Zhou Pei ultimately didn’t move.
There would always be some people who felt a perverse joy in their hearts as they were sure no one would discover them after they had committed a crime.
Sun Mo didn’t have the mood to waste time. Hence, he walked toward the window.
There were five pots of plants there grown for adornment purposes.
“If I didn’t guess wrongly, these belong to Zhou Pei, right?”
Sun Mo asked.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Pei’s heart almost leaped out of his chest.
“Zhou Pei mains in herbology. It’s normal for him to nurture some flowers and herbs, right?”
Wang Meng counter-asked.
“…”
Sun Mo furrowed his brows. (Are you really stupid?)
He then involuntarily turned his gaze to Xiao Que. (How in the world did you fall for a guy like this?)
“In that case, which one is the plant he brought back recently?”
Sun Mo asked again.
“Who would know this?”
Wang Meng’s lips twitched. “I’m cultivating every day, so I didn’t pay attention to it.”
This time around, there was no need for Sun Mo to speak. Xiao Que directly lifted her hand and heavily smashed it into Wang Meng’s chest.
“What’s with your poor observation skill? There are new plants in your room and you tell me you don’t know anything about them? If you can’t even show concern to such minor matters, what accomplishments could you have in the future?”
Xiao Que berated her boyfriend like how one would scold a dog.
“I…I…”
Wang Meng didn’t evade. He lowered his head and allowed Xiao Que to scold him.
“Green-luos, vine grass, etc. Other than this broken-faced peony, there’s nothing valuable here. If you say it’s for ornamental value, that’s impossible. Why are you raising these plants?”
Sun Mo’s lips twitched. “Even if you have a unique preference, I can’t find the common point between these pots of plants.”
Zhou Pei was still silent as he kept reminding himself to be calm. That item was so concealed, so Sun Mo shouldn’t be able to find it.
“Did you guys feel that I’m inferior in other subjects since I have such great mastery in the art of spiritual control and spirit runes? Let me secretly tell you that my standard in botany is quite impressive as well.”
Sun Mo spoke and flicked a stalk of a plant that resembled a mushroom. “Interesting, you even dare to grow graveyard moss? Do you feel that the atmosphere in the room isn’t dark and moist enough?”
Upon hearing the word ‘botany’, Mei Ziyu involuntarily glanced at Sun Mo. She mentally mused that his standard in botany wasn’t bad either.
Xiao Que’s eyes brightened. (As expected of the teacher I admire, he is truly erudite!)
“I thought this plant could absorb moisture, lowering the humidity?”
Before Zhou Pei could say anything, Wang Meng already interrupted.
Jinling was a city in Jiangnan and there would be many days of rain during the summer, causing the humidity to be very high. Hence, some people might grow graveyard moss, since it could absorb the water vapor in the air and turn the atmosphere dryer.
“There are both advantages and disadvantages!”
Sun Mo didn’t have Divine Sight now, but it was fine. He already saw that there was a tumor-like swell on the rhizome of the graveyard moss.
Mei Ziyu came over and her countenance immediately changed when she saw this.
Li Ziqi and the other two also came nearer. After the little sunny egg saw this, she involuntarily exclaimed in shock.
“Isn’t this a dead spirit spot?”
“What’s that?”
Wang Meng frowned, it didn’t sound like anything good.
“It’s a very rare type of moss and can be considered a parasitic lifeform. It is also food for dead spirits and departed souls. They will slowly grow while leeching on the lifeforce of a plant and are disseminated around with the aid of ‘hooking’ on the fur of animals. In fact, it can even grow on a human’s body. After a prolonged period, the human will feel a lack of energy and dizziness. In the end, they will lose their consciousness and become a puppet of the dead spirit spot. It is extremely hard to remove.”
Li Ziqi explained.
Mei Ziyu was astonished. (You even know such obscure knowledge?)
“Ah?”
Wang Meng jumped in fright.
“However, this item is very valuable and is an essential catalyst for concocting certain types of soul-type medicines. This stalk alone can be sold for several tens of thousands of spirit stones.”
After Li Ziqi finished speaking, Wang Meng and Xiao Que almost stopped breathing.
As for Zhou Pei, his expression was unchanged as though he already knew this.
“Several tens of thousands of silver? How much money is that?”
Wang Meng stretched his fingers out and wanted to count, but in the end, Xiao Que slapped his head.
“It’s spirit stones!”
Li Ziqi glanced at Wang Meng. (So, not only are you dumb, but your listening ability is bad as well!)
“S…spirit stones? Tens of thousands?”
Wang Meng suddenly felt a toothache. After that, he was scared. Such a valuable item was placed here so casually? What if it got stolen?
“Zhou Pei, why don’t you tell us your story?”
Sun Mo sat down.
“I’m unwilling!”
Since things had come to this, there was nothing to hide anymore. “You guys have also seen it. Wang Meng is so stupid, so what qualifications does he have to win Xiao Que’s heart?”
“Ah?”
Wang Meng finally realized what was going on at this moment.
“Brother Pei!”
Xiao Que stopped him.
“Shut up!”
Zhou Pei berated. After that, he asked, “Which aspect of mine is inferior to him? Also, I’ve lived together with you for ten years!”
“But I’ve always treated you like an elder brother!’
Xiao Que was helpless. How could one force something like love?
“Elder Brother Pei, I know you are good to me, but when I was together with you, you would complete everything for me to the point where I felt like trash. But when I’m together with Wang Meng, I can take care of him, I can scold him, I can berate him, and he would never retaliate. He makes me feel very comfortable when I’m with him.”
Xiao Que’s personality was valiant and heroic. She didn’t like to mince words.
Zhou Pei was stunned. (Was I in the wrong to take care of you?)
“Ai!”
Sun Mo sighed. Zhou Pei thought that by treating Xiao Que well, he was loving her. But in truth, what Xiao Que loved was a life like this where she could ‘tame’ Wang Meng.
This feeling was like raising a dog.
“You guys can chat about your love life later on!”
When Li Ziqi saw the impacted look on Zhou Pei’s face, she knew he had no way to piece his words together anymore. Hence, she helped him to explain.
“What you learned is actually herbology and during the process of gathering herbs, you accidentaly discovered the dead spirit spot growing on the graveyard moss and you recognized it. After that, maybe for the sake of protecting your life or maybe for the sake of obtaining Xiao Que, you agreed to help the dead spirit find a puppet.
“Given your intellect, you managed to seamlessly ‘leak’ this information to Wang Meng and after you used the ‘getting first place in our year’ to stir his feelings, he took the bait and went there to ‘try his luck’, eventually succeeding in ‘subduing’ this dead spirit.
“In truth, Wang Meng’s ‘recruitment’ of this dead spirit is fake. The true dead spirit was already living in the graveyard moss as a parasite.
“Wang Meng felt he succeeded and hence grew careless. He suffered a backlash, and his consciousness was seized as he sank into a struggle.
“As for you? Taking the initiative to seek help might be an act to prove your ‘deep’ friendship with Wang Meng and to allay any suspicions of you killing him. Or maybe you want to shoot two birds with one arrow, and after Wang Meng was killed by the dead spirit, you would look for my teacher to kill the dead spirit and settle this matter completely.”
Li Ziqi spoke frankly with assurance. Her logic and thinking were clear as she listed out all the possibilities.
“Student, you are very impressive!”
Mei Ziyu praised in a low voice.
“She is my pride!”
Sun Mo smiled.
The little sunny egg’s ears moved. Her originally calm appearance immediately rippled as a smile appeared on her face. The smile was as beautiful as a blooming peony flower.
(So, I’m the doted child whom Teacher loves the most?)
Ding!
Favorable impression points from Li Ziqi +100. Reverence (55,250/100,000).
“Haha, you are correct. I want to finish Wang Meng and then kill that dead spirit. By doing so, no one would know what I’ve done.”
Zhou Pei laughed loudly.
“Everything is within my plan. In fact, I’ve even considered looking for a teacher who could kill the dead spirit and not discover the thing about the graveyard moss. Who knew that I would see Teacher Sun the moment I ran out of the dorm.
“At that time, I hesitated because Teacher Sun was too impressive and I didn’t know if he would discover my secret. But then, he wasn’t a grandmaster in botany or herbology and shouldn’t recognize the dead spirit spot. He is also good in the art of spiritual control and definitely would be able to kill the dead spirit. After all, the situation was urgent.
“And with the number one great teacher of Jinling on my side, definitely no one would suspect me. Sadly, man proposed while God disposed.”
(Honestly speaking, I might have lost this time around, but I’m thoroughly convinced by my loss.)
Ding!
Favorable impression points from Zhou Pei +1,000. Respect (1,510/10,000).
Everyone felt some lingering fear. If Sun Mo didn’t know botany, he would definitely not be able to discover the dead spirit spot and this would become a perfect murder.
Moreover, it would be a perfect murder where the murderer actually calculated his involvement.
“You are wrong. It was your expression that betrayed you. Your emotions fluctuated too wildly when Xiao Que appeared.”
Sun Mo shook his head and didn’t agree with Zhou Pei’s words.
Mei Ziyu and Li Ziqi couldn’t help but smile. Other than Sun Mo, who would be so meticulous? In any case, Sun Mo was impressive and invincible.
There were no others.
“Hehe, it’s fine. Everything is no longer important.”
Zhou Pei bitterly smiled. He then suddenly shot forward and rushed toward the windowsill. “Xiao Que, I’ll use my death to prove that I like you more than he does.”
Bang!
Zhou Pei knocked open the window and jumped down, wanting to commit suicide.
At this moment, a black ball of spirit qi suddenly gushed forth from Sun Mo’s body. A dark shadow flashed as he executed Wind King Divine Step and arrived there, leaping down before Zhou Pei despite moving later. He then grabbed Zhou Pei by his arm and securely landed onto the ground below.
Sun Mo calmly spoke.
“If you commit a mistake, you should admit to it. Don’t use death to escape. I will report this matter to the school and let Headmaster An decide what to do with you.”
Sun Mo sighed. (I gave you a chance earlier, but you didn’t grab it.)
“Ziqi, conclude things here!”
Sun Mo was lazy and decided to let the little sunny egg handle the ending.
Lu Zhiruo looked at Sun Mo’s departing figure and felt very envious. If it was her in his shoes, she would have been tricked.
“Be calm. What can this small matter count as?”
Li Ziqi felt everything was normal for their teacher.
Below the building, Mei Ziyu couldn’t help but console Sun Mo when she saw his downcasted expression. “Don’t think too much, students like Zhou Pei are a minority.”
“Mn!”
Sun Mo nodded.
Ding!
Congratulations on treating Wang Meng. Mission is completed. Reward: 1x golden treasure chest.”
Ding!
“Congratulations on finding the truth and apprehending the culprit, accomplishing the hidden mission. Reward: 1x gold treasure chest.”
The system congratulated, but the reward wasn’t good enough.
“Are you giving a penny to chase the beggar away? Where’s the mysterious treasure chest?”
Sun No scolded, venting his unhappiness.
“Let me eat that graveyard moss!”
The scarab had always been beside Sun Mo’s ear, buzzing incessantly. Just when Sun Mo couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to explode in anger, a young woman came over to look for him.
“I’m Yu Yuhong, the vice group leader of Yue Rongbo’s great teacher group.”
The young woman introduced herself.
Earlier, Sun Mo felt somewhat strange about why Yue Rongbo didn’t participate in the great teacher group battle. Sun Mo had thought it was because Yue Rongbo didn’t wish to treat him as an enemy. But in the end, it turned out that he had gone missing.
However, how would a 4-star great teacher have gone missing?
