Illusion Report

Chapter 186: Chapter 154: Mai Mingle, the Dying

Mai Mingle had truly forgotten about the elevator.

’Because the elevator doesn’t exist, people who use it disappear—?’

It didn’t make a lick of sense. In her eighty-six years of life, she’d never heard such nonsense.

Such an absurd, illogical warning had appeared once, fleeting and ephemeral, never to be mentioned again. It was easy to forget. After all, the building had no elevator shaft, and there were no elevator doors on the walls—which was only natural, because the elevator didn’t exist.

Yet Fu Tailan had remembered this non-existent thing, and even put it to use.

The moment he shoved Hai Luwei into the wall, Mai Mingle suddenly understood his intent.

Now, Hai Luwei was leaning precariously, his entire upper body swallowed by the wall. One of his feet was injured and useless, and he’d lost his balance on the other.

Fu Tailan’s hand gripped the very edge of the shirt still outside the wall. It was the only thing holding him back, a lifeline that could snap at any moment. The instant he let go, Hai Luwei would fall into the non-existent elevator and become a non-existent person.

"It’s probably not too late to pull him out now."

The young man looked at Mai Mingle. "But I’m about to let go," he said. "Do you want to come and grab him?"

Mai Mingle stood frozen in place, momentarily unable to move or speak.

This time, Fu Tailan’s plan was laid bare. With just a moment’s thought, she could picture what would happen next.

’But even knowing what he was going to do, what then?’

Her chest felt hollow. Her heartbeat seemed to have sunk, lodging in her wound and pulsing amidst the torn flesh. It was as if her entire body had been reduced to a single, throbbing nerve.

’...Was she really going to walk over to Fu Tailan for a stranger she’d only met tonight?’

Mai Mingle glanced around blankly, subconsciously searching for a way around him, a way to evade the confrontation.

But there was nothing she could use in sight.

"There’s no way to have it both ways—to let you keep your Illusion and save him. You must have realized that by now, haven’t you?"

Fu Tailan tilted his head, his eyelashes hanging low. In the shadows, his eyes were like dark clouds in a night sky.

"I’m really letting go this time. I’m not bluffing."

His voice was soft, almost drowsy, as he said, "Three..."

Mai Mingle jerked into motion.

The garbage chute had its chin resting on the first step, as if watching a show. As she took a step, a foul stench puffed out from the pipe’s dark depths, accompanied by a wheezing sound like laughter.

"You’re really going huh what a stupid human one less piece of trash like this is better for everyone hey why don’t you just jump in there with him"

Amidst the torrent of words, Fu Tailan said softly:

"Two."

Mai Mingle wiped her eyes and dragged her feet. Part of her wanted to hurry, to reach him before Fu Tailan let go. Another part wished she would never get there at all.

Of the two, the second was stronger, nearly gluing her to the spot, making it impossible to lift her feet.

’A faint, distant voice was whispering that she had already made a show of rushing to the rescue. That was enough, wasn’t it? Even if Hai Luwei disappeared into the elevator, no one could really blame her, right?’

’After all, it’s not like you can save everyone you want to. She was on her way, wasn’t she? She just didn’t make it in time. How could anyone blame her for not making it?’

’Even if Hai Luwei’s ghost came back to haunt her, he couldn’t very well blame her for being too slow on an injured foot.’

"...One."

As if sensing her hesitation, Fu Tailan let go the instant the word "one" left his lips.

Her mind went blank.

When Mai Mingle came to, she found she had already lunged forward. At the last possible second, just as Hai Luwei was about to vanish completely into the wall, her hands desperately gripped his waistband. Only his lower body remained outside.

It was as if someone had bricked Hai Luwei into the wall. The sensation was like trying to pull someone from quicksand; she felt that with one wrong move, she’d be dragged in herself.

Mai Mingle gritted her teeth, her hands clamped around him as she pulled back, inch by inch.

Fu Tailan stood just a step away. "Then... pardon my rudeness," he whispered.

But as he spoke, he didn’t move immediately.

He first glanced at Hai Luwei, as if gauging the right moment for him to be pulled from the wall. In a surge of despair at her predicament, Mai Mingle suddenly realized that Fu Tailan never actually intended to kill anyone.

’If he acted too late, she would have a chance to get away. But if he acted too early, she would lose her grip and Hai Luwei would fall back in.’

"It’s on your waist, isn’t it?"

Fu Tailan seemed almost embarrassed. He cleared his throat and reached out, pressing his hand against the Snake Belt through her clothes.

For a moment, she wanted to scream, to throw him off, to back away—but she couldn’t let go, and she certainly couldn’t run.

"...Sorry."

When Hai Luwei fell onto the stairwell landing with a THUD, his face had turned a deep shade of purple.

It was as if his windpipe had become a drinking straw clamped shut between teeth; no matter how hard he tried to suck in air, he couldn’t get enough. His hoarse, ragged gasps grew distant and hazy in Mai Mingle’s ears, as if shrouded in fog.

’She must have fallen to the floor. The ceiling looked so high.’

’So, she was finally forced back to her true form.’

’To have been able to live once more in her prime before fading away, to have seen the wonders of the Nest... She didn’t know whether to call it the world’s mercy or its cruelty.’

’She never even had the chance to hunt for an Illusion as a Hunter.’

’Her quiet, cautious life in Blackmoor City would ultimately vanish without a trace when she was gone.’

’At least Hai Luwei was safe. He hadn’t died because of her.’

Regret, resentment, relief, a longing to hold on... All these emotions seemed to surface, yet at the same time, they didn’t. It was hard to tell.

Because the moment the Snake Belt left her body, her ability to feel emotion had aged and grown numb along with her physical form. Everything was indistinct, like the dull ache of arthritis on a rainy day.

"Mai... Mai Mingle?"

Hai Luwei finally caught his breath. He scrambled over, his voice trembling. "Is... is that really you? You... you looked like this before?"

A warm hand pressed against the sharp bones of her back, trying to prop her up, but she just slid down again.

Even leaning against something required muscle and strength.

An elder at Mai Mingle’s stage couldn’t even lean. She was like a boneless, shriveled husk; even when helped up, she would just slide back down Hai Luwei’s arm.

The apartment hallway, Hai Luwei, and Fu Tailan in the distance, clutching a long, pitch-black snake, all seemed to suddenly grow larger, dimmer, and more blurred.

’It seemed her condition was far worse than it had been before she ran into the thief.’

’It made sense. Since putting on the Snake Belt, she had endured countless ordeals and accumulated so much exhaustion and injury. For all of that to suddenly crash down on her eighty-six-year-old body... it was a miracle she wasn’t dead already.’

"Why did you save me?" Hai Luwei murmured, at a complete loss.

’What was there to ask "why" about?’

’If someone had to die, it only made sense for it to be the one whose life was already nearing its end.’

’Could she really let a young person die for an old woman?’

"Fu Tailan, give the Illusion back!" Hai Luwei suddenly shouted, looking up. "How is this any different from killing her?"

Fu Tailan didn’t move. He seemed to mutter something, but it was inaudible. Logically, he had what he came for and should have left long ago, yet for some reason, he remained rooted to the spot.

’Was it just because the garbage chute was blocking the stairs?’

’No, since he’d orchestrated this whole plan, he must have known how to get away.’

’...Why was he still here?’

Mai Mingle couldn’t turn her neck; she could only strain to turn her eyes toward him.

Even though she couldn’t see him clearly, she could faintly sense that some emotion had Fu Tailan in its grip, leaving him frozen in place, unable to move.

’...How strange.’

’She was the one about to die, but the one who looked afraid... was Fu Tailan.’