False evidence

Chapter 404 The City Gate Tower (Part 2)

There were originally six of us, but suddenly one of us is missing.

My first thought was that Liang Garden was missing, but after taking stock, it turned out that Lü Xin was missing.

"Did any of you see him?" I asked.

"Who?"

Liang Kaiyuan, Shen Fangyun, and Eunuch Sun all appeared somewhat dazed.

On the contrary, Liang Yuan, who was always confused, said: "When we were looking at the second set of murals, Lü Xin was walking with you at first, but later he fell to the very back."

"Lu Xin? Where is he?" Liang Kaiyuan then realized and said he would go back to find him.

Shen Fangyun grabbed him, "I don't want to go any further."

Liang Kaiyuan hesitated for a moment, then said to me, "She doesn't want to see the second set of murals anymore."

Eunuch Sun said, "I don't want to look at it a second time. The people in the painting are really... really too filthy."

I recalled what had just happened and said that we should ignore Lü Xin for now and take a closer look at the situation in this building.

Liang Garden points to a certain place.

Upon approaching, another set of murals came into view.

At that moment, I realized that these murals were incredibly disturbing to the mind.

Especially when looking at the second set of paintings, just like Liang Yuan said, I was so focused on looking at the paintings that I completely ignored the people around me.

Having learned from my previous experience, I decided not to look at the murals so closely anymore. I would just skim through them, get a general idea of ​​what each mural contained, and then call the others to move on to other places.

There are three sets of murals on the upper layer.

As I looked around, it suddenly occurred to me: the shape of the city gate tower is such that the area gets narrower as you go up, and there are three sets of paintings on the second floor, but only two on the first floor.
The question mark had barely popped up when I suddenly slapped my forehead.

"Damn! I was careless!"

That was a really hard slap.

Because I realized that I had been careless in more ways than I thought.

Ignoring the details and making a hasty, self-righteous decision, I failed to notice that in such a short time, not only Lü Xin, but everyone else had also disappeared from my sight!
I quickly turned around to look for it, which inevitably led me to look at the murals I had just seen again.

However, they were unable to find anyone else.

At that moment, I didn't feel too panicked. After a short pause, I returned the way I came and found the stairs I had used to come up.

Just as I was about to go down, I suddenly heard footsteps coming from below.

I immediately held my breath and stepped aside, wanting to see who it was.

But the other party seemed to have noticed something; the footsteps slowed down for a moment and then stopped.

In the fog, I couldn't see clearly what was happening just three feet away. But looking at the narrow staircase, an idea suddenly popped into my head.

I spread my arms, held onto the walls on both sides, and began to walk down.

One step, two steps, three steps...

Suddenly, after my left hand swept across a blank space, my fingers brushed against something soft that looked like a human face.

As soon as I touched that thing, it tried to dodge.

I thought to myself, "I knew it." I reached forward and quickly scooped downwards, grabbing another fluffy thing.

"come out!"

I suddenly pulled that 'thing' in front of me.

The person I dragged out was someone else, but when we met face to face, it wasn't the person I had imagined.

"Lu Xin?" I let go of him. "Why are you hiding?"

"How can I not be on guard if I can't see who's coming?"

Lu Xin smiled and gestured to the side with his chin, "You're really amazing, you managed to find me even here?"

"I'm not as old as you, but I've also visited ancient city gates." I can imagine someone hiding in the middle of the stairs because of a particular visit I had.

That wasn't really a city gate tower, just a similar ancient building. The same narrow staircase had four doorways large enough for a person to hide in between the walls on both sides.

Those doorways were not meant for people to enter or exit, but they were not merely for show.

One of the more flamboyant senior students who was with us offered a boastful explanation:

Such doorways on staircases were not uncommon in ancient times. In buildings used for military defense, the internal staircases were generally very narrow. If soldiers were halfway up or down a staircase and happened to encounter a high-ranking officer wanting to go up or down, they would slip into the doorway to make way for their superior.

In some wealthy families' houses, there are also similar hidden doorways, but those are usually places where maids would temporarily avoid the master of the house, so they have a special name: maid's doorway.

"Where are the others?" Lu Xin looked behind me.

He asked the question, but his expression didn't show any surprise. It was as if he had already anticipated that I would be separated from Liang Kaiyuan and the others.

At this point, I started to realize something was wrong, and I said to him:
“I don’t care what you think of these murals, but I hope you can control your emotions. It doesn’t seem like it will do you any good to break things apart from me.”

Lu Xin forced a smile: "What do you want now? How do you plan to find the others?"

"I don't think we need to specifically look for it."

I hurried downstairs and headed straight in one direction.

Lu Xin sighed beside me, "You've got it."

"nonsense!"

I rushed down because I had thought of something.

As we entered through the main gate, the first mural we saw was on the left: "Stopping the car to enjoy the maple forest at dusk."

Attracted by the strange noise, the second set of murals I saw was on the opposite wall.

Then we went up the stairs to the second floor.

So, is there another set of murals on the right wall of the gate that we didn't have time to see?

Liang Yuan said that when he finished looking at the second set of murals, Lü Xin was walking at the very back. Could it be that he was attracted by the third set of murals on the first floor and that's why he didn't follow him upstairs?

Just as I expected, I found the third set of murals on the first floor.

From the moment Lü Xin was dragged out, I felt something was off about him.

He appeared nonchalant, but he was extremely unnatural. It wasn't that he was hiding any secrets, but rather that someone had ripped away the beliefs that sustained him.

After seeing this set of murals, I finally understood why he acted abnormally.

The same nine paintings feature dozens of different figures.

In each painting, a beautiful woman stands out the most.

Lu Xin smiled bitterly: "You recognized this woman? So I was such a wretched person before."

I nodded: "No wonder you're so good-looking, you must have been a beauty in your past nine lives!"

"They are all foolish women who have been deceived into living miserable old age."

"So in this life, you've become a con artist who specializes in swindling money and seducing women."

The conversation between the two was based on their considerable understanding of the murals.

The conversation did not continue because the strange "whooshing" sound from before came again.

The unpleasant sound was like a signal. When Lü Xin and I arrived, Liang Kaiyuan and the others also rushed over without missing a single one.

The place where the six people gathered was the entrance.

Due to the fog, those inside the door could only see the light from outside and could not see anything clearly.

I suddenly felt a sense of urgency and urged everyone to leave quickly.

I was the last to step out the door, and as soon as I stepped outside, I heard a familiar voice say:

"Are you serious? Knowing you have a girlfriend doesn't mean you're this weak. You can't even lift this stone slab?"

(End of this chapter)