Illusion Report

Chapter 190: Chapter 157: Fu Tailan: The Trap That Existed from the Very Beginning (2)

"That’s right, there are quite a few clues—"

Fu Tailan was about to say more, but Mai Mingle stopped him.

"Wait, let me think. If you can spot what’s wrong, I should be able to as well," she muttered. "Young people these days know so much. I can’t fall behind."

For some reason, even on such an unimportant detail, Fu Tailan wanted her to succeed. "How about I give you a hint?"

Mai Mingle thought for a moment. "Alright," she said.

"The memories weren’t altered. They were added to."

Mai Mingle froze, then sucked in a sharp breath.

"You figured it out?"

"I think so... But if that’s the clue, isn’t it too subtle? Too hard to even notice?" Mai Mingle said, hesitating.

The fact that she said that meant she’d figured it out.

Hai Luwei refused to swallow his pride and ask Fu Tailan for the answer, so he just pressed her. "What’s the clue? Spit it out. No need to be subtle with me."

"In the first few paragraphs of the notice, there’s a detail... how should I put it... At first glance, it just looks a little sloppy, as if the writer hadn’t fully organized their thoughts."

Notice

Paragraph 1: In response to resident requests, this apartment building will undergo internal renovations beginning at 1:30 AM on November 19, 2026.

Paragraph 2: The renovation area covers floors 1-5. The 6th floor will remain in its original state for the time being.

Paragraph 3: During the renovation period, it is inevitable that some things within the building will come loose and regain their freedom. On the renovated floors, dangerous zones of unknown type and content will also form. This may be unfriendly to those who are not yet willing to die, so please try to be understanding while you remain among the living.

Paragraph 4: The renovation and repair will last until 1:30 AM, November 20, 2026. The scope of the renovation does not include the stairways.

"If I told you that one of these paragraphs wasn’t in the real notice, which one do you think it is?" Fu Tailan asked.

Hai Luwei thought for a few seconds, a blank look on his face. Then his brow suddenly unfurrowed and rose, his expression a mix of dawning realization and confusion.

"Either the second or the fourth paragraph, right?" he asked.

’This bland, unremarkable guy wasn’t completely braindead, after all.’

"That’s what I was thinking, too. After all, both the second and fourth paragraphs contain the same piece of information: the ’renovation area.’"

Mai Mingle explained, "Assuming all the information is true, from a structural standpoint, it would be more concise and clear to write, ’The renovation area covers floors 1-5, but does not include the 6th floor and the stairways.’ Splitting the same piece of information into two separate parts like this feels a little unnatural."

It would be much easier to explain if one of the two had been quietly added to their memories after they entered. That’s what happened to Fu Tailan. For Mai Mingle, the fake rule was inserted into her memory at the same time as the real notice.

The end result was the same: they accepted the entire notice without question.

"That’s it?"

Hai Luwei paused, then retorted, "You wouldn’t understand... People from your generation probably had high standards for writing. But my generation spends all day scrolling through social media and short-form videos. Forget grammar and logic, we don’t even have the attention span for long articles—no, forget attention span, scrolling too much just lowers your IQ. It’s totally normal to just write whatever comes to mind, miss something in the second paragraph, and add it back in the fourth."

"’Scrolling?’" Mai Mingle blinked a couple of times. "You can ’scroll’ social media? Like you’d brush a shoe?"

"No... When we get back, I’ll help you set up an account. You’ll get it once you see it. Man, scrolling is addictive. You can’t quit. I’m not sure if I should even set one up for you."

"We’re getting off-topic," Fu Tailan couldn’t help but say. "Our time on the third floor is probably limited. Let’s get back to the matter at hand."

"Limited?" Mai Mingle was instantly on alert.

From deep within the trash chute, a faint sigh suddenly echoed, as if in disappointment.

’Just as I thought...’

’After destroying the twelve unexploded bombs, if we didn’t go up or down, wouldn’t the third floor become the only safe zone?’

’It was just like the second-floor hallway. If a safe zone appeared just for clearing a floor, that would be too good to be true.’

’The most likely possibility was that the traps on each floor would reactivate after a certain period of time. As for whether that was true, I have no intention of personally testing it right now.’

"All in all, Mai Mingle is right."

Fu Tailan spoke as he motioned for the other two to get up and follow him.

’There’s no target Illusion here. I really don’t need to talk to these two anymore; I could just leave on my own. And yet, not only am I patiently explaining the apartment’s traps, but I even reached out to help Mai Mingle to her feet... Why? I don’t even know myself.’

’Could this be... "guilt"?’

’I don’t want something so useless.’

Fu Tailan suppressed the thought and explained:

"If both the 6th floor and the stairways are outside the renovation area, then even someone with the worst attention span and poorest logic wouldn’t have to split that information into two separate paragraphs. They’re naturally a single piece of information. But let’s set that aside for a moment and assume you have a point."

"The problem is, a person didn’t write this notice. The apartment did, and it deliberately made it look slightly unnatural."

He waved a hand, signaling Hai Luwei to hold his tongue for a moment—whatever objection he was about to raise would be nothing new anyway.

"I said there were quite a few clues, right? Another one is the line, ’The renovation area covers floors 1-5.’"

"And how is that a clue?"

Leaning on the wall, Hai Luwei followed Fu Tailan toward the second-floor stairway, with Mai Mingle right behind him. As they walked, they kept glancing back at the trash chute. The chute lay silently on the fourth-floor staircase, its square black opening gazing back at them.

"’The renovation area is the danger zone. If floors 1-5 are being renovated, then floors 1-5 should all be dangerous.’ Fu Tailan asked, ’But what danger did either of you encounter on the first floor?’"

The two of them froze.

"None," Mai Mingle answered. "The moment we thought the sixth floor was a safe zone, we went straight to the second floor..."

"I didn’t run into any danger on the first floor either," Fu Tailan said. "Isn’t that odd?"

’Since the apartment really is under renovation, the second and fourth paragraphs of the notice can’t both be false. Either one is true and the other is false, or both are true.’

’Let’s ignore the possibility that both are true for a moment. If the second paragraph is true, the first floor is part of the renovation area. If the fourth paragraph is true, the first floor is *still* part of the renovation area.’

’Either way, the first floor should have been dangerous. That much was certain.’

"The second floor had a parallel reality, the third floor had bombs. The floors above must have their own puzzles and traps too."

Fu Tailan explained as he walked, "Since logical deduction tells us that the first floor must also be dangerous, the real question is this: What *is* the danger on the first floor?"

"Maybe it’s because we went upstairs too quickly, and the danger didn’t have time to—" Hai Luwei trailed off. Even he felt it was unlikely, so he just shook his head and didn’t finish.

’Yeah, right. Who do you think you could outrun while dragging that injured foot?’

"I understand now," Mai Mingle finally murmured. "You... you’re so sharp for your age."

Fu Tailan was both pleased and a little embarrassed, feeling his face grow warm.

"The danger on the first floor is its ability to plant false memories in our minds."

Mai Mingle understood everything. She sighed in realization. "The first floor added a line to the notice in our heads: ’The renovation area does not include the 6th floor.’ That way, we’d foolishly run all the way up to the sixth floor, then all the way back down. Who knows how many floors we’d last before kicking the bucket."

"I originally thought setting the safe zone on the sixth floor was a way to maximize our exposure to risk. But making people *think* the safe zone is on the sixth floor, when it’s actually just as dangerous—isn’t that a much better way to kill someone?"

Fu Tailan nodded.

’I should have noticed the contradiction sooner.’

’On the first floor, I remember everything being dim and silent. But as I was going upstairs, memories of hearing a broadcast and a cry for help from Room 103 suddenly appeared in my mind.’

’The memory of the silence and the memories of the sounds existed in my mind at the same time, but I just ignored them, rationalized them away.’

"People are naturally on guard against the outside world. But who would suddenly start doubting their own memories?"

He gave a slight smile. "But, looking at it from another angle... if all the first floor can do is keep adding false memories, wouldn’t that make it the safest place in the entire building?"