Escaping Unscathed

[You have made your choice. You now have 10 minutes to present your defense.]

[If the defense fails, the Court of Truth will enforce the death penalty.]

"It has nothing to do with you?" The gray mask's tone was filled with disbelief, then it added with a sinister edge, "Human memory does not lie."

The red mask was outright furious: "Defendant Jiang Qian! Your motive for the crime is clear, and the process is detailed. I advise you to be honest with the court and abandon your sophistry!"

Jiang Qian understood perfectly.

"Do not engage in sophistry"—that was part of the instance prompt.

But there was a fundamental difference between sophistry and a defense.

"I request to defend myself," Jiang Qian said decisively.

With 10 minutes left, he didn't have much time to think of a strategy, but at least he was safe for these 10 minutes.

The giant axe above his head did not fall.

The high-and-mighty enforcers looked at each other; it seemed they could not ignore certain rules to forcibly influence the execution rack.

When they turned their gaze back to Jiang Qian in the interrogation chair, his expression had returned to its initial composure.

Jiang Qian quickly recalled every detail since entering this room—everything he had seen, heard, and felt:

They are using memories to accuse me. This point has been emphasized repeatedly and seems undeniable. However, after I sat down, I felt dizzy for no reason, as if the Memory Palace in my mind had suffered an earthquake, making it impossible for me to anchor the cause and effect of these memories...

I have always been emotionally stable, yet when reviewing the memory of being beaten by Jiang Yang, rage and hatred flooded my mind, making me uncontrollably want to destroy him.

Did I really kill him?

No. Otherwise, the instance's trial would be unsolvable.

Besides, this modus operandi is too exaggerated and leaves behind too many hidden dangers:

The use of drugs would leave traces on tableware and clothing. As for the bloodstains in the room, strong detergents wouldn't work; luminol would make bloodstains from years ago glow.

Dismembering a body indoors also sounds too bold. Even if theoretically feasible, would I, having just finished the dissection and cleaning, still have the stamina to transport that hundred-plus-pound pile of human tissue out?

How many unknown variables would occur during that process?

Including the cleanup operations—if a single link wasn't controlled perfectly, it would lead to total ruin. This is not a complete, logical closed loop, nor is it my style.

If I were determined to do this, I would definitely plan it meticulously, deliberate repeatedly, and refine it until I chose the most perfect scheme...

At this thought, Jiang Qian's gaze paused, and in an instant, a thousand thoughts raced through his mind!

The Public Prosecutor wearing the gray mask tapped his fingers on the table.

Facing Jiang Qian, he said in a low, serious tone: "You must understand the consequences of doing this. Maliciously covering up the truth will only add to your crimes."

Jiang Qian slowly pulled back his thoughts: "Well, I'll bet my future happiness on overturning this verdict with you."

If my hands are gone, what happiness is there to talk about?

Besides, he had already figured it out just now.

The gray mask rubbed his brow: "Fine, it seems you are not only cold-blooded but also cunning... but it is useless. The net of justice is wide, and the wicked will eventually be sanctioned."

"Is that so? The wicked will be sanctioned..." A cold sneer appeared on the corner of Jiang Qian's mouth. "It seems our understanding of 'wicked' is not the same."

The gray mask's voice turned gloomy: "What do you mean?"

Jiang Qian ignored the question.

He tilted his head slightly and looked at the Chief Judge wearing the red mask: "I would like to ask, sleeping pills that are almost insoluble in water were somehow ingested by my family through juice. Do you think that is reasonable?"

The red mask was slightly stunned, then slammed the table, his tone hostile: "This is your own doing! Why ask me?"

Jiang Qian was not flustered; he continued in a steady tone: "I just think this memory is strange. Furthermore, mixing sleeping pills with juice would reduce their efficacy. In such a major crime, as a cold-blooded and cunning murderer, would I allow such a flaw to exist?"

"Perhaps, perhaps it was your oversight! After all, you were just a wet-behind-the-ears middle schooler at the time. You were just lucky that the dosage was high enough that they didn't wake up and stumble upon your crime scene," the gray mask added quickly.

His accelerated speech and slightly impatient tone betrayed his unease.

Jiang Qian chuckled, his expression becoming even more relaxed and calm: "The piano wire was also redundant."

"Piano wire? Redundant..."

The red mask and gray mask looked at Jiang Qian hesitantly. Even though masks covered most of their faces, Jiang Qian could still observe the tension in them.

"As pointed out by the principle of Occam's Razor: entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity."

Jiang Qian's smile was profound:

"I had already prepared a deboning knife, so what use would I have for a piece of junk like piano wire that is hard to kill with in one strike? To show off my intelligence?"

"You should know that it is not easy to kill an adult with just a 0.7 to 2-millimeter piano wire, especially when the target is a sturdy adult male who is skilled in violence and has only taken sleeping pills. It is far less reliable than a knife."

"Audacious! Arrogant!" The red mask shouted and slammed the table.

"Criminal Jiang Qian, are you demonstrating against the Court of Truth? That is not a good idea."

The gray mask gnashed his teeth sinisterly:

"From now on, the cost of your confession has increased. In addition to chopping off your hands, your tongue will also be left behind."

Jiang Qian remained unmoved: "I am merely trying to help the Court of Truth clarify the contradictions in this case. After all, you have neither evidence nor witness testimony. If even the traces in my head are insufficient to support the facts of my crime, what else can you use to accuse me?"

His words struck at the heart of the controversy, causing the two high-and-mighty figures to shudder.

"Are you questioning even your own memories?" the gray mask asked incredulously.

"Let me correct you. I am not questioning the memory, but the nature of the memory," Jiang Qian curled his lips. "I admire such methods—swapping concepts between memory and actual events. It was done beautifully; even I was almost deceived."

"What do you mean by that?"

The gray mask raised his voice, but this only revealed his guilty conscience.

"It's simple. I suspect it is like this: the reason this 'murder' exists in my memory is because I did indeed have such thoughts. It became a part of my memory, stored in my mind. However, it was never put into practice."

"You used some kind of supernatural method to scramble my memories, making me unable to distinguish what were established facts that had occurred and what were plans I had imagined but never implemented. Then, you used a fictional crime to behead me."

"Although I cannot explain this phenomenon, heh... but since I am here, what is impossible?"

Jiang Qian flexed his hands, which were locked in shackles, as if savoring the series of "sensations" from just a moment ago.

The feeling of the wire holding the grilled rat, the resistance when being thrown around by Jiang Yang, the moment the tiny pill fragments were ground into powder, the pain and numbness left by the piano wire tightening in his palm for a long time...

These sensations mixed together, as if they could truly pass for the real thing.

But fake is fake.

As long as you focus on one gap, they will be riddled with holes.

"This is perhaps why you didn't just let me 'see,' but also made me 'feel.' I guess it was to enhance the sense of established fact in the memory, while simultaneously using sensory stimulation to trigger my emotional response, making me more convinced that I had killed someone."

Jiang Qian completed a magnificent turn from defense to offense, his gaze calm and determined as he stared down the gray mask:

"This way, even if there are flaws in the memory, when a person is under threat and coercion, and their emotions are running high, it is very difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood. They naturally give up questioning and instead turn to considering how to reduce their sentence and avoid death."

"Your imagination is truly rich... but this is not true."

The gray mask still wouldn't yield, repeating his old trick to induce Jiang Qian: "Think about it, you hate Jiang Yang! He never treated you like a brother, bullied you, controlled you, and trampled on your interests at will! You already had this thought; what reason did you have not to carry it out?"

"There are a thousand women you want to sleep with; do you sleep with all of them?" Jiang Qian replied indifferently.

"You!" The gray mask's finger trembled, as if he had been greatly insulted.

The red mask also slammed the table in anger, his voice cracking: "Audacious defendant! How dare you openly insult the court? Damn it, I'll smash you to death in a minute!!!"

Jiang Qian was slightly stunned. Have I seen this idiot somewhere before?

Of course, no matter how much the other party tried to goad him or incite a confession, he ignored it all.

He had said what he needed to say and was very confident in his deduction. Unless the other party brought out a new argument that could account for all the details, there was no need for him to engage in a verbal spat.

[10-minute countdown ended]

[Defense successful. You will be released without charge.]

Just released without charge?

Hey, isn't that too hasty? Wrongful arrest and judgment, and no compensation for emotional distress... Jiang Qian was unimpressed.

"Boom, boom."

A heavy, trembling sound echoed overhead.

The giant axe, which had been almost touching his neck, began to rise slowly. The sharp blade moved away from his vitals and disappeared into the ceiling.

The interrogation chair Jiang Qian sat in also reverted to the appearance of a sofa, with that piece of rebar still standing to the side.

In the court in front of him, the Chief Judge wearing the red mask saw his form gradually distort, turning into a demonic face, struggling and lunging toward Jiang Qian! The barb-covered tongue tip almost licked Jiang Qian's face!

But it was slashed by the rebar Jiang Qian swung, leaving a glaring bloodstain.

The gray mask turned into a black shadow and fled along the ground, aiming for the opening behind Jiang Qian, intending to launch a sneak attack from the rear!

Unfortunately, an invisible force restrained him.

The lethal strike turned into impotent rage, unable to get any closer to Jiang Qian.

A prompt appeared in Jiang Qian's ear:

[Prompt: Trial viewing mission completed. Main quest updated.]

[Main quest: Arrive at the "Abyss Video Hall" and complete your exclusive viewing mission (3/7)]

The mission progress had updated from 1/7 to 3/7.

The scene before his eyes returned to how it looked when Jiang Qian first entered the screening room.

The screen in front of him had gone dark.

"It's over."

Jiang Qian sighed.

"They can manipulate memories and even target missing persons; this instance plays truly dirty."

He didn't want to stay in this room for another second, so he turned and walked out.

He returned to the hallway.

Jiang Qian studied the poster pasted on the door of Screening Room 1 once more.

Beneath a massive rack, a trapped victim crawled, waiting to be slaughtered.

Jiang Qian touched his neck, where the icy sensation of a sharp blade pressed against his skin still lingered.

It was easy to imagine that if he had let his rage and hatred toward Jiang Yang cloud his judgment just now, he would have ended up like the victim on the poster, paying a price that should never have been his.

He had Jiang Yang to thank for that. The man had been missing for so long, with no word on whether he was dead or alive, that Jiang Qian could barely summon any hatred when he thought of him now.

As for that memory of murder, it was less of a failed plan and more of a "happy accident": years ago, after stumbling upon a slasher film, he had impulsively used Jiang Yang as a target to flesh out the plot in his mind.

The key to this level is a clear head and a firm will, so as not to be disturbed or bewitched by other malicious thoughts.

He fell silent for a moment.

He let go of the past that had surged up along with those memories.

Jiang Qian walked toward Screening Room 2.

Capital Public Security Bureau.

Special Affairs Center - Information and Intelligence Department.

Bai Ji noticed the progress bar for the ongoing "Whispers of the Inner Demon" had advanced another notch, and he involuntarily stopped mid-sip of his tea.

The progress was visibly past the one-third mark!

He quickly summoned the relevant recorder to ask about the casualty rate of the Whispers of the Inner Demon dungeon this year and signaled that overtime might be required tonight.

Excluding the person currently inside, fifteen people had been dragged into Whispers of the Inner Demon this year.

Twelve of them had died at the very beginning, while three had reached the one-third progress mark before stopping there.

Bai Ji fell into silence.

The guy currently experiencing this life-or-death trial in the dungeon was already among the top 20% of challengers; he was very talented.

If he could take one more step and push the progress to two-thirds, he would be the record-breaker for this dungeon this year.

But Bai Ji knew better; that was merely his own optimistic hope. The sinister nature of a Nightmare Dungeon almost never shifted based on an individual's expectations.

"Sigh! How lucky I was not to have experienced such a nightmare when I first opened my cards..."