“Hoshino Urui, your report has typos. Go fix them.”
“Kuchiki Diao, there’s a grammatical issue with this sentence. Give it another think.”
“Takahashi Hideo, your formatting is a mess. Take a good look at what the others did.”
“Kurosawa Itsuki, yours…” Su Mo read it from start to finish. She went over it several times but, for the life of her, couldn’t find a single thing wrong.
Kurosawa Itsuki smiled, a hint of mischief in his eyes. “Miss Chiba, maybe I should cut down the word count? I feel like I wrote a bit too much. It’s a bit wordy.”
Su Mo cleared her throat lightly. “Here. Take it back.”
Hmph, this kid didn’t make a single mistake!
Su Mo was the type to settle scores on the spot. Except for Kurosawa Itsuki, the other three all received their due “punishment.”
That’s what you get for deliberately trying to annoy me…
(o｀ε´o)
While they were busy revising the drafts they’d just written, Su Mo carefully considered the points they’d all raised. In summary, their ideas boiled down to four main theories.
First: Someone on their own side was helping from the shadows. Of course, the “own side” they mentioned definitely did not include the spies working under Wei Yue Yan.
Second: There existed an enemy of their enemy. This person wanted to collaborate but didn’t want to be the one sticking their neck out, so they passed their information on to someone else to play that role.
Third: The mastermind behind all of this was playing a dirty game. They were trying to lure them into a trap, aiming to gather them all in a disadvantageous location and wipe them out in one fell swoop.
The fourth theory was proposed by Kurosawa Itsuki. Kuchiki Diao had touched on it as well, but not in nearly as much detail. This theory suggested the sender of the letter belonged to no faction at all. Their only goal was to stir up chaos so they could sit back and watch the show, ready to reap the benefits when the time was right. In other words, they were a complete outsider looking to profit from the confusion. Even if they ended up gaining nothing, they wouldn’t lose anything either.
Su Mo was fairly satisfied with the points they’d brought up. They covered most of the possibilities she had already considered.
As for potential suspects, Hoshino Urui suggested the mysterious director of the psychiatric hospital. Her reasoning was that he had never actually made an appearance, yet the hospital was a crucial location where the murder, the theft, and the man-eating monster had all taken place.
Kuchiki Diao and Takahashi Hideo both suspected Mrs. Sato. They noted that she had shown up multiple times, but always seemed to be just background decoration. Her presence felt a bit superfluous, yet they got the sense that the situation wouldn’t quite work without her there.
Kurosawa Itsuki didn’t give a specific name. He only identified the person’s role: a collaborator of the main plotter. His reasoning was that the recent events had each caused different kinds of repercussions. Some actions seemed designed to deliberately cover something up, while others appeared to be trying to expose something. These two objectives were inherently contradictory, suggesting the possibility of internal strife.
Su Mo found all of these analyses quite satisfying. In her own deductions, Mrs. Sato, the mysterious hospital director, and Mr. Sato were the three most suspicious individuals.
As for Kurosawa Itsuki’s theory about a collaborator, Su Mo had a hunch that the two parties in question were likely the Sato couple and the mysterious director.
Her preliminary theory went like this:
First, the mysterious director’s cultivation method was likely tied to human desires. He had placed the Sky Demon Stone inside the psychiatric hospital to stir up the patients’ inner cravings.
Second, the Sato couple helped funnel people into the hospital for him and, in return, received certain benefits.
Now that the Sky Demon Stone had been “stolen” by her—no, no, “taken”—their partnership was showing cracks. One party was likely trying to use this opportunity to eliminate the other.
If that were the case, the motive made sense. And the one trying to make the first move would have to be… the mysterious director!
He was the one who had suffered the most significant loss so far, while the Sato couple seemed to have come away relatively unscathed.
This explanation tied up nearly everything neatly, except for the incident with the man-eating monster.
But isn’t that just like saying “aside from the facts of the case”?
“Why overthink it? Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. If you really can’t figure it out, just go take a look for yourself.”
Ye Qingyi’s voice suddenly echoed in Su Mo’s ear. Su Mo’s heart leaped, and she almost blurted out, “You’re brilliant, wifey!”
Ever since that strange dream a few days ago, she often found herself replaying that scene in her mind.
When the moment really comes, you call me “hubby,” and I’ll call you “wifey.” And when emotions run deep, we’ll just dim the lights… Hehe!
“Miss Chiba?” Hoshino Urui waved a hand in front of her face, then raised her voice. “Miss! Chi! Ba!”
Su Mo jolted as if zapped by electricity. “What are you yelling for? I’m not deaf.”
“Well, you were just standing there giggling to yourself, and you wouldn’t answer me,” Hoshino Urui pouted. Then a gossipy grin spread across her face. “Miss Chiba, were you thinking about your boyfriend? Your expression just now was really, really tender. Kurosawa Itsuki and Takahashi Hideo were practically staring, completely mesmerized.”
“Cough, cough, cough, cough…” The two boys suddenly erupted into violent coughing fits, hacking away like patients with some terminal disease.
Su Mo’s expression was a picture of conflicted emotions. It wasn’t because of the boys, but because someone was taking advantage of the fact that she couldn’t respond right now to tease her mercilessly.
“Oh my, is wifey missing me? Why is her face turning so red?”
“Oh, I know! You must be picturing my magnificent physique and feeling a bit overwhelmed. Hee hee.”
“Hmm? Why aren’t you saying anything? Did I guess right? Are you mad now?”
“There, there, baby. Don’t be mad anymore, okay? Mwah!”
Su Mo swore to herself in silence: The next time we meet, I am going to show her just who’s boss!
And later, once we swap back to our original bodies, I’m going to tease her relentlessly. I’ll tease her until she cries!
Su Mo paused and reconsidered. …Nah, I could never bring myself to do that.
Su Mo shot the four of them a cool glance. “Mind your own business. Kids shouldn’t ask so many questions.”
Hoshino Urui muttered under her breath, “We’re all basically the same age…”
At the very beginning, none of the four had any respect for Su Mo because of her age. That all changed the moment she caught the old madman’s three sword strikes with her bare hands. That was when her authority was finally established.
Now, they were completely obedient around her.
What choice did they have? She was stronger than them. They couldn’t beat her in a fight. What else could they do?
Ever since spiritual energy revived and supernatural forces descended upon the world, Earth had been gradually moving toward an era where strength reigns supreme.
As long as your fists are tough enough, you can swagger around most places in the world, and people will naturally respect you for it.
It was still morning. Su Mo checked the time and started laying out the plan for the day.
“I’m going to scout out the location mentioned in the letter, just to see what’s really there. You four will stay put here. In the meantime, try to quietly gather some information about the hospital director and the Sato couple. Don’t be too obvious about it. Just see what you can pick up about their reputations and what kind of people they are. Focus mainly on Mrs. Sato.”
Mr. Sato was actively cultivating a public image, so any inquiries about him were unlikely to yield anything useful. The director was too mysterious; the chances of learning anything about him were slim. Mrs. Sato, however, had a much higher public profile and probably hadn’t gone to such lengths to manage her image. She was the most likely source of any useful intel.
“But we still don’t know where that letter came from. Won’t it be dangerous for you to go alone?” Hoshino Urui asked.
Su Mo shot her a look. “Don’t worry. Without you four around, my combat effectiveness at least quadruples.”
Hoshino Urui: (o｀ε´o)
The others: (•ω• ٥)
