Chapter 581: The Jury’s Deliberation |
Or, to use another word that flashed through his mind—
soul-thread seizure…
Having lost his memories, Jiang Ye wasn’t certain where he’d heard that phrase before.
But it didn’t matter; coinventing it on the fly was fine.
And the ideas about “cutting” and “refining” basically came from those voices inside his head.
They were all clone consciousnesses…
According to them, Jiang Ye could put them into the red-eyed puppets as containers.
Jiang Ye’s doubt, though, was that he didn’t trust these so-called “clone consciousnesses.”
So the way to dispel that doubt was—
Not these self-proclaimed “clone consciousnesses” that bickered with him, but…
clone consciousness that shared completely with him!
To achieve that, there were two straightforward options—
First, cutting.
He would slice off strands from his own consciousness, forming sub-minds.
Then he would put those sliced sub-minds into the red-eyed puppets.
Second, refining.
He would thoroughly refine the so-called “clone consciousnesses” inside him.
Turn them completely into consciousness shared with himself, then command them and put them into the red-eyed puppets.
Jiang Ye didn’t dare think it through fully, but his subconscious instinctively felt that both methods would work!
The first method, since he could invent the term “soul-thread seizure” himself…
maybe, in the memories he’d lost, he had once cut out soul threads and then used soul-thread seizure.
It was even likely that this was the essence of how he generated clones!
As for the second method, Jiang Ye also suspected that refining these clone consciousnesses might actually be the true solution of “ideological reform”!
It was just that these clone consciousnesses were so damn perverse!
After occupying his body, they could still peep into his thoughts!
Because of that alone, Jiang Ye wasn’t totally opposed to putting them into the red-eyed puppets…
Thinking this, and feeling time pressing, the voice that belonged to Zhou Qiming murmured for a long moment and then fell silent, so Jiang Ye asked inwardly again:
“The experiment you proposed earlier—the one where a clone kills a clone—I can consider it.”
“But before we actually do it, I have two more questions—”
“First, if you are sent into the bodies of the red-eyed puppets, can you still spy on my thoughts?”
“Second, I don’t seem to know how to send you into the red-eyed puppets.”
By this time, half of the clearance time limit had already passed.
At the twelve workstations for the red-eyed puppets, the twelve jurors of the Face Court seemed to have finished reading all their materials and one by one carried some of the documents to the central conference table.
They had strange red eyes, and their faces showed almost no expression.
The remaining five jurors, who looked normal just like Jiang Ye, had essentially finished the materials at their stations as well.
Their demeanor was nothing like the placid composure of the twelve red-eyed puppets.
Instead, they looked like first-time jurors, carefully and cautiously observing everyone else.
Jiang Ye’s behavior was basically no different from these five.
Seeing the five follow suit and bring some papers to the conference table, Jiang Ye dared not act strangely either.
So he took a stack of documents and walked toward the table, choosing a seat with a red-eyed puppet on his left and a normal person on his right.
At the same time, a thought surfaced in his mind—
Who exactly were these five who looked normal like him?
Were they NPCs? Or… real people?
If real people… could they be players with clearance conditions like him?
While thinking this, Jiang Ye belatedly realized he’d misread a small detail—
He assumed those five were “normal people” like himself.
But in the eyes of those five, Jiang Ye was not a “normal person.”
After all, the eyes of the body Jiang Ye currently inhabited were red too!
Even because his body was pitch-black…
in the eyes of those five, he was probably scarier than the red-eyed puppets!
If those five were truly players who needed to clear the level…
then to them, perhaps the twelve red-eyed puppets were merely elite monsters while he was the final big BOSS of the whole jury room!
That thought left Jiang Ye speechless and a little headachey.
With this appearance, earning the trust of those five would likely be quite difficult.
When all eighteen jurors took their seats around the conference table, the right-hand red-eyed puppet among the two at the head began to speak:
“Since everyone is seated at the conference table, it means you have all understood the materials for this case.”
“According to the following procedure, we can begin discussing the ultimate issue of this trial—whether to execute the defendant.”
Clearly, the twelve permanent jurors had experience and had formed an internal, customary procedure.
The other six normal jurors were only there to go through the motions.
Those six could not possibly sway the twelve permanent jurors’ stance.
The left-hand red-eyed puppet at the head continued:
“Life is, after all, the most precious existence in this world.”
“And we are merely ordinary people among heaven and earth.”
“My long-held creed is this—the preciousness of life surpasses everything.”
“Therefore, under no circumstances can I, by virtue of being a juror, strip someone of their right to live.”
“So I cannot support executing the defendant.”
With that speech, another red-eyed puppet added:
“In my many years serving as a juror, I’ve found that truth in this world is not something the naked eye can penetrate.”
“Even if all our documents prove the defendant committed murder; even if the defendant has confessed…”
“That still might not be the absolute truth!”
“Evidence can be fabricated, confessions can be coerced lies.”
“So, even for that 0.001% chance of a wrongful verdict, I do not support the death penalty.”
“Truth can be overturned, but once a person is dead, they cannot be resurrected.”
“Therefore, the cost of the death penalty is not one we can bear.”
One after another, the red-eyed puppets voiced opposition to capital punishment.
They kept repeating the same points…
the preciousness of life, the difficulty of finding the truth.
They framed it as if sparing the defendant’s life was keeping a tiny spark of hope alive for the truth itself…
Jiang Ye wasn’t surprised by these arguments.
But listening to their tone only reinforced his certainty—
convincing these twelve abolitionists was utterly impossible.
Their underlying code was set to oppose the death penalty.
Changing their cognition by words alone would be harder than killing them.
Jiang Ye kept thinking about how to clear the level.
A voice he’d held silent inside his heart suddenly spoke:
“Do you remember the legend of Sisyphus?”
Huh?
Sisyphus?
Jiang Ye’s lost memories only covered his personal experiences.
He hadn’t lost common knowledge and facts.
He still knew 1+1=2, still knew how to use idioms, and the general knowledge he’d had remained in his head.
So he did know the myth of Sisyphus.
What people most talked about was pushing the giant rock and falling into endless cycles.
But when the inner voice mentioned Sisyphus now, combined with the red-eyed puppets’ various “abolish the death penalty” speeches…
Jiang Ye instantly got it—the voice wasn’t referring to Sisyphus’s endless punishment itself.
It was referring to why Sisyphus was punished—because he kidnapped Death, trying to eliminate death from the world…
So—
Sisyphus attempted to abolish death…
which was ironically similar to this court’s attempt to abolish the death penalty.
Thinking this through, Jiang Ye suddenly realized—
the same act seen from different angles could produce totally opposite attitudes.
Taking Sisyphus’s story alone, Jiang Ye didn’t dislike that god—he too feared death.
If death truly disappeared, he would be a beneficiary; he would thank Sisyphus.
But from the standpoint of abolishing the death penalty, Jiang Ye did not support abolishing it.
He still wanted criminals to receive proper punishment.
Clearly, those two ideas conflicted!
If death were truly abolished, then capital punishment would no longer exist…
But then, thinking further—
if the concept of “death” were completely erased…
then the concept of “murder” would also vanish.
If criminals couldn’t commit murder, then not having the death penalty would be easier to accept.
However, it wasn’t only murder that could lead to a death sentence.
Some non-murder heinous crimes that caused extremely severe consequences could also warrant death.
Jiang Ye had no time now to sort out these moral and philosophical issues.
What he truly wondered was—
“Is there an entity behind this abolitionist court similar to Sisyphus?”
“And from the perspective of the clearance conditions, am I supposed to stand opposed to this Sisyphus-like figure?”
He naturally asked this question inwardly.
The inner voice gave no answer, but Zhou Qiming, who had been somewhat subdued after Jiang Ye’s earlier rebuke, suddenly blurted:
“What if the defendant who must die to clear the level is your original body you want to save?”
To be honest, none of Zhou Qiming’s previous remarks had hit Jiang Ye as hard as that one.
Once the seed of doubt is planted, Jiang Ye would find it hard to take risks!
If it were anything else, fine…
but this concerned the original body—his very life!
So Zhou Qiming’s line made Jiang Ye immediately decide—
he had to find a way to contact the defendant!
Moreover…
time was running out fast!
While Jiang Ye thought this, one of the five normal-looking players finally spoke.
His stance was exactly opposite to the red-eyed puppets:
“I can understand how the permanent jurors feel, and I admit—ordinary people do not have the power to decide another’s life and death.”
“But thinking carefully, I find obvious flaws in the permanent jurors’ reasoning.”
“We are ordinary people who lack the authority to decide life and death…”
“Yet those reprehensible criminals can easily decide the life and death of others?”
“As ordinary people who haven’t committed crimes, are we to bow to criminals and even consider their interests? Please, permanent jurors, think carefully—does that make sense?”
“Furthermore, I find the permanent jurors have made a conceptual error—”
“We ordinary people indeed lack the right to execute precious life.”
“But the law does have that right!”
“Choosing to carry out the death penalty is not us choosing to send the defendant to death.”
“It’s that according to the law, the defendant should be executed.”
“So it’s not us who execute the defendant, but the law, and the defendant’s own crimes!”
The young juror spoke passionately and righteously.
The other four normal jurors enthusiastically agreed and supported him.
They argued that the permanent jurors had equivocated, taking power that belonged to the law and misattributing it to their personal judgment.
They even implied the permanent jurors, as jurors, lacked proper reverence for the law.
A middle-aged man went further, citing specific legal articles, stressing that they should follow the law rather than letting personal feelings tarnish legal dignity.
The clear stance of these five made Jiang Ye realize—
they very well might be players with the same clearance conditions as him.
Of course, they could also be NPCs with bottom-layer code set opposite to the red-eyed puppets.
Whatever the case, the eighteen jurors were already clearly split into two camps—
twelve permanent jurors, staunch abolitionists.
Six rotating jurors, staunch supporters of the death penalty.
Their positions were so firm that reaching consensus looked impossible.
To test his hypothesis, Jiang Ye seized a pause in the dispute and suddenly posed a hypothetical:
“May I ask all jurors—”
“If someone were to openly kill the defendant and thus become the new subject of judgment…”
“Would you change your attitude toward the new subject?”
That question seemed aimed at provoking further debate.
The twelve preprogrammed red-eyed puppets answered almost without hesitation.
Still, the two at the head spoke first:
“In the face of life, everyone is equal!”
“Therefore, no matter how many times the subject changes, my stance will not.”
“I will not let our jury bear the burden of another’s life!”
The voice was sonorous and even righteous.
By contrast, the five normal jurors looked somewhat hesitant.
That hesitation seemed to confirm Jiang Ye’s suspicion.
These five normal jurors appeared to possess the ability to think…
they might not be die-hard death-penalty supporters.
If so, the odds that they shared Jiang Ye’s situation increased!
Jiang Ye’s question seemed to have offered those five a new line of thought.
They exchanged glances, sometimes showing vacant looks…
and that blankness made Jiang Ye more suspicious—
could they be privately chatting with friends behind the scenes?!
Thinking this, Jiang Ye directly reached out and pressed the hand of the normal juror on his right, tentatively whispering, “Add me as a friend?”