Top edge chapter 61
Deceitful strategies
The guards looked at each other, unsure of how to behave. Adolf was the first to react and pushed past the guards, walking back while furrowing his brow. He said, “How is this possible?” However, after taking only a few steps, he turned around and said, “Lock him up first.”
The “him” Adolf referred to was naturally Klet. Compared to the news of Miller’s suicide, the situation there became less urgent.
Shen Siwei, sitting in the transport vehicle, watched Klet not far away. Dozens of guns were pointed at Klet’s head from close range, and it was obvious that he couldn’t escape unharmed. Fortunately, Klet didn’t act recklessly. He allowed the guards to search him and put handcuffs on him.
“Is he your lover?” Adolf sat back next to Shen Siwei and instructed the guards to drive the vehicle back to the mansion.
Shen Siwei replied with a rhetorical question, “What do you plan to do to him?”
Adolf tapped his finger on his thigh and looked thoughtfully at Shen Siwei’s expression, saying, “So, you two really are lovers.”
At this point, denying it had become pointless. Shen Siwei straightforwardly said, “After all, he is your younger brother. It’s best if you don’t harm him.”
“Tsk, another younger brother,” Adolf shifted his gaze outside the window, “Headache.”
Shen Siwei couldn’t help but remind him, “Shouldn’t you be more concerned about your father’s suicide?”
Adolf glanced lightly at Shen Siwei and remained silent, looking ahead at the mansion.
Shen Siwei kept an eye on the situation behind him through the rearview mirror. He saw Klet being taken into another vehicle, likely to be locked up in the building next to the main mansion.
As long as he wasn’t taken somewhere else, it was fine.
Shen Siwei temporarily put his mind at ease. Upon returning to the garage in the main mansion, he followed behind Adolf and entered Miller’s study.
At that moment, Miller’s body was already laid flat on the floor, and medical personnel were conducting a preliminary examination of the body.
Sitting on a chair nearby was a woman wearing a black cloak. Her face had no makeup, and she wore no jewelry. It was the first time Shen Siwei had seen the first lady looking so plain.
“Rita, what happened?” Adolf approached the woman and asked.
“I was getting ready to sleep, and I came to ask when he would rest, and then…”
Rita had appeared in Amor’s diary before.
She wasn’t Adolf’s mother or Amor’s mother; she was Miller’s third wife. The diary from New Year’s Eve mentioned that she sided with Adolf and supported the business of artificial embryos because she wanted to have her own child.
However, Shen Siwei remembered that Amor speculated that she wanted a child because she feared that she wouldn’t be able to claim the family fortune after Miller’s death.
—It turned out that this situation actually happened.
Shen Siwei calmly surveyed the room. It was a square room with bookshelves on both sides. In front of the entrance was a full-length window, and the desk was positioned near the window. There was a large pendant lamp hanging above, with the rope Miller used to hang himself still attached.
“Look at the suicide note he left,” Rita picked up a piece of paper from the nearby desk and handed it to Adolf. “He said he felt guilty towards the lower class.”
Hearing this, Shen Siwei’s doubts grew. He had just had a meeting with Miller not long ago, and Miller appeared unwilling to compromise. How could he change from one extreme to another in just one or two hours?
“So, did Father change his mind?” Adolf, who had read the suicide note, asked with a puzzled expression.
“No,” Rita shook her head. “This proves that he didn’t commit suicide.”
Shen Siwei didn’t know Miller that well , but judging from Rita’s attitude, she didn’t believe that Miller was the type of person to commit suicide.
At that moment, the medical personnel squatting beside the body stood up and looked at the testing device in their hand, saying, “General Miller’s blood contains a significant amount of sedatives. According to the medical records, the general did not have a habit of taking sleeping pills before bed. Therefore, as per the initialjudgment… the general may not have committed suicide.”
Upon hearing this, everyone’s expression in the room changed. Rita looked at Adolf first, and Adolf looked at the testing device in the medical personnel’s hand. Miller’s personal assistant took a step back, and the two guards by the door glanced at each other before looking at the three individuals.
Shen Siwei’s gaze swept between them and suddenly realized that this matter seemed more complicated than he thought.
No one spoke; it seemed that nobody wanted to express their thoughts. Finally, Shen Siwei broke the silence, asking, “What about Amor?”
Rita calmed herself and said, “He went to the lower levels.”
Shen Siwei asked, “that quickly?”
“He never wanted to stay here,” Adolf interjected. “Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t come back unless there was a special occasion.”
Shen Siwei asked about Amor not because he was suspicious of him, but because he found it strange that Amor hadn’t shown up after Miller’s death.
To be honest, Shen Siwei had no idea who to suspect at that point because he had no understanding of what was happening . But the others present were obviously different from him; each person had thoughts but was reluctant to easily mention words like “murder” or “culprit,” fearing that it would shatter the terrifying truth.
The room fell into silence again, and at that moment, Rita suddenly asked, “I heard someone broke into the top floor. What happened to that person?”
Shen Siwei wanted to say that Klet was absolutely not a suspect because he was captured as soon as he entered and didn’t have time to commit the crime. He thought this was something everyone could see, but Adolf said, “From that perspective, he actually had a motive.”
Shen Siwei looked at Adolf in disbelief. “What?”
“He is the General’s illegitimate child,” Adolf said.
Now it was Rita’s turn to be surprised. “What are you saying?”
“Everyone who had contact with him could feel his resentment towards the General,” Adolf paced back and forth, contemplating. “Plus, Captain Shen is his lover, and yet the General arranged for Captain Shen to marry me. I don’t think anyone has a stronger motive than him.”
“Adolf,” Shen Siwei frowned, “he was captured as soon as he arrived. How could he have killed General Miller?”
“We can’t rule out the possibility that he possibly had an accomplice,” Adolf abruptly stopped walking. “In fact, because he broke in, all the guards left the villa.”
“What kind of accomplice could he have?” Shen Siwei looked straight at Adolf and asked, “Are you suggesting it’s me?”
If everyone in the villa was a suspect, Shen Siwei and Klet were undoubtedly the two least to be suspects.
But Adolf didn’t think so. He touched his chin and said, “Anything is possible.”
Damn.
Seeing Adolf’s attitude, Shen Siwei suddenly realized something.
Originally, the marriage alliance was meant to show the sincerity of the Margans and resolve the current crisis of public opinion. However, if the Margarian leader was murdered by a representative of the civilians, then the situation was obvious – public opinion would immediately change, and no one knew how many people would accuse the representative of the civilians as the killer.
At that time, no one would want to see the Margans and the civilians united in marriage anymore. Instead, they would start mourning Miller and recalling his contributions to the Life Tree.
In other words, at the moment of Miller’s death, the crisis for the Margans had already been resolved. Adolf realized this immediately and thought of using this to shift the blame to Shen Siwei.
If the civilians felt guilty toward the Margans, they would never hope to turn the tables.
What a cunning scheme.
Shen Siwei couldn’t help but start thinking, who could have killed Miller?
Murder is nothing but a crime of money, passion or revenge, but at that sensitive moment, all motives seemed to be related to power struggles.
“Adolf,” Shen Siwei temporarily collected his thoughts and said, “You clearly know that neither Klet nor I are the culprits.”
“It’s hard to say. Let’s wait for the magistrate to arrive,” Adolf said, then nodded at the guards. “Lock him up.”
Since coming to the upper level, Shen Siwei had experienced countless times that plans couldn’t keep up with changes. The top floor was the territory of the Marg people, and no matter what official came, they would definitely stand on the side of the Marg people. The situation seemed very unfavorable for Shen Siwei and Klet.
There was no prison in the private residence, and the entire top floor had no detention facility. Therefore, when the two guards led Shen Siwei through the long corridor, he quickly realized that he would be locked up with Klet.
Sure enough, not long after, the two guards brought Shen Siwei to the building next to the main building and then pushed him into a spacious multipurpose hall.
This hall looked like a banquet venue, but at this time, tables, chairs, and benches were piled up in the corner, leaving a large open space in the middle.
The door behind closed again, making a click sound. Shen Siwei was pushed and fell to the ground, while Klet, who was originally sitting cross-legged, immediately stood up and anxiously walked towards him.
But at that moment, the photoelectric barrier made a “crackling” sound, burning Klet’s skin on his arm and forcing him to retreat.
“I’m fine,” Shen Siwei lifted his head and only then noticed that there were high-voltage photoelectric fences around Klet. They formed a square cage.
It seemed that Adolf was still weary of Klet. It was not enough to just lock him up; precautions like these were also set up.
However, Shen Siwei was not treated the same way. Presumably, Adolf knew that without an oxygen mask, he couldn’t go anywhere, so he just had someone lock him up there.
“Don’t move,” Shen Siwei calmed his breath while propping up his upper body. “I’ll come over.”
“Wait.” Klet took off a necklace from his neck and threw it towards Shen Siwei. “Take this.”
Shen Siwei didn’t remember Klet wearing necklaces before. He saw that there was a desert wolf’s fang hanging below the necklace. When passing through the photoelectric barrier, the fang scraped against the high-voltage light, resulting in a crack.
With the cracked fang bouncing on the ground a few times, when it bounced in front of Shen Siwei, the fang completely shattered, revealing something small inside.
The small object finally stopped by Shen Siwei’s hand. He took a closer look and found a small and delicate spider capsule.”
Malken: Does anyone still remember my research?
Rita appeared in Amor’s diary, in Chapter 36.