Chapter 495 - 436: Mai Mingle: The Truth She Discovered and Ironclad Good Luck

Chapter 495: Chapter 436: Mai Mingle: The Truth She Discovered and Ironclad Good Luck

Mai Mingle almost thought time had frozen solid.

’If it had really frozen, that would be for the best.’ But she knew that wasn’t the case. For some unknown reason, the few people in the clearing had simply fallen into a strange, blank moment of silence.

Damian stared blankly at his father. He let out a sudden, short laugh, but when he tried to speak again, not a single word would come out.

Kai Luonan tucked the pistol back into the waistband at the small of his back without a word—as if he had just played a card and was now patiently waiting for his opponent to respond.

’What card?’ Mai Mingle couldn’t figure it out.

’Is his pistol a particularly powerful Illusion? Is he warning Damian not to do anything reckless?’

But this was Kai Luonan. He had single-handedly founded one of Blackmoor City’s most famous Family Factions. Surely he knew that Illusions were useless against Residents?

She wasn’t the only one who was confused.

Even from a distance, Mai Mingle could see Chaisi’s bewilderment. He turned to look at his foster father, opened his mouth as if to speak, then stopped. He glanced at Damian, his endless questions forcibly bottled up inside, making him look like a helpless, flustered child.

There was another woman in the clearing. Mai Mingle didn’t know who she was. She wasn’t running or speaking, just sitting on the ground, leaning against a wall. Her hands were pressed tightly over her mouth, as if she were crying silently.

Mai Mingle watched her for a few moments through the machine gun’s scope. Despite knowing nothing of the circumstances, the sight made her heart ache.

’Is that Kai Luonan’s wife?’

’She looks about Kai Luonan’s age. The white in her hair that comes with age has been carefully styled into highlights in her bangs. Her clothes, her hair, her general upkeep... she looks like she’s from the upper class. If she’s Damian’s mother, it makes sense she wouldn’t leave. But why is she crying? Because her son became a Resident?’

"Kai Luonan, you think you can control me? I’m going to tell them everything right now—"

Damian’s sudden outburst immediately seized Mai Mingle’s attention.

Strangely, however, he stopped himself halfway through.

Through her scope, Mai Mingle saw that Damian’s expression was bizarre. It was as if he’d just discovered some earth-shattering secret. His eyes, like black holes, glowed faintly with a light like will-o’-the-wisps. Yet he just stared at a fixed point in empty space, mouth agape, as though two separate wills were tearing at each other inside him, each fighting for the upper hand.

Kai Luonan shook his head, his voice slow and heavy. "Tell them what?"

Mai Mingle wanted to know what Damian was going to say, too, but she had a feeling that wasn’t what Kai Luonan meant.

It seemed Kai Luonan already knew what Damian intended to say.

It was as if... as if his question was more of a challenge: ’What *can* you say?’

He was in control of the situation.

’Am I overthinking this?’

Mai Mingle might have been a complete outsider, but by a twist of fate, she was perhaps the one person in all of Blackmoor City who best understood the Kai Family’s history—she might even have a clearer picture of the truth than Kai Luonan’s own wife.

"The ??? I possess is the most powerful Illusion."

Damian, now somehow on the defensive, seemed to be unconsciously imitating the man who was once his father.

He was panting, but he forced his voice to deepen. He even adjusted his posture slightly, making it closer to Kai Luonan’s own slightly stooped back. It was as if doing so could help him regain the upper hand.

He almost certainly didn’t realize he was doing it.

"Once you possess the ???, even the most unbelievable things become possible. Do you think I would give something like that away to anyone?"

’Wait—what?’

Mai Mingle had thought the ??? could only blur the boundaries of the real world. ’But what does Damian mean? That anything, no matter how unbelievable, can be made real?’

’Then... could it push back the deadline on my Extracellular Telomeres?’

Mai Mingle didn’t want much. She just wanted a few more months to separate the Nest from the human world once more. ’No, no, I should be honest with myself.’ She also hoped that after peace was restored to the world, she might be granted another year or two to travel, see the world, and experience different lives. That would be even better.

’No, even a year or two is too short. Just the blink of an eye in a long lifetime.’

She knew what was stirring inside her now was greed.

But Mai Mingle couldn’t resist it. She gripped her machine gun, her entire body trembling slightly.

’I have to get that ??? Illusion.’

Whether it could extend the limit on her Extracellular Telomeres or not, she had to at least try.

All these thoughts were just a wave that crashed through her mind in an instant. In the clearing, Damian paused for a beat before letting out a sudden, cold laugh.

"Kai Luonan, Kai Luonan..."

He shook his head over and over, looking as if he were about to cry, yet also as if he were about to burst into laughter. "Did you never once think of me as your son? In your entire life, who have you ever truly considered family?"

Kai Luonan said slowly and deliberately, "Don’t be mistaken. You are the Resident that formed after Damian died. One of my sons *was* Damian. Naturally, I don’t consider you my son."

Though confused, Chaisi seemed to let out a long, grateful sigh of relief. But it was a breath Mai Mingle couldn’t take.

She wasn’t like Chaisi.

No matter how sharp Chaisi was, he was still young. What’s more, his whole life he’d been like a hunting dog, seeing only his target and nothing else. In a way, you could almost call him naive—he inevitably lacked a deeper understanding of the world.

Perhaps it was because in her eighty-six years, she had seen too many people and witnessed too much of the human heart, but she had developed an almost psychic intuition when it came to others.

Something silent and enormous was brewing in that clearing.

Mai Mingle couldn’t begin to imagine what impact it would have on her fight for the ??? once this thing revealed its true form.

’If I want to snatch the Illusion, don’t I first need to understand what’s actually happening down there?’

’Calm down. Think it through...’

’First, Damian—the one they called the Host—went to great lengths, using Brianna to bring the Nest into the human world, all to get revenge on Chaisi. And maybe to get revenge on his parents while he was at it. That much is obvious.’

’Second, if Damian’s "revenge" was simply about killing Chaisi, then Chaisi would already be dead.’

’No matter how skilled Chaisi is, he can’t fight a Resident as powerful as the Host. So why is he still standing there, alive and well?’

Sometimes, revenge isn’t about the death of your enemy.

’Making his enemy live and experience the greatest possible suffering—that seems to be Damian’s real goal. So, what in the world would cause Chaisi the most pain?’

Mai Mingle looked up at the Nest.

Chaisi’s mother had died at the hands of a Resident that broke through into the human world. That was undoubtedly the most painful event in his life. But the Nest and the Residents invading the human world now wouldn’t necessarily cause him more pain. On the contrary, it gave him a purpose.

Mai Mingle understood that feeling perfectly, because she was the same way.

’If I had enough time, I would definitely gather the seven target Illusions, expel the Nest from the human world, and restore peace.’ Once you have that kind of mindset—’The bad guy did a bad thing, and I have to stop him’—where’s the time to suffer?

’Besides that, the thing that would hurt Chaisi the most...’

Mai Mingle nearly gasped and quickly slapped a hand over her mouth.

She stared blankly at the clearing as a tidal wave of thoughts crashed through her mind.

’That has to be it... It’s the only possibility.’

Once she realized this, everything else fell into place: what Kai Luonan was doing, the true meaning behind his cryptic words, and why he kept telling Damian he was "thinking too shallowly." It all suddenly became crystal clear.

’Damian must have realized it, too. That’s why he didn’t dare finish his sentence earlier.’

Not counting Kai Luonan’s wife, the only person still in the dark tonight was Chaisi Monroe.

’If I want to get my hands on the ??? Illusion, it might be more advantageous for me to let this situation play out...’

’But that’s too cruel—’

"Kai Luonan, you’re dreaming,"

Damian’s voice suddenly shot up, startling Mai Mingle.

He seemed to have abandoned his "human" side, sinking completely into his Resident state. His voice was like a thousand blades, twisting and tearing through the night: "you’re dreaming you’re dreaming you’re dreaming I’m the Resident I’m the one in control you think you can get one over on me you’re dreaming you’re dreaming you think I don’t dare you think I won’t kill him I’m telling you you can’t control me you can’t control me"

A jolt went through Mai Mingle.

In that instant, Damian swung his arm, striking Kai Luonan in the chest and sending him flying. Then he charged at Chaisi.

As fast as Chaisi’s reflexes were, he was no match for a Resident’s sudden assault. Damian raised an arm high, as if he could pull down the weight of the night sky itself, and brought it down toward him.

Mai Mingle pulled the trigger.

Several heavy, furious gunshots shattered the night, one after another, as if the concussion could make the Nest overhead ripple and sway.

The bullets slammed into Damian’s forehead one after another. The impact snapped his head back a full ninety degrees.

The scream from Kai Luonan’s wife was almost completely drowned out by the echoing gunshots.

Mai Mingle’s ears were ringing from the blasts. Before anyone in the clearing could react, she dropped to the ground. ’Bullets can’t kill a Resident. If Damian spots me and comes straight here, I’m done for.’

In that brief, chaotic instant, before Chaisi even had time to yell "Who’s there?", a hoarse and urgent voice suddenly cut through the air.

"Chaisi," Kai Luonan shouted, forcing the words out through a cough. "He’s going to kill you... Run!"