Chapter 462 This Isn't My Operation (5600)

What kind of person would rush into a VIP room in a restaurant, kneel before a stranger they couldn't even confirm was an important figure, and beg them to redress their grievances?

It could only be someone truly desperate, someone who would clutch at even the smallest straw.

"Get up, don't cry."

Su Zhou stood up and helped the dark-skinned old fisherman to his feet. He reached out, wiped away the man's tears with his fingers, and looked into his bloodshot eyes, examining his face.

Although his face was covered in dirt and wrinkles, it was clear that this fisherman's life hadn't been bad before. His dark skin was the result of years of working outdoors, but his physique was good, indicating that he had never lacked food or drink, only that he had recently experienced some hardship.

Su Zhou realized that he had actually seen this fisherman near the city gate when he drove into Qixin City.

At that time, because the examining priest couldn't recognize Yalbert, he negotiated with Aemon. Su Zhou, who was observing the lives of the residents of Qixin City, saw the fisherman in the corner of a small alley, sizing them up from a distance.

Su Zhou had already noticed that the man had lost both hands, which meant that he might be a thief or some kind of financial criminal, such as someone who bought low and sold high, or hoarded goods.

He wasn't surprised at the time, after all, there were criminals everywhere, but he was a little curious about the man's situation—because according to the information Su Zhou knew, ordinary criminals didn't live in cities, which meant they faced discrimination and even abuse every day.

After all, the Covenant Code protected ordinary people, and criminals had no human rights. People could freely despise them and didn't have to love them—and in some places, there were even deliberate attempts to bully criminals to vent frustrations, which wasn't illegal. There was no psychological pressure in oppressing criminals.

So, in some places, there were even criminal villages, where criminals who didn't deserve to die could escape discrimination.

But this fisherman was not only able to stay in the city without being despised, but he could also sneak into a restaurant and come to a VIP room, which was indeed unusual.

"It's hard to imagine..."

At this moment, Aemon was also a little surprised. He looked at the old fisherman who had been helped up by Su Zhou and was choked with emotion, unable to say anything except a few 'thank you, thank you, sir.' He couldn't help but murmur, "Are there really innocent good people who are wronged?"

Although the gray-haired priest knew that there was no absolute right or wrong in the world after following Su Zhou, and that even gods could make mistakes, let alone people—but over the years, this was truly the first time he had seen a wrongful conviction on the Holy Fire Continent.

Even the one he experienced as a child had been reversed before the case was closed, and justice had been served.

"No, that's not right."

But soon, Aemon denied his own statement, "Strictly speaking, this is just the first time I've encountered a criminal who can be confirmed to be wrongly accused—I can't even be sure that every criminal I've encountered before is guilty."

"Just like Sarah..."

At this time, after the old fisherman calmed down a bit, Su Zhou invited him to sit down. His calm attitude also influenced the man, making him no longer nervous and fearful.

Then, Su Zhou asked, "What exactly happened? Old man, can you tell me in detail?"

"Even if you were indeed wronged, we need to know the whole story in order to speak up for you."

"I..." The old fisherman took several deep breaths and began to speak in a trembling voice, but before he could say the first sentence, footsteps came again from the door of the VIP room.

"Sir, confirmation is successful, that is indeed Sea King Yalbert! You may continue to pass."

The joyful voice of the examining priest could be heard. Soon, the door of the VIP room was opened, and the middle-aged priest in white robes with a red border said with a smile to everyone in the room, "Congratulations, everyone. Being able to capture a Sea King, I'm afraid even the Lord will bestow a divine oracle... Wait, Old Chuck?!"

The examining priest looked at the old fisherman in surprise. He opened his eyes wide in shock, and then rebuked angrily, "Who let you in?! Don't disturb the rest and mission of the adults!"

As he said that, the examining priest strode forward. He reached out to take the fisherman named Old Chuck away.

"No, don't!"

Old Chuck stood up in a panic, as if trying to escape.

But Su Zhou shook his head, and an invisible wall of spiritual power blocked the examining priest and pressed Old Chuck back into his seat.

"Let him finish."

The youth's calm voice was like a judgment. For a moment, even the somewhat angry examining priest couldn't help but lower his hand, stopped in place, and no longer acted. He turned his head to look at the somewhat cowering old fisherman, and then sighed, "What's the use, Old Chuck? Although everyone knows you're helpless, you did commit a crime..."

"Let him finish."

Su Zhou repeated again, and there was no other sound in the VIP room.

"Sir, it's like this..."

After a long while, the old fisherman's voice slowly rang out. He began to recount the origins of everything in a somewhat stumbling manner.

It was actually a very simple story.

Old Chuck was fifty-seven years old this year. Forty years ago, he was the most skilled fisherman in the entire Qixin City and the surrounding Qixin Lake. Every time he set sail, he could harvest the most fish. Once, he even fought a crocodile with his bare hands and killed it, becoming a hero for miles around. He was appreciated by a beauty in the city and eventually won her heart.

Naturally, there were many people who admired the beauty, and this brought Old Chuck a lot of rivals in love. One of them was an apprentice priest in Qixin City, who soon became a formal local priest and was appreciated by the local high priest.

In the Holy Fire Country, no job was superior to another, everyone had a bright future. Old Chuck and his wife lived a happy life, and even if his rival in love was a priest, it wouldn't affect their lives.

So decades passed. Now, Old Chuck's children were working in other places, and he himself had stopped fishing and started lake aquaculture, raising river shrimp and shellfish. His business was considered prosperous. In recent years, after the death of his wife, Old Chuck was heartbroken and regarded his career as his last spiritual sustenance.

Such a life was nothing special. If there were no accidents, Old Chuck would probably live his life like this—but accidents always happen.

Recently, abnormal celestial phenomena have appeared throughout the Holy Fire Continent, such as droughts, floods, and soil erosion... As the core of Qixin City, Qixin Lake has also experienced many problems.

First and foremost, there was too much silt in the river channel upstream of Qixin Lake, causing serious silting and blockage. Secondly, as one of the largest freshwater lakes in the Holy Fire Continent's headquarters area, Qixin Lake was designated by several God-blessed territories as a source for water diversion and rainfall.

In response, the Central Sanctuary issued two temporary decrees: 'river channel transformation' and 'focus on water diversion'—before the river channel transformation was completed and the drought situation was alleviated, fishing and aquaculture in Qixin Lake were temporarily prohibited.

This decree was essentially intended to avoid the river channel transformation and water diversion operations affecting the local aquaculture and fishing industries, causing harm to the interests of ordinary people. After all, sometimes when spells were cast, there was no way to distinguish between people and fish, whether wild or farmed.

However, Old Chuck's former rival in love, who had become the local high priest, smelled an opportunity.

The content of the decree issued by the Central Sanctuary was 'Before May 30, 307, all fishermen and aquaculture farmers should end all work' and 'Before June 3, 307, Qixin City should begin river channel transformation.' This was a very detailed decree with no room for manipulation.

However, while the decree was fine, people weren't necessarily.

In theory, this decree should be posted in 'public places' ten days in advance and publicized to everyone once or twice—this would ensure that all those being notified were prepared.

But the high priest of Qixin City knew very well that because Old Chuck and himself had a bad relationship, and rarely, or almost never, came to the vicinity of the Qixin City Temple, he used his influence to hang the decree announcement at the entrance of the temple hall, and the publicity location was also the same.

This was also a public place with more traffic than the center of the square, so whether it was priests or ordinary people, they felt there was nothing wrong with it. During this time, the high priest even paid for it himself, increasing orders for several restaurants in the name of 'rewarding and assisting fellow priests in disaster relief.' As one of the largest suppliers to local restaurants, Old Chuck was naturally busy and didn't have the time or energy to pay attention to the situation in the city.

This was naturally not strange at all. Many of the disaster relief priest teams who were invited to the banquet praised the high priest of Qixin City, thinking of him as a generous and good fellow priest. This behavior even influenced several nearby God-blessed territories, and basically every city that was helped would hold a banquet for the disaster relief priest teams.

Just like that, by the time Old Chuck learned of the existence of the decree, it was already June 2, 307. The next morning, the high priest of Qixin City, whose reputation had greatly increased, took the local clergy team and found him.

In the name of 'being blinded by profit and disobeying the decree,' the high priest sealed off Old Chuck's aquaculture farm in accordance with the Central Sanctuary's temporary decree, and declared on the spot that he had violated the Covenant Code and was a criminal. Then, in front of him, after releasing all the farmed river shrimp and shellfish, he destroyed the aquaculture farm and detained him in the detention center.

The facts were clear, and all the priests didn't think there was anything wrong with it—it had been more than ten days, how could anyone not know the contents of the decree?

Old Chuck, who had been busy for more than ten days, was completely crushed the moment he saw his life's work being destroyed.

Moreover, because of the previous orders, Old Chuck had signed long-term supply contracts with many restaurants in the city, with whom he had a direct interest relationship, and the last wave of orders had not yet been completed or cancelled.

So a few days later, Old Chuck was charged with 'fraud.'

"That's about it. Last week, Old Chuck was convicted of several crimes during the trial. In accordance with the Covenant Code, both of his hands were cut off."

Finally, because Old Chuck was somewhat overwhelmed and choked up, unable to speak, the examining priest sighed and filled in the subsequent details, "Everyone thinks Old Chuck is quite pitiful, unlike ordinary criminals, so they didn't drive him out of the city—Old Chuck used to be an old supplier to this hotel, so that's probably why they turned a blind eye and let him in."

"Don't you think that high priest of Qixin City has a problem?"

Hearing this, Aemon couldn't help but ask, his expression filled with indignation, "This isn't how priests should act! This is, this is..."

"This is retaliation."

Because there wasn't a corresponding term in the local language of the reincarnation world, Su Zhou directly created a word and used soul transmission to inform the two of the word's meaning. The gray-haired priest immediately repeated, startled, "Yes, this is retaliation! By the Three Lords, didn't anyone question it?!"

"The gods didn't punish us, so is this wrong?"

In response, the examining priest was somewhat dissatisfied, refuting Aemon loudly, "The laws and decrees are written in black and white. We acted according to the law, so how is it wrong?"

Although he was also a little sympathetic to Old Chuck, he still felt that there was nothing wrong with it, "And after all, according to the decree, Old Chuck did commit a crime—that's a fact that no one can argue with. Who told him not to inquire about it? Everyone else knew, how could he not know?"

Shaking his head slightly, the examining priest looked at Old Chuck and tsked, "We do feel sorry for him, but there must be something hateful about a pitiful person."

These words left Aemon speechless, and he could only frown tightly.

And in his heart, his doubts about the 'Covenant' and the 'Code' grew larger and larger.

"The Covenant, the gods' Covenant Code, how could it be such a ruthless thing? How could it be, why is it being executed like this..."

"Tch... What's so strange about that? Only the fire people, whose brains are as hard as stones, would think that there are no injustices in this world."

In response, Yalbert, who was kneeling on the side, broke the silence for the first time. The great pirate looked at the old fisherman with a sneer and shook his head, "It's just a pity that this good sailor isn't by the sea—I can tell that he's skilled—otherwise, he would definitely have chosen to escape into the sea after being convicted, and wouldn't have had his hands cut off like this."

"Over the years, I've seen hundreds of thousands of people who abandoned the land and entered the sea. Some of them are indeed evil by nature, but most of them are ordinary people who have suffered injustice. I never thought that there would be priests who were completely unaware of this. You've really been brainwashed."

Saying so, the red-haired, rainbow-bearded great pirate revealed a smile that could be called 'evil.' He laughed at everyone present, "I thought all priests were alchemical puppets who learned the precepts and lost their humanity, hahaha!"

This time, Aemon had no reason to refute the evil pirate and could only remain silent.

"Don't overthink it, Aemon. The decree is indeed not wrong, what's wrong is the method of execution and the human heart."

Finally, Su Zhou opened his mouth to comfort Aemon.

Then, the youth turned his head to look at the old fisherman, who was still covering his face and crying. He sighed, "Sure enough, I said that the stricter the Covenant and the more complicated the precepts, the easier it is to see a one-size-fits-all situation."

"Especially in the Holy Fire Country, a society that values rules and regulations, it's not surprising that some guys find loopholes and manipulate the order."

After listening to Old Chuck's complaints, Su Zhou wasn't surprised at all.

—The tyranny of the majority, unchanging rules, one-size-fits-all administration... That's right, the Holy Fire Country has been around for three or four hundred years. In ancient times, that would be considered the end of a dynasty, and the drawbacks of a social system should indeed be appearing.

Thinking of this, Su Zhou turned his head to look at the frowning Aemon and chuckled, "Do you understand, Aemon?"

"Yes, my Lord."

Aemon nodded slightly and bowed to Su Zhou, saying in a somewhat heavy tone, "I understand."

"Whether it's judgment or order, 'love' should indeed be more important... Our policies and decrees should be issued for the happiness of the people, to make the people live better, and not for the priests to use to retaliate against people they don't like, or to implement a one-size-fits-all approach."

"Mm." Su Zhou was very happy that Aemon could understand his meaning. He didn't care about the shocked look on the examining priest's face, or the exclamation of 'What did you say?! My Lord?!' Instead, he raised his head and looked out the window of the VIP room, at the Qixin City Temple, which wasn't too far away.

The youth's pupils contracted slightly, locking onto the strongest figure in the temple. He said calmly, "The people of wind and fire, in the final analysis, are independent and intelligent beings who yearn for freedom. Strict laws cannot completely restrain them. They can always find various loopholes."

"It's fine at first, but if the laws never change, the executors have no independent judgment, and always implement a one-size-fits-all approach, then the good people who abide by the law will be oppressed by the villains who use the law."

A gentleman can be deceived with righteousness, and most ordinary people who abide by the law are like that. Of course, Old Chuck may have been too ignorant and made a mistake, but should he have had his hands cut off and bear the stigma of a 'criminal'?

When could judgment and punishment be so straightforward, without allowing any rebuttal?

He, Su Zhou, was not that kind of person! He would even argue with himself, so how could he enforce the law like this! A Devouring Demon Lord would be fine with mob rule, but this one-size-fits-all approach could never be his operation. It could only be a problem with the Fire Lord and the God of Judgment. The youth would definitely not take the blame for this.

"Then what should we do, my Lord?"

Aemon asked Su Zhou worriedly. At this time, he had completely realized that the current Fire Country might not be as peaceful as he had imagined.

Since Qixin City had already seen this kind of deliberate use of order and the Code, then the entire continent must be the same.

The thought that thousands upon thousands of ordinary people would be judged as sinners in this way, like Old Chuck, have their hands and feet cut off, or even be directly sentenced to death... sent a chill down his spine.

In response, Su Zhou could only let out a long sigh.

"I originally planned to travel by carriage and witness the lives of the people of the Holy Fire Continent along the way, to see the good and bad of this order, and finally talk to the Fire Lord about how to correct the shortcomings."

"To be fair, a strict Covenant Code isn't necessarily a bad thing, and love as an obligation, in my opinion, is just mandatory moral standardization—but now it seems that simple correction is probably not enough. From small things, we can see big things. Even priests, as grassroots administrators, will use the law to seek personal gain and retaliate against people they don't like. Then this order has begun to rot from the root."

"It's hard to save, hard to correct."

Su Zhou wasn't a saint or a perfectionist. He could accept that an order had shortcomings, but he couldn't accept that an order's changes weren't changing for the better, but falling in the wrong direction.

So he made up his mind.

"My Lord, are you saying?"

Aemon seemed to sense something and looked up at Su Zhou in surprise.

Then, the gray-haired priest saw that a vast amount of spiritual power was surging in his Lord's body, and an invisible wave was rapidly spreading, covering the entire city, and even spreading to the surrounding area of Qixin City.

"What I mean is, since it can't be corrected anymore."

Speaking in a low voice, Su Zhou suddenly reached out, and a cyan-purple flame of spiritual power surged in his palm, as if burning—and at that moment, a sharp scream suddenly came from the distant Qixin City Temple. Then, a fat figure crashed open the door under the drag of spiritual power, and was directly pulled out of the temple, then flew rapidly toward the VIP room of the restaurant.

The youth looked calmly at the high priest of Qixin City screaming as he fell from the sky, passed through the window of the VIP room, and landed in the center of the hall with a heavy thud.

Then, with his back to everyone, he laughed softly, "Since there is a fundamental problem with the order."

"Then, it's time to start 'innovation.'"