The Phantasm in Jin Xueli's Original Plan

It really was... it really was me.

There should never have been any doubt. I was the real Jin Xueli-

The moment that thought arose, something that had been clamped tightly around Jin Xueli seemed to suddenly loosen.

She involuntarily sank to the floor, buried her face in her hands, and burst into tears.

She was neither sad nor afraid. Her crying was closer to a release: the unease and suspicion from earlier, the memories of dying after that desperate struggle, the pain and terror of having her throat torn open and her shoulder hacked through... with those sobs, it all seemed to drain out of her body little by little, leaving only an exhausted, blank Jin Xueli.

By the time she stopped, the echoes in the exhibition hall had gradually faded, leaving it silent and desolate again.

She could no longer find even a trace of what had happened in her memories.

There was no blood on the floor, nor was there a Fire Axe or the gouges it had bitten into the floor. The artwork made of long wooden strips still sat intact in its original spot, and naturally, none of its splinters were embedded in her face, hands, or feet.

The Hiking Backpack lay in a corner of the hall. Jin Xueli walked over and dug the long towel out of it-the towel was dry and soft, never having been soaked in her other self's saliva.

No one in this world except Jin Xueli herself knew that she had died once tonight.

If the resident had not melted the candle after killing her, if it had not changed the history of her encounter with Anthony, she would have remained forever on the cold floor of the underground exhibition hall, gradually becoming part of the Nest.

As though pitch-black terror had seized her bones and shaken them, Jin Xueli gave a slight shudder.

She walked over to the candle step by step, her sneakers making faint sounds against the floor.

Since none of the history copied by the resident had ever happened, naturally, no one had touched the candle before her either-the creamy-white candle felt cool and hard; within the shadow it cast, Fire Trough remained silent.

2026.5.19. A row of small characters surfaced on the candle.

Jin Xueli jerked her hand back as if she had been shocked.

After a pause, she gave a bitter laugh. Those two lines of memory had left her jumpy.

Although she owed her survival today entirely to this candle, the resident's wanton melting of it to alter history had still shaken her considerably-after all, the resident had not melted the candle to save her life. If Jin Xueli rashly thrust her own hand into history, who knew what unexpected consequences she might cause?

That left her unable to take the candle back, or to use it with any peace of mind...

Jin Xueli sighed, considered it for a while, and decided to leave it alone for now.

To be honest, looking at the candle inevitably reminded her of the resident that had copied her. She would let her emotions settle first, then think about what to do with it another day.

Besides, with a candle this big, she hardly needed to worry about someone taking it-if someone really could move this enormous candle, dozens of meters long, out of a windowless underground exhibition hall with a narrow staircase, Jin Xueli would simply have to concede defeat.

She picked up the Hiking Backpack from the floor and felt for the phone in her pocket. Everything was there except the hunting knife.

In the "present" timeline, the hunting knife had been in Anthony's hands all along. After seeing it plunge into "her" neck, Jin Xueli did not particularly want it back either.

Anthony...

Only her hatred for him had grown sharper and more solid, until she wished it could become a weapon and pierce his belly-the resident had already disappeared, and all of Jin Xueli's anger had fastened itself onto the harasser.

Before entering the elevator, she glanced back at the enormous candle in the distance.

"...That little interlude is over," she murmured to herself.

Next, she would follow her original plan: go to Ninety-Ninth Street, get the Phantasm there, and return to finish Anthony off swiftly and cleanly-this time, Jin Xueli would not get distracted halfway through and stray down another path.

Only after leaving the Museum of Modern Art did she realize that being copied by the resident had not been entirely a bad thing.

Originally, she had prepared herself to walk for nearly two days before reaching Ninety-Ninth Street.

Those two days of travel actually amounted to only fifteen kilometers, but the Nest was difficult to navigate, with unexpected dangers potentially lurking everywhere-"hopscotch" was clear proof of that.

Now, however, her taxi ride had greatly shortened the journey and allowed her to avoid the dangers and traps along the way. With a little luck as her fortunes turned around, Jin Xueli actually reached Ninety-Ninth Street just half an hour later.

Standing beneath the street sign, she first looked around, then took out her phone and glanced at it.

November 17, 2:12 AM.

She had entered the Nest on the evening of the sixteenth, shortly before ten.

After listening to the entire broadcast, she had been stuck playing hopscotch on Colorado Avenue for ages-by a rough estimate, it must have been after midnight when the "Vulture" resident copied her.

Normally, the "Vulture" resident should have had to wait until someone died before assuming their appearance, yet tonight, "hopscotch" had seemed to give it an opportunity, allowing it to copy her anyway...

No, no, that happened in the previous line of memory. In this timeline, I escaped being copied.

That "Vulture" resident lost its target. It might still be wandering around Colorado Avenue right now.

Forget it. It was all over. Jin Xueli suppressed the unsettling images in her mind and brought her attention back to what lay before her.

Beneath the dark night sky, a staircase extended silently underground, disappearing into a mass of darkness.

A sign bearing the letter "D" stood above the stairwell, indicating that this was an entrance to a subway station on the D Line. Looking down from the sidewalk, that dense darkness resembled solidified ink, as though even her gaze would break against its surface.

Jin Xueli remembered that the first time she had seen this staircase leading to the subway station, she had hesitated for a long time, not daring to descend.

She took out her phone, turned on its flashlight, and first shone it over the wall beside the stairs.

On the side wall, where the station's name should have been, there was now only a crooked line of large black letters-"Go down for a surprise."

Yes, it was still the same message.

As long as it was that message, she was fine.

November was an odd-numbered month. In odd-numbered months, the words at this subway entrance read "Go down for a surprise"; in even-numbered months, they changed to "Go down for a hug."

When there was a "surprise," people could descend into the subway station. Not only was it safe, they could also obtain a Phantasm-the Nest could sometimes be honest when people least expected it-but when there was a "hug," they absolutely must not go down.

Even now, Jin Xueli did not know what would happen if someone went down when there was a "hug," and she hoped she would never find out.

Holding up her flashlight, she descended the stairs step by step, passed through the broken ticket gates, and arrived on a platform lit by only a few scattered white lights.

Most of the platform was dim, with a wall on one side and another wall on the other.

This was the only subway station Jin Xueli had ever entered in the Nest, so she did not know whether all its subway stations were like this-no tracks, no trains, and walls sealing off both sides of the platform.

In the middle of the platform, several people turned their heads toward her.

"A Hunter," said one of them, who wore a baseball cap, before turning their gaze away again as though uninterested.

"Yes," Jin Xueli replied, lowering her phone's flashlight a little to avoid shining it in anyone's face. "Why are there so many people here today?"

There were four people in the middle of the platform, all Hunters. Judging by the distances between them, they seemed to be in two pairs.

Jin Xueli had been here several times and knew that this place was hardly unknown among Hunters. Quite a few people came here from time to time to obtain Phantasms.

With so many visitors, an order had already formed. Hunters generally took things and left on a first-come, first-served basis, staying out of one another's way-but this was her first time encountering four people gathered here.

"Look," a woman with gentle features said, lifting her chin toward the front. "Your timing is perfect. You caught the vending machine being restocked."

Every transitional chapter takes a layer of skin off me. You wouldn't believe how long this chapter took...

This might sound a little shameless, but I don't think Phantasm Report is the kind of story you can skim ten lines at a glance, because I'm planting information in every chapter... so it's also particularly, particularly slow to write.