Free Web NovelChapter 199: Chapter 163: Fu Tailan: Too Many Lies in the Past?
The problem with constantly lying is that you become the boy who cried wolf; even when you tell the truth, it’s hard to make people believe you.
But someone who truly excels at weaponizing lies, no matter how many they’ve told, still has the ability to make people believe their next one. One of the keys is knowing when to tell the truth.
Fu Tailan was telling the truth right now.
"It’s almost as if someone delivered the target Illusions to me, hoping I’d win." He shrugged. "Who knows, maybe the Nest just really likes me? Hmm, you probably wouldn’t understand what it feels like to be liked."
If Chaisi had half a brain, he would have realized that the method of acquisition wasn’t the point. The same trick wouldn’t work a second time—the target Illusions wouldn’t all be gathered in one place, waiting to be picked up trip after trip. It wasn’t a bank vault.
Chaisi tilted his head, thinking for a few seconds.
"I believe you,"
he said suddenly, catching Fu Tailan by surprise.
"You joined the game on the 15th and got the key before the 19th. During that time, you never lingered in the Nest for long, nor did you ever disappear. In other words, you had no time to go looking for the target Illusions. Besides, lying to me about this wouldn’t be worth it; the potential loss would outweigh any gain."
Fu Tailan could feel his own expression darken before he had a chance to control it.
’He knows way too much...’
’Information like the date I joined must have been in the Nest’s recruitment notice. Is that the advantage of joining later? You get intelligence on the people who came before? Just like how I got some intel on the Westley Team.’
’The problem is...’
"Surprised? Ever since you climbed to a position you don’t deserve, your movements have been easy to track." Chaisi smiled. "A side effect of Morgan running the Hunter Family Faction like a corporation is that no one is going to go out of their way for the boss."
"Well, congratulations. You’re a regular know-it-all."
Fu Tailan gave a few dry claps, then jutted his chin toward his dazed father. "According to our deal, you should let him go now, right?"
"According to our deal, I let him go when you give me the target key. Not yet."
Chaisi placed the key on the coffee table to the side. "I’ve had enough of playing with children. Give me the real key."
Fu Tailan glanced at the key on the coffee table.
Chaisi hadn’t put it in his pocket. Normally, even if you had doubts, it would be safer to pocket it first and then continue the interrogation.
But he had deliberately set it aside, clearly to convey a message: ’I am one hundred percent certain this key is a fake.’
’Does slicking his hair back like that help him think more smoothly?’
"Why do you say it’s fake?" Fu Tailan asked.
"It seems you still don’t understand the situation."
As he spoke, Chaisi’s right foot remained firmly planted on Fu Han’s right shoulder. But his left foot suddenly shot up, viciously kicking Fu Han sideways in the temple. The older man’s head snapped to the side as if it would fly off his shoulders. A choked scream of pain escaped him, but he couldn’t struggle free. By the time Chaisi rested his left foot back on Fu Han’s other shoulder, the toe of his shoe was spattered with blood.
Even though it wasn’t the shoe fitted with a blade, Fu Han’s temple looked as if it had been struck by a hammer. The skin split and the flesh tore, blood gushing out as he gasped and whimpered in unending pain.
...Fu Tailan felt as if someone had pinched the nerves behind his eyeballs. His vision pulsed, contracting with each throb, and the sound of his own blood roared in his ears.
"Understand a little better now?" Chaisi asked with something close to patience. "How many more of those do you think your father can take?"
"You won’t kill him..." Fu Tailan forced the words out through gritted teeth. "Otherwise, you’d lose your leverage over me."
"Don’t worry," Chaisi said, breaking into a grin. "I’m also very good at making someone suffer a fate worse than death for a day and a night."
"Tai... Tailan..." Fu Han called out, his breathing ragged.
"I get it, I get it," Fu Tailan said, raising his hands and clenching his jaw. "Just stop hitting him. I’ll give you the real key."
Chaisi just watched him without a word.
Outside, the sky was gradually darkening. Inside, only the light strips on the ceiling cast a soft, diffused warm glow. The floor lamp was off, leaving the house in a state of dim gloom.
Fu Tailan stood up. "I’m going to get the key. Don’t get any ideas, I hid it in the kitchen."
The small, open-plan kitchen was on the other side of the living room, directly facing the sofa in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows and always within Chaisi’s line of sight.
A quick glance upon entering now would show that the kitchen had indeed been searched, but not much—not even thoroughly. The contents of the drawers hadn’t even been dumped out.
’Strange... A key is such a small object. Could he tell if it was there just by opening a drawer and glancing inside?’
’Chaisi’s style would be more like tearing the house apart.’
Despite his confusion, now was not the time to dwell on it.
At that moment, something new had appeared on the kitchen counter: a swollen, pale, soft thing that looked just like a lump of proofing dough. It had a face that vaguely resembled Fu Han’s, and four short, uneven limbs stuck out from its body at odd angles.
A few coarse hairs poked out from the folds of the dough, making for a rather unpleasant sight.
It dragged its body, squirming its way to the wall as if trying to imitate a slug and crawl up it. The wall was adorned with nothing but a cheap decorative painting from TJMaxx; in the picture, a kitten raised a paw as if for a high-five, with the words "U’RE OKAY" written below.
The Fuhan Noodles tried to climb several times but failed, its doughy face twisting in frustration.
’No one but me should be able to see this thing... because neither Chaisi nor Fu Han in the living room reacted to it at all.’
The symptoms of his Nest dissociation disorder had not yet subsided.
Fu Tailan looked away from it. "I stuck the key behind the microwave."
Before he finished speaking, his hand slid down from the microwave, passed over the knife block, and smoothly pulled out a blade. With a flick of his arm, Fu Tailan sent the silver gleam flying, spinning toward Chaisi’s face. In the same instant, he quickly drew several more knives.
Even Chaisi couldn’t remain seated on the sofa. He leaped to the side, and Fu Tailan immediately roared at his father, "Get over here!"
The moment the words left his mouth, he locked his eyes on Chaisi’s figure and threw the knives one after another.
A mix of screams and unintelligible, broken words spilled from Fu Han’s mouth as he frantically dropped to the floor and scrambled desperately toward the door. With his hands bound behind his back, his movements bore a striking resemblance to the soft, doughy "Noodles" on the counter.
Fu Tailan threw the last of his knives, lunged out of the kitchen in two steps, and grabbed the back of his father’s collar, trying to drag him toward the door. But Fu Han suddenly lifted his head.
He stared into his son’s eyes with a trembling gaze, opened his mouth, and let out an almost inhuman shriek.
The blood in Fu Tailan’s veins froze.
He looked up and the first thing he saw was the black plastic handle of a knife protruding from Fu Han’s calf.
The blade was completely gone, buried deep in the flesh of his calf. The other end, pressed against the bone, had pierced clean through his father’s leg and was now stuck in the floor. Because the knife wasn’t long enough, every time Fu Han trembled, the tip scraped against the floorboards, making a sharp, gut-wrenching sound.
Behind Fu Han, Chaisi was looking down at the father and son, a slow smile spreading across his face.
The next moment, Fu Tailan felt as if a cannonball had slammed into his stomach, sending him flying back several steps before he crashed violently against the refrigerator. His vision went black for an instant.
When he could see clearly again, Fu Han had been dragged back. This time, Chaisi was sitting on the coffee table, one foot planted on Fu Han’s back.
He was a large man, and his weight was pressed on both the coffee table and Fu Han. For a moment, it was hard to tell whether the table would shatter first, or if Fu Han would break.
Chaisi lowered his head. CLICK. His lighter ignited a cigarette. He tilted his neck back with the cigarette between his lips, took a deep drag, and the smoke he exhaled drifted gently through the air.
"...A few more acts of defiance from your son, and even I’ll start to worry about your life, Mr. Fu."
"Tailan!"
Fu Han’s face was a mess of sweat, snot, and tears. He cried out repeatedly, "Give him the key! Give him the real key! What key could possibly be more important than your father? Are you really going to let me die here today?"
Only then did Fu Tailan manage to steady his breathing. He closed his eyes and said in a low voice, "I know... I know."
"That’s what you said last time!" Fu Han shrieked immediately. "Don’t lie to me again! Give it to him! You have to give him the real key!"
Fu Tailan said nothing. He got up and walked over to the kitchen trash can.
The Fuhan Noodles was still on the counter, trembling all over as if it could also feel Fu Han’s pain. He pretended not to see it, bent down, opened the trash can, and pulled out an empty trash bag.
"I stuck the key to the inside wall of the trash can," Fu Tailan said, his eyes lowered, his voice slightly nasal.
This time, Chaisi studied the pure black, flat, sheet-like object in his hand and said softly, "...485 days, 21 hours, 12 minutes. So there *is* a countdown. The 7704 days on the last key, did you have someone engrave that?"
"...Yes."
Fu Tailan knew that Chaisi probably wouldn’t let Fu Han go until the countdown ticked over to 11 minutes.
"Oh, it really is counting down... And it’s definitely an Illusion."
Chaisi watched the last digit tick to 11, spoke the brief sentence, and then fell into a short silence.
"You should let him go," Fu Tailan said in a low voice.
Chaisi lowered his eyelids, glancing at Fu Han.
His face was devoid of expression, but in that instant, the thought ’Might as well just kill him’ was so clear and loud it was like a silent broadcast that everyone in the room could hear.
After a brief hesitation, Chaisi lifted his foot.
The next moment, he violently yanked the knife out of Fu Han’s calf. A scream and a spray of blood splattered across his face. Chaisi narrowed his eyes, and with a flick of the knife in his hand, he sliced through the ropes binding Fu Han.
"Take care, Mr. Fu. When it’s time for your son’s funeral, if you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask."
Fu Han couldn’t get a single word out. He scrambled away on all threes. But Fu Tailan called out to him, "Wait, take my door key."
His father froze, glancing at the key on the coffee table, then at Chaisi.
"No," Chaisi said without looking up.
"What, aren’t you confident that one isn’t the real thing?" Fu Tailan asked, his voice immediately growing agitated and tinged with sarcasm.
"Hmm... He will need a key when he comes back with help to collect your body."
Chaisi smiled and said to Fu Han, who had managed to struggle to his feet and take a few steps, "Fine. Come and get it."
Fu Han seemed unable to process everything, unable to keep up with the situation. But since Chaisi had given permission, he fearfully turned around, dragged his bloody leg, and bent over to grab the key from the coffee table.
Chaisi’s hand silently landed on his neck. The next second, Fu Han was slammed heavily to the ground, letting out a pained yelp like a firecracker popper hitting pavement.
Fu Tailan’s eyelid twitched violently. When he spoke again, the anger and panic in his voice were not entirely an act. "What are you doing? Are you going back on your word?"
"Not at all."
Chaisi looked at the flat, black object. "I just had a thought... It’s definitely an Illusion, but is it really the key? It bears no resemblance to a normal key, so why did you think it was the key back then? You tell too many lies. I have to be on guard."
