How could the dead possibly come back to life, though?
Solo remained where he was, stunned to the spot.
He didn’t know how he should explain himself, let alone what he should do… All of this was thanks to his stupidity and self-righteousness!
Regardless, he couldn’t reconcile himself with it. He still wanted to grasp something, so he asked, “What can I do now?”
Aaron lowered his eyes. “The only thing you can do now is to leave Captain Brenda. When Marcus died, she was out of it for whole 6 months. It’s also for the sake of taking revenge for Marcus that we are so focused on arresting Barbarian now, but your existence will only keep reminding Captain Brenda how tragic Marcus’ death was! You being with her will only bring her pain!”
After saying that, Aaron looked down and checked the time. Then, he walked past him and said, “I won’t arrest you—because you don’t deserve to go to prison for reformation.”
With that, Aaron left, leaving behind only Nora and Solo.
Nora looked at Solo. For a while there, she didn’t quite know how she should comfort him.
She suddenly understood Brenda’s feelings very well. From her perspective, Solo might not be the murderer-in fact, he had even been deceived—but how could Brenda possibly bring herself to face him with peace of mind?
During the past few months, Brenda probably didn’t just hate Barbarian, but also the person who had hacked her cell phone, right?
If Solo hadn’t hacked her phone at that time, they wouldn’t have lost contact and Marcus wouldn’t have rushed in to save her…
So, how could Brenda possibly bring herself to be with Solo?
Solo didn’t do anything wrong.
His only mistake was that he had trusted the wrong person.
Brenda also didn’t do anything wrong.
She couldn’t let down Marcus. She couldn’t get into a relationship with the person who had indirectly caused his death. She couldn’t cross that hurdle in her heart.
Therefore, when Nora asked Brenda what was going on, Brenda had told her that there was no misunderstanding. All this time, there had never been any misunderstanding between her and Solo.
Yeah, there certainly wasn’t any.
All there was between the two of them was a dead knot!
Marcus’ death was like a thorn forever stuck between the two. Even if Brenda chose to be with him, she would probably live in guilt for the rest of her life.
Nora sighed. She patted Solo’s shoulder and said, “Why don’t you leave the school for now?”
“… Okay.”
With his head down, a wilted Solo followed behind Nora and left the school.
Nora personally walked Solo out of the school gates. She watched Solo enter the hotel outside the school. After he packed his modest luggage—which was just a backpack-he got into a cab and left.
Only then did Nora turn around. As soon as she did, though, she saw a flash of Brenda not far away.
Nora smiled wryly.
Actually, Brenda couldn’t get over Solo either, right?
She walked over slowly and came up to Brenda. She said, “He’s gone. Don’t look anymore.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Brenda turned around. On the face of the stubborn woman was a strong and resilient expression.
Nora asked, “Can’t bear to part with him?”
Brenda’s lips curled into a wry smile. “Yeah, I
can’t.”
She paused for a while and then said, “It wasn’t easy for me to finally fall for a man, yet I’m letting him go just like that. But don’t worry, Nora, I’m not someone who can’t think straight once I fall in love. I don’t have time to mope around now. My priority now is to catch Barbarian! And avenge Marcus!”
Nora was a little surprised to hear this. “Avenge Marcus?”
“Yeah.” Brenda seemed to have lost the frivolity that was usually around her. She said straightforwardly, “I know Justin isn’t dead.”
Nora was taken aback. “When did you realize?”
Brenda looked at her. “I thought of it when I saw you here at Staav University.”
Brenda looked ahead of her. “Justin’s death came out of nowhere. He is the Big Brother of the Irvin School of Martial Arts. He may not be able to beat Barbarian in terms of pure strength but the Irvin School of Martial Arts is the most skilled at scheming and playing tricks, so Justin should be great at escaping. Later, when I saw that you weren’t very sad, I initially thought it was because you and Justin didn’t love each other that much. However, the three children were also smiling happily every day. To outsiders, the children are still young, so they must not know what death really means, but I know what Pete is like. Although he is young, his IQ is equivalent to that of a fifteen-year-old, so it’s impossible that he wouldn’t understand. Then, when I saw you here, I knew right away that there must be something up with you and Justin.”
Brenda was a police officer great at noticing details. It was not surprising that she would detect such things.
Now that things had come to this, Nora didn’t want to hide it from her anymore, either. Thus, she nodded and said, “Yeah, he didn’t die.”
Brenda heaved a sigh of relief. “I won’t ask what the two of you are doing, but if you ever deal with Barbarian again, you can count me in. There’s an irreconcilable feud between us!”
“Okay.”
The two chatted while searching for Peter’s body in the school.
The rest of the policemen had already searched everywhere but it was as though Peter had disappeared into thin air, and they simply couldn’t find any clues. In fact, for some reason, some students even said that they had seen Peter buying breakfast in the cafeteria in the morning.
Brenda found this puzzling. “That’s impossible. Are they sure that the person they saw was Peter?”
Aaron was even more incredulous. “Yes, they are sure that the person they saw was Peter. After I asked them about it carefully, they told me that Peter always wears a baseball cap and carries a towel with him when he goes running every morning. After that, while covered in sweat, he goes to the cafeteria to buy breakfast and brings it back to his dorm room. I’ve checked the surveillance cameras in the cafeteria-‘Peter’ had his back to the cameras the whole time and he didn’t show his face at all. He only created an illusion to make everyone think that Peter had gone for breakfast, when in fact, the person buying breakfast at that time was the murderer!”
Brenda’s brows drew together tightly. “Barbarian’s modus operandi is very strange this time. He used to kill in a direct and brutal manner all the time but he’s simply being too strange right now. Not only did he kill Peter and leave us without any clues, but he even pretended to be Peter after that… What on earth is he trying to do?”
While Brenda was thinking, Aaron also remarked, “If it weren’t for the poker cards in the room, I would have thought that Barbarian really isn’t the one behind it all this time! How could someone like him, who has always been simple-minded and straightforward, possibly come up with such a complex plan? What the hell is he planning?”
Nora, who was next to him, suddenly said, “I know what he’s planning now.”
Aaron was taken aback. “What is it?”
Nora looked out the window. “There you go, his objective has come…”
Following what she said, someone pushed open the door to the office they were in.
A few professors and students walked in. As soon as they did, they began to accuse and criticize Brenda and Aaron.
“Officer, what on earth is the matter with you guys? Do you have any idea how urgent our projects are? We agreed to your request when you wanted us to cooperate with you yesterday. There’s absolutely no way we’re doing that again tonight!”
“Yeah, we’re staff and students here at Staav University, not prisoners! We can choose to disobey your orders! We demand freedom!”
“We are all students and professors. Instead of investigating Professor Mayer’s death and going after his murderer, you’re staying here and doing so many meaningless things… On top of that, you’re even claiming that Professor Peter has been killed? How can that be? If Professor Peter has really been killed, then produce some evidence for it!”
“Is it okay to lie just to prove that your judgment is correct? Professor Peter just posted on Instagram, yet you’re saying that he’s dead? This is ridiculous!”
“Yeah, do you think Staav University’s staff and students are pushovers? We have a School of Law here! I’m a law student myself. Officer, I’d like to talk to you about human rights and freedom now…”
“Officer, you have no right to imprison so many of us. We have our right to freedom. You can’t lock up nearly ten thousand teachers and students in the school with you just because of a murderer! I’m going out now… I have something on at home!”
“I’m going out too! I’ve run out of tissues, I need to go to the supermarket!”
“I’m going out too, I’m going out too…”
The people’s voices got louder and louder.
Seeing their behavior, Nora lowered her eyes and said slowly, “You see that? Now, this is exactly what he’s after.”
She looked at Brenda. “Barbarian came here to look for something and he’s not leaving until he finds it, but your presence here has seriously affected his ability to judge the situation and his objective. That’s why he’s doing this—he wants to incite the students and professors into driving you guys away.”
Aaron: “!”
He clenched his fists furiously. “Damn! That son of a bitch!”
Brenda was much calmer. She lowered her eyes and looked at Epson, who was leading the crowd. She said, “The president and I have already agreed that I will leave tomorrow if there’s still no murder tonight. However, in the meantime, all of you must still obey our orders! We represent the school’s decision!”
Epson scoffed and asked, “You represent the school’s decision? Therefore, we should just waste another night here? Captain Brenda, if no murder happens by tomorrow and the police leaves, then what happens to our lost time tonight? Who is going to compensate us for it? Who is going to take responsibility for our lost time?!”
Brenda took a deep breath. “I will!”
Epson demanded aggressively, “And how are you going to take responsibility for it?” Brenda sneered, “If nothing happens by tomorrow morning, then I am willing to be punished! I will take off this uniform I’m wearing!”
“Okay! Don’t forget what you said!” Having achieved his goal, Epson said cheerfully, “I hope you won’t break your promise tomorrow!”
“Don’t worry, I never go back on my word!”
Brenda retorted stubbornly.
Epson scoffed, “Then we’ll wait until tomorrow!”
After Epson left with the students, Aaron couldn’t help but ask anxiously, “What do we do if we still don’t find Peter’s body by tomorrow? Captain Brenda, are you really going to hold yourself responsible for this?”
Captain Brenda had once said that she would never take off her uniform until she caught Barbarian and took her revenge!
Upon hearing what he said, Brenda looked at Nora.
Nora nodded slightly.
Brenda lowered her eyes and said, “We may not be able to find Peter, but isn’t Barbarian going to continue killing tonight anyway?”
With Nora-in other words, Q-here, no hacker would be able to breach her firewall and infiltrate the staff dormitories!
And if the staff dormitories were unsafe, Barbarian wouldn’t be able to attack them anymore. With that, he could only set his sights on the laboratory!
Barbarian was a highly psychotic murderer. Once he started a killing spree, he must kill five people before he stopped. This was his principle and dedication.
With that in mind, Brenda looked coldly at Epson’s back in the distance. It seemed that she would have to smoke the enemy out tonight!
