"Climbing up to the sixth floor from the outside?"
The two guards exchanged glances and both gave helpless smiles. "All right. Since you didn't use the normal route upstairs, that means you can't provide any clues about the murderer."
"You've already found the culprit?" Tiger Peak Toumi jumped to her feet at once, her eyes turning sharp.
"Calm down. We only have a suspect for now. We're still collecting evidence."
Seeing signs that Tiger Peak Toumi's emotions were about to spiral again, one of the guards quickly changed the subject.
"Also, regarding the dispute between you and student Lin Wuming…"
Sure enough, her attention was diverted. She stood at attention obediently, assuming the posture of someone admitting fault and waiting to be criticized.
"After our investigation, as well as the statements from you and student Lin Wuming, it has been confirmed that this was indeed a misunderstanding. Fortunately, it didn't result in overly serious consequences. And since Lin Wuming has chosen not to pursue the matter, you'll only need to attend a safety awareness lecture this weekend."
The outcome was lighter than she had initially feared, but not beyond her expectations. Tiger Peak Toumi had already prepared herself mentally and accepted the decision calmly.
What she cared about more was something else.
"You've already talked to Kobayashi ?" she asked. "Has his treatment finished?"
She glanced toward the emergency room beside them. She'd been lost in thought earlier and hadn't even noticed that the two guards had already gone in and come back out once.
"Don't worry," the guard said somewhat awkwardly. "Kobayashi's injuries aren't serious… You showed quite a bit of restraint. Compared to that, his secondary fractures in the left leg and right arm are actually more troublesome."
Tiger Peak Toumi nodded, visibly relieved. Then she pressed on,
"What about Teacher Sakurai? How is she?"
"You'll have to ask the doctors for details," the guard replied. "According to what we've been told, she's out of immediate danger, but the rescue came a bit too late. She likely won't regain consciousness in the short term."
That was exactly what troubled the guards as well. If the victim could wake up, identifying the culprit would be much simpler.
Hearing Doctor Sakurai's condition, Tiger Peak Toumi let out a breath of relief—yet at the same time, vicious killing intent flared once more on her small face.
"Who was it… who dared hurt Teacher Sakurai?!"
A few minutes later, in a conference room specially cleared out by the hospital, everyone connected to the hospital murder case had been gathered together.
The guards in dark navy uniforms stood on high alert, their expressions complicated as they looked at the three identified suspects.
At that moment, Tiger Peak Toumi entered the room together with the two guards.
Seeing the girl, the guards already present all showed helpless expressions.
Faced with their colleagues' questioning looks, the two guards could only grit their teeth and explain,
"Student Tiger Peak is also directly involved in the incident, so she has the right to know…"
"Keep an eye on her," said a female guard standing at the center of the room. "Don't let her hurt the suspects."
Every guard who was familiar with Tiger Peak Toumi shared the same concern: once the murderer was identified, with this girl's personality and strength, things could easily escalate into immediate revenge—possibly even a public execution on the spot.
"I'll restrain myself," Tiger Peak Toumi said, fully aware of herself and the warning being given.
She had indeed prepared herself to stay calm. Only after repeated assurances was she finally allowed to participate in the meeting.
Looking around the conference room, Tiger Peak Toumi realized that aside from herself and Lin Wuming, everyone else present was an adult. That alone made her feel a bit nervous.
Although the guards of Academy City were generally trustworthy, some of them carried the aura of elite soldiers—an air that only made her even more uneasy.
She frowned and unconsciously edged closer to Lin Wuming, the only person her age nearby.
Lin Wuming's injuries were neither trivial nor life-threatening. They certainly weren't light enough for him to be running around so energetically.
Under normal circumstances, with his condition, he should have been lying flat in a hospital bed, completely unable to move and in need of proper rest.
The reason he felt none of this—and even thought himself perfectly fine—was simply because his Level 3 telekinesis was just too convenient.
In the span of a single day, Lin Wuming had already become proficient with his ability, applying it flexibly to everyday life. As a result, he barely felt any inconvenience at all.
That was why, the moment his treatment ended, he could immediately show up lively and energetic for this so-called "trial meeting."
As for the hospital murder case itself, Lin Wuming had a vague feeling—
The killer had actually been after him. Doctor Sakurai had merely been an unfortunate casualty.
After all, he had just escaped from some illegal research facility whose name he couldn't even remember. Even if he retained very few memories from that time, it was only natural that such an organization wouldn't dare take risks—sending an assassin to silence him wasn't strange at all.
Subsequent conversations with the guards only confirmed this suspicion.
The assassination had occurred precisely during the brief window before the guards assigned as his bodyguards had arrived.
Had it been any later, this incident wouldn't have happened at all.
Subjectively, Lin Wuming would have loved nothing more than to lie low, avoid trouble, and enjoy a peaceful new life.
But if there was a group of people somewhere constantly plotting to kill him and erase loose ends, then no matter how much he wanted to "lie flat," he'd never be able to rest easy.
In over thirty years across two lifetimes, this was the first time Lin Wuming had ever experienced a murder case. For now, he mostly observed the meeting with the detached curiosity of someone watching a spectacle.
That was, until he noticed Tiger Peak Toumi quietly edging closer to him.
Less than two hours had passed since their intense battle. Her ferocity during that fight was still vividly etched into his mind.
Just seeing her made the seven wounds in his chest ache again.
Even though he knew the chances were slim, Lin Wuming couldn't help worrying that this girl might suddenly fall silent—and then stab a few more holes into him.
Fortunately, before Tiger Peak Toumi could get any closer, the meeting finally began.
The guard in charge of the investigation brought up surveillance footage on the large screen.
"This murder was clearly premeditated," the guard explained. "The sixth and fifth floors of the inpatient building already have low foot traffic. Before acting, the culprit also disabled all surveillance cameras on both floors, so the clues we can obtain from that angle are extremely limited."
On the flip side, this drastically narrowed down the pool of suspects.
Someone capable of disabling all the cameras on an entire floor had to be an insider—or a professional like a guard.
This was one of the main reasons they had locked onto these three suspects.
"Based on surveillance from other floors," the guard continued, "we can roughly determine that the three of you entered this area during the time of the incident, giving you a relatively high level of suspicion."
Among the three suspects, two were doctors wearing white coats.
The third—
Was none other than the female guard who had spoken up earlier.
Yet she appeared completely at ease, showing no sign of discomfort at being suspected, calmly preparing to accept questioning.
"Well then," Lin Wuming muttered,
"A classic three-way choice. This is basically a free point question."
(End of Chapter)