Newbie Scenario: Class Reunion (8)

Professor Lu nodded. "Other than the content of the threats being different, everything else was more or less the same."

That raised another question. Everyone had already been threatened, so why had the victim gone out of his way to slip them these little notes? Most importantly, "There were no specific meeting times on these notes."

In other words, if the notes had truly been slipped in by the victim, then normally, they would have waited in their rooms for the victim to come to them. That also matched what Basketball Qiao had said earlier about waiting for the victim in his room until very late. But that meant there was currently no clear proof for anyone's timeline, and the killer could fabricate the actual order in which he had met the victim.

That was rather troublesome.

When Zhen Liu and Professor Lu came out of Basketball Qiao's room, they happened to see Lawyer Jin emerging from the victim's room. Zhen Liu had thought they would simply pass each other by, but Lawyer Jin stopped them and proactively suggested, "Shall we go upstairs and take a look together?"

Although everyone had given Lawyer Jin time to tidy up the living room, it seemed that he still cared a great deal about it. Toward Zhen Liu and Professor Lu, whose backgrounds he could not figure out, he had even adopted a strategy of keeping them under close watch.

Zhen Liu did not refuse, because he did not particularly care either way.

Professor Lu's expression, however, darkened considerably. He did not object, since Zhen Liu had already agreed, but he clearly did not like someone intruding on his pleasant two-person outing with Zhen Liu.

Zhen Liu silently praised him. Professor Lu was taking his role-playing very seriously. He seemed deeply immersed in it, even making his jealousy feel so genuine. He was handsome, too—why did he not become an actor? Good actors made a lot of money. If Zhen Liu's circumstances had not been unusual, he would have entered the industry long ago and made his fortune.

Their group was among the slower ones. By the time they reached the stairs, Basketball Qiao was already coming down, wearing an expression that said, "So boring. There's nothing upstairs."

When he saw the three of them, Basketball Qiao even greeted them cheerfully, looking utterly carefree.

"Why aren't you with Second-generation Zhao?" Without Second-generation Zhao around, Lawyer Jin could only ask questions himself. Neither Zhen Liu nor Professor Lu looked like the talkative type.

"He's still upstairs, doing who knows what. Probably hiding his clues. I told him we had an agreement and wouldn't mess with him, but he doesn't seem to trust us much." Basketball Qiao shrugged, acting like a complete newbie from beginning to end. "Oh, right. Hehe, have you finished with your living room? I'm going in."

Lawyer Jin's expression stiffened. He had probably rarely encountered someone so blunt. Although everyone knew perfectly well what he had been doing in the living room, Basketball Qiao was currently the only one to put it right on the table and ask him directly.

But an experienced player was still an experienced player. Having weathered plenty of storms, Lawyer Jin quickly recovered and nodded. "Yes, you can go in."

It seemed Lawyer Jin was extremely confident in his ability to hide things. At the very least, he did not think Basketball Qiao would find anything.

Basketball Qiao was also far too straightforward. As he passed Lawyer Jin, he gave him a quick friendly punch to the chest. "Don't worry. Even if I find something, I won't deliberately look at it. We had an agreement, remember?" With that, Basketball Qiao sauntered off happily toward the living room, as though he truly believed in the sincerity between people.

Lawyer Jin took off his glasses with a headache and rubbed his temples. He was actually not very good at dealing with people with that kind of personality. He preferred the hypocrisy between adults.

The second floor contained Lawyer Jin's and Second-generation Zhao's rooms, along with a large entertainment and media room.

Lawyer Jin was an interesting one. For some unknown reason, he deliberately pushed open Second-generation Zhao's door first, and sure enough, found Second-generation Zhao looking briefly flustered inside. He returned the embarrassment Basketball Qiao had caused him intact to Second-generation Zhao. "You haven't finished hiding things yet? Then we'll check my room first. Let us know when you're done."

Second-generation Zhao: "..."

A gleam of delight flashed through Lawyer Jin's eyes.

Zhen Liu attached a label to Lawyer Jin's true personality—he really liked getting even.

Then Zhen Liu and Professor Lu began searching Lawyer Jin's room right in front of him. During their evidence searches in the previous two rooms, the two had rapidly developed a tacit understanding. They were well-practiced, efficient, and silent without making things awkward. Instead, Lawyer Jin, as the observer, was starting to struggle with the strange atmosphere.

Was this how these two had searched for evidence before? Were they playing a murder mystery game, or filming Silent Hill?

Professor Lu was highly sensitive to other people's gazes. He accurately caught Lawyer Jin staring and looked back at him with obvious disdain, just short of saying outright—if you weren't here, we'd be having a lot more fun.

For no apparent reason, Lawyer Jin suddenly wanted to change his surname to Electric—the "electric" in lightbulb.

Chapter 8: Newbie Scenario: Class Reunion (8)

If Basketball Qiao, who could not read the room at all and dared to say anything that came to mind, was already enough to give Lawyer Jin a headache, then Second-generation Zhao, who looked the easiest to order around, was no less troublesome.

After tidying up his room, he actually came to knock on the door in all seriousness. "I'm ready. Come search for evidence."

Lawyer Jin: "???"

Professor Lu laughed outright. His already striking face gained a hint of casual, condescending indifference with that smile. He seemed not to care at all whether this would offend Lawyer Jin, like a great beast watching little animals play in its territory. There was not a single person here worth fearing.

No, Zhen Liu thought. A more fitting comparison would be a human watching animals in a wildlife preserve. Professor Lu did not consider himself the same species as them.

Lawyer Jin could no longer save face, but if he got angry, he would have no grounds for it. With countless viewers watching in the livestream, who could he blame? Basketball Qiao for trusting people too easily? Second-generation Zhao for being too obedient? Or Professor Lu for laughing? In the end, he could only maintain his composure and grace. He! Endured! It!