Pinpointing the Armored Figure's Identity

Another person was dead. This time, it was an instructor. An uproar swept through the hall. Shock, bewilderment, and anxiety sprouted and spread through the students' hearts. If an Illusionist were present, they could easily ignite the Saints' emotions and spark a massive riot. *Instructor Lin Su is dead?! But Yuanshi was just impersonating her last night...* Sun Miaomiao's face filled with astonishment, and she instinctively glanced toward Yuanshi Tianzun beside her. He stood frozen in place, as if struck by lightning. "How could this happen? How could this happen..." Xiahou Aotian's muttered disbelief sounded through the earpiece. World Returns to Fire and Zhao Chenghuang knit their brows, completely thrown off by this sudden turn of events. A few seconds later, World Returns to Fire was the first to react. "Is the dean the armored figure? Did he think Lin Su was the one who hypnotized him last night, so he killed her?" If the dean was the armored figure, it would explain why the answers Yuanshi obtained through hypnosis were useless. While concealment could not nullify the effects of the hallucinogenic smoke, it was impossible to pry anything out of him via hypnosis. Zhao Chenghuang's brow furrowed even tighter. "If the dean is the armored figure, then all our previous deductions must be overturned." Even the underground palace team, with their extraordinary intellect, fell into deep self-doubt. World Returns to Fire turned his head and swept his gaze over the students. His eyes lingered for a moment on the dazed Yuanshi Tianzun, and he sighed inwardly. *Yuanshi Tianzun seems completely shut down.* "Xiahou Aotian, you're the class monitor. Go ask about the autopsy." Xiahou Aotian gave a brief grunt of acknowledgement and called out loudly, "Dean, how did Instructor Lin Su die?" The old dean looked ashen, his expression weighed down with grief. Beside him, Instructor Song Man stepped forward and said mournfully, "Instructor Lin Su's heart was shattered. She died in bed, and there were no signs of a struggle in the room." Xiahou Aotian thought for a moment and asked, "Was she sexually assaulted?" Song Man shook her head. "No." *Not sexually assaulted...* World Returns to Fire frowned. For now, the only certainty was that Lin Su's death was inextricably tied to Yuanshi Tianzun's actions the previous night. There was no such thing as such a coincidence in this world. "Who the hell is killing people?" "What's the motive?" "Fuck this, I've had enough! I came here on vacation, not to play a goddamn game of Werewolf!" Clamor erupted from below. "All of you shut the fuck up!" Luo Lesheng, the Fire Demon on the podium, let out a deep bellow that suppressed the wave of noise. The Level 5 Fire Demon glared at the students, holding up the little brown horn. "Instructor Lin Su was killed in the latter half of the night. Everyone will take a lie detector test now. In addition, write down everything you experienced last night on paper. "Those paired up to monitor each other, think carefully: did your partner ever leave your sight last night? Did they spend more than ten minutes using the bathroom or showering?" As the monitor, Xiahou Aotian took the initiative to set an example. He was the first to take the little brown horn, proved his innocence, and handed it to his partner, World Returns to Fire. Then he took paper and a pen from Song Man and began detailing his movements from yesterday. Zhang Yuanqing finally "snapped out" of his daze. He first held the little brown horn to prove his innocence, then sat in his chair to write down his movements from the night before. He quietly split off half of his astral projection, sending it into Commandery Princess Yinyao's body and activating the White Face. From the armored figure discovering the stone door had been opened, to Xia Chaoxue's murder, and now to Instructor Lin Su's death—this series of bizarre events needed a thread to string them together. Once connected, everything would make sense. He intended to use the insidious, cunning White Face, a master of deception, to deduce the truth as quickly as possible. The lie-detecting item was passed among the students and soon completed a full round, yielding the same result as the previous two times. There was no killer among the students. "How could there be no killer? How could there be no killer..." The dean mumbled to himself, the grief in his eyes gradually morphing into a sinister glare. His stare grew increasingly cold and harsh as he swept his eyes across the students. Lin Su's death seemed to have deeply provoked him. *The dean's emotional state isn't right. He's excessively enraged,* World Returns to Fire thought, his thoughts converted into voice transmission by the earpiece. *Isn't failing to find the killer par for the course? We've already gone through two rounds. As a seasoned dean, he shouldn't lose his composure over this. *Besides, would the death of an instructor really plunge him into such overwhelming grief?* "So there really is something wrong with the dean, right?" Sun Miaomiao asked. "No, the more agitated he is, the less likely he's the killer. But it really is strange..." Zhao Chenghuang pondered. Just then, they heard Yuanshi Tianzun exhale over the earpiece. "I've figured it out. I know what's going on." The underground palace team's spirits lifted. Zhang Yuanqing's thoughts translated into speech: "The person the armored figure wanted to kill wasn't Lin Su—it was me. He just mistook me for Lin Su. Last night, he must have been watching near the dean's residence." !!! Sun Miaomiao nearly lost control of her expression. "How is that possible? He couldn't have known our movements! If he knew, he would have just attacked us directly!" "Because he only knew someone would target the dean, but had no idea who we were," Zhang Yuanqing explained. "Let's piece it together from the beginning. In the late hours two nights ago, the armored figure discovered someone had opened the stone door. So he killed Xia Chaoxue, intending to use the murder to draw us out. "The man is exceedingly meticulous. The lie detector was only one of his measures; he planted another hook—the dean's question to me asking if I had stayed in the dormitory the entire time. Imagine how anyone who actually entered the stone door would react to hearing that question." "They would think the dean was the mysterious figure who dived into the lake that day—a competitor," World Returns to Fire's voice chimed in. "Exactly. To protect their gains, whoever entered the stone door would definitely investigate the dean, or even try to kill him," Zhang Yuanqing confirmed, continuing, "So last night, the armored figure watched the dean's residence, waiting for whoever opened the stone door to walk into the trap. He saw me, but I was disguised as Lin Su. He killed the wrong person." Zhao Chenghuang's cool voice came through: "Are you suggesting that after killing Xia Chaoxue, the armored figure controlled the dean through something akin to hypnosis, making him ask that question yesterday? "The dean is a Swordsman with an iron will. Hypnotizing him is impossible. We only managed it because we had Dominator-grade materials and a Fangshi like Xiahou Aotian. That method cannot be replicated." "Yuanshi Tianzun's deduction is correct," World Returns to Fire said. "It might not be hypnosis, but he definitely used a similar method. He was manipulating the dean from the shadows, making the dean's actions match his expectations. Yuanshi's hypnotic interrogation of the dean yesterday proves exactly this." The dean had been controlled and influenced by some power without realizing it, which was why he answered that he simply wanted to know the students' movements. As World Returns to Fire wrote down his account of last night, he added, "Look at the dean's anger today—it's completely irrational. Has he been influenced again? Taking it a step further: could others have been influenced as well? "Among this batch of students, almost none are Level 5. Level 4 Saints being entrusted with a major mission to infiltrate the academy and seize a hidden quest must have had something to rely on; otherwise, it wouldn't make sense." If the killer could secretly influence the dean, he could influence anyone. Any person could serve as a shield for the armored figure. How could they find him under such conditions? The underground palace team's hearts grew heavy. "We can find him. I've already narrowed down his identity to a specific range." Yuanshi Tianzun's words rang like sweet music in their ears. "Spill it!" the underground palace team demanded in unison. "Xia Chaoxue was his flaw. Why did the armored figure kill Xia Chaoxue instead of someone else?" Zhang Yuanqing asked. "Wasn't Xia Chaoxue just unlucky?" Xiahou Aotian retorted. "Miaomiao already tested Xianchan Jun and Little Moon Rabbit, proving neither of them is the armored figure. That invalidates our previous assumption. Maybe Xia Chaoxue wasn't just unlucky. That brings us back to the original question: why was Xia Chaoxue the one who died?" Zhang Yuanqing analyzed calmly. "We overlooked a crucial clue. That night, Zhu Mingxu went to meet Xia Chaoxue for a tryst, but she wasn't there. "If I were the armored figure, my first target would definitely be someone whose whereabouts were unaccounted for that night. "Precisely because Xia Chaoxue wasn't in her dormitory, when the armored figure discovered in the late night that the stone door had been breached, he suspected Xia Chaoxue. He struck decisively and killed her. "Once he realized he'd killed the wrong person, he turned the situation to his advantage, using the murder to bait us out. That led to the whole sequence of events that followed." Pausing briefly, Zhang Yuanqing continued, "This raises another question: with so many people in the academy, why did the armored figure specifically know Xia Chaoxue wasn't in her room? "The armored figure knew about the relationship between Zhu Mingxu and Xia Chaoxue. So, who could have learned that night through Zhu Mingxu that Xia Chaoxue wasn't in her dorm?" This struck the minds of the underground palace team like a thunderclap. Sun Miaomiao's breath quickened. "The nine people who ate together in the cafeteria! The armored figure is among them! Who were those nine people again?" "I don't know, but Brother Red Chicken does. He organized the gathering." The corners of Zhang Yuanqing's lips curled up as he glanced to his side. Brother Red Chicken was writing his account of the night in chicken-scratch handwriting, completely oblivious to the underground palace team's telepathic conversation. "It definitely isn't Brother Red Chicken," Sun Miaomiao said with absolute conviction. *If Brother Red Chicken heard that, he'd teach you what gender equality looks like,* Zhang Yuanqing mused inwardly. Just as he was about to lean over and whisper to Brother Red Chicken, Little Moon Rabbit—burly as a weightlifter—raised her hand. "Dean, we have something to report. Xianchan Jun and I were attacked last night." The dean, mired in grief, snapped his gaze toward them sharply. "Who was the attacker?" The quiet and refined Xianchan Jun shook his head. "We entered a strange space—there was a full moon, an open field, and a forest. A person in blood-red armor chased us there, and we were both gravely injured." *Armor?!* The eyes of the instructors on the podium lit up brightly. Little Moon Rabbit picked up the thread. "I was severely wounded and lost consciousness. I thought I was dead for sure, but when I woke up, I found myself lying in bed, and my fatal wounds had mysteriously vanished." Puzzlement was written all over her face as she spoke. Xianchan Jun nodded vigorously. "Same here. I almost thought I was dreaming. But because of that, we woke up late. We were just about to report it to the instructors when we heard the dean's announcement and came over. Everything we said is the truth." Crossing-River Pawn scrutinized the two of them and asked coldly, "Why would that mysterious figure attack you?" Xianchan Jun and Little Moon Rabbit shook their heads. On the podium, Luo Lesheng the Fire Demon barked, "Another round of lie detection!" *Damn it!* The underground palace team's hearts sank. Sun Miaomiao would definitely be exposed; she had no way to evade the lie detector item's effect. "We can't do the lie detector test. Miaomiao will be exposed," Zhao Chenghuang said, his expression turning cold. "Refusing will make the armored figure notice just the same, exposing her anyway," World Returns to Fire replied. "No, this might be a good opportunity—a chance to lure the snake out of its hole," Zhang Yuanqing called out loudly. "Is there still any point in lie detector tests? If they worked, we'd have caught the killer long ago!" Luo Lesheng flew into a rage. "Yuanshi Tianzun, cooperate with the investigation!" "Cooperate my ass! The training ends in one day! Rather than conducting a pointless investigation, we might as well gather everyone together to eat, drink, and live in the same room until we leave the dungeon! That way, nobody else will die!" Zhang Yuanqing turned his head and asked, "Brother Red Chicken, what do you think?" A born rabble-rouser, Brother Red Chicken slammed his pen onto the desk and shouted, "Damn right!" "That's actually not a bad idea." "Yeah, let's just spread out sleeping mats in the library! It's over tomorrow anyway; we can go without sleep if needed." Zhang Yuanqing's suggestion met with unanimous approval from the students. "You want to run?" The old dean's face suddenly turned harsh, glaring malevolently at the students. "You think you can escape after leaving the dungeon? Wishful thinking! You are the ones who killed Lin Su! Don't think you can escape justice by hiding among the students! I won't allow it! I'll never allow it!" By the end, the old dean looked completely hideous, his expression feral. Before everyone's astonished eyes, he drew a black iron whistle and blew it with all his might. A piercing shriek echoed through the library and reverberated across Qinfeng Academy. The students below stirred in commotion, exchanging bewildered glances, unsure what had driven the dean mad. *The dean and Lin Su were lovers, so her death caused him to lose control. It resembles an Illusionist's methods, but not quite—this influence is extremely targeted...* Zhang Yuanqing frowned. World Returns to Fire's expression changed abruptly, and he pressed his earpiece. "The dean really has been influenced! What is the armored figure trying to do?" Xianchan Jun and Little Moon Rabbit's report had been an unexpected development, something outside the armored figure's calculations. Driving the dean into an emotional breakdown had been his original scheme all along. No sooner had World Returns to Fire's voice sounded in the underground palace team's ears than it was drowned out by a deafening tiger's roar. "All of you must die! Once all of you are dead, the killer will be brought to justice!" the dean roared in fury. *Fuck!* The underground palace team's faces turned pale simultaneously. The armored figure was doing the exact same thing they had done the night before. He intended to force his enemies into the open through sheer violence. Identifying the target by thrusting everyone into life-and-death combat was an extreme method—but an effective one.