Chapter 24 Picking Opposing Sides
“Right now…the issue isn’t whether I…believe you or not, it’s just that you really are…very…suspicious,” stammered Kade.
Pang Bo immediately glared at him, saying, “You blonde Yankee, what do you mean by this? Why do you think that Ye Fan killed him?”
“No, I’m not being subjective…I believe…I mean…impartial facts. I’m not saying he’s…murderer…I’m just saying the facts show high…suspicion.” Kade spoke in a deadpan and not very fluent manner. Continuing his analysis, “”What Liu Yunzhi said…is reasonable. Ye Fan and the deceased had a conflict, so there is…motive. In addition…he was very close…he had the chance to kill him.”
Although he couldn’t speak very smoothly, everyone could understand his meaning. He followed a very inflexible manner of thinking just like many other Westerners, solely discussing the facts.
“Yank, do you really have to bring up something so obvious and discuss it like you’re trying to prove a mathematical theory? Stop being so simple minded!”
“What is a…Yank?” asked the foreigner, Kade. “I heard you say it…many times. What is a…Yank?”
“You are a Yank, a simple-minded fool! I’m disinclined to say anything to you.” Pang Bo was not in a good mood. Not arguing with him anymore, he turned to Li Xiaoman and said, “Why aren’t YOU saying anything? You should understand Ye Fan very well.”
Li Xiaoman was slender and elegant. Under the faint light of the cell phones, she gave off a semblance to a fresh and beautiful lotus flower blossoming in the darkness. Her expression was completely undisturbed, and she naturally and softly said, “From my heart, I don’t believe Ye Fan is a murderer. But now he definitely is most suspicious-”
“Li Xiaoman!” Pang Bo yelled extremely angrily, stopping her in the middle of her words. “You really are heartless. I never thought you would say such words! Anyone else could doubt him, but not you! Other people might not understand Ye Fan, but how could you not? Although you already broke up, you still can’t be this heartless right? Are you trying to spread salt over the wound on Ye Fan’s heart?”
“I don’t have any other meaning, I just want to state a fact.” Li Xiaoman was still very calm. Her appearance was cunning and beautiful, as fair as jade. She frowned slightly, saying, “I absolutely have not pointed anyone out, I’m simply saying the killer is someone who would even kill someone, so they are definitely capable of anything. Right before us is this killer, so we are all in danger. I want to be a bit more objective instead of subjective, and using the facts, Ye Fan is the most suspicious. However, everyone else present is also slightly suspicious.”
Pang Bo coldly laughed, “You say Ye Fan’s is the most suspicious. If you don’t trust him, you don’t need to say so much!” He turned his head away, saying, “I really misjudged you. In the past, your decision was something that was hard to change, and none of your friends had any way to persuade you. Only now do I understand your nature isn’t to be decisive, but to be heartless.”
Just at this moment, a nervous and timid voice spoke out. “I…I believe Ye Fan. I believe that…he isn’t the killer.” That female classmate whose life was going badly, the classmate with the frail body who was very delicate, walked over with her head lowered, appearing somewhat nervous and uneasy. An originally simple and happy maiden, she had changed greatly due to the hardships of her recent life. Her whole person had become somewhat lacking in confidence. No longer would she seem like sunshine, lighting up the room. In front of everyone, her words were not very smooth and she appeared ill at ease.
This was also the reason that Ye Fan had empathized so deeply with her at the reunion.
Pang Bo was like Ye Fan and also sympathized with this fragile girl. Back in university, she was definitely not like this. She would frequently come up to Ye Fan and joke around, her laugh lighting up the room. The three of them had been very close, and being near her made it easy for people to feel joy.
“Thank you, Liu Yiyi!” Ye Fan smiled and nodded towards her.
“No need to thank me, I know that you wouldn’t kill people…” Liu Yiyi’s voice was very quiet, causing people to take pity on her as she stood there ill at ease.
“If it wasn’t you, then who else could it be?” Li Changqing continued to act incessantly furious, saying, “Other than Ye Fan, who else had the motive? This was his revenge!”
The female classmate who was standing beside Liu Yunzhi also once more opened her mouth and said, “Ye Fan, how could you be so vicious! That was your classmate for four years!”
“I’ll say it again: I didn’t kill him,” Ye Fan dutifully responded. Completely calm, he said, “You can doubt me, but before this is investigated completely, please don’t just directly place this dirty blame on me.”
“The facts are right in front of us. You and the deceased were right next to each other. No one else could have bypassed you to kill him. The only one who could kill him without anyone else noticing was you, and you are the only one with a motive!”
Pang Bo’s anger soared, and not being able to endure, he angrily roared, “Can you try being the slightest bit logical? Before this matter is resolved, don’t try to slander other people. I really don’t understand you. If I were to be nice about it, then I’d say that you parted ways with Liu Yunzhi during graduation. But if I wanted to be a bit more vicious, the truth was that Liu Yunzhi despised you and threw you aside, causing you to hate him! How can you bear to stand next to him and beat your drum to his orders?”
“You…you slanderous person, how dare you attack me personally!” This woman’s anger caused her face to become white as snow, her body shaking.
“Personally attacking you? That’s right, I’m attacking a chicken!¹” Pang Bo was someone who couldn’t stand coming off worse off than the other person, so sometimes his mouth truly was very malicious. “This is me fighting fire with fire. When someone swears, I’ll lie. When a toad just randomly spouts nonsense, I’ll drown it!”
“YOU!” That female classmate’s body shook, and she was angered speechless.
Liu Yunzhi’s face was very gloomy as he said, “That’s enough. Pang Bo, are you even a man? Is there a need to say such words?” Small sparks of light lingered around the jeweled vajra scepter in his hand, appearing exceptionally eye-catching in the darkness. It reminded people that he definitely had a strong deterrence; should there be a fight, no one would be able to withstand him.
Pang Bo also became a bit more subdued, saying, “You guys are all arguing trying to pin Ye Fan as the murderer. I’m just returning the favor.”
Ye Fan involuntarily swept his gaze over Li Xiaoman before once more turning to everyone. At this moment, three more classmates walked forward and said, “We believe that Ye Fan didn’t kill anyone.”
Adding on Liu Yiyi, Zhang Ziwen, Pang Bo, suddenly six people were standing beside him. Adding himself, they were a group of seven, while there were only sixteen people in their group who had managed to survive the disaster. The people who believed Ye Fan made up almost half the group.
Lin Jia was very beautiful with a tall and wonderful figure. Her natural red phoenix eyes caused people to involuntarily feel as if she were lovely and charming. Even in the face of this kind of atmosphere, she was still calm and enchanting as she said, “I also think that it’s impossible for it to be Ye Fan. We all understand his disposition; he isn’t such a violent person. He would never fight with someone over such minor matters….”
Li Changqing was displeased and interrupted her. “Other than him, there’s no one else. Who amongst else would kill someone, who would have such an intention?”
Pang Bo once more became furious. Glaring at him, he said, “Li Changqing, could you be any more lacking of respect? Or can you find some other reason to slander others? I really want to press this copper plaque onto your face. How can you even stand to let such dogmatic words pass your mouth?”
“I’m too lazy to deal with you!” Li Changqing’s anger was greater than ever. Even now, he still had a bloody nose and face. The beating he had received from Pang Bo on the five-colored altar had not been light.
“I also believe that Ye Fan isn’t such a person. He wouldn’t do such a savage thing.” At this moment, Wang Ziwen walked over, choosing to trust Ye Fan.
From the start, Zhou Yi had seemed like an observer but at this moment he also made his choice. Looking at the divine light flickering from the jeweled vajra scepter in Liu Yunzhi’s hand, then looking at Ye Fan’s calm and composed manner, he said, “We can’t lightly come to conclusion as to who the murderer is. I believe that Ye Fan wouldn’t kill a classmate.”
At this moment, the absolute majority was now standing beside Ye Fan. He knew that some of these people were sincere. But some of the people had made their decision by looking at how calm he appeared in the face of Liu Yunzhi’s vajra scepter and decided that he definitely had some kind of trump card, so they based their selection based on speculation.
“If it wasn’t Ye Fan, then who could it be? Or are you saying that one of us is the killer?” Liu Yunzhi’s face was cold as he stared at Ye Fan. He then turned to look at Pang Bo. “Cool off your anger! Don’t think that just because you carry a shiny metal club people will fear you.”
Pang Bo didn’t care at all, and very energetically replied, “I can use this copper plaque to beat you up just the same as before!”
Liu Yunzhi’s face immediately became much gloomier. Tightly holding onto the jeweled vajra scepter, he pressed forward three steps!
Ye Fan pulled back Pang Bo who wanted to charge forward. Turning to face everyone, he solemnly and earnestly said, “I can tell everyone that the murderer is not one of us people.”
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Translator notes:
¹“Personally attacking you? That’s right, I’m attacking a chicken!” is a pun based on pinyin (the sound).
攻击？对，攻鸡 (Gong ji? Dui, gong ji!)
Also, when they say there is a ‘ghost,’ they don’t necessarily strictly mean ghost. When there’s something strange going on, they say there’s a ‘ghost’ because something unknown is causing it.