Chapter 511: Seven-Day Hearing (11)

The entire fifth day was spent in arguing. Yesterday, Bailida's stance stunned everyone, and the situation turned into everyone else trying to persuade Bailida alone, and his stubbornness exceeded anyone Liu Xiuyun had ever seen.

For some reason, the situation slid toward the worst direction. After back-and-forth arguing, Xiang Qian had become reckless in her speech. She pounded the table angrily, using some weapon she had manifested, and the sound against the hardwood was particularly loud. "This bullshit meeting is ridiculous! Why can't we let the majority defeat the minority? Why must we have a unanimous vote to declare Luo Qi innocent? This system itself is unreasonable; as long as one bird-brained person appears among us, this matter has no fairness to speak of."

"Stop!" Liu Li called out to her friend in annoyance. "The Great Mages who can attend the Hearing are almost perfect people, without any flaws in character. Even if there are disputes, we are doing it for the sake of the Magic World. I believe that although everyone here has differences, the goal is the same."

Xiang Qian stretched out both hands to make an incomprehensible gesture. "Are you reciting the regulations? Perfect people? That flawed person is sitting right among us!" She reached out and pointed directly at Bailida's nose.

Bailida was flushed red with anger at her rudeness and glared back at her sternly. "I have no selfish motives!"

"No personal attacks," Liu Li said.

Xiang Qian said, "I suggest canceling this bullshit meeting format and adopting the principle of the minority obeying the majority!"

"Don't talk nonsense," Liu Li said. "Even human laws are in this format; their jury system comes from the social system of Mages."

"That is exactly the opposite," Wusu said idly. "The human jury system requires everyone to unanimously agree that the suspect is guilty for the judge to declare them guilty. Our system is that as long as one person on the jury believes the suspect is guilty, the suspect cannot be let go. Our judicial system has always been characterized by being harsh and efficient; it is better to wrongly execute three thousand than to let one escape."

"Mage Wusu!" Liu Li growled warningly and cast a stern glance at him. "Watch your words and actions!"

Wusu smiled innocently, still able to project a sense of naivety and innocence even at ninety years old.

Bailida seized the opportunity and said, "Mage Wusu doesn't care about anything and has no sense of social responsibility."

A sound of annoyance came from Xiang Qian's mouth. "What is your sense of social responsibility? You personally look down on Telepaths, so you hope to eradicate this part of the Mages? In this point, you are very much like humans who don't have Magic; they don't like homosexuals, they can't stand women showing skin, so they stone all these people to death. Hey, if you had the chance, would you really like to stone that child Luo Qi to death?" "You are slandering me! Who would want to kill a child!" Bailida shouted.

"Luo Qi was attacked once in the territory of the Highland Mages. Mage Fan, I am not targeting you, and I also believe that Chi Yu and Luo Qi have a personal grudge; I am just stating the status quo," Xiang Qian said.

Bailida shook his head. "I must be responsible for the Magic society. Luo Qi is not just a Mind Mage and Telepath; he is an unregistered Mind Mage."

"Mage Baili," Liu Xiuyun took over the conversation. "I have been thinking about one thing, and I want to discuss it with you. I think after these few days of the Hearing, we all know that Luo Qi is not the only hidden Mind Mage. We vaguely know of three, including Luo Qi, and perhaps there are more we don't know about. Mage Baili, you have been emphasizing that those with nothing to hide shouldn't hide. But conversely, please think about whether there are too many people who hate Mind Mages just like you, which is why they want to hide."

"Mage Liu," Bailida replied in a retaliatory tone. "Is a Mind Mage so easy to hide? All Mages receive an inspection from the Qionglin during childhood. We have testing standards that can find the Telepaths among us! Without the help of a high-level Mind Mage, a child with telepathy cannot hide their instincts at all. Luo Qi's parents happen to be high-level Mind Mages. We don't know if they have helped others do such things, what their underlying motives are, or if there is some organization behind them. These are what we should focus on and thoroughly investigate!"

"Mage Baili, those are also the crimes of Luo Qi's parents, and it has nothing to do with him. We haven't found any signs of evil in a child who hasn't reached adulthood yet; his entire resume shows how hard he is trying to survive. There are many children born in the Magic World who, although they have no Magic, have endless superiority and infinite resentment about having to survive in human society. But before his Magic erupted, Luo Qi even tried hard to live in human society. This is from the perspective of fairness, and from the perspective of thinking for ourselves and our descendants, have you thought about how much value he will have to our society once Luo Qi fully grows into a Mind Archmage? His birth is a precious gift from the heavens to the Magic World. What we should do most... is perhaps not owe him too much and not force him to hate us. In my view, we have already done something wrong in this regard. Forcing a person into a dead end to test whether they will resist—is this to test a pure soul, or to tame a person?" By the time Liu Xiuyun finished speaking, he suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion. These words had been in his heart for a long time; he had originally thought that for the sake of the big picture, he would never say them out loud.

Bailida still stubbornly shook his large head. "When we each lose our souls and have our thoughts controlled by Mind Mages, it will be too late."

Wusu smiled and said, "Even if you kill Luo Qi now, as far as I know, there is another hidden Mind Archmage who calls himself Clownfish. This person's ability approaches that of our Chief Venerable; he is not someone a child like Luo Qi can compare to. Mage Baili, look at things in the long term."

Liu Li took the opportunity to say, "If there is other evidence you want to see or other witnesses you want to question, we can return to the hearing portion."

"No," Bailida refused in a fit of shame and anger. "I will not change my mind again."

Liu Xiuyun could no longer listen. He stood up abruptly. Everyone looked at him in surprise. He endured his anger and said, "Then there is no need to continue the discussion today. I am going back to rest."

(End of this chapter)