Chapter 205

"What does the vice-chairman mean by this?" After being pinned down, Gao De raised his head and looked at the vice-chairman.

"This afternoon, the magic array in the rune workshop exploded," the vice-chairman said, staring into Gao De's eyes, word by word.

"That is truly unfortunate," Gao De analyzed seriously: "However, the magic array in the rune workshop was drawn by the mentor himself and had been running stably for so many years without any accidents. Why did it explode just now?"

"Did you interfere with the magic array, causing it to malfunction and trigger the explosion?"

"Gao De, the crime of destroying academy assets is very serious; the academy can completely send you to prison for this," the vice-chairman said.

Gao De moved his pinned body with some difficulty and said softly: "You don't mean to imply that the explosion of the magic array has something to do with me, do you?"

"Doesn't it?"

"I just purchased the spell formula for 【Comprehend Languages】 at the library yesterday. Its spell potion requires a Maid Clam, and the magic potion shop was temporarily out of stock, which is why I applied to the Alchemy Department today to collect a Maid Clam from the water myself," Gao De reasoned seriously with the vice-chairman.

"At the time the magic array exploded, I happened to be collecting Maid Clams under Labor Cliff and didn't leave until nearly five o'clock; the staff there can testify for me."

"While I was collecting clams in the water, how could I have anything to do with the explosion of the magic array in the rune workshop?" he said.

The water area under Labor Cliff was far away from the Jia Wen Building where the rune workshop was located.

He was just a newly promoted 1st-circle magic user; how could he have the ability to make a magic array explode from such a long distance?

Gao De's counter-question was reasonable and well-founded.

But upon hearing this, the vice-chairman just glanced at Gao De indifferently and suddenly said coldly: "Whether this matter has anything to do with you is actually not important."

"The academy doesn't need evidence to convict you," he paused and added: "Or rather, it can conjure up evidence even without it."

"You promoted to a 1st-circle magic user at a young age and were deeply valued by He Xi, which shows that you also have a certain talent in the field of runology."

"Your future is very bright, so I advise you, for the sake of your own future, if you don't want to be sent to prison, I advise you to 'cooperate' well with our investigation," the vice-chairman emphasized the word "investigation."

Afterwards, he waved his hand, "Take him back and detain him first, pending further investigation."

The explosion of the magic array was indeed Gao De's doing.

More accurately, it was Gao De who entrusted Fu Luo La to do it.

If it's not yours, you shouldn't snatch it.

If you insist on snatching it, and I can't protect them, then I'll destroy it.

No one gets to have it.

Better to be a broken jade than a whole tile.

This is an ancient virtue, and it just so happens that Gao De has it.

The rune workshop was the legacy He Xi left to Gao De.

The black-and-white will stated word for word, clearly defining the ownership.

One should have the right to dispose of one's own things as one pleases.

So Gao De activated the "backdoor" left behind by He Xi.

Righteous and confident.

But not at peace.

Among all the assets in the rune workshop, the most valuable were not those fixed assets, but those pieces of data and notes.

Thinking of this, Gao De's heart was filled with deep sorrow.

Through more than two hundred years of ups and downs, He Xi kept watch over the field of runology, ignoring affairs outside the window, and finally turned into the few words before leaving and these notes full of wisdom.

But now, all of this had perished.

No... it would not perish.

Gao De had heard those few words.

Gao De had kept those pieces of knowledge in his heart.

The six basic rules of runes, the complete six basic rules of runes, would eventually bloom with the brilliance they were supposed to have.

The name He Xi Aokenli would also eventually obtain the status it deserved.

In fact, Gao De himself was not a person who particularly valued empty fame.

However, He Xi needed this empty fame.

For more than three hundred years in his life, He Xi gave everything to runology, and in the end, when he was dying, even he was the only one around who truly cared about He Xi.

Now, except for the empty fame behind him, He Xi could no longer enjoy anything.

One must protect something for this respectable old man, right? Gao De successfully created an alibi through Fu Luo La's help and the pretext of collecting Maid Clams.

If one were to reason, this matter should have nothing to do with him.

It's just that the current situation was exactly like this.

Gao De looked at the indifferent vice-chairman in silence and suddenly understood that there was never such a thing as reason in the world.

Or rather, reason only exists when strengths are equal.

Sairisi Magic Tower.

Gao De had been in the academy for more than a year and was entering this core building of Sairisi Academy for the first time.

But unfortunately, he was not invited; he was escorted into the magic tower.

Gao De was very silent along the way.

He was thinking about a question.

If it had already been determined that the magic array explosion had something to do with him, just as the vice-chairman said, the academy didn't need evidence to convict him.

Then what was the point of asking him to "cooperate with the investigation"?

Unless there was another matter being investigated, not the explosion of the magic array in the rune workshop.

Did this mean that the rune workshop and the data in the workshop were actually not important to the will of the academy's upper echelons?

What they truly valued was something else? The previous speculation about rune constructs surfaced in his mind again.

This time Gao De could almost be certain, and it was not just speculation.

The magic tower was a comprehensive building that integrated multiple functions, possessing functions such as residence, research laboratories, libraries, treasure vaults, defensive fortresses, and so on.

Even dungeons for imprisoning prisoners or special creatures existed.

And Gao De was sent into a dark dungeon in the Sairisi Magic Tower.

He sat quietly in the dungeon for about half an hour.

Accompanied by footsteps approaching from far to near, and then with a clanking sound of unlocking.

A middle-aged magic user walked into the dungeon where Gao De was, led by the "old acquaintance" vice-chairman.

"You are He Xi's student?" As soon as that person entered, he said straight to the point: "Let me introduce myself, Kunxi Ese, a second-rank rune constructor."

"I'm here to ask you one question: where did He Xi put his rune constructs?"

"If you answer, I'll let you go."

"If you can't answer, you can just wait here until you rot in prison."

Gao De, who had expected this, showed an expression of surprise, "What rune constructs?"

Kunxi Ese did not answer Gao De's question.

He stared fixedly at Gao De's face, as if wanting to see some flaw.

After looking for a long time, he finally spoke again, "He Xi purchased a large amount of raw materials for rune constructs this year; it must have been to make rune constructs."

"But in his rune workshop, I didn't find any rune constructs."

"He Xi left everything to you before he died, so the rune constructs shouldn't be an exception."

"You must know where he put the rune constructs."

Kunxi Ese said very affirmatively.

"Tell me, and you will still be the academy's genius magic user."

"Don't tell me, and you will be a criminal who deliberately destroyed academy facilities; what awaits you will be at least a three-year prison sentence."

"Think about which is lighter and which is heavier."

Compared to the interrogation of torture, in Kunxi Ese's view, attacking the heart was always the highest level of interrogation.

"That rune workshop is mine; let alone that this matter has nothing to do with me, even if it were my doing, it wouldn't count as destroying academy facilities," Gao De said with his head lowered in silence.

"We are already in this situation, at this time, don't be so naive anymore," Kunxi Ese paused, then smiled with a hint of sarcasm.

Gao De let Kunxi mock him for a while before slowly saying: "I really don't know about any rune constructs; before the mentor left, he never told me about these."

This was the truth.

(End of chapter)