After her rebirth
Chapter 44

Katniss followed the voice and spotted two old dudes in suits who had just sat down, grinning at her. A few guys in the front row also turned to check her out. Did they catch what she just said?

While Katniss was still mulling it over, one of the old guys asked, "You just took a sip and figured out there was a laxative in the water?"

Knowing everyone around had heard it, Katniss wasn't shy about admitting it. If it weren't for Juniper's state of mind, she would've gone to the teacher earlier.

She nodded, saying, "Yeah, I'm pretty sensitive to the taste of meds, and this bottle was already opened."

The two old dudes exchanged looks, a spark in their eyes.

"Are you in the medical department? I don't think I've seen you before," the old guy kept asking.

Katniss smiled, a bit hopeful, and replied, "Nope, but I'm taking the exam to transfer to the medical department next month."

"That's awesome!" The old guy lit up, looking super pleased.

Hearing his words, Katniss suddenly felt this old guy was kinda like Samuel in temperament.

The other old dude next to him looked at Katniss curiously and asked, "So why'd you pour out half the bottle just now?"

Katniss glanced around, lowering her voice like she was sharing a secret, "Usually, criminals like to come back to the scene of the crime. I poured out half the bottle to make it look like my friend drank it, hoping the person who messed with it might show themselves."

Actually, Katniss wanted to see who'd pay attention to the water, but after watching for a while, she didn't notice anything weird. Instead, the people around her noticed first.

"You're pretty sharp, and with your sensitivity to meds, you'd be great in medicine. Keep studying hard," The old guy said.

"Yeah." Katniss, eager to replace the person who tampered with the water, brushed off the two old dudes.

If it weren't for this incident, she would've been happy to chat with the two old guys about medical studies.

As she turned her head, the two old men started whispering to each other.

"Brent, looks like you're gonna have another good student. This girl has both smarts and character!" One of the old guys said.

"Didn't expect to meet such a promising student just by attending a lecture. It's a good thing she's going into medicine; otherwise, I'd have to replace a way to recruit her!" Brent said.

Seeing Brent in a better mood, the other old man cautiously brought up something, "By the way, the person you asked me to replace last time has been found, but sadly, she passed away six months ago."

Brent was stunned, looking like he couldn't believe it, with tears welling up in his eyes. After a long while, he sighed deeply, "When I parted ways with Ms. Miller back then, I thought we'd meet again soon, but in the blink of an eye, more than a decade have passed, and that parting would be forever..."

"Brent, don't be sad. Ms. Miller taught you so much, and now you're a medical teacher, passing on what she taught to excellent students. She'd be happy in heaven."

Brent nodded heavily, but his face still had a trace of sadness compared to before.

While the people below were feeling down, the lecture on stage kept going enthusiastically.

Katniss's eyes kept darting between Juniper on stage and the crowd, finally landing on someone in the corner.

Ruby was glaring at Juniper, then eyeing the half-empty water bottle on the table, looking confused.

She probably couldn't figure out why Juniper didn't get the runs!

Katniss's eyes narrowed like a hawk's, and Ruby noticed. The second she saw Katniss, she shrank back and bolted.

Now, Katniss was almost sure Ruby had something to do with this!

Katniss's gaze shifted, locking onto Clara, who was waiting to go on stage.

Was she involved too?

Ruby wasn't even in the speech contest, so why mess with Juniper?

Juniper's speech was killer. As soon as she started, she blew everyone else out of the water, grabbing most of the audience's attention.

But then, something crazy happened.

A banner with a wooden stick suddenly fell from above the stage. Amidst the crowd's gasps, Juniper was almost hit. Luckily, she reacted fast, stepping back just in time to dodge the stick, which was as thick as a grown man's leg. Katniss jumped up, ready to rush over.

Juniper, regaining her cool, saw Katniss's worried face and quickly calmed down, cracking a few jokes with the audience, which got them laughing and turned the whole thing into a harmless incident.

When she finished her speech, the applause was deafening.

Katniss had already run to the stage, but as she got there, she saw Clara and Ruby slipping away.

"Katniss, I'm fine. Look, I nailed it, right? I feel like the first prize is mine!" Juniper said, trying to reassure Katniss as soon as she came down.

Katniss checked her over, replaceing she was indeed okay, and sighed in relief, asking, "Why did the banner suddenly fall?"

Not only Katniss had this question, but others did too. Worried about it falling again, five or six staff members came over to check what had happened.

Turns out the rope holding the banner hadn't been tied properly.

"How could you be so careless, not even tying a rope right? It's a good thing it didn't hit that student!" someone in charge said.

"I'm sorry. But it's weird. I remember tying three knots," the staff member apologized.

Katniss's eyelid twitched. Taking advantage of no one paying attention, she pulled Juniper to the other side of the banner, looking at the knots that were tied three times and were dead knots, impossible to come undone without human intervention.

"Katniss?" Juniper asked, sensing something was off, feeling a bit worried.

"It's okay. Let's go replace a teacher and have them check the surveillance footage," Katniss said, feeling certain that Clara and Ruby were involved.

She couldn't let them off the hook for using such dirty tricks and nearly hurting Juniper.

Katniss was about to leave with Juniper when someone suddenly blocked their way. "Katniss, why are you checking the surveillance footage?" Ruby asked sharply.

Her shrill voice immediately drew a lot of attention.

"You know very well why we need to check the surveillance footage," Katniss retorted coldly.

With her expression showing a hint of unease, Ruby shouted, "What are you talking about!"

Katniss sneered, trying to bypass her, but Ruby suddenly rushed forward, grabbing them both tightly and shouting, "You're not going anywhere!"