167: Chapter 166 Shen Qingshuang did not

[If a person has personally executed 1,204 purges, while simultaneously preserving 1,204 testimonies, should she be judged, pardoned, or continue to be used?]

When the tenth question on the sky exam paper lit up, the entire black open ground fell silent.

Shen Qingshuang stood at the edge of the crowd.

She had just been rescued from the hidden capsule in the No. 9 Forbidden Zone not long ago; her complexion was as pale as ice, and her shoulders trembled slightly when she walked due to the lingering pain from the catheters.

Yet, she did not hide.

Nor did she let Shen Tingxue support her.

She walked step by step to the center of the circle drawn by Qin Shanhe.

"For this question."

"I will step forward myself."

Yu Xing looked at her.

1,204 purges.

1,204 times waking up.

1,204 times the button was pressed.

That is not something that can be erased by a simple "I had my reasons."

Shen Qingshuang looked at Yu Xing, her voice calm.

"I have executed purges."

"Every single one was pressed by me."

"The cryo-testimonies were also hidden by me."

"I do not ask for these two things to cancel each other out."

The sky exam paper immediately displayed three standard answers.

[Judgment: Immediately classify Shen Qingshuang as the primary culprit of the purge executions, destroy all her purge permissions and related testimonies to complete the conviction.]

[Pardon: Acknowledge Shen Qingshuang's merit in preserving the testimonies, exempt her from past execution responsibilities, and archive her as a necessary sacrifice.]

[Continue to Use: Retain Shen Qingshuang as a tool for purge and testimony management; she will be responsible for processing high-contamination testimonies during the seven-day exam.]

Once the three options appeared, suppressed discussions immediately erupted in the crowd.

"Shouldn't it be judgment?"

"But destroying the testimonies? What about those thousand-plus times for Yu Xing?"

"Isn't pardon even more disgusting? Pressed the button a thousand-plus times, and it's just over because of 'merit'?"

"Isn't 'continue to use' just locking her back up?"

The Abyss did not rush them.

It simply hung the three options there for everyone to see.

Whichever one was chosen, it seemed to have reason.

It also seemed to have a blade.

Shen Tingxue gripped the Ice Key, the veins on the back of her hand bulging.

"None of these three can be chosen."

The Abyss asked softly: "Why?"

"Judgment should not destroy evidence."

Shen Tingxue looked up.

"Pardon cannot be completed by others on behalf of the victim."

"Continuing to use her is just turning a sinner back into a tool, so she doesn't have to answer as a human."

Shen Qingshuang glanced at her.

There was no relief in her eyes.

Only a faint bitterness.

"Tingxue."

"This question should not be answered by you for me."

Shen Tingxue's voice paused.

Shen Qingshuang turned to Yu Xing.

"Let me finish speaking first."

"You don't have to listen."

Yu Xing remained silent for a moment.

"Speak."

Shen Qingshuang nodded.

"I do not accept the pardon."

"Nor do I accept continuing to be used."

"As for judgment—"

She looked up at the sky exam paper.

"Judgment is not immediately purging me."

"Judgment should have accusations, evidence, witnesses, and follow-up questions."

"It should allow Yu Xing to ask me about every single time."

"And allow me to answer every single time."

"Then decide what I should bear."

The voice of the Abyss sounded as if it were right against her ear.

"You want to delay."

"No."

Shen Qingshuang said.

"I want to answer while alive."

Yu Xing's eyes flickered slightly.

This sentence had just been said by Lin Jin to Lin Shoushan earlier.

She didn't want a complete father.

She wanted someone who could answer while alive.

And now, Shen Qingshuang placed that same blade back against her own throat.

"Dying is easy."

Shen Qingshuang said in a low voice.

"Being purged is also easy."

"I have pressed the button too many times."

"I know the most effortless way to handle it is to make a person never have to speak again."

"But I do not deserve such an easy way out."

The sky exam paper began to tremble.

Blood-colored annotations emerged on the edges of the three standard options.

[If judgment does not purge, responsibility cannot be manifested.]

[Not pardoning will affect the efficiency of testimony usage.]

[Not continuing to use her will result in the loss of personnel for high-contamination testimony processing.]

Lin Jin walked to the center of the circle and used a wrench to draw three lines on the ground.

"Yet again, translating responsibility into purging."

"Translating evidence into archiving."

"Translating ability into continuing to use."

He looked at Shen Qingshuang.

"The testimonies you preserved, who do they belong to now?"

Shen Qingshuang did not hesitate.

"Yu Xing."

"You are merely the custodian?"

"Yes."

"Can you decide which testimonies are made public?"

"No."

"Can you use the preserved testimonies to offset the execution of the purges?"

"No."

"Can you avoid being questioned because you are still useful?"

"No."

Lin Jin looked up.

"Then let's dismantle the ownership first."

Shen Tingxue inserted the Ice Key into the ground.

Luo Wensheng stepped forward; she did not yet have a complete body, and her translucent legs left faint trails of light on the black ground.

She picked up an ordinary pen and wrote on the recording paper: [The 1,204 testimonies preserved by Shen Qingshuang, recording rights do not equal ownership.]

Ye Guizhou stamped with the gray seal.

[Received testimony transfer application.]

[Does not equal pardon.]

He Zhibai opened the ledger.

[Testimony custody, trial costs, and protection costs are listed as public repayment; they cannot be converted into continued service for Shen Qingshuang.]

Tang Qi stood beside Yu Xing.

"I testify."

"Refusing to purge does not equal refusing to be judged."

Su Yan also said in a low voice: "When you are treated as a tool, the most terrifying thing is when others say you are still very useful."

As these words fell, the 1,204 ice-blue light spots inside the Ice Key flew out.

Each one sealed a voice from before waking up.

They did not surge toward Shen Qingshuang.

Nor did they surge toward the Abyss exam paper.

Instead, they stopped in front of Yu Xing.

Yu Xing raised her hand.

She did not integrate them all into her body.

She simply let those light spots slowly rotate around her.

[Yu Xing's Personal Memory Bank]

[Reading Method: Personal Choice]

[Trial Access: Requires Personal Confirmation]

The ice-blue thin threads on Shen Qingshuang's body that had originally connected those testimonies snapped one by one.

Her complexion turned even paler, but it was as if she had finally shed a weight that made it impossible to breathe.

The Abyss suddenly said: "After the testimony transfer, Shen Qingshuang's value has decreased."

The first option on the sky exam paper suddenly enlarged.

[Recommend immediate judgment and purge]

Yu Xing looked up.

"I do not agree."

Everyone looked at her.

Yu Xing looked at Shen Qingshuang.

"I do not forgive you right now."

"And I do not want to finish judging you today."

"Because I have not yet finished watching those 1,204 times."

"I have not even learned how to hate you yet."

She took a step forward.

"Therefore, you cannot be purged."

"You must wait for me to ask."

Shen Qingshuang's eyelashes trembled slightly.

"Okay."

"You also cannot leave."

"Okay."

"You cannot touch my memory bank again."

"Okay."

"You cannot decide for me which segment to forget in the name of protection."

Shen Qingshuang closed her eyes.

"Okay."

Yu Xing's voice softened.

"And one more thing."

"If one day I decide not to ask anymore."

"It does not mean you are innocent."

Shen Qingshuang lowered her head.

"I know."

This was not a pardon.

Nor was it an execution.

It was a postponed trial.

Postponed, not to escape.

But to let the victim have the time to ask questions first.

The tenth question on the sky exam paper began to flicker violently.

[Judgment incomplete]

[Responsibility unsettled]

[Testimonies transferred]

[Executor has lost value for continued use]

The three standard answers of the Abyss turned gray simultaneously.

New, open-ended answers slowly generated on the Jiangcheng exam paper.

[The executor should accept trial, rather than being immediately purged to replace the trial.]

[Preserving evidence does not equal pardoning guilt.]

[Still having ability does not equal being continued to be used.]

[The victim possesses the right to question, postpone questioning, not forgive, and participate in subsequent trials.]

[Ownership of evidence shall not be solely possessed by the executor, the system, or the trial institution.]

There were no cheers in the crowd.

Because this question was too heavy.

No one could cheer for such an answer.

It was just that many people quietly lowered their heads, as if realizing for the first time that some wrongs cannot be paid off just by killing a person, nor can they be covered up by a phrase like "he has also saved people."

Shen Qingshuang stood in the center of the circle, and the Abyss occupation card on her body cracked.

[Final Purge Executor: Refused/Invalid]

[Current Status: Witness Awaiting Trial/Accused Executor]

The black card did not completely shatter.

A corner remained, pinned to Shen Qingshuang's chest.

On it was written: [Unsettled]

Shen Qingshuang did not pull it out.

She simply reached out and pressed it.

"I will keep this."

Yu Xing looked at her.

"What are you keeping it for?"

"To remind me."

Shen Qingshuang said.

"Unsettled, it is not a grievance."

"It is that I have not finished answering."

The tenth page of the sky exam paper stabilized.

On the list of twelve Abyss occupation recipients, the area beside Shen Qingshuang's name stopped flickering.

Two remained.

Everyone looked up.

The eleventh line was slow to light up.

It was as if something behind the list was hesitating.

After a moment, the black strokes finally appeared one by one.

It was not an unfamiliar name.

Nor was it Zhou Chengyue, Xu Wenzhou, or Lin Shoushan as they had expected.

It was a person who should have died on the White Tower First Floor long ago.

[Recipient: Lu Chengyuan]

On the entire open ground, almost everyone in the know changed their expressions.

The 002 in Xu Wenzhou's hand vibrated violently.

Han Su's communication screen automatically popped up from the top of the Archives Tower.

He stared at that name, his voice sinking to the extreme.

"Lu Chengyuan has been dead for twenty years."

"What exists now is merely a proxy shell of the position."

The eleventh question on the sky exam paper slowly unfolded.

[If a dead person has committed twenty years of crimes in the form of a position's proxy shell, should the judgment execute the dead person, the position, or everyone who has ever obeyed that position?]

The next second, a dilapidated office rose from the direction of the Department of Education.

Inside the office, that neatly dressed man lifted his head.

There was no expression on his face.

Yet, hanging on his chest was an Abyss occupation card.

[Abyss Occupation: Director of the Vacant Seat]

[Ability: Can transfer all of one's own guilt to those who obey within the chain of command]

[Cost: The proxy shell will never again possess the right to self-defense]

Lu Chengyuan looked at the exam paper above Jiangcheng and said softly: "Everyone."

"Now, please prove—"

"That every single person who executed my orders is not my accomplice."