SCT-Novel Chapter 126: You Lie, You Die
Chapter 126: You Lie, You Die
Author Note: Sorry guys, I wasn’t able to edit all 10 Chapters in time. Here are 5 bonus Chapters. Tomorrow, there will be 5 more bonus Chapters. The day after tomorrow will be 4 Chapters [daily Chapters stack].
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The next day arrived. The sun rose over the Golden Scale Academy, casting long shadows across the stone pathways and training grounds.
Students moved in small groups, their voices low, their eyes still heavy with sleep.
Among them walked a boy with white hair and clear blue eyes. A mask covered his nose and lips.
A sky-blue cap sat low on his forehead, hiding his features from casual glances.
It was Cael’s arrogant Frostflame clone.
For the last thirty hours, he had been searching for the culprit who had used Temporal Reverie on the main body.
Along with him, the cautious Wind clone, the trash-talking Black Lightning clone, and the competitive Space clone were also on the task.
They already had a lead. Or to be precise, they had a suspect. And finding him had been relatively easy.
Cael had given his permission to find the culprit, no matter the cost, whatever it took.
They were all too aware of the situation. Finding the one responsible took priority over everything else.
As soon as Cael gave the command, the first thing they did was check the dormitories.
Their idea was simple.
Since the culprit could use his skill to put others in dreams and show glimpses of the future, he must be using that skill to make students aware of that calamity.
And why was Cael so sure that the dream was a glimpse of the future?
There were two reasons.
First, the name of the skill, Temporal Reverie. The word "temporal" could represent time.
Second, Cael had Time Deceleration. Although his Time element itself was locked, he could still perceive it.
He knew what time felt like.
"Dream... time..."
The Frostflame clone muttered as he walked.
The clones had surveyed the areas where people slept. And it was the Frostflame clone who had seen a blonde-haired boy hiding in the girls’ dormitories.
A boy in the girls’ dormitory, it was very suspicious.
Before the Frostflame clone could take any action, Cael had made the entire academy shake to its core.
The Frostflame clone also startled. Only calming down after receiving Cael’s message.
But by then, the blonde-haired blind boy had left the scene.
The Frostflame clone was not too sure, the boy being the culprit.
But yesterday, along with the Wind clone, he had identified the students living in that girls’ dormitory.
And the results pointed to Elara Grace, daughter of an [Adamant] ranker, living in that very building.
According to Cael, Elara had given Edwin, Aria, and Brania a brief tour before going back.
And the most surprising part was the name of the blonde-haired boy, Junior Steven.
He was a named minor villain in the novel. During Luke’s visit to the Golden Scale Academy, he had collaborated with vampires, leaked the barrier secrets to them, and become a half-blood vampire, only to be one-shotted by Luke.
Although nothing was certain, the Frostflame clone believed there was a sixty percent chance that the culprit was Junior.
But as always, there were variables.
In the novel, Junior was a genius and strong. But the boy they had seen was blind, frail, and his rank was only [Bronze].
Cael and his clones were extremely careful around variables. They would not underestimate anyone.
Soon, the Frostflame clone saw him, a blonde-haired, blind boy with a frail body, doing morning exercises, jogging slowly along the path.
The Frostflame clone wanted to capture him and interrogate Junior. With the Wrong Eye skill, extracting answers would not be hard.
But he was not in a rush.
He could not afford to be careless, not when the academy was this guarded.
But it was not that bad. During times of tension, it was easy to divert attention.
Not that he had the intention or need to do so.
...
Junior, oblivious to the danger, exercised his body and started walking back to his dorm room.
The door creaked open as he walked in.
The room was small and sparse. A bed pushed against the wall. The curtains were drawn, blocking out the morning light.
Junior went into the bathroom and freshened up.
Everything was normal. Everything was calm. Until he walked out.
Even though Junior could not sense what was wrong, he could feel it. Something was off.
He could not pinpoint the issue, but his instincts screamed at him. The air was too still. The silence was too heavy.
Then a voice reached his ears.
"I will ask you a few simple questions. You just have to answer truthfully."
Cold sweat ran down his freshly washed face. Sweat and water merged as they dripped from his chin.
Junior muttered,
"W-who are you?"
He could hear the other party’s voice, but he could not sense him at all.
Junior couldn’t feel mana or presence near him.
"Do not make me repeat myself. Just tell me your skills and your class. If you lie, I will kill you."
Junior controlled his breathing. His heart pounded against his ribs.
’Who is he? What does he want from me?’
After a moment, he spoke. He gave his class and his skills, the ones he had three years ago, before he found the heavenly book.
As far as Junior was concerned, the other party was searching for someone and might have a truth verification skill.
Since the other party didn’t state his question clearly, and Junior was not lying, after all, he had them at some point in time, so it was not a lie.
So, he tried to use a loophole.
But Cael’s Wrong Eye was not just a truth verification skill. It was a skill that could turn lies into truth.
As Junior wondered, the unknown man did not leave.
Junior felt a cold grip around his neck. The worst part is that Junior could not use mana at all.
’Just like... just like that mana dispersion wave.’
Junior struggled with all his might, but the grip only tightened.
As his senses darkened, hearing faded. He was dying.
Then, as his consciousness slipped away, he heard the other party mutter,
"You lie, you die."