Volume 1: Raging Waves City Chapter 209: Shifting the blame
After hearing Luke's suggestion, Professor Lennon did not bother to ask any more questions. He left some battle mages to survey the scene of Francis' death, and he personally led a team to search Francis' apartment.
Then, in Francis' apartment, a large amount of information related to the remains of the Magic Botanical Museum was found. Some of these academic records could not be forged, so they were enough to prove that Francis had been exploring the remains of the Magic Botanical Museum for some time.
Moreover, the battle mages were looking for a large sum of money, which was a fortune that Francis could not accumulate as an assistant teacher at the academy.
When Luke and Yin arrived, Professor Lennon was looking at the documents that had been found. The battle mages sorted and packed up all of Francis's belongings, ready to take them away for careful analysis.
Professor Lennon saw Luke, handed the document in his hand to the battle mage beside him, and asked, "How did you find out that there was something wrong with Francis?"
" I saw Francis near the Wind Sound Hall. The Wind Sound Hall is the entrance to the Department of Mysticism. Francis's major determines that the probability of him appearing in that place is very low. So I asked him a few questions, and he was obviously a little afraid of me..."
Hearing Luke's answer, Lennon felt a little unbelievable: "Just based on these...you suspect Francis and follow him?"
"Professor Lennon, I'm definitely not as good as you in teaching excellent students, but you're definitely not as professional as me in finding criminals. To us Imperial spies, Francis is suspicious in every way.
He’s a pretty lousy criminal.”
Professor Lennon corrected: “Chief Inspector of Meteorite, the current clues can only prove that Assistant Professor Francis has been secretly exploring the remains of the Magic Botanical Museum and has collected a lot of information for the study .
These can only prove that he is a suspect, but cannot prove that he has a direct relationship with the incident.
And how did he die?
You followed Assistant Professor Francis, so you should be familiar with the process. "
Professor Lennon stared at Luke, waiting for an answer.
"Director Yin and I followed Assistant Professor Francis to the cabin in the woods and saw him meeting a man in black. He was scared by what happened in the ruins of the Magic Botanical Garden and wanted to quit but was rejected.
Then the man in black killed him.
Everything happened so fast that I and Yin didn’t have time to stop it.”
Yin looked at Luke on the side. Although what he said was indeed what happened last night, he was obviously hiding something.
Out of trust in Yunxing, Yin didn't say much. Her silence represented her acknowledgment that what Yunxing said was true.
These are indeed true.
The course of events should be...
Francis was the direct promoter of the Magic Botanical Museum Ruins Incident. He was hired by external forces to lure students into desperate situations and then kill them, causing chaos within the Oulu Academy.
It was only because of Qingkong's unexpected involvement and Professor Lennon's timely interception of the students by the battle mages that the tragedy was prevented from happening.
Now the legendary Chief Inspector of Meteorite comes to investigate, and Assistant Professor Francis is brutally murdered.
The logic of the matter is self-consistent and the context seems very clear.
Professor Lennon asked again: "Do you know who instructed Francis to do this?"
"I know, but I can't tell you."
"Why?"
Luke smiled and replied, "Francis is dead. I have no evidence to prove that what I saw and said was true. The situation in Raging Waves City has just eased. My accusation will not only be unhelpful to your case, but will lead Raging Waves City into a new chaos."
"You mean... the person who ordered Francis is..."
"I didn't say anything." Luke stopped Professor Lennon from speaking his conjecture: "If you have any ideas, you can discuss them among yourselves. As for me... I originally wanted to take the opportunity of investigating the case to have a few days of quiet time at Oulu College, but I didn't expect to solve the case so quickly.
I have to go back and face those unfinished things again.”
Professor Lennon saluted to Luke who was about to leave and said, "Thank you, Chief Inspector. If you hadn't revealed Francis' true identity, he would definitely have done many more things that are detrimental to the college.
I still have a lot of things to deal with here, so I won’t take you there.”
"Tell Miss Qingkong your farewell for me. Goodbye."
Luke took Yin to find the car he drove, and then left Oulu College through the portal.
The light and shadows changed, and the morning turned into night.
On the way to the Golden Hotel, Yin couldn't help asking, "Why didn't you tell Professor Lennon that Francis wasn't the one who did the Magic Botanical Garden Ruins Incident? The real dangerous person is someone else."
"He's a very powerful guy. If we push too hard, we may never find him. I don't have much time to waste at Oulu College. Solving problems for Miss Clear Sky is all I have to do."
Yin asked again: "But...what if he continues to do bad things?"
"What is his purpose in doing bad things? It's obvious that everything is aimed at Miss Qingkong. Now that Francis has taken all the blame, the relationship between Qingkong and Oulu College has eased, and there is no need for him to take the risk of doing bad things.
I will tell Miss Qingkong what I know, and she can do the investigation secretly at Oulu College."
Yin thought for a moment and said, "What you said makes sense."
By convincing Yin to cover up for him, Luke can slowly pour the dirty water on the new nobles of Raging Wave City.
evidence?
Suspicion does not require evidence, and it is best to have no evidence.
After Luke and Yin left Oulu College, the college committee held an emergency meeting at the call of Vice President Elvi.
The autopsy report of Assistant Francis is out.
Someone stabbed him in the heart with a sharp weapon from behind, and the technique was extremely clean and neat.
Professor Lennon also provided the clues he had collected, and a magical image was projected in the middle of the conference room.
"Because Chief Detective Meteorite protected the crime scene very well, we were able to conduct a thorough retrospective review of the incident based on the traces left at the scene. Although it is a little blurry, we can still clearly see the process of Francis' murder."
As the image shakes, the outlines of objects gradually emerge.
At night, Francis was talking to a man in black beside a cabin in the forest. During the conversation, Francis was a little excited and had a heated argument with the man in black, who then stabbed Francis to death from behind.
Then the man in black left through the portal, and the meteorite and sound that followed Francis appeared. They chose to protect the crime scene until dawn, when the battle mage who discovered the smoke arrived.
After watching the magic flashback video, there was a brief silence in the conference room.
Until Vice Dean Elvy said, "Professor Lennon, you are in charge of this case. Tell me your findings and opinions."
“Yes, Vice President Elvi. Although the timeline of Francis’ death may be distorted and we cannot hear what he talked about with the man in black, the course of events is very clear and accurate.
During our search of Francis's relics, we found a large amount of information and plant samples related to the remains of the Magic Botanical Garden, as well as a large amount of coins of unknown origin.
Francis had talked to many people... Dean Wilred had passed the position of dean to Professor Qingkong and expressed his dissatisfaction...
I think the whole incident was that Francis was bribed by outside forces to cause internal confrontation in the college."
Vice Dean Elvi asked, "Who is the outside force that bribed Francis?"
"I don't know yet. Chief Inspector of Meteorite, who heard Francis talking with the man in black, knows, but he refuses to say anything because he has no evidence and is afraid of causing new confrontations in Raging Wave City."
It wasn't said, but everyone knew who Meteorite was talking about.
In Raging Waves City, the only forces that Chief Inspector Meteorite could take into consideration so much were the new aristocratic forces headed by Grover.
After reviewing the process of this incident, it is obvious that the purpose is to target Professor Qingkong.
Because Francis heard the conversation between Dean Wilred and Qingkong, the new nobles of Raging Waves City were afraid that Oulu College would fall into the hands of the Reform Society led by Meteorite, so they came up with this strategy.
Taking advantage of Dean Wilred's absence, they created internal strife in the academy and squeezed out Professor Qingkong, who was unable to handle the whole thing on his own.
There is motive, ability, and Francis, a witness who is not considered a human witness.
Although there was not enough evidence to prove it, everyone in the meeting room knew who killed Francis.
Oulu Academy committee meetings became very depressing.
A simple rumor, or even a harmless black spirit, could not make the top leaders of Oulu College so angry. But the incident of the remains of the Magic Botanical Garden touched the bottom line of Oulu College. They actually dared to attack the students of the college.
"First... I want to apologize to Professor Qingkong." Vice Dean Elvi stood up and bowed to Qingkong: "Jealousy blinded my eyes and made me do things that violated my conscience, almost causing an irreparable disaster in the academy.
When Dean Wilred comes back, I will resign from the position of vice-dean. Perhaps being a magic teacher is the most suitable for me. I think Wilred thinks so too.
But now we must respond to this incident and warn those who still want to bring disaster to Oulu College, letting them know that if they anger Oulu College, they will pay a price they cannot afford!
Professor Qingkong, do you have anything to say?"
Qingkong stood up and saluted to Vice Dean Elvi, then said, "I want to confirm that besides me and the Abyss Temple, is there anyone else who might have the source of the Black Eclipse Spirit?"
Professor Lennon replied: "After catching the first Black Eclipse Spirit, I checked all the records related to the Black Eclipse Spirit in the data from a hundred years ago. At that time, the college destroyed all the captured Black Eclipse Spirits.
But because the losses at Oulu College were so severe at the time, Nutao City sent many people to participate in the rescue. If there were any remaining Black Erosion Spirits leaking out at that time, they must be in the hands of someone in Nutao City, but they cannot be confirmed and tracked. "
Even the murder weapon has been found. The new nobles of Raging Waves City may not be able to clear themselves of this crime even if they jump into the Lyme River.
Qingkong said: "Since its establishment, Oulu College has never interfered with the political changes in Raging Waves City. Although I have a close relationship with Mrs. Michelle, I have not used Oulu College to help the Reform Society.
Some people wanted to kill people in Oulu College just because of a rumor, causing internal disputes in the college. This was really too much.
Now we all know who the main culprit is, but unfortunately there is no evidence to bring him to justice. However, Vice President Elvi is right. We must let them know that there is a price to pay for angering Oulu College. Only an unbearable price can make them cancel their subsequent plans to harm Oulu College.
We will fight back!"
Vice President Elvi expressed his attitude.
He also stated that he would resign from the position of vice president, indicating that he would no longer compete for the position of future president. This incident exposed his management shortcomings, which showed that Willard still had some ability to judge people.
Then Professor Qingkong, who is favored by Wilred, will undoubtedly become a strong contender for the position of future president of Oulu College.
Vice Dean Elvi and Professor Qingkong both said they wanted to fight back. With everyone very angry, the Oulu College Committee unanimously passed the counterattack issue.
But how to fight back?
There is no conclusive evidence that the new nobles of Nutao City attacked Oulu College, and the principle of Oulu College not to interfere in the political affairs of Nutao City is unshakable.
Qingkong suggested: Professor Lennon should lead the Oulu battle mages to continue to investigate Francis. Although the other party killed Francis to silence him, it should be a spur of the moment decision, and there must be many clues that have not been destroyed. As long as they investigate carefully, they will definitely find solid evidence that Francis is colluding with external forces.
Then, using the Black Eclipse Spirit as a clue, we asked the Government Affairs Office of Nutao City to cooperate in investigating the rescue process of the Oulu College disaster a hundred years ago. We wanted to find out if there were any Black Eclipse Spirits hidden by someone and then taken away from Oulu College.
The next step is to suspend some of the scientific research cooperation projects with the City Alchemist Association.
"The City Alchemist Association suffered a huge loss in the financial fraud crisis. City merchants broke away from the control of the City Alchemist Association, and the private research institutions under the City Alchemist Association also gained greater autonomy.
This time we terminated some of the cooperation with the scientific research institutions directly under the Government Affairs Department, and increased the strength and investment in private research institutions. The weak and loose City Alchemist Association is now powerless to stop our attack. It only takes a while to seize the technology research and development system that Fury City relies on.
This is the most fatal to our opponents, and we have not interfered with the political changes in Raging Waves City..."
When Qingkong finished talking about his revenge plan, the atmosphere at the Oulu College Committee meeting suddenly became cheerful.
All the Oulu mages present knew what the lifeblood of the new nobles of Raging Waves City was, which was the vibrant and constantly innovative new technology. The continuous innovation of technology brought wealth, and wealth made Raging Waves City so prosperous.
Since we have no evidence to accuse the new nobles of Raging Waves City of attacking Oulu College, there is no way to punish the criminals using imperial law, but we can take revenge in our own way.
The research projects of the City Alchemist Association of Nutao City are highly dependent on the Oulu College. As long as the Oulu College interrupts the supply of personnel and technology, the entire City Alchemist Association will be paralyzed!