SSS Cultivation: I Can Conquer Earth's Rank System
Chapter 44: Venn Obert (II)

Chapter 44: Venn Obert (II)

Venn walked into a room, dragging Rosa into in the staff quarters with his eyes still red and sore from the sand Rosa directed at his face. Inside the room was Amy, the little teacher. She was sitting alone in the darkest part of the room, getting prepared for her next class. She was still dressed in her favourite yellow and black half zipped jacket over a white T-shirt with long yellow trousers with black stripes as well. Her white shoes are always clean and sparkling. Amy’s style was said to be influenced by a female runner character from a video game she played as a kid.

"To what do I owe this unexpected visit?" Amy asked Venn. She was well acquainted with Venn as the two of them are Double-Wonders and they have shared a few words in the past during one of those meetings.

"Amy, this room is designated to me as my interrogatiom room. Don’t give me problems, please. Why are you even staying in a room this dark?"

"I stay wherever I want, got any problem with that?"

Venn sighed. "Amy, I have no reason to suspect you in this case, but if you will keep giving me problems, I’ll report you to the council for disrupting smooth investigation."

"Okay then, you can start. I’ll just watch from this corner."

"No, you can’t. You have to go outside. I don’t need a crazy spectator on the stand."

Amy grabbed the papers she piled on the desk and rose up with a slightly angry expression. She said, "I know who you are Venn. You know I really know. If you try any of those shit you tried during your last case with any of our students, I’ll make sure you regret handling this case."

Amy stormed out.

"Phew, she’s so tiny, but her temper is thrice her size." Venn said to himself.

He grabbed a chair and pushed Rosa to sit. He went across the table and sat opposite the girl in the dark room. There was a dim light from an overhead lamp which was directly above where they sat. The rest of the room was in total darkness.

Venn started with a frown.

"First, why did you throw dirt into my eyes?" he asked. "now, be careful with me. I can tell if you’re lying straightaway. You don’t want to mess with the almighty Venn Obert."

Rosa kept up the scared act. She was playing it so good that she was even sweating. She knew she was involved with whatever Venn was investigating, but she wasn’t really scared of being found out. After all, she didn’t kill those Mecha-men herself, it was the teachers that should be scared right now. She could get off easily because firstly, she’s a Morningbolt. Secondly, the C-rank on her wrist will tell everyone that she couldn’t have finished off four Cyborgs alone. If the investigation went further and the whole thing was found out, the teachers will be the ones in real trouble.

But what Rosa was trying to avoid was getting Leo and Lam interrogated, especially Leo. She knew he would be doomed if he was pointed out because he was a weakling from the weakest family. He’ll only be used as a scapegoat. That was why she directed the sand into Venn’s eyes when Leo was passing by earlier. By the time Venn’s eyes were clear, Leo was gone.

"Are you now dumb? I said why did you want to blind me with sand?"

Rosa wiped her sweaty palms and tried to think of a believable story. She must also be careful since Venn has the lie detection quirk.

"I...I can’t control my telekinesis quirk very well yet. My hand was shaking, that was why I almost blinded you," she said.

While she was saying this, she focused hard on her memory of her brother, Jade and his friend Sil making jest of her when they were at planet Luxus for mutation. After she got mutated on Luxus, she had a very hard time trying to control her quirk. Without meaning to, she always send objects flying all over the place. Everyone stood away from her during class to avoid getting hit in the head with a desk or anything due to Rosa’s poor quirk control. Jade and Sil made it worse day after day, so she was a little downcast during those times.

Rosa wasn’t sure how Venn’s lie detector quirk works, but she thought if she remembers a real event to back up her words, he wouldn’t detect a lie.

Venn suspected something foul about Rosa’s reason, but he couldn’t point it out. He probed into Rosa’s mind to have an idea of her thoughts, and he could tell that there was some truth in her words. Rosa didn’t let her guard down as she kept thinking of those times she had trouble with her quirk control.

"you mean you really can’t control your quirk yet?" Venn asked, shocked.

"I can’t," Rosa replied.

"Let me see your wrist," Venn commanded. He didn’t believe that a Morningbolt member couldn’t control her quirk yet. People from that family has been known to handle quirks in the most skilled manner ever, even immediately after they got mutated. It was as if the Morningbolts are born for quirks.

Rosa brought out her wrist, and Venn was indeed shocked when he saw a C-rank on Rosa’s wrist. "This girl must be an illegitimate Morningbolt child. The lowest rank for a Morningbolt ever is a B-rank!" Venn thought.

"I’m not convinced with that answer, but let’s move on. Are you ready for the drill? Watch out, Venn Obert is coming for you, haha."

"This man is nuts,"

Excitement written all over his face, Venn threw his first question regarding the case. He cut straight to the chase. "Rosa Morningbolt, what did you know about the death of those Mecha-men?"

Rosa knew she couldn’t deny that she was involved. Venn would have caught her even if she didn’t act scared like that earlier. He was a master investigator anyways.

She thought hard about that night, at the time she was sitting on the school roof alone. "I don’t know anything about their death. I only heard the sounds coming from the hallway that night."

"That night? What night?"

"That night. The night," Rosa replied, playing the game with Venn. Less words, lesser information, that was her plan.

"And why were you sitting alone on the school roof that night?" Venn asked with a smile.

Rosa was shocked. How did he know she was sitting on the roof? Maybe she pictured that day so clearly in her mind, so he picked up the hint after probing into her mind. "This man is really dangerous."

"I went outside before curfew time to train myself. I was training myself to be able to control my quirk well and make myself fly."

Venn saw that she was telling the truth. He nodded his head. "And what time did you hear the sounds, Rosa?"

"I didn’t check the time."

"where was the sound coming from?" Venn asked.

"From the second-year school," Rosa replied.

"And what did you think when you heard those sounds?"

"I thought it was two people training." she wasn’t lying on this one.

"Did you think of joining them?"

"Yes," she replied truthfully.

"And did you join them?" Venn asked, with a cunning smile. His little simple questions he asked earlier was just to make her a little comfortable before hitting her with the hard question that will have her cornered.

"Did you join them?" he repeated the question.

Rosa wished Venn didn’t notice her gulp. "I didn’t," she replied while trying hard to think of the time she was still on the roof. She tried to keep the school away from her mind but failed.

"A-ha! A lie, Rosa. A lie!" Venn laughed. "Now we’re getting somewhere."

Rosa saw that she was about to be found out. But instantly, she directed her thoughts to the time she got lost in the second-year school while she was trying to find the fight scene.

"No. I tried to join them but I got lost in the school. I couldn’t find my way," she explained eagerly while concentrating hard on the time she lost her way.

"Hmm. I see," Venn said. He could tell she wasn’t entirely lying, but he could sense that the girl was manipulating her thoughts somehow. It might be true that she got lost, but Venn knew it didn’t end there.

"And after you got lost, did you go back outside?" Venn asked.

Rosa did go back outside that night so she could start the journey again and know the right places to pass to get to where the sounds are coming from. She also tried to hide the fact that she was holding two beast weapons in her hands, but her thoughts were all getting jumbled up now. She couldn’t hide every memory from resurfacing.

"Yes. I went back outside."

"I see. But yunno, Rosa, your game is up. I’ve had you cornered a while ago, and I’ve just discovered something about that night again. Do you want to know? Yes, I’ll tell you...

"...First, when I asked you the first question if you knew anything about the death of the Mecha-men, you said, ’I don’t know anything about their death. I only heard the sounds coming from the hallway that night.’

"Can you tell me what’s wrong with that reply? No, you can’t. But I’ll tell you... I made sure no student knew of the exact scene of the fight. Everyone must have known that the Mecha-men died inside the second-year school, but only a few people knew that they were killed in the hallway...

"Now Rosa, tell me how you knew it was the hallway...

"I...I..." Rosa stuttered.

"Secondly," Venn interrupted. "why were you holding two beast weapons with you that night? Were you trying to go up there and help those fighting the Mecha-men? Did you know them? Did you go into the weapon room that night to steal those beast weapons? Did you join them to fight the Mecha-men also?

"Tell me Rosa, the names of those you were trying to help with the beast weapons. You can’t lie to me anymore. Tell me now!"