"Do you know the identity of the killer?" the Star-Sky Observer narrowed his eyes, showing no excitement or enthusiasm, but instead carefully observing Yuan-Shi Tianzun for a moment, saying, "I don't think the current information allows us to deduce the killer's identity. With the lie-detection devices proving ineffective, every trainee remains a suspect. Therefore, while listening to the information and reports, we must remain vigilant against potential misdirection by the suspects." As he spoke, Zhang Yuanqing had already relayed through the headset his hypothesis that the armored figure was a member of the Night Rose to the Ground Palace team. Night Rose? Sun Miaomiao, Zhao Chenghuang, and Tianxia Guihuo all looked startled. It was unexpected at first, but upon reflection, it seemed entirely plausible. The Night Rose members perfectly matched the armored figure's profile—someone who had been quietly embedded within the official ranks, known for their decisive and ruthless approach. Yuan-Shi's thinking was truly sharp—he was indeed impressive. Sun Miaomiao gave him a subtle glance, silently impressed. She was confident in her own wisdom, yet acknowledged that she fell short of Yuan Shi Tian Zun in terms of adaptability and tact. As for strategic foresight, she believed Tian Xia Gui Huo—the one who was a fire master—was the most accomplished among the underground team. What exactly is the Night Rose organization? Xue Hou Ao Tian furrowed his brow. As an unofficial member, he had no access to the official forums. Moreover, as a family member long regarded as a neurotic and disliked by the family, he had limited access to the core circles. Added to this, his deep commitment to academic research made him less attuned to developments in this area, so he remained entirely unaware of what the Night Rose organization actually was. The current information, of course, was insufficient to identify the culprit—due to our information gap. Zhang Yuanqing was about to explain to the Sky Star Teacher the identity of the armored person when a sharp call from Tian Xia Gui Huo reached his ears: "Yuan Shi, don't say it!" Instinctively, Zhao Chenguang, Sun Miao Miao, and Xue Hou Ao Tian turned their heads toward Tian Xia Gui Huo, but restrained themselves. "Indeed, the clues we've gathered are very limited..." Zhang Yuanqing was abruptly interrupted, first offering a casual remark to the Starry Sky teacher, then transmitting his thoughts: "Why not say so?" The voice of Tianxia Guihuo resonated clearly in the ears of the ground palace team: "Are you hoping to leverage the support of the faculty to jointly confront the Armored People? Your intention is sound and effective—yet you cannot focus solely on defeating the enemy. You must first ensure the preservation of the treasures within the ground palace. If the Head of the Academy learns that the Armored People are members of the Night Rose, they will become increasingly convinced that the Night Rose members are specifically targeting the ground palace. This will naturally raise a further question: why would the Night Rose members seek to kill Xia Chaoxue? With the faculty's sharp intellect, wouldn't they begin to suspect—perhaps even boldly speculate—that one or more students have entered the ground palace?" "By now, even if there's just a suspicion, the academy will report it to headquarters. Given headquarters' emphasis on the underground palace, they'll thoroughly investigate every student—preferring to eliminate the wrong ones rather than risk missing anyone. In that case, will we still be able to protect the treasure?" "You can fool the polygraph devices, but you won't fool the headquarters polygraph." "If the academy teachers deduce that the stone gate has been opened, we'll be in a vulnerable position—either we surrender the treasure or we collaborate with the armored figure, and eliminate all the academy teachers." ... "Director, how do you know the person who committed the murders is the armored figure?" Huo Mo Luo Le Sheng was astonished. The elderly director, with gray hair, held his thermos cup in both hands and asked in return, "How many people can successfully evade both the insight technique and the polygraph devices?" Luo Le Sheng instinctively countered, "This batch of students is full of talents—having one or two hidden gems isn't unusual at all." Although he knew he was merely challenging the point, the teachers remained thoughtful, finding his argument plausible. The headmaster said solemnly, "So consider the killer's motive—the fact that he infiltrated the Jinren Lake that night shows his interest in the hidden quest within the quest. If he can be linked to the hidden quest and to Xia Chao Xue, then the killer is undoubtedly the Kaimakura. Otherwise, someone else is responsible." "Headmaster, I think you're overthinking it," said Luo Le Sheng. "That Kaimakura might have heard the legend from his elders and simply came down to the lake for a visit. As for Xia Chao Xue's death, it seems completely unrelated to the hidden quest—surely some young, enthusiastic student, driven by passion, took advantage of her, perhaps even overpowering her. After all, he's been staying at the academy for several days, and his hormones must have been hard to contain." "Perhaps," the headmaster replied casually, "Lin Su, go to the dock and ask the administrator to check with the Queen of the Jinren whether there were any unusual occurrences in the lake last night." The teacher of the Alchemy class took her leave. … I was so focused on figuring out how to kill the armored man that I overlooked the fact that, for the underground team, the priority is first to secure the treasure, and only then to eliminate the armored man. The faculty members aren’t our allies—they’re adversaries with conflicting interests. The more we inform them, the more dangerous we become. This is a three-way game of mutual restraint. Zhang Yuanqing suddenly snapped back to clarity. He suspected that his earlier misstep had been influenced by the White-Faced one. Once the White-Faced one was activated, his thinking shifted to identifying and killing the armored man. Based on that objective, the White-Faced one began devising schemes, ultimately concluding that collaborating with the administration was the most efficient and secure way to achieve that goal. “Why haven’t you said anything?” the Sky-Observer stared at him, furrowing her brow. Zhang Yuanqing shook his head. “I just thought through it a bit. With the current information and evidence, I don’t feel confident enough to support my hypothesis. So, let’s just say I never mentioned it.” The Sky-Observer nodded slightly. At that moment, the server just brought over a cappuccino and said, "Could you please pack it up for me?" As he watched the starry sky teacher carry her paper cup away, Zhang Yuanqing pressed his headphones against his chest. "The world returns to fire—yes, you're right. But we can't guarantee that the faculty members at the academy won't eventually find out about the Night Rose. They'll surely catch on sooner or later." The world returns to fire furrowed his brow. Sun Miao Miao brightened, a smile playing at her lips. "Don't worry—our faculty members probably don't even know about the Night Rose." Everyone turned to look at her. Sun Miao Miao explained, "Yuan Ting once mentioned that the faculty at the academy have lived within the realm for so long that they rarely go online. Their only way to stay informed about the outside world is through the monthly newspapers delivered by headquarters. These newspapers mainly cover policy updates and personnel changes across various branches, as well as occasional mentions of the activities of evil organizations and noteworthy events from the official forums. In fact, the faculty at the academy first learned about the Primordial Sovereign through the newspaper reports on the results of the tournament What a talent! The underground base team all nodded in unison. "That's exactly what we need," said Xiahou Aotian, thinking of his role as the protagonist—he had to offer something clear and overarching. "Our mission is to eliminate the armored figure before the academy does, so that he doesn't leak information about the activation of the underground vault." Everyone agreed. Xiahou Aotian continued, "Now that we know the armored figure's identity and understand how he monitors the stone gate, we need to solve two key questions: first, why was Xiaoxiaoxue the one who died; and second, why has the dean been repeatedly asking whether the students stayed in their dorms last night?" That's precisely the four questions I've been asking all along. In his heart, Tianxu Guihuo murmured, patting his headset. "As for the dean, the most straightforward solution is to use force—physically subdue him. But this requires a detailed plan to ensure we don't reveal our identities." His suggestion was immediately rejected by Zhang Yuanqing. "Just stop fussing—there's already a polygraph device available." Sun Miaomiao suddenly had an idea. "I suddenly realized something: the armored figure is protected by a hidden force, so any lies told by him go undetected. Reversing this logic, anyone whose lies aren't uncovered by the props must be the armored figure." In theory, it makes sense—but this isn't exactly a difficult concept to come up with. If it works, why hasn't the official team identified any of the Night Rose members? Zhang Yuanqing murmured to himself. Xia Hou Aotian answered the question: "When the starry teacher mentioned the power of the Yin, I recalled a paper from our family's archives that discussed several forces capable of countering divination techniques. Among them was the hidden power of the Yin. The paper described the Yin as an exceptionally magical force—one of the reasons the Night Wandering Spirit is considered a top-tier profession. The Yin's hidden quality isn't merely shielding; it's 'normal.' No matter what method you use—whether reverse or counter-thinking—you cannot penetrate the target who has been blessed by the Yin force." "The principle can't be explained, but if I have to find a concept for it, I think 'causality' works well." Sun Miaomiao and Zhao Chenghuang listened intently, frowning as they hadn't heard of this before. Zhang Yuanqing, however, recalled the prophecy of the Light Compass—the Yin, the Sun, and the Stars, which were described as the forces guiding the gods—so when it came to causality, it seemed understandable. Indeed, if the principle could be grasped simply through reverse thinking, the Yin force would appear rather basic. At that moment, Hong Ji Ge suddenly exclaimed, "Oh!" and pointed at the group. "Are you all wearing headphones and talking in whispers?" "No way!" the group quickly protested. "Yes, there is—this headphone I've used before, isn't it from Xiahou Aotian? I just couldn't place why I felt so familiar." Hong Ji Ge was furious. "What are you all doing behind my back?" You only realize it now, don't you? You only catch on now! Zhang Yuanqing nearly lost his patience with the remark. The group quietly removed their headphones and tucked them into their pockets. "You just mistook me," "Red Chicken Brother didn't believe it—he came over to snatch the headphones. At that moment, the院长's calm voice came through the speaker in the corner of the café: 'There's new development in the case—everyone gather at the library!' The speaker played the message continuously. The Ground Palace team suddenly rose to their feet. Red Chicken Brother stopped fussing. The speaker's message echoed through every building on campus, repeating again and again. Students and faculty members scattered across the campus rushed toward the library. …… At the library, on the podium. The old director shifted his gaze from Zhu Mingxu to the Sky Observer: 'What's the update from Zhao Chenghuang and Yuan Shishen?' The Sky Observer replied: 'Zhao Chenghuang booked private lessons with Yuan Shishen last night...' He also shared the experience from Jixin Island. 'The lie-detection tools showed no reaction—so these two seem to be clear.' The director glanced again at Zhu Mingxu, nodded, then turned to Lin Su: 'And your update?' "Lin Su said, 'Everything is normal at the bottom of the lake.' As she spoke, the students gradually arrived at the library. The dean said nothing, standing with his hands behind his back at the podium, silently waiting. Zhang Yuanqing led the crew from the stealth ship back to the library at the fastest pace, arriving to find Zhu Mingxu securely tied with five cords on the high podium. Beside him stood the senior dean, the stargazer, and the fire demon Luo Le-sheng. This young Zhu, the son of the Zhu family, seemed to have just taken a beating—his nose and cheeks were swollen, his head bowed, like a listless rooster. Within three minutes, students and faculty had all gathered at the library. 'Is Zhu Mingxu the culprit?' 'Indeed, he is. He doesn't seem like a good person—he even tried to blame the Heavenly Sovereign this morning.' The students began to speculate. Once everyone had gathered, the dean spoke calmly: 'After investigation, we found that Zhu Mingxu left the canteen for ten minutes during his dinner last night. I therefore asked the stargazer to verify this.' "Zhu Mingxu claims he has diarrhea, but the lie-detector results indicate he's lying..." "Damn it, so the killer is him!" Red Chicken, the straightforward one, interrupts the dean. "I really did invite him to dinner. Such a despicable murderer of women—still, Dean, isn't ten minutes a bit short?" Just as the holy figures, eager to demand severe punishment, were building momentum, they suddenly pause. Though this fiery, unrefined character seems unreliable, his arguments actually hold some merit. From the canteen to the female dormitory and back takes exactly ten minutes—unless Zhu Mingxu is a seven-spiked hero, which he clearly isn't. "Teacher, please don't interrupt!" Luo Le Sheng is about to reprimand this fellow colleague from the same profession, but is stopped by the stargazer. The dean glances at Zhu Mingxu, who is both bowed and resolute, and says: "Then, tell me yourself."