The Angry Judge

After leaving the hall, Teacher Wu led the four of them toward the west side of the circular corridor. They went straight, turned a corner, and arrived at the other side.

Four large offices were neatly arranged along this side, each with a large sign hanging above its entrance.

At a glance, they read: "Project Center," "R&D Center," "Finance Center," and "External Relations Center." Anyone from outside would assume this was a software company, not a Club operating in the Mysterious Realm.

Like the teaching hall they had just left, these large offices were separated by waist-high transparent glass walls. Looking around, the space was vast, yet there were few employees in each office. An office large enough for forty or fifty people held only seven or eight scattered workers.

Teacher Wu led them straight to the "Project Center," pushed open the glass door, and entered first.

Zhao Han curiously looked around. This should be Old Wen's territory, but according to her uncle, Old Wu held more authority here. Still, with only seven or eight people around, no matter how great his authority was, how many people could he even show it to?

This was truly incomparable to companies in ordinary industries, where having hundreds or thousands of employees was nothing unusual. Everyone had to carefully cater to the boss, the hierarchy was strict, and even getting a 996 schedule had to be treated as a blessing earned in a past life.

That would not work here. For abilities related to the Mysterious Realm, a Skilled Level evaluation was enough to qualify for an interview and employment. Base monthly salaries started at thirty thousand, with all kinds of commissions, allowances, and hidden benefits—and all income was tax-free. Such generous treatment would make people outside fight tooth and nail for it. Apparently, some people even dared to leave work at two o'clock...

"Manager Wenren, Deputy Manager Wu, you're here. I'll brief you on the details of this sudden incident right away." A capable woman in her early thirties approached them, wearing professional attire and light makeup. She was reasonably attractive and carried a miniature laptop.

"Alright, Team Leader Hu. Let's talk in my office." Teacher Wu nodded, then headed toward a small office partitioned off by glass walls.

The others followed inside and took their seats. Team Leader Hu placed the laptop on a desk. A video recording was playing on its screen.

A beautiful female reporter was speaking indignantly before the camera. "The disturbance at Tianqiao Grand Stadium has just been brought under control. In the 5–3 football match earlier, the head referee issued five yellow cards, two red cards, and awarded three penalties... What is baffling is that none of his calls went through on-site VR review. Both red cards went to the losing team, while all three penalties were awarded to the winning team."

At the same time, waves of furious roars came from the stadium:

"Fix! Fix! Fix!"

"Where did the whistle go?"

"The referee ate it!"

Team Leader Hu paused the video recording and said, "After an emergency inspection by personnel on site, lingering mysterious traces were found on this referee. That seems to explain why he dared to do this."

Wenren Sheng's mouth twitched when he heard that. Even without interference from Mysterious Power, they would have dared to do this in my previous life...

"These outrageously audacious bastards actually dare to treat our Divine Land like some lawless place." Teacher Wu watched the live broadcast with a grim face and said to Wenren Sheng, "It wasn't enough for them to secretly stir up trouble. Now they dare to make waves in public. They truly have no idea what death is!"

"If that's the case, then they really have gone mad." Wenren Sheng frowned.

Old Wu was right. Divine Land had a strong foundation. The vast majority of mysterious incidents were confined to small areas and never exposed to the public eye of Ordinary People.

Something like today was actually extremely rare.

"Yes. Based on our team's analysis, the stadium disturbance was more likely collateral damage," Team Leader Hu immediately presented her assessment. "That Referee may be connected to the string of murder cases recently occurring in the West District. It was merely the nature of his profession that led to such a large-scale scene."

As she spoke, she pulled up a chart listing several recent cases. They were precisely the cases Wenren Sheng had heard about from Zhao Han during work.

Cases of husbands and wives killing each other accounted for more than half of them. Each came with an analysis of the motives: pressure from life and comparison, fueled by all kinds of irresponsible online commentary...

The rest were conflicts between strangers, most of them seemingly accidental disputes that ignited rage. The motive analysis linked them to an overly fast pace of life and excessive work pressure.

At this point, the three trainees—Zhao Han, Xu Yunshuang, and Wu Shanshan—all took out notebooks and rapidly recorded everything they heard and saw.

To them, this was exceptionally valuable experience. Once they officially entered the profession, they could put it directly to use. Newbies and newbies with work experience were two completely different concepts.

Team Leader Hu continued, "The referee is named He Sancai. He has already been brought under control at the scene. According to his statement, he had just had a major argument with his wife, Liu Fangfang, over buying a house. He wanted to change careers and settle in this city, but he could not afford the full purchase price. He could only make a twenty-five percent down payment and finance the rest with a loan. The loan would significantly lower his wife's quality of life, so Liu Fangfang often mocked him for being incapable and timid, saying he would never amount to anything in his life..."

"So he accepted dirty money for the final match in a fit of rage?" Zhao Han suddenly cut in.

Team Leader Hu glanced up at the young woman, inexplicably feeling a wave of irritation. She had just been about to make a sarcastic remark when she noticed that neither manager said anything. Her heart stirred, and she held herself back.

"That was not the case. His wife was obsessed with an idol, and that idol happened to be a die-hard supporter of the losing team. He even deliberately gave up a performance to cheer for them in person..." she continued blandly.

"Such a complicated connection?" Zhao Han was immediately stunned.

"Cough..." Wenren Sheng reminded her. Zhao Han stuck out her tongue and retreated behind the other two girls.

"According to his personal statement, his motive was simply to prove to his wife that he was capable too. The idol she worshipped might appear lofty and flawless, but a few little moves from him could still leave that person irritated, frustrated, and helpless. Based on all this information, our preliminary judgment is that this sudden incident is above Skilled Level but below Expert Level," Team Leader Hu continued explaining.

"Good. Send all relevant materials to my email first. We'll head to the scene now and take a look at that referee in person," Wenren Sheng said decisively.

"Alright. I'll leave this matter to you." Teacher Wu nodded.

"Manager Wenren, should I go with you?" Team Leader Hu asked.

Wenren Sheng said nothing. He rested his chin on his hand, seeming to fall into thought.

Everyone watched him. The old saying was indeed right: handsome men looked even better when they were serious. If an ugly man got serious, no one would look at him anyway...

No one knew that a stream of new information was flashing through his mind.

Mysterious Incident: The Angry Judge. A professional referee deeply trapped in family disputes unexpectedly abandoned his long-held principles and made absurd calls—was this a distortion of human nature, or the downfall of morality? The truth could only be found by entering the mysterious.

Mystery Points: 15.

Mysterious Components: ???.

After reading it, Wenren Sheng shook his head. "No need. Your preliminary judgment should be correct. For difficulty like this, taking the three trainees with me will be enough. Everyone else should stay behind and handle other work. After all, we're short on people."

"Alright." Team Leader Hu nodded.

Teacher Wu patted him on the shoulder. "Looks like the problem really isn't serious. Since you're handling it, I'm relieved."

Upon hearing this, Wu Shanshan behind Wenren Sheng had a flicker in her eyes, two gleams of light flashing through them.