Chapter 81: Set Up

"What do you guys think you’re doing?!"

At the sound of his voice, the guys who had been harassing the girl took off. Adam did not clearly see their faces, but that did not matter. The girl needed his help.

"Hey. Are you alright?"

"No! Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!"

The girl was crying hysterically. It was as though she was out of it, unable to differentiate between help and the attempt on her. She wore the light green of the first-class type, the shirt torn in places and exposing skin. Whether she was a first year or higher, Adam was not sure.

"Hey! Hey! Calm down! I’m just trying to help, alright! Those guys are gone!"

He knelt beside the hysterical girl, trying to calm her down. But the girl had gone crazy, crying and screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Help! Somebody help me!"

"God! What has come over you?!"

Adam felt helpless. He didn’t know how to calm her down. Was she that traumatised? Before he could pull out his phone to call the dormitory, several presences landed around them.

"Restrain him!"

The command came out of nowhere. Before Adam could even react, one of them tackled him to the ground, pinning him down like he was some kind of criminal, his hands locked behind him, his face pressed into the hard ground.

"Hey! What are you doing?! I was only trying to help!" Adam said as he struggled under the person.

"We’ll see about that." The person restraining him replied, his voice devoid of any emotion.

Adam could not believe his ears. What did the person mean by that? Did they think he was the responsible one? Were they blind?!

"Miss. Are you alright?"

Adam heard one of them ask, the voice feminine. His eyes widened as the girl who had been crying like crazy calmed down at the woman’s question. She scurried back a bit, hesitating.

The woman offered a hand to the girl, which she took gingerly, slowly wiping the tears from her face while clutching her clothes over her body.

"T-Thank you," she muttered softly, fearfully looking at Adam like he was the perpetrator.

’No way...’

Realisation crept in like a cold chill. He refused to believe the thought that crept into his mind.

The woman who had helped the girl up turned to face him, her expression dark. "Is he the one who tried to take advantage of you?"

A moment of silence settled over the place, heavy and anticipatory.

Adam felt cold dread creep into his heart, his breath hitching. This could not be happening. He refused to believe someone could do this with a clean conscience.

"Y-Yes." The girl answered, looking away.

"What?! I was the one trying to help her!"

"Quiet!"

Something within him shattered at that moment. He was being set up. The entire thing had been staged for him. He had only been trying to help. Adam closed his eyes and exhaled.

There was no point trying to prove his innocence here. They would not believe him. The compromising position they had found him in was all too believable. His only chance was to prove his innocence before the academy’s authority.

The only problem was... he didn’t know how the investigations would go or who was in on it.

One thing was clear, though. The girl was part of the scheme. Getting her to spill the truth would be difficult. And the schemers had chosen a time and a spot where there was barely any surveillance. Just how long had they been watching his movements?

His situation did not look good.

"Take him away." The woman ordered in a cold voice.

At the command, the person restraining him forcefully pulled him to his feet and put a cuff over his hand. "Don’t even attempt breaking it. Doing so will only make things worse for you."

Adam did not reply, his expression dark. The cuff was the type he was familiar with. They were not particularly strong, but breaking it would make whatever punishment you get way worse.

Casting a glance at the girl who was being taken away, Adam gritted his teeth. Here he was thinking he was helping someone in need. Instead, he fell into a well-curated scheme meant to destroy him.

’It is true what they say...’ Adam thought bitterly. ’No good deed goes unpunished.’

The words echoed in his mind as the academy’s security forces took him away.

***

When morning came, the academy was in another uproar. At the centre of it was once again Adam Highstein, the genius of the century.

And this time around, the problem was a juicy one.

"Dude... You’re never going to believe this. Apparently, the genius boy, Adam, tried to take advantage of a second-year girl."

"What bullshit are you spouting?"

"Like I said... You won’t believe me! But it’s true."

All around the academy, word of what Adam tried to do to a second-year girl in the dark of night spread like wildfire. Most could not believe their ears; others claimed they knew that boy was no good.

"Hahaha! So even with all that genius and talent, he tried to take advantage of a girl! What a douchebag! That bastard has grown arrogant ever since he arrived. Does he seriously think he can do whatever he wants?"

"I don’t believe it. I think it’s some kind of set-up."

The rumours spread so fast that the academy’s Public Relations Division had to step in to control the spreading rumours. It was a major scandal that had not happened in a long time.

"Do you think what they’re saying about Adam is true?" April went to find Riley to relay her concerns. She had come to learn in the past week that Riley had worked out her issues with Adam.

"You know it isn’t," Riley answered without hesitation, her brows furrowed in thought. "Adam doesn’t look like that kind of person. And we have both been at the Microbiology Department for the past week."

The math wasn’t mathing. Why would he transition from creating a cure for a serious bacterial threat to attempted abuse?

"Wh-What do we do then?" April asked anxiously. "The accusation is very serious. He could be expelled and arrested if he’s found guilty."

Riley knew all too well what the stakes were. There were a lot of people she knew who did not like seeing Adam in the spotlight. But among those she knew of, a few stood out. Without hesitation, she went to find the two most likely culprits behind the set-up.

"Wait for me!" April yelled as she ran after Riley.