Chapter 131: Erin Whittaker is dead, I’m setting off fireworks

Chapter 131: Chapter 131: Erin Whittaker is dead, I’m setting off fireworks

I glanced at Madeline Quinn, exasperated. "They say a scourge lasts a thousand years. Is Erin Whittaker dead yet? If she is, I’m setting off fireworks."

Madeline Quinn stood upstairs and sighed. "What can she do besides act? She’s very smart. She just wants to make sure Julian Fletcher is forever in her debt."

’Just as I thought. Even Madeline Quinn can see right through Erin Whittaker.’

Zeke Shaw and Madeline Quinn came downstairs, and we went to the hospital together.

Zeke Shaw was unshaven and looked a bit worse for wear.

"I think you look more like a homeless guy than Asher right now," Madeline Quinn muttered under her breath. "But, well, you don’t have Asher’s looks."

Zeke Shaw glanced at Madeline Quinn. "Where are your manners?"

Madeline Quinn just smiled and got into Zeke Shaw’s car.

Julian Fletcher was awake. His testimony would be a great help to the case’s progress—why he was stabbed that day, what exactly happened, and whether Ash was the killer.

His statement would be crucial.

The few of us hurried upstairs, but we were stopped before we could enter the hospital room.

Zane had put up a police cordon and gave Lowell a troubled look. "Lowell... a new order came down from the top. No unauthorized personnel allowed inside."

’Clearly, they anticipated Zeke Shaw would come, and the rest of us were the ’unauthorized personnel’.’

"Lucas Grant?" Zeke Shaw frowned, angrily barging in. "I just want to know what happened that night."

Inside the hospital room, a man in a black suit stood with his back to the door.

Zeke Shaw went in, but the man didn’t even turn around. His voice was low. "Officer Lowell—ah, no. It’s precisely because of your unprofessionalism that you are no longer the officer in charge of this case."

Zeke Shaw frowned, clenching his fists.

’Even though the man hadn’t turned around, I could already feel his dense arrogance, as if he looked down on everyone.’

On the way here, I Googled this Lucas Grant. His name used to be Ian Grant, but he changed it. He was the child prodigy who tested into the genius program in third place. He was fifteen when he got in, a year older than Asher and Charlie.

Asher was first, and Charlie was second.

On a test with a maximum score of 700, Asher scored 706 and Charlie 700.

Asher found a mistake and a lack of rigor in one of the math competition questions, so he wrote out answers for two different interpretations and was awarded an extra six points. As for Charlie, if his handwriting had been a little neater, he would have had the same score as Asher. But because his writing looked like crawling worms, he was docked six points for presentation.

As for Lucas Grant, he scored 367.

’This must be the gap Asher was talking about.’

For the genius program’s selection test, a monstrously difficult exam worth 700 points, you only needed to score over 300 to get in. Yet out of all the children in the country, only fourteen scored above 300.

What was even more shocking was the massive score difference between third place and the top two.

This was also why Twin Star Orphanage producing two absolute geniuses became a nationwide sensation, a story known in every household.

Because of Asher and Charlie’s existence, the other twelve members of the genius program were reduced to mere foils.

"Julian Fletcher, what happened that day?" Zeke Shaw had been drinking heavily these past few days; his mental state was clearly starting to crumble.

Ash had deliberately provoked him, wanting to die, but Zeke Shaw still wanted to find out the truth.

"The party involved has just woken up. He can’t speak too much right now. Surely you know that, Officer Lowell? You’re a top graduate of the police academy, after all," Lucas Grant said coldly, his words dripping with condescension.

Standing at the door, just looking at his back made me feel he was an incredibly difficult person to approach.

"To be provoked so easily that you’d attack a suspect and beat your only lead to death... Officer Lowell, your intelligence, I must say, is truly concerning." Lucas Grant was provoking Zeke Shaw.

Zeke Shaw clenched his hands tightly, on the verge of throwing a punch.

"Is your intelligence so high?" Asher asked from the doorway. "Are you dressed for a funeral to create the illusion that you’re some kind of brainiac?"

"..." Madeline Quinn and I gaped in astonishment. ’When Asher roasts someone, he’s absolutely savage.’

Lucas Grant’s body stiffened. He turned to look at Asher and suddenly laughed. "Ha? If it isn’t... my old classmate. Did they let you out of the mental hospital? Still as ill-mannered as ever. As your guardians, how could your mom and dad let a mad dog out to bite people?"

The animosity between Lucas Grant and Asher was thick.

He deliberately brought up his parents to provoke Asher.

Everyone knew that Asher’s father had died in a car accident, and his mother’s fate was unknown; she had abandoned him at the entrance of the orphanage as a child.

"This gentleman is so impressive with his words, he must have raised himself, right?" I frowned. ’He’s so ill-mannered. Did he not have parents?’

Lucas Grant’s eyes darkened, his gaze deep as he stared at me.

After a long moment, he laughed. "Ha... Sebastian Lancaster, you still have the same collecting habit as ever..."

’He was probably mocking the resemblance between me and Cecilia Caldwell.’

"Get out..." From the hospital bed, Julian Fletcher, looking pale, ordered everyone out.

Lucas Grant looked back at Julian Fletcher. "Mr. Fletcher, get some rest. I’ll be back when your injuries have healed a bit."

Lucas Grant walked out the door and deliberately stopped in front of me. "You really do look a lot like Cecilia Caldwell."

’He thought a single sentence like that would be enough to provoke me. It was obviously intentional.’

’But he doesn’t know that I *am* Cecilia Caldwell.’

I furrowed my brow. "You knew Cecilia Caldwell?"

’Lucas Grant was Asher’s classmate in the genius program. I’d actually forgotten that too...’

’By now, I’ve basically realized that all of my lost memories are related to Asher.’

’I’ve forgotten Asher, and his friends, too.’

"Of course... Everyone in our dorm knew Cecilia Caldwell. After all, the photo he used to hug while sleeping was very clear." Lucas Grant’s gaze fell on Asher. "It’s just a shame they tore up the photo. Tearing up a photo must be bad luck, right? And then we heard Cecilia Caldwell died..."

"You’d better not follow in her footsteps," Lucas Grant added as another reminder.

Asher, who had been standing to the side holding himself back, was finally provoked by Lucas Grant.

He rushed forward, shoved Lucas Grant against the wall, and glared at him with intense fury. "You’re going to die."

"Am I also on the list for this serial killer’s revenge? Fine... I’ll be waiting." Lucas Grant sneered. "Let me see if an ’absolute genius’ like you, who got into the program with a perfect score, has what it takes to kill me."

Shoving Asher aside, he straightened his clothes and walked straight away.

I looked down in astonishment at the slip of paper in my palm. Lucas Grant had secretly pressed it into my hand while he was deliberately provoking Asher.

’What did he want to tell me in secret?’

"That night, I was hiding in the shadows, wanting to see if Erin Whittaker could lure out the killer. Ash suddenly appeared and tried to kill Erin, so I stepped forward to stop him and got stabbed." Julian Fletcher had started speaking. He was talking to Zeke Shaw.

He trusted Zeke Shaw more than that strange investigator.

"Julian..." Just as Zeke Shaw was about to say something, he heard Erin Whittaker’s sobs.

Her wrists were wrapped in gauze as she entered the hospital room, supported by Mrs. Fletcher.

"Julian, Erin Whittaker is a good girl, too. For you... she tried to kill herself to join you in death. It’s a good thing I found her in time." Mrs. Fletcher sighed. "Now that Cece is gone, and that can’t be changed, Mom won’t force you anymore. If you want to be responsible for Erin, then marry her."

’Erin Whittaker really is clever. She traded a single wrist-slitting for Mrs. Fletcher’s acceptance.’

Julian Fletcher instinctively looked over at me, his gaze flustered. "Cece..."