Illusion Report

Chapter 325: Chapter 281: Jin Xueli: Missing Person Notice

November 28, 2026, 10:31 PM. Weather: clear. No signal.

The phone screen lit up, white text floating in the darkness. The light died just as quickly, plunging everything back into black.

Jin Xueli pretended she hadn’t seen the pair of feet across from her, illuminated for just a moment by the light.

’...As long as I don’t turn on the light and pretend I can’t see, I won’t run into her.’

She took a deep breath. Following her usual routine, she washed her face with cold water, gulped down some coffee, and sat quietly on the floor for a while, waiting for the dizzy spell from the alcohol and inhibitors to pass.

’My talent as a Hunter really is the worst...’ It wasn’t until almost eleven that Jin Xueli could finally move without acid reflux burning her throat.

The radio was still waiting for her in its usual spot.

The world felt like it was soaking in alcohol, swimming in circles inside her head. Jin Xueli had to press the button twice before the radio turned on.

"Welcome to Nest 173 Radio. This is a rebroadcast of ’A Virtual Guide to the Infinite Illusion Realm’..."

The familiar, pleasant male voice was as calm as ever.

No matter how many things changed or how much turmoil erupted, the broadcast seemed completely insulated from the Nest Dominance Game. Before, during, and after, it would continue to report on the Nest’s changes, entirely unaffected.

"I’m your host—"

A CRACKLE of static obscured the rest of the words.

Jin Xueli raised her hand and slightly adjusted the old-fashioned dial. By the time the static cleared and the sound was stable again, she had already missed the date and time announcement.

Although she had come in this time to find the ingredients for Brain Hacker, it wouldn’t hurt to listen for any new Illusions that might have appeared. Most importantly, she needed to know where mutations had occurred so she could avoid those areas.

"...The reconstruction project on Nameless Street, which has been ongoing for two weeks, has finally been completed today. I imagine many of our resident friends were hoping Nameless Street would become a new rule-based trap, right? Unfortunately, I’m afraid you’re all in for a disappointment."

Jin Xueli’s ears immediately perked up.

Anything that disappointed the residents was usually good news for Hunters, and this time was no exception—

"A new, abandoned, unfinished building has been constructed on Nameless Street. It looks like it’s been deserted for over a decade."

Only in the Nest could one hear such an illogical and absurd statement. It was so irrational it was almost endearing.

"Aside from hoping a Hunter might misstep in the ruined building and fall to their death, what else is there for us residents to do? According to a tip received by this station, a ’Quality Realization’ mirror exists in a corner within the abandoned building. This mirror does not exist anywhere."

For a moment, Jin Xueli suspected the alcohol was still affecting her, scrambling her brain and preventing her from understanding that sentence.

"Because this mirror can grant the person standing before it certain ’qualities’ they don’t originally possess—for example, beauty, height, hair color, straighter teeth, and so on, even curing nearsightedness and facial paralysis—you can all imagine that Nameless Street will receive a great deal of attention from Hunters in the coming months. In other words, although the abandoned building isn’t a rule-based trap, it will become quite a good hunting ground."

The host paused, then said, "Of course, while the mirror exists within the abandoned building, the mirror does not exist in the abandoned building."

’That doesn’t even qualify as human speech.’

’I should just take a detour, right? Though I do wish my eyes could be green.’

"Next up, a missing person announcement."

Jin Xueli gently tapped the map with her pen. ’A missing person announcement probably has nothing to do with me. This seems to be the first time I’ve ever heard one. Why haven’t they started announcing the regional changes in the Nest yet?’

"We ask all residents to please keep an eye out for a human female, over forty years of age, with dark, shoulder-length curly hair. Caucasian, five feet, six inches tall, estimated weight around 135 pounds. If you call out ’Jacqueline,’ she will turn to look at you. She’s used to it, after all, having been called that for over forty years."

"When she fell into the Nest today, she was wearing a loose pullover and a pair of yoga pants, and she has no wallet or phone. She has blue eyes, thin lips, and is still wearing a wedding ring on her left hand. For residents who are particularly sensitive to matters of childbirth, you should be able to tell that Jacqueline has one son and one daughter."

"All in all, you should all know who this woman is by now. A listener of this station is searching for her. If any listeners find Jacqueline, please contact the station immediately. Do your best to control yourselves and not harm her. If you absolutely must harm her, please try to leave a complete corpse."

’How unlucky,’ Jin Xueli thought.

’To suddenly fall into the Nest... that woman named Jacqueline probably doesn’t even understand what’s happened yet, does she?’

’She could never imagine that she’s already the subject of a missing person announcement, and that all the residents in the Nest who heard the broadcast are now looking out for her.’

"The listener who issued the announcement has stated that they will handsomely reward any resident who finds Jacqueline."

’Being targeted by the residents is bad enough, but this has nothing to do with me anyway.’

Jin Xueli patiently listened to the end of the broadcast, only to find that the host had barely mentioned any regional changes or construction information within the Nest. This didn’t mean there were no changes; it only meant she would have to go in blind.

She sighed and locked the old radio away again.

The only clue she had on hand about the Brain Hacker Original Liquid was still just a few sentences from Morando.

"The structure of the Knight Family is rather unique among the Hunter Family Factions."

Being able to temporarily stop thinking about the dead seemed to grant Morando a brief, faint sense of relief.

"From a certain perspective, its internal structure is a bit like the Kai Family’s, so I’m not surprised the two later reached an agreement... oh, but that’s a story for another time. The biggest difference between the Knight Family and other Hunter Family Factions is that it’s truly a Family Faction composed of actual family members."

It was unknown whether a Path could truly be passed down by blood, or if it was just a coincidence:

Starting from the currently living grandparent generation, nearly all of the Knight Family’s three generations were Hunters.

"A dozen or so blood-related Hunters naturally formed a core. Aside from marriage, it’s impossible for an outsider to enter this core. Hunters like us, who joined the Knight Family later, are actually all part of a loose, peripheral structure."

To use an analogy, it was something like the relationship between a castle and its moat.

The Hunters named Knight offered a very fair price to hire a group of external Hunters, forming their family’s moat: running missions, finding Illusions, providing security... When the Knights didn’t need them, the external Hunters were also free to act as they pleased, unbound by contract.

Of course, when the external Hunters acted freely, they received no support or aid from the Knight Family either.

The Kai Family’s core was formed by a group of unrelated Hunters bound together by loyalty. Outside this core, they also hired a group of Hunters who were further from the center of decision-making, but these Hunters were supported, protected, and constrained by the Kai Family’s Core Hunters, so their freedom was correspondingly much lower.

"This is also why I chose the Knight Family back then."

Morando said, "At the time, I didn’t want to let— At the time, I hoped to earn money on my own as soon as possible. Joining the Knight Family guaranteed a steady income while also giving me free time to hunt Illusions. It was a good fit."

External Hunters would receive missions from the Knight Family, but what the Knight-surnamed Hunters discovered in the Nest, which Illusions they were tracking, or who they had conflicts with... all of that was a mystery.

"The three generations of the Knight Family are like a vertical, closed cylinder. Even after spending several years with the Knight Family, I never understood their internal situation... They are extremely cautious and incredibly tight-lipped. I didn’t even know who was whose father, or who was whose aunt."

’But what does this have to do with the Original Liquid?’

Jin Xueli sometimes had to remind herself that she had far less patience than the average person.

"Until one day, several Knight Hunters suddenly approached me together. They questioned me about my whereabouts on certain days, the school I graduated from, and my relationship with Chaisi Monroe... It was only in hindsight that I realized a conflict had arisen between the Knight Family and the Kai Family over something."

Morando paused here.

"Among the Knight Hunters, there was a young man. He was human, no doubt about that. But during our conversation, I noticed his entire eyeball was turning olive green... His pupils became so black and round that they even dilated beyond his upper and lower eyelids."

She said in a low voice, "Another Knight, probably his older brother, immediately led him out the door without a single word of explanation to me."

Morando reached out and tapped Jin Xueli’s phone screen.

"Thinking back now... right after he came in, he drank a sip of something."

Whether what that man drank was the same type of Original Liquid, even Morando couldn’t be sure.

Jin Xueli had only this single, ambiguous, and vague clue to go on, and now she had to enter the Nest to search for a needle in a haystack. Morando seemed a little embarrassed about it and even apologized.

But this little bit of information was already far more than the clues Jin Xueli had on hand before.

’...Even if the Original Liquid was discovered by the Knight Family, where should I even begin to look?’

The Knight Family was famous for acting in a low-key and secretive manner; there were almost no rumors about them in Hunter circles. Compared to the Hunters, the residents were probably more familiar with them...

Eh?

Jin Xueli froze.

’Could I... could I ask the residents?’

’Didn’t someone just use the radio station to put out a missing person announcement?’

’If I could also find a way to contact the radio station... then, without revealing that I’m human, could I ask the host to offer a reward for clues about the Original Liquid?’

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