False evidence

Chapter 494 Fried Noodles
Wang Ben also ran over, his expression a mixture of excitement and fear, and hurriedly gestured to me in sign language: Hurry! The door will open soon!

"What do you mean?" Not only did I not understand, but Old Li was also completely bewildered.

Wang Ben stomped his foot and grabbed me, pulling me towards the back. He seemed very familiar with the area, including the room in the back. Without even waiting for Lao Li's flashlight to catch up, he dragged me into the back room and pulled me to a corner in the dim light.

There was a soft "bang" in front of me, and I realized that this guy had actually pulled me into a wardrobe-like cabinet in the room.

It really did look like a large wardrobe. After he pulled me inside, he immediately closed the door. In the darkness, my body touched many hanging clothes. However, the sounds these clothes made when they touched my body were truly strange, and chilling.

"You've experienced this once? Is this the second time?" I asked, almost as if possessed, while reaching for a piece of clothing nearby. I rubbed my fingers together lightly, a strange and inexplicable feeling creeping into my heart.

The feel of it is clearly that of holding a small stack of papers.

"Holy crap! They're all paper clothes?!" I finally understood why there was a constant 'rustling' sound around me when I came in. The clothes hanging in the closet all looked like they were made of paper!
"You guys are disloyal!" Old Li suddenly said in a muffled voice beside me.

My heart skipped a beat: "You?" After I was pulled in, Wang Ben immediately closed the cabinet door. When did Old Li come in?

“Now that things have come to this, I’ll stop with the cryptic talk.” In the darkness, Old Li spoke quickly in a low voice, “I live on Shanshui Road and used to be the head chef of a five-star hotel. One night after get off work, I didn’t go home but stayed at the hotel, and then something happened… I died. And then I became a ghost! When I realized this, the feeling of being lost and helpless, not knowing where to go, along with panic and fear… well, let’s not even go there. Later, somehow, I suddenly felt like I had become a different person. I was still myself, but I was living… living a life that could never have been mine!”

Old Li's words were somewhat incoherent, but surprisingly, I still managed to understand the general idea. I couldn't help but ask, "So, specifically, you started a night market stall business? And it's in the suburbs, more than forty miles from home?"

Old Li nodded in the darkness: "Yeah, I was confused for a while at first, and I didn't know why this was happening. Later, I still couldn't figure out what was going on, but every night, different 'people' would come to my stall to order food... I saw something fishy the first time I saw it, those weren't living people! But watching them eat the dishes I cooked, drinking the beverages that I didn't know where I got them from, that I didn't need to restock, but that seemed to have an endless supply, listening to them chatting in groups of two or three about 'life and death,' and saying some 'strange things.' Gradually, I found it really interesting. I realized I'd fallen in love with this job!"

"Is this the same as what you wrote?" I asked Wang Ben, and as soon as the words left my mouth, I realized I had made a stupid mistake.

Wang Ben has no tongue now, and he communicates entirely through sign language. It's pitch black, so I can't see his gestures.

"Now I wonder if I died that night?" Unexpectedly, Wang Ben's voice came through, sounding confused, but more like the soliloquy of a madman. "That's how it is... that's how it was that night! I was discovered, how could I have endured that kind of pain? Did I die then and there? Everything that happened afterward... for more than twenty years, it was all just my imagination?"

I was speechless for a moment. It wasn't that I couldn't understand what he was saying, but I could only hear the literal meaning of the words and couldn't figure out what he was trying to express.

Old Li, Li Xiaoju is older than me. After a moment of silence, she inexplicably whispered, "You must have been alive more than twenty years ago! I can smell it. Actually, when we first met, you were still alive. Now you are..."

Before I could finish speaking, I heard him let out a muffled groan, and then my mouth was covered by a hand as cold as snow.

"Shh..."

I thought to myself, "Damn it!" This whole thing is so bizarre, and yet everyone I've come into contact with is more clueless than the last. It's like a porridge pot, with raw and cooked rice churning and rubbing against each other, seemingly close yet 'uncooked'. And it can't all be explained in a single sentence.

I thought of Old K again, or perhaps… I thought of Tong Xiangnan. Magic? Is this magic? Impossible, and impossible. If I were deeply hypnotized to this extent, indoctrinated with such complex illusions, ha, I really don't want to wake up. Because, through my daily interactions with my uncle Tong Xiangnan, listening to his teachings, being 'hypnotized' to this extent, once the hypnosis is lifted, the huge contrast between reality and illusion would most likely drive me insane, turning me into a complete idiot.

I can't and don't want to become a fool, so I'll simply choose another form of 'self-deception'—right now, I'm in the virtual world created by Wang Ben, this 'second-rate online writer and amateur storyteller,' using pen, paper, and words! However, this 'world in the book' seems to have more than one bug…

"Don't make a sound! They're coming!" Wang Ben said in a very low voice.

Old Li seemed to push his hand away, and said in a low voice, "What, a fire ghost? Has there been a fire around here?"

I was completely confused. I removed Wang Ben's hand from my mouth, but I held back and didn't make a sound.

I was still wet, and the effects of the water ghost's power were still very noticeable. I not only gradually saw the situation inside the wardrobe, but I also heard some sounds.

It was a wardrobe, overflowing with clothes. But all these clothes were made of paper, and they weren't modern; rather... I can't say what dynasty they belonged to, but they weren't contemporary styles—they were ancient robes or something like that.

As for the sounds heard, it was...it seemed to be two men...no, there should be another one, it was more than three strangers talking.

The voices were coming from the courtyard, gradually approaching...

"Old Tian! You're dead too?!"

"Tsk, Yingzi, the two of us..."

"Hahahaha..." The two men laughed simultaneously.

The speaker seemed to stop in the courtyard. After a moment, the man called Lao Tian said, "Brother, now that we're in this situation, doesn't that count as fulfilling our vow from back then?"

Yingzi, also a boy, laughed, but his laughter was more bitter: "Brother, we became sworn brothers in our second year of high school. Back then, we learned from the movies that we didn't ask to be born in the same month of the same year, but only on the same day of the same month of the same year..."

"Hey, shut up!" Old Tian said. "Don't be discouraged!"

Yingzi laughed heartily: "Brother, we really did die together. Now that we're all dead, what's there to be sad about?"

Old Tian choked for a moment, then burst out laughing: "Damn, they really did die on the same day, in the same month, in the same year..."

Next, the two talked in the yard for a while. I could hear clearly that they were neighbors and childhood friends, having gone to kindergarten, elementary school, junior high, and high school together. Because they watched the "Young and Dangerous" movies, they became sworn brothers in their second year of high school, making a vow—but let's not go into details. The only thing is, less than two months after they became sworn brothers, they fell out.

The reason is that they both fell for the same girl. Neither was willing to give in, so they ended up fighting.

The sworn brotherhood became a joke; the so-called brothers turned into bitter enemies because of the girl, practically severing all ties. This falling out lasted for a full ten years.

They hadn't spoken to each other for ten years, but as neighbors on the same street, they saw each other all the time.

Just a short time ago, the two had a minor altercation.

"That day when we met on our bikes, didn't I tell you to turn left?"

"Yes! I went left!"

"Bullshit. If you ask me, you move to the left, I move to the right, how can we bump into each other?" "Tsk, I really did move to the left!" Yingzi hesitated for a moment, then exclaimed, "We're face to face! My left is your right!"

Old Tian paused for a moment, then sneered, "Damn it, serves him right for daring to argue!"

"Serves you right! Hahahaha..." Yingzi laughed loudly, "Brother, you're still my brother..."

"That's right, didn't that girl end up with so-and-so? I heard from your sister-in-law the other day that her daughter is dating someone at school. Wow, she's only in elementary school... Kids these days..."

"Are you done catching up?" a cold voice interrupted.

Neither Lao Tian nor Yingzi had a good temper, and when they were interrupted, they both immediately retorted angrily, "What's it to you!"

"seek death!"

That cold, icy voice rang out again.

What followed were two agonizing, ear-piercing screams.

"You fucking idiots! You don't know your place!" The same cold voice cursed, now only his own voice remained. "Two little devils who died in a fire, and you dare to block my way?"

"Then you shouldn't have wiped them out. Their souls were scattered, and it would take at least twelve years for them to reunite," a strange voice said. This time, it was a woman who spoke.

The woman's voice was high-pitched, yet icy cold: "Are you better than them? If you want to talk about being better, ha, it's just that they were burned to death in the 'slums,' while you were burned to death in a villa. Heh, being burned by a single fire is better than being burned in a chain of fires, haha, how impressive!"

"Who are you?" The man's voice suddenly turned venomous. "And how the hell did you die?"

"Nonsense, he burned to death too." The woman's voice remained cold and mocking. "Old Tian and Yingzi may be poor and seem at odds, but they were childhood friends. Even in death, they still considered each other brothers. And you? You seem to be someone's illegitimate child. You can't stand the light of day. You're not short of money, haha, but as far as I know, you seem to be too afraid to admit what your surname should be, right? Hey, should I call you Second Young Master Qian, or should I call you—Zhou Xiaoman?"

"Hahahaha..." The woman burst into unrestrained laughter at the end.

Zhou Xiaoman was shocked: "You're a living ghost!"

“Yes,” the woman said softly, “When I was burned to death, I didn’t move or make a sound. At that time, I was still alive.”

"Bullshit!" Zhou Xiaoman seemed to have lost her composure. "We are both fire ghosts, why lie and deceive each other? We were both burned to death, how can we not know the pain of being burned?"

This time, the woman didn't laugh. After a moment of silence, she let out a long breath: "I endured the pain without uttering a sound, turning the searing agony into resentment, so that after two rounds, I could repay him tenfold... a hundredfold for the pain I suffered! Or, I could repay it to his descendants!"

Upon hearing this, I suddenly felt an unbearable, burning pain all over my body.

By this time, I had adjusted to the dim light and could see that Wang Ben and Lao Li beside me had moved aside. They were both in the same cabinet, but they were trying to stay as far away from me as possible.

"This woman... I... why does her name sound so familiar?" Old Li asked, his breath coming in short gasps.

“It’s Zhong Lan!” Wang Ben said. “I remember her. She seemed to have that kind of relationship with a married man at a certain address in Tanjiaqiao Lane. That guy was a reclusive tycoon who was always ‘very upright.’ Later, before Zhong Lan burned herself to death, it seems… no, it’s not just that she seemed to have written me a letter and sent me photos! Photos of her and that married man having an affair!”

"How did she die?" I interrupted Wang Ben instinctively, my eyes darting around.

In the dim light, Wang Ben stood there for a long time, then muttered, "She set a timer on the oven, then climbed inside... and roasted herself to a crisp! She's a circus performer, incredibly skilled in contortion. She set a timer and then climbed into the oven!"

"Damn it!" Old Li cursed, "So it was her!"

"What?" Wang Ben and I turned to him at the same time.

“If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have died!” Old Li said through gritted teeth. “That night, a big shot was hosting a dinner party, and I was working overtime. The party didn’t end until 1 a.m. I’m used to cleaning the kitchen, scrubbing pots and pans, washing knives, and greasing the cutting board… In the end, I cleaned the steamer first, and then I wanted to clean the oven…”

Old Li felt a lump in his throat. "Gulp... As soon as I opened the corner oven door, I saw someone curled up inside... a person burned to a crisp!"

Before I could finish speaking, I smelled an unbearable stench.

Squinting in the dim light, Old Li had once again transformed into a filthy ghost with bulging eyes.

"Damn it..." Wang Ben snapped, slapping him across the face. "What you wrote is completely different from what I wrote, completely different..."

It wasn't finished, and it's impossible for it to be finished.

Because, as he was making his move, Old Li turned his face to face the two of us directly.

Two-thirds of his eyeballs protruded outwards, and the exact color of his face was indistinct, but it appeared pitch black in the dim light.

I was sandwiched between Wang Ben and Lao Li, and I was closest to Lao Li and Li Xiaoju.

Seeing his face suddenly change and become ferocious and terrifying, I instinctively raised my hand to push his face away.

I wanted to push him away from me, but the moment I pressed my right hand on his face, several images flashed through my mind.

At the same time, Old Li, who had already closed his eyes, suddenly opened them and stared at me, saying, "Smelling the imperial aura, I only prepare imperial cuisine. What would Your Majesty like to eat today?"

His expression was so strange, and his words caught me completely off guard.

I could only turn to Wang Ben.

Wang Ben clicked his tongue: "Imperial cuisine? Imperial chef? I...I want to eat fried noodles..."

(End of this chapter)