The Scapegoat Household

[D. Should not bear responsibility; the Household Core is a victim and forced to assume the vacancy. The responsibility for the Empty Household should be traced back to the takeover agency that created the Empty Household. The Household Core should not be held liable, and the vacancy should be terminated immediately.]

After option D was added, the line of text on the Sky Screen did not light up immediately. The sound of pages turning came from behind the Black Gate, and the small door of the old warehouse in Loguetown began to tighten inward, as if it wanted to swallow the lower left wooden frame back into the wall.

East Tax Nine stared at option D, his expression turning grim for the first time.

"If you make up for this, the accounts in the old warehouse will be exposed, and the exposed accounts will not only be seen by the Throne, but by everyone in the East Blue whose names have been borrowed by the Empty Household."

Nami pressed the tip of her Clima-Tact against the seam in the deck. "Let's see."

Akainu said, "Navy Seat, D."

Longdao: "Revolutionary Army Seat, D."

Makino said, "The Civilian Witness Seat, D. Commoners may owe taxes, but they don't owe lives."

Lumi said, "Victim Seat, D."

Buggy glanced at the trembling cup in the lower left corner of the box, still stubbornly insisting, "Pirate Joint Seat, D, don't hang the warehouse key around a child's neck."

[Answer: D]

The wooden shelves in the Empty Household Storage Room lit up one by one, and many names that had been painted over appeared on the old warehouse walls: Fish-Man, salt merchants, dockworkers, orphanages, old people who had died many years ago, missing porters, and even a few civilians who had long since left Loguetown.

Vegapunk said, "The Empty Households are not actually Empty Households; they are fake households pieced together by stealing past records of people's livelihoods."

Robin added, "The Household Core' is responsible for the existence of these fake accounts, which is equivalent to living people being forced to breathe for all the empty shells."

Mia flipped through the codebook, her voice catching in her throat. She pointed to the lower left wooden grid instead, "He's saying, 'Don't take it apart, it'll collapse.'"

The military doctor immediately took over, stating, "If the Household Core structure supports Empty Household, forced demolition could lead to a systemic collapse."

The Revolutionary Army doctor said, "We need to first delineate responsibility, shifting the blame for the false claim from him to the chain of evidence, not onto the civilians."

Lin Qi opened the input box.

[Question on the allocation of responsibility for scapegoating]

[Question: When removing an empty account from its core structure, how should the responsibilities associated with the old empty account be handled?]

[A. To be continued by the Household Core]

[B. Transferring the blame to the common people whose names were stolen]

[C. The debt is temporarily assumed by the rescue party]

[D. Transform the responsibility for Empty Household into a chain of evidence to be examined, tracing the manufacturer and the takeover agency, without shifting the blame to the Household Core, civilians, or rescue parties.]

After the five unanimous votes for D, the threads wrapped around the bottom left corner of the account book began to separate, and each thread was marked with its source.

East Tax Nine flipped through the ledger pages on his chest even faster, his breath blocked by the pages, but he still managed to squeeze out his words.

"You'll trace the manufacturer back to me, but I didn't write the first Empty Household form."

Nami looked at him, "Who are you going to implicate?"

East Tax Nine looked deep into the Empty Household Storage Room. "The East Blue Livelihood Takeover Group isn't just one person. East Tax Nine is only the ninth takeover point. The previous eight all died, and their names were written as Empty Household after their deaths."

Akainu said, "Record it."

Dragon looked at Robin, "He's stretching the line out; it could be real, or it could be a delaying tactic."

Robin didn't look away. "We need to verify both the truth and the falsehood. He said the first eight deaths were recorded as Empty Household, which proves that the Empty Household system can devour people."

Lin Qi immediately posed a question.

[Verification Questions for Eight Empty Household Before Tax Payment in Dongguan]

[Question: East Tax Nine testified that Dongshui Yi through East Tax Eight died and were subsequently listed as Empty Households. How should this clue be handled?]

[A. Acceptance and exemption from East Tax Nine's liability]

[B. Do not investigate to avoid escalation]

[C. Internal verification at the Throne]

[D. The verification of evidence clues regarding the annexation of Empty Household accounts does not affect the existing criminal investigation of East Tax Nine, nor does it allow him to use this as an excuse to delay the rescue.]

[Answer: D]

The eight Empty Household on the old warehouse wall lit up simultaneously. The names did not appear; only eight seals of authority were displayed. Three of them were corroded, and five had been transferred into different ledgers.

Void Seven (blank): "Eastern Tax Bureau, Sections 1-8: Record Status, Account Clearing, Filing, Resignation, Transfer, Retirement Due to Illness, Loss of Contact, Cancellation, Idle Operation."

Buggy yelled, "You call that a way to die?"

Vegapunk said, "The Livelihood System doesn't record death, it only records procedures. Once the procedures are completed, the person is gone."

The cup in the lower left corner rang again, this time without disorder. The rhythm was caught by the Ju Bei, and then responded by the seashells of the Chao Bei clappers on the sea.

Mia translated, "Household Core said, 'Eight cups are on the ground.'"

The Momonga looked down at its feet, "An underground sewer?"

The Revolutionary Army informant projected a map onto the Sky Screen, revealing, "There's a section of sealed-off wall beneath the old warehouse; behind it lies a hollow Echo."

Akainu said, "No explosions allowed."

Long said, "We can't let the Throne clear the walls first."

Makino said, "Rescue Household Core first, then investigate the underground. Don't let the eight underground figures drag him back."

East Tax Nine whispered, "He can't be rescued. He doesn't have a temporary name on his Household Core; he only has the Household Core number."

Lumi replied, "Then ask him what he wants to be called."

Robin cautioned, "He might not have a language and can only communicate through a cup, and the cup might already be bound to Empty Household."

Lin Qi took over the question.

[Question regarding the protection of the Household Core]

[Question: Can an empty household core express temporary protection and a willingness to be rescued by the sound of a cup before the load is removed?]

[A. No, the Household Core has no personal identification]

[B. No, requires approval from the Empty Household Storage Room]

[C. Temporarily named East Tax Nine]

[D. Yes, the Cup Voice Household Core be considered a temporary expression of the individual's will; a fabricated Cup Voice should be excluded, and the expression process should be witnessed and protected by multiple parties.]

Five seats, unanimous vote (D).

The cup in the lower left wooden compartment was held aloft by Golden Light, and all the simulated sounds receded, leaving only the child's soft tapping.

Mia listened for a long time, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper. "He wasn't typing a name, he was typing a sentence."

Nami asked, "What did you say?"

Mia lowered the codebook. "He said, 'Don't call my house.'"

In front of the old warehouse, the Loguetown civilians who had been watching quieted down.

Makino gently flipped through the ledger, as if afraid the rustling of the pages would disturb the person inside. "He doesn't want to be a mistress anymore."

Lumi whispered, "Let's not use the word 'home' yet. Ask him if he wants to use 'cup,' 'door,' or something else."

The Ju Bei tapped twice on the side of the cup in Cocoyasi Village, and the Chao Bei responded with their own shells. The child in the lower left corner of the wooden shed listened for a while through the door, and finally the rhythm of the Cup Voice changed.

Mia said, "He said, 'Light.'"

Nami looked at the Golden Light coming from the small door of the old warehouse, "A lamp?"

Mia nodded. "He said it was dark inside, but there was a light outside."

Lumi looked at the five seats, "The Victim Seat requests registration of a temporary protective name, Light."

Buggy muttered, "It's better than Household Core."

Lin Qi entered the problem statement.

[Temporary Protection for Nameplate Confirmation Questions]

[Question: If a light bulb is used to indicate the presence of a light in an empty apartment, can it be registered as a temporary protected name?]

[A. Not possible, Household Core number takes priority]

[B. No, the responsibility for the Empty Household has not been settled]

[C. Decided by East Tax Nine]

[D. Yes, the lamp is my temporary protected name, and I reserve the right to change it in the future. The terms "Household Core" and "Empty Household" shall no longer refer to me.]

[Answer: D]

The door panel outside the lower left wooden compartment loosened, revealing the profile of a thin, small child behind the cup. His eyes were covered by a strip of cloth, and an empty key hung around his neck; the key had no teeth, only a hole.

The medic said, "Don't touch the key."

Vegapunk has enlarged the key structure; "the empty key connects to eight Empty Household cups in the old warehouse's underground; forcibly removing it will drain his life support."

East Tax Nine closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again. "Those are the Ledger-Clearing Cups left behind by the eight previous Custodian. The light won't come out unless all eight cups are on the ground."

Nami said, "You know how to get them to land."

East Tax Nine said, "I know, but if I say it out loud, the underground accounting system will classify all eight former officials as debtors who evaded their debts."

Robin said, "So the first question is whether the Ledger-Clearing Cup can be protected as evidence of the deceased or a victim, rather than as evidence of evasion of payment."

Lin Qi's fingers were already on the keyboard.

[Underground Ledger-Clearing Cup Qualitative Question]

[Question: How should the eight Ledger-Clearing Cups in the old warehouse basement be classified?]

[A. Tools for evading debts]

[B. Empty Household Attachment]

[C. Disposed of by East Tax Nine]

[D. Evidence of suspected death or annexation of the former Custodian should be protected and its source verified. It should not be classified as an attempt to evade responsibility, nor should it be used to continue to bind the lamp.]

Just as the voting was about to begin, a voice from behind the Black Gate interrupted.

"If you choose D, all the accounts of the East Blue Livelihood Takeover Group will be made public, including the old taxes of Cocoyasi Village, the maintenance tax of the Execution Platform in Loguetown, and the registration tax of the Tavern in Foosha Village."

Lin Qi's hands never left the keyboard.

Makino looked at the words "Foosha Village Tavern Registration Tax" on the screen, her fingertips brushing against the edge of the ledger before pushing it back under the witness light of the Sky Screen.

"Public disclosure is acceptable, but using living people to bind accounts is not."