ATFBETIBM Chapter 244.2

After cursing, she stood up with a look of grievance and ran behind Mr. Nick. “Father, look at my sister. In a world full of men to deceive, she had to choose me, her own sister, to deceive. She did it on purpose, just like her mother.”

Upon hearing her sister mention her mother, the youngest daughter’s face turned pale and defeated.

The people around maintained silence, but the flickering eyes revealed their keen interest.

Even the tour guide didn’t intervene to stop this drama, allowing it to escalate.

Bai Lixin discreetly scanned the dining hall and noticed that the director from earlier was clutching a black package in his arms. The zipper of the package had a small opening, through which a shiny black lens could faintly be seen.

Was he secretly filming?

“You’re right. She’s only knows how to sneak around, just like her slutty mother,” Mr. Nick’s voice once drew Bai Lixin’s attention back. His verbal abuse was like the last straw that broke the camel’s back. The youngest daughter suddenly climbed up from the ground and rushed towards her elder sister and Mr. Nick hysterically. “Why do you insult me like this? I am also a Nick. I am your child, Father. How can you have the heart to insult your own daughter like this?”

“If you didn’t love me, if you hated my mother’s betrayal, why did you let me be born? Why didn’t you just kill me back then?”

“Why does my sister get to have everything while I have nothing? Did I steal my sister’s husband? He was originally my boyfriend. Since we were young, my sister always liked taking things from me. She would take the flowers I grew and put them in her room. She even took the dolls I made. She even snatched away the boyfriend I introduced, and he became her husband.”

“But what about you? Instead of blaming her for her immorality, you actually help her.”

“It wasn’t me,” the youngest daughter cried in despair. “We weren’t having an affair at all. He came to me at night, saying he couldn’t bear it anymore and that he was on the verge of going crazy because of my sister. I went to the backyard with him to comfort him.”

“Yes, we ran into Mrs. Nick.”

“She had stolen a lot of gold and silver jewelry from the resort and planned to hide it there.”

“She bumped into us and used this incident to blackmail us. I wanted to explain, but this cowardly man only knew how to beg for forgiveness from her. He didn’t even give me a chance to explain.”

“He said he was being driven crazy by my sister, but he couldn’t bear to lose the luxurious life and wealth he received from my sister and the Nick family. He is just a useless waste. I was blind to choose him back then. Now, even if you gave him to me, I would find him repulsive. Yet my sister cherishes him as if he were a treasure.” A sense of revenge flashed in the youngest daughter’s eyes. “One is trash, the other is a scavenger. The two of you are a perfect match.”

The people at the dining table smelled the strong scent of gossip. They had long since left the table and surrounded the few individuals.

The director happened to approach Bai Lixin, who discreetly observed him. The director’s eyes were excited as he carefully held the package in his arms, completely oblivious to Bai Lixin’s scrutiny.

The youngest daughter rattled on.

“Shut up!” Mr. Nick angrily shouted, pointing at his daughter’s face. “Close your filthy mouth. Who do you think you are? Just a bastard, are you worthy to scold my daughter?”

Perhaps it was because of the deaths or something else, the emotions of these people seemed to have reached an exaggerated extreme.

Their restraint and cautiousness disappeared completely, and what gradually emerged was an unmasked ugliness and darkness.

Some long-buried pasts, which should have remained sealed, were torn open, revealing fragmented wounds.

Upon hearing Mr. Nick’s defense, the youngest daughter didn’t continue to question hysterically, but just sneered at herself.

Mr. Nick pointed at his youngest daughter’s nose and roared, “Part of the Nick family? Do you really think that you are the second miss of the Nick family? I’m telling you, you’re neither, you’re a bastard. ”

“Your so-called good mother cheated me behind my back! I found out, and you are the product of that cheating.”

“Your mother bled to death when she gave birth to you, and left you little bastard behind. She died, but the humiliation she caused me didn’t disappear. That’s why I turned you into the second Miss Nick, giving you the title of a Miss, just to torment you and make sure you can never escape the Nick family. You will spend your whole life paying for your mother’s sins.”

“Do you know why I hate you so much? It’s because you have the same face as your mother. Every time I see that face, I’m reminded of her betrayal, and my heart is filled with disgust.”

The secret was revealed, and though the scene was quiet, the trembling hands of the onlookers betrayed their excitement.

The youngest daughter stood motionless, her pupils shrinking and trembling rapidly.

She had thought of many reasons why Mr. Nick didn’t like her, such as her own weakness, her melancholy nature, or her lack of worldliness, which didn’t match the Nick family’s style. But she had never considered this reason.

The eldest daughter stared at her sister disdain. “Father is right. Our mothers are different. After my mother gave birth to me, she divorced my father. Then, my father found your mother. But your mother wasn’t honest, and she gave birth to you when I was already old enough to remember.”

The youngest daughter sat dejectedly on the ground. In that moment, she realized that the home she had always believed in was gone.

She looked up blankly at the familiar yet unfamiliar faces before her. “So, all the mistreatment I received from you was because of this. You never loved me. Your actions, which you called tough love, were only for the purpose of using me to take revenge on my mother.”

“Oh God, you are all too much,” Mrs. Aisli entered the scene and held the disoriented youngest daughter in her arms. “What does a child have to do with the mistakes made by adults?”

“All children should be blessed when they are born. If you have raised her, then treat her well.”

Mrs. Aisli gently wiped away the dirt from the youngest daughter’s face with a handkerchief. “Poor child, you have suffered. Come with me.”

Seeing Mrs. Aisli about to take the youngest daughter away, Mr. Nick’s face changed, and he tried to stop her. “Hold on, she belongs to our Nick family. Where are you taking her?”

Mr. Aisli intercepted Mr. Nick’s hand. “Don’t come any closer. Since you publicly revealed this secret, you must be prepared to abandon this child.”

“Mr. Nick, I know your family is wealthy, but you can try and see who is more capable, the Nick family or our Aisli family.”

“My wife loves children and cannot tolerate any family mistreating a child.”

Mr. Aisli looked at Mrs. Aisli, who was attentively wiping the face of the youngest daughter, and coldly said, “I originally didn’t want to meddle in your family affairs, but since my wife loves this child, I will temporarily handle this matter.”

“This child is already an adult and has the right to make her own decisions. We will ask for her thoughts. If she wants to leave your family and divorce her abusive husband, our Aisli family will do everything we can to help.”

The youngest son-in-law’s face turned purple instantly. He glared fiercely at the youngest daughter but dared not say anything more due to the Aisli family’s power.

Seeing that the situation had settled down, the tour guide smiled and intervened, “You all have a strong connection when you participated in this Eden tour together. Since you are so connected, why let a small matter diminish the harmony, right?”

“Come, come, please sit down, let’s continue.”

The farce ended like this. The youngest son-in-law stared at the youngest daughter in front of him and said with a dark expression, “If it’s true that this woman and that man were being blackmailed after being caught in the backyard by Madam, then these two individuals would have a motive for murder.”

“Two murders in one night. It seems impossible for one person to accomplish. They must have worked together.”

The youngest daughter sat beside Mrs. Aisli in a daze. She trembled at those words but did not intend to speak.

The eldest son-in-law quickly waved his hands and said, “No, it couldn’t be us.”

“I’m easily frightened. I faint at the sight of a dead body.”

“She,” the eldest son-in-law pointed at the youngest daughter across from him, hesitated for two seconds, and continued, “She faints and has seizures at the sight of blood. The scene was so horrifying, how could we have done it? It’s impossible for the murderer to be us.”

The youngest son-in-law mumbled, “Who knows if you two are pretending.”

The youngest daughter: “…”

The eldest son-in-law: “…”

“Ahem, anyway, until there is concrete evidence, everyone is a suspect,” the tour guide looked at Bai Lixin, “Mr. Bai Lixin, where were you last night?”

Following the tour guide’s question, everyone’s eyes also fell on Bai Lixin.

Bai Lixin suppressed the inexplicable feeling he got, and raised his head to meet the guide’s eyes: “Mr. Tour Guide, before answering your question, I have a question.”

“What’s the question?” the tour guide asked.

Bai Lixin: “I want to know how you can determine if someone is telling the truth.”

The crowd paused for a moment and all turned their heads to the tour guide.

Yes, how can you determine the truth?

The tour guide smiled, “I can’t determine it. I can only hope for the honest and virtuous nature of the guests. After all, I am not a detective, and I don’t have a lie detector, right? But I believe that as long as it’s a lie, there will be flaws. Maybe we can’t detect them now, but as more evidence accumulates, the liar will become more and more desperate.”

“Isn’t that right, Mr. Bai Lixin.”

Bai Lixin stared at the tour guide for two seconds before slowly nodding, “Second question, everyone seems to be quite certain that these two cases were done by humans. Why not suspect some supernatural force, like a demon?”

The crowd looked at each other, and the director was the first to burst into laughter.

“Are you joking here?”

“We believe in the Lord and also believe in divine beings. But now it’s the 19th century, not the decadent 16th century or the backward 15th century.”

“ ‘Approaching Science’ is a good book. I think you should read it more.”

Mr. Nick said, “Or maybe you are the murderer, trying to save yourself with supernatural ghost theories?”

Bai Lixin and Hongyue exchanged a simple look. “But looking at the two bodies, it would be theoretically impossible to accomplish all of this overnight without making any sound with people around.”

Mr. Aisli: “Maybe it’s just because we haven’t thought of it yet. You should take a look at the most popular ‘Mister Detective’ nowadays. There are all sorts of strange death scenes that seem impossible, but in reality, it’s just that they haven’t found the right direction. As long as it’s a crime, there will be evidence. There’s no such thing as a perfect crime, let alone supernatural murders.”

Looking at the expressions of those around him who nodded in agreement, Bai Lixin finally understood the inexplicable feeling he had since earlier.

In this movie, the current background and the characters in it firmly believe in science, considering all supernatural phenomena as pseudoscience.

But the mysterious golden room, the apple tree in the backyard with golden trunk and leaves, and the angel with enormous wings, as well as the ugly crow perched on his shoulder, all indicated that this world was not purely a scientific one but one with supernatural beings.

This was a huge difference in information.

And such differences in information were often fatal.

Bai Lixin said, “I went to the backyard last night.”

“I went to the apple orchard and saw a golden apple tree with golden branches and leaves. When moonlight poured through the gaps in the leaves, I seemed to see an angel.”

Bai Lixin paused, and as he expected, several people around him couldn’t help but suppress their laughter. They wanted to laugh but felt embarrassed.

Bai Lixin continued without blushing, “I found this crow there. It’s a poor crow, with hardly any feathers left. If I hadn’t saved it, it would have died there.”

The crow flapped Its wings indignantly, “Caw! Caw!”

Lies! Deceiver! The great Demon Lord was clearly caught by you!

Mr. Aisli said, “Did you see anyone in the backyard? For example, Mrs. Nick and the others.”

Bai Lixin smiled sincerely and innocently, “Not at all.”

————————–

In the live broadcast room

[Tsk tsk, if I hadn’t watched last night’s livestream, I would have believed it.]

[Bai Lixin’s face is so deceptive, he lies without blushing.]

[So, where did the Angel boss go? Do you know? Because of your sudden departure, God Xin has to work hard to fabricate lies.]

[Uh, do you think God Xin is working hard? … I think he’s enjoying it.]

[So, where did the Angel boss go?]

[That which is meant to come will come. I’m more interested in knowing who killed those two.]

[That which is meant to come will come. It’s already like a locked-room scenario now. The fewer survivors, the higher the possibility of the killer revealing themselves.]

———————–

The tour guide’s gaze lingered on Bai Lixin for two seconds before smiling and speaking, “I didn’t expect the backyard to be so lively yesterday. This is something I never anticipated. It turns out that guests prefer to visit the garden at night rather than during the day?”

“Although Mr. Bai Lixin mentioned what he was doing, just like everyone else, no one can provide an alibi for you. Unfortunately, you are not cleared of suspicion.”

“Now it’s your turn, Mr. Emil.”

The questioning ended on a lighter note after the dramatic conflicts of the Nick family. Emil, Hongyue, Richard, and Jia’er were in their rooms the whole time and, lacking witnesses, they were also among the suspects.

As for the three from the actor group, their answers indicated that they were in the room as well.

Thus, the questioning concluded.

No one was cleared of suspicion. The only purpose of this questioning seemed to be to gather everyone together, keep them under surveillance, and briefly understand their movements from the previous night.

But without effective means to detect lies, even if someone lied, it couldn’t be discerned.

The clock on the wall was gradually approaching noon.

Bai Lixin’s eyes paused on a particular spot, and he asked, “Mr. Tour Guide, has the missing Mrs. Oude been found?”

The tour guide replied, “Sorry, not yet.”

Hey guys! So the schedule for ATFBETIBM has changed. I will now be uploading chapters on Thursday and Friday. Sometimes on Wednesday too.

I wish you a nice weekend. 🥰