Chereads / Criminal 20 / Chapter 34 - May The Truth Set You Free

Chapter 34 - May The Truth Set You Free

"Excuse me?" Amber asked. "What the fuck do you think you're implying here?"

"Well, as soon as Silvia asked for people's undemonstrated powers, you tried changing the subject to Ulrich's attempted murder."

"Your attempted murder, bitch!" Aurora interrupted.

"My actions right now are irrelevant." Huang replied, cool as ever. "Aurora, would you mind showing me your power?"

"Show me yours first, motherfucker!" Aurora yelled desperately.

"I'd rather not, considering the space it would take up." He replied.

"I know what it is!" Vanessa yelled out. "It would take up way too much space to show here, but it isn't anything evil, he's an astral type!"

"So am I, bitch!" Aurora screamed out. "It's a sword, like Odebode!"

"I see." Huang replied calmly. "Then may you summon it?"

"Well, there's the thing." Aurora replied nervously. "I have to pull it out of my…lower regions."

"Well then, nobody's stopping you." Huang said, unfazed. "Drop the skirt and unleash your weapon. If it's what you claim, all my suspicions will be cleared."

"Get bent, pervert! I don't have to prove shit! Stop using the situation to see my ass!"

"I am an asexual, miss. I will get no pleasure from this. In fact, all those who are attracted to women, close your eyes. It is only for a moment, and essential to my case."

Aurora scoffed at this, but then watched as Andrei, Eric, Lloyd, Micah, Odebode, Ulrich and Vanessa all did as instructed.

"I don't have to do anything you ask me, pervert!" Aurora yelled, before the light around her turned red.

"You cannot be serious." Kalea said to Leonie, looking disgusted.

"Aurora Lundgreen's ass, Kalea! The ratings this is gonna get! And the praise that we're gonna get! So come on, Aurora! Show the sword!"

Aurora stood unmoving for a few seconds. If she didn't say anything, she could be voted off. This guy was a straight up cult leader, he could probably sway everything in his favour.

"I-I lied." She said, her voice getting higher pitched. "That isn't my power."

"I see." Huang replied, losing the smile for the first time. "So you killed Gemma."

"Excuse me?" Aurora yelled out, in a full panic. "Where the fuck did you get that idea?"

"Well, you certainly killed Timothy in challenge one. The traces of poison in Andrei's system were blamed on tools in the Brasshead, correct? However, no such tools existed in the case of Timothy's death. And seeing as you are the only person with an unknown power, it is safe to assume that you have poison abilities?"

"Well, I…I…I, I, I, I…have…" Aurora stuttered, before shutting up.

"Wait...we figured it out?" Silvia asked, slowly starting to splutter out a series of incoherent noises, then breaking out into a series of manic laughter. "We figured it out, we figured it out!" Silvia screamed out, tears in her eyes. "You better hope you fucking die right now, cause what I'm about to do to you will make you fucking wish for a bullet in the skull!"

"Alongside that, you were close to Gemma, who you killed. She murdered someone. Would you perhaps know this person, and attempt to get revenge?"

"L-Lloyd knew this person." Aurora struggled to get the words out, but once they did, everyone turned to Lloyd.

"Yeah, I knew him. Didn't ask her to kill Gemma over it, though." Lloyd replied. He wanted to appear as nonchalant as ever, but sweat was starting to form on his head.

"You shut your goddamn mouth." Silvia replied, with almost enough venom to match what was put into her boyfriend.

"So, motive to kill, proof you have formally killed, and powers that match the crime scene. Seems like a shut case if you ask me."

"If that was the case, then how did she get past Andrei?" Amber yelled. "He would destroy her!"

"That's where you come in, obviously." Huang replied quickly. "Andrei said everything went dark, and who can make things dark, again?"

"Things went smoky, and then dark." Andrei corrected quietly.

"Yeah, that's Gemma's thing." Lloyd sighed.

"So Aurora hit Andrei by accident before hitting Gemma!" Micah yelled.

"That seems the most likely." Huang nodded.

"But if she hit Andrei, then wouldn't Amber have killed Gemma?" Wendy asked. "Or maybe Ulrich, because he was there as well."

"I didn't do anything!" Ulrich yelled. "Amber left me alone for a second to get something to drain the poison. I didn't even enter the room where that happened! And on top of that, neither of us had knives!"

"I remember a knife." Cyrus replied coldly.

"You don't remember shit!" Ulrich yelled back, slamming his hands on his panel. "Look, Amber! Can you tell them I wasn't there?"

"But you were." Amber replied calmly. "And if I recall correctly, you did find a knife on the way there."

"Excuse me?" Ulrich yelled out. "You told me to stay behind while you and Aurora took care of something! I reported the murder wrong! I had nothing to do with this!"

"So basically, it's obvious it was either Ulrich, Amber, or Aurora, right?" Odebode asked nervously.

"If you think so, we can move onto the voting process!" Leonie yelled out.

"Hold on, there's more evidence!" Amber yelled out, her desperation growing more by the second.

"And more importantly, I didn't do shit!" Ulrich screamed as the lights beneath him went red.

"What would that be?" Kalea asked.

"Lloyd!" She yelled at her. "He knew everything that was gonna happen, this whole thing was a setup by him!"

"Uh, you got evidence for that?" Lloyd asked, choking up on the final syllables.

"Gemma murdered your friend and you wanted revenge!" Aurora screamed. "It's the reason you got Amber and Ulrich into the building, so you could frame one of them!"

"You can't prove any of that!" Lloyd yelled back, the sweat on his forehead multiplying.

"I know what you did, you scumbag!" Aurora yelled.

"Wait, you do?" Silvia asked. "Leak that shit!"

"She won't." Huang interrupted. "While the chance is slim, she can survive this. She's not going to break the rules so close to the finish line."

"Can we stop delaying this already?" Eric yelled, agitated. "We have the culprits, let's vote one off!"

"Sure thing!" Leonie replied with a wink, pressing some buttons on her watch. Everyone who wasn't in green was made blue, minus Ulrich, Amber, and Aurora, bathed in red. A great match for the flames of hell one of them were close to.

"Alright, everybody!" Leonie yelled out, throwing her face to the sky. "Cast your vote for who you think is the culprit. Will you be right, will you be wrong? Remember, not voting isn't an option if you like your limbs."

Ulrich looked at the three names on his watch. Looking towards a tearful Amber and fearful Aurora, he pressed Auroras name. Nothing personal miss, he just knew her the least.

Everyone locked in their votes, and Kalea made notice.

"All votes have been cast. Please give us a second."

For what felt like an agonizing few seconds, a screen made its way on the wall opposite Amber and Ulrich.

"Okay, let's get ready for this!" Leonie yelled, with even more glee than before. "We'll work our way up from the bottom! Last place with only three votes, Ulrich Hart!"

Ulrich's face flashed onto the screen, with Amber, Aurora, and Micah's faces appearing next to it. Guess those were the people who voted for him.

"Amber and Aurora were pretty close, with the victim being decided by a single vote! And it is with a heavy heart I announce that the person leaving today is…"

She held that word as Amber and Auroras pictures appeared on the screen, followed by six other portraits. Andrei, Eric, Huang, Seeta, Silvia, and Ulrich voted for Aurora, while Cyrus, Lloyd, Odebode, Valentina, Wendy, and Yun-Yeong voted for Amber.

"And now, for the final vote!"

Vanessa's vote for Aurora made it's way onto the screen.

"Thanks for your participation, everyone! And we can now confirm that Aurora will be the next elimination!"

Aurora looked up with her tearstained face.

"You know what? Fine, see you in hell, bitches! And Lloyd's crime is-"