The chain of events was actually quite clear.
"First, a week ago, those three students had 'glimpsed the faint outline of a monster' and grown curious, which led them to sneak into the school at night. In the end, the Fantasy Princess killed them. This happened around the fourth day after the first-stage participants arrived."
Yu Xing slowly pieced things together. "The monster's image was released, which means someone had already opened that sketchbook before the students did. But there were no earlier bodies at the scene, which means the Fantasy Princess didn't attack the first person who opened it."
"So the most likely possibility is that the first person to open the sketchbook was its owner—or, rather, the person who placed it there."
"This person deliberately used the sketchbook to lure the three students to their deaths, creating a bizarre murder case. Their aim was to attract the investigators who had already arrived in town to come and investigate." He set down his glass of water. "Although various things delayed the process, in the end, tonight, they achieved their goal."
"And the result was—" Yu Xing pointed at the real files on the floor. "During the 'battle between the investigators and the monster,' all the files in the old archives were 'accidentally' destroyed. The school wouldn't blame the investigators; it would even thank us for dealing with the monster, so it naturally wouldn't pursue the matter of the damaged files. No one would ever look through those 'files' again."
A glint flashed in Carlos's eyes, and he immediately picked up the thread. "So the person who placed the sketchbook really wanted to destroy every file in the old archives, with a perfectly legitimate excuse and no one asking questions. The investigators were just a tool."
His mind worked quickly,