punish
"No. 8463, you had close contacts with the Mo family around February of this year, right?" asked the man with the most serious expression among the crowd sitting on the upper floor.
Shi Youchen was calm and collected: "Excuse me, what is considered close?" There was no ripple on his face, let alone panic or fear. This made the people above him stand in awe, and they all thought at the same time - this person is not ordinary.
However, the calm reaction that should have been admirable, in the eyes of the current Supervision Department, has only confirmed some information.
"It's reported that you met with Ms. Mo Lian, the mistress of the Mo family, carrying her personal belongings. The meeting took place shortly before the incident at the Mo family." The man raised his glasses with his fingers, a cold gleam flashing across the lenses. "What is your relationship? Or, in other words, what did you say to her?"
Shi Youchen's back relaxed slightly. He sat firmly in his seat and answered frankly, "Ms. Mo Lian and I don't have any personal relationship. We've only met twice for commissions. Once, she asked me to look into something when we met by chance, and once, I went to respond to her."
"What is it?"
Shi Youchen looked a bit embarrassed, as if hesitating about how to start. After a while, he replied, "When I ran into Ms. Mo Lian at the cemetery, she seemed a little mentally unstable. She asked me to find her daughter's tombstone. I was worried she might do something, so I didn't refuse."
"Later, I didn't find her daughter's whereabouts in the association's cemetery, so I went to the Mo residence to reply to her. Apart from that, we had no other contact."
After listening to Shi Youchen's story, several people exchanged glances, and one of them asked, "Since you had no contact with her before that, how can you judge that her mental state is unstable?"
Shi Youchen seemed to be interested now, and spoke very proactively, "I once saw her being taken away by her family's bodyguards at the altar outside the mausoleum. I heard she suffered from mental illness a long time ago. I thought I might be able to use that opportunity to establish a relationship with the Mo family, but she chased me away when she heard I hadn't found any useful information."
The observer in the upper corner sent a message to the chief interrogator: "During the narration, his body leaned forward slightly and he seemed to be recalling something. His jaw was tense, his fingertips were relaxed, and his eyeballs quickly rolled up at the end. This makes the judgment basically true." The chief interrogator narrowed his eyes. After Shi Youchen in his sight said this, there was still no emotion on his face.
"Why do you want to establish a relationship with the Mo family?" This was the question asked by an auxiliary interrogator nearby.
Shi Youchen turned his gaze to look at him, with a slightly speechless look in his eyes: "The Mo family, although not the strongest in District 8, is also a family with a very strong foundation. Who wouldn't want to make friends with it if there is a chance?" The few words he said lightly were exactly the common knowledge of many psychics with little background.
The questioner seemed to realize his question was a bit far-fetched and looked back at the presiding judge. The presiding judge clearly had a more comprehensive understanding of Shi Youchen's personal information. He tapped the table with his fingertips and changed the subject: "Do you know about the 316 Mo family massacre? Mo Liansi was the real culprit?"
The observer's message came again through the headset: "The body is slightly leaning back, the fingertips are curled, the pupils are dilated, and there is shortness of breath. The preliminary judgment is that he is unconscious." The presiding judge pointed in the air, and several screens appeared, circling around Shi Youchen. There were dense texts and pictures on them, all about the Mo family.
"Look at these." As soon as the judge finished speaking, the surroundings became completely dark.
In the darkness, Shi Youchen squinted his eyes and carefully examined the information on each screen. The observers also kept passing on information to the chief judge.
"Second judgment, no knowledge."
...
"Three judgments, no knowledge."
...
...
"Fifteen judgments, no knowledge."
After fifteen secret judgments, Shi Youchen finally finished reading. The moment he raised his head, the surroundings became bright and the people sitting in the upper seats were staring at him.
"I have no knowledge of these things, let alone any involvement in them." This time, there was no need for an observer. The presiding judge could judge by himself that Shi Youchen's words were true, because his usual calm expression since he entered the room was gone, replaced by a pale face and panicked eyes.
"You participated," the presiding judge said mercilessly.
Shi Youchen frowned: "I didn't participate."
"You participated." The presiding judge emphasized again.
Shi Youchen: "I didn't..." Suddenly he realized something and stopped talking.
The presiding judge smiled with satisfaction. "You participated. If it weren't for you, a recently awakened psychic with no connection to her family, who helped her confirm and verify her daughter's condition, she wouldn't have acted so hastily, leaving a loophole for us to discover."
Shi Youchen's face turned pale for a moment. Yes, he was indeed involved.
Because of his help, Mo Lian confirmed that her daughter was not buried in the cemetery at all, confirmed that Mo Feiqian had indeed deceived her, and then confirmed the truth about her daughter's death and her own true life experience, and finally hurriedly implemented her revenge plan.
"Mo Lian's life experience and her actions will be made public soon, and the Mo family's case should also have a result." The presiding judge said while observing Shi Youchen, and the other party's reaction was beyond his expectations.
Shi Youchen gritted his teeth and asked, "Is this all her fault?"
The presiding judge crossed his arms with interest. "She held an unusually early family meeting, summoned representatives from various branches, and borrowed experimental equipment and materials. Was someone forcing her to do this?"
"A so-called family that has deceived and exploited her for decades. How much she valued them in the past, how much she should hate them after learning the truth. What's more, they are a mentally ill person..." Shi Youchen lowered his head and spoke word by word, but was suddenly interrupted by a sharp questioning.
"Number: 8463, are you empathizing with the criminal now?"
Shi Youchen slowly raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot, but his pupils were clear and fixed on the superior without moving. After a long moment, he said, "I didn't."
The presiding judge finally relaxed and withdrew his hand. "Yes, she was deceived from childhood, tricked into marrying her half-brother, giving birth to a child with a systemic disease, and not even knowing where the child was buried after his death. These are tragic, to be sure. However, this is no reason for her to destroy her entire family. Now the association is investigating, and to serve as a warning to others, we are demanding that we bring those involved to justice."
"You, still insist that you didn't know, didn't instigate, and didn't participate?" Shi Youchen's rebellious attitude just now made him feel a sense of crisis. His intuition told him that such a person must be severely punished even if he was really involved in the incident unintentionally.
The atmosphere in the room had dropped to freezing point when the door of the conference room suddenly opened and a person walked in from outside.
Lu Ming smoothed his unstyled hair behind his ears, smiled gently and politely, and said to everyone, "Sorry everyone, but this 'meeting' needs to be interrupted." He walked calmly and gracefully to the first floor, facing the people on the upper floor, and placed his hand on Shi Youchen's shoulder.
"I don't think you should be interrogating this young mutant in this way."
The corners of the presiding judge's mouth twitched, then he stood up and bowed to Lu Ming: "Mr. Lu, why are you here?" His action was considered very respectful, but the lowered head just happened to hide his somewhat distorted expression.
Lu Ming didn't respond. "I agree with Mr. Shi's point of view and believe he wasn't involved in that incident. Of course, questioning him is your duty and your right, but..." He looked off into the corner. "As far as I know, observers are only allowed during formal interrogations."
His hidden message was clearly meant for the higher-ups. As expected, the presiding judge began to break out in a cold sweat. He managed a businesslike smile and said, "Yes."
Lu Ming nodded in satisfaction and actually walked to the side to sit down. He raised his hand to signal everyone to ignore him and continue questioning. The presiding judge then wiped his brow and sat down.
Under Lu Ming's watchful eye, the Supervisory Department finally judged that although Shi Youchen had no intention of being involved in the destruction of the Mo family, he still had to bear the responsibility for negligence and was punished to guard the regional border area for three months. During this period, the task system locked him in.
After leaving Conference Room No. 1, Shi Youchen took the initiative to show his goodwill to Lu Ming: "Thank you, Mr. Lu. If you hadn't spoken up for me, I'm afraid the punishment would be far more than this."
Lu Ming still had a calm expression and said, "It's nothing. Whether it's for Yun Gui's sake or my personal judgment, their trial of you today is not in compliance with the law."
"Now that you've received your punishment, remember this lesson: don't get involved in other people's family affairs."
Shi Youchen looked a little regretful: "Yes, I remember it."
Lu Ming looked at him deeply, then turned and left. After his figure completely disappeared, Shi Youchen completely restrained his expression, looked up at the sky and blinked. The sky in the distance was already very gloomy, and a thick black and gray color was spreading towards them.
Months earlier, when Shi Youchen had asked Lin Zhouze to extend the mission's deadline, he had indeed returned to City Z to investigate the second explosion. But he had also done something else—he had visited every orphanage. After the Mo family incident, all aspects of City Z had suffered a significant blow, and most registered orphanages had been closed. Fortunately, he had found what he was looking for.
Mo Lian's adoption certificate.
Shi Youchen couldn't recall how he came to suspect that, but he eventually did, investigated, and found the key. It was also during that time that he learned of Mo Lian's true background.
This step added another solid brick to the true theory of superpowers in his mind.
But today, he would never believe that Lu Ming was really helping him out of kindness.
The dark clouds moved very quickly, and in just a moment, heavy rain began to fall outside the building. Dirty water fell from the eaves like a bead curtain, blurring the scene in Shi Youchen's eyes.
Shi Youchen sighed in his heart, wondering if all his luck over the past twenty years had been used up in that one decision.
Fortunately, I stopped when I found out Mo Lian's background, otherwise I would have been exposed to so many flaws by the interrogation team today. I also didn't dare to think about how the association would deal with me if I was accidentally charged with a crime.
“Sometimes, the truth mixed with lies is much more exhausting than pure lies.”
Shi Youchen was just about to step into the rain to cool his head when a person stood in front of him.
He didn't look up. Habit alone made him relax. The tension in his shoulders was released and his head rested on that shoulder.
Ying Yungui raised his hand and pulled his lowered head closer, ignoring the frightened looks of the people passing by.
"Go to sleep, I'll carry you back."
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