Illusion Report

Chapter 323: Chapter 279: Jin Xueli: The Dead, Unknown Person

Scott had calmed down.

Jin Xueli suddenly realized that at some point, his anxiety, frustration, and irritability from just a moment ago had vanished without a trace. The simmering emotions had all melted away like ice and snow.

This didn’t mean his emotions were dead and he’d become a walking corpse. She could feel that Scott was still anxious.

But that urgency had quietly transformed into a snow-white, cold, laser-like focus.

Scott thought for a few seconds, then pulled out a notebook and quickly drew several horizontal lines on a blank page to create categories.

He looked at Jin Xueli, his tone almost encouraging. "You can get your thoughts in order and tell me: your ideas and questions about the current situation, the leads you have on hand, the angle you plan to approach this from, the actions you can take, and what support you need from me."

’How should I describe this?’

It was as if he had found a box in his brain and packed all his distracting emotions inside. All that remained, taking center stage, were logic and efficiency.

’Was it because the Brain Hacker kicked in?’

Jin Xueli had a terrible sense of time. It felt like Scott had drunk the medicine ten minutes ago, so it wouldn’t be strange if it was taking effect.

But she hadn’t known she was coming here today to give a feasibility report. She could barely answer any of Scott’s questions.

The Nest was full of all sorts of bizarre things. Besides residents and Illusions, there were countless strange objects that couldn’t be named, understood, or classified.

The first humans who entered the Nest had, with their limited understanding, barely managed to distinguish two broad categories from the myriad of strange and bizarre things that future generations could also comprehend: residents and Illusions. As for the rest, they truly couldn’t even come up with names for them.

Just knowing that the raw material Chaisi provided came from the Nest was of no help at all.

"Aren’t you going to wait for Chaisi anymore?" she asked after a moment’s thought, feeling utterly uncertain.

"Of course I’ll wait for him, but I need a Plan B, just in case. After all, this is a critical time. I can’t afford any delays," Scott replied, though he sounded a little disappointed.

That was true. With Chaisi’s reckless style, it wouldn’t be surprising if he suddenly dropped dead one day. No, the surprising thing was that he wasn’t dead already.

’...Ah, maybe he really is dead.’

’What if Chaisi is dead?’

’If he’s dead, the company can’t continue, and won’t my shares become worthless paper?’

Even though there wasn’t much she could do, the thought that nine million dollars were still at risk of going down the drain meant Jin Xueli couldn’t just stand by. She had to proceed under the assumption that "Chaisi is dead" and work to at least keep Scott’s company afloat until the venture capital funding came through.

"You’ve seen the raw material, right? What’s it like?"

Scott put down his pen.

"It’s a liquid," he said. "A thick, deep Amber-colored liquid that has a faint, earthy smell. I’ve tested its composition, but the only testable, stable chemical formula is H2O. The other chemical molecules are in a constant state of flux and dissociation, to the point that I can’t even detect what they are."

"Ah, that makes sense," Jin Xueli nodded in sudden understanding. "It’s true that in the Nest, only water is guaranteed to be safe to drink."

Even ingesting an Illusion with known effects required a bit of courage.

"Based on the product’s current market share, back when his Hunter was still alive, he would deliver to me roughly once every three months."

Scott said calmly, "Each time, it was only one kilogram, brought over in a single bottle. Once I got it, I would dilute it with large amounts of water and a stabilizing agent... The formula is my own creation, and it uses the diluted liquid. In the end, what gets put into the ampoules along with the other medicinal ingredients is only a few parts per thousand of the Original Liquid."

"So, you can produce nearly a thousand kilograms of product from one delivery?"

"There’s unavoidable loss during production, so it’s not that much. In terms of the final product, it’s less than thirty thousand Ampoules."

As they spoke, Jin Xueli had already looked up the retail price of Brain Hacker. The product came in different packaging, but the price for each 20ml Ampoule was fixed at 35 dollars. The box recommended drinking one per day.

"That expensive?" she exclaimed in surprise. "Does it all sell out?"

"Of course. In fact, demand outstrips supply."

Scott paused, then said, "Because its effect... is unnaturally good."

’Just how powerful is this effect?’

Jin Xueli glanced at the Ampoule on the table, suddenly feeling a mix of curiosity and an urge to try it.

The world was truly vast, as if divided into countless parallel spaces, each one saturated with an immense amount of information. A person could live their entire life without ever getting a glimpse into the daily life of another.

Brain Hacker seemed to be especially popular among the elite, a bestseller in the category of so-called "smart drugs." Yet, before today, Jin Xueli hadn’t even known it existed.

"The reason we can only produce ten thousand Ampoules a month right now isn’t due to a lack of raw materials, but because of production line limitations. Chaisi told me that I just need to focus on bringing in venture capital to expand the production line, and that I don’t need to worry about the raw materials."

Scott didn’t even take the opportunity to complain again. It seemed Brain Hacker really did calm one’s emotions. "So I believe there must be a stable, abundant source in the Nest... It should be easy to find."

’That’s because you’ve never been in the Nest,’ Jin Xueli thought to herself.

"Do you have any undiluted Original Liquid on hand?" she asked without much hope.

As expected, Scott just gave a wry smile and shook his head.

"The supply from three months ago was used up long ago. I even scraped the bottle clean. I can only give you a box of the product... Nowadays, the only Original Liquid is what’s inside the Ampoules."

Sunlight shone through the brown glass bottle, illuminating the clear liquid within. Who would have thought that hidden in the shimmering glimmer of the liquid was a few parts per thousand of a product from the Nest.

Jin Xueli put the Ampoule back in its box and stood at the entrance of Scott’s company building, thinking quietly for a while.

The proportion of Original Liquid was too low. Even if all the Hunters in Blackmoor City lined up to examine it one by one, they wouldn’t be able to figure anything out.

Before leaving Scott’s office, she had asked every question she could think of, and Scott had repeatedly tried to subtly probe her for her plans. The result was that neither was satisfied with the other’s answers, yet they had no other choice.

’Don’t be fooled by Chaisi not having a Path; his tentacles sure reach far. I wonder how he found this stuff in the first place?’

The only solution that wasn’t really a solution was to make a trip to the Nest and try her luck there...

’The odds are better than searching for a needle in a haystack, at least.’

Jin Xueli took a deep breath and pushed open the door to the "Between the Backlight" bar.

Everything she had experienced in the bar’s back alley a few days ago felt like a scene from another movie. Though it was vivid and clear, it already belonged to a different timeline.

’I can’t believe I’m back here to buy ’wine’ so soon.’

The five or six o’clock sun, having spent a clamorous, dust-filled day in the mortal world, had shed its youthful intensity and turned into a pool of deep, dark gold.

The evening sunlight fell into the empty bar, sliced into a straight line by the window frame.

One half of the bar grew old and soft in the rich light, suffused with that special silence unique to an empty room in the afternoon: no sound, only bright motes of dust floating about, as if echoing with a celestial song imperceptible to human ears.

The other half of the bar was shrouded in dim shadows, gloomy and cold, where a person sat as still as a stone statue.

Jin Xueli was startled. "Morando?"

The figure in the duck-bill cap seemed not to have heard, not looking up, still staring motionlessly at the wooden tabletop.

"Oh, you’re friends?"

The back door behind the bar opened, and a bartender who looked like a Shar-Pei came in, apparently having heard the noise.

"...I guess so?"

’After all, Morando did help me out before.’

He gestured to Jin Xueli. "Then you should try to talk to her. It’s no good for her to keep sitting like this."

’What does he mean?’

"Didn’t you just open? It’s fine if she sits for a little while, right?"

The bartender sighed and lowered his voice. "She came in as soon as we opened at five or six yesterday. Seems she was waiting for someone... She waited until we closed in the morning, but that person never came. As soon as we opened today, she came in to wait again. I don’t know who she’s waiting for, but if you’re her friend, you should talk to her."

The bar was empty, so even though he had lowered his voice, Morando must have heard him. But she didn’t react at all, as if the bartender were talking about someone completely unrelated.

Jin Xueli tiptoed over to the table, stepping into the shadows.

She leaned down and called out softly, "Morando?"

Her long hair slipped from her shoulder as she leaned over. Morando’s gaze seemed to stir awake first, following the line of her hair upwards.

Azure eyes, as scorching and frigid as a polar sky, capable of freezing tears into ice, met Jin Xueli’s.

Jin Xueli couldn’t imagine anyone in the world who could meet that direct gaze and still be able to breathe.

"B—"

Morando cut herself off in time, seeming to realize she had almost mistaken her for someone else.

Looking slightly dazed, she stared at Jin Xueli motionlessly for a few seconds, then suddenly reached out—her icy fingers gripping her arm tightly.

"Don’t go," Morando said, her voice pleading.

"Huh? I-I’m not leaving..."

Being watched by those eyes was like being pierced through by the long winds of a snowy plain. Jin Xueli was almost at a loss. "Wh-what’s wrong? Um, the bartender said you were waiting for someone..."

"She’s not coming,"

Morando, sitting in the shadows beyond the sunset’s glow, turned her eyes away to stare at a distant point and said in a low voice.

"This time... she’s never coming back. I know it. After struggling for so long... she finally died in this mortal world."

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