Chapter 302 Mercury Chronicles (32)

Shiller did not agree with dismantling the Blue Beetle for investigation.

As a teacher, Shiller could understand that in entrusting the Blue Beetle to Ted, the First Generation Blue Beetle believed that a student he had taught would be capable of managing such dangerous goods and using them for the benefit of society. This was not only a gift but also a responsibility.

Destroying it might provide a permanent solution, but it was certainly better to keep such powerful forces in the hands of their own people.

Especially since the Blue Beetle's abilities were comprehensive, with virtually no weaknesses. Although Ted was still too young and somewhat rash, he had a good character, and given time, he too could become an excellent superhero. To give up on him would indeed be a great pity.

It was not advisable to kill the chicken to get the eggs in the face of a crisis.

So now, the actual truth didn't matter; what was crucial was to present a convincing answer that could both explain how Bono was killed and clear Zan's name, thus resolving the conflicts.

Therefore, Shiller turned to Zan and said, "Let's start with what happened to you. You must tell the truth, and don't hide anything. Just state the facts; you don't need to add your own speculation."

At this time, Jenna, separated by the cage, held her brother's hand and said, "Don't worry, brother, with me here, no one can frame you."

It seemed that Jenna used mind sensing to communicate even more, and Zan barely stabilized his spirit. He took a deep breath and began to recount his experience.

The timeline established by the security camera investigation was correct; Zan was indeed the last person to arrive at that floor.

The problem was that he was knocked out as soon as he got there.

As he exited the elevator, the elevator doors closed, so as far as the footage showed, he stepped out of the elevator and headed towards the large classroom. But in reality, as soon as the elevator doors closed, he was in a blind spot of the surveillance cameras for a period of time.

According to his own description, he saw a blue streak of light, and then he knew nothing, waking up to find himself in a storeroom.

The small classroom and the storeroom were opposite each other, and once the elevator doors closed, both were in a surveillance blind spot. He must have been knocked out in front of the elevator doors and then dragged into the storeroom.

Since he was the last to arrive, when he arrived, everyone else in the room was focused on searching for items, so his fainting went completely unwitnessed.

When he woke up, he was still somewhat confused. But then he heard voices outside the storeroom and pushed the door to investigate.

By that time, Claude and Gonzalez had left. The elevator was not stopped at that level, the doors were closed, and standing up after lying down also took place in a surveillance blind spot.

After opening the door, he discovered that the noise was not from the corridor but from the small classroom opposite.

Here comes the key point; Zan might not be as clever as his sister, but he was more cautious, and he had the self-awareness to recognize that he was not strong or outstanding. If anyone targeted him, it likely wasn't actually about him.

Therefore, he deduced that this attack was the prelude to a conspiracy. To avoid falling deeper into the trap, he chose to take a more cautious approach to investigating, which was using his own abilities to turn into water.

Zan turned into water in the surveillance blind spot of the corridor and slipped through the crack of the small classroom's door, but as soon as he got in, he realized something was wrong—his body was out of control.

According to his description, for some reason, Bono had managed to control him with her Water Control Ability.

Zan panicked because he had already been attacked before, and he hadn't seen what it was that attacked him. Now, upon seeing Bono, who immediately took control of him, he thought it was Bono who had attacked him.

But alas, he couldn't transform back for a while, and in this form, he couldn't speak. Moreover, Bono's Water Control Ability was so strong that after struggling for a long time, he became even more panicked.

Just at that moment, he suddenly felt Bono's control over him weakening. Without any other option, he decided to fight for his life and, in his water form, he rushed towards Bono's chest.

He didn't intend to kill this Atlantean woman, for he knew that the Atlanteans all had a protective Water Shield. At most, his impact could only make her stagger.

But unexpectedly, for some reason, Bono stiffened, the Water Shield attached to her body didn't work, and Zan's water form passed directly through her chest, killing Bono.

That's why there was no weapon, because the weapon was Zan himself. And the reason there were no signs of a struggle was that the two had no physical contact at all—Zan was controlled and floated up into the air as soon as he entered the door, then transformed into a stream of water for a deadly strike.

After Zan finished speaking, everyone, of course, saw something was amiss, because according to the surveillance, Zan clearly headed straight for the large classroom after getting off the elevator. Even if he really passed through a surveillance blind spot, he ultimately reached the large classroom—the surveillance cameras there caught him.

Moreover, the other suspects also said that they indeed saw Zan, clearly.

If he had stayed in the storeroom the whole time, then who was this Zan that they saw?

Shiller gave an answer that was unexpected, yet made perfect sense—the projection was created by the Blue Beetle.

Although the students had not seen the Blue Beetle's abilities, nor had Shiller himself, his confident explanation led the students to naturally assume that the Professor must have witnessed these abilities and therefore did not doubt his account.

Shiller presented his conjecture.

He brought up a piece of surveillance footage on the holographic screen in front of him, showing the moment when the Blue Beetle, Ted, and the Atlantean sisters arrived at this level.

They had a dispute as they walked out of the elevator, which was when the elevator doors had not yet closed. The last frame captured by the surveillance camera showed them standing by the elevator door, arguing.

The subject of the dispute was naturally whether to go to the small classroom or the large one first. Of course, they ended up going to the large classroom first.

However, it was clear that they had not finished arguing by the time the elevator doors closed, which meant that they were still standing there, not moving forward, when the elevator doors closed and thus formed a blind spot in the surveillance.

Moreover, by using the audio recording function of the hallway cameras, it was determined that they stood in the blind spot of the hallway surveillance discussing whether or not to go to the small classroom for about twenty to thirty seconds.

This brief period gave the Blue Beetle the chance to slip away from Ted.

Though the Beetle was small, the surveillance cameras were high-definition enough that if it had climbed down Ted's body right underneath a camera, it would definitely have been spotted.

But with this window of time, it could easily detach from Ted and enter a storage room outside the camera's view.

And when Zan left the elevator, the sound of the elevator doors closing created another blind spot in the surveillance. At that moment, the Blue Beetle could crawl out and, by directly taking Zan down, drag him into the storage room as well.

Using energy technology, it created a projection of Zan that entered the large classroom. As long as it moved quickly, there would be virtually no time difference.

It entered the large classroom using the projection as a cover, staying with the others, and remained until the end.

Bono, Claude, and Gonzalez left for the small classroom, leaving only the Blue Beetle and its projection in the large classroom.

During this time, the small and nimble Blue Beetle took advantage of the disarray of boxes, overturned in the large classroom, to crawl to the edge of the window and pass through the glass into the small classroom, using the boxes that partially obscured the window for cover.

At this point, Claude and Gonzalez had already left, leaving only Bono in the small classroom.

Even though the Blue Beetle could have attacked Bono directly at this point, it went to such lengths to disguise itself as Zan in order to shift the blame onto him. Therefore, it chose not to act directly but instead to provoke a conflict between the two.

Shiller speculated that the Blue Beetle most likely climbed onto Bono without her noticing or at least got very close, then attacked her with its energy technology. The attack wasn't lethal but it made Bono more alert and suspicious.

At that moment, a watery avatar of Zan stealthily seeped through the door, and as an Atlantean, Bono was naturally sensitive to water. Having just been struck by an unidentified attacker, Bono mistook Zan for the assailant and immediately seized control of him.

It had been mentioned before that Zan had also been attacked previously. Without a word, Bono attacked him, leading him to believe that she was the assailant, and so they clashed.

Zan was no match for Bono and initially lost control completely, but the Blue Beetle's interference weakened her control over him.

Overwhelmed by Bono's strength, Zan saw an opportunity for resistance and had no choice but to fight back desperately.

It was then that the Blue Beetle revealed its fangs. It coordinated an attack with Zan, both of them taking on Bono.

Despite its small size, the Blue Beetle was a weapon of advanced alien technology, and while Bono was strong among the students, she was still no match for true powerhouses.

With one in the open and one hidden, one attacking from the front and the other sneaking up from behind, Bono was naturally overpowered. The Blue Beetle broke through her defense, and Zan with a powerful rush of water took her life.

After Bono's death, could Zan stay unpanicked? He didn't even dare touch the body and hastily ran to the storage room opposite, using Mind Sensing to contact his sister.

At that time, Jenna was in class, surrounded by people. Thankfully, her ability to control her emotions prevented her from showing any signs of distress, but she still promptly advised her brother to leave first.

Given that it was confirmed that Bono was beyond saving, and Jenna instinctively felt something was wrong from her brother's description, she feared that there might be other dangers at the scene. Lingering too long could mean that he might be the next to die, which is why Jenna urged her brother to run quickly.

The escape route was simple; Zan could turn into water. He could leave the storage room, flow straight down through the seam of the elevator door, and effortlessly leave the floor.

The escape route for the Blue Beetle was also straightforward. Although it was small, it wasn't tiny enough to slip through the elevator gap, so it could simply leave the small classroom for the storage room, pass through the glass between the storage and the distribution room, and use the smaller blind spots in the distribution room to reach the window. It could duplicate the entry from the distribution room's glass into space and then, following the outer wall of the building, return to find Ted.