Chapter 451: The Sinner |
For twenty-four hours after Qi's death, everyone involved in the siege waited for the outcome in a terrifying silence.
Qi had said that upon his death, the weird phenomena he controlled would spiral out of control. Chu Yining's intelligence suggested that Qi Si would return after Qi's death, like a hunter gutting a monster only to release something even more terrifying from within.
For the past half-month, Qi, as a reckless madman and an inherently inhuman evil god, had cast a long shadow over the world. Even though his death had been deceptively simple, it felt like the harbinger of an even greater storm.
But gradually, the investigators realized that nothing had happened.
The god's death, aside from bringing a spiritually charged downpour, had also severed all weird phenomena, past and future. Trapped in Jiang City, Qi had naturally lost contact with the entities he controlled, rendering him unable to trigger their effects. His so-called "loss of control" was nothing more than an empty threat.
As for Qi Si, while most people couldn't comprehend his relationship with Qi, resurrection required a physical basis. Qi's body had been mangled beyond recognition in the car crash, and no one could see any possibility of it being restored.
Chu Yining's deduction seemed baseless, likely the result of some misunderstanding. What's more, because she had mentioned Lin Jue, many investigators suspected she was colluding with him to spread alarmist rumors and preempt a purge by the Federation's high command.
The rain fell for three days and three nights before finally ceasing. Washed clean, Jiang City and its surrounding areas were revitalized.
[In the place where a god has fallen, all weirdness, mystery, and grotesquerie of the past and future shall perish.]
Those who had died in Jiang City were resurrected one after another, and those within the city's limits who had been corrupted and transformed into strange creatures gradually regained their senses.
They had no impression of their deaths or any memory of the supernatural events, feeling only as if they had woken from a long, hazy dream whose details they couldn't recall.
The mental state of people in this era was already precarious. They lived their daily lives in a daze, and now, upon waking, they dazedly went off to work or school, selectively ignoring any abnormalities in the details.
Soon, the memories of everyone except the players began to change. They no longer remembered the deaths of their friends and family, nor could they recall Jiang City ever being overrun by the supernatural. They felt their lives were plain and uneventful, their greatest setbacks being nothing more than failing a school entrance exam or being laid off from a job.
The shattered city repaired itself at a visible speed, as if time were reversing. Asphalt roads pierced by vines smoothed over, the cracks vanishing without a trace. Shards of glass flew back into their frames, re-forming complete windows. Bloodstains faded and disappeared, and broken steel and concrete lifted back into place.
All this restoration was confined to Jiang City, but it was astonishing enough. Capable individuals from all over the world began to arrive, bringing their afflicted loved ones from afar, seeking a new lease on life in this cradle, this greenhouse insulated from the supernatural.
On May 20th, investigators found the three members of the Listening Wind Guild in the tunnel, barely breathing. Thanks to the restorative effects of the rain, they were still alive. Unfortunately, most of their wounds were from the explosion, not from supernatural causes, so they couldn't be fully healed and required medical attention.
After being treated with advanced medical equipment, the three were saved, though they were destined to spend the rest of their lives in wheelchairs.
The moment Yu Jinsheng opened his eyes, he mumbled, "What about Qi Si?"
Li Yunyang, dressed in a military uniform and carrying a fruit basket, stood expressionlessly in the hospital room. She was there on behalf of the Weird Investigation Bureau to extend their sympathies to the Listening Wind Guild's leadership.
Hearing Yu Jinsheng's question, she replied with a strange expression, "He was killed by the god who manifested in the real world during the Godfall event."
Yu Jinsheng stared blankly for two seconds, seeming to realize the inappropriateness of asking about a terrorist's whereabouts the moment he woke up. He quickly and awkwardly changed the subject. "Where's Lin Jue? I need to have a word with him later. That bomb was definitely meant to kill us all, wasn't it?"
"That's right," Li Yunyang answered truthfully. "His order at the time was to not let a single living thing emerge from that tunnel."
Yu Jinsheng blinked a few times and repeated his question. "So, where is he? Don't tell me he feels so guilty about what he did that he doesn't even have the guts to face me. I mean, even if he doesn't show up, he could at least send an apology or some compensation, right?"
Li Yunyang's expression grew even stranger, as if she were trying to find the right words to describe something complicated.
After a moment of silence, she set down the fruit basket and said in a subdued voice, "He's in an interrogation room, being questioned by the Federation."
...
Only another madman can fight a madman. And when one of them meets his end, the one left behind is no longer necessary.
After all, to humanity, they were equally dangerous.
Since Qi, trapped in Jiang City, couldn't wield supernatural powers, it stood to reason that Lin Jue, also in Jiang City, was now just a mortal.
This was the best opportunity to control him. All it would take was a few troops to lock him in a cage and eliminate all potential future risks.
In an interrogation room five floors beneath the Weird Investigation Bureau's Jiang City branch, Councilor Brooke Hayes, who had died once before, sat across from Lin Jue. The scene was reminiscent of their meeting in Beidu on May 4th.
The difference was that this time, Lin Jue was shackled to his chair with handcuffs and leg irons, with several guns aimed at his head—treatment befitting a high-security prisoner.
Councilor Hayes's smile was as amiable as ever, and his gaze upon Lin Jue held the affectionate warmth of an elder looking at a junior. "Honestly, Lin Jue, I never expected you to stay in Jiang City instead of using the chaos to escape this supernatural-free zone, this place where a god fell."
"Why would I run?" Lin Jue tilted his head slightly and retorted. "The Weird Investigation Bureau is here, and the final battlefield of the gods will be here too. The Final Instance isn't over, and the threat of a reset still hangs over humanity's head. I have no reason to desert my post."
"But none of that concerns you anymore," Councilor Hayes said with a smile. "In all fairness, I must thank you for creating this god-fallen land. The capable officers we lost in the past have been resurrected over the last few days, so it seems your promise wasn't just empty campaign rhetoric. Though we have now tasted death, we still have the same confidence we had twenty-two years ago to fight the ultimate rules with our backs against the wall. This time, however, you will not be the one to lead."
Although the influence of the Weird Game hadn't completely ended, and White Crow and the Balance Church were still watching like tigers stalking their prey, it was still better than letting a madman who dared to put all of humanity on the gambling table hold power.
This was the consensus among all investigators who opposed Lin Jue. Even his supporters, though they might believe in his original intentions, had no grounds for rebuttal.
Regardless of the reason, using supernatural powers to coerce humanity was unforgivable.
And so, Councilor Hayes and a group of veterans from Lin Jue's era returned to the front lines. They mobilized Federation troops to surround the Jiang City branch, and a small nuclear warhead, powerful enough to level half of Jiang City, was aimed at the newly reborn city, ready to launch at the press of a button. Faced with threats from multiple sides, Lin Jue surrendered without a fight, accepting a trial whose outcome was already decided.
"Whether you or they believe it, I never held any resentment over Vader's death. He was arrogant and mediocre; even without you, he would have died at someone else's hands." Hayes sighed and shook his head slightly. "But you should never, ever have become the 'Puppet Master'."
He took a stack of prepared A4 papers from his briefcase. Written on them was the Federation government's official indictment of Lin Jue's crimes.
As he read them out one by one, his thoughts couldn't help but drift back thirty-six years, to when he first entered the Weird Game. Back then, Lin Jue was a young man full of passion. He wasn't the master strategist he was now, but he possessed an extraordinary sense of justice.
More than once, he had thwarted the schemes of slaughter-stream players, gently admonishing anyone who wavered: "The Weird Game will end one day. I hope all of us can hold on to our basic humanity. At the very least, let's not wait until the monsters are gone only to find we've become monsters ourselves."
No player from the early days of the Weird Game could help but revere Lin Jue. It was like wandering in fear across a dark land and suddenly seeing a blazing bonfire. No matter how faint or mysterious its origins, the lost would flock to it like moths to a flame.
Lin Jue was like a guiding beacon, a direction and a hope. Though unbelievably young, he had the bearing of a natural-born leader, guiding everyone out of ignorance and giving them the courage to survive and the chance to fight back.
At that time, Hayes had been just a marginal figure in the Ark Guild, having met Lin Jue only a few times. The young man, often dressed in a white suit, was approachable, cheerful, and bright. No one could dislike someone like that.
He was several decades older than Lin Jue, and sometimes, looking at his own disappointing sons, he would think how wonderful it would be if they were half as brilliant as Lin Jue.
Then came the cataclysm on January 1, 2014, known as the Twilight of the Gods. Whether it was because the Sunset Ruins couldn't hold that many people, or because Lin Jue had foreseen the possibility of failure, Hayes and a number of other Ark members never received the order to assemble at the foot of the Babylon Tower.
It was three days later that he learned of Lin Jue's sacrifice. Like all the surviving players, Hayes was shocked and saddened, and even took it upon himself to organize a private memorial.
Not long after, Fu Jue, one of Lin Jue's followers, stepped forward. As if he had become a completely different person, his reputation skyrocketed within a year. He rose through the ranks of the Weird Investigation Bureau as Lin Jue's successor and single-handedly founded the Kyushu Guild.
Many who had lived through Lin Jue's era had their reservations about Fu Jue's leadership, like creatures bathed in sunlight finding it hard to accept the cold of dusk. But as time went on and Fu Jue achieved one concrete result after another, Lin Jue's influence faded, and many of them came to accept the fact that Fu Jue had replaced him.
But Hayes, with a politician's sharp intuition, sensed some hidden connection between Fu Jue and Lin Jue. He had no proof, but he had a strange feeling they were like two sides of the same coin, representing mutually exclusive paths.
Call it conservative stubbornness or call it excessive suspicion, but Hayes always held a prejudice against Fu Jue's methods, which were so starkly different from Lin Jue's.
Ensuring the continuation of the species through sacrifice, no matter the cost, certainly aligned with rational principles. But when the cost grew too great, when humanity was suppressed to the point of withering away, did such a civilization still have any meaning?
And who could guarantee that the price paid would yield an equal return? By controlling the fate of all humankind with machine-like precision, could those cold shells of flesh and blood still be called human?
Hayes could not agree.
Despite this, before the Holy City instance began, he had disdained to conspire with the representatives from the various district branches. He hadn't even sent a single person to attend the hearing against Fu Jue.
What truly made him decide to stand against Fu Jue were the remnants of puppet threads found in Vader's corpse.
Fu Jue, the esteemed leader of the Kyushu Guild, was actually the Sila Guild's "Puppet Master." What an absurd joke. And yet, it was a fact supported by solid evidence.
Hayes could guess Fu Jue's reasons. If his professed ideals were genuine, then he was simply trying to gather all the slaughter-stream players under one banner to minimize any variables.
But why should they trust Fu Jue? The identity of the "Puppet Master," on anyone, was enough to label them as "insane," "unscrupulous," and "egotistical." Even if Fu Jue's ultimate goal truly was to save all of humanity, who would dare to take that gamble?
Now, having been resurrected and quickly brought up to speed on the events of the past few days, knowing that Fu Jue was Lin Jue, Hayes felt nothing.
Perhaps from the moment Lin Jue chose not to truly sacrifice himself, but instead climbed out of hell in the guise of Fu Jue, the idol of the savior was destined to be covered in an indelible stain.
There is a fine line between enduring humiliation for a greater cause and simply fearing death. The boundary between a lone traveler carrying the fate of humanity and an ambitious dictator is not so clear, either. No one could say for certain which one Lin Jue was.
The fate of all humanity should not hinge on the good or evil of a single person. That was too impulsive, too insane—the kind of thing a slaughter-stream madman would do. Hayes could not allow such a future to come to pass.
Therefore, Lin Jue, the embodiment of uncertainty, had to be taken out of the game here.
After reciting the three A4 pages filled with charges, Councilor Hayes looked at the man bound to the chair. "Lin Jue, by the authority of the Federal Penal Code and related special laws, you are hereby sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity. Do you have any objections?"
Throughout it all, Lin Jue had stared straight ahead, completely unperturbed. His voice now was just as calm. "I have no objections."
The soldiers, armed with live ammunition, watched him, surprised that the process of forcing this dangerous figure to confess had gone so smoothly.
They were ordinary people who had only learned Lin Jue's name recently from the global television broadcast. To them, he was just an unscrupulous careerist who had seized immense power for a short time but, in the end, was brought down because evil can never triumph over good.
He was so calm and composed. Could it be that he had long foreseen this outcome?
The soldiers were slightly puzzled, but they suppressed the irrelevant feelings that briefly surfaced and escorted Lin Jue deeper into the fifth basement level.
With the disappearance of the supernatural, the containment cells had all been left vacant. With their comprehensive facilities and sturdy defenses, they were perfect for imprisoning a person.
Lin Jue was pushed into the containment cell at the very end of the corridor. The iron door locked behind him, and information appeared on the electronic screen.
[Name: Fallen Savior]
[Type: Human]
[Danger Level: S]
[Note: This person's crimes are unforgivable.]