"My wife and I are both scammers who make money by cheating."

Since the detective asked him to explain all the events in chronological order, the man who seems to be Sachiko's father said so on the phone.

"We work at the White Tree Cave Circus in Feiyun City. In the troupe, I was a psychic who could see the ghosts of the dead, and my lover was a soothsayer who could predict the future, and the two of us performed miracles like the medium's summoning of ghosts and teleportation for the audience day in and day out—but these were all fake. To put it mildly, we all rely on trickery and magic tricks to scare ordinary people. ”

It turned out to be an ordinary human disguised as a person with special functions. Bilan nodded knowingly, such a person is not uncommon even in the Guandu area of his hometown.

If Nazi saw them, she would probably be furious. However, the couple had been working in a circus in the first place, and there was no point in investigating the authenticity of their abilities. The so-called performance, as long as it can bring happiness and excitement to the audience, is enough, and it is too much to say that it is a liar...... Could they have such a strong inferiority complex for this?

I only heard the man sigh deeply-

"Now that this has happened to our daughter, this may be our retribution...... We deceive the audience every day in a deceitful way, earning an income from their ignorance, and now the same incredible thing has happened to our own daughter......"

It seemed that when he said the sore spot, the other party's deep voice brought a trace of choking.

"No, the so-called causal cycle is mostly just an illusion of consequentialism."

Words don't go through the brain, they just blurt out.

This is an absurd, logically wrong idea, and even guilt must not be felt for this reason.

As a surrogate detective, Bilan felt that she had to say something at this time, so she continued in Hugo's usual tone-

"No matter what you claim, falsifying miracles on stage is not an illegal thing that requires atonement. It is impossible for a person to never do a single wrong thing in his life. In fact, even if you don't have a job as a paranormal person, you will find countless reasons to repent in your past life. Please also face your past and future lives without any excuses. ”

Then, Blue made a declaration into the phone receiver.

"If we detectives are responsible for such a boring thing as determining cause and effect; The task of stating the facts and providing clues will be troubled by the client, Mr. Kuribayashi. ”

Can't see the other party's expression through the phone, Bilan only knew that after the other party was silent for a moment, the man's voice became much more perk, and even the tone of his voice was raised a little.

"Thank you very much, Miss Detective, I think I should be able to trust you." The client sincerely thanked him.

"It all started in the first half of last year, when the White Tree Cave Circus hadn't had an accident yet, and our business was at its peak. Back then, thousands of spectators would buy tickets to the circus every day, and most of them were just there to see the two of us perform with superpowers. At that time, one month's income was worth more than a year now, and it was during this period that my partner and I had a career disagreement. ”

Does the disagreement here refer to flying solo from the circus?

Bilan recalled the information revealed by Miss Junsha, but she had to play the role of a detective from the perspective of a third party at this time, so she did not say it directly in front of the other party.

Indeed, the business of channeling and divination is actually a separate category, and does not fit perfectly with the style of the circus. With the popularity of the two couples at the time, if the two formed a new troupe specializing in superpower performances, they would definitely be able to earn more money.

"My wife was advocating to leave the troupe and start a new business, but I was hesitant to do so, and we had a falling out. Workplace marriage shows its shortcomings at this time, and with the quarrels again and again, our conflicts become more and more intense, and the dispute that was originally just about the direction of work is brought home, and the two people begin to look at each other unpleasantly...... Until the day of the accident in the circus. ”

"What happened that day?" Bilan asked knowingly.

Neither the girl's father nor mother, nor even anyone in the White Tree Cave Circus lost their lives...... The acting detective lady had already guessed the answer, but at this time, the information from the other side of the phone made her have new doubts.

Something strange sprouted, and the clue was distorted.

It was as if the knots that had been untied had been regrouped together.

"On the day of the accident, my wife and I did not go to work in the troupe, but took leave together. The two of us went to a café and tried to explain the problems of family and work to each other at once. We naively thought that in this way, we could sweep away the long-standing grievances on both sides – and of course this is impossible. ”

The man across the earpiece sighed faintly.

"We had another big fight, and still no one could convince anyone, and we felt that each other was stupid and hateful, and that our resentment with each other was stronger than ever, and if the law allowed it, it would not be surprising that we would divorce on the spot. In this awkward atmosphere, we returned home and ...... I did one of the stupid things I regret most in my life. ”

"What is it? Does this have anything to do with the incredible situation your daughter is in? Bilan asked cooperatively.

"We ......" The deep voice became dry, as if to tell something unspeakable.

"We pretended that the other person didn't exist in front of our daughter, and when our daughter asked about the other person, we said that the guy was dead. Neither of us agreed in advance, just casual angry words, I got up, and the other party did not show weakness in imitation of the response, so I used the conversation with my daughter to indirectly express my disgust for the other spouse......"

Yes, the staggered time and space in which Sachiko lives is essentially such a deformed game.

It's not even a joke, it doesn't make people laugh.

A vicious, vicious, and disgusting prank.

It's better if a guy like you is dead, it's better to be dead - that couple attacked each other with such clumsy lies and acting skills in front of their naïve children, expressing their hatred so implicitly and explicitly.

That's it.

“……”

After a few breaths to calm down, Bilan let herself comment as unemotionally as possible: "If it were a child, probably no matter what, I wouldn't have thought that my parents would act in front of her for such a reason." ”

After all, it is something more difficult to understand than "parallel time and space", more difficult to understand than "quantum physics", "wormhole shuttle" and "grandmother's paradox".

"Yes." The man on the other end of the phone said ashamedly, but he couldn't help but defend himself, "We just felt that we were talking angrily, and we didn't mean to deceive our daughter, and the lies and acting skills we told were all blunt...... We didn't expect Sachiko to take everything she saw as if it were real. ”

"But that's how young children exist."

Bilan's face was indifferent, and her mouth uttered harsh words no less than "Ice Breath"-

"Afraid of everything, uneasy about everything, surrounded by people who are taller than themselves, talking to anyone with their heads up, as long as adults speak with their waists crossed, they begin to reflect on whether they have done something wrong - probably all young children are in this position. It should be the responsibility of parents to take care of such children. ”

"And." Miss Detective then added, "You husband and wife are both actors who perform on stage in the circus for a living, and those acting skills that are extremely blunt in your eyes may be vivid in the eyes of others, let alone trying to deceive children. ”

When people talk about talent, they often compare it to a gift from heaven, but talent can sometimes become a curse as well. People with talent can do things that others can't do without much effort, but at the same time, they can blur their perception of mediocrity and clumsiness.

If I had to say what karma would happen to fake miracles, it would probably be here.

There was no reply on the other end of the phone for a long time, but the acting detective lady faintly heard sobbing.

What's the use of weeping now?

。

"After that night, we learned about the accident at the circus on TV, so we left home in a hurry and rushed to the circus to help. Miss Detective accepted the commission from the police, she should know the details inside, the circus was damaged in many places due to the rampaging of the huge coconut egg tree, and the reputation was also negatively affected, so my wife and I were busy in the troupe for several days, during which time even when we went home to take care of Sachiko, one of the two always went back alone. ”

After a long time, the deep male voice sounded again.

"It was during that time that Sachiko's misunderstanding of us gradually deepened. At first, we explained to Sachiko that the other half couldn't go home just because they had work to do at the circus. The daughter, in turn, comforted us, telling us not to think about her, saying that she was in a world where neither of her parents had died, so she would not be sad. Later, the two of us went home together to try to clear up our daughter's misunderstanding, but her thoughts were so ingrained that no matter how we explained it, she took it as our acting skills to make her happy. ”

The real and the fantastical are confused, and the black and white are reversed.

When falsehood is interpreted into reality, truth naturally becomes a fantasy in the eyes of children.

"This is not the worst time, we thought that as long as we lived normally at home together for a while, Sachiko's deep fantasy situation would change, but recently, the situation has become more serious - even if we are both standing in front of our daughters at the same time, she can only see one of them at a time, no matter what the rest of the person says to her, how loudly she shouts, she will ignore them all, if you pick her up, Sachiko will become like a puppet, and fall into a motionless state."

"Is this a mental illness? Have you ever seen a doctor? Bilan asked.

"Yes." The man replied, "The doctor said it was probably an auditory hallucination caused by schizophrenia, but there are no actual cases of this in the existing medical cases. He suggested that we should communicate with Sachiko better than take medication, because the illness was caused by us as a couple, and maybe we could get rid of her knots - however, in the meantime, no matter how much we tried, things would only get worse and worse......"

Sachiko's twin worlds are diverging, and she will one day lose one of her parents.

"What about the quarrel between your husband and wife? What happened? Bilan asked again.

"The circus has been in a dismal business crisis since the accident, and it has not been able to recover until now. The head of the troupe has the grace of knowing us and his wife, and it is just enough to leave when the business was booming before, but now that the troupe is in crisis, we naturally can't fall into the trap, and the plan to fly solo will not come to an end. The source of the quarrel was gone, the daughter was like this again, and the quarrel soon disappeared from the house—as if the previous quarrel had never happened. ”

"I see, to dissolve the knot in the heart of the girl who is deep in fantasy - that's why you asked me for a commission."

"Yes, please save our children."

"Hmm......" Bilan pressed her index finger to her chin, "I want to ask one last question before accepting the commission." ”

"I'll know everything."

"Between the night of the circus accident and the next day when you watch TV, there should theoretically be plenty of time for you and your wife to clear up their misunderstandings with their daughters. Did you do anything at that time? ”

For some reason, Miss Acting Detective struggled with one of the most insignificant details of the whole incident.

In the story relayed by the boy, Sachiko's parents reconfirm the fact that the other party is dead, so Sachiko completely believes in the theory of parallel time and space.

Why did the husband and wife still play pranks the next day after a whole night of calm?

“…… Because at that time, we found out that Sachiko had already taken what happened yesterday as true. ”

The deep voice was tinged with obvious remorse, which was natural, as he had missed the best chance to resolve all the misunderstandings.

"It's very easy to lie, and it's only a matter of a moment for a crappy lie to be recognized; But it is a troublesome and humiliating thing for the liar to admit the lie and resolve the misunderstanding caused by the lie himself. That's probably how we were feeling at the time. ”

"I see, I can really empathize with it."

Bilan nodded a second time.

"yes, once you lie at the beginning, it's hard to go back after that."

Miss Detective's tone suddenly became extraordinarily meaningful—

Is there anything else you'd like to add to that? Mrs. Kuribayashi, who deliberately lowered her voice and disguised herself as her husband? ”