Zhu Mingxu raised his head and swept his gaze over the students below, meeting eyes full of hostility and revulsion. The rage he had suppressed for so long finally erupted. "What's there to say? Headquarters will investigate whether I killed anyone or not! What business is it of yours? What right do you washed-up bums who got shoved to the second line have to tie me up—"
Before he could finish, Fire Demon knocked him flat with a slap across the face, then drove a kick into his stomach.
Zhu Mingxu curled like a shrimp in agony, retching bitter bile.
Musicians and Scholars had the weakest constitutions among all Spirit Realm walkers. Though a Saint-stage Red Phoenix Star Official was stronger than an ordinary human, that strength was strictly limited.
Luo Lesheng bellowed, "Are you going to talk or not?"
Having brought up bile, Zhu Mingxu panted heavily. "I'll talk... I'll talk..."
He gasped for breath for a long while until the pain dulled and air flowed smoothly again, only to be hauled up once more by Luo Lesheng. The crude Fire Demon pointed toward the students below. "Look at them and speak."
Stargazer seized the moment to shove the lie-detecting item into Zhu Mingxu's hands.
Under countless watchful eyes, Zhu Mingxu gritted his teeth and said, "Last night, when I left the cafeteria, I really did go looking for Xia Chaoxue. But I didn't kill her! The lie-detecting item can vouch for me. I don't possess the ability to block the item either, or else... I wouldn't be standing here right now."
The small brown horn showed no reaction.
"Why did you go looking for Xia Chaoxue?" Xiahou Aotian demanded.
As class monitor, he felt obligated and duty-bound to interrogate him.
Zhu Mingxu mumbled evasively for a long time. "Going to the girls' dormitory in the middle of the night—what else could it be for..."
"So you were Xia Chaoxue's lover? You were making love to her before she died... Wait, no. You were only gone for ten minutes. The timing doesn't add up." Xiahou Aotian nodded in sudden comprehension at first, then raised his doubts.
"I had a bit to drink that night and intended to visit her. But after I reached the girls' dormitory, I found she wasn't there, so I returned to the cafeteria," Zhu Mingxu said. "Later on, when the party broke up, I went back to my dorm to sleep. I only found out she was dead the next day."
The small brown horn still showed no reaction.
*If that's the case, it really does make sense. Xia Chaoxue wasn't there, so where did she go?*
Zhang Yuanqing asked, "Then why didn't you report this in the morning?"
Zhu Mingxu fell silent.
Luo Lesheng raised his massive palm threateningly. "Need a hand from me?"
Zhu Mingxu shrank his neck back instinctively. He knew that in front of an irascible Fire Demon, neither status nor family background could shield him. He mumbled, "I didn't want to get dragged into a homicide. This had nothing to do with me in the first place."
The small brown horn flared with dazzling brilliance.
"You still dare lie!" Luo Lesheng struck him with another slap.
*Smack!*
Zhu Mingxu staggered from the blow, his cheek swelling rapidly as a streak of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
Only then did he confess with great reluctance: "What happened between me and Xia Chaoxue wasn't honorable... I used an Affection Thread item..."
*An Affection Thread item?* It took Zhang Yuanqing a dozen seconds to grasp what he meant. Red Phoenix Star Officials had a skill called Affection Thread. As the name implied, the skill served to tie red threads of fate for oneself or between others.
Tying a red thread to a target would make them fall madly in love with the caster.
—And it had a duration limit.
However, Affection Thread was a skill learnable only at Level 5. Zhu Mingxu was Level 4, which was why he had needed an item.
*Damn, how is that any different from drugging and raping someone?* Zhang Yuanqing hadn't interacted with many Musicians, and the only Red Phoenix Star Official or higher he knew was the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter.
Moreover, the Palace Master had never used that skill on him, which was why he hadn't reacted right away.
Zhu Rong and Father Xie, whom he had met only once, hardly counted.
"Disgusting!"
"Despicable bastard! I ought to castrate you!"
The female students erupted into an uproar of furious curses.
The male students wore expressions of utter disdain and disgust as well, with Three Suns Open Wife angrily joining in on the verbal abuse.
At this moment, Song Man, standing on the podium, frowned and asked, "Since you went to the girls' dormitory, why didn't any of the animals or plants notice you?"
Zhu Mingxu explained, "Affection Thread has a time limit. After Xia Chaoxue returned to her senses, her reaction was extremely intense. I promised to compensate her once we got out, assuring her that she could enjoy the Zhu family's resources and wealth. It took an enormous effort to soothe her.
"However, she made a demand: no one could know about our relationship, because she had a boyfriend outside who belonged to the same branch. That's why every time I went to meet her, I wore a Night Walker item."
Although Night Walker items were rare, it wasn't difficult for a scion of a prominent Spirit Realm clan to exchange for one from his family.
Furthermore, "Night Walk" was an exceptional skill for escaping danger, so any Spirit Realm walker with sufficient wealth would try to acquire one.
Of course, the Night Walk ability provided by an item couldn't compare to a genuine Night Walker.
"Who else knew about your relationship?" the dean asked.
According to the autopsy, Xia Chaoxue had been violated before her death. Yes, it could now be confirmed as a violation.
Evidently, the perpetrator knew about the relationship between Zhu Mingxu and Xia Chaoxue, and had deliberately violated her to fabricate the illusion of an acquaintance's crime.
"No one. I didn't disclose it to a single soul." Zhu Mingxu shook his head vigorously, and the small brown horn showed no reaction.
Dean Li Yanxi pondered for a few seconds. "Did Xia Chaoxue show any unusual behavior yesterday?"
Zhu Mingxu shook his head. "No. Ever since I learned she was killed this morning, I've been wondering who the murderer was. I originally thought it was Yuanshi Tianzun."
"Oh? Why would you think that?" Dean Li Yanxi narrowed his eyes.
"To slip into the girls' dormitory without making a sound, they definitely had to possess the abilities of a Night Walker. Besides, Yuanshi Tianzun has another nickname on the outside—Rogue Tianzun. Wouldn't it be completely normal for him to act like a rogue?" Zhu Mingxu sneered.
*That's pure prejudice, you bastard...* Zhang Yuanqing had half a mind to jump onto the stage and beat him to a pulp.
The dean shook his head in disappointment.
He had thought Zhu Mingxu might provide a valuable lead.
After asking a few more questions and seeing that nothing further could be gained, Li Yanxi announced, "I will report Zhu Mingxu's act of seducing Xia Chaoxue to headquarters truthfully. From now on, he will be kept under the supervision of Teacher Luo Lesheng. Everyone, go and eat lunch. If you find any clues, report them to the academy's instructors promptly."
***
In the cafeteria.
Wearing his earpiece, Zhang Yuanqing ate grilled fish while observing the students around the hall, transmitting his thoughts: "Let's continue the meeting. First, I want to refute Xiahou Aotian's point. Back in the café, he claimed that the armored figure would choose a covert search rather than killing someone in a mutually destructive move.
"We all agreed with that before, but only because we didn't know the armored figure was a member of the Dark Night Rose. In my view, the armored figure killed Xia Chaoxue for a very straightforward purpose: to use a murder case and the school authorities to flush us out.
"Members of the Dark Night Rose can bypass lie-detecting items flawlessly, so this wasn't a mutually destructive gamble—it was an effective tactic."
Sun Miaomiao cradled Little Doubi in one arm while picking up food with her chopsticks. "So Xia Chaoxue was just unlucky. Out of twenty-two people, she was the one picked."
Three tables away, World Returns to Fire rejected her claim. "It wasn't one in twenty-two. It was one in seven."
Before Sun Miaomiao could process that, Yuanshi Tianzun's voice came through the earpiece: "Exactly. The armored figure is very likely one of the female students.
"Zhu Mingxu's confession gave us two clues. First, the girls' dormitory might not be the primary crime scene. Second, the armored figure knew about the relationship between Zhu Mingxu and Xia Chaoxue.
"Zhu Mingxu never disclosed their relationship to anyone—that was verified by the lie detector. In that case, is it possible Xia Chaoxue confided in someone?"
Sun Miaomiao nodded in realization. "Yuanshi is right. Xia Chaoxue wouldn't tell a male student about something like this; she was much more likely to confide in a female student. After killing Xia Chaoxue, the armored figure deliberately 'violated' her to direct our suspicions toward the male students.
"Right, precisely because the killer was a woman, there was no male bodily fluid found inside Xia Chaoxue."
Hearing this, Zhao Chenghuang offered his assessment: "In that case, the scope narrows. Which female students was Xia Chaoxue close with?"
Sun Miaomiao tilted her head, recalled for a moment, and said, "Lord Xianchan and Little Moon Rabbit were pretty close with her."
There were eight female students in total.
World Returns to Fire proposed grimly, "Find an opportunity to lure both of them to Hundred Beasts Island and use the Tiger King to test them. Faced with a Level 6 spirit beast, they'll either die or use a Night Walker item to save their lives.
"Whoever possesses a Night Walker item and armor is the Dark Night Rose member."
*Hiss, brother, your train of thought is pretty dangerous...* Zhang Yuanqing bared his teeth.
"What if our deduction is wrong? Wouldn't we be killing innocent people?" Sun Miaomiao knitted her pretty brows, casually rubbing Little Doubi's sparse downy hair.
World Returns to Fire replied indifferently, "Having a moral bottom line that's too high often puts you at a disadvantage. Compared to what we stand to gain, what does killing two people matter? Of course, that's only if we have no other options.
"And we do have another way. Forcing them to show their hands is simple: just expose them to enough danger. Use Yuanshi Tianzun's Little Red Riding Hood to trap them.
"Then someone can don my Myriad Slaughterer, enter the hood's space, and hunt them down. Sun Miaomiao can handle this. I suggest you act tonight."
Sun Miaomiao's eyes lit up. "That works."
Luring them to Hundred Beasts Island left the initiative with the Tiger King, making it uncontrollable.
With the second plan, the initiative remained firmly in her hands.
Seeing that no one objected to his proposal, World Returns to Fire continued, "We must also prepare ourselves for the possibility that our deduction is flawed. Therefore, the suspicions surrounding the dean must be investigated as well. We can't drag this out. While we're looking for the armored figure, he's looking for us too. We know too little about this enemy.
"If we don't resolve this swiftly, we'll end up completely on the defensive."
Zhao Chenghuang's brow furrowed gradually. "The dean repeatedly prodded to find out whether students stayed in their dorms that night. He definitely has a problem. Dealing with the dean isn't difficult; the hard part is wrapping things up cleanly.
"Unless we silence him permanently or wipe his memories, someone as sharp as the dean will figure out a great deal from the attack itself.
"How do we extract information from the dean while making sure he forgets everything afterward?"
The underground palace team fell into silence.
*A Swordsman possesses an iron will. Killing him isn't hard, but controlling him is harder than ascending to heaven...* Zhang Yuanqing racked his brain for a strategy.
As lunch drew to a close, Xiahou Aotian's boisterous laughter suddenly rang in everyone's ears:
"I've got a way! I truly am a genius! A genius!"
"What way?" Sun Miaomiao and the others asked in unison.
Xiahou Aotian went quiet, sitting far away by himself, raising his chin haughtily.
Zhang Yuanqing understood immediately and transmitted: "Incredible. Brother Aotian is indeed the protagonist; we mere supporting characters sigh in inadequacy."
Only then did Xiahou Aotian lower his proud chin and bow his head to eat. "We can drug the dean to impair his mind, then use a hypnosis item on him. Problem solved."
World Returns to Fire held back for a long time before squeezing out: "First, you need the drug."
"Among the materials from the underground palace, there is a herb called Myriad Phenomena Grass, a Dominator-grade material for the Illusionist class. I can refine it into a hallucinogenic stupefying incense—colorless and odorless. Anyone who inhales it will hallucinate, fall into a daze, and become very easy to control. As for auxiliary herbs, Spirit Flora Island has thousands of varieties."
Alchemists were most skilled at refining pills and potions; Xiahou Aotian was reliable after all. The group was pleasantly surprised.
Zhang Yuanqing said, "Good idea. By the way, do you have any poison that can kill off all the plants and animals in the academy? Teacher Song Man's skills are too annoying. There are clearly no surveillance cameras in the academy, yet there's surveillance everywhere.
"With both sides constantly appearing and disappearing, even a fool will realize sooner or later that everyone can use Night Walk and Star Escape. Killing these plants and animals will eliminate a hazard while laying down a smokescreen."
Xiahou Aotian thought about it. "No problem."
After lunch, the underground palace team returned to the café and completed the item exchange in the restroom. Zhang Yuanqing and World Returns to Fire handed over Little Red Riding Hood and Myriad Slaughterer to Sun Miaomiao.
In return, Zhang Yuanqing received Zhao Chenghuang's hypnotic pocket watch.
Xiahou Aotian also received a Night Walker item gifted by Sun Miaomiao, as well as Zhang Yuanqing's Gale Walker gloves.
The two items paired together would allow him to fly directly to Spirit Flora Island to gather herbs.
***
Eight-thirty in the evening.
The afternoon had been calm and uneventful.
In Room 404, Brother Red Chicken, having finished playing cards, followed Zhang Yuanqing back to the room to rest.
Under the soft lighting, a melon-seed-faced beauty with the looks of an internet celebrity stood beside the table.
Seated on a chair was an elegant, dignified, exquisitely beautiful woman with eerie crimson eyes.
They looked like peerless dolls.
"Damn, your two Yin corpses are gorgeous! Yuanshi Tianzun, do you have some kind of weird kink?" Brother Red Chicken walked over to the table, his eyes roving over the slender bodies of Blood Rose and Commandery Princess Yinyao.
He had some doubts about Yuanshi Tianzun's tastes. One beautiful Yin corpse was understandable, but two peerless beauties? That was downright bizarre.
"You didn't have this Yin corpse back in the Mount Ya dungeon." Brother Red Chicken stared at Commandery Princess Yinyao for a moment, marveling, "Her tits are huge..."
Master and Yin corpse were mentally connected, and Zhang Yuanqing could sense Commandery Princess Yinyao's wrath.
"No matter how big they are, it's useless—she's cold as ice, not warm enough," Zhang Yuanqing remarked.
Commandery Princess Yinyao grew even angrier.
"Yeah, warm tits feel much better. Sleep, sleep." Brother Red Chicken stretched, collapsed onto his bed sprawled out like a starfish, and within seconds, loud snores began to rumble.
Zhang Yuanqing hurriedly cupped his hands in apology toward Commandery Princess Yinyao, communicating in the unique manner of a Night Walker: *Fire Specialists are just like that. Please don't take offense, Princess.*
Commandery Princess Yinyao: *Not warm enough?*
*A joke, just a joke,* Zhang Yuanqing apologized repeatedly.
*Hmph!* Commandery Princess Yinyao turned her head away.
Having pacified the princess, Zhang Yuanqing got into bed. Time ticked by, and when ten-thirty arrived, he pretended to need the bathroom.
Closing the restroom door, he took out Yata no Kagami and aimed it at himself.
The next instant, the mirror cast a beam of light that condensed into another Zhang Yuanqing.
Looking entirely normal, this replica opened the restroom door, walked back into the bedroom, and slipped beneath the covers.
The real Zhang Yuanqing had already executed the Star Escape Technique, slipping out of the boys' dormitory.
Outside the building, beneath the shade of a tree, a misty, dreamlike starlight shimmered into view.
Zhang Yuanqing glanced left and right. The night was deep and quiet; a round moon hung high in the sky, casting down a chilly glow.
The lush greenery and brilliant blossoms, bathed in the bright moonlight, appeared somewhat listless.
During the evening, Xiahou Aotian had concocted a poison called "Hundred Kills." A mere handful of the powder was enough to wither all the plants in a flowerbed within six hours.
Any animal that caught a whiff of the odorless, colorless powder wouldn't survive past eight hours either.
The underground palace team had secretly sprinkled it across every spot in the academy where plants grew.
Zhang Yuanqing retrieved a wax pellet and a pocket watch from his inventory. The former contained the hallucinogenic stupefying incense, while the latter was the hypnotic item Zhao Chenghuang had lent him.
Stuffing both items into his pocket, he pulled out the Flawless Human Skin and pasted it over his face. Thin as a cicada's wing, the skin melted swiftly and bonded to him. Moments later, he transformed into the cool, intellectual female instructor, Lin Su.
His plan was to disguise himself as Lin Su, visit the dean, launch a surprise attack with the incense, and then hypnotize him using Zhao Chenghuang's item.
Choosing Lin Su had been the result of Xiahou Aotian's divination.
The reading indicated that among all the instructors, approaching the dean disguised as Lin Su was the only path of supreme good fortune.
*Knock, knock!*
Sitting before his desk and pondering the homicide, the dean heard a knock at the door.
He rose, walked over, and opened it to find the intellectual, aloof Lin Su standing outside.
"Instructor Lin Su?" the old dean asked in surprise. "Is something the matter?"
This Lin Su was clearly dressed in a student uniform, yet it felt entirely natural to him—as if that was precisely what she ought to wear.
"Dean, I've been feeling uneasy this whole time," Zhang Yuanqing said insincerely.
Then, he watched as Dean Li Yanxi sighed, slipped an arm around his waist, and pulled him into the room.
*What's going on?* Zhang Yuanqing's heart sank as he sensed something amiss.
Wrapping an arm around the waist was far too intimate.
"I know. Since the killer dared to take a life, they are by no means benevolent. You're a Scholar with little ability to protect yourself, so it's natural to worry." Holding her beneath the lamp, Li Yanxi looked down into the cool, beautiful face and spoke softly, "If you're frightened, stay the night with me. It's been a long time since you kept me company."
Zhang Yuanqing was certain now: these two were having an affair.
*So this is what 'supreme good fortune' meant?!*
Immediately after, Zhang Yuanqing heard himself let out a coquettish huff:
"You have Song Man to keep you company anyway. That little slut was banished to the academy in the first place for promiscuity. Her skills in bed are far better than mine."
*Teacher Song Man was really banished to the academy for a chaotic private life... Tsk tsk, old dean, I never expected you to be this kind of dean. How are you any different from those professors at Songhai University who sleep with female students and female teachers...* Zhang Yuanqing roasted him frantically in his mind.
A smile appeared on the dean's weathered yet charismatic face.
"Life in the academy is dull and dreary. She and I are merely comforting each other; there's no need for you to be jealous. She hasn't come looking for me these past few days—she's probably hooked up with some student.
"The hour is late. Let's rest."
*Rest by yourself!* Zhang Yuanqing silently crushed the wax pellet.
The colorless, odorless gas expanded instantly.
The moment he crushed the pellet, Zhang Yuanqing held his breath.
As the vapor spread, the old dean's clear eyes abruptly descended into extreme chaos. His pupils rolled upward, drifted down, and then stared fixedly at empty space.
He began mumbling incoherent nonsense.
Zhang Yuanqing stepped back two paces, tore himself from the dean's embrace, stripped off the Flawless Human Skin, and fished the pocket watch from his pocket, dangling it before the dean's eyes.
The pocket watch swung like a pendulum. "Answer my questions. Answer my questions..."
It took two full minutes for the chaos in the dean's pupils to fade, replaced by a dull blankness.
This meant the hypnosis had succeeded.
Zhang Yuanqing cut straight to the chase. "This morning, why did you ask whether Yuanshi Tianzun left his dorm last night?"
The dean mumbled, "I only wanted to clarify the students' movements last night."
"Why did you need to clarify their movements? Hadn't his suspicion already been cleared?"
The dean repeated numbly, "I only wanted to clarify the students' movements last night."
Zhang Yuanqing's brow furrowed. *Just to clarify the students' movements?*
That explanation didn't convince him.
Back then, he had proven his innocence from every conceivable angle. Whether he was in his room had nothing to do with the murder; instead, it was the armored figure—who knew the stone doors had been opened—who cared most about that question.
For the dean to ask such a question at that exact juncture was far too suspicious.
Yet hypnosis didn't lie. The dean's answer had to be the honest truth from the bottom of his heart.
*Just a coincidence? Was I overthinking?*
"Who do you suspect is the killer?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
"I don't know." The dean shook his head mechanically.
"Who is the most suspicious?"
"Zhao Chenghuang and Sun Miaomiao of the Taiyi Sect. Zhao Feiwen, Xie Lingzhou, and Liu Yushu from the Spirit Realm clans."
"Why?"
"They have the highest probability of knowing about the hidden quest."
Zhang Yuanqing was silent for a long time, then sighed. "Forget everything that happened tonight. Go to bed and sleep."
The dean turned numbly, took off his clothes, shoes, and pants, pulled up the blanket, and went to sleep.
***
The next morning, in the cafeteria.
The underground palace team wore their earpieces once again, sharing intelligence over breakfast.
"I tested them. Neither Lord Xianchan nor Little Moon Rabbit is the armored figure. I nearly beat them to death, yet neither used any Night Walker items, nor did they have the armor Yuanshi mentioned." Sun Miaomiao looked disappointed. "To save them, I wasted half a tube of Life Spring Liquid. Both of them are still unconscious. When they wake up, they'll definitely report to the instructors that they were attacked, but neither saw what I looked like—I was wearing battle armor."
"Remember to return Myriad Slaughterer to me later," World Returns to Fire said from a few tables away. "Yuanshi Tianzun, what about your side?"
Zhang Yuanqing lowered his head to sip his porridge. "The dean's answer was: he just wanted to know the students' movements last night."
"That's it?" Xiahou Aotian found it hard to accept. "Such a coincidental question?"
"I didn't want to believe it was a coincidence either, but apparently, that's just how it is," Zhang Yuanqing sighed.
He didn't elaborate on the details of last night, nor did he reveal the romantic affair between Instructor Lin Su and the dean. He wasn't Yuan Ting, after all.
Thinking about it now, life in the academy was monotonous, and they were all adults with natural desires. Between consenting adults, there was nothing to criticize.
"If that's the case, our investigation has hit a dead end. Over the next two days, we'll be completely on the back foot," Zhao Chenghuang's cool voice sounded through the earpiece.
"Could our entire line of reasoning be wrong...?" Xiahou Aotian murmured.
Right then, the dean's stern, mournful voice blared through the cafeteria's loudspeaker:
"Everyone, assemble at the library immediately."
The underground palace team tensed, instinctively looking toward Yuanshi Tianzun.
*Did you leave a flaw behind last night?*
"I definitely didn't leave any flaws yesterday." Zhang Yuanqing looked bewildered. Tensing his nerves in secret, he set down his chopsticks and walked out of the cafeteria alongside the equally confused students, heading into the library.
On the podium, the dean's eyes were slightly rimmed with red, harboring a deep sorrow beneath a grim, chilling expression. He stared down coldly at the students entering the library.
His gaze swept across their faces before he spoke, enunciating each word with heavy gravity:
"Instructor Lin Su was murdered last night."
Chapter 439