False evidence

Chapter 483 Wrong person

Lu Xin didn't react for a moment: "I do remember that old woman, what's her relationship with this woman?"

I didn't respond to him, but asked Cao Xinyun, "Do you remember this woman?"

"The Cao family has eyes like rulers, but they can't read faces." Cao Xinyun never changed his barbed tongue. "Just spit out whatever you want to say!"

I couldn't be bothered to argue with him, so I said, "That woman will look just like that old woman when she gets old."

Cao Xinyun was taken aback: "Nonsense! How old is she?"

"It's her." I appeared calm, but my inner rage was so intense that I almost wanted to kill her.

Indeed, the woman looked to be in her forties. Last night, Cao Xinyun, Yan Fengwei, and I all saw the old woman on the minibus; she must have been over seventy.

However, I'm certain that the old woman and this woman are the same person.

"You mean, the old woman was an imposter?" Cao Xinyun asked. "That's incredible, it's like the disguise techniques in movies."

“It’s not disguise.” I looked at Old K.

Old K possesses the same calmness, understanding of human psychology, and comprehension of language as Tong Xiangnan.

"The driver and the 'old woman' do exist in reality, but they are not the identities you saw last night. A master has used their appearances to create an illusion," he said slowly, twirling the umbrella in his hand.

Cao Xinyun shook his head and said, "I didn't see any bald driver, but the guy surnamed San, Yan Guangtou, and I all saw that old woman."

Old K and I exchanged a glance and said, "Let's forget about that for now and hurry up and find number 23."

I nodded. Cao Xinyun and Gao He are both quick-witted, but without the experience of analyzing things with Lao K before, it would be difficult to explain to them what might have happened.

Just as I was about to speak, a strange scream suddenly came from behind the closed door.

Although the men were soaked to the bone by the rain, they couldn't help but feel a surge of heat upon hearing the shout.

I couldn't hold back any longer, so I kicked the door and yelled in a rough voice, "Open the door! I'm back!"

The next second, the sound behind the door abruptly stopped, followed by a commotion.

"You really know ventriloquism?" Cao Xinyun pressed his ear against the door and listened for a while, then turned around and pursed his lips. "Judging from the noise, they probably ran out the back door."

"There's a back door?" My eyelids twitched.

Old K turned around and walked out of the alley.

Gao He asked me, "Should we split up and search?"

I watched Old K's retreating figure, shook my head, and was about to say that splitting up at this time might cause more complications. But as the words were about to come out, a thought suddenly struck me, and after a slight hesitation, I nodded: "You and Old K... go with my uncle."

Gao He went after Old K, leaving Cao Xinyun standing in the rain, looking towards both sides of the alley, muttering, "Why isn't there number 23? The house can't just disappear into thin air, can it?"

I said, "Have you ever seen David Copperfield's magic shows? He can make airplanes disappear, so what's so strange about houses vanishing?"

I agreed to split up because it suddenly occurred to me that last night's experience was most likely a setup. I was completely unfamiliar with the road to Sanhe County, which meant that we probably hadn't been to Sanhe last night, and everything we saw and heard was just an illusion.

Old K has already made it very clear: a good magician can achieve that effect through props, psychological suggestion, or even by using hypnotic or hallucinogenic drugs.

Old K is well-versed in the secrets of magic. Now that the entire house at number 23 has disappeared, it seems most appropriate for him to solve the mystery.

But what if the disappearance of the 23rd wasn't just a magic trick? Or was this "magic trick" not performed by a living person at all? In that case, Old K's understanding of magic might not only fail to solve the problem, but could also be misleading.

Regardless of whether the 'magician' who disappeared on the 23rd was a person or a ghost, the presence of Old K, a fellow practitioner, will only make the other party more cautious.

If the 'magician' is not human, Gao and Hao Zhenggang, as police officers, might influence the other party's actions.

If the opponent's actions are stuck at a certain point and there is no action, there will be no flaws caused by the action, and it will be more difficult to find weaknesses.

On the other hand, Cao Xinyun and I neither affected the ghostly Haozheng Gangqi nor knew magic, and we even suffered a loss last night. Splitting up with Lao K and Gao He might allow us to discover the problem from different angles.

My ears twitched, and I looked up at the door in front of me. As soon as I looked over, I heard a woman's voice from inside: "Why are you back in such heavy rain?"

He had only said half of what he was saying when the door suddenly opened.

I was a little dumbfounded when I saw the woman who opened the door.

I was just venting my frustration, so I used Lü Xin's venting skills to yell that. It was just a prank, but the effect exceeded my expectations. This woman didn't even open the small compartment; she just opened the door directly.

"Why are you back?" the woman asked me, while repeatedly brushing her hair back with both hands.

As Tong Xiangnan had casually remarked before, people only exhibit similar repetitive behaviors when they are flustered, nervous, or deliberately trying to hide secrets. In short, these repetitive and meaningless actions indicate that the person performing them is guilty.

The woman spoke calmly, glancing at Cao Xinyun: "Oh, you brought friends back?"

She was upset, and I was even more puzzled.

To her, I was a complete stranger, but when she said those things, it was as if she were talking to her own family.
Who did she take me for? Could it be that she thought I was...? Looking at her pupils, she doesn't seem to be nearsighted, does she?

In his mind, Lü Xin suddenly burst into laughter.

I asked him what he was laughing at.
"This woman treats you like her man!" Lu Xin laughed so hard he could barely breathe. "We'll talk about that later, let's go inside with her first."

He then said, "Since the house can't be seen from the outside, we can't let outsiders go in and tamper with the neighbors' houses and alleys, can we?"

Reminded by him, and seeing the woman's innocent expression, I forced myself to say to her, "It's raining heavily, and there's no one taking the bus. The station said they won't be running tonight, and they'll have a vehicle sent over tomorrow morning to fill the gap."

I pointed at Cao Xinyun: "Friend, come and have a couple of drinks."

The woman frowned: "It's so late, why are you still drinking?"

"Stop talking nonsense!" The strange feeling grew stronger, so I simply said it gruffly and strode inside.

This is truly bizarre. How could someone who is neither blind nor deaf mistake their own husband?

The woman held up an umbrella and walked silently into the house.

Cao Xinyun whispered to me, "What's going on? Your lover? You have some serious tastes, huh? Hehe, it seems like you've been cheated on by one of her other lovers."

I whispered, "Do you know who this woman's husband is?"

"who is it?"

“You’ve seen him before.” I hurried to the eaves and saw the woman go into the inner room by herself. She said to Cao Xinyun, “He’s the one I saw this morning, the minibus driver surnamed Zhang!”

(End of this chapter)