I'm a proper student; I only take nine kinds of potions every day.

His eyes widened suddenly.

"Could it be..."

He subconsciously scanned Evan's figure from head to toe.

"These guys... want him too?"

He swallowed hard: "Is this guy really that attractive to men?"

Eldin pressed on, "Why are they targeting you?"

Ivan looked up, his face streaked with tears, but his eyes burned with a fierce light.

"They're trying to coerce me with those dirty tricks! To make me their mole!"

His voice suddenly rose a few decibels: "That evil Alcott... he wants to use the same methods he used on those poor girls on you!"

The lobby seemed to have been hit hard by something in that instant. Helen instinctively covered her mouth, and her eyes instantly reddened.

"That wicked scoundrel!"

Several boys standing not far away clenched their fists almost simultaneously.

"madman!"

"You villain! You've laid your filthy hands on Miss Hearst!"

They deserve to go to hell!

Indignation, like a pot of water suddenly heated, bubbled up from every corner of the lobby.

Director Smith squeezed through the crowd, looking flustered, his square face flushed red.

"Arkham!"

His voice carried an uncontrollable tension.

"This is a very serious accusation! You must be held accountable for every word you say!"

This director is not trying to favor anyone.

He knew all too well how much damage this would do to the reputation of Wise Men University if the matter were confirmed.

Ivan lifted his face, tears still clinging to his chin, but his eyes did not flinch.

"Of course I can take responsibility for every word I say."

A commotion broke out in the lobby, while Morales rubbed his chin in a corner.

"Special and dirty methods..."

At this moment, his focus was completely different from that of others.

He muttered to himself, "My God, Alcott and his gang are disgusting."

At this moment, Morales had already conjured up many images in his mind.

"That's truly the ultimate insult!"

Just as everyone was discussing this, the deputy director raised a hand and gently pressed it down.

"This part."

"Let me speak."

The clamor in the entire hall seemed to be suppressed by an invisible hand.

“Arkham was frightened and did not express himself clearly.”

The deputy director's voice was as steady as a church bell.

“I will speak on his behalf.”

"All the evidence we have so far confirms that everything Arkham said is true."

Director Smith immediately stepped forward and asked excitedly, "Where are Alcott and the others?"

His Adam's apple bobbed: "We can't just listen to his testimony."

The deputy director remained expressionless and coldly replied, "They're all dead."

Smith felt like he'd been shoved hard from behind, and nearly fell to the ground.

How did things get so bad?

"They...they're all dead?"

The ladies and gentlemen in the lobby who were about to speak swallowed back the words that were already on their lips.

The deputy director's gaze swept steadily over each astonished face.

"That place was very remote. Arkham sensed something was wrong and ran away alone."

"During his escape, he inadvertently alerted a serial killer hiding in the area."

"That murderer, along with Alcott and his men who had been chasing after us with guns and baseball bats, mistook us for our plainclothes officers."

He paused for a moment and looked around at the students.

"So he took action and killed them all."

"Arkham escaped unharmed because he was in the lead due to his outstanding physical strength and was empty-handed, posing no threat whatsoever."

The lobby fell completely silent. Director Smith raised his hand to adjust his glasses, his hand trembling so much he could barely hold the frame.

Large beads of sweat rolled down his temples, completely messing up his usually meticulously styled hair.

He felt dizzy and short of breath.

"Dead...all dead?"

He can't take the blame for this!

I'm so frustrated! This is the limit; I'm contacting the editor.

As our readers guessed, we've reached our spending limit and are currently trying our best to contact the editor!

Chapter 81: The Usefulness of Pretexts – The Great Purge! (8/10)

As Smith broke down, the faces of the boys around him who had just been indignant turned slightly pale.

They all knew Alcott and had a good relationship with him; they had even considered joining the Phoenix Brotherhood.

Just a few hours ago, several people were discussing today's game.

Now...they're all...dead!?

Ertin turned her head slightly and glanced at Evan, who was still wiping away tears, in that brief second when everyone's attention was off her face...

A barely perceptible glint of excitement flashed in her eyes.

"The teacher is right."

She murmured a sentence to herself.

"This guy... really has that kind of ability."

"Alcott, good riddance."

"I just don't know how he managed to kill those people."

In the deathly silence of the lobby, as if doused with ice water, the deputy director, under the watchful eyes of everyone, succinctly and forcefully led the still-crying girls, Evan, Erdin, and related personnel out of the hotel one by one.

The lights outside the New Haven Police Station remained on all night.

Standing at the edge of the crowd, Evan lowered his eyes and used the act of wiping away tears to suppress the corners of his mouth that he couldn't help but curl up.

"That's the benefit of creating a pretext."

He let out a suppressed exclamation of admiration in his heart.

Without Albert's involvement, his argument wouldn't hold water.

After all, everyone else was dead, and he was the only one left.

How did he end up in that area? How did he end up in a direct confrontation with Alcott's group?

These flaws are enough to allow any patient investigator to tear open a breach.

If you say everything, it will give rise to all sorts of conspiracy theories and suspicions.

But Albert was different.

Everyone at Sage University knows that Albert is Dennis's dog.

Most of the student community knew that this dog had been eyeing the Phoenix Brotherhood's bronze badge for a whole year.

When he was with Dennis, Evan didn't even get into the University of the Wise.

It's perfectly reasonable for him to use his past relationship to trick Evan out of the hotel.

In order to gain the opportunity to join the Brotherhood, betraying Evan as a pledge of loyalty is more reasonable.

Because LeBron and Thomson had done something similar to Ivan before.

For ordinary people like Albert, the various shameful, disgusting, and crazy things he would do to qualify for the Brotherhood of the Rich and Powerful were not surprising.

After all, they've seen far too much over the years.

Everything was so logical that everyone could use their intelligence to deduce the various dirty deals and Albert's despicable motives.

In this situation, Ivan could use this connection to pin all the blame on Alcott.

Anyway, the dead can't talk.

Before he came over, Dr. Armitage had secretly told him about the internal strife within the Golden Route.

He told him that if he could make a big fuss about it, Evan might be able to win the favor of the judges' faction.

Building good relationships with them will make things much easier in the future, whether it's rescuing people or investigating matters.

So Evan took advantage of Karp's dislike for Alcott and gave Alcott a free reason to prepare to attack Eldin.