Reuben Hunts
Watching as Elise escaped right out of his grasp, Jackson angrily smashed his phone.
Why is everyone willing to risk suspicion just to protect that pretty face? Just you wait. I’ll dig up
everything there is about you, Elise Sinclair!
…
Having exited the police cordon, Simon had his assistant and men leave him, and he walked ahead with
Elise.
“Don’t worry about the case. I’ll handle it for you. Since you’re studying at the university, you should focus
on doing so. No one else will come to bother you.”
“I’m not worried.” Elise was being rather casual with mindlessness. After pausing for a moment, she
switched the topic. “Say, Mr. Bull, you summoned the best forensic officer in the force, and even came
here yourself. There’s more to this suicide than meets the eye, eh?”
“Though it sure met yours.” Simon faintly smiled before raising his head, revealing the glower on his
face. “Indeed, as you said, something’s fishy about this case. In the last six months, there have already
been four cases of suicide committed by physicists in this city alone. This one’s the fifth.”
As expected, it’s aimed at physicists. Elise squinted her eyes. This must be related to the group suicides
Joseph mentioned.
“Physics is one of the most complex subjects there ever are, and people who excel in this field are as
rare as a pearl. A country’s scientific development is closely determined by the standards of the nation’s
physicists. If these talented souls continue to go, physicists are going to go extinct in this country.” Simon
was one who truly cared about the world, and he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of disappointment when
he thought of that.
“So you’re suspecting the culprits are from overseas, and are deliberately targeting our scientists?” Elise
tacitly quizzed.
“Beats me.” Simon shook his head in confusion. “Similar cases have also happened in other countries,
so…”
Elise nodded in acknowledgment of his message. Rather than the techniques themselves, these
countries are more interested in people who understand said techniques. There’s no way they are willing
to sacrifice these talents even for the sake of causing disputes.
“Okay. You shouldn’t be concerned about such matters. Just focus on your own development, will ya?”
Donning a senior’s role, Simon gently patted Elise’s head and expressed his affection for her. “Just make
sure you get to live a free life.”
“That’s what I’ve been doing.” Like an agile little hedgehog, she swiftly and noiselessly dodged the man’s
hand. She still couldn’t get herself to get used to such intimate interaction. Head touching, for instance.
Seeing her reaction, Simon wasn’t exactly surprised. He then departed after saying his goodbyes.
Elise, too, headed back to her courtyard house. More precisely, it was Alexander’s courtyard house.
When she entered the house, Miller and Addison were already inside.
At Elise’s arrival, Alexander went to her at once. “Jackson’s not going to let this off so easily. I’ll handle
him.”
“Mm.” Elise nodded and paused for a second before warning Alexander, “Be careful out there.”
Alexander lifted his commissures and gave her an affirming gaze before leaving.
Slightly stunned, Elise stood still to contemplate for a while before entering the house. Straightforwardly,
she interrogated Addison, “You went to the physics department this morning?”
“Yup.” Addison innocently nodded. “The substitute said that the professor left some homework there. So I
went to fetch it, only to find no one in the room. I was even bumped into, literally.”
“Who bumped into you?” Elise pursued.
“I didn’t see clearly. It was too early I wasn’t even fully awake,” Addison claimed.
Upon those words, even Claude realized what happened. “Someone just set you up, girl. Do you know
that?”
“How?” Addison was absolutely clueless. “What happened back there? Is someone suspecting me for
stealing a lost belonging?”
As death was nothing minor, the higher ups in Tissote University, fearing the incident would harm the
university’s reputation, tried to contain the news as much as possible. Even the witnesses were told to
keep things to themselves. And that was also why Addison had no idea what happened within the strict,
barricaded area.
“Theft is nothing.” Claude waddled carefreely to her and suddenly pulled a perplexing expression,
muttering, “Somebody’s dead. Murder happened in the research building, and you, right now, are the
biggest suspect the cops have eyes on!”
“M-Murder?” Shocked, Addison shot her eyes wide open. “How can this be? I mean, why me?”
“There are witnesses that saw you showing up at the crime scene, and that you left Elise’s notebook
there. Those are enough to prove that you’re the biggest suspect!”
“No, it’s not me!” Addison sprung up from her seat, startled, and she agitatedly grabbed Elise. “Elise, I
only went to submit my assignments. I know nothing! I don’t even know who died!”
“Calm down. It’s nothing. Don’t worry and relax.” Elise softly comforted her. “You have me here, don’t
you? I’ll look into it. Trust me, okay?”
Vaguely grasping the situation, Addison was still holding Elise’s arm with her trembling hands.
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