Chapter 29: Chai Si – The Chase Beneath the Surface

It was only after hanging up the phone that Huang Li realized the critical issue. At that moment, Chai Si was still driving through Blackmoor City with the suicidal momentum of someone charging into an empty field.

Huang Li could not be blamed for her slow reaction; in novels, only characters have the luxury of remaining calm enough to think after seeing a truck barreling toward them.

"Wait, you’ve designated the entire area to them," she said, bolting upright with a start. "Doesn't that mean by the time we reach our destination, we'll be walking straight into a police perimeter?"

The range Chai Si provided was broad, intended to disperse police forces and keep them guessing his direction. Yet, on the whole, Huang Li’s assessment was accurate.

"You need to be careful," he said, taking a sharp turn and swerving from the main road into a dim, narrow alleyway. "You’re starting to sound like a criminal."

Huang Li steadied herself, snapping back to reality. "Oh, right. I’m just a 'hostage' you've dragged into this car..."

"Exactly. Remember that. In a little while, that will be the only truth."

The other rearview mirror didn't survive, clipped off against the alley wall. The already dented Mercedes ignored the trash cans blocking its path, plowing straight through them with a loud clatter. A garbage bin tumbled over the windshield, plunging the interior into darkness.

Trash bags burst, and the car sped through a rain of flying refuse, emerging covered in filth. The wipers batted away a banana peel but left a smear of sticky, foul liquid across the glass.

The car was a write-off anyway.

"What’s your plan?" Huang Li asked.

"Open the glove box," Chai Si instructed. "There are zip ties inside. Take them out and bind your own hands."

Huang Li rolled her eyes toward the sky for a few hopeless seconds before resigning herself to her fate. She retrieved the zip ties, held one end in her teeth, and managed to loop them around her wrists, but she couldn't fasten them. She had to ask for his help. Chai Si extended a hand while steering and pulled the ties tight.

When he withdrew his hand, he frowned; the zip ties were coated in saliva. He shot her a cold look and wiped his hand heavily against the shoulder of her denim jacket.

Huang Li gave a soft, mocking laugh.

"This goes against my usual principles of survival," she muttered, holding her bound hands in front of her face like a bouquet of flowers.

"You don't need to survive." This wasn't the Nest.

"Fine. So what do I do later? Do you surrender and let me be gloriously rescued?"

"Don't say stupid things."

Chai Si steered the car back onto a side road. The pursuing police cars were no longer visible behind them, but he knew this was temporary. Police units were undoubtedly patrolling the area, ready to reappear in his rearview mirror and lock onto him again at any moment.

"We're almost there," he said, eyes scanning the road. "I’m going to slow down, but I won’t stop. It’s almost time. Get ready; we need to detect the Artifact at any moment. Do you want minor injuries or major ones?"

Huang Li glared at him. "I want no injuries."

"If you think you can talk your way out of this with the police without a scratch, be my guest. If you don't want to get hurt, it depends on how fast your reflexes are."

"What does that mean?"

A moment later, Huang Li understood.

As the subway station sign for Blue Community College came into view, Chai Si immediately slowed the car. He unbuckled his seatbelt, threw the door open, and leaped out, rolling across the pavement before sprinting toward the station. The car, now driverless, swerved off course and slid into the middle of the road.

"Just wait, the first thing I’m doing when I get back is demanding a contract revision!" Huang Li cursed loudly from the car behind.

After a pause, her voice rang out again: "It’s here! It’s actually here!"

The Artifact had entered Huang Li’s detection range—it was on the next subway train arriving at the station.

***

Chai Si didn't look back, but as he bounded down the subway stairs two at a time, he vaguely heard a muffled thud from the road in the distance.

The impact didn't sound serious, much better than he had feared. It seemed that even with her hands bound, Huang Li had managed to control the car in time.

Chai Si braced one hand on the turnstile, vaulted over the gate, and landed with the grace of a jaguar. His tall, six-foot-six frame made only a faint sound as he hit the ground.

A group of idle youths nearby, who had been whispering to each other, turned their attention to him and laughed. "Nice moves, man! But what’s wrong? Can’t a guy in a suit afford a ticket?"

Chai Si ignored them. In a few breaths, he reached the platform. He slowed his pace, looked around, and blended into the waiting crowd as if nothing were amiss.

He checked the time: 10:33.

His suicidal driving had actually put him three minutes ahead of the subway.

There must have been witnesses to him jumping out of the car and rushing into the station. The police would arrive, realize their suspect had entered the subway, and move to seal the exits and send men down to search. Now, he could only wait and see whether the subway or the police arrived first.

He took a deep breath, mentally rehearsing every step of his plan.

One small mistake, and he would be a rat in a trap.

The first thing to solve was...

Chai Si looked up at the security camera hanging in the corner of the platform.

The Blackmoor City subway system had been completed around 1905, and most stations still retained their early 20th-century aesthetic. The recently installed surveillance equipment always looked out of place against the old station walls.

If he were recorded, even if he managed to escape the pursuit, it would lead to trouble later.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a remote control no longer than his index finger.

It had a small plastic screen, currently displaying a line of text: [Countdown: 127 days, 21 hours, 36 minutes].

Below the screen were two buttons labeled "replace" and "cancel." Aside from looking cheaply made, the device gave no hint of its function.

Chai Si held the remote up to his throat and pressed "replace," then shoved it back into his pocket.

None of the people waiting for the train looked at him. Most eyes were glued to phone screens; others wore headphones, staring blankly at the tracks or the opposite platform. The opposite platform was completely empty.

Even if someone had been staring at Chai Si, they wouldn't have understood what he had just done.

When Chai Si first received this remote from a Hunter of the House faction, he hadn't thought much of it.

Strangely enough, Artifacts from the Nest, regardless of their bizarre appearances, seemed to follow a rule similar to the real world: the more exquisite, expensive, and substantial an object looked, the greater its value and utility. If an Artifact felt like cheap plastic, its function was likely limited.

But the Hunter had smiled with confidence and said, "Try it and see. The function is limited, but it's very practical."

She had pulled out her phone, opened the camera, and stood in front of it.

Chai Si watched the phone screen as the Hunter slowly picked up the remote, held it to her throat, and pressed "replace."

On the screen, her entire head transformed into that of a giant, snow-white goat. The goat-head wore a floor-length black robe, looking like a demonic creature straight out of a medieval horror legend.

Looking at the Hunter outside the screen, however, she remained the same: hair tied back, wearing outdated skinny jeans and sneakers—looking every bit like a middle-schooler's mom.

Most amazingly, even in the few seconds of video recorded *before* she pressed the button, her face had been replaced by the goat.

"Impressive, right?" the goat-head on the screen said. "Press the button, and your real face won't be recorded. Through any device, you'll look like a giant goat. And the effect is retroactive by one minute—if you forget to activate it, you have a minute to fix it! Such a thoughtful Artifact is rare in the Nest."

For Chai Si, it was exactly what he needed.

***

After a simple test, he quickly made his decision: "The House faction will take it. Twenty thousand dollars."

The only pity was that once this Artifact left the Nest, it would only last for six months. That was why he valued it at only twenty thousand; by any standard, a six-month shelf life was far too short.

"Don't be disappointed," the middle-schooler's mom had said with a smile as she prepared to leave. "It's precisely because Artifacts eventually expire and vanish in the human world that those of us in the hunting business can keep working."

Indeed.

Chai Si didn't know how long the Nest had existed, but its history was surely long. Generations of Hunters had brought countless Artifacts into the world. If they lasted forever, the world would have turned into a chaotic science-fiction film long ago.

If anyone were to watch the surveillance footage later, they would see a goat-headed figure in a black robe on the departure platform at 10:33. It stood by the stairs, occasionally glancing upward, then lowering its head and resting its chin on a large hoof, looking like a thoughtful, troubled goat.

That was Chai Si, listening for activity in the station. As for the hoof, it was his hand covering his face.

After all, to the naked eye, he was still his original self, so the less he was seen, the better.

At 10:34, a faint commotion drifted down from the station entrance.

Hurried footsteps thundered across the stairs. Someone asked, "What’s going on outside?" and another asked, "Are the trains still running?"

The police had arrived.

Chai Si glanced at the platform monitor. The departing train would arrive at 10:36.

He took a deep breath. Both the departing and returning trains were arriving at the same time, meaning a single second of error could be the difference between life and death.

10:35.

Several people rushed down the stairs, shouting, startling the other passengers—they were the same youths who had been whispering at the entrance and had complimented Chai Si earlier. One of them looked back and cursed, "Why are there so many Blue Bags here?"

Chai Si moved behind the stairs and stopped at the edge of the platform near the tracks. "Blue Bags" was a slang term, as the police uniforms were blue; some simply called them "Bags."

He heard the synchronized, urgent, and heavy rhythm of trained footsteps, mixed with the friction of bulletproof vests and holsters, rushing toward the stairs.

Thirty seconds until 10:36.

*Wait one more second,* he thought, gritting his teeth, *just one more...*

From the distant subway tunnel, a low, rumbling sound finally echoed. Because it was still far off, it was almost like a hallucination, vibrating against his nerve endings.

"Everyone on the platform!" a voice suddenly shouted. "Stay where you are! We are apprehending a dangerous driving suspect!"

Chai Si smiled.

At the moment everyone’s attention was drawn to the speaker, Chai Si leaped off the platform, landing silently by the tracks like a large cat sliding off a roof.

When a passenger finally noticed and let out a low gasp, he was already sprinting across the tracks, lunging toward the opposite platform—

"Stop!" someone shouted behind him. "Or we'll shoot!"

But the subway didn't give them the chance to fire.

At 10:36, the train carrying the Artifact roared out of the tunnel, rushing toward Chai Si. The train's bright headlight illuminated half of his body and the platform just inches away.