Soulless Players

Seeing three policemen walking ahead, Philip quickly buried his head in his notes. He wanted to remain invisible as no matter what the policemen were planning to do would cause some chaos and he was afraid of being implicated. After all, he was currently considered a spy from the Engineering Department.

The students passing by also noticed them and quickly gathered around to gossip.

However, to Philip's surprise, the policemen stopped in front of him. No, it was more like they stopped at the door beside him.

His heart raced as he had assumed they were there for him, causing him to imagine different scenarios. He quickly realized they were likely there for the dean and hurriedly walked away to join the onlookers on the corner.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The leading police officer knocked on the door. Shortly, the door slowly creaked open and Sid's head popped out from inside.

Seeing these men wearing blue uniforms, Sid's eyes widened for a moment before asking,

"What can I help you, esteemed officers?" While Sid carefully asked them, his body subconsciously hid the mess inside the room.

"Is Ronald Evans here?" asked the leading policeman named Loid. The tone of his voice was plain and without fluctuation.

"Yes, he's here. Why are you asking this officer?" Sid answered while he turned his head back to look at Ronald's perplexed face.

This time, Loid had noticed that Sid was seemingly hiding something in the room. However, while he was aware of it, he did not call him out. Instead, he informed his main intention of coming here.

"Mr. Ronald Evans is to be called out to the station for questioning." He then took the document from his colleague,

"We have the arrest warrant for illegal possession of firearms to the said person."

Hearing this, the onlookers around gasped in disbelief, surprise was evident on their faces.

They know the heavy punishment accompanied by the said crime and rarely see someone who possessed them.

All of them, including their whole ancestry, haven't even seen a real gun in their life! This arrest was all new to them and could not help but be scared. But more than being scared was the curiosity over the unknown.

The onlookers murmured loudly and more and more students and professors gathered around to gossip.

Noticing the sudden attention of people around, Sid's face darkened as he quickly looked behind him.

Ronald had also heard their proclamation and could not help but scowl. He quickly went out and faced Loid.

"Excuse me, officer. I have never seen a gun in my entire life, much more possessed them. This also included my whole family and ancestors. So I don't really know what you are talking about..."

Ronald stopped as if remembering something and continued,

"Are you perhaps referring to the gunshot that was heard yesterday evening in my abode? We have already filed a complaint to the station and were deemed innocent of it. We don't know those who trespassed on our property nor we are related to them."

What he said was the truth. The family also knew how grave the punishment was for it and didn't consider possessing them nor involving in their sale.

"Yes, we have received the report about last night but our coming here isn't for that." Loid tersely acknowledged his plea and nodded to the officer beside him.

The accompanying officer immediately took a document from his pocket and delivered it to Loid. Shortly, Loid skimmed through it and passed it to Ronald and said,

"This morning, we have received a new report that you've been burying firearms in your yards. Before we came here, we investigated the matter, dug your yard, and found out that the report was indeed true."

Loid's forehead wrinkled for a moment before continuing, "And we didn't just find a single gun but boxes of firearms hidden underneath your garden."

"So, we invite you to the station for questioning. Of course, your other members of the family are included in this as well."

When Loid said this, the onlookers around gasped in chorus once again. They quickly looked at Professor Evans and his secretary with intense scrutiny.

Ronald was also stunned by this. He didn't know about them being buried in his yard!

However, while his face showed an obvious surprise and confusion, deep inside, he was panicking.

He recalled that their family, particularly the deceased Stephen, had previously been involved in a murder that involved firearms.

In the past, he had a suspicion that it came from Stephen. After all, that child was abnormal. Furthermore, the child traveled secretly to the south alone and coincidentally died tragically.

This made him think about whether Stephen had a way of getting firearms without other people noticing. That was also the reason why he immediately manipulated the news into something favorable to them.

This was an instinct of a businessman and also of a father. However, what he initially thought of as mere speculation turned out into a reality!

Ronald had always known that Stephen was unique and not acting at his age but he never outwardly showed it. He had lived for so many years and had some gist that the world appeared to be not as normal as it looked.

Then, His initial confusion turned into support once he accidentally found out that the nobles he looked up to were also not normal. This was also the reason why he just let the child be involved in their business despite his young age. He wanted to test whether Stephen was their ticket to aristocracy.

However, what he thought was a ticket to success turned into a big misfortune.

Hearing the police officer's notion, he had finally confirmed his suspicion. Stephen did possess the gun in the locomotive incident last week. Moreover, the source where he got it from is just right before their eyes. No, it is right under their eyes. Their garden!

Ronald froze. He was frightened but he quickly replied the whole truth to the group of officers.

"Officer, our family really didn't know about them. You might not know this but we have just moved into that estate five to six years ago. We don't know who buried them there."

However, upon seeing the stern gazes of Loid and his accompanying colleague, he sighed sorrowfully. He knew that even if he explained and proved his innocence, he had no choice but to come with them to the station.

He glanced at the crowd around and could not help but be disturbed. Whatever the decision with this investigation, whether he was indeed innocent or not, would greatly affect his reputation. Perhaps in the future, he might be suspended as dean and his family business might suffer from this.

Ronald and his secretary Sid followed the men under the hot scrutiny around, including Philip wearing a stupefied facial expression.

How could Philip not be surprised? This was totally aligned with whatever plan he initially had. This made him think whether he was sleepwalking last night and performed everything as planned.

Seeing the crowd slowly but loudly dispersing, Philip quickly made it to the Engineering building for his next class. While he was walking, he created numerous causes for the coincidence.

'Of course, the sleepwalking thing is absurd and impossible. So... that leads us to Emile, the magician. Is he perhaps helping me revenge?'

Philip quickly crossed that out.

'Why would he help him after all that he had done to him last night? But wait what if he is not helping me but helping himself? After all from his facial expression, he has a great fear of guns. This also happened to Loen who was killed by Steve.'

'Did he report it to his superior upon knowing that it was Steve who shot Loen and possibly the original possessor of the firearm? Yes, this speculation cannot be denied.'

While Philip felt he had found the possible reason for such coincidence, he didn't stop thinking of a new one. Shortly, he came up with a new feasible hypothesis.

"Perhaps, it might be from Evans' enemies, particularly from the business side. They might have used the noise last night to attack them. Yes. this plan has been meticulously planned for a long time. After all, the policeman said it wasn't just a single gun that was found underneath but multiple crates."

Philip stopped and his eyes widened upon thinking of another reason.

'It could also be from Conrad! He had finally informed his mother about their circumstances and her employer, the Semion family, helped them out. But based on what Conrad had said, he needed five days to arrive at their fief... and he had just left yesterday morning.'

Philip shook his head in frustration. There were a lot of possibilities and he had no way of knowing the exact cause.

He could only throw it into the back of his head and headed to his next class where he had to learn about math again.