Illusion Report

Chapter 196: Chapter 161: Fu Tailan: The Footstool at Home

"...No broken bones. You’re lucky."

A voice drifted around him, ethereal as mist, its origin unknown.

Fu Tailan found it familiar. He thought for a moment and recognized it: Dr. Cole, the physician who worked with the Morgan Family.

Hunters returning from the Nest sometimes had injuries that were difficult to explain. When a hospital visit wasn’t an option, a private clinic that was cooperative and discreet was crucial.

Dr. Cole seemed to materialize from the mist, walking up to him with a white paper bag in his hand.

"The treatment’s done. Now you just need to rest up and come in for a follow-up. I’d advise you to stay out of the Nest for the next month or two..."

Fu Tailan cupped his jaw with one hand. Even under the thick medical bandage, he could feel his pulse throbbing, almost angrily, like a fingernail digging into his nerve endings, releasing, then digging in again.

"...The physical trauma is one thing, but there’s nothing I can do about Nest Dissociation Syndrome. It’s not something they teach in any medical school."

At this, Dr. Cole followed Fu Tailan’s gaze to his own desk. "...What is it? What are you seeing?"

A thick fog floated above the desk, like a deep black cavern had been torn open in space.

Another Dr. Cole was peering out from the hole in mid-air. His neck drooped limply onto the desk as he stared, unblinking, at Fu Tailan from behind his glasses and opened his mouth.

The mouth on that face gradually widened, expanding into another deep black cavern.

From within that facial cavern, a smaller Dr. Cole poked his head out, let it droop limply, and stared at Fu Tailan, his mouth wide open.

Like Russian nesting dolls, the black holes and Cole’s faces repeated in an endless loop, one inside the other. Fu Tailan felt that if he kept watching, by the time he saw the smallest Dr. Cole, he would be sucked into some deep abyss, never to return to the human world.

He knew, yet he couldn’t look away.

"Hey!"

A sharp snap of fingers right next to his face startled Fu Tailan, and the scene on the desk vanished.

"What were you seeing?"

Fu Tailan turned his head, almost dazed, to see a perpetually stubbled, weary face. Dr. Cole was standing in front of him—the real, human-sized Cole.

"Huh? No, it’s nothing... When did you get back?"

"I’ve been standing in front of you for several minutes," Dr. Cole said, raising an eyebrow.

"Is that bag for me? You need to give me a few extra bottles of painkillers," Fu Tailan said, vaguely recalling that he had already asked once before. "I have a really low tolerance for pain."

Dr. Cole placed the paper bag in his hand and shook his head.

"I’ve prescribed you more than enough—so much that I’m starting to remember things like a doctor’s code of ethics. Don’t come looking for a refill for at least a month. Now, just to satisfy my curiosity, what were you seeing just now? A hallucination?"

"I guess so," Fu Tailan said, getting up from the examination chair. "A hallucination that blends reality with a... Nest-like flair."

"You’re not affected by these hallucinations when you’re in the Nest? Having them there must be dangerous, right?"

’He seems a little interested in Nest Dissociation Syndrome,’ Fu Tailan thought. ’But Cole probably just thinks of it as a mental illness with a peculiar cause. There’s no point explaining it to someone with that perspective; I can’t expect any real help from him.’

"Nope."

Fu Tailan had already pulled the door open. He looked back and smiled. "It’s like... once you’re home, how can you be homesick?"

Dr. Cole was stunned for a few seconds. Only after Fu Tailan had left did he poke his head out and call, "Is someone picking you up? You can’t drive in your condition."

"Got it," Fu Tailan waved a hand without looking back. "I called an Uber."

After saying goodbye to the nurse who also served as the receptionist—she looked like she was on the verge of tears, repeatedly telling him to remember his follow-up appointment—Fu Tailan was surprised to find that it was almost dark outside.

’Didn’t I get back to Blackmoor City from the Nest around four or five in the morning?’

He took out his phone and checked the time. It was already 5:40 PM on the 21st.

A day and a half had passed in a hazy blur, as if dissolved in mist.

He thought for a long time before remembering he had likely fallen asleep at the clinic. Dr. Cole had gone to treat Jonah first, and he couldn’t stay awake while waiting. Looking back, it felt more like he’d passed out.

When he was woken up and how he was treated afterward all felt like a hazy, formless dream.

’In this state, it would have been safer to have someone take me home.’

But he hadn’t been able to reach Fu Han since arriving at the clinic; he was probably out playing golf again. And Fu Tailan was unwilling to let any outsider know where he lived. After taking the position of Hunter Chief, he had secretly rented a small apartment. When he wasn’t working and didn’t want to go home, he holed up there.

’An Uber is fine, too. It’s safe.’

He got out of the car, the driver left, and neither knew the other. Practically no loose ends.

Fu Tailan let out a long yawn as he watched the Uber drive away. He turned to cross the street—stepping into traffic after a single glance, immediately drawing a screech of brakes and a chorus of angry horns—and, as if walking on clouds, ignored it all as he stepped onto the sidewalk on the other side.

’Even though I rescued Jonah this time, it doesn’t mean anything to me.’

’I have to get my hands on the next target Illusion as soon as possible. But everything I know about Illusions—no, about the "Nest Dominance Game"—comes from just two notifications sent by the Nest.’