Chapter 508: Seven-Day Hearing (8)

"Let me interrupt for a moment," Liu Li said, annoyed, waving her finger to completely fold up the data floating in front of her. "How did Mage Baili obtain this information?"

"Someone sent me a letter from the Public Post Station; the person who wrote it calls himself Dai Wei, and he is a victim of this matter," Bailida said with some smugness.

"A victim, writing to/you?" Wusu said with a smile, emphasizing the words. "Did he not try writing a few more letters to the Mage Safety Committee?"

"That is perhaps because the Chief Archmage of the Mage Safety Committee himself was attacked by Luo Qi, was he not? Such news cannot be hidden in the Black Market. Dai Wei likely felt that the Safety Committee was not very reliable and that it would be better to find a warm-hearted, ordinary Mage," Bailida said.

He spoke with great self-satisfaction; the others all looked at the tabletop without saying anything, save for Sanchun, who gave a mocking laugh.

Bailida did not care about him at all and continued, "Do not forget, the Public Post Station itself is within the Orbital Transport Sequence; the letter was written to me, so the probability of it being received was higher. As far as I know, Peng Xiaopeng also received a report letter, but in the end, Luo Qi only had to answer a few questions from him before he was cleared."

Peng Ruxin had been listening for a long time; he had not said much these past few days, but Bailida had pointed the finger at his department, and he was very annoyed. "Is Mage Baili implying that our Safety Committee is incompetent? The one who had the problem was Li Xu, not our entire Committee. Peng Xiaopeng is a Subordinate Mage of the Committee and only has the right to inquire according to procedure; he inquired of Luo Qi and also received Luo Qi's answer, so his task was completed. There was no procedural error whatsoever."

Bailida did not take up his words, not wanting to continue arguing with him, but he held his head high, looking unimpressed, clearly not caring about offending him.

The atmosphere of the meeting became somewhat restless, and the pressure on Liu Li increased. She had always been a bit clumsy in handling personnel issues; this was not a field she excelled in. She pondered for a long time, wanting to speak several times but failing to find the right words, so in the end, she had to stick to the facts. "Mage Peng Ruxin is right; the investigative committee can continue to discuss if they believe there is a problem. I did not say that Luo Qi was cleared on this point. Mage Baili, since you have also received materials, would you like to repeat how Luo Qi attacked Dai Wei?"

A look of disgust flashed across Bailida's expression. "It is that whole Mind Mage routine! Apprentice Luo Qi used hallucinations to torture Dai Wei. Judging from the situation described by Dai Wei, I must say that Apprentice Luo Qi is very good at doing this. Considering he has only just begun as a Mind Mage and is an Apprentice who has not even finished the studies of a normal Mage, his talent for torturing people is innate."

Bailida stopped after saying a segment, deliberately leaving time for the committee Mages to feel the pressure.

Liu Li listened while reopening the data to browse. "Dai Wei. Luo Qi mentioned this name once when he was being questioned, but I seem to have seen this name somewhere else..."

Zhou Quan, sitting next to her, pondered for a moment and said in a low voice, "In Yao Yu's social circle, he should be Yao Yu's lover."

"Yao Yu?" Liu Li's fingertips paused. "That suspected Mind Mage who is also not on record?"

"Yes," Zhou Quan nodded slightly.

Bailida listened carefully to their conversation, his brows knitting together. He had not expected Dai Wei to be involved in this matter through another line as well. In this way, everyone's suspicion of Luo Qi would be discounted. Liu Xiuyun had been observing Bailida and saw his expression completely.

Liu Li continued to ask, "Then, did Dai Wei suffer permanent damage?"

"Long-term insomnia." This did not count for much, so Bailida immediately added, "However, as everyone knows, the damage caused by Mind Mages is usually long-term; sometimes it takes a long accumulation before it erupts. When Luo Qi was being questioned, he did not confess how he pushed Dai Wei into hell time and time again. In my opinion, Luo Qi enjoyed the process. Peng Xiaopeng, who handled the complaint last time, was still too young and lacked experience; he did not pinpoint the focus."

A few Mages looked at each other, their expressions slightly heavy; only Xiang Qian, sensing that things were endless again, leaned back into her chair with a look of annoyance.

On the other side of the table, Liu Li asked, "There are three important acts of aggression in Luo Qi's record; do you want to unfold these three acts for discussion?"

"Luo Qi has a total of three acts of aggression. The first can be considered a survival instinct and is legitimate self-defense. The second he explained as being attacked by a rogue Mage, which is also plausible. So, these two attacks can be left unsaid. But the third attack against Dai Wei was completely and utterly an act of abuse." Bailida tapped a ring on his finger, projecting a letter. He coughed to clear his throat, then proceeded to read for everyone the detailed account of Dai Wei's abuse from the letter.

For a time, there was silence in the woods. The fear of Mind Mages was deep in the marrow of every Magic user; this fear was hard to remove, and even though they were already unshakable Great Mages, hearing such things still made them feel horrified.

The first person to speak was the oldest, Yun Maoran. His speech was very slow, as if he had to stop and think after every half-sentence. "Human underage children, when they do something, they also never know the severity. Sometimes, even if a human child causes serious... damage to others, humans will not send the child to prison. Because they are willing to... give people a second chance, especially to give children a chance. Sigh, I remember a Mage Apprentice the year before last who blew up a street and killed dozens of lives in one go. There was no way around it; we sent out Battle Mages and caught him. We did not give him a second chance because we could not afford to. But Apprentice Luo Qi, he only scared a Mage and did not even hurt him. I personally believe that we can still afford to give Luo Qi a second chance."

Yun Maoran was old, and the old man's appearance was kind; his words were very sincere, and Liu Xiuyun could not help but nod. Bailida's face was gloomy, and he wanted to speak to refute, but Xiang Qian suddenly knocked on the table rudely, startling everyone. The female Mage said with a face full of impatience, "Can we hurry up? I have a lot of things to do; we Battle Mages are not as idle as you all. Mage Baili, save it; I know what you are going to say next. I will speak according to your wishes, but let's fast-forward, okay?"

Bailida's expression was not good, but the other party was a Battle Mage of similar age to him, so he still had some misgivings.

Xiang Qian did not even look at his face and continued, "It is not me bragging, but you are currently dealing with a potential High-Reaction Mage, and we Battle Mages are the experts in dealing with High-Reaction Mages. I am more familiar with the process than you are. First, let's talk about the harmfulness of Luo Qi's behavior. The greatest active damage he caused intentionally was making someone have a nightmare. Oh god, thank you, he is truly the most dangerous High-Reaction element I have ever seen. I have a niece, five years old this year; one day a teddy bear fell off a shelf and hit her on the shoulder, and she was so scared she had nightmares for three days straight! This is not because she is timid; that teddy bear was brown, covered in brown fluff, and had a pink bow tied around its neck. It was truly terrifying; pink, I almost threw up."

Liu Li smiled, and Sanchun, being the most thick-skinned, could not help but laugh out loud upon hearing her meaning. Wusu also looked at Xiang Qian with interest, smiling as she listened to the female Mage continue.

(End of chapter)