The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician
Chapter 288 - 189 Clo’s Death and Letter

Chapter 288: Chapter 189 Clo’s Death and Letter

Clo was dead.

Jiang Shu, wearing a thick, fleece-lined sweatshirt, instinctively took a sip of soy milk but failed to pick up a steamed bun from his plate.

Displayed on the Simulated Light Screen was an official video that had just been released.

In the video, a man with a cloth sack over his head was being shoved before a medieval gibbet. He was held in place by two Mechanical Soldiers standing behind him, motionless beneath the gallows.

The gallows, painted with black lacquer, stood like a vast stage with three or four massive logs forming its frame. From the middle crossbar of the frame dangled a rope, its end tied into a noose.

Hanging, an execution method exclusive to the old Nobles but considered an insult to them because of the immense pain experienced upon death, was a form of punishment that had been abolished even in the old days.

Now, to create such an insulting gallows was indicative of the Three Major Groups’ rage over Clo’s actions.

Arrayed below the gallows was a neat formation of soldiers clad in Armor. They wore fully enclosed helmets, their faces and eyes invisible, right arms cradling rifles, standing as tall and straight as poplars in the Gobi Desert.

Within the execution ground captured in a wide-angle shot, the medieval gallows stood in silent confrontation with the futuristic Mechanical Soldiers, hiding a suffocatingly terrifying atmosphere in the silence.

It seemed they had received a signal; two soldiers reached for the rope, placing the noose around the hooded man’s neck through the sack and then sharply pulling tight.

After the preparations were completed, the two Mechanical Soldiers turned and walked away from the gallows, and the wooden platform beneath the man’s feet was instantaneously withdrawn.

The man flailed his legs in the air, his hood rapidly contracting and then bulging due to asphyxiation, and the rope swayed slowly back and forth with his twisting movements.

Minutes later, the man’s body hung motionless in the air.

From that point on, the video’s imagery seemed to freeze, the stationary Armor soldiers looking on at the still body, perfectly blending the advanced technological feel with the antiquated execution ritual, creating a tableau akin to a world-famous painting.

Not a word was spoken throughout, the only sound being the uniform and dull footsteps of the soldiers escorting the criminal.

At the end of the video there was a judgment document—

The criminal, Clo Ashbourne, violated articles seven and nine of the Lonely City Law. For war crimes, crimes against humanity, and several other serious offenses, he was sentenced to hanging. The execution took place on November 11th at the central square of Thirteen District.

The video ended.

Jiang Shu didn’t open the comment stream; instead, he simply turned off his wristwatch.

He stood up, walked to the window, and gazed in the direction of Thirteen District.

Although he had anticipated this outcome, its realization still felt surreal.

Three months.

Clo had caused upheaval in Thirteen District for three months, and it was only with the execution video and judgment document sent out just now that the matter was truly concluded, bringing down the curtain.

During those three months, Thirteen District had been completely sealed off, not a whisper of news escaping.

At first, most people didn’t know what had exactly happened, but as time passed, some began to understand.

The video that Clo had released before the war was real, he truly had started a war.

Three months passed in the blink of an eye.

In those three months, Jiang Shu turned down all other engagements except for filming a movie and performed not a single Magic show.

Like a downturned stage, he awaited the outcome, the end of the war.

Compared to Clo’s diligent efforts over the past two or three decades, his end seemed rather hasty; only the flimsy judgment document seemed to affirm that he had indeed made a scene in Thirteen District.

Jiang Shu didn’t know what had happened during those three months, but the fact that a force that Clo had assembled in just a few short weeks had held out for three months against a combined assault from the Three Major Groups...

To some extent, Clo had indeed been remarkable.

But Jiang Shu’s opinion was the same as it had been three months prior—starting the war at that point was not a rational move, even reckless.

It was a death sentence.

"Better dead, saves trouble," Jiang Shu muttered, turning to walk towards the bathroom.

With a heavy weight lifted from his heart, this was the outcome he had been waiting for, yet for some reason, at the moment he learned of Clo’s death, he felt a twinge of regret.

Perhaps...

Clo wasn’t dead?

The thought surfaced in Jiang Shu’s mind.

Perhaps Clo had just been locked up; after all, the man who was hung could not be identified under the sack, and Clo, secretly imprisoned, might reappear before him at some future moment.

Never to be rid of the ghost.

He opened the bathroom door, his pupils dilating rapidly as he stumbled backward, a Black Card materializing in his hand.

Inside the bathroom was a creature that was half-human, half-octopus, staring at Jiang Shu with wide, round eyes. Her lower tentacles scuffled on the floor, smearing wet sliminess on the smooth marble, looking very anxious.

And in her mouth, she held a letter.

You...

Where did you come from?

Jiang Shu eyed her warily for a long time, circling around the bathroom door, hoping to see that persistent nuisance, but all he saw was the octopus maiden.

"Umm!" The fish maiden uttered a cry from her throat and then lifted her head.