Chapter 417 - 362: Jin Xueli: The Modern Woman on TV

"I can't do it! I'm afraid of heights!"

In the torrents of strong wind, Jin Xueli dangled from the rope ladder, swaying and swinging with it like a leaf about to be torn from the world. With every swing high in the air, she had to desperately swallow her heart back down.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Her palms, neck, and back were covered in layers of slick, cold sweat.

'What if my hands are too slippery and I lose my grip...'

The moment the thought arose, every muscle in her body froze, rendering her unable to move. Climbing the violently swaying rope ladder in the strong wind was out of the question.

Yet Knight was still alive and hadn't given up on killing her. A moment ago, a bullet had shot past, and it felt as if even the airflow it stirred up wanted to rip Jin Xueli in two.

"Are you afraid of dying?"

The moment the words left Morando's mouth, she fired several shots toward the rooftop and said angrily, "You're a Path. How can you be afraid of heights?"

Yes, she wouldn't die even if she fell. But logic was logic, and fear was fear. If reasoning worked, phobias wouldn't exist in the world.

"Just pull me up a little," Jin Xueli pleaded with her eyes shut tight. "Please, I'll be forever grateful..."

"Yuyue," Morando seemed to call over her shoulder, "I'll lay down suppressing fire on Knight. Can you pull her up by yourself?"

Amidst the sporadic gunfire and the roar of the helicopter, the words were just blurry fragments. It wasn't until Jin Xueli actually started to rise, inch by inch, that she dared to believe it wasn't a desperate fantasy—thank god, there was a second person in the helicopter.

She was reluctant to use the phrase "a piss-scared mess" to describe the moment she scrambled into the helicopter, but honestly, it wasn't far from the truth.

Finally free from the bullets and the battering wind, Jin Xueli collapsed onto the cabin floor, her body limp. Through blurry, tear-filled eyes, she felt Qiao Yuyue lean over and wipe her face.

"We meet again. Remember me? We met once at the vending machine in the Nest," Qiao Yuyue said with a smile. "I wouldn't have guessed, but you're surprisingly heavy to pull up."

Having narrowly escaped death, Jin Xueli instinctively threw herself into her arms, unsure if she was crying from the lingering fear or mumbling her thanks for being saved. Perhaps it was both.

"Let's go."

Morando slammed the cabin door shut, shouted to the pilot, then turned back to Jin Xueli. "That Knight won't die."

She waved a hand to include the pilot, explaining, "Don't worry, they're all hired from the cleanup organization." That was the extent of her explanation.

"What's the deal with that Knight? Did he use an Illusion?" Jin Xueli wiped her face with her sleeve, gradually calming down. "You fired so many shots..."

"One, he has ways of evading them. Two, my aim wasn't that precise. If he really died, it would mean endless trouble for both of us. The Knight Family holds a grudge. If I don't handle saving you this time properly, there will be major trouble down the line," Morando said, glancing at her. "Why are you still hugging her? I'm the one who rented the helicopter, you know."

"You don't have to listen to her," Qiao Yuyue said gently, patting Jin Xueli twice as if she were a puppy. "She just doesn't have anyone to hug."

Jin Xueli still sat up, a little embarrassed. She moved to the window and squinted through the hazy white threads of rain, watching the rooftop of Luo's Hill Mansion as the helicopter left it further and further behind.

At the edge of the rooftop stood a small, indistinct figure, like a block of color. The man from the Knight Family seemed to be watching the helicopter fly away while making a phone call.

'He must be reporting my escape to his Family Faction...' Her life should have, without a doubt, ended on that rooftop.

Jin Xueli turned her head and met a pair of blue eyes.

"Um... how did you know I was here? Why did you suddenly come to save me?"

Morando looked at her and gave a soft smile, then suddenly seemed a bit flustered and lowered her gaze.

'It's better that she looked down,' Jin Xueli thought. 'Looking into those eyes of hers could make the world around me feel like a vacuum.'

"You saved me once, in a way... though you probably don't think so," Morando said in a low voice, randomly grabbing a baseball cap and putting it on—it seemed more like an attempt to hide her face.

"Saved you?" Jin Xueli was momentarily confused.

Could she be referring to the time she took a distraught Morando home with her? How could that be considered saving her?

She had only comforted her with a few words... Besides, for Jin Xueli, no matter how gentle, empathetic, or pleasant her interactions with someone were, once they parted ways, it all lost its weight and could be cast aside.

When she went to save Chaisi, it was only because she saw an opportunity for profit, not because they had been through hardship together.

This was the difference between her and Morando—no, between her and people who truly valued relationships. She knew that no matter how likable her exterior was, compared to someone like Morando, her soul would always be missing a piece.

After all, she had once—

Jin Xueli cut off the thought just in time. Fortunately, Morando was continuing her explanation.

"A couple of days ago, I figured you should be back from the Nest. When I went to find you to ask about the situation, I spotted people from the Knight Family downstairs from your apartment. From that moment on, I knew you were in for some bad luck, so I've been keeping an eye on their movements. I found you by following them."

She gestured outside the helicopter. "But it didn't have to be this much trouble, actually. Did you know? In the building next door, there just happened to be a Hunter livestreaming the whole thing."

How could someone livestream another person's life-or-death crisis? For a moment, Jin Xueli didn't know whether to blame the Hunter or the times.

"So you mean, you saw... everything?"

"By the time I found the stream, I was already in the helicopter. I tuned in just in time to see you facing off against those four balloons. Missed the opening theme song."

"What opening theme song!" Jin Xueli protested. "I'm not a TV show... Where did you watch the stream? Let me see."

"I thought that after you fell with the balloons, you'd fall into the Nest, so I even told the helicopter to head back. But halfway there, I saw you had made it back to the rooftop on your own." Morando shook her head, found the now-ended livestream, and handed her phone over. "Do you have some kind of attachment to that rooftop?"

For the sake of the person who had just saved her life, Jin Xueli said as obediently as possible, "...No."

"She just loves spouting nonsense at girls," Qiao Yuyue said, playing the mediator. "Why were they trying to kill you?"

Just thinking about it made her angry. Jin Xueli briefly explained why the Knight Family was after her, her anger finding the real culprit. "It's all Chaisi Monroe's fault! I mean, is this really the time to go missing? Even his Kai Family—oh, right."

She quickly pulled out her phone and glanced at it.

"Even the Kai Family members aren't responding to my messages! The fish rots from the head down. They don't have a shred of responsibility."

It had already been twenty minutes since she messaged Tian Xi, but there was still dead silence. No response at all.

"Chaisi is missing?" Morando was taken aback.

Jin Xueli grew suspicious of her savior. "Um... it wasn't you, was it...? Uh, if it was, I'll keep your secret."

"It wasn't me." Morando turned to look out the window at the gloomy curtain of rain. After a moment, she said, "The reason... to kill him... is gone now."

The three of them were silent for a few seconds before Morando broke the sudden quiet in the cabin.

"Senior probably just ran into some trouble."

Jin Xueli nodded and handed the phone back to her. "So what do we do now? The Knight Family doesn't seem like the type to give up easily."

"First, find a place to hide." Morando seemed to have already thought this through carefully before the rescue. "After all, I spent some time with the Knight Family, so I have a bit of sway. I can act as a go-between, pass a message to them for you, and see if there's any room for negotiation. It's just that the Knight Family..."

She frowned, as if searching for the right words to describe them.

"Unreasonable and inhuman," Jin Xueli supplied. "A bunch of heretics."

"They really are rather inhuman," Morando said with a sudden laugh. "Sometimes, even the Residents are cuter than them. So, it's best not to get your hopes up."

'Even just buying some time would be good enough.'

'If worst comes to worst, even if I have to storm the Kai Family's headquarters and stage a sit-in, I'll force them to take responsibility for protecting me—'

Suddenly, her phone let out a long, piercing buzz. Startled, she realized that only her phone in the entire cabin had sounded the Amber Alert warning.

Which meant...

[Illusion Report]

Only those who bring change to the world deserve to advance.

To the cute, but a femme fatale, but still cute Contestant Jin Xueli:

Long time no see.

You and Contestant Chaisi clearly completed the action point "Take Han Liuyue to meet the Mayor of Blackmoor City," yet after receiving the last Illusion Report, you sold it directly to Chaisi. How could you?

Do you have no ambition of your own? Do you aspire to nothing but money?

Can the pittance he paid you even compare to the significance of the Illusion Report?

Don't you want to bring glory to modern women? Don't you want to turn the tables, crush Chaisi underfoot, and make sure he can never reincarnate?

Selling the Illusion Report for money is a grave insult to the "Nest Dominance Game."

Fortunately, you are cute enough to get a second chance. Please be sure to cherish it and seize this opportunity.

Below are the action points you need to complete to obtain the next Illusion Report:

1. Acquire the Hunter Faction Knight Families. The probability of the target Illusion ??? appearing in the next Illusion Report will be 1.13% (hereafter referred to as "Target Probability").

2. Kill Ashley Page, the Chief of the Blackmoor City Central Police Station. Target Probability: 66%.

3. On December 5th, at 11:30 PM, drive to the intersection of 102nd Street and Shelter Harbor Avenue in Blackmoor City and await further instructions. Upon completion, the Target Probability will be 92%.

By completing the third action point, or by completing the first or second action point before December 7th, you will receive a corresponding Illusion Report and take an important step forward in the Nest Dominance Game.