Chapter 401 - 349: Chaisi: Confrontation and Dialogue

Chapter 401: Chapter 349: Chaisi: Confrontation and Dialogue

Even if this wasn’t a trap Chaisi had set for Fu Tailan, one look at "David’s" expression was enough to tell him who "David" really was.

In all of Blackmoor City, there was only one person who seemed immune to life’s blows. No matter how shocking, painful, or tragic the event, it was as if it couldn’t touch his flesh, but merely floated, insubstantial, in the mist surrounding him.

Upon realizing he’d walked into a trap, "David’s" eyes widened just a fraction. A moment later, that flicker of surprise vanished, swallowed again by the fog.

He sighed softly and said, "So, big sister isn’t dead after all. How nice."

Han Liuyue couldn’t help but snort. "Who wants to be your big sister."

’This Fu Tailan... there was truly nothing about him that wasn’t repulsive.’

’His mind, his very soul, always seemed to have been pulled away, to have dissipated and drifted off somewhere, forgetting the path home. And yet this absent-minded, numb, and stupefied person had somehow managed to cling to life this whole time.’

’My hand could cover Fu Tailan’s entire face.’

’Press down on the boy’s head, slowly increasing the pressure, my muscles bulging, veins popping, until I crush his skull like a grape...’

Chaisi suppressed the fleeting image.

"Where’s David?" he asked in a low voice.

"He’s dead," Fu Tailan said, spreading his hands as if he’d just accidentally dropped a cup. He seemed to realize that killing Chaisi was a lost cause and gave up quickly, the pistol dangling and swinging from his thumb.

’The moment Fu Tailan’s skin, skull, and eyeballs burst between my fingers, the spray of blood, the smell...’

"Go on, shoot," Chaisi said.

"Wait, wait, wait," Fu Tailan twisted around and raised his hands toward Han Liuyue before Chaisi could finish. "Don’t be so hasty. I was just joking. He’s alive, locked in the storeroom. You Kai Family people are always so impulsive."

After all, Han Liuyue had only just stabilized from a near-death state and hadn’t fully recovered. After just a few words, Chaisi noticed the hand holding her gun begin to tremble slightly.

Fu Tailan had most likely noticed as well.

"Big sister, you’re not fully recovered, are you? He really is a slave driver," he said, smiling at Han Liuyue. "I understand now..."

Chaisi listened as he walked past Fu Tailan, his pace as unhurried as a leisurely stroll, as if the gun in the boy’s hand didn’t even exist. When he was just a few steps away, even Fu Tailan couldn’t help but cut himself off, his expression turning wary as he shot Chaisi a sidelong glance.

"Keep talking," Chaisi said as he reached the foot of the hospital bed. He opened the patient’s bag and pulled a Desert Eagle from between the clothes and toiletries.

He gestured for Han Liuyue to sit down and rest. In one smooth motion, he turned and pressed the gun’s muzzle to Fu Tailan’s forehead. There was a dull thud as the heavy metal barrel made contact with bone.

"What is it you understand?" Chaisi asked as his hand shot out, snatching the pistol from the young man’s grasp.

He remembered the lesson he’d learned the hard way last time and avoided any skin-on-skin contact with Fu Tailan; only his cuff brushed against the back of the other’s hand.

Perhaps his Illusion had a limitation that caused it to fail upon physical contact. The instant Fu Tailan reverted to his true form was like a curtain being suddenly ripped away, revealing something as cold and magnificent as a pile of jewels, yet utterly meaningless to human eyes.

Fu Tailan let out a soft laugh.

It wasn’t a laugh of confidence, but rather one of amusement, like a kid in an arcade who’s just discovered a new, impossibly difficult game.

"To ensure I was trapped, you needed an accomplice. But if a Kai Family Core Hunter had been with you, I would’ve been on my guard. You were worried it would be too hard to lure me in... But her, she was already half-dead. Her suddenly dying would seem perfectly normal. You coming alone to mourn would also be perfectly normal... That’s why I dared to show up."

As if forgetting the gun pressed to his forehead, Fu Tailan even nodded. "So I really did fall for it."

He wasn’t wrong. Chaisi had even anticipated that Fu Tailan would most likely come alone to seize "the Rumor," so there was no need to arrange for much backup.

Longzhen had sent a message: Fu Tailan, the so-called "Hunter Chief," had some kind of falling out with Carter Morgan and was now chief in name only. Not only could he no longer mobilize a single one of the Morgan Family’s resources, but Fu Tailan himself was apparently under surveillance by Carter Morgan.

...Longzhen had also mentioned that Fu Tailan had discovered her deep ties to the Kai Family.

When Uncle Kai learned of this, his expression remained unchanged. "It doesn’t matter," he’d said. "If she was able to get this message out, she has already served her purpose."

The one who had secretly pulled the strings to get Longzhen a position in the Morgan Family after she and Chaisi graduated was Kai Luonan himself. By the time Chaisi found out, everything had already been arranged.

So he had simply accepted it as if it were the most natural thing in the world, as if it was how things were always meant to be. He never said a word.

’All these years, he’d never even dared to ask her, "Why did you agree?"’

"You’re certainly composed," Chaisi said, pushing the memories aside.

"You can’t kill me until you figure out how I took ’the Rumor’." Fu Tailan shrugged one shoulder. "Neither of you can even touch me—"

Chaisi almost laughed out loud. "Is that so? You really took it?"

Fu Tailan froze.

His lips parted. He seemed to run his tongue around the inside of his mouth, searching for something. Suddenly, his expression soured. The hazy fog that always clung to his features settled and darkened, like the bruised sky before a storm.

"Where’s ’the Rumor’?" Fu Tailan’s youth showed; he couldn’t quite mask his emotions. "How can it not be on you? How could you just carelessly—"

He suddenly understood.

"Ah... you gave it to Kai Luonan," Fu Tailan murmured. "That’s a Target Illusion... I never thought you really are such a loyal dog."

Chaisi paid the insult no mind and just smiled silently. Seeing Fu Tailan at a loss was truly a delight.

Fu Tailan stared blankly, lost in thought.

"You’re risking your life... all for that arrogant old man?" he asked quietly. "Why? He isn’t your real father."

"Show some respect, and I might leave your body intact."

Fu Tailan ignored him. "Wait, you kept the Black Cube, didn’t you? You didn’t give it to him? You each need a Target Illusion to have leverage over the other. That’s the only way you can work together, right?"

’Even if he was just fishing for the location of the Target Illusions, Chaisi didn’t care. What good would the information do him? Dead men can’t take anything.’

"Of course you wouldn’t understand," Chaisi said in a low voice. "It was his to begin with."

"Don’t tell me you gave him both? But you’re still in the game?"

"Of course."

’Fu Tailan’s question was a bit odd. Was there a rule in the game that said you’d be disqualified for giving away your Target Illusion? No, there wasn’t, was there?’

’When dealing with Fu Tailan, you had to be wary of anything out of the ordinary.’

’He might be asking an odd question on purpose to mislead me. But since I haven’t actually been disqualified, I wouldn’t fall for that kind of trick. The fact that he’d ask anyway suggests that losing a Target Illusion *can* in fact lead to disqualification under certain circumstances. So... has someone been disqualified?’

’It couldn’t be Fu Tailan himself, could it?’

The boy’s brow was deeply furrowed, as if he were mulling over a difficult problem.

"You told me all this, which means you don’t intend to let me live." Fu Tailan’s eyes flicked upward to the gun barrel pressed against his forehead. "But you’ve let me talk this long without pulling the trigger. Let’s see..."

A slow smile spread across his face. "I’m guessing there’s something you want to know."