Chapter 453 - 421: Clumsy Smear
Originally, Li Qian had planned to go outside the city today and see if he could catch any other rodent-type Pet Beasts.
But when Bai Bingbing told him he could record the other statues and stone murals from the ruins, he jumped at the chance and got right to it with gusto.
After breakfast, he put on his VR glasses and delved into the temple complex. Since he had already seen everything the day before, he was able to scan with exceptional efficiency.
In just about an hour, Li Qian finished recording all the statues and stone murals that had taken him the better part of the previous day just to look at.
When Li Qian returned to the camp near the Stone Tower, he saw that most of the people had vanished. He asked, "Where are Teacher Liang and the others?"
"They went inside the Earth Palace again," Bai Bingbing answered.
"Let’s go in too." Li Qian still planned to check things out beyond the city walls today, so he didn’t waste any time. He walked straight toward the Stone Tower, wanting to quickly record the statues and stone murals inside.
𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
In addition, Li Qian also planned to ask Teacher Liang about the strange dance depicted in the murals.
They quickly entered the corridor of the Stone Tower and, before long, arrived at the Earth Palace they had visited yesterday.
The Earth Palace was bustling with activity. Teachers Yang, Huang, and Liang were leading a large, huddled group of students and were in the middle of a lecture.
Li Qian saw this but had no intention of joining them. While the teachers’ lectures were undoubtedly important, recording the statues and stone murals was a more pressing matter for him.
So, he immediately activated his VR glasses and began to scan diligently. Bai Bingbing, however, joined Teacher Liang’s group to listen to the lecture.
Irina found a random corner to close her eyes and rest. She wasn’t interested in the teachers’ lectures, nor in the statues and stone murals of the Earth Palace.
Li Qian, completely focused, paid no attention to his surroundings. He scanned the contents of the stone murals in the main area of the Earth Palace before heading into the first stone chamber.
But the moment he entered and took a look, he froze, dumbfounded. He saw that on one of the walls in this first chamber, the stone mural had been brutally gouged with several deep scratches.
A large portion of the mural on this wall had been destroyed, its original content no longer discernible.
Furthermore, judging by the marks, the scratches must have been made very recently.
Li Qian was flabbergasted. ’What kind of moron did this? There’s a whole archaeological team working in the Earth Palace. Aren’t they afraid of ending up in prison?’
"Li Qian, what are you doing destroying the mural!" Just as Li Qian was reeling in confusion, someone—he couldn’t see who—suddenly shouted.
Li Qian instinctively turned and caught a glimpse of a fleeting figure. He recalled that it looked like someone from the Shazhou Defense University team.
Seeing this, the corner of Li Qian’s mouth twitched. ’I can’t believe someone’s trying to frame me with such a cheap trick.’
"I..." Li Qian shook his head helplessly. He thought for a moment and had a good idea of who was responsible. For the time being, he didn’t move; he just stayed put.
If he left now, it would be impossible to clear his name. Besides, after that person’s loud shout, he couldn’t get away even if he wanted to.
Soon, the main group arrived. They all saw the scratches on the mural and turned to look at Li Qian with strange expressions.
"Li Qian, why would you destroy a historical artifact? You know destroying relics from the ruins is a felony!" a horse-faced student immediately yelled.
"Yeah, this guy! You can tell he’s no good just by looking at him!"
"I’ve disliked him for a while now. He’s just got that shifty, rat-like look."
"..."
"An archaeological site is a place of critical importance. To let someone who knows nothing run amok is simply irresponsible."
This last statement came from the supervising teacher of the Shazhou Defense University group—Teacher Huang.
Listening to these slanderous accusations, Li Qian couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
’It’s one thing for them to jump on the bandwagon and accuse me of destroying the artifact without knowing the facts,’ Li Qian thought. ’But calling me shifty and rat-like? Isn’t that going too far? That’s a personal attack.’
’And that Teacher Huang... jumping to conclusions without any sense of right or wrong. He’s not just slandering me, but also implicating Teacher Liang. What a piece of work.’
’Goes to show, if the beam at the top is crooked, the ones below will be too.’
Yes, by now, Li Qian had pretty much figured it out. He had already identified a few suspects behind the frame-up.
Li Qian coldly swept his gaze over the crowd, then walked straight over. "You were the one who was shouting just now, weren’t you?"
Even from that brief glance, Li Qian could tell by the person’s build that the one who had shouted was likely the horse-faced student standing before him.
"What’s the matter? Now that you’ve been exposed, you want to kill me to silence me?" The horse-faced student saw Li Qian’s piercing gaze land on him. With a guilty conscience, he panicked for a second, but he quickly summoned his courage to confront Li Qian.
Li Qian let out a dry laugh and took a few steps closer. "I haven’t even summoned a Pet Beast, so how am I supposed to kill you to silence you? Besides, with three teachers and the people from the Investigation Bureau here, I’m sure they’ll conduct a fair investigation to find out the truth. Since I didn’t destroy the ruin, what do I have to fear?"
"You say you didn’t destroy the ruin, so how do you explain this?" Teacher Huang demanded, pointing at the scratched stone mural.
Li Qian looked at Teacher Huang and sneered. He didn’t care why the man was targeting him; he would just hit back. "Teacher Huang, what does this prove? Just because there’s a pile of shit at my feet, you can’t just say I’m the one who took it!"
Hearing this, many of the students couldn’t help but frown, thinking his words were incredibly crude.
Li Qian didn’t care in the slightest. ’Crude words, sound logic,’ he thought. He continued, "I’d like to ask you, my fellow student, have we met before?"
"No." The horse-faced student nodded, looking a bit lost, not understanding why Li Qian was asking.
Li Qian pressed on without pausing, "Since we’ve never met before, how were you able to call out my name just now?"
"So what if I heard it from someone else? And what does that have to do with you destroying the ruin?" The horse-faced student stubbornly insisted on Li Qian’s guilt.
Li Qian stared directly into the other student’s eyes and asked in a mocking tone, "Are you sure you saw me destroy this ruin with your own hands?"
"Well, I didn’t see it with my own eyes, but you were the only one in here at the time." The horse-faced student’s voice faltered, and his bravado weakened.
He didn’t understand the source of Li Qian’s fearless confidence. He was just getting paid to do a job; if he ended up getting dragged down too, it wouldn’t be worth it. That was why he hadn’t spoken in absolutes.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, he realized he had fallen into Li Qian’s rhetorical trap.
By answering that way, he had just confirmed that he was the one who shouted. Escaping this situation quietly was no longer an option.
Li Qian stared at the horse-faced student, his voice flat. "So, what you’re saying is, you didn’t actually see me destroy this ruin. You just saw me standing next to the *already* destroyed ruin?"
"Is there a difference?" the horse-faced student blurted out instinctively.
The corner of Li Qian’s mouth twitched. He almost felt sorry for the guy’s intelligence. "The difference is huge. There’s a world of difference between being at the scene of a crime and being the criminal."
"But you were the only one at the scene. If you can’t prove your innocence..." Teacher Huang began, chiming in to support his student.
He didn’t finish his sentence, but his meaning was perfectly clear.
Just then, Teacher Liang stepped out from the crowd and said in a neutral tone, "Li Qian, are you certain these scratches have nothing to do with you?"
"Mhm." Li Qian nodded, playing along with Teacher Liang’s questioning, though a sliver of doubt couldn’t help but form in his mind.
’We haven’t known each other for long, but Teacher Liang should have some idea of my character.’ Thinking this, he added, "I can’t think of a single reason why I would destroy this place!"
"In fact, I find the destruction of these ruins to be deeply regrettable, even heartbreaking."
The horse-faced student glanced around the crowd. Seeing that some people seemed to be swayed by Li Qian’s words, he quickly latched onto what Li Qian had just said to continue his slander. "Who knows why you’d want to destroy the ruin? It’s not like you’d tell us if you had some ulterior motive, right?"
"I believe Li Qian!" The very instant the horse-faced student finished speaking, Bai Bingbing stepped forward and voiced her support without the slightest hesitation.
"I believe Li Qian, too!" another girl, a friend of Bai Bingbing’s, also stepped out.
"Belief is irrelevant. The truth of the matter will be determined on its own!" Teacher Huang declared, his voice stern.
Just then, Teacher Yang, a man who looked to be in his early thirties and had been watching the drama unfold from the sidelines, suddenly spoke up. "Everything comes down to evidence."
"That’s right, everything comes down to evidence. So, I hope—be it Li Qian or any other student—that if one of you is responsible, you confess now. If you do, we can be lenient. But if we have to wait for the evidence to surface, you will have to bear the full consequences," Teacher Liang chimed in, her words carrying a veiled threat.
If her words hadn’t also been directed at Li Qian, Teacher Huang would have protested already. Of course, any protest would have been futile.
"You all don’t actually believe that just because this dig is nearing its end, we have no protective measures in place for these artifacts, do you?" Teacher Liang said calmly.
Her words made the horse-faced student’s heart pound with fear, worried that the truth would be exposed. However, after thinking it over, he was sure the archaeological team couldn’t possibly have any evidence, so he prepared to deny it to the bitter end.
Li Qian, of course, was not about to back down either. He declared with absolute certainty, "Teacher Liang, I swear I did not destroy this ruin. It was already like this when I got here!"
"Fine. Very fine. Since you’ve all decided to be stubborn, I have no choice but to present the evidence!" As she spoke, she waved her hand. A fluffy Pet Beast about the size of a puppy appeared before the crowd. It was covered in white fur and looked like a little snowball.
Pointing at the little snowball-like beast, Teacher Liang announced, "This Pet Beast is called a Time Spirit. It is an extremely rare Time Element Pet Beast that can rewind time within a certain area."