Aftermath

"Why did you kill them?"

"Because they tried to kill me, I just protected myself so there should be nothing wrong with that right?"

"There aren't even any wounds in your body! How do you expect us to believe that you are just defending yourself?"

"Because I use pills when I got injured heavily. The pill that I used is a high-quality one so its effect is almost instantaneous."

"We are done, we are just getting in circles with your answer!"

In a tightly sealed room with very poor lighting, one can see a bald old man questioning a young man by pressuring him with his aura. Even with the aura that the bald old man used to pressure him, the youth seems like he will never bulge.

The old man shook his head as he massages his temples, this case is giving him a headache. A student of his academy just murdered their fellow schoolmate and it is going to be a huge scandal if it is known that a genius from their academy got killed.

It has been a day since the questioning of this student but he can get no information coming from him, what's more is the fact that the one who is watching the interrogation who has the skill to identify whether someone is lying or not seems to be agreeing with what the young man said.

Since the young man, Zhou Mengyao seems to be likely saying the truth then he has no choice but to release him from the cell that they have confined him.

Due to the incident, all the students have to go back to the academy and the expedition will be rescheduled. They have to do a screening first in order to make sure that this event will not happen again.

"You will be suspended and wait till the investigation is over. We will give our decision after the truth from the investigation has come out."

The old man, Deng Yusheng, also known as the principal of the academy said with a heavy voice. He naturally did not want it to end this way but with no witness other than Shen Yaoting who is very suspicious and is under investigation, the case is very vague.

"Can I leave now?"

Zhou Mengyao asked with a calm expression but the sweat on his forehead seems to tell the effect of the pressure in him.

"You can go now. Someone is waiting for you outside."

Deng Yusheng who felt defeated can't help but sigh, the fact that he has to hide the information about what happened to the public is a massive headache.

With so many eyes on the academy, it will be known by those who have powers, and hiding the event to the public is very hard. Someone with enough power can just casually mention it and it will cause a catastrophe in the reputation of the academy so Deng Yusheng who is the principal can't help but feel that he is getting older faster.

Deng Yusheng took a last glance at Zhou Mengyao before he leaves the room, although he is full of questions about him, he can't ask him anything other than the information related to the case.

From what he knew, Zhou Mengyao never had qi so now that he sees him having qi in his body is making him suspicious.

'Perhaps he has qi but the Zhou Family never wanted it to be known early on? Perhaps someone wanted to ruin his reputation? No use thinking about it, I will just earn the ire of Zhou Family if I did something out of the line'

Deng Yusheng thought as Zhou Mengyao leaves the room, aside from that, he is also very suspicious with the way he killed He Zhong. Although He Zhong is not the strongest among the students that have just entered, his strength is still at the Peak of Qi Refining Realm.

So he shouldn't be killed by Zhou Mengyao whose qi only amounts to the Third Stage of Qi Refining Realm.

That is not the only suspicion he had, he is also suspicious of what Zhou Mengyao has told him. Zhou Mengyao said that He Zhong is already at the 1st Stage of the Qi Transformation Realm, breaking through a major realm is very hard without someone's support so this made Deng Yusheng wary that it might be an assassination attempt just like what Zhou Mengyao said.

He has seen He Zhong's body and he himself inspected it, he can tell that He Zhong had just broken through because of the changes in the qi that slowly leaves his body as he died.

The fact that He Zhong breakthrough and he did not report it while he chose to hide it to the academy by using external means suggests that there is someone pulling the strings from behind.

...

"Young Master, the Patriarch wanted to meet you."

A young girl greeted Zhou Mengyao respectfully as she bowed to him while she is holding a clean piece of towel.

Zhou Mengyao nodded at her and she wipes the sweat on his face.

"I have already prepared the hot water for you. After making sure that you are presentable then we will leave to go back home."

The young girl looks average in every aspect, there is nothing that truly stand out from her. Her long hair is in a ponytail and her average face and her body proportions are even average.

She looks like an average girl from a cultivation world but to Zhou Mengyao she is not average, as someone who has seen her true angelic face by coincidence he will never forget it.

She is good at disguising, that is what Zhou Mengyao's impression of her. Many would have been fooled by her average appearance.

They are in one of the villas owned by the Zhou family in the capital, they are currently staying here since his status as a student of the academy is being questioned with the events that ensued.

Zhou Mengyao followed her as she guides him to the huge bathroom. The bathroom is full of steam due to the hot water in the hot spring.

Zhou Mengyao baths himself properly before he dipped his tired body into the hot spring that is filled with the aroma of various herbs calming his chaotic thought.

The past few days put a massive stress in his life, being confined in a cell that doesn't have a source of light properly where you can only talk to an old man is very tiring and stressful.

What's more, the events have also put a strain on his body. With his body relaxing in the hot water within, he felt that he can finally take a rest with no worry.

If he isn't a direct descendant of the main family of the Zhou family then he will not be suspended, he will be tortured painfully since he still killed someone when he can spare them.

Well, being alone in a room with an ugly old man is also a king of psychological torture.

What he did is still a crime in their eyes since he can spare them after all. It would have been fine if it is just some small fries but this time it is someone who has a bright future so they will still think of this as a crime.

He knew that he can choose not to kill them but it will cost him trouble in the future since they will not give up on just one attempt.

So despite the fact that he can spare He Zhong and the others he chose not to.

That is because Zhou Mengyao knew himself very well, he is never kind. Being an orphan and growing up in a bad neighborhood seeing a lot of crimes and deaths happening, he naturally has to adapt to the environment.

Being orphaned at a young age, life is very tough for him, in order to survive he must do something. Other than the fact that he is handsome and plenty of women and girls are very interested in him, he knew nothing so he chose to manipulate them to do his bidding.

He took advantage of them, taking their money yet they still blindly follows him.

Even then, he made sure that he never killed someone but there are people who have died because of him. In a particular case, there is this woman who has a husband, when his husband knew that she is cheating on him he chose to commit suicide.

Did he care? No. He never cared about them, he is selfish. He only wanted to survive and leave the hell hole that he is in so he did not care about the repercussions of his action.

Even if someone died because of him, he will not care. Now that he personally killed someone, he still did not felt anything about it. Zhou Mengyao is not a hypocrite, he is just being himself.

He is not kind, he has never been. His whole life, he knew that he is evil. Although he changed over the years, his old personality dies hard.

Especially when his personality is created for this dog-eat-dog world. One's safety will never be ensured until one reaches a certain strength.

Although Zhou Mengyao likes to joke around, he is sure of one thing. He has always been trying to ensure his survival, even if he has to harm others.

"Young Master, you seem to be thinking of something."