Chapter 178: The game

Ryan did not waste another second.

As soon as the footage finished playing, he pulled out his phone, zoomed in on the monitor, and took several clear photographs of the girl's face from different frames.

One showed her standing beneath the pillar before Amelia arrived.

Another captured the brief moment she reached beneath Amelia's notebook.

The last showed her raising the examination paper for everyone to see.

He checked each image carefully before slipping his phone back into his pocket.

"If anyone on this campus knows her, we'll find out soon enough."

Nathan nodded, though his attention remained on Amelia. She looked drained. The tension that had held her together since morning seemed to be catching up with her all at once.

He rested a gentle hand against the small of her back. "Come on."

She looked at him.

"We've done everything we can here today."

Amelia gave a small nod. She was too exhausted to argue.

Outside the Security Unit, the afternoon sun felt strangely out of place after everything that had happened.

Students still hurried toward examination halls as though the campus had not nearly turned someone's life upside down.

Nathan unlocked his car.

Before Amelia climbed in, Ryan called after them.

"You two head back to the apartment."

Nathan looked over his shoulder. "What about you?"

"I'm going to pick Mira up from the hostel. She has been calling me every minute, and knowing her, she's probably pacing holes into the corridor floor waiting for news."

A faint smile finally appeared on Amelia's face. "That sounds like Mira."

Ryan grinned. "It definitely does." He unlocked his own car. "I'll meet you there."

The two cars pulled away in different directions.

Almost an hour later, Nathan's apartment had quietly turned into something that looked less like a home and more like an investigation room.

Ryan arrived first with Mira. Not long afterward, two of Nathan's teammates walked through the door.

Both had spent the entire day keeping an eye on Connor and Tessa, just as Ryan had asked.

Nathan closed the apartment door behind them.

"Did either of them notice?"

One of the teammates shook his head. "They were too busy watching everyone else."

Ryan folded his arms. "What have you got?"

The taller teammate reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "I followed Tessa after lunch."

He unlocked the screen. "She met someone near the old arts building."

He turned the phone around.

Nathan leaned forward. Amelia did the same.

The photograph showed Tessa standing beneath a tree, talking to a young woman whose face was clearly visible.

Ryan looked at the screen for barely two seconds before letting out a quiet breath. "I knew it."

Nathan looked up. "You recognize her?"

Ryan nodded once.”Of course.” He took out his own phone and opened the pictures from the security footage.

Without saying a word, he placed both phones side by side on the coffee table.

Silence settled over the room.

The faces matched perfectly. The same hairstyle, backpack, and necklace.

The same girl who had bumped into Amelia. The same girl who had raised the alarm.

Nathan's jaw tightened. "So she knows Tessa."

Ryan looked at him. "Not just know her." He tapped the photograph. "She met with her less than an hour before the incident."

Nobody spoke.

The significance settled over the room one person at a time.

Mira suddenly leaned back against the sofa. A slow smile spread across her face. "This." She looked around at everyone. "Is about to become very interesting."

Nathan frowned. "What do you mean?"

She reached into her handbag and pulled out her phone. "While you and Ryan were dealing with the security footage, I wasn't exactly sitting around doing nothing."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "I never thought you were."

Mira unlocked her phone. "My brother has a friend who works at the laboratory where the drink from the restaurant was tested."

Nathan straightened immediately. "The results came back?"

"They did." She handed the phone to Ryan. "The report confirms the drink contained a prohibited sedative."

Ryan read through the laboratory report carefully.

Every line made his expression more serious.

When he reached the conclusion, he slowly looked up. "They confirmed it."

Nathan stared at him. "There was actually something in the drink?"

Ryan nodded. "There wasn't any doubt after reading this."

Mira smiled again. "But that's not even the best part."

Everyone turned toward her.

"When I went back to the hostel this morning to collect Amelia's things.." She scrolled through her gallery before opening a short video. "A first-year student stopped me."

Nathan frowned. "Why?"

"She said she'd recorded something that night outside the restaurant because she thought Connor and Tessa were acting strangely."

Ryan immediately reached for the phone. "Show me."

Mira handed it over.

The video began playing. The quality was slightly shaky, but both faces were easy to recognize.

Connor stood beside his car. Tessa approached him after she alighted from the taxi. She looked around carefully before reaching out to collect something from his hand.

She closed her fingers around it almost immediately and tucked it into her jacket pocket.

Neither of them realized someone several meters away had captured the entire exchange. The clip lasted less than twenty seconds.

Ryan watched it twice. Then a third time. A slow smile appeared on his face. He locked the screen and handed the phone back to Mira.

"This." He exhaled quietly. "Changes everything."

One of Nathan's teammates leaned back on the sofa and rubbed the back of his neck before letting out a weary sigh. "Connor hasn't changed."

The room fell silent.

Nathan looked from the laboratory report to the photographs, to the security footage, and finally to the video on Mira's phone.

The following morning, Nathan and Ryan arrived at the Faculty of Communication much earlier than lectures usually began.

The corridor outside Dr. Victor Grant's office was almost empty, save for a few lecturers carrying files from one office to another.

Nathan knocked twice.

"Come in."

Dr. Victor looked up from the stack of examination scripts spread across his desk. The tiredness on his face was unmistakable, but he still managed a welcoming smile when he saw them.

"Nathan. Ryan." He gestured toward the chairs opposite him. "I was actually hoping to hear from you."

Nathan and Ryan exchanged a quick glance before sitting.

"Any new developments?" Dr. Victor asked.

Ryan nodded slightly. "We've made some progress." He didn't reveal everything.

"We wanted to ask you something first."

Dr. Victor leaned back in his chair. "Go ahead."

Ryan rested his forearms on his knees. "The examination papers..."

Dr. Victor nodded. "What about them?"

"You mentioned the other day that you kept them at home before bringing them to campus."

"I did."

Ryan continued calmly. "Has anyone visited your house recently?"

Dr. Victor frowned, genuinely thinking about the question. "My house?"

"Yes.Anyone who might've had access to your study even briefly."

The older man shook his head. "Not that I can remember."

Ryan was about to ask another question when a cheerful voice floated in from the doorway.

"Uncle!"

All three men turned.