Chapter 255 The Culprit Arrested

Cindy was eager to prove herself to Rhyslia.

Perhaps they trusted Rislia too much, or perhaps they hadn't grasped the current situation. This matter concerned the fairness of the competition, and it was important that everyone here believed in her.

It's not enough for Rhyslia to believe her alone.

In the audience, some people had already begun to question: "Looking for a hair clip? Even if you're going to make something up, you should at least come up with a plausible reason, right?"

With the competition just around the corner, you still have the nerve to come back looking for your hairpin? Are you kidding me?

"Exactly! I think she's the one who did the wrong thing. She doesn't deserve to participate in the competition. We should disqualify her and kick her out!"

"Support! Remove her from the list immediately. Don't let her disgrace the people of France."

"It wasn't me, it wasn't me! Why don't you believe me? I didn't do it."

"Teacher, please believe me, I really didn't do it." Cindy burst into tears, feeling helpless and at a loss for what to do except ask Rhyslia for help.

Rieslia's expression was also extremely solemn. It was a fact that Cindy went backstage in the middle of the night yesterday, and Cindy couldn't prove that she hadn't done anything. Under these circumstances, even she couldn't step forward to defend Cindy.

Tyler said, "If I remember correctly, contestant number twenty-one was the last to perform, right? Your move was really impressive, injuring the three contestants before you one after another. When it's your turn, you can just pull out the blade, and then you'll..."

“No, that’s not it. I’ve never thought of it that way.” Cindy quickly denied it, meeting Tyree’s extremely strange eyes.

Another contestant who hadn't yet gone on stage subtly distanced himself from Cindy in the waiting area, clearly wary of her.

Because of a surveillance video whose authenticity cannot be verified for the time being, it seems as if Cindy has already been implicated in everything.

Rieslia sighed. Under the pressure of the crowd's condemnation, she really had no way to protect Cindy. Moreover, the country hosting this piano competition was their country, F, and Cindy was a contestant from their own country. Many audience members had already begun to criticize their country for not being fair.

At this point, even if she didn't speak up, the organizers, who probably couldn't find a solution, would have to kick Cindy off the stage to quell public anger.

Rather than waiting for things to escalate beyond recognition, it's better for her to step forward herself.

Just as Rhyslia was about to ask Cindy to admit to everything, Jiang Xingyao suddenly spoke up: "Wait, there are suspicious points in this matter."

"Does contestant number 75 have anything else to say?" the organizer quickly asked.

Jiang Xingyao said, "There is a problem with the injury of contestant number 43. These blades are inserted into the gaps of the piano keys. If someone is cut without knowing it, the wounds should mostly be vertical. Contestant number 43 has tried his best to imitate the injury, but there are a few wounds that are obviously not right. Please come up and check."

Jiang Xingyao didn't want to cause trouble, but she also didn't want to see a contestant eliminated because of a false accusation.

Even though she hadn't directly caught Tyre in a compromising situation, Jiang Xingyao still felt that he was involved. She clearly remembered that Tyre hadn't had any wounds on his hands just now.

Thiel was the first to perform, and if he was the one who stuck those blades on, then according to his own story, the one who benefited the most was him, who wasn't affected by the blades.

He is the prime suspect.

As Jiang Xingyao's voice fell, Tyr's cold gaze also swept over her, his eyes seemingly carrying a hint of warning.

Before the judges took the stage, he directly questioned, "This contestant number seventy-five, it's not a good habit to make false accusations. We've exchanged ideas and studied together in private. Even your teacher knows that I sometimes have problems with my fingering when I play the piano. I made some mistakes in my playing just now. It's normal for me to have a minor injury due to such a deviation. You can't blame everything on me for this reason."

Nilia also said, "That's right. My student is also a victim. Everyone knows how important hands are to a pianist. Even if he wanted to frame someone, he shouldn't have joked about his own hands. I urge everyone to investigate and give us justice."

Under the interrogation of the master and apprentice, Jiang Xingyao has been pushed to the forefront of public opinion. Some people in the audience have begun to speculate that she and Cindy were involved in the crime and that she was the one who orchestrated the whole thing. That's why she stood up to help Cindy get away with it at this critical moment.

Despite these discordant voices, Jiang Xingyao remained calm. Her gaze swept across the audience, and as she saw Madam Rongyue rise and walk toward the organizers' seats, her confidence grew stronger.

During this time, Fila kept mentioning in their ears that Tyr had ill intentions. After Jiang Xingyao told Madam Rongyue about this, Madam Rongyue told her to just focus on the competition and that she would take precautions in advance no matter what happened.

It now seems that Lady Rongyue was indeed prepared.

Nelia and Tyre were still interrogating Jiang Xingyao when Rhyslia led Cindy onto the stage. She said, "This matter has nothing to do with contestant number 75. If we really want to get to the bottom of it..."

"Wait, I have a clue here," Lady Rongyue suddenly spoke, stopping Rieslia in her tracks.

All eyes turned to Madam Rongyue. Madam Rongyue said, "Everyone knows that the Jinle Cup competition is of utmost importance. In order to prevent any accidents, I took extra precautions and specially bought a miniature camera to attach to myself. It was originally intended to prevent my only student from being framed. I didn't expect it to actually come in handy now. Everyone may want to take a look."

The staff then played another video, which was a recording of Thiel's match after it ended. It was clear that when Thiel came off the stage, his hands were in his pockets. However, when the video was zoomed in, his pants were obviously clean and not wet at all.

“If the wound doesn’t look right, you can say that your technique is wrong. But when you came down just now, your pants were clean. Are you going to explain that the wound was too small and the blood was flowing too slowly, so it didn’t have time to wet your pants?”

"It's quite simple to figure this out. Everyone can just search him and see if there are any razor blades in his pockets, and also check the spot where he just sat to see if there are any leftover razor blades," Madam Rongyue said coldly.

Actually, before the competition started, she had suggested to the organizers that surveillance cameras be installed on the field. However, the organizers refused, saying that there was no precedent for this in the past and they were afraid that the contestants would misunderstand that they did not respect the contestants' privacy. Otherwise, the situation would not be as complicated as it is now.

Tyr's face turned deathly pale, and Nelia's expression was also somewhat flustered. The organizers were hesitant to search a contestant, especially one who was the disciple of a highly respected master. However, if they didn't search him, their own country's contestant would be wrongly accused.

Soon someone stepped forward and restrained Thale. Ignoring his struggles, they pulled two blades from his pocket, almost identical to those stuck to the piano keys.

A murmur of disapproval rippled through the audience. The American spectators who had just stood up for Tyre were now silent, and no one dared to speak up for him anymore.

Thiel wanted to say a few more words in his defense, but just then, a noticeable commotion broke out in the audience. Even the judges kept looking down at their phones, as if something big had suddenly happened.

Only Jiang Xingyao and a few others on the stage looked blank.

But soon one of the judges angrily said to Thiel, "Someone has already sent the footage from the drone to our phones. The razor blade was stuck on by contestant number 43 during the scoring process. The evidence is conclusive. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Everyone stared at Thiel with disdain; clearly, they had all received the video the judges had mentioned.

It's true that some people were using drones to film the game from the sidelines, but because of the distance, most of the footage wasn't clear enough, and no one stopped them. Nobody expected that this kind of filming would become the most important evidence in catching the real culprit.

As for how these videos were silently sent to everyone's phones, no one really cared, especially the organizers. In order to avoid causing a commotion, they directly admitted that they had contacted the person who filmed them and released the videos using the venue's special signal source. In this way, they managed to maintain their image to some extent.

The competition was suddenly interrupted due to this unexpected mishap. Tyr was taken away by the organizers and his qualification for the competition was immediately revoked. Nelia immediately distanced herself from Tyr, stating that she knew nothing about what happened today.

She is, after all, a world-renowned pianist, and no one dares to criticize her for anything.

Jiang Xingyao's wounds had been treated, and she was about to go find Madam Rongyue when Rieslia and Cindy blocked her way: "We have to thank you for what happened today. If it weren't for you and your teacher speaking up for her, Cindy would probably have lost her chance to compete today."

“You don’t need to thank me. I just did what I was supposed to do. I’m sure anyone would have done the same in this situation,” Jiang Xingyao said.

Madam Rongyue also walked up to Jiang Xingyao and said, "This student of mine has always been a fan of yours. If you really want to thank her, it would be great if you could give her some guidance after the competition."

Jiang Xingyao had admired Master Rieslia's style since she was a child and had always wanted to become her student. However, she was already studying under Madam Rongyue, and now she and Rieslia's student were also competitors in this competition. Even though she still admired Rieslia, Jiang Xingyao never thought she could study under her again. Unexpectedly, Madam Rongyue took the initiative to suggest it for her.

Master Rieslia said directly, "That would be my honor. If you don't mind, you can stay here for a few days after the competition, and I will definitely teach you everything I know."

She spoke very frankly, and even pulled Cindy to thank Jiang Xingyao as well, and made an appointment with Madam Rongyue to have dinner together after the competition.