Chapter 3084: The Key (Happy New Year!)
Ding Xiang's expression, however, showed no change. "Zone 025 has strict laws. Obtaining evidence through violent means is not admissible, and key personnel have self-destruct chips implanted in their brains. If forced interrogation leads to injury or death, the government bears significant responsibility."
Moreover, whether it was the core personnel of Alton Corporation or the government officials who might have been involved, almost all of them had player forces backing them. Could the Inspection Department just arbitrarily arrest and interrogate these people?
Even if some inside information was extracted using interrogation instruments, regardless of whether the subject was convicted or not, the first to be dealt with would definitely be the interrogators themselves. Not a single one would escape.
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow slightly. "I recall that many districts have introduced an emotional judgment system that can determine a person's criminal tendencies based on their emotions. Doesn't Zone 025 have something similar?"
Far from just having it, a century ago, Zone 025 had already implemented a public servant oath process. Every government employee had to take an oath once every six months. The content of the oath was simple and crude: they had to state under the witness of an instrument that they had not committed any criminal acts. If they were judged to be lying, the person would be immediately arrested and only released after a thorough investigation and punishment.
Why was this process later abolished? Very simple—because the vast majority of people opposed it.
This wasn't just limited to government personnel; ordinary citizens felt the same way.
Human nature has many facets. Who could guarantee that they would never make a mistake in their entire life? Especially when civilization was highly developed and demands on people were increasingly stringent. Even arguing on the street could be a criminal act, let alone the various human considerations involved in handling incidents.
People couldn't live like machines, nor could they precisely follow legal regulations in their daily lives. Before the oath was abolished, there was a very classic case within the government: a public servant was judged to have lied during the oath. The Inspection Department began investigating him, from his work to his family, from his relatives to his friends. The person's entire life was meticulously examined, and the final result was embezzlement. Three months prior, while reporting on work, he had taken a folder from his superior's office and failed to return it, and that folder was expensive.
The oath process naturally couldn't cover such details. The real reason the person was judged to have lied was because he had kicked and injured a pet while venting anger during an argument with his family. He didn't even remember the folder incident, but animal abuse was a crime written into the legal code, so his emotions had changed.
In fact, according to his actions, he only needed to pay a fine and undergo ideological education. The folder had simply been taken from his superior's office along with some documents and brought back to his own home. He didn't consider it embezzlement, but the final investigation result was embezzlement.
This revealed a huge flaw in the oath process. Not everyone was clear on the legal code. Only criminal acts within a person's personal awareness could be judged, while some actual criminal acts might occur without the person's awareness. This didn't necessarily mean it involved a truly serious crime, but the Inspection Department would expend a massive amount of manpower and resources on such a misunderstanding, only to end up with a ridiculous result.
In the end, the Grand Archon stepped in and ruled. The public servant was acquitted, and the semi-annual oath process was abolished.
"A folder taken from the office—I would rather call it 'workplace attrition.'"
"A broken bench in the park—I would rather call it 'life attrition.'"
"If every accidental loss must be traced back and recorded against a specific citizen, I would rather treat it as a form of attrition recorded in the government's accounts."
"Similarly, human nature has elasticity. We can forgive some minor losses caused by emotion or accident. I call it 'legal attrition'—it is the breathing space, the flexible zone that a district needs when strictly enforcing the law. My people do not need to live under such harsh conditions."
"Those were the Grand Archon's exact words."
Ding Xiang was clearly deeply moved by this passage, to the point that she had recited it completely.
After hearing it, Xu Huo said, "According to the Grand Archon's reasoning, this should be 'human nature attrition,' after all, some 'elastic crimes' are criminal acts you have written into the legal code."
The excitement on Ding Xiang's face instantly cooled. "People can't live like machines. Isn't it normal to have emotions?"
If everything were taken so seriously, the prisons simply wouldn't be able to hold that many people.
"As long as you don't cross the bottom line, some things can be forgiven."
This was only because technology had developed so rapidly that every blade of grass and every tree in the district could be traced, which had invisibly relaxed some legal provisions. Otherwise, it would truly be impossible to investigate everything.
"Can't the Inspection Department even invite a suspect for a cooperative investigation?" Xu Huo returned to the main topic. "Isn't the elastic space in your Zone 025 a bit too large?"
Ding Xiang remained silent.
Xu Huo studied her. "Now I'm a bit curious about what exactly you're investigating. What is there in the central area of Challenge Island?"
"No comment." Ding Xiang's attitude was very firm.
Xu Huo didn't press further. Instead, he said, "Let's go. Find a way out."
Ding Xiang followed behind him, asking with uncertainty, "Aren't you looking for the Perfect Potion anymore?"
"Of course I am," Xu Huo said in a casual tone. "But since even the Zone 025 government hasn't found it, I alone have limited ability. I'll just try my luck."
Ding Xiang didn't believe him and probed, "You must have companions."
Xu Huo didn't respond. Instead, he began to check the small space walls that appeared nearby one by one.
Dr. Wu had thrown that ore key into the Wasteland Zone. It should only be an item with a suggestive meaning. What he had truly left behind was not in the Wasteland Zone, so this trip was about finding that ore key.
Having seen so much of the past, he still couldn't determine the exact location of the key. But that gun-wielding player had been wandering nearby, indicating that the red light he had seen was in this vicinity.
For now, treating that red light as a clue, the ore key was most likely in this area.
The problem was the exact location.
The curved time replay in the corpse wall was more like a display platform, unlike the green grassland that had appeared earlier, where he could actually hear the sounds within. If a similar curved time appeared again, it might be possible to retrieve the key from the past.
However, the curved time here couldn't truly reverse the space to the past. It appeared for a while and then disappeared, far less stable than a Super Item. Even if it did reappear, retrieving the key would still carry considerable risk.
Intervening in a space through which unstable curved time had flowed—could it lead to unpredictable dangers?
Xu Huo suddenly stopped. He turned to look in a certain direction of the Wasteland Zone, his fingers moving slightly.
A gentle breeze blew. The still-parched ground ahead showed some scorched scars. The pitch-black ground was still covered with many calcined stones, as if it had just experienced a meteorite strike.
And as the Rabbit Eye Star appeared, the black ground gradually expanded. After a long while, a red streak of light flew by, and a faint red glow flickered among the scattered stones.
Another New Year's Eve. Thank you, dear readers, for another year of support. Wishing everyone a healthy, safe, and happy new year! Happy New Year! (*^▽^*)(*^▽^*)