SYSTEM ASCENSION

”Good good. Had there been a liar, we would have been cleaning up guts,” Claude stretched his hand to the chairs. ”Let’s begin.”

They all stared at him walking to pick a favourite chair out of all the identical chairs around the table.

”What?!” Tiana yelled first. ”Cleaning up guts?!”

”It’s fine right? No one is a disposal afterall.” He shrugged and sat down.

Elias picked a random seat, and sat down. Kael sat on his left, then Tiana on his right, still holding Mona who was staring at them like they had offended him.

A moment later, they had all settled down.

”The actual report, would you, Davon?” Claude yawned and slumped over the table.

”Calv is an upholder.” Davon began.

All expressions didn’t really change, except Kael who seemed clueless. It was common sense. Calv Bafman was targeted by a disposal who are hostile towards their kind. The blur poison was proof of that.

”And he went around announcing it to the whole school.” Davon added.

”Wait,” Claude raised his head. ”Why ain’t we aware of that.”

”It was the day those two went missing,” he pointed to Elias and Kael. ”Then after a while, you also went missing. Then, the leading family came knocking.”

”We all got our hands full to listen to gossip.” Fayera spoke.

”He paraded himself as an upholder and asked almost all students if they were. Something about finding the rest of his kind.”

”The sheer amount of idiocy is baffling.” Elias muttered bluntly.

A few of them chuckled.

”That was indeed one of the stupidest moves.” Tyler commented.

Davon continued. ”I didn’t see the face of the person who killed him, but the person wore a uniform. It was a blur that I almost caught, but I saw the tag of a student in the advancement class like us.”

All expressions are narrowed.

”Uniform wear?” Kael gasped. ”They are in here?”

”It’s no surprise. If we’re here, then we should also expect them.” Claude shrugged it off. ”Now, there are two possibilities. One, he was killed by a student he approached and asked. If this is the solution, then we can narrow down who he discussed with via the monitoring orbs placed around the school.”

They nodded.

”Second, he was killed by someone who he didn’t approach. The trail’s gone cold, and we have to suspect every student. The monitoring orbs didn’t function well, so they must have been a jamming ability. At this rate, we can only catch the culprit ourselves.”

”So, no solution?” Tiana asked.

”Idiocity is infectious. Some pupils must have opened up to him and claim to be upholders too.” Elias spoke.

”Spot on,” Davon nodded. ”He managed to recruit four students. Two girls, two boys.”

”Then, should we check on those students?” She asked.

Before anyone could say a word, Claude’s phone chimed. He pulled it out of his pocket and picked the call.

”Whattttt?” He was really annoyed.

”President, are you asleep?” Coco’s voice sounded.

”I’m supposed to be.”

”Girl dorm. Two deaths.”

”...”

He slowly raised his head. They all heard it, and Kael was finding it hard not to exclaim in shock.

”Contact the rest.”

Claude stood up and cut the call.

”I really wanted to have a good sleep right now. Such a shame.”

They left the room and headed to the elevator. It took them up and they walked out the building.

Tiana followed Elias closely, still carrying Mona in her arms. The little boy seemed completely uninterested in the situation, staring around with a bored expression as if everyone else was overreacting.

It didn’t take long before they reached the girls dormitory. By the time they arrived, Coco was already waiting outside with Lane and Anya.

The moment Coco saw them, she raised a hand.

”Over here.”

The place was crowded. All the female students who were enjoying a rest moments ago, were now pacing around in panic. Mimi and Rolarza sat by the flowers together, in their sleeping wears, watching the student council.

As soon as they saw Elias, they both stood up and approached him, like they wanted to read an explanation from his dark eyes. He just patted their heads and walked past them.

Claude walked toward the dorm, followed by Elias, Kael, Tiana, Davon, Fayera and Tyler.

”Tell me everything,” Claude said.

Coco unfolded her arms.

”Someone screamed. Alerted the whole dorm. Turns out the second victim put up a bit of a fight, but...”

She pointed toward the sealed room and stopped.

”You know the rest.”

Anya glanced toward the room.

”Both deaths look similar. The poison.”

Claude’s expression became more serious.

”Does anyone touch anything?”

”No,” Lane replied.

They walked toward the first room and stepped in. The roommates haven’t left yet. She sat by her bed, frozen in fear.

Davon crouched beside the bed and examined the student without touching her.

”Same condition as Calv.”

Elias walked toward the other side of the room. His eyes moved across the walls, the floor and the furniture, then he stopped.

”Here.”

Everyone looked toward him.

On the carpet was a drop of the liquid poison. It had melted into the ground.

”The person is a female.”

A few of them blinked.

”What?” Lane tilted his head. ”Is there a pattern that a female use in spilling a drop of melting poison?”

”No stupid,” Tiana rolled her eyes. ”The drop is below the bed and the window is above. If a male killed her, he’ll escape through the window to the male dorm that is in the window’s direction. The female used the door to blend in with other students so that’s why the drop is there.”

No one said a word after she was done. It was like she had just done what no one expected from her.

”I’m not Lane.” She scoffed.

”Hey!” Lane gasped.

So one of the females in this dorm is the culprit.” Fayera muttered.

”We can’t rule out the fact that the murderer of Calv and these ladies would be the same.” Kael pitched in.

”Fair point.” Claude nodded. ”I guess we won’t be getting sleep anytime soon. Although the monitoring orbs were jammed previously, still, we need to check it...”

Their council device chimed all at once. For a moment, no one reached for it to check.

Only the acting headmaster and head of security had access to contacting them all at once, but for some reasons, these important people are not here in the crime scene. It could only mean that they were somewhere equally important.

Elias reached for his own, and pulled out the orb. It chimed immediately, revealing Owen’s face.

”What?”

”Where are you guys?”

”Somewhere.” He wasn’t interested in explaining further, but Owen instantly understood that something was up.

”Male dorm. Two deaths. Roommates. We caught the culprit.”