Chapter 1041: Sinner

Father Zheng's question resonated powerfully.

No one expected that the magic treasure plagiarism case which had shaken the whole nation three years ago would actually be laid bare here — Father Zheng was holding an auditorium of university students hostage, and the event was being live streamed online, which drew even more attention.

The cultivation police station tried to block the news, but it was already too late — through the efforts of a single person, Daoist Guang, it had already spread all over the whole globe, becoming an event which the whole world was following closely.

As the number one live streamer, Daoist Guang had a huge number of Light Chasers behind him.

Of course, Daoist Guang had chosen to live stream this incident not only because Wang Ling had secretly talked to him about it, but also because Daoist Guang himself wanted more people to know the truth of this case and reflect on it.

Student Zheng Jingxuan hadn't been able to bear the strange looks and had died an unjust death under the public's condemnation; he had chosen suicide as a way to preserve his last dignity.

"If you've never experienced it yourself personally, please don't be so quick to judge others or a situation," Daoist Guang said to everyone watching in the live stream room.

What had really killed Student Zheng Jingxuan wasn't the "plagiarism case" itself, but the reflection of human nature that had followed.

It could be said that it was the online users — who hadn't pondered the incident nor carried out further investigation, who had just being carried away with the trend — who had pushed Student Zheng Jingxuan into the true abyss.

The entire auditorium was lost in silence after Father Zheng voiced the possibility that Liu Yi was a criminal. The latter had yet to appear, but Father Zheng knew very well that Liu Yi was here, lurking in the dark as he pondered his countermove.

All these years, Liu Yi had remained in the background and used work he had stolen to package himself as a talent in the eyes of the people. If he rashly came out now, his esteemed reputation and accomplishments would all disappear.

Father Zheng was waiting for Liu Yi to step forward and admit his mistakes of his own accord.

But it was clear that a person whose fame had gone to his head wouldn't show himself so easily.

"Student Liu Yi, I know you're already here. Even if you aren't willing to admit it, what I said was true." Father Zheng stood with his hands behind his back and a composed expression on his face, without any sign of nervousness nor fluster.

Father Zheng smiled bitterly. "To be honest, Liu Yi, I don't blame you — I won't blame someone without any talent. When Jingxuan was still alive, I had always been against him going into the field of magic treasure design; the waters in this industry are too deep, and I was worried that he would fall in sooner or later. But Liu Yi, your appearance at least confirmed that Jingxuan was a genius, didn't it?"

Father Zheng looked up at the ceiling and heaved a sigh. "After this plagiarism incident, Jingxuan once talked to me about how the people around him treated him differently. Before the case, he was the center of attention at school, but after, he was treated with disdain and censure wherever he went. Even his closest friends started to keep their distance.

"To the students from his batch, who watched Jingxuan walk step by step into the abyss, who never once gave him a helping hand — looking at this case again, how do you feel now, I wonder? It was the violence he experienced at your hands, and the irresponsible opinions online, that thoroughly pushed Jingxuan into the abyss."

Everyone was silent.

Principal Zhou Dongye's expression had become exceedingly unsightly.

The cold shoulder was also a type of school violence. As principal, he couldn't avoid shouldering this blame.

At the same time, Principal Zhou felt a little scared.

He was scared that the truth from back then would really be turned on its head.

Even less had he expected that his own "impartial and incorruptible" philosophy would actually harm his own student. Principal Zhou dropped to his knees in distress, his heart slowly crushed by Father Zheng's words.

But this wasn't the outcome that Father Zheng wanted.

"Student Liu Yi, I'm waiting for you here. If you still have a conscience, please come forward yourself." Father Zheng stood on the podium in the auditorium, like a priest who was praying — never had he hoped more than in that moment for that person to come forward himself.

He knew very well that his son Zheng Jingxuan was already dead; there was no point in mourning him or trying to bring him back to life. The only thing Father Zheng wanted was an apology.

So that, at least, his son's soul could forever rest in peace.

After waiting for another five minutes, Father Zheng's countenance gradually turned heavy; it looked like it really was futile to hope for a wicked sinner to apologize.

Whether it was the homicidal maniac who killed an innocent female university student abroad, or the shameless pervert who laid his hands on little kids, they were twisted characters who justified their despicable behavior with the shameless belief that the world owed them. It was precisely because of this that they never truly repented — their deep-seated belief was that this was nothing more than their compensation from Heaven.

Father Zheng had always felt that this sort of scum of society shouldn't have their faces pixelated in the news. Instead, their repulsive behavior should be laid bare so that the world could clearly see their twisted appearances.

Father Zheng initially just wanted to expose the truth of the matter. He didn't want to hurt anyone, not even Liu Yi. He needed Liu Yi to repent and turn himself in. But now, if he wanted Liu Yi to be brought to justice, Father Zheng felt that unless he used slightly unusual means, it would be very hard to expose the truth.

...

On the other side, Gao Tian had already ordered the intelligence department to acquire all the latest information on Father Zheng, but a lot of it was old news.

After Zheng Jingxuan's death, Father Zheng disappeared, and cut off contact with his family for a time. He was placed on a missing persons list as early as two years ago.

But the information was still quite helpful to Gao Tian; at least, it helped him gain a better understanding of Father Zheng.

"Find anything new?" Little Silver asked at his side.

"Nothing special." Gao Tian examined the information on Zheng Tianqiang. Father Zheng was a Songhai local, who grew up and went to university in the city.

There didn't seem to be any problems with the information, but when he looked at the box for the realm registered, Gao Tian frowned deeply.

"Golden Core stage?" Gao Tian found it suspicious.

Judging by Father Zheng's aura, his realm was at the Nascent Soul stage at the very least...

He wasn't a descendant of Mysterious Saint Tyrant Song 1 ... so how had his realm improved so quickly in the span of three years?