Chapter 20 - Lucas Tried to Get Me Expelled
The evidence looked terrible.
Campus security had found Void stimulant vials inside Eli’s locker.
His fingerprints were on one.
Because it was the vial Owen had brought to his apartment.
Someone had stolen it from Mr. Zhou’s office.
Dean Harper sat across from Eli at the disciplinary hearing.
Lucas Vane sat beside the student conduct representative as a “witness.”
Trevor sat behind him looking extremely healthy and not at all suspiciously purple.
Lucas spoke calmly.
“I saw Eli at Vane Fitness carrying a box of supplements. We later learned that package contained banned substances.”
Technically true.
Eli hated technically true.
The dean asked, “Mr. Carter, how do you explain the vials in your locker?”
“I was framed.”
Trevor laughed.
The system flashed.
[CRISIS QUEST]
Clear your name without exposing the cultivation world to ordinary administration.
Reward: Insight I.
Eli almost complained about the difficulty.
Then Memory Palace activated.
He replayed every detail.
The locker.
The vial.
The gym.
Lucas signing the delivery.
The QuickDrop receipt.
Eli looked at the dean.
“Can we pull my delivery record?”
Lucas’s smile faded slightly.
The app showed pickup, dropoff, timestamp, customer signature, and package weight.
Then Eli asked for security footage from the campus hall.
The dean frowned.
“Why?”
“My locker camera.”
“There is no camera inside lockers.”
“No. But there’s one facing the hallway.”
The footage showed Trevor entering the locker area at 6:12 a.m.
He did not have class there.
Trevor went pale.
Lucas stopped smiling.
The hearing was postponed.
Outside, Lucas whispered, “You think you won?”
Eli’s system answered before he could.
[NO.]
May you like
[THIS WAS ROUND ONE.]
