The Otherworldly Adventures of a Super Naive Girl

318: Airon’s Thoughts

Yanaimo looked at Airon with an infatuated gaze.
This man that she loved was the only suitable match for her.

“Teachers, fellow students, I don’t know if any of you have noticed, but there was a pattern to how every student died.”

“A pattern? Did you notice something Airon?” Teacher Ballard was interested.

Airon nodded.
“Everyone, please take a look at these drawings.” He promptly produced a stack of papers filled with drawings.

Everyone knew Airon enjoyed drawing, so no one was surprised he happened to have a stack of paper on him.

Airon neatly arranged the drawings on the table.
Each sheet vividly portrayed how someone died.
The details were meticulously drawn and included everything from the decorations in a room if it was indoors, to the natural landscape if it was outdoors.

Ming Xi was on patrol so he did not get to see the drawings, but the maid (Jier) and skinny school boy (Ink) were present and able to see them.
The drawings were so good that Ink couldn’t help but admire the talent and skill of the artist.

Leo, who had become a manservant, was standing on the outer perimeter of the group, so he couldn’t move forward to see the drawings.
How disappointing.
He really wanted to see them too. . . 

“What are you trying to say with these drawings?” asked Teacher Del Leo.

The others were also confused.
Were there some kind of major clue in the drawings?

“Everyone, please look.
I have notated both the method and time of death.
Do you see a pattern?”

What was it? Was there really something in the drawings?

Everyone studied the drawings, desperately trying to find some sort of clue.
But try as they might, they couldn’t find anything other than the fact that everyone died a terrible death with their eyes open.

Seeing that no one noticed anything, Airon decided not to keep them in suspense and proceeded to sort the drawings into five categories.
“Now do you see anything?”

Was there a difference? Most didn’t get it, but the two teachers did and their eyes widened in surprise at the realization.

Del Leo cried out as he slapped his forehead, “Why didn’t I think of it?!”

“I only now see it as well.
How embarrassing that the students had to remind us of it.” Ballard smiled bitterly.
To need one of their own students to point something as basic as this out to them, they really had shirked their duties as teachers.

“Teacher, what did you notice?”

Feng Wu was looking at the drawings along with everyone else.
The more she looked at them, the stranger they became.

“There are gold, wood, water, fire and earth.” Feng Wu explained with these simple words.

“Gold, wood, water, fire, earth?! No way! So that’s how it is.
The people in this stack all died in gold.
The ones here all died in earth, and here – water.
These are fire and these – wood!”

The others were able to understand after Feng Wu reminded them.
It looked like everyone died in one of five surroundings.

“Zhēn! You’re so smart! You were able to tell just by looking.” Annai grabbed Feng Wu’s sleeve as she expressed her admiration.

“Yes, it is as Zhēn said.
Everyone here died in either the woods, in water, in fire or in the earth.
If the murderer just wanted to kill someone, why go through so much trouble to be this elaborate? I suspect the culprit is trying to perform an evil ritual.”

Yanaimo did not like Zhēn getting Airon’s attention, and it showed in her expression, which was looking rather bad.

“Evil ritual!” Both teachers had also thought of this.
It was true, there was no reason to resort to such trickery if the intent was only to kill someone.

“There’s one more thing.” Airon continued after checking that everyone was paying attention.
“I found out that the murderer isn’t a physically powerful person.”

“How did you come to that conclusion?” Yanaimo couldn’t help but ask.

“Do you remember the day Zhēn was attacked? She said she was bathing in the spring when she suddenly felt sleepy.
She couldn’t fight back when she was attacked.
I thought that was odd, so I went back to the scene to search for clues.”

“What did you find?” Everyone was curious.

“I found a sedative on the ground.
The liquid would have evaporated had I gone any later.”

“You mean someone drugged Zhēn? That’s why she was so weak?” His classmates weren’t stupid.
They caught on quickly.

“Exactly.
I extracted the ingredients from the liquid and discovered it was some kind of medicinal liquid made from a specific type of herb.
The liquid becomes breathable gas when mixed with oxygen.
Anyone who breathes it in will become drowsy and eventually lose consciousness.
That person would then be at the mercy of the perpetrator.”

“She really was drugged!” No one expected that.
Zhēn had become an ordinary girl, so they had thought she was simply too frightened to fight back.
It turned out she had been drugged.

“That’s why I say the murderer isn’t a physically strong person.
If the person was strong, then why not use brute strength to overpower their victims? Why resort to using drugs?”

There was sense in Airon’s words.
If the murderer was really strong, why go to all the trouble of using drugs?

“Then the murderer isn’t necessarily a man, but could be a woman!” Someone in the crowd whispered.

The words made other people realize this was true.
Someone who had to rely on drugs to kill someone couldn’t be very strong.
It didn’t have to be a man; it could be a woman.

They eyed each other with this new information in mind.
Their faces changed.
Any one of them could be the murderer and everyone was a possible suspect.

They created an image of the murderer based on the revelations.
The investigation was progressing. . .