False evidence

Chapter 509 Falling from the sky
Without hesitation, Lü Xin followed my gaze downwards and immediately withdrew his hand.

The people in the main hall remained kneeling in place, but two people stood out like cranes among chickens, walking slowly towards the high platform side by side.

I'm certain that these two weren't in the main hall before this. They just came in.

At this moment, the only light source in the main hall was the two cauldrons burning on the high platform. The light was dim, but my eyesight was even stronger than when I relied on the power of the water ghost. Although I still couldn't see the faces of the people below clearly, I recognized one of them immediately.

He was an old man, wearing a drab gray trousers and jacket. He was hunched over, his head bowed, so I couldn't see his face, only his gray hair on top.

Judging by his build, isn't this Old Sun whom I saw at the general store last night?!

Seeing Xiao Hong tonight already shocked me, but when I saw Lao Sun, I didn't react strongly at all; in fact, I almost subconsciously ignored his presence.

That's because the other person beside him was truly special.

That's a woman.

Needless to say.

The figure is clearly female, and the clothing is...

"Is this really what women wore more than twenty years ago?" Lu Xin asked in a low voice, swallowing hard at the same time.

His once fair face was now visibly flushed, and several veins bulged in his neck. He seemed to be struggling to control himself, as if the slightest lapse in his control would cause him to lose control and rush out.

"More than 20 years ago, there didn't seem to be any comic conventions in China, right?" I muttered to myself.

The woman being supported by Old Sun on one arm was dressed in a very unusual way.

Her hair was styled in a high bun, resembling a court lady in an ancient Chinese painting, dignified yet glamorous. However, her clothes, a combination of gold and bright red, were not only dazzling in color but also shockingly unconventional in style.

The two-tone top was actually a long robe with a front opening, sleeveless and without buttons. It consisted of two pieces of clothing joined together in front of her body and then tied around her slender waist with a gold ribbon.

This elegant woman is dynamic.

With each step she took, a glimpse of exquisitely beautiful, snow-white skin was revealed through the open front of her long robe, a sight that would dazzle any man.

"These legs..."

"These legs..."

The same two words came out of my mouth and Lü Xin's mouth at the same time, and ended with a sigh of regret.

After a moment, Lü Xin uttered two words as if in a dream: "Empress!"

“She’s a demon queen!” I offered another description that was similar yet quite different.

This isn't a comic convention, so there's no way there would be any cosplay.

But this woman's attire wasn't just detached from reality and bordering on the alternate dimension; her figure, her shapely legs that peeked out from time to time... all resembled the cosplayers at an anime convention, existing somewhere between reality and fantasy...

"Damn, she's beautiful." Lu Xin swallowed again, turned to look at me, and gestured with his chin. "This trip did bring me some unexpected joy, which is that I was able to be independent again and be myself once more. But everything else... I have absolutely no clue. Like what's going on now, and what's this woman all about... I have absolutely no idea."

"Do you remember Wang Xi?" I asked.

Lu Xin glanced at my chest, where beneath my clothes was the white fish jade pendant, and if nothing unexpected happened, Wang Xi's remnant soul was still hidden within the pendant.

I kept my eyes fixed on the ground for a moment, then whispered, "Wang Xi's predecessor... that is, the second-to-last woman to go missing in Zhao Qi's file, starting from her. That woman named Tang Lin seems to be a fashion designer, and... she's also passionate about cosplay." "Tang Lin?" Lu Xin's eyes darted around. "I remember that name. What you're talking about, I think I've thought of it too, but... what is... is it 'exam failure'?"

I didn't answer him; actually, I was also very confused right now.

The whole thing was getting more and more chaotic, but I managed to remember a few key points.

That is, Zhao Qi's records show that people have been disappearing for hundreds of years. These missing women, although from different eras, share the same birth date, and all of them have a close relationship with someone surnamed Zhu.

Out of curiosity about Zhao Qi, I was deeply impressed by the information he provided.

According to the individual's information, Wang Xi was the last missing person.

The one who disappeared before Wang Xi seems to have disappeared more than 20 years ago.

Her name is Tang Lin. She is a fashion designer and a pioneer who was among the first to favor and love Japanese-style cosplay.

Zhao Qi's information is actually quite interesting; he's quite professional. Apart from missing persons from earlier years whose personal information couldn't be collected, he somehow managed to gather almost all the personal data that could be collected from relatively recent periods.

Tang Lin, a fashion designer, cosplay enthusiast, and female model from over twenty years ago... not only has the most detailed information, but also more than one photo.

"Can I now conclude that these people have been performing some kind of inheritance ritual for so many years?" Lu Xin said slowly. "Every missing person in the files is actually an indispensable part of this ritual. Or rather..."

“Relay!” I blurted out.

Lu Xin was slightly taken aback, but nodded: "I think I understand."

Right now, none of us have the time or the need to think about the name of the earliest missing person.

To put it simply, this unusual series of disappearances, which has lasted for hundreds of years, has only targeted the same type of individuals.

Li Meizhi is the newest one.

Before her was Wang Xi.

Before Wang Xi, there was the woman we see below, dressed in a style reminiscent of a Japanese anime queen – Tang Lin!
“We have indeed returned to 21 years ago, or rather, entered the ‘story’ that Wang Ben recounted based on real events from more than 20 years ago.” Lü Xin became serious and looked at me, saying, “In the story, in the story of the past, what should we do?”

I glanced at him: "Didn't you son of a bitch even think about how we could all get down here unscathed?"

“Anytime!” Lu Xin snorted disdainfully. “I understand your thoughts. I said I can go down anytime, taking you and Fang Ling with me, and we’ll be unharmed.”

"Then what the hell are we waiting for?" I hissed.

Lu Xin paused slightly, glanced down sideways, and immediately understood what I meant: "Damn it, couldn't you have said something earlier, or just said it outright, about something this important?"

He took a step back, lifted the front of his long robe, and flicked out a moon-white silk ribbon from his waist.

The ribbon was very long; when it was flung into the air, it appeared to be about seven or eight meters long, and it floated gently down slowly towards the outside of the cave.

“We’ll go down first, and you follow right away. Only when we get down there can we begin our operation. Don’t dawdle…” I gave Lü Xin one last look and nodded slightly to him, “If you stray too far from me, you’ll be in big trouble.”

After saying that, I grabbed Fang Ling's waist with one hand, pushed off with my feet, and jumped out of the secret passage with her in my arms. In mid-air, I grabbed the white belt that Lu Xin threw out.

(End of this chapter)