Volume 1, Chapter 23: The Public Trial

Stepping through the threshold of the void, Li Yan arrived in the familiar white room.

Yue Chengze and Wu Xu were already waiting there.

"You're finally here. If you had been any later, the Captain would surely have scolded us."

Li Yan asked curiously, "Everything is fine, so why the urgent summons from the Division Master? I thought it was said the Division Master rarely makes an appearance."

He remembered that during their training, Yue Chengze had told him the Division Master of the Space-Time Order Division was an extremely powerful and mysterious entity. No one knew what he looked like or where he resided. Even the captains had never seen his true face. Power and mystery were the only things all members of the Order Division knew of him. Only when the Demon Eyes appeared would the Division Master intervene, though all that was ever seen was his majestic silhouette projected across space-time.

Yue Chengze glanced at Li Yan, his eyes filled with infinite reverence. "Do not speak of the Division Master lightly behind his back. He is powerful, and he is everywhere."

"Is that so?" Li Yan instinctively glanced around. His sense of the Division Master’s mystery deepened.

Following the two, they arrived at a massive plaza made of white glaze, where many figures were already gathered. Li Yan looked up and noticed that everyone’s face was obscured by a white glow, himself included. Beyond the faces of Yue Chengze and Wu Xu, all others were indistinguishable. This was the Order Division’s way of protecting its members. Since every member hailed from a different parallel world, their identities were strictly confidential. This prevented internal leaks; if the Demon Eyes were to discover a member’s identity, they could follow the trail to mark that specific parallel world and consume it.

In the center of the plaza stood a man bound by white chains, his face no longer hidden by the glow. He was a middle-aged man, looking quite ordinary, the type one would never notice in a crowd. Yet, his face was filled with resentment and fury.

"He is from the Sixth Division. The 129th parallel world we visited last time was his home," Yue Chengze explained.

Instantly, many possibilities flooded Li Yan’s mind. His very first mission after joining the Order Division had been in the 129th parallel world, but that mission had been plagued by intelligence failures. Could it be linked to this man in chains? It was no wonder he was being treated this way. Today, it seemed, would be his public trial and execution.

*Clang...*

The tolling of a bell resonated across the entire plaza. All conversation ceased.

The bound man slowly lifted his head toward the sky. High above, three figures, their faces obscured by white light, descended slowly. They were the three Grand Inquisitors of the Order Division. The First Inquisitor opened a white scroll, and lines of text materialized in the air. Everyone present stared at the floating words.

The First Inquisitor’s deep voice boomed. "Lin Changqing, Deputy Captain of the Sixth Division, you are here for a public trial for violating the regulations of the Order Division!"

"Violation One: As a member of the Order Division, you incited a human war in the 129th parallel world for personal gain, resulting in countless deaths and causing the timeline of that world to deviate into chaos."

"Violation Two: As a member of the Order Division, you provided false intelligence to your colleagues, placing the members of the 9th Division, Team 11, in mortal danger during their mission."

"Violation Three: As a member of the Order Division, you leaked the space-time coordinates of the 129th parallel world, leading to its consumption by the Demon Eyes."

"Do you admit to these three charges?"

The First Inquisitor’s voice was absolute. The members began to murmur. Many, like Li Yan, had been unaware of the reason for the emergency summons, and they were shocked by the accusations.

"I never imagined he would incite a civil war in the 129th world. No wonder the trial is public."

"No, it must be more than that. The Division Master himself intervened. It has to be the last two charges."

"Has Lin Changqing lost his mind? He leaked the coordinates? The 129th world is gone—his family, his friends, all gone."

"Could he have been corrupted by the Void-Eater Beasts?"

Everyone speculated. The bound Lin Changqing looked up at the three figures, a grin spreading across his face, followed by a burst of laughter.

"Hahaha... Yes, it was me! I admit it!"

"A world like that? It deserved to be destroyed."

The deep voice returned: "Because of you, an entire parallel world has been erased. By order of the Division Master, you shall be completely purged from space-time, effective immediately!"

As he spoke, the First Inquisitor pointed toward the sky, and a beam of light plummeted downward.

"Wait! I have something to say!"

At Lin Changqing’s shout, the falling beam halted and vanished.

"Division Master, I know you are here. Come out! I, Lin Changqing, do not accept this!" He stared at the sky, searching.

"You have no choice but to accept it. Cease your babbling," the First Inquisitor commanded.

"Division Master, since I am to be completely erased, can you not at least let me finish?" Lin Changqing kept his eyes on the sky, filled with extreme defiance.

The light did not descend; it seemed to grant him his final words.

"Speak," came a sudden, ancient, and distant voice from above. It was impossible to tell if it was male or female. It felt as though the voice came from the depths of time or from an unknowable future.

A gargantuan figure slowly coalesced in the air—majestic, powerful, and mysterious. He seemed to exist throughout space-time, standing at the summit, looking down upon everyone and everything. He was the master of all. He appeared as an individual, yet he seemed to be everywhere at once, as if he controlled it all.

Li Yan was overwhelmed. In the presence of this figure, he felt the same crushing insignificance he had felt before the Demon Eyes—like a mere speck of dust. Was this a man? Or a god? He could not answer.

Lin Changqing felt the gaze of the legendary Division Master upon him. He felt no fear; perhaps knowing his end was near, he smiled at the majestic figure. "Division Master, we of the Order Division are tasked with guarding the myriad parallel worlds, but I find it all meaningless."

"Ever since we broke away from the mythical timelines to evolve on our own, the goal has been the ultimate advancement of humanity—all of humanity."

"But look at the 129th world. What kind of life do those who cannot break free from the constraints of time lead? It is still the law of the jungle. To those in power, the common man is no more than grass or ants. Power and capital swallow them whole, leaving not even bones behind. Their lives are devoid of hope; they are slaves to the elite."

"I ask you, does such a world have meaning? My family, my friends—under the oppression of greedy masters, their lives became hopeless. They toiled at the lowest levels only to receive the meagerest of scraps."

"I thought I could reshuffle the deck through war, to overthrow the rotting power and the bloodthirsty capital. But I was wrong. The beneficiaries of war are always those same people. The commoners are merely cannon fodder for their resource games. They still have no hope."

"So, I believe that such a world has no reason to exist. Even with the passage of time, the structure never changes. Countless people will continue to be exploited, deceived, and struggle for mere survival. It would be better to destroy it all—let us all disappear from this space-time. Hahahahaha!"

Lin Changqing poured out his bitterness, laughing until he waited for his final erasure.

All the members of the Order Division listened in silence. Even Li Yan, who had recently joined, could not help but reflect on what he had witnessed in the 129th world. Could the world he lived in eventually become the same? If so, he truly did not know where the future lay. Time, it seemed, offered no answers.