Odd Zhuo wasn"t interested in prying into someone else"s personal affairs. He had a.s.sumed that Father Zheng was hiding some truth related to the case; he hadn"t expected Father Zheng"s astonis.h.i.+ng confession, which stupefied all the officers at the police station.After understanding the situation, Odd Zhuo realized that Student Zheng Jingxuan"s suicide was actually a tragedy triggered by a combination of factors: Student Zheng"s mother, Madam He Xiulan, was a very formidable person, which caused Zheng Jingxuan to have a dread of women, and he could only use his grades to continually boost his own morale.
Thus, when Odd Zhuo and Gao Tian looked up the information on Student Zheng, they discovered that he had an exceptionally outstanding academic record — he was first in his year in almost every exam, and he won a number of compet.i.tions. This wasn"t limited to magic treasure design compet.i.tions, but also included compet.i.tions for steering spirit swords, refining pills and so on — Student Zheng had outstanding achievements and stood out among his peers.
Such eye-catching achievements made him the center of the crowd, and he quite enjoyed being placed on a pedestal, which gave him a psychological thrill that he grew accustomed to.
But everything changed too quickly — Student Zheng was framed for magic treasure design plagiarism. It was his own work, but someone else stole it and set him up. The public opinion online put a lot of pressure on him, and it was during this time that Zheng Tianqiang and He Xiulan agreed to divorce each other, directly leading to this tragedy.
Falling from the pinnacle to the bottom in an instant — Zheng Jingxuan completely lost his sense of self. Perhaps, in his final moments before he killed himself, he found his last life-saving straw: Lin s.h.i.+yao.
He had written something like a suicide note as an excuse not to implicate her, and cut off their ties before committing suicide in order not to drag his angel into this.
After Zheng Jingxuan"s death, Lin s.h.i.+yao drowned in self-blame. She hated her cowardice, that she hadn"t stretched out her hand to Zheng Jingxuan at the most important moment; instead, swept up in the rumors, she started to doubt her boyfriend. She also regretted her ignorance, that she hadn"t pulled him back at the final moment — most of all, she hated herself.
But it was already too late. A dead person couldn"t be brought back to life. Just like that, the magic treasure plagiarism case and Zheng Jingxuan"s death was buried for three whole years. As Father Zheng said, he tried many times to investigate and appeal through regular channels, but the mastermind behind the scenes left him no room to breathe. In the end, a desperate Father Zheng was forced to take this route.
September 19th, the thirty-sixth day of the summer break.
The Cultivation Police Bureau and the General Administration of 100 Schools inst.i.tuted proceedings respectively with regards to Father Zheng taking hostages as well as the magic treasure plagiarism case from three years ago: the Police Bureau was requesting a prosecution in the case of the hostages, while the General Administration of 100 Schools was requesting that the magic treasure plagiarism case be reopened.
This was a public court hearing which the entire nation and even a lot of foreign online users were following closely. The public gallery was full: apart from the media reporters, Princ.i.p.al Zhou Dongye of Magic Treasure Development University, as well as those who were still alive and had been involved in the plagiarism case three years ago, had been summoned to court by the Police Bureau.
When Gao Tian led Father Zheng to the dock in Spiritual Shackles, Father Zheng saw a familiar face — Student Fu Fusheng, who had accused Zheng Jingxuan of plagiarism back then, also sat in a second defendant dock, and should be here as a defendant in the plagiarism case. At the same time, Student Fu Fusheng was probably the one who knew the most now of all the people involved three years ago, as practically all those who had insider knowledge were dead.
Father Zheng had resented Fu Fusheng before, but he now felt that Fu Fusheng really didn"t know anything and was just a poor schmuck who had been used; otherwise, why was he still alive?
The judge presiding over this hearing in Songhai Intermediate Cultivation Court was called Liang Xin, who was a righteous-looking middle-aged man with slicked-back hair. Since this case wasn"t just about the hostage incident, but was also linked to a possible overturning of a case ruling from three years ago, the presiding judge, the other judges, the jurors and the court clerk who had heard the case three years ago had all voluntarily stepped back from partic.i.p.ating, to ensure a fair and equal trial.
"All rise — court is now in session!"
Liang Xin was expressionless. It was his superior who had directly a.s.signed him this case. Because the two cases would be trialed together, plus given what Father Zheng had done previously to grab attention, all of society was paying very close attention to it; Liang Xin was well aware of how serious this matter was.
The presiding judge and the other judges existed to crack down on crime and to clear the innocent.
There was a solemn silence in the courtroom. After Chief Judge Liang sat down and hit the gavel with a sharp sound, the trial officially commenced.
"Defendant Zheng Tianqiang, on 18th September, 4396, you seized an auditorium at Songhai Magic Treasure Development University and held fifty-three people hostage. While the hostages weren"t injured, the auditorium and other public facilities were damaged. You are now charged with the destruction of public facilities and the crime of taking hostages. Do you object to the charges?" Chief Judge Liang asked.
"No," Father Zheng answered from the defendant dock.
Chief Judge Liang nodded and turned to the second defendant dock. "Will second defendant Fu Fusheng please rise."
Hearing his name called, Fu Fusheng gradually started to look nervous. He knew very well what type of impact this plagiarism case would have on his life. Even if he was Liu Yi"s p.a.w.n, it was true that Liu Yi had stolen Zheng Jingxuan"s high school magic treasure blueprint and given it to Fu Fusheng to use in the compet.i.tion. What was more, Fu Fusheng had used that blueprint and even accused Zheng Jingxuan of plagiarism after the compet.i.tion… Now that the case had been reopened, there was no way for Fu Fusheng to escape being labeled as a fraud; most importantly, Raven Studio would be dealt a heavy blow.
Fu Fusheng hadn"t known at the time that the blueprint he had used wasn"t Liu Yi"s design. He had thought that Liu Yi was a talent, and never expected him to be such a sly thief.
Chief Judge Liang rapped the gavel. "Fu Fusheng, please ensure that what you say next is the truth. If you are suspected of dishonesty, you may be charged with perjury."
"Chief Judge, I swear to tell the truth," Fu Fusheng said after taking a deep breath.
"Was the design blueprint for the "clean green spiral furnace" in the magic treasure design compet.i.tion three years ago your original work?" asked Chief Judge Liang.
Fu Fusheng pondered for a while before raising his head and saying resolutely, "Yes!"
The whole scene exploded at this word.
Odd Zhuo, Little Silver and Gao Tian never thought that Fu Fusheng would actually choose to change his testimony at that moment.