Capital Punishment
More than 800 days passed Time Acceleration Cabin, while less than nine days passed in the outside world.
As Gu Ding casually walked out of the Cultivation Tower, the Golden Armor Order Keeper, Buli, suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Gu Ding. "Come with us."
Gu Ding nodded nonchalantly, his hands in his pockets.
This annoyed some of the onlookers who had been waiting for a good show. They had expected Gu Ding to question the motives of the Order Keeper, and after a struggle, he would be Order Keeper. But to their surprise, Gu Ding cooperated so well, not uttering a single question.
Buli stood up, raising an eyebrow. "You know why we're here?"
"It must be that guy Carothers is dead. I can't think of any other reason why the Golden Armor Order Keeper would show up." Of course, Gu Ding wouldn't say, "I already knew Carothers was dead, and I saw you all waiting outside." Although he didn't like lying, he was even more unwilling to expose the Sea Emperor's existence.
"In the Gate of Purgatory, murder is a grave crime without a signed life-or-death pact. I'm taking you to trial now. Don't try to escape; you can't escape from me, even though your strength has improved significantly recently."
At this point, Buli glanced at Gu Ding, immediately noticing that Gu Ding's strength had increased significantly again, and he was somewhat surprised. After all, Gu Ding had only been in the Cultivation Tower for less than ten days, and as far as he knew, Gu Ding was on the First Level Cultivation Tower, which did not have the time acceleration effect.
Gu Ding nodded and followed the three Order Keeper as they sped away.
To prevent his escape, Buli Gu Ding the way, followed by two Silver Armor Order Keeper in a triangular formation, surrounding him.
Gu Ding never even considered running away. No matter how far he fled, he'd still be inside the Gate of Purgatory. Besides, the three Order Keeper were all stronger than him. He wouldn't get far before being caught again; there was no point. So, he obediently followed behind Buli.
But what puzzled him was that the Golden Armor Order Keeper was leading him towards the cafeteria.
And when he stopped, it happened to be right at the entrance of the cafeteria.
"Bring me to the cafeteria? What does that mean?" Gu Ding was puzzled.
"Come in with me." Buli beckoned to Gu Ding and stepped into the cafeteria.
Gu Ding and the other two Order Keeper immediately followed him inside.
The cafeteria was already quite full, and many people looked at Gu Ding as he entered.
Gu Ding looked up into the distance. The innermost part of the dining hall had been cleared out and a long silver table had been set up. A woman sat in the very center, flanked by seventeen Golden Armor Order Keeper. Clearly, including the person who had brought him there, all eighteen Order Keeper were present.
Buli found his seat and sat down. Gu Ding, on the other hand, was led by two Silver Armor Order Keeper to sit down on a chair on the other side of the long table.
Behind Gu Ding sat a crowd of onlookers, including many Reserve Order Keeper in silver and black armor, as well as prisoners in Black and White Striped Clothes. This scene left Gu Ding somewhat speechless.
"I am Warden Victoria. The trial is being held here today to ensure transparency and absolute fairness throughout the process." Victoria, dressed in a black dress, had a stern expression. Her words immediately silenced the entire dining hall.
In the cafeteria, many people came one after another after hearing about the trial, but they all sat quietly in the back row without making any noise to disturb the peace.
"The trial of the prisoner Gu Ding for disregarding the rules of the arena and beating Carothers to death is now in session!" Victoria commanded. "Order Keeper, begin questioning!"
The Golden Armor Order Keeper sitting on the far left was the first to stand up. "Gu Ding, during the competition, did you deliberately interrupt Carothers' surrender, cover his mouth, and smash his jaw to prevent him from speaking?"
"That's right." Gu Ding didn't deny it; he had indeed done it, and there were surveillance cameras in the arena. Even if he denied it, a quick look at the footage would reveal the truth.
At this moment, the first person sat down, and the second Golden Armor Order Keeper stood up. That person was to Victoria's left, right next to Victoria.
"Gu Ding, did you continue your attack after Carothers lost consciousness?"
"That's right, but since the referee hasn't called a stop, I don't need to stop either, right?" Gu Ding's words made some sense.
"In the arena, referees may experience visual impairments that affect their judgment. Therefore, competitors should stop fighting once their opponent loses consciousness, allowing the referee to make the final decision. Since you knew your opponent was unconscious, continuing to attack suggests you had a premeditated intent to attack."
"You could say that. I'll hit him back as many times as he hits me, and of course I won't stop just because he loses consciousness." Gu Ding didn't deny this.
The second person nodded to Victoria and sat down as well.
The third person to ask a question was Belinda. She stood up and looked at Gu Ding, "Gu Ding, have you ever had the thought of killing Carothers?"
"No, although I know that guy is scum, the arena is a place for sparring. The reason I threw so many punches was just to retaliate against him. Whether he survives or not is not my concern. You can watch the video of the fight; I said at the time that whether he survives or not depends on himself." Gu Ding said, projecting the video clip that Sea Emperor had captured.
In that video, Gu Ding said something like, "You just punched me over three million times. To make it a fair trade, I'll return the same number of punches. As for whether you survive, that depends on your luck."
After watching the video, Belinda nodded and sat down.
After that, a few more Order Keeper asked a few trivial questions.
The questioning process took about half an hour. Seeing that no one had any further questions, Victoria spoke again, "Now, please let the prisoner state his case, and then we will vote on whether he is guilty or not."
Gu Ding stood up again. "First of all, I had no intention of killing Carothers, as you can see in the video. Secondly, Carothers was not killed by me in the ring, but died due to ineffective treatment. Therefore, I personally believe that I am innocent."
"Alright, let's begin the vote to determine guilt or innocence." Victoria nodded and then looked at the Order Keeper on either side.
A moment later, the results of the nineteen people's judgments were announced. Only Victoria, Belinda, and Buli chose not guilty, while the remaining sixteen all chose guilty.
"Sixteen people believe he is guilty, and three believe he is not guilty. The warden has ten votes, so the final verdict is sixteen guilty and twelve not guilty, and the final verdict is guilty!" Victoria announced the verdict expressionlessly.
The crowd immediately began to discuss the matter.
"Even the warden is on Gu Ding's side, but he's still guilty..."
"The warden wanted to help, but he couldn't."
"I wonder what kind of punishment Gu Ding will receive."
"Since the verdict is guilty, the trial is suspended. I and a few other Order Keeper need time to discuss how to punish him. The verdict will be announced this afternoon!" After saying this, Victoria led the eighteen Order Keeper and took the elevator to the Ninth Layer of the cafeteria.
They chose a room and filed in.
Gu Ding had anticipated this outcome. What surprised him was that someone had chosen not to be guilty, and that Victoria was actually on his side.
However, the next question to consider was how long he would be imprisoned. According to the Sea Emperor, that Confinement Space was no ordinary place. Being unable to cultivate for hundreds of years would indeed be true torture for him. He could only hope that the sentenced confinement period would be short.
However, the exact duration of the confinement was not something Gu Ding could decide, so he calmly ordered a few dishes and ate them slowly.
The people around were speechless.
"This guy is about to be put in solitary confinement, and he's still so calm."
"He probably doesn't know how terrifying it is to be locked up in solitary confinement."
On the Ninth Layer of the cafeteria, nineteen people sat in a group.
"How long do you all think would be a good sentence for this confinement?" Victoria's gaze swept over the eighteen Golden Armor Order Keeper.
"At most, his actions constitute manslaughter due to excessive force. He had no intention to kill, so it can only be considered a minor mistake. I recommend a tenure of ten years."
"Ten years? The minimum confinement period used to be one hundred years. We can't let him break that minimum, can we? I think we should at least guarantee that minimum of one hundred years."
"I also suggest a hundred years..."
"A hundred years, no less, otherwise others will think we are giving special privileges to Gu Ding."
"Since everyone says so, then it's settled. A fine of one million points and a 100-year confinement period..." Victoria's words had barely finished when three figures suddenly appeared.
"Warden, let's sentence Gu Ding to Capital Punishment this time." A voice suddenly rang out.
"Commander!" The eighteen Golden Armor Order Keeper stood up almost simultaneously and bowed to the three of them.
"Commander, isn't this a bit inappropriate?" Victoria also felt somewhat embarrassed, after all, she still thought highly of Gu Ding, and Gu Ding and Reed were good friends, while Reed and her Grandmaster were close friends despite their age difference.
"You can go out now. We have something to say to the warden," Bygrave said, waving his hand.
The eighteen Order Keeper bowed and left the room one after another.
"Gu Ding's situation is very special, and the three of us considered this for a long time before making this decision. The Capital Punishment we're referring to isn't direct execution, but rather activating the Death Mode of the Confinement Space, making him fight within it..." (To be continued~^~)