The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician
Chapter 130 - 125: Four Great Sages

Chapter 130: Chapter 125: Four Great Sages

"Philosophy helped me understand the world, psychology helped me understand myself."

This line was written on the title page of Clo’s books.

Three days had passed in the blink of an eye, during which Jiang Shu consulted many people in the Special Prison and skimmed through several of Clo’s philosophical and psychological works.

But from these books alone, Jiang Shu hadn’t found any clues. More than Clo’s intellectual origins, he was concerned with how Clo had managed to predict his own future.

Yet he had come up empty-handed.

——

On August 15th, Jiang Shu’s appeal was approved, which was also the day of his judicial review.

Dressed in a clean prison uniform and escorted by two prison guards, Jiang Shu got into the prison van and headed for the Thirteen District Court.

"May I ask a few questions?" he asked the guards beside him.

"You can, but we won’t answer anything about the case; we don’t know either," the guard shrugged, not knowing what he could possibly ask as they were just two lowly prison guards.

"Just some small questions," Jiang Shu said with a smile. "When will this van arrive at the court? The trial is at two in the afternoon, right?"

"We’ll probably arrive before 9:30," the guard estimated, "You’ll have enough time to go over the case with the police again. Of course, if no new evidence is found, the court will most likely uphold the original sentence."

The guard wasn’t being discouraging. In most such judicial reviews, the original sentence was maintained, a small waste of social resources in exchange for a touch of procedural justice — a common phenomenon in Lonely City.

"Will I be able to see my family and friends?" Jiang Shu asked again. "I have something to tell them."

"You can. During that time, as long as you’re under police control, you can meet anyone," the guard replied.

"Okay, thank you," Jiang Shu nodded and fell silent.

The prison van slowly pulled into the courtyard of the court, and the two prison guards checked Jiang Shu’s handcuffs before leading him into the court’s temporary detention cell.

The so-called detention cell was more like an interrogation room in the police station, a small room with a table at its center and chairs on either side. Jiang Shu sat in one of the chairs, handcuffed and chained to the table.

"Prisoner 3269, please wait here, the officer in charge will be with you shortly. If you wish to request a defense lawyer, you can speak to this officer," the guard said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Of course, please trust the lawyer we provide, as they are equally professional."

"Is his last name Zhang?" Jiang Shu looked at the guard.

"No, why?" the guard asked, puzzled.

"Never mind," Jiang Shu shrugged. "Thanks anyway."

Moments later, the door to the temporary cell opened again, and a familiar face entered. He wore a somber expression and turned to the guard beside him, "You can leave."

"But..." the guard hesitated, as this wasn’t according to the rules.

"Just stand outside; there’s surveillance here. If you have any complaints, you can report me at the Seventh District Police Station," the newcomer was Wolf, looking dissatisfied as he showed his police chief badge, "I’m Wolf, active T2 Police Chief, badge number TC12138. I’ll take over here."

"Fine," the guard didn’t belong to the same system as Wolf but saw no need to antagonize a police chief. He saluted Wolf and then stepped out of the cell.

"Hello, Police Chief Wolf, I am Jiang Shu," Jiang Shu said earnestly as he introduced himself, "Please assist me."

Wolf felt a surge of irritation he could hardly swallow and said curtly, "What on earth are you thinking?"

"I want to get out," Jiang Shu said earnestly. "Please, Police Chief, help me."

"At that time... forget it, no point in idle talk," Wolf couldn’t be bothered with Jiang Shu. He shared the clues he had found over the past few days with Jiang Shu. "It’s not a secret room, there’s a drain under the pool big enough for a person to get through. However, we didn’t find any conclusive evidence of outsiders in the drain pipes. Of course, we can’t rule out that someone had been there."

"I know," Jiang Shu nodded, having anticipated this point.

"Also, Kirie suspects there was something wrong with the autopsy process and wants to do it again, but nothing unusual was found," Wolf continued, "She suspects that the coroner from Thirteen District tampered with the body, so..."

At this point, Wolf’s expression turned somewhat helpless. He said, rubbing his forehead, "She and Su Xiaoou broke into the morgue at night, and it just so happened that a fire broke out at the hospital. They were caught on the spot and detained for seven days. They’re still not released..."

Jiang Shu: "..."

Damn impressive.

"However, they also found that the coroner who performed the autopsy was problematic," Wolf said seriously. "The livor mortis had been altered."

"So the result is...?" Jiang Shu asked, puzzled.

"The result is, the coroner ’accidentally’ damaged the body, and parts of the original autopsy report have been overturned. We’ve taken the coroner into custody, but we haven’t gotten any information from him that could help you." Wolf went on, with no sign of relief in his voice. "So, we still can’t exonerate you. We can’t explain how Garcia died."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Looking at the situation at the scene, Garcia died of poisoning in a short time, and there were only the two of you in the room. So you’re still the prime suspect."

"But what I’m more concerned about is what you’re really thinking. Do you or do you not want to prove your innocence?" Wolf stared at Jiang Shu, unconvinced that Jiang Shu would murder Garcia. He had carefully reviewed the personal relations between Garcia and Jiang Shu, and the two had no prior contact.

Jiang Shu certainly had no motive to kill Garcia, or rather, his motive made no common sense.

"Me? I didn’t kill the man," Jiang Shu laughed, reassuring Wolf, "Don’t worry. I’ve appealed. I definitely don’t want to spend my life in prison. In jail, I’ve come to understand; I think I’ve figured it out."

"Hmm?" Wolf’s heart lit up with hope when he saw Jiang Shu’s attitude.

"That is, are my Tablet Spirits still around?" Jiang Shu asked again, "There’s some key evidence with them."

"They... let me think..." Wolf pondered for a moment, "They were initially taken to Thirteen District Police Station as part of the evidence, stored in the evidence room, and then... yes, taken by Kirie."

"Uh, okay." Jiang Shu nodded, piecing together the timeline and the Tablet Spirits’ personalities; he guessed they probably followed Kirie to break into the hospital at night. So...

With the help of four very smart beings – a dragon, a phoenix chick, a hidden tiger, and a young qilin – it wasn’t so strange that Kirie and Xiaoou got caught.

The sudden fire...

Sigh.

Jiang Shu felt somewhat exhausted.

"I need to get the Tablet Spirits back. They have the key evidence on them. With them..." Jiang Shu looked at Wolf and smiled lightly, "It’s enough to overturn my conviction."

"Fine, I’ll make a call to Kirie..." Wolf stood up but stopped midway, his face stiffening, "Kirie is still in jail."

Jiang Shu: "..."

"No problem, just bring me my wristwatch; I can find the four of them." He sighed.

So, no one has been looking after these four creatures during this time, right?

He hoped they hadn’t stirred up any trouble.