catching on and coming back out to detonate the floor beneath his feet, Fu Tailan moved to the center of the hallway. Both Room 302 and Room 310 were well over a meter away, providing a sufficient safety buffer. More importantly, he was also far from where he had left the broom and dustpan.

’The phone was still in the hands of a fleeing Mai Mingle, so I can only estimate the time. I should have at least four or five minutes, right?’

’Just have to wait...’ The moment he relaxed, Fu Tailan let out a string of yawns.

The painkillers hadn’t worn off yet, and it felt like a white fog was drifting through his limbs.

’When Mai Mingle and Hai Luwei realize I’m not chasing them, they’ll probably assume I went after the other one. For the time being, they should both keep running for their lives. They won’t be back just yet—’

"Fu Tailan!"

Fu Tailan jumped, startled, his half-finished yawn causing him to nearly bite his tongue.

"So young, yet such a good liar!"

Mai Mingle poked her head out of the open door to Room 302, her face a mask of fury. "You’re trying to pull the same trick again, aren’t you?"

Fu Tailan turned toward her, his mouth still half-open and tears beading at the corners of his eyes from the yawn.

"You put on such an elaborate show, but you left out the most crucial part."

Mai Mingle might have thought she was merely speaking, but she was yelling loud enough to shake dust from the ceiling. She pointed to the dustpan by the wall. "There’s at least one more unexploded bomb in that dustpan, isn’t there?"

Fu Tailan blinked a few times but said nothing. It would be useless.

"I almost forgot. You have a gun. If you wanted to kill us, we would’ve been dead already. You didn’t need to wait for an unexploded bomb to disappear."

’So far, she’s right. The old woman isn’t easy to fool.’

"You just wanted us to run away so you could go retrieve an unexploded bomb from the dustpan to carry."

’...And that’s where she’s wrong.’

"You never said why you were carrying a dustpan, but I get it now. Those unexploded bombs look heavy and they’re pretty big. You couldn’t sweep one with just a broom; you’d need the dustpan to stop it from rolling away."

’As expected of someone who’s lived a full life, she’s so experienced with a primitive chore like sweeping. Unlike me. Today was my first time holding a broom.’

"You said on the phone that you stole an unexploded bomb from Hai Luwei."

’’Stole’ is such an ugly word.’

’I went in openly and left without a shred of guilt. It was Hai Luwei who decided to close his own eyes.’

"But there wasn’t just one unexploded bomb, was there? When the ceiling lamp and the wall hanging exploded at the same time because of you, Hai Luwei and I ran in opposite directions to escape the blast."

"In other words, for those few minutes, we were both far away from you. When there was no one else nearby, the probability of explosions around you returned to normal. Something blew up, and another unexploded bomb appeared, right?"

She shook her head. "The odds of an unexploded bomb appearing aren’t low, and it seems you’re the lucky one who gets them all. You used a dustpan to scoop up two of them. You almost had me fooled." freёwebnoѵel.com

Fu Tailan hadn’t expected her to figure that out. He asked subconsciously, "How did you know?"

Although Mai Mingle couldn’t hear him, she must have guessed his question.

"When I was walking toward Hai Luwei’s side, light flickered on the picture frame’s glass, but the floor beneath my feet remained still. Since I can’t hear anything... I figured something on the ceiling or the adjacent wall must have exploded."

Fu Tailan nodded. "A piece of old gum stuck to the wall exploded. It was pretty disgusting."

Mai Mingle watched his mouth move, a blank expression on her face.

His next words sounded a bit like a boast, but he said them with complete sincerity. "I had one unexploded bomb on my back and was rolling two more with my hands. They were so heavy. It was exhausting."

Even when Mai Mingle had burst out unexpectedly, he had calmly propped the dustpan with the two unexploded bombs against the wall, neatly concealing it with the broom.

The two unexploded bombs had gone CLANG CLANG as they knocked against each other, but Mai Mingle hadn’t heard a thing. ’Who knows when I’ll get to meet such considerate and convenient victims again.’

"You scared us off, took one to put on, and then you wanted to pull the same trick—use us to trigger explosions and steal our unexploded bombs, right?" Mai Mingle said.

’...Why does she keep calling it stealing?’

Fu Tailan thought for a moment, then shook his head. He pointed to the dustpan, then held up two fingers.

"There are two more?" Mai Mingle understood at once. "You didn’t take them? Oh, now that you mention it, you are standing pretty far from the dustpan..."

She glanced at the dustpan. "Are you waiting for them to explode?" fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

Fu Tailan nodded again. ’She’s the deaf one, but she’s managed to turn me into a mute.’

"Why?"

’You wouldn’t hear me even if I told you.’ Fu Tailan gestured for her to throw him her phone.

"Oh," Mai Mingle said, raising her hand.

Just as she was about to toss the phone, Hai Luwei’s shout suddenly echoed from behind her. "Don’t give it to him!"

Fu Tailan was already braced to catch the phone, so his anticipation fell flat. He glanced back and saw that Hai Luwei had also returned and was now performing a vigorous, one-man pantomime at the other end of the hall.

"Don’t give him the phone!" he yelled, shaking his head frantically and holding up his hands in a ’stop’ gesture.

Mai Mingle hesitated and lowered her arm.

"For us young people," Hai Luwei said, gesturing to himself and then to Fu Tailan.

’Who are you calling "us young people"? You look like you’re almost thirty,’ Fu Tailan grumbled internally. ’Trying to ride my coattails.’

"Phones are very important! They’re precious!"

He clearly didn’t know how to express this with gestures. After shouting, he froze for a few seconds, then simply pulled out his own phone. Cradling it in the crook of his arm and supporting it from below—as if soothing a baby—Hai Luwei began to rock his phone gently and rhythmically.

...Amidst his anxious expression, he even managed to force a look of motherly love for the phone.

’This guy is so annoying.’

Fu Tailan suppressed his irritation. When he turned back, he was met with a look of dawning realization on Mai Mingle’s face.

She smiled and tucked the phone into her pocket.

’...No wonder these two are partners. Their minds work the same way.’

’A phone is important, sure, but in the face of a major crisis, what’s sacrificing one phone? Could I really be held back by a phone?’

’But, wait...’

’This "escaping from the third floor of the apartment building" thing... doesn’t exactly count as a major crisis.’

’The real crisis is obtaining the target item for the Nest game from Mai Mingle. Escaping the third floor, on the other hand, is in our mutual interest.’

’I can’t use them to trigger detonations, and I can’t steal—or rather, take—their unexploded bombs. It’s inconvenient, but I never expected to keep my own nature hidden forever anyway.’

’If this current experiment successfully verifies my theory, then... cooperation might not be out of the question.’

’No, more than that, if I cooperate now and gain their trust, it’ll be much more convenient when it’s time to get down to business.’

’Alright then, I’ll just go with the flow and pretend to be anxious.’

A few thoughts flashed through his mind, and his decision was made. He immediately put on a long face—a picture of regret, helplessness, and anxiety. Raising his hands, he said, "I won’t do it again, alright? I won’t!"

Even if they couldn’t hear him, they could get the gist.

"Paper and pen?" Fu Tailan pantomimed to Hai Luwei, who quickly tossed them over.

Half a minute later, he unfolded the paper for them to see. On it were a few lines written in large letters:

I’m testing a theory

that can help us clear this faster.

If we work together, we might get out of here quickly.

What do you say?

I know I was wrong. I won’t trick you again. Just give me my phone back when we get out.

On a whim, he even drew a little cat face in the bottom-right corner of the paper, with the word "Please" written above its head.