Chapter 74: Chapter 53: Fu Tailan: This Matter’s Connection to the Kai Family (2)

Why wasn’t Westley afraid of people knowing he possessed other Illusions, but wouldn’t let anyone know he had this one—Tonight?

The dying Hunter’s consciousness seemed to be fading. Fu Tailan didn’t know if he’d understood at all.

His eyes were motionless, fixed on Chaisi’s face. Through a throat full of blood, he whispered, "The Kai... the Kai Family..."

Fu Tailan was startled and immediately glanced at Chaisi.

To his surprise, Chaisi looked as if he’d just been slapped. Caught completely off guard, he instinctively asked, "What?"

His stunned reaction made Fu Tailan freeze as well.

Chaisi actually looked more shocked than he was, as if he hadn’t at all expected the words "the Kai Family" to come from the dying Hunter’s mouth.

’Life is strange,’ he thought, ’always full of twists and turns, one link leading to the next.’ Originally, Fu Tailan had thought Chaisi’s appearance tonight was just an annoying complication. If he could turn back time, he would never have made that call to Huangli Roslin.

Yet now, it was precisely because Chaisi was here in person that Fu Tailan was able to witness his immediate, unguarded reaction—and turn it into a crucial clue.

"The Kai... the Kai Family..."

The dying Hunter seemed to want only to release his last words back into the Human World. He couldn’t hear their shocked questions, nor did he have the strength to explain.

’But how could this have anything to do with the Kai Family?’

’And if it did, how could even Chaisi not know about it?’

’Wait, Kai—’

Fu Tailan’s heart suddenly leaped. A flash of understanding illuminated his mind. He immediately bit his lip, staring down at the dying man on the ground to prevent Chaisi from accidentally seeing through him.

He understood what the man meant.

He wasn’t saying "Kai Family," but "key."

It was only because he was at death’s door, his windpipe flooded with blood, that his voice came out slurred and hissing, making the two sound nearly identical.

If Fu Tailan hadn’t known deep down that the Kai Family shouldn’t be involved in this, he probably would have been misled too.

Chaisi, however, hadn’t noticed this yet.

Anxiety clouds judgment, as the saying goes. As a member of the Kai Family, hearing the Family Faction’s name from a dying man’s lips had clearly sent his thoughts down the wrong path. He urged, "What about the Kai Family? What does it have to do with your deal?"

But the Hunter gave no reply.

His eyes stared wide, seeing right through them, as if he were looking past them into the vast, open sky.

Fu Tailan stood up.

He had delayed long enough. Westley’s people would be here soon to clean up. He had to get out of this powder keg of a place as quickly as possible.

But before he left, there was one more thing he had to do: he couldn’t let Chaisi keep thinking, couldn’t give him a chance to realize the truth.

After all, once the puzzle was solved, the answer was actually quite simple. All he had to rely on was a single misunderstanding.

Therefore, Fu Tailan had to distract Chaisi and hammer that misunderstanding firmly into his head, letting it blind him, letting him jump to the wrong conclusion. That way, even if Chaisi figured it out later, Fu Tailan would have already seized the advantage.

"Just as I thought... I knew tonight’s events had to be connected to your Kai Family. Why the surprise? Don’t tell me you didn’t know the inside story? Right, that makes sense. After all, you’re not his real son."

He knew he was walking a tightrope.

The best way to make someone’s IQ drop is to piss them off. But his opponent was, after all, a man who completely surpassed him in height, speed, and strength...

Fu Tailan tightened his grip on the iron chain in his hand and said with a smile, "If I owned a dog, I wouldn’t report all my family business to it, either."

Against the scorching red night, Chaisi’s shadow slowly rose, blocking the sea of fire behind him.

Chaisi turned his head, his gaze landing on Fu Tailan.

That gaze had a tangible quality, like sinking sand or a withering wind. It was like something seeping out of an old black-and-white photograph—devoid of life. Both the one looking and the one being looked at seemed as if they weren’t of this world.

The moment Fu Tailan knew he had successfully enraged Chaisi, a chunk of his left chest was suddenly devoured by some savage beast. For an instant, he lost all sensation, as if a black hole had opened up right next to his heart.

’Was a piece of my flesh torn away?’

The doubt surfaced, but he didn’t dare look down, because Chaisi wouldn’t give him the chance to look up again.

If Fu Tailan hadn’t dodged to the side just in time, the spot now throbbing with a pain so intense it was almost numb—the spot where a black hole seemed to be leaking a cold draft—would have been his heart.

"Besides selling you for money, Fu Han should have taught you some manners."

Only then did Fu Tailan see clearly that what had struck his chest was the T-bar, which had somehow reappeared, hanging from Chaisi’s hand.

’Should have brought a gun tonight—’

Fu Tailan leaped to the side, swinging the iron chain at Chaisi’s waist. It whistled through the air, clattering like a whip with a hard spine. Chaisi didn’t dodge or evade. Instead, he ducked slightly and raised his arm to block. As the chain struck his back and arm with a loud CRACK, he grabbed it, and with a reverse twist of his hand, coiled it around himself, circle by circle, like an obedient snake.

’Shit.’

The thought had barely formed before Chaisi yanked the chain sideways, dragging Fu Tailan off his feet.

"Didn’t bring a decent weapon tonight?"

Chaisi grabbed him by the chest and slammed him to the ground. Looking down at Fu Tailan, he cracked a smile. "Don’t worry. When you’re dead, I’ll send your dad some condolence money."

Fu Tailan, whose head had slammed hard against the ground, was dizzy and disoriented. Still, he managed to raise himself on his knuckles and throw a punch at Chaisi’s eye. But before he could connect, Chaisi grabbed him and flipped him over as if he were a bedroll, tossing him away.

Fu Tailan tumbled a few steps away. As he pushed himself up, his hand touched something soft and wet. He glanced back and realized he was propped up on the corpse.

The moment he realized he shouldn’t have looked back, he also knew with grim certainty that unless he rolled over the corpse, he probably couldn’t avoid the blow now coming for the back of his head.

Fu Tailan’s judgment had been swift. When he scrambled back to his feet, panting, he was covered in the dead man’s blood, but at least none of it was his own. The back of his skull was also still intact.

In the distant sky, a tremendous noise rose, twisting and churning through the night. Within a few breaths, it had moved from far to near, pressing down on the two of them. Sand and stones were kicked up, and a fierce wind rolled in.

"In terms of brute force, I’m no match for you,"

he said, staring at Chaisi stepping over the body. He backed away slowly, smiling. "...That’s perfectly normal. How could a man beat a gorilla? But you see, you’ve run out of time to kill me tonight."

A bright pillar of light from the helicopter swept over them a few times. The aircraft’s door opened, and amidst the deafening roar of the rotors, someone shouted something indistinct down at them.

There was no need to make out the person’s exact words, nor to see the gun she held. Her tone and sharpness alone were enough to convey the warning. Chaisi glanced back at the helicopter, raised a hand, and smoothed his wind-tousled black hair back.

"Calling for the grownups to take you home so soon?" he said, his voice almost calm. "Go on. Next time you go out, don’t forget to bring a babysitter."

Chaisi didn’t seem worried that the person in the helicopter would shoot him as he turned to leave—though Fu Tailan found the temptation hard to resist.

In the end, however, he didn’t order Longzhen to act. Too many unexpected things had already happened tonight. Westley must have spotted the helicopter, and Fu Tailan couldn’t afford any more complications.

"I heard the sound of shells and knew something was wrong. Luckily, I wasn’t too late."

Longzhen closed the helicopter door again. As they gained altitude and left the scene, she observed Fu Tailan and asked, "What happened? Are you hurt?"

"Sister Longzhen, it hurts like hell."

Fu Tailan pointed to his chest, a pained look on his face. "Got hit with a pole, banged my head, and got covered in blood. But, it wasn’t all bad."

As he spoke, he pulled a blood-soaked wallet from the pocket of his hoodie.

"See? That guy who was making a deal with Westley was pretty considerate. He left a wallet for me on his body."