novelxo Chapter 217
Chapter 217
Jarvis was about to approach Eileen when Simon stopped him, “Hold up.”
Jarvis asked, “What’s up?”
Simon pondered for a moment before whispering, “I don’t think Ms. Lopez is the warm and fuzzy type, and her sudden chumminess with those guys is raising some red flags. Let’s just see what she’s up to first.”
Eileen was already deep in enemy territory!
In truth, ignoring their spooky personas, most of these staff were stand-in actors. After all, how could such a gigantic scene have so many staff? Weren’t these folks busy? How could they possibly double as actors and not get stage fright?
Eileen was discussing pay and roles with the stand-ins, touching their hearts.
No actors who didn’t want to be recognized. Their acting skills being acknowledged and their costumes being remembered, this would naturally make these stand-ins happy. Initially, they were somewhat in awe of Eileen, even a bit wary. But in a blink of an eye, they saw Eileen chatting with them like any other actor, promising to fight for bonuses from the head director!
The stand-ins instantly saw Eileen as their leader!
In the main control room, the assistant director was speechless. He tried to contact the staff via walkie-talkie, and while most of them listened to him, some die-hard fans were too engrossed in their chat with Eileen to pay any attention to the assistant director. They even turned off their headsets, completely ignoring him!
The assistant director was flabbergasted. He turned to the scriptwriter and said, “This has to be foul play, right?”
The scriptwriter couldn’t help but smirk, “But charming the extras is also one of Wraith Ruler’s skills.”
The assistant director glared at the scriptwriter, saying, “You’re the scriptwriter. Shouldn’t you be defending your script?”
The scriptwriter scoffed, “What script? The moment the head director decided to change the plot I wrote, the whole thing started crumbling! That stunt Hedy pulled has caused a total fuck up. You should be thankful that we’ve made it this far!”
The assistant director fell silent, mostly because the evidence against the head director and Hedy was overwhelming. He looked at the scriptwriter sympathetically, “You’re really having a tough time, aren’t you? Look at you, losing your hair over writing the script. It must be really draining.”
The scriptwriter was speechless. He glared at the assistant director, managing to hold his temper and retort, “Can you talk politely? If not, just shut up!” After Eileen had a friendly chat with the staff, her crafty nature quickly revealed itself. She started to pump the staff for plot information.
The staff, while still having professional integrity, wouldn’t spill everything, but they shared everything they could! After gathering all the information, Eileen turned back to Jarvis and Simon and whispered the details.
Once she finished, both Jarvis and Simon fell silent. After a while, Simon said, “So, it seems like the biggest problem is the Resident Advisor.”
At this moment, they heard footsteps through the hallway speakers again. They were men’s footsteps. The principal was back?
Eileen thought for a moment, then signaled one of the male ghosts to close the door.
The male ghost went to close the door but couldn’t. He turned back to Eileen and made a gesture.
Simon didn’t understand and asked, “What did he say?”
Eileen said awkwardly, “He said I broke the door lock when I kicked it. It won’t close.”
Simon was speechless.
Eileen quickly added, “But it doesn’t matter. What’s the big deal about closing the door? Am I scared of him? I’m not even scared of ghosts, so why would I be afraid of a human?”
With that, she stormed over.
The male ghost stepped aside, and Eileen quickly pulled the door open. With her eyes closed, she grabbed the person’s arm and threw them over her shoulder without greeting or checking who was outside.
“Ms. Lopez!”Jarvis’ warning and Eileen’s throwing action happened simultaneously.
“Ah!” The victim howled, but it was not the same voice as the principal’s they had heard before. It was a young man’s voice!
Only then did Eileen open her eyes and saw that the person under her foot was not the principal, but Latham, who had supposedly left the school during the day!
He was in pain, gritting his teeth and his face full of agony. Jarvis and Simon hurried over, and Eileen quickly let go, darting back into the crowd of ghosts. Jarvis and Simon helped Latham up. Latham, clutching his lower back, scanned the three “people” in the room and demanded, “What are you all doing here?”
In the setup, Latham couldn’t see ghosts. So from his perspective, there were only Eileen, Jarvis, and Simon in the room.
Simon knew that Latham’s appearance must be related to some plot development. He assumed his basketball player persona and asked, “What about you? Didn’t you leave the school? Why are you in the girls’ dorm in the middle of the night?”
Latham hesitated, then turned to Eileen, who had attacked him. Suddenly, he noticed the seal in Eileen’s hand and immediately asked, “Did you steal my stuff?”
Eileen poked her head out from behind the ghosts, looked at Latham and asked, “Is this yours?”
Latham replied, “Of course, it’s my father’s. It’s the old school’s seal. Give it back!”
Eileen’s eyes rolled. She walked out from behind the ghosts, holding up a seal in each hand, and handed them to Latham, “Are both of these yours?”
Latham was taken aback, “This one.”
Paid
He took both seals, then held up the one with “Academy” inscribed on it, and said, “Didn’t this go missing a few years ago? Where did you get it?”
Eileen shrugged, “I got it from the Resident Advisor.”
“Resident Advisor?” Latham fumed, “I knew it! I knew she was trouble! So, Annie’s death does have something to do with her.”
Eileen was taken aback, “Is there another victim? Who’s Annie?”
Latham looked at Eileen, and his mouth was twitching, “Annie is my girlfriend. Aren’t you two love rivals? She even splashed water at you!”
Eileen remained silent. Annie was the girl with the ponytail.
Latham firmly believed that Annie’s death was the work of the Resident Advisor. He even took out his phone and showed them the latest text message.
He said, “This is what Annie sent me before she died. She said she wanted to break up with me. I’ve been deceiving her, and that my dad is a jerk. She never used to talk like this. This isn’t her style! What did I lie to her about? How did my dad become a jerk?”
Eileen saw Latham getting worked up and comforted him, “Don’t stress over this. Your dad is a jerk. That’s a fact.”
Latham fell silent.
Eileen then asked, “So, what does this have to do with the Resident Advisor?”
Latham gritted his teeth and said, “A few days ago, Annie told me that she found something off about the Resident Advisor. She seemed to be constantly surveilling the school. Annie died in two days after she told me this. If it wasn’t the Resident Advisor who killed her, then who else could it be?”
To destroy evidence?” Eileen suggested, then asked, “Can you elaborate?”
Latham recounted what happened, “My dad frequently goes on business trips and when he’s not at school, I would hide in his office to skip classes. A few days ago, I was… studying in his office with Annie.”
Eileen was speechless.
Latham coughed and continued, “Anyway, while we were together, Annie suddenly said that there was light reflecting into her eyes from the window. I didn’t think much of it at the time. But the next day, she told me that there was a room in the girls’ dormitory across. It was always empty, but the Resident Advisor was frequently seen going in and out of it. She sneaked a peek through the skylight of the door in the middle of the night and found that it was filled with surveillance and eavesdropping equipment!”
Eileen furrowed her eyebrows and asked, “And then Annie died?”
Latham replied, “Exactly! So, if it wasn’t the Resident Advisor, who else could it be? I wanted to come check out this dormitory in the middle of the night, but I ended up being hit by you!”
Eileen casually waved her hand and said, “Don’t worry about the minor details.”
“I…” Latham wanted to say something else.
Eileen quickly interrupted him, afraid that he might ask her for medical expenses, “Okay, all the mysteries have been solved now.”
Jarvis, Simon, and Latham all turned to look at her, bewildered, “The mysteries have been solved?”
Eileen then straightened her clothes, looked at the camera in the corner, and said, “Ms. Lopez’s mini-lecture starts now. Director, please play the Detective Conan theme music for me.”
In the live broadcast room, no background music started playing.
But the assistant director added a note at the bottom right corner of the live broadcast screen – [Music rights are not purchased. Please play your own music or sing along.]