Chapter 79: Chapter 57: Fu Tailan: The Most Desired Thing

The second filler item came on November 7th.

This one was also brought back by Remy, though compared to the alarm clock from last time, its connection to time was a little harder to pin down: it was a stiff paper train ticket.

The ticket listed its departure station as "Nest Central Station" and its destination as "Blackmoor City Central Station," dated November 16th, 2026 — nine days away.

Usually, an Illusion itself, or the area around where it was found, would come with some description of its function. But this ticket had only a few short lines on it, and even after reading them, it was impossible to say what exactly it was supposed to do:

TICKET

Please note: non-human entities are not permitted to board.

Please note: any human who has remained in the Nest for more than seven days is advised to accept their dissolution and death with grace. Even if a portion of you remains, please do not attempt to board.

Please note: this ticket is untraceable, one-way, and valid for a single passenger for a single journey.

So was it a ticket that could carry a person out of the Nest and back to Blackmoor City — no Path required?

Getting someone back to Blackmoor City without following the usual "return via Path" rule only seemed meaningful under a very narrow set of circumstances... say, if a Hunter’s Path had been severed by some accident. Anything could happen inside the Nest, after all.

If it had been a round-trip ticket — Blackmoor City to the Nest and back — Fu Tailan actually knew someone who would’ve been so excited they’d have snapped their leash.

All in all, calling it time-related felt like a stretch, but saying it had nothing to do with time didn’t quite hold up either.

In the end, two things convinced Fu Tailan to pass it off as the real deal: one, the ticket was small enough to fit in the palm of a hand; and two, it could change form.

Though the change was so subtle it barely counted, and utterly pointless at that — pale blue in a man’s hands, pale pink in a woman’s.

"What color would it turn for someone who’s gender-fluid?" Remy had said at the time, chewing her gum. "The worldview baked into this Illusion is pretty old-fashioned, isn’t it? Blue for boys, pink for girls — what era is this thing from?"

Whatever. As long as it changed form, that was good enough.

After the last "transaction," if Fu Tailan still pretended not to know that the target Illusion could shift its appearance, that would be far too obvious — Green would see right through him and know he had an ulterior motive.

Besides, completing Westley’s commission wasn’t really the point. What he actually wanted was to test a theory.

Having barely scraped through the 13th, Fu Tailan had no desire to wait any longer than necessary. He contacted Green quickly. Over the phone, Green seemed genuinely surprised he’d turned up another Illusion so soon, but agreed to meet again — same location as last time: the top floor of the Westley Building.

If anything had changed, it was that security was considerably tighter. Guards posted every few steps in both directions; it practically looked like a military installation. Not just Fu Tailan and his group being put through checkpoint after checkpoint — even a janitor in the lobby got stopped, his person and his cleaning cart inspected inside and out before he was allowed upstairs.

The one who came to receive Fu Tailan was the same bodyguard captain as before.

"Anyone who didn’t know better would think this place was some kind of top-secret military facility," Fu Tailan said.

He waited until the captain was carrying the ticket across the koi bridge before striking up conversation: "All those people coming in to work during the day — do you really check every single one of them?"

No matter how many times the man crossed it, he never seemed to get used to the dense cluster of fish mouths rising high above the water on either side of the bridge, pressing and sucking at the air around him.

He stepped off the bridge with a light sheen of sweat on his forehead again, handed the ticket back, and said: "You haven’t heard? This building has been cleared out. All the departments that used to work here have been temporarily relocated to another building."

So calling Westley neurotic last time had actually been letting him off easy. Clearing out an entire building — now that was neurotic.

"No matter how secure this place is, he can’t just hole up here forever," Fu Tailan said casually.

The bodyguard shook his head.

"That’s not something I’m at liberty to tell you... but wherever Mr. Westley goes, the same level of security goes with him. Higher, even. As for where he might be going — I’m afraid I can’t say."

Last time, at least Green had let slip that Mr. Westley couldn’t get away. This time, Fu Tailan couldn’t even tell whether Westley was in the building at all. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"I really didn’t expect to be seeing you again so soon."

Green rose to his feet as Fu Tailan and his group entered the meeting room, smiling. "Last time was — hm, today’s November 15th, so it’s been under two months. Did you find an Illusion in just two or three days in the Nest this time?"

He said "an Illusion" — not "the Illusion we’re looking for." Something tightened, just slightly, in Fu Tailan’s chest.

This guy was slippery as a pat of greased butter. Had he started to suspect something?

"We got lucky this time." Fu Tailan took the opening and let out a measured sigh. "But honestly, because the whole thing went so smoothly, I’m not confident it’s actually what you’re after. That said, it was found in the designated area, so I’m obligated to bring it to you for a look — that’s fair, isn’t it?"

By putting it out in the open himself, Fu Tailan effectively cut off anything Green might have wanted to say. Green had no choice but to nod. "The Morgan Family really does take professionalism seriously."

The group had barely made it to the low table in the center of the room and hadn’t even sat down yet when Green reached into his trouser pocket and set a phone on the tea table.