False evidence

Chapter 492 Li Xiaoju

I asked Wang Ben, "Did you write all of this?"

Wang Ben's expression was complicated; he lowered his head and remained silent.

Old Li said, "No way, don't listen to his nonsense. I've been doing business at the entrance of the alley for over ten years. I don't know the people around here, but I know the ghosts very well. Ever since I came here, there have been two women here."

"Do you really come from Shanshui Road every day?" This was a question that Lü Xin asked me to ask, and it was also one of the questions I had after gradually sorting out my thoughts.

Old Li stared at me for a while, then suddenly grinned and said, "Hehe, don't tell me you don't believe me. Before this, I was completely baffled. Why did I inexplicably end up setting up a stall here every night? Now I'm starting to understand."

He glanced sideways at Wang Ben and said, "I can't really explain it, but I know that my coming here is most likely related to this guy!"

I was waiting for him to continue, but he suddenly stopped and stared at me intently.

Gradually, I saw his face change. First, most of his eyeballs bulged out of their sockets, and his face changed from a normal skin tone to a purplish-blue. At the same time, I also smelled a foul, fishy stench.

I covered my nose, took a few steps to the side, and looked at Old Li with disgust. The stench that could kill a person was clearly coming from him.

At this moment, Old Li's appearance had completely changed. Underneath the raincoat, he was no longer a living person, but a purplish-blue-faced, ugly and terrifying dead ghost!

In his mind, Lü Xin suddenly said, "He actually died of fright."

I could see it too. Old Li's pale face was radiating from within, his eyes bulging with extreme terror. Among the indescribable stench was a smell reminiscent of human excrement. He had been so terrified he had soiled himself, literally urinating and defecating, that he had been scared to death.

"I don't know if he's a real filthy ghost, but he really stinks!" I dared not face Old Li anymore, not out of fear, but because I was terrified of the smell he emitted.

“He is a vile ghost!” Lu Xin said with certainty. “The key point is that he is not possessed by a ghost, but is a ghost himself.”

"It's a ghost..." I remembered something and looked at Wang Ben. If Old Li was a ghost, then the food he just made...

Wang Ben's expression also changed rapidly, from self-reproach and guilt to disbelief. He looked at Old Li and shook his head slightly, muttering, "This shouldn't be like this, it's not what I wrote..."

His voice grew softer and softer, and I couldn't make out what he said next. He continued muttering to himself, and suddenly, something fell out of his mouth.

"Holy crap!" Old Li, who was closer to him, was the first to see what had fallen out. He was so startled that he jumped back and instantly returned to his normal state.

Although things were getting increasingly bizarre and confusing, his reaction still left me somewhat amused and exasperated. When people are severely frightened, their faces and bodies react instinctively; the moment someone is startled, their appearance is never pleasant. This old Li, who originally looked eerie, was actually scared into turning into a 'human'...

I also saw clearly what was on the ground; it was a bloody tongue.

Looking at Wang Ben again, things were still falling out of his mouth, but all his teeth had fallen out.

In the blink of an eye, he became the same mute I had been when I first met him.

"Damn, I've seen plenty of ghosts, but I've never seen anything like him." Old Li, still terrified, whispered to me, "I'm completely confused, is he a human or a ghost?"

I shook my head and didn't say anything. As his appearance changed, the stench on Old Li also dissipated, and he was actually more pleasing to the eye than Wang Ben was now.

In a daze, Wang Ben's eyes suddenly fixed on me. He rushed forward and grabbed me, opening his mouth quickly to say something, but without a tongue, he couldn't make a sound.

"Let's use sign language," I suggested. When I first met him, I felt a little sorry for him, but now my sympathy has faded by at least five-tenths.

Wang Ben let go of me and hurriedly gestured: You said that as long as I do as you say, I can recover and become a healthy person again!

He already gave off a neurotic vibe, and now, in his haste, he seemed even more out of control and manic.

Lu Xin said, "Never mind anything else for now, let him lead us to number 23!"

I said to Wang Ben in a deep voice, "I always keep my word. Now, take me to number 23!"

Lu Xin, a former conman, was fairly intelligent, but for two nights in a row, he was completely baffled by this series of strange events. Ever since Cao Xinyun disappeared, he, like me, had been utterly bewildered.

However, Lü Xin had more experience than me, and even though he was deeply confused, his mind was still relatively clear. He had previously thought that Wang Ben was strange, and told me that since there was no other way, we could only use Wang Ben as a breakthrough point and see what tricks he had up his sleeve. If we could find even a small flaw, we might be able to follow the clues and unravel a series of mysteries.

Wang Ben appeared to be in great pain, not physically, but more psychologically.

I steeled myself and decided to go all the way with this lie. I coldly said to him, "Do you think being mute is a betrayal? You say you like storytelling, but what the hell do you call storytelling? Maybe you think you can just change your name and tell the truth you've spied on, but you're only talking about the people and things around you, and the people listening to you are your neighbors! That's not storytelling, that's gossiping under the guise of storytelling! Just because you can't control your stinking mouth and only want to attract attention and satisfy your vanity, two lives were lost overnight because of you! And you still feel wronged? I won't comment on other people's right or wrong, but based on what you've done, you deserve to go to hell for having your tongue pulled out!"

Wang Ben's face contorted with even more pain as he shook his head repeatedly, his eyes filled with despair and pleading.

Seeing that the time was right, I raised my voice and said, "If everything I told you back then has come true, then you should know that I have special abilities. Now, you do whatever I say, and maybe I can even find a way to make your life more comfortable."

Wang Ben, as if grasping at a lifeline, nodded repeatedly and gestured: Follow me! Quickly!

Together with Lao Li, we ran out of the alley from the other end. Wang Ben turned around and beckoned me to walk to the other side.

After walking a short distance and turning another corner, you come to a narrow street lined with storefronts displaying signs on both sides.

I followed Wang Ben into the alley and after a few steps, I saw the sign of a shop next door and couldn't help but shudder.

The house number also showed Tanjiaqiao Lane, but with an extra "A" at the end.

Old Li asked me, "The number 23 you're looking for, is it number 23 or number 23A?" Just as I realized what he meant and was about to answer, Wang Ben suddenly pulled me to a shady spot and made me squat down. At the same time, he gestured for Old Li to turn off the flashlight.

Just as the three had hidden themselves, a high-end black sedan turned into the alley. After driving a short distance, the car stopped, the driver got out, and quickly walked to the other side to open the back door. A person stepped out, then turned and stepped aside, quickly sweeping his hands in front of him before bowing ninety degrees towards the car door.

Because of the distance and the lack of streetlights, I couldn't see the two people clearly, but I could tell that the one who got out from behind seemed extremely respectful to the people in the car.

About half a minute later, another person got off the car.

Judging from her figure, she was clearly a woman, though her face was also obscured, but her movements were very strange. All her movements were slow, not stiff, but rather affected.

After she got off the bus, she stretched out one hand, and the man immediately took it with one hand while bowing. He was still bent over, and he supported her as they walked slowly into the shop next door.

The driver didn't follow them inside; instead, he took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth.

It was only then that I belatedly realized the rain had stopped.

My trench coat wasn't truly waterproof, and it was almost completely soaked again after a while. Thanks to the influence of the water ghost's yin energy, my eyesight was better than average. Just as the driver lit a cigarette, I finally saw his face clearly in the light of the lighter.

It's him? !
I suppressed the urge to rush forward immediately, clenching my teeth.

I'll never forget his face the moment I last saw him. Tall and thin, with sharply defined cheeks. Ji Jianjun, one of the kidnappers who abducted me!

Compared to last time, he looked at least ten or twenty years younger, but his facial features hadn't changed much. He was Ji Jianjun, just a younger version like Da Niu and the others.

Wang Ben tugged at me and gestured slightly: "He's waiting to collect the money. He'll leave after he gets it, and then we'll go in. That shop is number 23, the one you're looking for!"
I asked him in a low voice, "Is none of this real?"

Wang Ben's expression was somewhat strange. After a moment, he gestured: "It was true, but now I can't be sure."

He pointed at Lao Li: "His writing is different from mine."

"How is it different?" I clicked my tongue. In this situation, sign language has very limited expression capabilities and is too slow.

Wang Ben also realized the problem. After hesitating for a moment, he took out a plastic-covered notebook from his pocket, opened it, and showed it to me.

I took it and looked closely; the elegant handwriting filled the entire page, dense yet orderly.

The note read: After that strange night, Li Xiaoju fell seriously ill and was bedridden for a full month. After recovering, she dared not return to the Wangfu Hotel, so she quit her job and opened a food stall near her home…

I read the entire page, resisting the urge to turn the page, then looked up at Old Li and asked Wang Ben, "Is this the novel you wrote?"

Wang Ben nodded and pointed to Lao Li: What I wrote was that after he encountered a ghost, he was so scared that he dared not go back to work at the hotel, or even enter the kitchen of any restaurant. So he started a food stall business. But he didn't know that a ghost had possessed him that night.

I bit my lip and nodded. It was all written very clearly in these notebooks. Li Xiaoju encountered a ghost at the hotel where she worked at night, and then opened a food stall. Later, she began to communicate with the ghost possessing her, and was surprisingly aroused by a latent curiosity... Anyway, whenever she saw a ghost, she wanted to find out the story behind the dead ghost. Over time, she became so abnormal that she slept during the day and worked all night, unable to distinguish between humans and ghosts.

Although the stories written in the notebook were somewhat absurd, for some reason, I began to believe Wang Ben. What I experienced and saw tonight was not a man-made illusion, but rather, the moment I stepped out of Wang Ben's house, I stepped from reality into the 'story' world he had conceived and written.

Wang Ben tugged at me again, continuing to gesture: "I did exactly as you told me to, completely reconstructing and recording everything that happened that night. But you also know what that night's experience meant to me. It wasn't just a nightmare; it's a pain that will haunt me for the rest of my life. You only told me to use the pen you gave me to write down everything that happened that night, but you didn't say I couldn't write anything else. I was so terrified, so I created a fictional character named Li Xiaoju. With this fictional character by my side, on the one hand, I wouldn't have nightmares every night, and on the other hand, I could still fantasize about eating the delicious food of a five-star chef."

I am speechless.

He continued gesturing: "But you see, what Li Xiaoju wrote is completely different from what I wrote. He not only knows he's possessed by a ghost, but he himself isn't human; he's a ghost!"
"Alright!" I interrupted him, glanced at Li Xiaoju, and said, "You're saying that apart from Li Xiaoju, the rest are all true records?"

Wang Ben nodded: Absolutely true. Look at that driver; after he finished his second cigarette, that guy should have come out. He gave the driver a small bag, which probably contained money, and then the driver drove off.

Just as Wang Ben finished gesturing, the driver flicked his cigarette butt away. The next second, the man who had been helping the woman inside like a queen came out quickly, handed a handbag to the driver, went back into the shop, and closed the door.

Wang Ben tried to pull me again, but at that moment, the driver did something strange.

It seemed he had originally intended to open the bag to check, but suddenly froze for some reason. He remained motionless, frozen in place for a full five minutes, before resuming his movements. However, he didn't open the bag again. Instead, he walked to the opposite side of the shop, jumped up, took something from the signboard, then hurriedly returned to his car, flashed his taillights, and drove away.

Although we were far apart, the moment the driver took that thing off, I could see from the reflection that it looked like a mirror.

Wang Ben stood up and gestured for me to come over. Just as I was about to take a step, Old Li suddenly said in a sarcastic tone, "I finally understand completely."

"Understand what?" I glanced at him.

Old Li said, "Now you understand why I've been running from Shanshui Road to here every day to do business since I died."

He looked at Wang Ben with an extremely strange expression: "So it was all thanks to you."

Wang Ben looked puzzled.

Old Li chuckled dryly: "You say I'm a fabrication, but do you know that my real name is Li Xiaoju, that I really did work as a chef in a five-star hotel, and that I really did die in the hotel!"

Wang Ben waved his hand, his face clearly saying, "That's impossible."

Old Li turned to me and smiled, "This is getting more and more interesting. Watching a mute person gesture is too much trouble, let's talk it out ourselves. Do you believe I actually exist?"

"I believe you, there's no one I don't believe now!" I said this in anger, but it was also the truth.

For two nights in a row, I felt like I was regressing into a monkey. My brain was completely mush; I couldn't explain any of these strange occurrences, and they weren't far off the mark. The crucial point is that I've noticed this Old Li, though unremarkable in appearance, is incredibly quick-witted. Now I truly understand Wang Ben's original intention in creating such a character; he needed this special 'person' to stand on his side, thereby alleviating his fear. And right now, aren't I also in need of normal conversation to regulate my brain and prevent myself from going insane?
(End of this chapter)