Lin Xian took the documents, opened them, and began to read.

The vast majority were printed WeChat chat logs, a lot of them, sorted chronologically, including his own chat history with Tang Xin.

Clearly, this was extracted from Tang Xin's phone.

But...

Apart from his own chat records being relatively normal, her chat logs with other men were truly appalling, like that of a complete slut.

Lin Xian tried to find some loopholes in them, but found it difficult.

In these chat logs, Tang Xin's typing habits, punctuation habits, and even commonly used emoji habits were exactly the same as when she chatted with him, making it impossible to distinguish between truth and falsehood from this alone.

It was hard to believe...

If all of this was really faked, how much effort did Zhou Duan Yun and his group put in to make it so detailed?

However.

As Lin Xian flipped further back, he did find a loophole!

00:42

He discovered that Tang Xin chatted with a man every day until very late, with naturally explicit and ambiguous language; some of the remarks were truly unbearable to look at.

Almost every day around 00:42, there was a chat record with this man.

But Lin Xian remembered clearly!

That night at the class reunion, he pulled Tang Xin aside at 00:41 and chatted with her for a while, during which Tang Xin had no time to use her phone!

Also, the day he, Gao Yang, Zhou Duan Yun, and Tang Xin had dinner together in Donghai City, he also pulled Tang Xin aside at 00:42 and chatted with her while standing, and Tang Xin similarly did not use her phone! Only after getting into the taxi did she take out her phone to show the driver the location of the bar.

So.

Here's the problem—

If Tang Xin didn't use her phone around 00:42 on those two days, where did the ambiguous messages sent to other men at that time come from?

Isn't it obvious that they were faked?

Lin Xian flipped these materials to the last page...

They were also some sea king/scumbag-like ambiguous chat logs, including chat records with Zhou Duan Yun, sent in the afternoon. Zhou Duan Yun said that the gift was ready and he would call her when it was almost evening.

The information ended there.

From the non-existent 00:42 chat information on those two days, Lin Xian was very certain that these chat records were all faked.

But...

He didn't directly tell Ji Lin.

Something was wrong.

He felt that something was wrong somewhere.

But he wasn't sure where it was yet.

"What's wrong?"

Ji Lin looked at Lin Xian's silence and asked:

"Have you discovered another side of Tang Xin that no one knows about... are you feeling a little sad? You've also seen that your chat records with Tang Xin are also included, although they are far less nauseatingly explicit than those with other men... but we can all see that you two are actually quite ambiguous."

Lin Xian didn't answer, nor did he deny it.

These were all facts.

He was still thinking about the fake chat logs, and... the role Ji Lin played in today's smooth series of events.

"As you said, Lin Xian, chat records can't be considered absolute evidence. You are quite familiar with Tang Xin. If you find anything wrong, you can also tell us, and we can verify and investigate further."

Lin Xian nodded and looked at Ji Lin:

"Can I look at it again? I didn't look very carefully just now."

"Of course, take your time." Ji Lin spread his hands, sat on the chair, crossed his arms, and silently stared at Lin Xian.

Lin Xian naturally noticed his gaze, but pretended not to notice and continued to flip through the documents from the beginning.

He seemed to be seriously looking at each page... but in reality, he was deliberately ensuring that he stayed on each page for a balanced and similar amount of time.

The only two pages he really wanted to see, but in order not to let Ji Lin notice that he was particularly concerned about those two pages, he had to make sure that the time he spent on each page was roughly the same.

Finally.

He flipped to the records from the day of the class reunion.

There were some with Gao Yang, and some with many other men.

That's right...

This time Lin Xian saw clearly.

At 00:42:12, Tang Xin sent an extremely ambiguous message to that man:

"I miss you so much, I can't wait to go back and see you."

*Shua.*

Lin Xian didn't linger too long and directly flipped past this page to continue looking at the next page.

This record was definitely faked.

At that time, Tang Xin was chatting with him, her hand was being held tightly by him, where would she have time to send messages?

Since this one message was confirmed to be fake, then it goes without saying that when you find one cockroach, your whole house is already full of cockroaches.

This was enough to show that all these chat logs were almost entirely fabricated, false.

Lin Xian continued to maintain a constant pace of flipping pages, until he reached the day when the four of them had dinner together in Donghai.

Similarly...

00:42:47.

Tang Xin still sent a message to that man:

"I'm having dinner with classmates tonight, so I can't come find you, hehe, I'll go to your house earlier tomorrow."

She also attached an emoji that Tang Xin often used.

At this time, Lin Xian had just pulled Tang Xin back from beside the taxi, and the two were standing on the sidewalk, discussing where to go to chat for a while longer; Tang Xin also had no time to play with her phone.

*Shua.*

Lin Xian still didn't stay on this page for too long, and directly flipped past it to look at the next page.

At this point, he completely understood.

He could easily prove Tang Xin's innocence, just by telling Ji Lin that Tang Xin was with him at those two times, and she had no time to play with her phone at all. He could be very certain that Tang Xin absolutely did not play with her phone between 00:41 and 00:43.

This was something only he could prove; only he would pay so much attention to the time point of 00:42; only he could be 100% sure that Tang Xin didn't play with her phone at this time.

Only him.

*Shua.*

Lin Xian calmly flipped through the materials in his hand, still maintaining a balanced speed to examine each page.

But his mind was thinking quickly.

Only him...

But that was the problem.

Why would only he care so much about the 00:42 time point?

If it were any other time of the day, he wouldn't remember what he was doing. But only at 00:42 on the side of the road did he remember each time clearly.

Before Tang Xin died.

In the real world, no one would specifically pay attention to the 00:42 time point.

Because if there wasn't a second case, Xu Yun dying at 00:42 was just an ordinary time point, without any special meaning, and no one would deliberately pay attention to it.

He paid attention to it at the time because the Big Face Cat's father also died at this time point in the dream, so after comparison, this time point had a special meaning.

Therefore...

This was a trap!

If he stood up now, told Ji Lin his discovery, and insisted that Tang Xin didn't play with her phone at 00:42.

That would be too strange!

Most likely Ji Lin's next sentence would be:

"Why do you have such a vivid memory of what happened at 00:42 on these two days? Is this time point important to you?"

Looking at it now, Tang Xin and Xu Yun both died at 00:42, which could be explained clearly.

But at that time, Tang Xin hadn't died yet. With only Xu Yun having died at 00:42, what reason would he have to care about this time point?

This time point was too ordinary, too normal.

If Ji Lin really asked this question, it would be very difficult for him to explain.

He couldn't possibly say that he just happened to look at his watch both times, and just happened to grab Tang Xin, and just happened to chat for a long time, so he remembered it so clearly?

Too fake.

Lin Xian couldn't take the risk.

After Tang Xin died, he had a reason to care about this time point; but before Tang Xin died, he had no reason to care about this time, unless—

He admitted that he knew in the future that the Big Face Cat's father also died at 00:42.

*Pa.*

Lin Xian finished flipping through the last page, put the thick stack of documents back on the table, and sighed:

"I have nothing to say."

"Disappointed?" Ji Lin asked.

"A little."

Lin Xian replied:

"It's quite surprising to me. I don't know what to say. After all, my chat records are also included... I don't know what kind of person I am in Tang Xin's eyes."

Ji Lin narrowed his eyes, looked at Lin Xian, and said nothing.

"Thank you for today."

Lin Xian stood up and walked towards the door:

"I'm very grateful that you let me see these things. Although my mood is complicated, knowing the truth is better than not knowing."

He strode away.

Taking a step back to advance, that was Lin Xian's strategy.

He believed that with his one-sided relationship with Ji Lin, the other party shouldn't have brought him to see these police secrets.

So what was his purpose?

Did he think he was a suspect and want to trick him into saying something? Find his flaws?

Or... was there another purpose?

But in any case, he couldn't joke around with his own safety.

"Goodbye."

Lin Xian opened the office door and strode out.

He was quite surprised.

According to his speculation, if Ji Lin had any purpose, he should have stopped him. In fact, when he explained his relationship with Xu Yun before, there were still some untenable points, but Ji Lin didn't ask in detail.

Lin Xian really couldn't understand this person.

He also thought about it along the way...

Huang Que said that his cat and mouse game had begun. From her perspective, he was definitely the mouse.

Who was the cat then?

Zhou Duan Yun was undoubtedly part of the cat.

What about the other part?

Could it be Ji Lin?

According to his previous speculation, these cats would find him sooner or later. If their purpose of killing was related to "hibernation research"... perhaps what was missing now was proof that he provided help to Xu Yun.

Xu Yun died because of hibernation research, Tang Xin died because of hibernation research, and if it was really proven that he was also related to hibernation research, would they kill him for this reason?

But then again...

There were so many people in the world researching hibernation; they couldn't possibly kill them all, right? What exactly was the standard and screening mechanism for the murderers to kill people?

At the entrance of the Donghai City Public Security Bureau, Lin Xian reached out and stopped a taxi.

He didn't know if Ji Lin counted as that "cat."

But he believed...

If Ji Lin was really that cat, he would definitely find him again.

If he wasn't, then the two of them would probably not have any interaction in the future.

Donghai City was so big.

Unless you specifically wanted to see someone, it was difficult to see them.

"I hope you're not."

The taxi started, and Lin Xian turned his head, looking at the Donghai City Public Security Bureau gradually moving away through the car window.

He liked Ji Lin's books very much.

It was said that a book reflected its author; the feeling that Ji Lin's books gave people was that the author shouldn't be such an unpardonable, merciless person.

But...

Who could say for sure?

...

Donghai City suburbs, lakeside villa.

"I heard you failed?" Zhou Duan Yun sat on the sofa, twirling a car key with his fingers, looking mockingly at Ji Lin, who was squatting in a pile of books:

"Is this mouse so hard to catch?"

"He's smarter and more cautious than I thought." Ji Lin said softly:

"But he also seems a little weaker than I thought... According to my previous speculation, since he has the ability to disturb history, wouldn't killing someone silently be easy for him?"

Ji Lin looked up at Zhou Duan Yun:

"In the end, nothing happened to you. I thought Lin Xian would kill you."

"You motherfucker!" The key in Zhou Duan Yun's hand flew out, glaring at Ji Lin:

"Don't tell me you guessed the wrong person! I wouldn't have partnered with you if it wasn't to kill Lin Xian!"

"There are two possibilities." Ji Lin said, lowering his head:

"First, it's possible that I guessed the wrong person, and Lin Xian isn't the one who disturbed history."

"Second, Lin Xian is indeed the one who disturbed history, but his ability is very limited. He doesn't have the supernatural powers we imagined, can't do whatever he wants to a certain extent, and is still bound by the rules and laws of reality."

"Then what are we going to do?" Zhou Duan Yun was very impatient:

"He's so cautious, and we don't know the original history, how can we prove that he disturbed history? This is simply an impossible task!"

"It doesn't matter." Ji Lin raised his head and stood up from the pile of books:

"Since we don't know the original history..."

"Then let's create an artificial... fake history."