Their next stop was the library, with Reaper leading the way. Linlin was still sour about the chanics student. "Did you see how arrogant he was? I would like to beat that little shit."
"He is twelve Linlin!" Liwu exclaid.
"A twelve year old shit." Linlin muttered. "Yesterday he was fixing the professor’s chair and today he could care less about the man that was his ntor. If everyone here is like this them I am glad you did not attend this school or else, you would be a grown shit too."
Liwu snorted.
The library doors slid open and they passed through a rigorous security check before being allowed inside. Tall shelves lood, and the scent of old paper mixed with the faint hum of system interfaces, A girl sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by laptops and papers. She was typing into another laptop on her lap.
"You are here about Professor’s Ce’s death." She said, without raising her head, "This must be Reaper, the only dog in the world with a system." Once again, she kept her head lowered.
Liwu and Linlin were surprised. The girl was clearly a system host.
"I suppose Reaper tracked my scent and you are here to question about what I was doing in the professor’s office. He let borrow his notes. I was there to return them. That’s all."
Liwu noticed that the girl’s hands were trembling. "Are you sure you didn’t see him?"
"No! The office was empty and it slled like smoke. Sothing was burning in the bin and I was worried that soone would think I had started the fire or sothing so I got out of there. An hour later, I heard the professor was dead at his desk." She took a deep breath.
"What ti was this?" Liwu asked her.
"4:30 AM." The girl replied.
Linlin was shocked. "You were in your professor’s office at 4:30!"
The girl nodded. "Around here, sleep is a luxury. We only do it to reset the mind. I am number three...was number three among Professor Ce’s twenty. I was hoping to beco number one before the year ended. You don’t get to be number one by sleeping."
She finally looked up and added, "I was here during your ti of death window. I took my power nap and morning shower in the library bathrooms too." She looked at her watch. "You have used up two and a half minutes. That is all the ti I can spare for you. Goodbye." Her finger started flying over the laptop at a frightening speed.
"The professor is dead, can’t you take a day off and mourn?" Linlin asked.
She didn’t get a response. It was the sa rush they were t with in the gymnasium. The broad shouldered athlete they interviewed barely had ti to speak to them. All of his focus was on the weighted staff.
"I am going to be a ten ti world champion," he declared.
"We want to know more about what you were doing in the professor’s office." Liwu said.
The sixteen year old who was too bulky for his age wiped sweat from his face. "He told that he had so new equipnt for . I got there, he was not there. Didn’t see him, didn’t even talk to him. It was 1:00 AM and I was late for training."
Linlin had so things to say. Like what kind of training needed a 16 year old to be up at that ungodly hour. Or why the boy cared more about winning records that his dead professor. But, from what she had learned, the students here were a little too obsessed with their projects.
They had been turned into robots. Or sociopaths.
In the art studio, where paints fus swirled they finally found a student that had seen the professor at 4:10 AM. "He took my picture off the wall because I failed to win the top prize at the Euro Art Convention in Germany last week. The school cut my funding. I begged him to give half a million for new pignts and he said no. So, I waited for him to leave, ripped the pictures of the remaining special students from the wall and set them on fire. But I didn’t kill him or anything, I was going to prove him wrong. I wanted to see his old hypocritical face filled with regret when I achieved sothing in future."
Liwu and Linlin exchanged happy glances. Now, the ti line could be drawn.
Just as they turned to leave, the girl let out a blood curdling scream and dowsed herself in red paint. A second later, she was sitting on a stool and painting over a blank canvas with unnatural focus.
"It just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Linlin mumbled.
By evening, the team gathered in the chief’s hotel room to discuss the case. He Xiao Yi was still wearing his anger like a cloak. They started sharing what they had learned so far and added notes and details to the virtual murder board.
"We are still lacking a motive but I think we are making progress." Liwu declared. "We knew the professor was alive at 4:00 AM and in his office. He left briefly before the photos were set on fire. But he must have returned...."
"Or soone brought back his dead body and placed it on the desk." He Xiao Yi jumped in. "Almost every kid here is a system host. We need to find one that can appear and disappear from places without leaving a trace."
There was a knock on the door and Linlin stood up eagerly. "Finally, room service." She opened the door eagerly, only to reveal a stranger with sharp eyes and a familiar sneer.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"He Xiao Mo." He replied. "I am here to see my younger brother, He Xiao Yi."
Linlin was suddenly shoved back and He Xiao Yi occupied the place where she had been standing.
"Xiao Yi." the stranger said, voice dripping with old resentnt.
He Xiao Yi seed frozen. Over ten years had passed since he’d last seen his brother, and the silence between them was heavier than any evidence file. Then, without hesitation, Xiao Yi’s fist shot forward. The crack of teeth echoed like a gunshot. He Xiao Mo staggered back, clutching his mouth, blood dripping onto the hotel tiles.
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