It is said to be a courtroom, but the interior is more like a reception room, with no jury, no iron bars, just a podium marked for the judge, and other areas demarcated casually with magic dye.

But the defendant actually has a seat! The only chair in the hall belongs to the defendant. Only later did Lyle learn that this was to make the defendant inferior, thus highlighting their lower rights.

There are no people in other areas, but a judge is already on the podium.

"It’s our first meeting, Plague Doctor, I am the judge for this case, I am Judgment. I am a close friend with the law and I have heard of your affairs. Welcome to my court,"

"It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Judgment." But not like a meeting between a cop and a crook! Even though Lyle didn’t know what the members of the figurine club had done, he still felt an unnatural sense of unease.

Mr. Judgment’s mask is quite distinctive.

He wears a pale mask, with only two holes revealing fiery soul flames, and the rest of the mask is full of mirror-symmetric vent holes.

This! Isn’t this the hockey mask that Jason wears on Black Friday! Is it really okay to have this mask preside over the judgment!

Mr. Judgment seems to like his mask a lot.

"Whenever my colleagues see my mask, they fall silent. This painstakingly crafted mask seems to be very effective,"

This must be the source of Lyle’s tremors.

The Andrey Executive Committee’s courtroom, with a judge like a horror movie protagonist, it seemed like Lyle could hear screams from the neighboring eight punishment zones. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Mr. Judgment continued with his introduction.

"Usually, our committee directly judges and convicts lawbreakers according to existing laws and sends them to the Judgment area."

Yes, the law enforcement agencies in Andrey are all under the autocracy of the committee, and if not for the Liches having their own obsessions, this place could become an inferno of abuses and private punishments.

Of course, first you have to be able to catch them, as some messengers of the light have been above the law for a very, very long time. The laws broken by Mr. Ray X, according to the code compiled by Mr. Law, all the punishments recorded in it, giving him the full sequence of them would still be a light sentence.

"This courtroom is rarely used, only for cases with murky circumstances in our perception, like the present one, where there is value in making a defense."

"Plague Doctor, we invited you over this time to ask you to be our consultant and understand some matters related to your club’s Spine Wheel."

Lyle scratched his leather mask, "And those bastards from the figurine club just get off like that?! They’ve been causing repeated traffic accidents with illegal vehicle modifications!"

Mr. Judgment raised his hand to signal Lyle to relax. "Plague Doctor, the Spine Wheel is indeed a great invention, and we’ve already felt its convenience. Undoubtedly, it has brought about a series of changes in our modes of transportation. Some small prickles are bound to exist at the stage of system change. We maintain a tolerant attitude towards such cases in our committee, and we have strictly punished the drivers. If someone kills with a knife, the knife-maker is not put to death."

Tsk, those bastards go unpunished...

"Mr. Judgment, let’s return to the case you mentioned," Lyle said.

Mr. Judgment nodded, his crossed hands atop the podium, his finger bones intertwined like the spine of a Stegosaurus.

"The case took place within your club, but we find it quite difficult to define on its own."

"According to the plaintiff, this is a commercial act of immorally damaging one’s interests, a private property infringement."

"According to the defendant, it is a love story of rebellion that transcends ethics and races, about oppression and exploitation."

Lyle was baffled. What is this? Is this even the same case? And it’s related to the figurine club? Too much professional jargon, it’s like an insult to the intelligence of the common folk.

"Mr. Judgment, can you describe the case more plainly, more popularly?"

Mr. Judgment slouched his skeleton.

"Simply put, someone tried to have an impure romantic relationship with your club’s Spine Wheel and got caught."

???

A myriad of words coalesced into a single WTF – Lyle had never expected this.

Liches have no moral baseline; they play quite wildly—this he understood, but he had not expected them to be this wild!

Riding bikes? Daywheels? Objectophilia? Developing bizarre affections for figurines... it actually seemed quite reasonable when he thought about it.

"May I see the defendant?"

"Of course, we must judge his crimes in person. Bring in the defendant!"

Marked as the defendant, the ground shone brightly, and a large red phantom hand emerged from the mark, extending out the door to grab several figures and pull them in.

Lyle looked at the three familiar figures.

Manipulation, Adaptability, and Lustrous.

He went silent.

Lyle covered his face, pointing at the three guys.

"I underestimated you... I thought you were just Andrey’s tradition, but it turns out, you are Andrey’s specialty."

"No more words necessary, Judge, severe punishment! Please deal with these three guys harshly! What have you done to my creation?! Did you think you were playing some beautiful girl nurturing game!"

Manipulation, Adaptability, and Lustrous looked at each other.

"Boss, what are you talking about?"

"Don’t play dumb with me! You’ve all been accused, no wonder you’re so interested in modifying Spine Wheel; it’s not for research, but for playing dress-up games with a girl! Disgusting...disgusting!"

Lustrous took out a basketball-sized black box from behind him and placed it on the defendant’s seat.

"Boss, we are the plaintiffs; the defendant is in this box, we just got dragged over here together because we were sitting nearby."

"Ah? Is that so?" Lyle quickly realized his mistake. That’s right, these three don’t look like they’ve just started feeling the pangs of young love; they most likely don’t have such objectophilic ideas, liches after all.

"Really, boss, if we wanted to play, we would’ve definitely included you, we should all share the joys of our figurine club. If you’re interested, we can take you to Mr. Dexterous now for an experience."

"..."

With Nia’s help in blocking Lustrous’s flirty words, Lyle looked at the small box. The defendant was inside?

"What is that?"

He felt the sensation of Nia’s tentacles scratching in his ear, and Nia answered excitedly.

"Nia knows! Nia can feel it! Inside is a Light Bat! It’s the heartbeat of a Light Bat!"

A Light Bat? Developing a romantic relationship with Spine Wheel, an Andrey end-of-year magical comedy?

Under Judgment’s direction, the iron box was opened by Lustrous. A sleek shadow immediately shot up into the sky, and then it was pulled back down by a red phantom arm that sprang from the seat.

It was a bright red Light Bat, energetically flapping its wings, screeching restlessly.

"Bad people! My love with Elizabeth is unstoppable!"

It sounded like a male bat, but Lyle couldn’t jump to conclusions—after all, love was free.

Traditionally, Light Bats are named after the first food their parents taste: males are named after vegetables, females after fruits.

"Mr. Light Bat, what is your name?"

"Toxic Umbrella, sir." The Light Bat’s good manners were still intact.

"...Your dad’s a tough guy."