New Progress in the Case

"You know the killer's identity?" Stargazer narrowed his eyes. He showed no excitement or elation; instead, he scrutinized Yuanshi Tianzun warily for a moment before saying, "I don't believe the current information allows us to deduce who the killer is." With the lie-detecting item rendered useless, every student fell under suspicion. Therefore, while listening to reports and gathering information, one had to remain vigilant against being misled by suspects. While he was speaking, Zhang Yuanqing had already conveyed his suspicion that the armored figure was a member of the Dark Night Rose to the underground palace team through his earpiece. *The Dark Night Rose?* The expressions of Sun Miaomiao, Zhao Chenghuang, and World Returns to Fire changed drastically. It was unexpected, but upon further reflection, it made complete sense. A member of the Dark Night Rose fit the armored figure's profile to perfection—lurking within the official ranks and ruthless in execution. *Yuanshi's mind works so fast. He really is amazing...* Sun Miaomiao shot him a subtle glance, secretly impressed. She had great confidence in her own intelligence, but when it came to quick improvisation and sly cunning, she considered herself no match for Yuanshi Tianzun. As for calculating foresight, she believed World Returns to Fire was the strongest in the underground palace team, despite being a Fire Specialist. *What kind of organization is the Dark Night Rose?* Xiahou Aotian furrowed his brows. As someone outside the official establishment, he had no access to the official forum. As an insufferable eccentric detested by everyone in the Xiahou family, he was equally cut off from the clan's inner circle. Moreover, he was completely engrossed in academic research and had little sensitivity toward intelligence of this kind, leaving him completely in the dark about what the Dark Night Rose even was. *Of course it's impossible to deduce the killer from the available information—that's because there's an information gap between us...* Just as Zhang Yuanqing was about to explain the armored figure's identity to Teacher Stargazer, World Returns to Fire's urgent cry came through his ear: "Yuanshi, don't say it!" Zhao Chenghuang, Sun Miaomiao, and Xiahou Aotian instinctively started to turn toward World Returns to Fire, but forced themselves to hold back. "Indeed, the clues we have are quite scarce..." Having been abruptly interrupted, Zhang Yuanqing threw out a perfunctory reply to Teacher Stargazer first, then transmitted his thoughts: *Why shouldn't I tell him?* World Returns to Fire's voice sounded in the underground palace team's ears: "Are you trying to enlist the academy instructors to deal with the armored figure together? Your logic is sound, and it would indeed be effective, but you can't just focus on taking down the enemy. Your top priority must be securing the treasure in the underground palace. "If the dean learns that the armored figure belongs to the Dark Night Rose, they'll become even more convinced that the Dark Night Rose is after the underground palace. That will naturally raise another question: Why did the Dark Night Rose kill Xia Chaoxue? "Given the intelligence of the academy instructors, wouldn't they grow suspicious and make a bold deduction—that students have already entered the underground palace? "If it really reaches that point, even a mere suspicion will prompt the academy to report to headquarters. And with headquarters placing such great importance on the underground palace, they will thoroughly investigate every single student, preferring to interrogate the innocent rather than let a culprit slip through. If that happens, can we still protect the treasure? "You might fool this lie-detecting item, but you can't fool headquarters' lie detection. "If the instructors deduce that the stone doors were opened, we will be forced into an impossible corner. We'd either have to resign ourselves to surrendering the treasure, or team up with the armored figure to slaughter all the academy instructors." *** "Dean, how do you know the killer is that armored figure?" the Fire Demon Luo Lesheng asked in surprise. Cradling his thermos in both hands, the white-haired old dean countered, "Are there really that many people who can fool both Insight and lie-detecting items?" Luo Lesheng instinctively argued back, "This batch of students is full of hidden talents. It wouldn't be strange if there were one or two who could pull it off, right?" Although they knew he was just being contrarian, the instructors pondered his words and found some merit in them. The dean said in a deep voice: "That's why I asked you all to consider the armored figure's motive. Judging from how he sneaked into Jiaoren Lake that night, he is very interested in the dungeon's hidden quest. If we can link Xia Chaoxue to the hidden quest, then the killer is indeed the armored figure. "Otherwise, the killer is someone else." "Dean, I think you're overthinking it. That armored figure probably just heard legends from his elders and went into the lake to take a look. As for Xia Chaoxue's death, it has nothing to do with any hidden quest. It's almost certainly some little bastard blinded by lust who forced himself on the girl. After all, being cooped up in the academy for days makes hormones hard to control," Luo Lesheng voiced his opinion. "Perhaps," the dean replied dismissively. "Lin Su, head over to the pier and have the manager ask the Jiaoren Queen if there was anything unusual in the lake last night." The Alchemy teacher accepted the order and departed. *** *I was so focused on figuring out how to kill the armored figure that I forgot that for our team, securing the treasure comes first, and killing him comes second...* *The academy instructors aren't our allies; they're rivals with conflicting interests. The more they know, the more danger we're in... This is a three-way standoff where each side checks the other.* Zhang Yuanqing snapped to his senses. He suspected that his earlier lapse in judgment had been influenced by the White Face. After activating the White Face, his thoughts had been consumed by how to track down the armored figure and kill him. Pursuing that goal, the White Face had devised a scheme and concluded that cooperating with the school was the quickest and most reliable way to eliminate the target. "Why did you stop?" Stargazer stared at him, frowning with inquiry. Zhang Yuanqing shook his head. "I gave it some thought just now. The current information and evidence aren't enough to support my guess. Just pretend I never said anything." Stargazer nodded slightly. Just then, the waiter arrived carrying the cappuccino, and Stargazer said: "Pack it to go, please." Watching Teacher Stargazer leave with the paper cup in hand, Zhang Yuanqing pressed on his earpiece. "World Returns to Fire, you're right. But we can't guarantee the instructors won't learn about the Dark Night Rose. They'll figure it out sooner or later." World Returns to Fire furrowed his brows. Sun Miaomiao's eyes brightened, a slight smile playing on her lips. "Don't worry. The instructors probably don't know about the Dark Night Rose." Everyone turned to look at her. Sun Miaomiao explained: "Yuan Ting mentioned that the instructors stay inside the dungeon for long stretches and have no internet access. The only way they receive outside information is through newspapers sent by headquarters once a month. "The newspapers primarily cover policy changes from headquarters and personnel movements across major branches, though they occasionally touch on evil organization activities or anecdotes from the official forum. "The instructors here only learned about Yuanshi Tianzun for the first time by reading the results of the arena tournament in the newspaper." *He could dig up even petty details like that? What a talent...* the underground palace team marveled in unison. "That's for the best." Xiahou Aotian felt that, as the protagonist, he needed to provide some overarching guidance. "Our team's objective is to kill the armored figure before the academy does, preventing him from leaking the information that the underground palace has been opened." The others nodded. Xiahou Aotian continued, "Now that the armored figure's identity is clear and we understand how he monitored the stone doors, we need to tackle two remaining questions: first, why was Xia Chaoxue the one killed; and second, why the dean kept pressing whether the students stayed in their dorms last night." *Aren't those the very questions I raised earlier?* World Returns to Fire grumbled inwardly, touching his earpiece. "As for the dean, there's a simple and effective solution: subdue him by force. But that requires a meticulous plan to ensure our identities aren't exposed." His suggestion was immediately shut down by Zhang Yuanqing. "Stop fooling around. There's a lie-detecting item, remember?" Sun Miaomiao suddenly thought of something. "Wait, an idea just came to me. The armored figure is protected by a secretive power, so lies regarding him cannot be detected. Thinking in reverse: wouldn't anyone who lies without the item detecting it be the armored figure?" *In theory, that should work, but this method isn't hard to think of. If it actually worked, how could the officials have failed to root out the Dark Night Rose members?* Zhang Yuanqing mused. Xiahou Aotian answered the question: "When Teacher Stargazer mentioned the Lunar Force, it reminded me of a paper in my family's archives. It discussed several powers that counter divination, one of which is the secrecy of the Lunar aspect. "The paper states that the Lunar aspect is an extraordinarily mystical force, one of the reasons Night Walkers are regarded as a pinnacle class. The secrecy granted by the Lunar aspect isn't about shielding; it's about 'normalcy.' "No matter what method you use—reverse deduction or backward reasoning—you cannot see through a target blessed by the Lunar aspect. "The underlying principle cannot be explained. If forced to conceptualize it, I think the word 'karma' fits best." Sun Miaomiao and Zhao Chenghuang frowned as they listened; they had never heard of such a concept before. Zhang Yuanqing, however, thought of the Compass of Light's prophecy. Lunar, Solar, Astral—as the forces destined to lead the gods in the prophecy, involving causal and karmic principles was not difficult to fathom. Indeed, if simple reverse logic could crack it, the Lunar aspect would be far too mundane. At that moment, Brother Red Chicken suddenly let out an "Oh!" and pointed at the group. "Are you guys wearing earpieces and whispering behind my back?" "No, we're not!" everyone hastily denied. "Yes, you are! I've used that kind of earpiece before. Isn't that Xiahou Aotian's? No wonder it looked so familiar." Brother Red Chicken fumed, "What are you hiding from me?" *You only just noticed?* *It took you this long to realize?!* Zhang Yuanqing nearly couldn't hold back his urge to roast him. Silently, the group removed their earpieces and slipped them into their pockets. "You're seeing things." Brother Red Chicken refused to believe them and lunged to snatch the earpieces. Just then, the dean's deep voice boomed from the loudspeaker in the corner of the café: "There has been new progress in the case. Everyone gather at the library immediately!" The announcement repeated over the speakers without pause. The underground palace team sprang to their feet. Brother Red Chicken stopped causing a scene as well. The broadcast blared through every building in the academy, echoing again and again. Hearing the summons, students and instructors scattered across the academy hurried toward the library. *** Library, lecture stage. The old dean shifted his gaze away from Zhu Mingxu and looked toward Stargazer. "What was the outcome regarding Zhao Chenghuang and Yuanshi Tianzun?" Stargazer replied: "Zhao Chenghuang bought a private tutoring lesson from Yuanshi Tianzun last night..." He recounted the incident on Jixin Island as well. "The lie-detecting item showed no reaction. Those two should be in the clear." The dean looked at Zhu Mingxu once more, nodded, and then turned to Lin Su: "And on your end?" Lin Su said, "Everything is normal at the bottom of the lake." While they spoke, students arrived at the library one after another. Without saying more, the dean clasped his hands behind his back on the lecture stage and waited in silence. Leading his fellow conspirators, Zhang Yuanqing rushed back to the library as fast as possible. The first thing that caught his eye on the elevated stage was Zhu Mingxu, tied up tightly. Beside him stood the old dean, Stargazer, and the Fire Demon Luo Lesheng. The young master of the Zhu family looked like he had just taken a beating—battered and bruised, head hanging low, resembling a dispirited rooster. In less than three minutes, all the students and instructors had gathered in the library. "Is Zhu Mingxu the killer?" "I knew it was him! He looked suspicious right from the start. He even tried to frame Lord Tianzun this morning." The students began buzzing with speculation. Seeing that everyone had arrived, the dean spoke in a grave tone: "Following an investigation, we discovered that when Zhu Mingxu was dining at the cafeteria last night, he left halfway through for ten minutes. I sent Teacher Stargazer to verify it. "Zhu Mingxu claimed he had diarrhea, but the lie-detecting item indicated that it was a lie..." "Fuck, so he was the killer all along!" the blunt Brother Red Chicken interrupted the dean. "And to think I treated him to a meal! That scum actually raped and murdered a girl! But Dean, isn't ten minutes a bit too short?" The Saints, who had been whipped into righteous fury and were about to demand severe punishment, suddenly paused. Crude and unreliable as this Fire Demon was, what he said actually held water. Traveling between the cafeteria and the women's dormitory alone would take ten minutes round-trip. Unless Zhu Mingxu was a "Seven-Thrust Wonder," the timeline simply didn't add up. "Don't interrupt while a teacher is speaking!" Luo Lesheng was about to discipline this crude Fire Demon of his own class, but Stargazer held him back. The dean glanced down at Zhu Mingxu, who hung his head yet glared with fierce resentment, and said: "Explain it yourself."