Echoes of Time

Chapter 5: He Went Missing at Sea

Although they didn't believe it, Narnia was convinced, though she wasn't sure if there was any exaggeration in these introductions.

"By the way, Narnia, where did you hear the name Jurassic?" Barbara asked, suddenly remembering to inquire.

Narnia didn't know how to explain and changed the subject instead, "Never mind that, based on this information, can you find any other details about him?"

"Why not just ask this person called Beleren directly?" Barbara suggested straightforwardly, clicking on the account's personal homepage while operating the mouse. "Here, there's an address. Since the article was written by him, he must know."

Narnia leaned over for a look. Beleren's avatar was a middle-aged man in his forties with a friendly smile, clearly a person with a good temperament.

The account was located in the villa area of Neverland, a famous place where only the extremely wealthy resided.

"Do you have any contact information?" Narnia asked her.

Barbara nodded, "If you want, I can find it for you."

"Okay, send it to me later. By the way, is there still no news? It's been a few days since the news was released, and no family members have come forward?" Narnia suddenly remembered and asked again. Barbara shook her head, "None."

Narnia fell silent for a moment and then felt the urge to see the skeleton. Wayne Manor followed her as she left.

When the skeleton was first removed, it was dressed in a suit, overcoat, and a red scarf, indicating that the incident occurred in winter. The forensic team also estimated the height to be about one meter eighty.

Narnia tried to recall Jurassic's height; he should be about one meter eighty-seven, quite tall. But she couldn't confirm yet that this skeleton was not him.

After lunch at the bureau, Narnia decided to pay a visit to Beleren's home.

However, since the matter was so strange, Narnia didn't want Wayne Manor to follow her, lest he find out and start asking questions. She herself was still confused and had no time to explain to him.

Therefore, she hailed a taxi by herself and went, as her car was severely damaged at the rear and was sent for repairs.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Narnia arrived at the villa in Neverland. Following the detailed address given by Barbara, she came to the door of Beleren's mansion.

She rang the doorbell and after a moment, saw a middle-aged man walk out, exactly the same as the avatar of Beleren. He was also wearing glasses but didn't look like Jurassic.

At first, Narnia suspected that this Beleren might be Jurassic's son, but the information showed he was unmarried, so she didn't think along those lines.

Beleren opened the gate of the courtyard and asked her, "May I know who you are?"

"Hello, I'm Narnia, a criminal police officer." Narnia showed her police ID. Beleren took a look, didn't ask further, and invited her into the house.Narnia followed Beleren into the grand hall. After being invited to sit down, Beleren prepared tea for her while she took a moment to survey her surroundings.

The villa was magnificent, with a long staircase stretching all the way to the top, resembling an exhibition hall—sumptuous and grand. She couldn't even tell how many rooms were up there. The polished, high-grade maple flooring made the entire hall seem to glow.

However, such a large mansion appeared to have no one else except Beleren. Narnia couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Beleren, do you live here all alone?"

Beleren smiled, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepening. "Yes, but this isn't my home; I'm just looking after the house for someone else."

As he spoke, Beleren handed her a cup of tea. Narnia accepted it with both hands and, after taking a sip, inquired if he had heard about the news from the other day.

Beleren nodded. "I've heard about it, but it doesn't really concern me."

"Is there anyone in your family, the Shens, who has gone missing, to your knowledge?" Narnia asked, probe a bit further.

Beleren took a sip from his teacup before replying, "Yes, one. His name is Jurassic, my cousin. But he disappeared at sea."

"You really know about Clyde­sdale!" Narnia exclaimed in surprise.

She hurriedly asked, "His stage name is Clydesdale, right? Since you know him, you must know why all information about him has been erased?"

Narnia had thought that finding Beleren would unravel everything, but to her surprise, he shook his head and said he didn't know.

He explained, "I don't know much about my cousin. When he went missing, I was only a teenager. However, before his disappearance, he did ask me to take care of his home."

Narnia was taken aback. This was Jurassic's home?

"Miss Narnia, you asked me about the accident in the news, and you also know about my cousin. Can I know who you really are?" Beleren examined her intently.

Narnia replied solemnly, "I'm a detective. You don't have to doubt that. The reason I'm looking for you is because Mr. Jurassic may be connected to a missing person's case from decades ago, and it might even be related to me!"

Upon hearing this, Beleren furrowed his brows, somewhat confused.

His cousin had gone missing decades ago, and all records of him had been scrubbed clean.

Logically, no one should have known about his existence. How did she?

Narnia knew the story was complex, but she still explained what she had discovered the night before.

Upon learning that she had learned about Clydesdale through a film, Beleren had no doubts, as he had a copy of his cousin's movie disc himself.

However, he was still puzzled as to how she knew Clydesdale was Jurassic.

When he asked, Narnia knew she couldn't avoid it, so she told him what had happened that morning.

Narnia had prepared herself to be seen as a nutcase, but to her surprise, after hearing that she had seen his cousin, Beleren revealed a look of astonishment and said, "No wonder I felt so familiar with you...""What does that mean? Have you seen me before?" Narnia asked hurriedly when she saw that he didn't doubt her words.

Beleren stood up and told her to wait a moment before going upstairs to fetch an old, faded photo album.

After sitting back down, Beleren immediately opened the album and, after searching for a while, pointed to a photograph, saying, "Look at this! Is this you?"

Narnia took a glance and her face registered surprise once more.

This was because the photograph was even older, a black and white image filled with a strong historical atmosphere.

In the picture, there was a vintage piano and in front of it stood a woman in a white shirt and overalls, her belt tightly fastened, her waist so slender it could be easily encircled with two hands.

Her gaze was fixed on a direction to the side, her brow furrowed, her eyes filled with worry as if she were concerned about something.

Narnia didn't need to look carefully to recognize that the woman in the photo was herself.

"Mr. Beleren, where did you get this photo?" Narnia asked him immediately.

Beleren didn't hide the truth, replying honestly, "I found it while sorting through my cousin's belongings. It's an old photo, and the piano in the photo was in my cousin's room."

For some reason, hearing the word 'belongings' made Narnia feel uncomfortable.

"Besides this one, are there no others of me?" Narnia asked after looking at the photo for a while.

Beleren flipped through the album and shook his head, "No, because I've seen this photo many times, which is why I remembered when you said what you did earlier."

"Who are in all these photos?" Narnia wanted to take the entire album to look at it, but since Beleren was holding it, she didn't want to just snatch it away.

"They're all old photos. You can take a look if you're interested," Beleren said as he carefully handed her the album, afraid of damaging it due to its age.

Narnia received the album with both hands and flipped through it roughly, confirming that they were indeed all old photos.

However, there were very few of Jurassic, only a few, while the rest were of strangers.

As she leafed through these old photos, Narnia felt a sense of déjà vu from when she was a child visiting her countryside home and looking at her grandfather's old photos from the Korean War, a strong sense of history washing over her.

"Miss Narnia, you mentioned earlier that you saw my cousin because of a photo you took together. Could it be that the photo brought you back to the past?" Beleren guessed.

Finding it amusing to hear such a thing from a middle-aged man, Narnia felt a bit ridiculous, especially since she herself didn't fully believe it, yet here he was making this guess and seemed to find it quite logical. He continued, "Miss Narnia, I don't think this is a simple matter. In fact, my cousin's disappearance those years ago was very unusual and might really have something to do with you!"

"You don't think my disappearance caused your cousin to go missing, do you?" Narnia asked, half-amused and half-annoyed.

Beleren shook his head, looking her in the eyes seriously, "I don't mean that. It's just that many things back then were hard to explain. Maybe it was all predestined. Miss Narnia, I believe the person in the photo is you."