False evidence

Chapter 490 Scorpion
"No time for nonsense!" Wang Ben gritted his teeth, his gaze towards me becoming increasingly neurotic. "Let's get down to business! Remember, you must be within five meters of me, otherwise if I can't find you, you'll be dead, and I'll be in even worse shape!"

He quickened his pace and chased after the food stall owner.

Once inside the alley, I subconsciously looked at the house numbers on both sides. The left side had odd numbers, starting from 1; the right side had even numbers, with the first house being number 2.

After walking a few steps, I suddenly remembered, where is the kindergarten?

I was really confused by Wang Ben's crazy behavior. Now I realize that Li Meizhi's newly opened kindergarten has disappeared.
In the blink of an eye, Wang Ben and the food stall owner had already walked quite a distance. Remembering what Wang Ben had said, I didn't have time to think about it further and quickly followed.

When we arrived at the entrance of stall number 21, Wang Ben stopped the food stall owner and said to us, "Wait a moment, I'm going home to get something."

He opened the door and went inside, and I followed behind him. He turned around and said, "You just wait here!"

Then he added, "Don't worry, as long as it's in front of my house, it's fine even if it's more than five meters away!" After saying that, he actually closed the gate and even bolted it shut.

I stood under the eaves, sizing up the food stall owner. He wasn't tall, had a round, chubby face, and was just an ordinary person.

The food stall owner was also sizing me up. He spoke first, asking me, "Brother, what's your name?"

"Sanqi, what about you?"

"Just call me Lao Li," the food stall owner said in a muffled voice, his expression somewhat strange.

I asked, "Do you live nearby?"

He shook his head: "No, I live on Shanshui Road."

My face fell, and I didn't respond.

Tanjiaqiao Lane is in the suburbs, while Shanshui Road is the proper city center. How can people come here every day from the bustling city to do business?
Old Li suddenly laughed and said, "You probably think I'm talking nonsense. Living in the city center, not doing business in the city, and coming here every night to stay up all night—even I think that's a load of bull. But it's true..."

He grinned. "Alright, I've sunk to this level, there's no need to hide anything anymore. I'm telling you, everything I said is true. I used to live in Xianghe Residential Area at No. 3 Shanshui Road, but after I die, I won't live there anymore. I freaking..."

He started clicking his tongue, as if he didn't know how to organize his thoughts.

"actually, I……"

After a moment, he spoke again, and just as he finished speaking, the door to number 21 suddenly opened.

Wang Ben poked his head out and said to me, "I really can't manage by myself, come in and help me out!"

I frowned, pushed open the other half of the door, and stepped inside. Wang Ben then tried to stop Old Li, who wanted to follow, saying, "Don't come in, you can't get in anyway."

Before he could finish speaking, Old Li had already stepped one foot across the threshold.

Wang Ben was clearly taken aback for a moment, took two steps back, and then beckoned to Old Li: "Come on, take two steps, then two more steps forward."

Old Li seemed to have a straightforward temper; he actually stepped through the door and took two steps forward.

Wang Ben's expression changed rapidly with his movements. He stood there stunned for a while, swallowed hard, and muttered, "It shouldn't be like this. Why isn't it following the expected pattern?"

Old Li was straightforward, and his temper wasn't exactly good either. He said impatiently, "You're in. What do you want to do? Hurry up!"

Wang Ben swallowed again, pointed and led us to the front of a room on the side, pointed to the wall and turned to me, saying, "Give me a hand, help me move the stone slab to the side."

The place he was pointing to was a stack of stone slabs, about three feet long and nearly two feet wide, each about four fingers thick. At first glance, there were seven or eight of them, and there were three more on the ground next to them, which looked like he had just lifted them off.

Not only was his hand trembling as he pointed, but his whole body was shaking slightly, and he was breathing heavily as he spoke: "Don't delay, I... I've been staying home all these years, eating little and drinking a lot, my body's worn out, I really can't do physical labor anymore." Understanding what he meant, I didn't waste any words and went to move the stone slabs myself. After moving just one, I felt it looked familiar, and I asked, "Is this for paving the road?"

Wang Ben nodded: "Yes, at that time, the alley next door was being paved, and I happened to want to build a row of flower beds, so I went to move these paving stones over at night. But the stones were stolen, and they were too thick to build a platform, so I just piled them up."

Looking at the two bonsai trees that had been moved to the ground, I was both amused and exasperated, and began to think that this guy was not only a bit crazy, but also quite interesting.

By this point, I was determined to go all the way, so without thinking twice or asking Wang Ben what his purpose was, I went straight to move the stone slabs.

"Pfft, pfft!" Wang Ben gestured towards Old Li with his lip, "Don't just watch, lend a hand, Xiao Ju!"

I had just picked up a stone slab when I heard him shout those last two words, and I almost broke my back.

Seeing my disheveled state as I nearly tripped, Wang Ben burst into laughter, pointed at Old Li, and said, "Your surname is Li, right? Your name is Li Xiaoju, right?"

"Damn it!" Old Li spat, then his expression suddenly changed, and he glared at him, saying, "How do you know my name?"

Wang Ben's smile vanished. "Stop talking nonsense and get to work...get to work."

He stopped laughing, but it was obvious he was forcing himself not to laugh.

Xiaoju, Li Xiaoju?

My hands didn't linger, and my eyes weren't idle either. I glanced at Old Li again, and almost burst out laughing. A grown man, actually named Xiao Ju… the Ju of chrysanthemum…

"How do you know my name?" Old Li suddenly grabbed Wang Ben by the collar, his expression twisted and ferocious.

Wang Ben's expression changed, and his eyes darted around as he said, "There's no time for nonsense now, let's get to work! After tonight, there will be plenty of time to explain things to you. If we don't get through tonight, none of the three of us will survive!"

When he said this, his brows also revealed a fierce and domineering expression.

I hesitated for a moment, then silently moved the second-to-last stone slab.

I haven't seen what's underneath the stone slabs yet, and I didn't actually intend to. Since the stone slabs haven't all been moved, there are definitely more stone slabs underneath.

But just as I moved the second-to-last stone slab, Wang Ben seemed to suddenly remember something and shouted, "Get out of the way!"

His warning came too late. At the same time I heard the shout, I felt a prick on the back of my left hand, like being pricked by a needle. Because the needle went in and out so quickly, I didn't feel much pain, but I had a bad feeling.

I hurriedly threw away the stone slab, and Old Li's flashlight shone over as I moved. To my horror, I saw a strangely colored, palm-sized scorpion rapidly crawling up the back of my hand and into my sleeve.

When fear reaches a certain level, you become speechless. I jumped up and down on the spot, repeatedly slapping my left hand with my right.

Fortunately, after a few pats, the scorpion seemed startled and fell out of the sleeve, landing on the ground.

I've seen plenty of scorpions since I was a kid, but I've never seen one this big, and it's multicolored too... What the hell is this...?

Enraged, I wanted to stomp on the scorpion, but as soon as I lifted my foot, the strange scorpion that had just fallen to the ground vanished into thin air right before my eyes.

The next moment, I realized what had happened and quickly checked the back of my hand where I had been stung.

I was indeed stung by the scorpion's venomous tail. Not only did I have a small, bleeding wound, but in a short time, a purplish-black lump the size of a one-yuan coin swelled up where the scorpion's tail had pierced me.

Sorry. Due to personal reasons, I will be taking a break from updating for a few days.

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(End of this chapter)