Illusion Report

Chapter 336: Chapter 292: Fu Tailan: Arrival at Blackmoor City Central Station

The two were two years apart. Judging from their résumés, the only thing they had in common was that they both graduated from Blackmoor University.

This was Blackmoor City. At least half of Blackmoor University’s graduates stayed in town. Besides, the two weren’t even in the same graduating class. That single detail meant nothing.

"Because I despise Chaisi, I did a thorough background check on him."

As the saying goes, "Keep your enemies closer than your friends."

"He rarely went to class, graduated a year late, and barely associated with anyone from school. The only person I know of who was close to him back then and is also a Hunter now is Morando."

The man had almost no connection to Fu Tailan, and it seemed he later had a falling out with Chaisi, so Fu Tailan hadn’t spent much energy looking into him.

However, during his brief investigation, he discovered that Morando actually had a fan channel on Reddit—’Why am I never as popular with the ladies? It’s one of the world’s great mysteries’—and while casually scrolling through the page, he’d happened to see people gossiping about Morando’s alma mater, his friends, and his Family Faction.

"...’The three of them supposedly hung out all the time back then, but the third person apparently didn’t want to be a Hunter. I wonder what happened to him...’"

He had read it back then and promptly forgotten about it. There were far too many people in the world who didn’t want to become Hunters; it wasn’t worth a second thought.

"What really made me pay attention was that one time I was tracking Westley and followed him all the way to his private dock."

That night, Westley was in the middle of a secret, important transaction, but by a stroke of luck, Fu Tailan caught a faint whiff of it.

It had been a spur-of-the-moment, improvised operation; logically, no one should have gotten wind of it. But as Fu Tailan lay in wait on the road to the private dock, ready to ambush the other party as they left, he saw Chaisi’s car pull up slowly beside him.

...And the one coordinating the deployment of personnel on the road behind them was none other than Longzhen.

"At the time, I thought he showed up because I’d made a mistake by contacting Huangli Roslin, and that she’d tipped him off. Besides, you were the one who came to rescue me in a helicopter at the critical moment... so I pushed my suspicions aside."

Fu Tailan closed his eyes and spoke softly into his phone. He felt as if he were still half-asleep, recalling a rapidly fading dream. It was only a few months ago, but it already felt like another lifetime.

"But there’s one scene I remember so clearly. You were sitting in the helicopter, holding a machine gun. Chaisi walked away with his back to us, striding off as if he wasn’t the least bit worried I’d order you to open fire. And he knew full well what a perfect opportunity it was for me."

Longzhen listened in silence, not making a sound.

"That’s because even if I had ordered you to shoot, you would have ’missed,’ wouldn’t you?"

Fu Tailan sighed. "Besides, even if that Hunter named Huangli guessed what we were doing that night, how would she have known it was valuable to them? How would she have known it was worth Chaisi’s personal attention? If Chaisi came running every time another Hunter Family Faction so much as twitched, he’d either work himself to death or die from a bellyful of farts."

Longzhen chuckled softly.

"So, he has a contact within the Morgan Family Faction."

Fu Tailan smiled too. "I don’t blame you. Why should anyone be loyal to the Morgan Family just for working for them? It’s a shame I didn’t know back then, or find an opportunity. But it’s not too late... I can still tear them apart, skin from bone, and sell them by the pound."

He practically spat out the last few words through gritted teeth.

Longzhen sighed.

Fu Tailan expected her to say something like, "Do you have proof?" or "Do you think Carter will believe you?" After all, their game was nothing more than a duel—a series of thrusts and parries, each testing the other.

But he never expected Longzhen’s next words to make his breath catch in his throat.

"...I’m so sorry. You’re still so young," Longzhen said, her voice almost gentle. "To have to go through so much, to be filled with so much hate."

For several seconds, Fu Tailan didn’t make a sound.

He was afraid that if he dared to speak, his voice would crack and betray the sob caught in his throat. If that happened, the whole world would see he was just a soft, ineffectual boy, nothing to fear, no threat at all.

"As the old saying goes, a suspicious heart creates its own demons. You don’t need proof to be suspicious. Besides, Carter Morgan is a suspicious man by nature." To his surprise, Longzhen voiced the very thoughts he’d been holding back. "Alright. Since you’ve taken it this far, I’ll give you the Illusion."

He had forced her hand through his own deductions and analysis, essentially through a well-executed bluff. And yet, Fu Tailan couldn’t shake the feeling that he was only getting the Illusion because he had accepted Longzhen’s kindness and help.

’...She’s just trying to placate me,’ he thought. ’Even after giving me the Illusion, she’s still afraid I’ll talk, so she’s trying this gentle approach—acting weak, trying to pacify me with a show of goodwill. Whatever. I have no ill will toward Longzhen. She’s worrying for nothing.’

Fu Tailan stood motionless on the crowded street, tightly clutching the light-blue ticket. Pedestrians occasionally bumped his shoulder, knocking him aside, and once in a while he’d hear someone shout back, "Hey, don’t just stand in the middle of the path!"

Just as they had arranged, he was walking along the sidewalk of a commercial district known for its tourist crowds when someone walking toward him quietly pressed something into his hand. By the time he turned to look, he could no longer pick Longzhen out from the receding crowd.

Fu Tailan walked up to a coffee shop and placed his hand on the glass door.

’I’m definitely going to be seen,’ he thought. ’The exact moment I disappear, someone will see it. There are too many people around. Someone might even happen to film it and upload it online.’

There were countless more secluded places he could have chosen. After all, if there’s one thing human society isn’t short on, it’s doors.

But what did it matter?

So what if he was discovered? So what if people kept an eye on him from now on?

Not everything in the world was such a big deal.

He wasn’t even afraid of the Nest anymore. What was there in the human world that could possibly make him shrink back now?

Fu Tailan stood on the bustling street, in front of the coffee shop. Through the glass, he could even see the barista inside glancing his way from time to time. With his back to the stream of pedestrians and facing a cafe full of customers, he calmly opened and closed the door three times.

Origin Station: Nest Central Station.

Destination: Blackmoor City Central Station.

Date: November 16, 2026.

...It was a perfectly normal mistake to assume the ticket was for a trip to Blackmoor City *on* November 16th. No wonder he’d never given it much thought.

’But if that were the case, wouldn’t the ticket be completely useless?’

It could only be used by humans, and only for a single trip.

Any human who could enter the Nest and board a train at Nest Central Station already had a Path. Why would a Hunter need an Illusion just to get to Blackmoor City Central Station?

Fu Tailan shook his head with a small smile. ’I can be so stupid sometimes.’

He had only returned to the human world from the Nest at ten in the morning. He never expected to be back by three in the afternoon.

He was no longer willing to waste energy wondering how far his dissociative disorder would progress. There was no point in thinking about it, other than to worry himself sick.

Sometimes, Fu Tailan would slip into childish daydreams. Daydreams where he’d never been summoned to the Nest Dominance Game. Where one day, Fu Han decided to wash his hands of the whole business and marry a kind woman, and they’d move to the countryside to live a quiet life, leaving Fu Tailan behind in the city to attend school.

He would take exams like other kids his age, get into college, go to freshman parties, and be late for class because he drank too much and overslept. Oh, and at one of those parties, he’d meet a woman a few years older than him and effortlessly get a girlfriend.

’...I’m being a little too childish,’ Fu Tailan thought.

He walked through the main doors of Nest Central Station. The daylight behind him suddenly dimmed, retreating like an ebbing tide.

The hall was nearly identical to Blackmoor City Central Station, yet it was empty, desolate, and cold, as if abandoned at the end of the world. Every footstep seemed to cover its ears and flee into the depths of the void.

The train to Blackmoor City Central Station was departing from Platform 12. No departure time was listed.

The train at Platform 11 was bound for ’Luocheng Central Station’—though whether that was the Luocheng on the West Coast of the human world was anyone’s guess. Further down, only Platform 6 showed any activity: a train that had already departed for ’Behind the Fourth Wall Station’.

Fu Tailan couldn’t imagine what kind of place that would be. In any case, it had nothing to do with him.

A woman who looked completely indistinguishable from a human called out to Fu Tailan. If she could just get a hold of herself, one might even mistake her for a Hunter.

"’A-are you taking the train?’ she asked between sobs, her eyes glistening with a blood-red sheen. ’You must have a ticket... P-please let me check it... SOB SOB SOB SOB SOB SOB SOB.’"

It was impossible for that many tears to be gushing from a human’s eyes. Her facial muscles twisted and stretched, her entire face flushed a deep red that starkly contrasted with the color of her neck.

"I’m sorry, I just died not long ago. I’m in so much pain, I have so many regrets, I want to go home so badly..."

The ticket inspector’s tears weren’t just coming from her tear ducts. A closer look revealed that greasy, pearl-like tears were oozing from the roots of every eyelash, from the inside of her eyelids, and from the skin at the corners of her eyes. "Can you take me with you?"

Fu Tailan silently shook his head and pointed to the passenger rules printed on the ticket.

"The ticket... you kn-know, you know your ticket is for the 16th, right?"

"I know," Fu Tailan said in a low voice.

The ticket inspector opened the gate for him, her shoulders hitching as she let out a piercing wail.

"If... if only I could go back too... Why? Don’t I look human? Don’t I look just like one? Why can’t I get on the train too..."

Sitting in his seat on the train, Fu Tailan watched the ticket inspector collapse onto the platform. As the train began to move, she continued to crawl after it on all fours, and he could still faintly hear her wailing.

He didn’t know if he had made the right decision.

He still had so many doubts and unanswered questions, but there was no one to discuss them with and no one who could give him answers. He could only test fate himself.

Afterward, no matter how hard he tried, Fu Tailan could never recall how long he had been on the train or what he had seen out the window. In his memory, the journey from the Nest to the human world was nothing but a small, chaotic, gray smudge on the glass, right at eye level, blurring his vision.

All he knew was that when he came to his senses, an announcement was broadcasting their arrival at the final destination.

"You have arrived at Blackmoor City Central Station on November 16, 2026. This is the final stop. All passengers please disembark."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!