noffsinger Chapter 506 The Eve of the Conference
Chapter 506 The Eve of the Conference
Lu Youyou asked the errand robot to order food for a group of children and left amidst their cheers.
She went to see Zhang Deshang.
Because Zhang Deshang was the smartest of the thieves, to prevent collusion, he was locked in a single cell.
The two-square-meter single room is divided into two floors.
They sleep on the top floor and eat, drink, and relieve themselves on the bottom floor.
Despite the cramped and dark space, Zhang Deshang was completely satisfied.
Upon seeing Lu Youyou, Zhang Deshang beamed with joy.
"This place is so nice. The food is clean and the water doesn't smell bad."
As it spoke, its antennae drooped down.
"I wonder how much longer I can enjoy such good days, sir. Did you come with my sentence? I guess it's execution on the spot."
Lu Youyou shook her head: "The verdict hasn't been handed down yet. Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, there will be a trial hearing where you will confront the races whose children you harmed."
Zhang Deshang paused for a few seconds, seemingly trying to understand the meaning behind Lu Youyou's words.
After realizing what had happened, he suddenly became agitated.
The octopus's body kept changing color in the prison, but no color could give him a sense of security.
"No! No! Please, sir, kill me now! I don't want to see their family!"
"why?"
Lu Youyou countered, "The trial is your only chance to mitigate your guilt, so why are you unwilling to go?"
Zhang Deshang leaned against a corner on the first floor, his tentacles flailing wildly in panic.
"Kill me! I don't need any mitigation! A life for a life! I deserve to die!"
For the rest of the time, no matter what Lu Youyou asked, Zhang Deshang always repeated the same sentence: he deserved to die.
Lu Youyou raised her hand and tossed a stool to the ground, then sat down outside the prison gate.
Lu Youyou sat for as long as Zhang Deshang went berserk.
Suddenly, Zhang Deshang's voice trailed off, and his eight claws quietly tucked under his body.
He seems to have regained his senses.
"Sir, will the Octopus Family come?"
Lu Youyou nodded: "All the clan leaders will come."
"Do you think... the octopus family still remembers who I am?"
Before Lu Youyou could answer, Zhang Deshang gave a self-deprecating laugh and answered his own question.
"Of course I don't remember. When I was driven out of the octopus clan, the current octopus clan leader wasn't even born yet."
"They must be very angry."
"Of course, I was originally deformed, with low talent and unable to transform into human form. Now I also hunt and kill children from other families. If it were possible, the octopus patriarch would kill me first."
"Was I wrong?"
"Of course...am I wrong?"
Halfway through his speech, Zhang Deshang suddenly turned his gaze to Lu Youyou, his expression a mixture of sadness and confusion.
"My lord, was I wrong?"
Lu Youyou took a deep breath: "You've asked me this question more than once."
"I want to ask one last time, was I wrong?"
Lu Youyou stuck to her previous answer: "You are pitiful, but you are wrong."
Zhang Deshang suddenly burst into laughter, a loud, unrestrained laugh that seemed to rip out his heart and lungs.
As he laughed, his tone changed, turning into a wail.
"Everyone says I'm wrong! But I didn't steal or rob, how am I supposed to support my children!"
"Sir! If you were me, would you just stand by and watch your friend, your friend's child, starve to death?"
Lu Youyou put away the stool and stood up.
The sound was soft, but it struck Zhang Deshang's heart like a hammer blow.
She said, "I would choose to make the same mistake as you, and be prepared to die at any time."
Zhang Deshang was stunned.
It looks like a giant octopus sculpture.
He pondered Lu Youyou's words repeatedly, mechanically and mindlessly repeating them in a low voice.
One word is profound, the other is shallow, like a madman who occasionally loses his voice.
“Zhang Deshang, a mistake is a mistake. You don’t need to keep asking. When you chose to take this path, you were destined not to survive, weren’t you?”
Zhang Deshang nodded silently.
He suddenly felt relieved.
He knew that Lu Youyou was different from the previous generation of adults; he knew that she loved her friends, was loyal, and had a human touch.
He respected Lu Youyou from the bottom of his heart, so he hoped to gain her approval and hear her say "You did nothing wrong".
But the law is there, and it's an obvious fact that he was wrong.
Lu Youyou is a human who feels sorry for his hardships, but she is also an adult who governs all races in the universe.
It's impossible for an adult to ignore the comprehensive laws established by previous emperors and say "he did nothing wrong" just to comfort him.
But isn't her saying that she would make the same mistake as me another form of agreement?
He stopped focusing on his own situation and started asking about the children in his community.
"What kind of punishment will the children receive?"
Lu Youyou told the truth: "If the children know all your crimes and help you cover them up, the maximum detention time is one hundred years."
Zhang Deshang was overjoyed: "A hundred years would be great! We could eat clean food and sleep in comfortable beds for a hundred years."
Suddenly he realized something and quickly denied it.
"No, no, no, no! The children are innocent; they have no idea what we adults have done!"
Zhang Deshang's lifelong pursuit of providing children with a stable living environment was something he never achieved.
Defending his children's innocence is his instinct as a parent.
He was conflicted at that moment. He wanted to frame the children, increase their punishment, and let them live a life of plenty in prison until they died.
I also want to protect the children's reputation and don't want them to bear the infamy until their deaths.
Lu Youyou understood Zhang Deshang's inner struggle, but the children's fate was not up to him.
“Zhang Deshang, at tomorrow’s trial, I need to use the memory connector on all of you. At the same time, all races in the universe will be able to see your memories.”
"This……"
Zhang Deshang hesitated. Wouldn't that mean he couldn't slander his own child?
“If one of them refuses, that person will be convicted strictly according to the law, without being influenced by the opinions of others.”
Zhang Deshang let out a breath.
Very good!
He can then talk to the children and tell them not to accept the memory connector.
In this way, the evidence for Lu Youyou's conviction can only be obtained from his own words, and the children can spend a few more years in prison.
"Zhang Deshang, what special talents do the children on your planet have?"
Zhang Deshang became excited when this was mentioned.
His dark, misty eyes brightened, and he became proud and confident whenever he talked about children.
"My kids are the best. Although they may not be the most beautiful, they have the skills of both their parents, which makes them much more capable than us, their elders!"
"You know Black Ten, right? He's Black Five's younger brother, even a little younger than Black Five. He can breathe fire and fly. How is that any different from an ancient dragon?!"
"And then there's Rabbit Xiao Jiu. Besides her rabbit-like ability to dig mazes and burrows, she also has snake venom in her teeth. She can kill her prey by biting it!"
"return……"
Zhang Deshang spoke about a total of 22 children, and knew each child's skills very well.