False evidence

Chapter 503 Mutation
I glanced at Lü Xin sideways, a slight smile playing on my lips.

Lu Xin lowered his arm from my side, shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Others may not know what kind of person you are, but I know you fairly well. You're best at playing dumb to fool others. You just wanted to test whether I really trusted you and whether I would try to sabotage you, didn't you?"

I said in a low voice, "You know we've known each other for a long time? Then what's the point of dawdling? Let's get this over with quickly, and we'll have a proper talk when we get back."

When Lü Xin appeared this time, he was dressed in a moon-white long robe, which, combined with his handsome face, made him look like he had stepped out of a poster for a movie set in the Republican era.

He has been existing in my body in the form of consciousness, and knows everything I've experienced. Hearing this, he nodded slightly, his eyelids drooping as he looked at the steps beneath his feet: "That monk said that you can't step on anything with the number 'nine'. Guess what will happen if you step on this ninth step? Hey, you were acting again just now, trying to trick me into forgetting about this, using me as a test, right?"

"Tsk, I told you to stop dawdling, why are you still talking nonsense?"

Lu Xin scoffed, leaped over the ninth step, and jumped directly to the tenth. I took a drag of my cigarette and followed him, jumping to his side.

He turned his hand over and gently supported Fang Ling's back with the back of his hand and arm, as he slowly walked down the aisle, saying in a low voice:
"The strange things that have happened in the last two days are more than I have experienced in the previous five years combined, and each one is completely baffling. Since that's the case, let's just focus on the present. Let's treat this whole thing as it's just beginning. Forget about what happened before for now, and just keep Tong Xiangnan and Old K's analysis and the strange monk's hints."

"Is Fang Ling really alright?"

“It’s alright,” Lu Xin said confidently. “Jiawen should be fine too. I can sense that her departure is only temporary.”

He continued, "Putting aside your concerns, let's get to the present. Right now, we have only one goal—to find everyone who has gone missing, including Li Meizhi."

Perhaps because he had just "regained his freedom," he was a little impatient. He flicked the front of his long robe with his hand, and at the same time kicked the back of the robe with his right foot, tucking both the front and back robes into his waist. He then leaped over the six steps and landed on the eighteenth step.

I spat out the nearly burnt-out cigarette butt and carried Fang Ling down to the seventeenth step.

"You've changed. What happened?" Lu Xin asked in a low voice.

I looked back at the cigarette butt that was still emitting a faint glow: "My eyesight seems to have improved. I can see my surroundings clearly without needing special lighting."

“Me too.” In the darkness, Lü Xin’s eyes shone brightly. “Although I already had night vision before, this time… did you notice that it gets hotter the further down we go? The further down I go, the clearer I can see. It’s not because I’ve adapted to the darkness, but because my night vision has improved to a whole new level.”

“Same.” My situation was exactly the same as his. In the short time it took to speak, the cigarette butt behind me had gone out. There was no light source in the dark passage, but it was as if a faint, dim yellow light shrouded my vision, which allowed me to vaguely see what was around me. It was as if my eyes had two tiny incandescent bulbs, but with low power, so the range of illumination was very narrow, and things became blurry at a distance.

“It’s a fire ghost.” Lu Xin’s words jumped a bit. “Li Xiaoju is very important. He’s really sensitive to ghosts and yin energy. If you ask me, we can ignore Wang Ben. The priority is to find Li Xiaoju. My intuition tells me that his help to us will be beyond imagination.”

"A woman's intuition?"

"Damn it! You say you won't reopen old wounds, but what do you actually do?"

"Damn it, we've all seen the murals in the city gate tower. We all know what they mean, but they clearly show that you were a woman in your previous nine lives!"

"Damn it, I can't be bothered with you!" As he spoke, Lü Xin stepped over another step and landed on the next step.

I still couldn't see that clearly, so I leaned forward and squinted: "Why don't you stand to the side, or go down another step? I'm carrying my sister, I'm not as agile as you."

"Damn it, I know!" Lu Xin leaned against the wall, turned sideways, and beckoned to me. "I was just worried that you'd lose your balance while carrying someone, so I'm here to support you!"

I didn't argue further because he was telling the truth. The stone steps, though narrow horizontally, were about two feet wide vertically—the kind where taking small steps would be awkward, and taking large steps would be disastrous. Fang Ling wasn't heavy, but jumping with weight was no easy feat. "Get out of the way!" I said, then jumped forward.

Carrying a backpack and carrying a person are two completely different experiences. A backpack is designed to distribute the weight evenly across the body through the shoulder straps, but carrying a person is different.

I grabbed Fang Ling's legs and jumped down. While still in mid-air, because Fang Ling's pants were too slippery, one of my hands slipped out.

Her legs drooped down, and I immediately lost my balance, falling forward with her.

Fortunately, Lü Xin reacted quickly and placed his hand on my forward-leaning chest, preventing me from falling forward.

"Thanks." I swallowed hard. I really owe him a debt of gratitude. After crossing the nineteenth step and landing on the twentieth, the next "twenty-one" step was a small platform more than a meter wide.

Because of the masked monk's suggestion, and considering the arrangement of the steps in front of the Golden Palace, I had some idea of ​​what was going on. However, the steps in front of the Golden Palace go upwards, while the ones below go downwards. The way of moving is different, and the instinctive reaction after touching the ground is also different.

If Lü Xin hadn't blocked that attack, I would definitely have jumped forward another step or two to regain my balance while I was already half-out of control.

Based on my memory of the stride, if I were to jump out and happen to step on the edge of the step... I would end up rolling on the ground, along with Fang Ling, whom I was carrying!

I sincerely thanked Lü Xin, but his hand, which was pressing against my chest, suddenly gripped me tightly with all five fingers.

"You're sick!" He grabbed my chest muscle all over, and it hurt terribly. "Let go..."

Lu Xin's stain isn't just his involvement in the "contract fraud" business. His personal experiences are the main reason for his current personality.

Not long ago, I acquired some fragments of memories. Then, some of these fragments were pieced together, allowing me to obtain a portion of the information.

His secrets, his taboos, and his code of conduct—I already know them clearly by observing the montage.

Because of a certain experience, he has an extremely dark area deep in his heart, which he absolutely does not allow anyone to expose or touch.

Did I say something too harsh just now, making him think I wanted to expose him? Or does he think he's already been exposed and wants to throw caution to the wind, imposing his pain on me?
Otherwise, why would he need to grab my breasts?

In a flash, I regained my balance and met Lü Xin's gaze.

Our faces were inches apart. Lü Xin looked over my shoulder and said, word by word:

"Let go! I really want to help you!"

"Really?" I slightly bent and stretched my five fingers.

Lu Xin's face flushed red, as if he couldn't bear it any longer: "Damn it, let go! Something's really wrong!"

I could hear the difficulty in his speech, and when I looked closer at his profile, which was half-intersecting with mine, a sudden sense of horror welled up inside me. As I released his genitals from between his legs, I slowly turned my stiff neck, following his focused gaze to Fang Ling, who was on my back...

(End of this chapter)