Chapter 229: If I say this wasn't me... do you believe it?

If I say this wasn't me... do you believe it?

"Mouth Brother, you finally spoke. I thought you ran away with the shadow too."

Cheng Shi smiled like a little fox, just like a villain whose scheme had succeeded.

"·......"

"Why have you been so quiet lately? Did you convert to 【Silence】?"

"·Don't talk nonsense, I just woke up."

As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Shi's hand actually touched his nose uncontrollably.

"?"

Cheng Shi blinked blankly, and then bent over and laughed wildly, laughing until tears were about to flow out.

It turned out that "Honest Clown" didn't just pit himself; it even pitted the Lips of Deception together. This was also...

Too damn great!

"·......"

"Mouth Brother, why are you not speaking again? Don't you like lying anymore?"

"Mouth Brother, did you change your nature?"

"Mouth Brother, are you still there?"

"Hello?"

The Lips of Deception returned to silence again, but Cheng Shi felt extremely happy in his heart.

He sometimes feared that his mouth would lose its effect under 【Fate】, but now it seemed it had withstood the pressure of 【Fate】.

Not bad, not bad, at least he wasn't too lonely.

Thinking of this, Cheng Shi rubbed his nose again. He was feeling the state of his nose, hoping to lie better by touching his nose in the remaining trial time.

But what he didn't expect was that the Lips of Deception suddenly came out with a sentence while he was touching his nose:

"·Fate cannot be resisted."

As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Shi's smile froze on his face.

He couldn't laugh anymore.

What did Mouth Brother mean by this sentence?

Was what it said the truth, or a lie? Did it deliberately drill a loophole in the 【Deception】 curse, or did it not trigger the effect of "Honest Clown"?

What did it want to express, and what did it want to tell him?

If this were a conversation with an outsider, Cheng Shi would probably need to ponder for a while, but for the Lips of Deception, he preferred to ask directly, although he knew there would likely be no response next.

"Mouth Brother, you are a liar's mouth, not a riddle-maker's mouth. Can you speak clearly?"

Sure enough, the Lips of Deception had no response.

Fine, fine, playing like this, forcing me to be a clown!

Cheng Shi had doubts in his heart that couldn't be solved, and in "shame-turned-anger," he had to vent his anger on the only dead person at the scene.

He picked up the Concentric Dagger on the desktop again, preparing to write two characters on the forehead of this Serius scholar who calculated him:

Clown!

But just as he raised his hand, the next second, the wooden door of the room was pushed open from the outside.

A little girl with shoulder-length short hair rushed in, hopping and skipping.

"Grandpa Serius, I brought you your favorite..."

The happy voice stopped abruptly just after starting.

The little girl was stunned by everything in front of her. She looked at Cheng Shi's action of holding the dagger high, looked at the scholar with blood on his heart in the chair, looked at that familiar face with eyes wide open in death, and with a "clatter," the bag in her hand fell to the ground.

The hopping posture stiffened, and the happy smile froze.

The eyes that were crescent moons a second ago turned red the next second, and two lines of clear tears flowed down. Joy and expectation turned into grief and sobbing unexpectedly.

Cheng Shi was also shocked, because he hadn't heard any sound outside the door before this.

Looking at the innocent little girl crying in fear, he could only pull out a friendly smile, and argued awkwardly:

"If I say this wasn't me... do you believe it?"

"Sob... hmm, sob... believe, I believe."

The little girl wiped her tears while sobbing, picked up the bag that had fallen to the ground, closed the door, and then walked silently to Serius's side.

Just watching this set of movements, Cheng Shi knew that this little girl was definitely not simple.

Calm, steady, orderly, fearless.

Even if an adult faced a suspect holding a bloody dagger, they probably wouldn't be as calm as her. Setting aside her personal quality, the only reason Cheng Shi could think of was that he was wearing a suit of punitive knight armor, which made the other party not so resistant and suspicious of him.

But if she came here often, she should know that punitive knights didn't belong here.

"Did he... go painfully?"

"Sorry, I didn't see.

When I rushed over, Mr. Serius was already dead. I only found this."

Saying this, Cheng Shi rubbed his nose and shook the dagger in his hand.

"Then... did you see who killed him?"

"Hmm, I saw a male assassin with yellow hair and a deathmatch prisoner wearing a prisoner helmet who broke through the door. They looked flustered and had blood on their hands. I used thunder to attack that yellow-haired assassin, but he turned into a pile of poker cards and disappeared.

As for that deathmatch prisoner, he ran too fast, and I couldn't catch him."

The little girl wiped her tears again. Her small hands overlapped on Serius's old hands and she cried for a long time, and then followed Cheng Shi's line of sight to look at the charred poker cards on the ground.

"Poker... I don't seem to have heard Grandpa mention this ability. Thank you, I don't seem to have seen you. May I ask who you are..."

"Glind, little p... miss, my name is Glind, a punitive knight who was buried in the ruins by an explosion but accidentally discovered the escape tunnel dug by prisoners and accidentally fell in.

When I discovered this place, I found that escaped criminal, so I chased after him, but...

Sorry, I was a step late."

The little girl pursed her lips tightly and looked at Cheng Shi. After sizing him up for a good while, she still chose to believe.

"Then Mr. Glind, may I ask, do you know anyone who has the ability to turn into poker cards, even if you know who they belong to?"

"Sorry miss, my knowledge is limited, but I think there will be sufficient reasons behind every murder. Whoever least wants Mr. Serius to live is most likely the murderer."

The little girl thought for a moment with lowered eyebrows and said uncertainly:

"You mean... someone from the Tower of Reason found this place and killed Grandpa Serius?"

"Uh... I don't know everything here, but if the Tower of Reason you mentioned is the Tower of Reason I understand, then I can only say it's very likely.

Because the Scholarly Chair Committee wouldn't let scholars of the Tower of Reason use the 'Truth' they learned

"Mm, thank you, thank you Mr. Grinder, but Punishing Knights are not permitted to come down here. I suggest you leave immediately and explain the situation to Aunt Melina, who is guarding the laboratory gate. She will help you leave here and return to your post."

"You... are letting me go?"

"You don't want to leave?"

*Hiss*, this is interesting. It seems this little girl knows quite a lot.

She dares to let him go without asking anything?

"I do. Melina... alright, thank you. In that case, I'll be going now."

Cheng Shi turned to leave without hesitation, but the little girl behind him called out to him just as he lifted his leg.

"Um... Mr. Grinder, could you leave the murder weapon behind? I think the Iron Law Knights who come later might find it useful during their investigation."

"..."

This brat has sharp eyes.

"Sorry, I was nervous for a moment and forgot." Cheng Shi put on a smiling face, pulled a brand-new scalpel from his sleeve, and then secretly stained it with a bit of blood from the Concentric Dagger, placing it on the desk in place of the real murder weapon.

The little girl had been watching him quietly without speaking, but after he finished all this, she suddenly asked:

"Why do you keep touching your nose?"

"Uh... I'm a bit allergic to the air here; it's quite uncomfortable." As he spoke, Cheng Shi touched the tip of his nose again.

It was red—as red as a clown's nose.

"I express my apologies to you once again. I think I should be going."

Cheng Shi turned his head and walked away, and this time the little girl did not stop him.

Her eyes lingered on Cheng Shi's back, and not until he had left the room did she sob and close Selius's eyelids.

"Grandpa Selius, why did you insist on leaving? Don't you like me anymore?

Wuwuwu..."

A long time later, the Iron Law Knights guarding this place finally "arrived late."

They were still wearing leather hoods that obscured their faces. When they discovered that Selius in the workshop was dead, these knights did not show much shock; they only looked at the little girl beside Selius and said in a gentle, soft voice:

"You shouldn't be here. Some unpleasant things have happened here; shall we take you back?"

The little girl had already regained her composure, and her eyes were no longer red. She looked straight at these cold Iron Law Knights and said with an extremely serious expression:

"The Tower of Reason killed Grandpa Selius."

The lead knight frowned: "You aren't hurt, are you? You shouldn't have let Melina guard the door; she should have been protecting your side."

"No, this has nothing to do with Melina. I am saying: The Tower of Reason killed Grandpa Selius."

"Mr. Selius has not died; he is currently tidying up the experimental data in his office. I assure you, everything you see here is very likely a prank."

"I am not a fool, Mr. Knights. Are you trying to say that people from the Tower of Reason went to great lengths to sneak in here just to set up a prank for me?

Do you think the great scholars of the Scholarly Chair Society are all fools?"

"Er, you are right, they are not fools, but why are you certain it must have been done by people from the Tower of Reason?"

"Because... I can't think of anyone else."

The knight couldn't hold it and laughed, but he quickly restrained his smile and nodded with utmost seriousness:

"We will investigate this matter thoroughly. Please rest assured, under the radiance of the Supreme Judge, no evil can escape."

The little girl still trusted the knights; she gave a light "Mm" and finally decided to leave.

The knights hurriedly made way.

"You two, take Lady Galiusha back to Lord Kyn Laoer and ensure her safety at all costs."

"Yes!"