Chapter 239
Chapter 239
Xiao Li used his arms to support the weight on his shoulders. “How many days can you hold on?”
“Not long.” Wang Huai swallowed the ball of paper with difficulty. “You should tell me first. What is the result?”
“It’s hard to say. There are many uncontrollable factors. Now it is just my guess.” Xiao Li raised his fingers. “It was 9:03 when it came to me and 9:05 when it threw me into the thinking room. Once it patrolled my room and found out I was missing, it took no more than two seconds to teleport to me. Yet there is a five minute time difference between me and you.”
“During those five minutes, did you hear the sound of footsteps?”
Wang Huai shook his head decisively. ‘No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Xiao Li jumped off the bed and opened the door. They returned to the passage where the others were located and Xiao Li found that in addition to Wang Huai being hungry enough to eat paper, the other reincarnators were affected.
The most serious one was Ye Zeqing. He had woken up and was running back and forth around the passage. He was almost crying. His leg muscles were twitching and blisters formed on the soles of his feet but he couldn’t control his urge to run. He panted and there was the clear taste of blood in his throat. Park Heesoon followed him although he ran much slower than Ye Zeqing.
Setamon had torn her sheets to make a simple blindfold. She blindfolded her already sewn right eye. She was tough. Dark red liquid mixed with tears had wet the eyepatch. She gritted her teeth but didn’t scream like Lian Susu.
Shen Chenzhi watched from the side. He hadn’t asked to follow Xiao Li even though he had watched as Xiao Li left the room last night.
Ye Zeqing had never exercised so much in his life. He saw Xiao Li from a distance and ran toward him. “I’m going to die.”
Xiao Li took a step back and avoided his spitting attack. “A strong man will never say that he is going to die.”
“......” Ye Zeqing jumped around on the spot, sweat soaking his hair and back, dripping down his chin to the ground. “However, I really feel that I’m going to die. If this continues, I will either die of asthma or excessive exercise! The soles of my feet are hurting so much that I’m going to resemble a mermaid!”
Xiao Li wondered, “Do you need medicine? I have some left here.”
“Medicine, gasp, can’t solve this—” Ye Zeqing was talking intermittently as he gasped. Then at this moment, the entire prison seemed to shake. It was like an earthquake was occurring and the rooms on both sides started shaking. Ye Zeqing almost fell and he barely stood firm by holding onto the wall.
“What’s going on?”
Ye Zeqing saw the solemn faces of Wang Huai and the others as he pointed to the end of the passage, “The source seems to be over there.”
Boom—
The prison kept shaking. The incandescent lights above their heads flickered and half were extinguished in an instant. The entire passage fell into a half bright, half dim state. Setamon shouted, “It’s coming from over there!”
Xiao Li walked over. Due to the cracks in the ground, the path that would normally be completed in three or four minutes now took twice as long. This was also with Shen Chenzhi supporting him.
The railing that originally surrounded the end of the passage had fallen. Some had hit the edge of the platform and some had fell under the platform. The position of the platform had also changed. It had risen and was close to the top of the building. Everyone had to look up at the passage.
Moss and Mo Di were standing on the platform.
Moss held a gold scale in his hand. It was small, delicate and looked like the mural on the wall. The difference was that two symbols resembling ancient Egypt were painted on the scale with blood and the stand was stained bloody.
“In the name of Lord Sturbach, I am applying for the activation of the additional ruling.”
Mo Di held a black flute in his hand. He placed the flute on the scale where it floated and was finally destroyed. The ashes formed by the destruction of this special item floated into the air, wriggling like tiny tentacles that were alive.
The next moment, a mirage-like shadow appeared in the air. Xiao Li felt the coming of a force, just like the god of death in the Future Theme Park.
Overwhelming dark clouds formed on the ceiling of the prison and a courtroom appeared in the dome of the ruling prison. There were no people in the positions where the judge and jurors should be. There was just a gavel in front of the judge’s seat. It lay quietly on the red cloth.
This court wasn’t ‘real’. It was a type of phantom transmission.
Moss was pale as he raised the scale in his hand. “Lord Sturbach has notarized it. I apply for the adjudication court to rule on my source world. My species has committed seven crimes and they must be corrected. Lord Sturbach is willing to take over my source world and make them reform.”
The moment Moss finished talking, a white light shone from the adjudication court. It was like a searchlight as it scanned the scale in Moss’ hand before finally transforming into a sphere. A blue sea occupied the vast majority of the sea’s area. It was Earth.
The white film enlarged and covered the entire platform. A cold, solemn voice rang directly in everyone’s minds. “In accordance with the procedure, an additional court is opened. This situation is subject to the judgment of guilt of the world and the authenticity is being verified.”
“In accordance with Rule 17055 of the adjudication court, in order to solidify the evidence, no one may break into, influence or interrupt the scene of the verdict. The offender will enter the hell of severe punishment.”
“If this situation is true, you two are tainted witnesses and can be given a suspended sentence.”
“Scanning the structure of the form...”
“Scanning the channel using the tainted witnesses as a medium...”
***
Wang Huai stood on the edge of the broken passage, carefully avoiding the falling stones. He looked up at the adjudication court in midair. “An additional ruling. Moss has joined them.”
Zheng Yi asked, “What will happen if the ruling succeeds?”
“If the conviction is successful, everyone in reality will be arrested and locked up in different adjudication prisons like us until they finish their sentence.” Wang Huai’s face was pale.”
“Isn’t this good?” Zheng Yi didn’t understand. “Guilty people will be in jail and the innocent will be released on the spot.”
Xiao Li interrupted him.” Humanity is the original sin.”
“Yes. In addition, it isn’t just that.” Wang Huai took a deep breath and reached for his pocket as if wondering what item could be used. “The adjudication court doesn’t just look at a certain crime. It will scan your life.”
“For example, if you didn’t pick up trash, was lazy once or made a small mistake... this can accumulate for decades and it is enough for you to go to prison for a year.”
“If the verdict is successful, I can assert that reality doesn’t need to wait for the full outbreak of the supernatural events. This is already tantamount to doom.”
The moment Wang Huai finished speaking, he turned the skull ring on his finger and called out a needle from his task book. It was a black needle that was like ink. He used the needle to pierce the skull’s eyes fiercely and two lines of blood and tears flowed down the eyes.”
“Master Nyx,” Wang Huai murmured.
The remaining light bulbs behind everyone burst instantly. Night fell and darkness spread like the tide. Only the phantom adjudication court and the night chamber were left.
The communication between the goddess of the night and the adjudication court only took a moment. Soon, the darkness faded and spare light bulbs lit up again. However, the adjudication court was still present.
Xiao Li stared at the scene happening before him and suddenly remembered a sentence that both the god of lies and the little yellow book had said. Gods couldn’t interfere with the rules of adjudication. Once Night had left, Wang Huai lowered his head and placed his fingers together as if thinking of any possible solution.
Zheng Yi felt that his bladder was squeezed and there was a heavy object in his heart. He thought that he should do something but he couldn’t think of a way. He could only stand there dully.
Park Heesoon couldn’t help cursing. “Damn it! Fuck his ancestors!”
Xiao Li didn’t ask Wang Huai if Night had any messages. He thought of something and suddenly went to the other side of the passage.
“Sherlock?”
Wang Huai called out twice. He didn’t believe that Xiao Li was a person who would try to run away. He stared back at the adjudication court that was recording the facts and followed Xiao Li with gritted teeth.
Xiao Li went down the half-collapsed staircase. He stepped on the broken stones and walked the path that led to the platform. The path was like a lifeboat. It might be pitted at the edge but it stood upright and led straight to the platform where Moss and the others were.
Xiao Li stared at the platform. “A god has no way to interfere but humans can as long as they are willing to bear the cost of destruction.”
“The easiest way is to end the testimony of these two tainted witnesses. The scanning will stop and the additional ruling will be terminated.”
In other words, it didn’t matter if it was killing or knocking the two on stage unconscious. Once they lost their language ability, they could no longer be used to scan for the world’s crimes.
Wang Huai was silent for a moment. Then he clenched his fists and made a decision. “I—”
“No.” Xiao Li shook his head. “Didn’t you say that you can’t beat them?”
Wang Huai, “......”
The solemn doomsday atmosphere seemed to vanish because of this sentence.
Xiao Li looked very sad as he sighed. “I don’t want to admit it but I’ll go.”
Wang Huai replied, “...I can’t refute this but you have to understand that hurting the witnesses and obstructing the court is a felony. The hell of severe punishment isn’t an ordinary place.”
“It is a combination of all the punishments of the sins. You will suffer from the sum of the punishments. You will want to run while being madly hungry. It isn’t as simple as one plus one equals two. It will make you want to die.”
“Even a god would want to peel off a layer of skin before they come out.”
Xiao Li’s movements paused. “Yes.”
He took one step forward. His hand touched the film of light and an invisible message poured into his mind.
“The area ahead has been requisitioned by the adjudication court. Please stop.”
“The area ahead has been requisitioned by the adjudication court. Please stop.”
“......”
Xiao Li suddenly wanted to look at Shen Chenzhi. He thought it was fortunate that he hadn’t given an answer yet—
Shen Chenzhi didn’t give him an opportunity to continue thinking. The young man was faster than Xiao Li. He had already guessed what Xiao Li would do and pulled him away without giving him a chance. Then Shen Chenzhi took the lead to walk up the path and onto the platform.
Xiao Li turned around to grab onto Shen Chenzhi but some type of power hindered him. Clouds came out of nowhere and wrapped around his legs, fixing him firmly in place in front of the film of light.
Shen Chenzhi stepped onto the platform. He didn’t like reality and had nothing to do with reality. He regarded reality like he did any instance world. Yet he still chose to do this. Between himself and Xiao Li’s safety, he always chose the latter.
Moss was very strong. In addition to the items, he had the divine power bestowed by Sturbach to protect him from premature death before the god had acquired reality. Therefore, with this layer of security, he calmly watched the young man in the distance walking toward him with no expression.
The moment the young man was one metre away from Moss, a threat was perceived. The divine power belonging to God Sturbach poured out. It turned into a swamp above Moss and quickly devoured the platform ahead of him.
In the midst of this muddy swamp, countless bony hairs suddenly stretched out, rushing toward Shen Chenzhi and wanting to drown him alive!
Moss watched it with a smile.
The shocking thing was that the moment these white bones touched the strange young man, they seemed to be sucked in by a deeper darkness. The white skeletal hands were cut into pieces, crushed into powder and fell into the swamp. They all melted and disappeared.
Shen Chenzhi approached without any special actions. The opponents’ items had no effect on him and he struck the back of Moss’ neck. Then a black dagger slipped out from his sleeves and penetrated the protective item of Mo Di on the other side, causing Mo Di to fall to the ground with an expression full of disbelief.
The court’s scan came to an abrupt end. Shen Chenzhi didn’t even look at the dagger or the court. He just declared, “Stop the additional ruling.”
“During the scan of the witnesses, the witnesses died. The application is revoked.”
The adjudication court seemed to have no idea what to say. It paused for a moment before continuing, “...The suppression is effective. You will be imprisoned in the hell of severe punishment for three days.”
The first few words were deliberately blurred and no one present could hear them clearly.
“Adjournment.”
The gavel on the judge’s table flew up automatically and banged down. Along with this ‘adjournment’, the shadow of the court started to dissipate.
Before being bound by invisible shackles and sinking into the hell of severe punishment, Shen Chenzhi gave Xiao Li a deep look.
‘I won’t follow you into the Abyss. It is because before you jump, I would already be covered in mud and waiting in the abyss to catch you.’
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