Chapter 681: Chapter 681: The Ninth Person

It was almost twelve noon.

Adam Jennings and Scarlett Jennings wandered around a few places in the school. Seeing that everything in the academy was as usual, Adam suggested they go to the cafeteria for lunch.

As soon as Scarlett heard “cafeteria,” memories of the Taoism Academy’s meals flashed through her mind, and she sternly refused immediately,

“I’ve ordered takeout.”

Having interacted with her for nearly half a year, Adam somewhat understood her temperament. Suddenly, he said,

“Are you afraid of eating in the cafeteria?”

Seeing Scarlett look at him expressionlessly, Adam rarely had a feeling of regaining control here.

“Don’t worry, our school’s cafeteria is famously clean and delicious.”

After pausing, he added, “It’s different from the cafeteria at the Taoism Academy.”

The fact that the Sea City Taoist Academy’s cafeteria food was terrible had been broadcasted online.

Sensing that Adam probably wouldn’t have the guts to fool her, Scarlett followed along.

On the way, she specifically invited Elias Quinn to join them.

Adam: …

He was treating someone to a meal, so why should this person be called along?

Although he humphhed to himself, he didn’t show it on his face.

Elias, who had been following them all morning, naturally agreed, and the three ordered stir-fried dishes. While waiting for the food, Elias asked Scarlett about the places they had visited that morning.

Scarlett didn’t hide anything, simply saying,

“Incidents of collective suicide are usually divided into voluntary and involuntary.”

“In modern society, it’s almost impossible for a group of people to voluntarily commit suicide, so the involuntary possibility is greater.”

Involuntary suicides are usually influenced by external factors.

Possession by evil, influence of a resentment array, just like the abandoned teaching building influenced by the Resentful Bone, where the students who died one after another were driven by resentful energy to take their own lives.

This morning, the places Scarlett visited were to investigate this level of the problem.

From the results:

Sea University’s geomancy was not exceptional, but its overall layout was open, with an atmosphere of integrity and enlightenment that encouraged learning.

Apart from any evil techniques, that left some pseudo-scientific methods.

Such as, collective hypnosis.

…

Male dormitory building.

Heath York was a computer science student in the Class of 2022.

With no classes this morning, he and his two roommates slept until past ten, played some games, and then ordered takeout.

Casually placing the lid smeared with red oil aside, it ended up on top of a book on the table.

A roommate couldn’t help but say, “Once Elias comes back and sees this, he’ll be upset with you again.”

Heath sneered, “I’m supposed to be scared of him?”

With a mocking smirk, he nonchalantly picked up his chopsticks and slurped up his noodles.

Seeing this, the other two roommates didn’t bother and proceeded to eat their own takeout.

Suddenly, it seemed like Heath’s throat was choked. He dropped his chopsticks and started spitting out noodles.

The two roommates initially thought he was momentarily choking, but his complexion began to turn red, and he seemed to have difficulty breathing, letting out heaving noises.

Trying various methods but to no avail, the two roommates became anxious.

“To the infirmary!”

Hearing this, Heath seemed to grasp a lifesaving password, immediately stood up, clutching his neck, and quickly walked out.

Their dormitory building was a quadrangle-shaped structure, with the hallway surrounded by railings immediately outside the dorm room door.

Unsettled, the two roommates followed him outside.

In the moment it took to lock the door, they saw Heath, as if he were possessed, suddenly push away the roommate supporting him, climbed over the railing, and indiscriminately jumped down.

The two roommates didn’t even have time to react until they heard screams from below.

They turned ashen, rushing to the edge to look below. In the next instant, they both collapsed to the floor in shock.

Meanwhile, beside several buildings on campus, a few students looked at their phones before simultaneously walking to the windows or balcony, as if by prior agreement.

As they were about to jump, a shadow swiftly flew down from above them.

Instinctively glancing up, they saw a paper effigy plummet towards their faces from the rooftop.

The bodies of the paper effigies seemed to scrape past their heads before falling straight down.

In that instant, it was as if they saw themselves splattered into a bloody mess at the foot of the building.

Snap.

A shiver ran through their minds, and they fell back into the building, sitting on the ground, faces filled with lingering fear.

Once they came around and looked down again, there were no corpses below.

Not even remnants of the paper effigies, only a faint trace of black ash in the air.

…

Just past noon.

Scarlett’s dishes had just arrived, and she was about to dig in when she paused, sensing something.

She put down her chopsticks and took out her phone.

The phone rang in a timely manner, showing Victor Quintero as the caller.

He was a member from the Sea City Security Bureau.

He was also the helper she had contacted in advance.

Concerning collective suicide, Scarlett had never intended to handle it alone from the start.

After her paper effigy substitutes perished, someone still needed to immediately identify the identities of those eight people.

Victor was calling to synchronize the situation with her.

“We’ve found everyone. We’ve already notified the police to take them back, but the situation might not be exactly as you described.”

After pausing, he added,

“It wasn’t eight people who jumped but nine.”

Scarlett’s expression froze as she subconsciously looked towards Elias, her almond eyes fixed on him, but she asked Victor on the phone,

“Who’s the extra one?”

“From the male dormitory building, named Heath York. Although he jumped, thankfully it was from the third floor, so he’s not dead, just fractured a bone. An ambulance has been notified.”

“I understand, thank you.”

Scarlett hung up the phone but didn’t leave immediately. Instead, she looked at Elias and shared the news she had just received.

Upon hearing that nine people rather than eight had jumped, Elias only showed mild surprise,

“Nine? Oh, maybe I remembered wrong.”

Looking at his seemingly surprised yet not truly surprised expression, Scarlett just asked,

“The only one who succeeded in jumping was Heath York, do you know him?”

Elias responded without hesitation,

“I know Heath York.”

He said with regret, “He’s my roommate.”

Watching his increasingly unconvincing acting, Scarlett’s gaze turned a bit cooler,

“Apart from Heath, the other eight have been identified by the Security Bureau, and we’ll soon find out their reason for the collective suicide.

Now, can you explain why you lied?”

It wasn’t a case of nine pretending to be eight, but rather…

“In the Otherworld, there was no occurrence of students collectively jumping from a building.”

Scarlett’s voice deepened as she coldly questioned,

“Who exactly are you?”

Facing Scarlett’s questioning, Elias’ expression remained unchanged, still wearing the façade of an honest man. Yet the pretentiousness in his eyes diminished, giving way to a light-hearted, innocent demeanor,

“I didn’t intentionally deceive you.”

He explained,

“Initially, my plan was indeed for eight people. The ninth, Heath York… was an addition I made on the spot.”

All because he had purposely soiled his clothes that day~