Time rewound to twenty minutes earlier, right after Edward posed his question to everyone present.
The people in the hall immediately began whispering among themselves.
After all, he asked first, so we have to discuss it ourselves.
“So it’s going to be some grand narrative, huh? No wonder he started off on such a high note,” Betty murmured. “But even so, he can’t just brush this off. Whatever needs handling still has to be handled.”
Sure enough, after the Supreme Judge—the dark-skinned woman—paused briefly in surprise, she recovered and said to him:
“Your statement will be considered comprehensively by the jury, but it is true that the Locke Morgan Family conducted unauthorized and dangerous research. All research institutes under the family’s banner shall be thoroughly shut down, and all industries will undergo inspection…”
Betty gave a light hum, wearing an expression full of, ‘See, I told you so.’
Just then, the dark-skinned woman suddenly stopped speaking, having heard the sound of someone taking a seat above her head. The person who hadn’t appeared on the three screens earlier was now here.
Xu Chuyao raised her gaze, scrutinizing the elderly man a little.
She rarely described anyone as “old.” Even Principal Lü, in her mind, was robust for his age. But the man on the topmost screen was visibly aged—only a few wisps of white hair remained on his crown.
For an ordinary person, someone that age might no longer be able to walk, but the enhancement to physical condition granted by spiritual power allowed him to live normally, even to sit and participate in a hearing.
“I’ve reviewed the report on crystal research.”
His voice carried an unmistakably aged tone, which confirmed Xu Chu Qiong’s earlier judgment.
“The report states that the radiation emitted by the crystals triggers the Four Bans of Spirit for ordinary people, making it difficult to determine whether those exposed are alive or dead.”
He looked at Edward through the screen and asked, “Is this ability only effective on ordinary people?”
Though the Supreme Judge had just announced the verdict, she silently closed her mouth when he spoke.
“Who is that?” Xu Chuyao whispered.
“Don’t you know? He’s a veteran—Monroe Salier. He’s been active since the Age of Chaos. During the War Pacification period, he presided over the trial of traitors here. My grandfather was there too,” Betty said proudly.
“They judged old crimes together.”
Xu Chuyao blinked. “Then why is he here now instead of your grandfather?”
“Because my grandfather was even older than him and has passed away.”
Betty’s face briefly fell, then she lifted her chin and glared at the busty girl. “Why are you suddenly asking about this?”
“Nothing much, just curious… Oh right, what’s Monroe’s elemental attribute? Is it Earth?”
“Yes, it is. Why?”
Xu Chuyao shifted her sitting posture, raising her hand to cover her smirk. “I think this hearing might have a turning point, maybe even we’ll be kicked out soon.”
“Huh? Why?”
The blonde Pingli looked confused, but the busty girl didn’t reply.
At the defendant’s seat, Edward gripped his cane and slightly bowed.
“Honorable Salier, this is all the progress we have so far. We are still working on related research.”
Monroe nodded, then fell silent, seemingly deep in thought.
Half a minute later, the dark-skinned woman received a message, looked down to check it, then announced to everyone:
“The public hearing ends here. Please leave in an orderly manner. The results will be announced later.”
“Huh? That’s it? Does the partial verdict count?” Betty was still astonished, but Xu Chuyao was already heading out.
“Don’t go, wait for me…”
Betty wanted to chase after her but suddenly realized the chair was too high to climb down from. She desperately swung her small feet in the air.
“Wait for me!”
Surprisingly, Xu Chu Qiong was actually the first to exit through the main door. After taking a few breaths of fresh air, a little girl came running after her, her footsteps light and quick.
“Busty girl! I told you to wait for me!”
To stop her from running off again, Betty grabbed the girl’s sleeve—a move originally aimed for her arm or even collar, but she wasn’t tall enough.
“So fast?” Xu Chuyao was curious. “Did a kind stranger help you down?”
“My uncle… but that’s not important. The important thing is how you knew,” Betty said, using her other hand to point inside the gate, “that things would take a turn and we’d be kicked out.”
“We’re just getting started. I still know what the results will be soon. It’s just a matter of picking up lightly and putting down gently. The experiment will be halted but never completely abolished.”
“So how do you know?”
“Ahem~” Xu Chuyao blinked mysteriously. “I’ll tell you after the results come out.”
She wasn’t intentionally being secretive—mainly, she feared that if she talked too much now and the results turned out different, it would be a big slap in the face. For now, it was safer to keep quiet. If the results were correct, everything she said would be right; if wrong, she’d just say some minor details were overlooked.
Betty didn’t understand Xu Chuyao’s caution and only felt that she was teasing her curiosity, making her lose appetite and constantly think about her… thought process.
Oh my fuck! How can the busty girl be so devious?
“I’m telling you, at your age, you really need to improve your knowledge level. As the saying goes, you always regret not studying enough when the time comes to use it. The key to any problem is finding the key to the problem itself. Once you grasp that key, then…”
Xu Chuyao was about to bluff a few sentences when suddenly a voice echoed in her mind—
[Counter Villain Value +50]
Noisy?
Shen Ning? When did you arrive?
Xu Chuyao looked around for her friend, but there were too many people, and she couldn’t see the situation outside.
“I think your idea doesn’t hold water.”
On the street, the Broken Shadow said to the girl, “That little girl is obviously an English sister. Yao Yao might be studying English.”
“Thanks for your guidance, Broken Sister,” the Sexually Repressed Shadow said, “In many works, learning English is just a cover. That’s something Yao Yao herself said.”
[Counter Villain Value +50]
The system in Xu Chuyao’s mind kept alerting her. Normally, she might be happy, but now she felt inexplicably strange. However, she couldn’t care much about it because after leaving the hall, people kept coming over to talk to her.
“Miss Xu, may I introduce myself? I’m from the county…”
“Miss Gui, may I have your contact information?”
“Please reconsider. I’m willing to retire my three princesses for you.”
Suddenly, several friendly acquaintances appeared. Some knew how to address her properly; others awkwardly mixed up names and surnames. Among them were also Prince Ya and Prince Bi, who stubbornly came over to persuade her to reconsider.
The only good news was that the Holmes family’s eldest uncle came and took the 24-year-old legal Pingli away.
“Let go of me, Uncle! I just want to ask her a question,” Betty struggled all the way. “Why are you dragging me away?”
Uncle’s traditional old aristocratic face was full of helplessness. “Beckett, do you know? Xu Chuyao is a lesbian. And everyone here knows it.”
She had sat right beside her during the entire hearing, conveniently occupying the most eye-catching seat in the audience. Everyone could see it at a glance.
“Ah?” Betty belatedly realized, “So that’s why I saw you at the main gate just now…”
“Yes, everyone was watching.”
Those who knew, knew she was focused on academic discussion; those who didn’t might think she’d been abandoned.
In fact, the only one who really knew was the eldest uncle.
“Gomu…”
Meanwhile, after Xu Chuyao finished dealing with the enthusiastic crowd, she finally spotted the sulking girl across the street. Checking the system balance again, the total Counter Villain Value had increased by 150.
Fortunately, it wasn’t enough to get her into deep trouble.
She walked across the street and grabbed the girl.
“What’s wrong, Shen Ning? Why are you unhappy?”
Shen Ning looked toward the departing crowd. The blonde little sister’s figure had already disappeared.
“I saw you earlier pulling and tugging at another girl.”
Xu Chuyao blinked, taking a moment to realize what that meant.
“No way, are you jealous?”
The girl remained silent, only quietly looking at her girlfriend.
“That can’t be. Come on, let’s sort this out.” Xu Chuyao intended to reason with her. “We came here together this morning by car, and I just attended a hearing alone. It only lasted an hour. What could I have done in such a short time?”
“A whole hour.” Shen Ning subconsciously said, “Your first mechanical surrender only took five seconds.”
The atmosphere suddenly grew silent, even the reflections fell into silence.
“Too chaotic,” said the Sexually Repressed Shadow.
Even it felt it was hopeless.
Xu Chuyao said nothing, pointing to herself, then to the gate, and finally to the sky, spreading her small hands to mean, “Do you really think what you’re saying is realistic?”
“… I just feel you don’t need to look for other girls to chat with.”
Shen Ning pinched her fingers. “If there’s anything you want to say, you can tell me.”
“But I was discussing academic topics with her.”
Xu Chuyao told her girlfriend the Holmes family’s last name.
“Well… that’s not impossible.” Shen Ning forced a smile. “I occasionally read detective novels.”
Faced with her girlfriend’s brave confession, Xu Chuyao smiled brightly. “Okay, this afternoon, I’ll continue discussing with Miss Holmes, and you can try listening in.”
“Hmm.”
Yu Jing drove over, rolling down the window. “How was the hearing? When can we arrange the return trip… Did anything happen to you?”
“Nothing much, the hearing only has the waiting-for-results stage left. We still have to come back in the afternoon.” Xu Chuyao answered.
“All right, then let’s go have lunch first. You two get in the car.”
Sitting in the back seat, Shen Ning secretly observed her girlfriend, who was looking out the window at the scenery. She took out her phone to search for a collection of short stories…
“Stop looking, what use is it now? You can’t measure quantum wave speed anyway,” the Sexually Repressed Shadow said. “Don’t worry, the three of us will help you think through it together. We’ll definitely figure it out faster than that English sister!”
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