Chapter 7 Chapter VII

I don't know how long I was in a daze, maybe I passed out just standing like this.A sobbing sound brought me back to consciousness.It's Stella.Not just her.The usually resolute "Her Royal Highness" is no longer using her appearance to keep blowing her nose. It wasn't just the girls who were crying.When I came back to my senses, I realized that I too was trying to hold back the sobs.Tears blurred the eyes and blocked the nose.All I could do was gasp for breath.I think again, before we, no, at least I, faced the sudden death scene of "retainer" or "poet", we all showed too much composure, almost frivolous composure.I'm certainly not really cool.It's just that everything is happening at the same time, and my rationality and reflexes can't catch up.

But now, at the moment when Mrs. Cotton was shot through the brain and died immediately, death, a huge and unreasonable fact that human beings cannot handle, finally pressed to the chest.And it was our friend "Neutral" who shot him, and we witnessed it from as close as we could reach.Witnessed that moment with my own eyes.It wasn't that I saw someone dead when I came to the scene, but that the person who was still breathing just now turned into a corpse that couldn't speak.This blow is so big and heavy that it cannot be described by the concept of blow. Stella, who had barely suppressed her sobs before, suddenly yelled loudly. "I'm done! Enough! What's wrong with everyone? What's wrong? These things are so weird. It's messed up, everything is messed up. Or am I the one who's crazy?"

"Stella." I wanted to touch her arm, but she threw it away, and she walked towards the dormitory area with stumbling steps. "Head...it hurts." She took a step forward, staggered, looked up at the ceiling, and sighed heavily, "Head hurts. So...disgusting. I want to vomit. I want to vomit." "Stella." "Don't come here, don't come here, anyone." She covered her mouth and whimpered, "Don't come here, anyone." Stella hid in her own room, Room 101. "Ah Wei, during this period—" I have never felt that the existence of "His Royal Highness" who is talking to me while wiping tears is so trustworthy. "Let her be alone during this time. After a while, she will calm down naturally."

"probably?" I looked around.Just a few seconds ago, something so horrific had happened that it frightened me uncontrollably. The body of "The Poet" is now almost slipping out of the wheelchair, next to Mrs. Cotton lying on her back with blood on her forehead.Why don't they get up? ——When I was captured by a deep thought of escapism—— "... At least there is a restraint." "Neutral" who still held the pistol in his left hand muttered in a low voice. "Really temper yourself, please." "Her Royal Highness" and I looked at each other.We don't know exactly what "Neutral" is talking about, or who he's referring to—no, we actually do.It's too clear.He kept looking down at Mrs. Cotton's body.

"This is a test, right?" "Neutral" with a faint smile on his face opened his hands wide and shrugged artificially. "It's also one of the tests of reasoning ability, right?" "Howard." "I know, it was a blank shot just now, and the old woman was just playing dead. No, or—" "Or it's not them. Just beautifully made dolls? Mrs. Cotton and Kenneth Duffy, and—" "Put the gun down, Howard." "Her Royal Highness" made a 180-degree turn in attitude, persuading him gently like a mother. "Slowly, you know? Put it on the floor."

"Bill Wilbur lying out there must be crawling out from under the sheet now laughing with his tongue out? Isn't he? He must be alive and kicking?" "Loosen your fingers one by one, don't worry, slowly and carefully." "What... what's going on?" "Neutral" lost all strength in his body, his knees were limp on the ground, and he cried while holding his head. "What the hell is going on? What the hell is going on? Sue, tell me. What the hell is going on?" "Her Royal Highness" carefully took the pistol from the hand of "Neutral" who was shaking from crying. "Good boy, Howard. Now—" she whispered in his ear as she stroked his back tenderly. "Go to your room, okay?"

"What should I do?" The "neutral" who was arrogant and confident in a certain way before showed an unimaginable cowardice. "What should I do? Tell me, what should I do in the future?" "Go and rest for a while. Go back to your own bed, don't think about anything, and have a good sleep. Just think about the detailed situation later. Do you know?" The upper body of "Neutral" fell weakly in the direction of "Her Royal Highness".I can't see if it's a bow to her for showing him what to do, or if he just nearly loses his weight and falls over?

"A Wei, are you okay? If possible, take Howard back to the room—" "I'm fine." The "neutral" who stood up seemed to return to his usual state. "I'm fine, I'll be fine. But, I'm sorry, I'll just listen to you, and I'll go to rest." "Neutral" staggered towards the dormitory.It was said that it was not a very long distance, but his steps trembled slightly, which made people worry about whether he could reach the last room 105 safely.After making sure he walked into my room and closed the door, I could finally relax my shoulders.

"A Wei." As soon as I turned around, "Her Royal Highness" handed me the pistol she had just taken from "Neutrality". "what?" "You can't throw such troublesome things around casually, right?" "What you said makes sense, but it's better to leave it to you for safekeeping." "A pistol is a boy's toy." "It has nothing to do with boys or girls, it should be kept by the calmest people." "I'm sorry, but I'm actually not as calm as I look." "What next?" "What should I do?" Maybe when I looked around anxiously, I accidentally saw those two sentences about corpses? "Her Royal Highness" quickly turned around to face me. "We can do nothing but wait for the return of Dr. Seward and Mr. Baggins."

"No, that's not good." "what?" "That might not be a good idea." "A Wei, what are you talking about?" "We've got to do something before Dr. Seward and Mr. Baggins come back. I have the feeling." "Do what? How exactly? No, why do we have to do something?" "Kate, maybe you think I'm out of my head, but I've always had something on my mind." "What's up?" "follow me." "Where are you going?" "library." Without waiting for her answer, I walked towards the main area.After a while, I felt the breath of "Her Royal Highness" following up, and at the same time I walked into the library.There are full bookshelves inside.The reading area is centered around a round table with four chairs beside it.Maybe it was used by Stella and the others when they published their project for the first time?

"What are you doing here?" "I think it's probably here." "what?" "evidence." "I'm going to ask you something!" "Anyway, would you like to look for it for me? Look for something strange—" As soon as I finished speaking, I immediately bent down.A shiny object fell behind the backmost chair.Upon closer inspection, it was the golden lighter of the "Dorm Supervisor".Maybe he dropped it by accident.So, when he was urged to chase after Lu Bennett, he flapped his white shirt to find a lighter, wasn't it to cover up his anxiety of trying to divert the "principal"? "I said you, you keep saying strange things, who would understand such ambiguous statements, you are also specific—" "Her Royal Highness" the originally dissatisfied voice suddenly became a little nervous. "Hello... Ah Wei." I retracted the hand that was stretched out to pick up the lighter, and straightened up. "What's wrong?" "Is this the strange thing you're talking about?" "Her Royal Highness" pointed to the bottom of the round table.Something fell in there, a Latin dictionary.Because it is a hard shell cover, it looks quite heavy.The dictionary has been opened, and the pages of the book are thrown on the ground. The most notable thing is the black smudge attached to the hard part of the corner of the book, and the hair like gray cotton wool. "Yes, it must be this." "What is this?" "It's the murder weapon." "The murder weapon...how could it be?" "It was probably the dictionary that was used to kill Bill Wilbur. That is to say, the real murder scene is here. He was murdered in the library." "But why was he found outside the building?" "Recall what happened when we came out of the reception room just after the internship class. When you came to the corridor with me, the first group just finished the internship, right?" "Yeah, that's what I remember. They just came into the corridor—" "In what order did they go out from here?" "When we saw it—" "Her Royal Highness" wandered in the air, thinking hard, "I remember that Kenneth had already walked to the central hall, and Howard caught Seward in front of the vending machine. Doctor, he should be the first to come out." "That's right. Then Stella came out of the library, and then Mr. Baggins. That's the order. So which one was Bill Wilbur first out of the library?" "Before Kenneth, or after Mr. Baggins—" "Her Royal Highness" seemed to know what I wanted to say, her eyes widened, and then closed immediately, as if she was praying for something. "So that's how it is... Ah Wei, you mean that's where the problem lies, right?" "Yes. Let me tell you what I think. The first person to leave the library after the practicum, as we saw with our own eyes, was Kenneth Duffy. Then Stella also came out. So, stay Mr Baggins and Bill Wilbur are the only ones left in the library." "Do you mean that Mr. Baggins took advantage of the gap to kill Bill? Hit him over the head with this dictionary?" "That's right. After killing Bill, Mr. Baggins took his body from there—" I pointed to the library window. "Moved outside. Then he jumped out of the window himself and dragged Bill's body along the lawn to the dormitory area." "Why would he do that?" "This is just my imagination. I guess Mr. Baggins is going to make a disguise, so that everyone thinks that after Bill returned to his room, for some reason, he tried to peek out the window, but he accidentally lost his center of gravity, and his head and feet fell off. Go down, and you will die if you hit a vital point.” "You mean he took Bill out of the window of his room in order to fake an accidental death?" "I said it was just my guess, but in fact I have conclusive evidence that Mr. Baggins removed Bill's body." "Evidence? What evidence?" "It's in your hands now." "This?" He stared fixedly at the pistol he was holding all the time, "Why?" "That's Mr. Baggins's." "Eh... ah, is it?" "Yes. In fact, you told me at first, and later I saw him holding the gun by chance. I will tell you in detail later. In short, Mr. Baggins will The pistol was hidden in the pocket of the black jacket, and when he moved Bill's body outside from here, dragged it to the dormitory area, and corrected the posture of the body for the purpose of camouflage, the pistol was accidentally shot. It fell out of the pocket." "It turned out that the pistol was just hidden under Bill's body." "Mr. Baggins, who was concentrating on his disguise work, didn't notice this. Maybe he was in a hurry to get things settled quickly? Because he still had a lot to do. After correcting the posture of the dead body, he went from the outside Go back to the library, go to room 103, open the door with the key pulled out from Bill, enter the room, open the window, just throw the key of room 103 next to the body. Before lunch, he fabricated After Bill fell from the window of his room and died unexpectedly, he headed to the restaurant with a nonchalant expression. However, Mr. Baggins was forced to give up halfway." "why?" "After Baggins moved Bill out of the window of Room 103, he came here again from the outside—" I pointed to the window again, "then pretended to be someone who had just finished a practical class, came from the library to the corridor, and then Hurriedly rushing to room 103, at that moment—” "You mean something unexpected happened to obstruct it?" "Yes, Dr. Seward." "She ordered Mr. Baggins to drive after the escaped Lou Bennett. Mr. Baggins could not disobey her irrefutable orders." "As it turned out, the pretense of Bill's accidental death was only half done." "I understand that, but why? Why did Mr. Baggins have to kill Bill?" "I don't know. But, at least for now, it's clear that Bill wasn't the only one Mr. Baggins killed." "What did you say?" "Baggins killed another man. Killed another student here." "Her Royal Highness" seemed to have misunderstood my words, looking back at the body of the "poet" and said. "You mean..." "No, no, Kate. I didn't mean Kenneth, but Lou Bennett." "Huh?" She widened her eyes and turned to look at me again. "Huh? Ah? Ah?" "Lu Bennett didn't escape from here. He was killed, maybe last night. After he was introduced to us, something happened." "Last night? I said, Wei, it's impossible. Lou Bennett slept in late this morning. Why did you—" "Who confirmed it?" "what?" "Lou Bennett was alive this morning and slept late. Who can be sure of that? Except Mr. Baggins." "Then..." "Her Royal Highness" covered her mouth with her palm, as if suppressing the urge to scream. "Well, then, you mean, Mr. Baggins went to room 109 this morning, Lou Bennett said he was not feeling well, so he went back to see him again, only to find that Lou was nowhere to be found, and all... all Is it all Mr. Baggins himself?" "The facts I have just pointed out are of greater importance. Did I not say that Mr. Baggins was lying when he claimed that they were going about looking for the missing Lou Bennett?" "He said he wanted to check each of our rooms, but because they were all locked, there was no way to get in. In fact, Ah Wei's room was not locked at all." "Yes, Mr. Baggins is obviously lying. If even looking for Lou Bennett is a lie, then everything from his going to room 109 this morning to wake him up is just acting. Mr Baggins must know that Lou Bennett disappeared last night." "Then, if you want to ask why he knew about this, it's because he killed Lou Bennett himself last night—?" "exactly." "If that's the case, what did he do with Lou Bennett's body?" "It's been disposed of, and it's used as food for the crocodiles in the back." I told "Her Royal Highness" about the suspicious behavior of the "house warden" last night in front of the barbed wire fence behind the building this morning. listen.At the same time, it is added that it was at that time that I saw him carrying the pistol with my own eyes. "—At that time, he had already killed Lou Bennett and disposed of the body." The image of the "Dorm Supervisor" picking up something like a treasure bag from the ground when he left there came to my mind.I don't know if it was a real treasure bag, or something like a plastic bag, but anyway, he must have wrapped Lou Bennett's body in it and carried it outside. "But why? Why? Why did Mr. Baggins sit in that kind of thing? How could he attack Bill after killing Lou Bennett? What is the reason?" "I don't know about this. I really can't figure it out, so people feel comfortable with me." "Wait a minute, if that's the case—" "Her Royal Highness" lowered her voice. "If that's the case, then who killed Kenneth? It shouldn't be Mr. Baggins. He is now driving Dr. Seward out to find Lou Bennett. When they set off, Kenneth was still alive." "On this point, I think Howard's opinion is probably more correct." "That is to say—" "Perhaps Mrs. Cotton's actions? Apart from that, there is no other reasonable agreement." "But why?" Asking the same question over and over again can be tiring.However, "Her Royal Highness" was so overwhelmed that she couldn't help asking again and again. "Why do you do that kind of thing? Kill the students who spent so much money and kung fu characteristics gathered from the world one after another, why do they do this kind of thing?" "I don't think Seward would do such a thing? Because she seems to have an unparalleled dedication to running this facility, and she attaches great importance to us students. However, Mr. Baggins or Mrs. Cotton may not be like him Enthusiastic." Perhaps she understood what I was trying to say, "His Royal Highness" glared at me with a heart attack-like expression.An uncomfortable silence lasted for a while. "Rather than—" I cleared my throat, "it's more likely that the two of them were just reluctant to cooperate with Dr. Seward's cravings. Mr. Baggins was forced not to smoke the cigarettes he liked, and was forced to eat hard. After eating three meals, he must have accumulated a lot of pressure in his heart. Every day, he wonders if there is an excuse for him to leave here. Such an inference should not be too far-fetched." "Is it because of this?" She tried to force a smile, but her expression was as ugly as swallowing the sour and bitter gastric juices that came up forcibly. "So he thinks that as long as all the students here and here are dead, he doesn't need to help Dr. Seward—how is it possible? Come on less. How could it be possible to kill everyone just because of such a motive..." "I don't know that. Of course I can't be sure. But if there's such a possibility in the family business, shouldn't we wait with trepidation for Mr. Baggins' return?" "Ah Wei, I finally understand. It turns out that what you said, we have to do something before Dr. Seward returns." "Yes. I also think it's unlikely, but the heinous crimes may continue to occur." "But...but—" "Her Royal Highness" twisted her body anxiously. "What should we do, you tell me, what should we do?" "We've got to think about this. We're going to talk to Stella and Howard about—" "Wait a minute." "Her Royal Highness" straightened her back suddenly, and looked back at the door of the library. "Then... what's the sound?"