Judge of Souls-Chapter 18 - Police

After the young man ran out, the Dean stood up and pointed outside, exclaiming in shock. “We can’t let him leave! He’ll spread rumors!”

Officer Ye looked back and said, “Dean, one person has already died and five people are sick, all from your A University. Just because the media hasn’t exposed it doesn’t mean it will never be discovered. If you remain obstinate, I can tell you there are sixteen people on the list. When sixteen people connected to A University all have incidents in a short time, do you think you can keep it hidden?”

He pulled two napkins from the table and handed them to her, saying, “Now I suspect Ma Shiluo’s true cause of death. Please cooperate with our investigation.”

“Even if you don’t agree, I have ways to find out. Things that have been done always leave evidence. Ma Shiluo’s death list is already out, and I believe those recently graduated research students won’t sacrifice their futures for so-called school honor. Once they know the situation, they’ll be willing to testify for us,” Chu Xuanliang said. “Whether you testify or not only affects whether your indifference will continue to anger Ma Shiluo, making your death even more miserable.”

The Dean’s gaze flickered with hesitation. Coffee dripped down her dyed and permed short hair. After pondering for a long time, she finally said quietly, “Fine.”

Officer Ye: “Then, give me her complaint letter.”

****

Jiang Feng had clarified all the names on the paper one by one, not knowing how to comment. It seemed strange to reason with a ghost who was already dead. Finally, he asked, “So how exactly did you die?”

Ma Shiluo tilted her head and carefully recalled. “That day, Lu Meng came to find me.”

Wu Zhiwei kept borrowing money from people around him. Since they were all from the same school and social circle, people gradually learned what he was doing.

His actions gave Lu Quan an unprecedented sense of fear. Wu Zhiwei was clearly going to betray him.

How many people could resist the temptation of profit? He had gathered them through profit, and naturally, they would unhesitatingly abandon his camp when greater profits appeared.

Ma Shiluo had suffered such slander yet still stayed at A University – it must be because she wasn’t willing to give up on this matter. That woman was simply crazy!

Lu Quan couldn’t let her continue, but Ma Shiluo wouldn’t see him now, so he sent Lu Meng.

Lu Meng took Ma Shiluo to the rooftop. The two already had old grievances and quickly started arguing.

Ma Shiluo wanted to see her flustered state, even if it was meaningless, so she deliberately provoked her.

“Tell me, if I used this method to find the people who helped your father back then, would they be willing to stand up and testify again? They couldn’t earn in a lifetime of servitude and conscience-betrayal what I could help them get in one night.”

“They’re utilitarian and evil-inducing, but I don’t mind helping them reach their life’s peak to destroy someone even more utilitarian and evil-inducing – your father, and you.”

“You rely on a filthy middle-aged man who sexually harassed students and couldn’t speak up, sharing the same blood as him. You use his kind of corrupt relationships to rule this school. If one day, your ugliness, your baseness, were all torn open and exposed in the sunlight, how do you think others would see you?”

“A cesspool worm pretending to be a butterfly larva?” Ma Shiluo sneered, “They’re both ugly anyway.”

Jiang Feng pondered for a moment. “Then what?”

Ma Shiluo: “…Then she pushed me off the building?”

Jiang Feng: “…Oh.”

You ghosts are really calm.

Jiang Feng: “Do you want me to report it to the police?”

Ma Shiluo’s lips curled into a mocking smile. “The law is for punishment and protection. It doesn’t necessarily judge the bad guys, nor does it necessarily protect the good guys. Compared to watching them suffer painless punishment and then start new lives, I prefer watching them like now, torturing themselves in extreme fear, and heading towards destruction in self-torture. Why should people who take others’ lives be forgiven?”

Justice often arrives late, but what meaning does delayed justice have? Evil people don’t receive the punishment they deserve.

“So do you want to report it to the police or not?” Jiang Feng took out his phone generously and said, “Calling 110 is free. I’ve made several calls recently.”

But Ma Shiluo asked, “Do you think what I did was wrong?”

Jiang Feng thought to himself that he didn’t have time to judge others’ right and wrong. Besides, would his opinion matter?

“What degree counts as wrong? If those people truly repent and make amends…”

“They won’t,” Ma Shiluo said. “They’ll only be angry when their interests are threatened. Before facing death, they won’t reflect on their sins.”

Jiang Feng felt this couldn’t be generalized.

Many people who commit cold violence don’t realize, or self-deceptively believe, that their actions won’t have serious consequences, to escape responsibility and ease their sense of guilt.

Although this cowardice is detestable, they aren’t inherently unforgivable people; they just gradually approach the point of being “unforgivable.”

However, why would someone determined to take revenge suddenly ask him this question? Was it because they felt tired and wanted to end it quickly? Did his opinion of right and wrong matter?

Jiang Feng said, “It’s up to you.”

Ma Shiluo insisted, “I want to hear your opinion.”

Jiang Feng: “It’s up to you.”

Ma Shiluo: “I want to hear your opinion!”

Jiang Feng was silent for a moment, vaguely feeling there might be some trap here. So he continued, “It’s up to you.”

Ma Shiluo: “…”

She lowered her head, looking somewhat defeated.

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Jiang Feng was about to say that if she felt confused, he could introduce her to a Taoist priest who liked to meddle in others’ affairs for psychological counseling. In the future, she shouldn’t come to him for conversation. Just then, his phone screen lit up.

Jiang Feng moved his finger away and said, “Chu Xuanliang wants to see you. He has a police officer with him. They want to ask how you died exactly. Should I tell him?”

Ma Shiluo nodded in agreement but said dismissively, “They won’t find any evidence. Most students had gone home for vacation at that time, and only the dormitory lobby had surveillance cameras. After so much time, there won’t be any footprints left on the roof.”

Jiang Feng: “Let’s go see him. Come with me.”

Jiang Feng walked from the teaching area’s Half Moon Lake toward the living area, agreeing to meet at Ma Shiluo’s dormitory building. Just after entering the school gate, he saw a large group of people approaching his direction.

The leading male student looked somewhat familiar, with his loose shirt tucked at the waist and a white towel tied around his head, dressed rather incongruously. He led about a hundred people charging out from the dormitory building.

Faced with this gang-fight-like formation, Jiang Feng stopped, preparing to walk around them. However, someone from the opposite camp first called out to him with overwhelming momentum:

“Jiang Feng? Why are you here?”

Jiang Feng quietly looked at that person.

Zhang Yangyang: “…”

“Zhang Yangyang!” Zhang Yangyang shouted in despair, “Your class monitor!! You delivered takeout to me yesterday!”

“Oh, monitor,” Jiang Feng nodded, “I know.”

Zhang Yangyang accused. “You’re lying!”

Your eyes show you clearly don’t remember!

Ma Shiluo stood behind him, sticking close without moving an inch, making Jiang Feng feel a chill on the back of his neck.

The male student behind Zhang Yangyang had already raised a megaphone and said, “We’re leaving first! We’re going to the school broadcasting station, you go to the west side of the school gate. When you call people, tell them to go to the library.”

Zhang Yangyang: “Oh, okay!”

Ma Shiluo suddenly said, “The signs they’re carrying have my name on them.”

So Jiang Feng pointed and asked, “What are you going to do?”

“I’m furious!” Zhang Yangyang shouted, “Check my Moments, it’s written clearly. That beast Lu Quan sexually harassed students and colluded with the school to drive the victim to death. Don’t know how the revenge happened, but now several related people are in the hospital. Three of them made it to social news this morning!”

Jiang Feng was somewhat surprised, “The school admitted it?”

“How could they?! The students heard it themselves! Some graduates have also come forward to confess.” Zhang Yangyang gritted his teeth, “It would be better if the school admitted it. I just called the principal to ask, and he completely denied this matter, immediately had administrators delete posts on the school website, and ordered counselors to mute all related students in school groups. The school broadcasting station was also told to remind everyone that if anyone continues to spread rumors, involved students will face disciplinary action. There was more than one harassed female student, and after the school started controlling public opinion, they bravely stood up because they couldn’t take it anymore. Damn, this is absolutely heartless! I’m too disappointed!”

Zhang Yangyang said with red eyes, “He asked me who I was, am I afraid of him? I said I’m Jiang Feng!”

Jiang Feng: “??”

Zhang Yangyang pulled off the towel from his forehead and swung it forcefully. “He actually said he would expel me!”

Jiang Feng: “…”

Seeing no reaction from him, Zhang Yangyang said boredly, “Just kidding, I said I was the police. Anyway, I’ve already called the police.”

Jiang Feng remained expressionless.

“Everything else is true! If you don’t believe me, check WB, we’ve already decided to move our battleground, now we’re going to notify other students!” Zhang Yangyang patted his arm, “Want to come with us?”

“Don’t fight,” Jiang Feng said, “I have something else to do.”

Zhang Yangyang nodded. “No fighting, we know what we’re doing, just a sit-in protest. Alright then, I’m going first. Anyway, be careful and don’t expose your identity.”

Jiang Feng: “…”

He wasn’t part of their organization and hadn’t participated in this matter, what identity was there to expose?!

Jiang Feng arrived at the bottom of Ma Shiluo’s dormitory building, but Chu Xuanliang hadn’t arrived yet.

There weren’t many people at the entrance now, and after she walked around outside, she instead heard some intermittent voices coming from the parking lot next door.

“Yes, Master, that female ghost is very brutal, peeling people’s skin alive, she has already harmed six people! A professor at our school also died today.”

“We don’t know what happened either! She was full of lies and vain, so many students stood up to testify against her at that time, according to school rules, she should have been advised to withdraw, but the school saw she was young with a promising future and still showed leniency in handling it, but this is how she thought!”

“There’s no reasoning with ghosts!”

“Someone is trying to smear our school’s image! This kind of thing is common, happens every year! Students are the easiest to incite, I’m also afraid they might do something wrong in their excitement.”

Ma Shiluo heard this and became furious. Someone inside alertly asked, “Who’s there!”

Jiang Feng simply stepped in.

Inside stood five people. Four were in suits, and one had gray hair and beard, wearing a long robe, looking somewhat like a Taoist immortal.

He suddenly turned his head, staring in Jiang Feng’s direction, then his expression changed.

Jiang Feng knew he had looked past him and seen Ma Shiluo.

Sure enough, that person shouted and threw a talisman. “Little ghost, stop!”

Ma Shiluo turned and ran in panic. Jiang Feng watched as the yellow talisman carried golden light, shooting like a flying arrow, and caught it bare-handed in mid-air.

The old man opposite clearly hadn’t expected this and stood stunned, exclaiming, “How is this possible!”

In that blink of an eye, Ma Shiluo had disappeared.

The school leaders hurriedly ran towards him, shouting, “This student, what are you doing here? What’s your name!”

Jiang Feng lowered his hand and threw away the talisman. Inspired by Zhang Yangyang, he stiffly uttered two words. “Police.”