Chapter 502: Seven-Day Hearing (2)

Liu Li spoke up at the opportune moment, "I suggest we return to the evidence just presented. It is an established fact that Luo Qi's Telepathy ability was concealed, but he was only three years old when the incident occurred; this was not a proactive act on his part. Even if we could summon Doctor Luo now, it would be of little significance to the assessment results we are to reach today."

Bailida had no objections. Some members of the investigation committee began flipping through the data at hand, while Bailida appeared somewhat distracted. Liu Xiuyun suspected his question just now had been a mere whim; he likely did not want to be here at all and was simply unable to shirk the obligation. He was not the only one of his kind; Peng Ruxin of the Planning Committee had been dozing off, and Yun Maoran was so old that he seemed capable of forgetting why he was here at any moment. As for the Battle Mage Xiang Qian, he would sometimes stare at the tabletop motionlessly, after which a murder weapon would appear on the table.

Liu Xiuyun tried his best not to be distracted by these people.

"Did Chi Yu have a personal vendetta against Luo Qi?" Liu Xiuyun asked, tapping his knuckles against the table subconsciously as he pondered.

"The report does not indicate one," Zhou Quan said. After receiving a glance from Liu Li, he continued, "Does Mage Liu wish to see all their points of interaction?"

Liu Xiuyun ignored the "you'd better not trouble me" written all over his face and nodded.

"Very well." Zhou Quan flashed an iron-clad smile at Liu Xiuyun; the smile did not reach his eyes, which were filled with impatience. Liu Xiuyun remained unmoved, and only then did Zhou Quan lazily begin to move.

He flicked the crystal in his hand, projecting a complex Data Cloud into the air, then lazily scooped through the data, scattering most of it. The air in front of him cleared, leaving only a few small pieces of data wriggling and sticking together. "In the life Luo Qi led before breaking the Seal, he had no intersection with Chi Yu whatsoever; not even a potential contact existed. They were never in the same place at the same time. Their first contact was here, as you can see, oh... actually, they did not have any Magic Contact this time either."

"Wait a moment." Liu Xiuyun watched the entire event process carefully. "Did Luo Qi use any non-contact Magic?"

"Uh..." Zhou Quan thought for a moment and pulled out a few more pieces of data. "Magic Measurement shows there was nothing there, only traces of Du Zhengyi's Space Transfer Magic. Additionally, there are several eyewitness reports here: Luo Qi attracted some cats, which drew the attention of humans, and the result led to winning without a fight—the extreme action Fan Shi was going to take against Du Zhengyi was not carried out."

Fan Ning wiped the sweat from his forehead again in embarrassment; his brow was flushed red.

Liu Xiuyun asked, "Is there evidence showing that Chi Yu's attack was instigated by Fan Shi?"

Zhou Quan shook his head with a grin.

Liu Xiuyun focused his attention on the data. "I want to see the psychological assessment of Chi Yu."

Zhou Quan unbundled another package of information. "Chi Yu has a record of nine instances of Excessive Law Enforcement."

"Wait," Liu Xiuyun said, deep in thought. "How many records of Excessive Law Enforcement does the famous Du Zhengyi have?"

Zhou Quan glanced at him and popped up another piece of data. "Fifteen."

Several Mage committee members seemed to wake from their spring-afternoon slumber and looked at the data; whispers arose in the air.

"If we use Du Zhengyi as a reference, nine instances of Excessive Law Enforcement don't signify much," Liu Xiuyun said calmly.

Zhou Quan's gaze became vacant; Liu Xiuyun knew he must be indexing something in the mind connected to the crystal.

"Hold on, I seem to remember something." Zhou Quan's focus returned to the data in the air. He pulled out yet another data packet, which flashed with a green mark—it was a document from the Mage Safety Committee. Zhou Quan flicked through this data, making them flash in different colors, and finally selected a dull gray information packet. "Here, I remember processing these files."

"What is this?" Liu Xiuyun asked.

"This is the trash bin," Zhou Quan said succinctly. Liu Xiuyun opened his mouth to speak but stopped, closing it tightly. He did not like the absurd and frivolous nature of these young Mages, but he knew that if he had to retrieve this information himself, it would be impossible to finish reading all the evidence he wanted to see within seven days. Zhou Quan opened the gray data, quickly extracted a bundle of files, flattened them, and spread the twenty-three pieces of data out in the air before him like shuffling cards. "These are twenty-three charges of Excessive Law Enforcement against Chi Yu that were revoked by the Safety Committee. The charges against Du Zhengyi were only fifteen, and none were ever revoked."

"The person who was Chief Mage of the Safety Committee at the time was..." Liu Li said in a low voice.

"Yes, it was him," Zhou Quan smiled even wider. "Li Xu. He was the one who violated regulations by bringing Luo Qi to the First Interrogation Room for interrogation under torture, eventually forcing Luo Qi to break the Seal from within."

Liu Xiuyun heard another round of whispering; some of it was about the Lotus Burner, but that was irrelevant to the topic they were supposed to be debating at the moment. He coughed, cleared his throat, and said, "If Pei Shu wanted to cover up Du Zhengyi's record of charges, it might have been easier."

"Yes," Zhou Quan nodded. "Compared to the number of missions Du Zhengyi has carried out, Chi Yu has performed fewer, so the proportion of excessive harm is actually higher. Besides that, there are a large number of complaint records from Level 3 Execution Mages against Chi Yu; honestly, if he had a hobby of crushing little chicks in private, I wouldn't be surprised at all. Does Mage Liu want to see these records?"

Zhou Quan said with a smile, his eyes eagerly hoping that Liu Xiuyun would not look. But Liu Xiuyun nodded, and Zhou Quan had no choice but to flick his hand in the air, firing a beam of information toward Liu Xiuyun. He opened the information and began to read, oblivious to those around him. Zhou Quan put on a standard-sized smile, waiting with vacant eyes, looking bored to death.

Liu Xiuyun buried himself in reading the complaints against Chi Yu; by the time he was a third of the way through, he basically believed Zhou Quan's words. This Battle Mage was a pervert in the making; he was highly aggressive, vengeful, and enjoyed violence—sooner or later, he would have a serious loss of control. In this report, Luo Qi once again demonstrated his greatest ability; he had always noticed that Luo Qi's greatest ability was not Mind Magic, but surviving in the cracks.

This was somewhat rare in the power-driven Mage World.

Without ability, there is no right to survive. Here, ability specifically refers to Magic Ability, and the right to survive specifically refers to the power to obtain resources of all kinds in the Mage World. Liu Xiuyun looked up, deep in thought, and suddenly discovered that Sanchun was also studying the report as intently as he was, and at this moment, she also looked up, gazing at Zhou Quan, who was operating the data, with a confused and eager expression. Liu Xiuyun hoped this Technical mage would ask a good question from her perspective.

Sanchun asked eagerly, "What is the live stream Luo Qi used here?"

Liu Xiuyun frowned, and Zhou Quan blinked, as if he had suddenly gone deaf.

Liu Li did not feel comfortable nudging Sanchun back, so it was the oldest one, the completely retired Yun Maoran, who spoke up, "I think that is a human gadget, and it is not a weapon either. Since it is not a weapon, we might as well skip this part."

Sanchun smacked her lips in disappointment and buried herself back in the data, pulling things out here and there.

Yun Maoran continued, "Since we are not discussing the Fan Shi issue today—that is the subject of another Hearing—can we move past this matter of Chi Yu attacking Luo Qi?"

Everyone's eyes fell on Fan Ning, who immediately nodded, "I don't think there is a problem."

Sanchun also nodded perfunctorily, "There are no issues that need attention."

Peng Ruxin, Xiang Qian, and Liu Li all expressed their approval without objection. Wusu, the youngest of the Nine-Person Committee, also nodded. Liu Xiuyun was somewhat dissatisfied with him; he hadn't looked at the materials once since sitting down.

Zhou Quan turned to Bailida, preparing to amend the record to "passed," while asking, "Mage Baili, Mage Liu, you don't think there's a problem either, right?"

"I think there is a problem."

Liu Xiuyun turned to look at Bailida in surprise and couldn't help but ask, "What problem has Mage Baili discovered?" He had read the materials in their entirety and was shocked that he could have missed the point; he subconsciously spread the data out on the table again.

"Chi Yu was in a human gathering area, and his original orders were to attack Du Zhengyi. Sorry, Mage Fan Ning, but I assume that here, Venerable Fan Shi's original intention was also to target Du Zhengyi. Why did Chi Yu later turn to attack Luo Qi at the Highland?"

"Mage Baili," Liu Xiuyun said in astonishment. "You can turn to page 34, line 29. Chi Yu has a confession here where he states that he believed Luo Qi had teased him at the Street Office, causing him to lose face, so he wanted to teach Luo Qi a lesson. This behavior itself is consistent with Chi Yu's narrow-minded, irritable, and impulsive nature."

Zhou Quan, who had already opened his mouth, closed it again and nodded in agreement.

Bailida huffed in dissatisfaction. "A group of cats and some human entertainment tool can force back a Venerable, three Battle Mages, and four Execution Mages? No, I don't believe it. Luo Qi's problem has always been unfathomable; it is because we cannot measure him that we need to hold a Trust Investigation. I suspect he used high-level Mind Magic at the time to influence the crowd and attack Chi Yu. Chi Yu's obsession with him and his attempt to kill him off is more like the common behavior of a capable Mage trying to shake off a Mind Mage."

Liu Xiuyun couldn't help but be furious; Bailida looked like a clown. He said angrily, "I am not 100% sure that Luo Qi can be trusted right now, but this is a classic case of having a conclusion first and then looking for evidence to support it."

Bailida stiffened his neck, unconvinced and ready to argue, when a burst of laughter suddenly rang out. Liu Xiuyun looked over in annoyance; it was Wusu who was laughing brazenly. He was the youngest and had never held a fixed position in the Qionglin, but he had always held a high position due to his level of Magic Energy. His lineage was somewhat complex; some said he was a Mage born of the Wushan Goddess. His handsome appearance was only one aspect; most self-respecting Mages were unwilling to make eye contact with him, as his eyes were born to be seductive. He had countless girlfriends in both the Mage and human worlds, and regardless of whether he was of Wushan descent, he was indeed always dressed in a flamboyant manner, like a peacock.

The others also looked toward Wusu, and only then did Wusu raise his eyes with a smile and say, "None of us can prove that we are ourselves, because Great Mage Luo Qi might have cast Witchcraft on everyone else. It is also possible that everyone who supports Luo Qi has been hit by a Charm from Luo Qi, but they don't know it themselves. I propose we first hold a subcommittee to prove that we are ourselves, and only after self-verification do we restart the investigation into Luo Qi."

Bailida's face turned red, and he glared at Wusu in anger. Wusu, however, gave him a playful wink; his light brown mixed-race eyes were full of charm—a living hormone aromatherapy machine.

"Enough," Liu Li said, unable to bear it any longer. "Bailida, you have the right to request any evidence you want, but you are not allowed to make groundless suspicions regarding parts for which you don't even know how to request evidence."

"Let's continue," Yun Maoran said, surveying the overall situation and speaking cautiously. He looked at Bailida inquiringly, and receiving no clear objection, he continued, "I propose we proceed to look at the assessment data obtained from the Sandbox."