Yin Xiu ignored them and turned to look at the warden. "Is it my turn?"
The warden trembled under his icy gaze, yet also felt an irrepressible excitement. "Come forward, place all the Sin Gate Coins on the value table in front of you, and the gate to the dungeon will open for you."
Yin Xiu raised an eyebrow slightly; this was a condition not mentioned in the rules for passing the level.
However, the rules for passing through the checkpoint were already quite vague, so he was curious to see what tricks the warden could come up with.
Yin Xiu stepped forward and noticed that the table in the center of the red carpet had seven grooves.
Silently, under the warden's watchful eye, he placed the sin coins he possessed one by one into the slots.
With each prisoner he released, the warden's brow furrowed more deeply.
Yin Xiu was wearing white handcuffs, which could increase his sins and corruption, and the Gate of Sin itself was corrupted. How did he manage to stay sober with so many coins?
The warden couldn't understand it, but if it were Yin Xiu, he would find everything normal. In any case, he had made thorough preparations since he knew that Yin Xiu would come to this instance, including the possibility that Yin Xiu might come here wearing white handcuffs.
The warden was still shocked when he actually saw him arrive there unharmed, carrying the knife.
"Alright." Yin Xiu placed all the coins on the plate expressionlessly, glanced at the last empty slot, turned and scanned the crowd, ignoring the smiling Li Mo, and tried to find the player with the number 1.
But he did not show up.
Yin Xiu couldn't help but frown. "Are we waiting for the last person to have the Sin Gate Coin?"
If the other party doesn't show up for a long time, will he have to go back again, kill the person, and come back with the coin?
"It's alright." The warden waved his hand calmly. "After you've released all your coins, keep moving forward. The person who has the Sin Gate Coin will appear in front of you. You just need to get the last Sin Gate Coin from him."
Faced with the warden's vague explanation, Yin Xiu simply stared at him coldly and stepped forward under his gaze.
The moment Yin Xiu stepped into the small courtroom, an overwhelming darkness engulfed him. In the blink of an eye, the warden's office, Ye Tianxuan, and the group of players all vanished.
Rather, it was as if he was pulled into a separate space.
"Please, defendant, stand in the dock on the left." In the pitch-black environment, a beam of light shone on the center of the high courtroom. The warden was smiling and gazing at Yin Xiu. His fear had lessened a bit, and his mood seemed to be rising as well.
Yin Xiu stood silently in the defendant's seat on the left side of the small courtroom, too lazy to even ask about their scenario.
"Please, plaintiff, stand in the plaintiff's seat on the right."
As the warden's voice rang out, Yin Xiu turned to his right and suddenly saw that the masked player number one, covered in blood, was standing quietly in the plaintiff's seat, without even a breath, standing there straight, completely oblivious to Yin Xiu's scrutiny.
Two clangs of hammers landed on the table, and instantly rows of chairs appeared around them, each occupied by a walking fragment, seemingly a monster chopped in two or with severed limbs. They sat there motionless, without a trace of life.
In the courtroom, only the warden's voice rang out clearly, "Plaintiffs, please begin to explain the defendant's crimes."
Yin Xiu turned his head in confusion and saw that the monsters, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly erupted into a frenzy, their sharp cries filling the entire space.
"He killed me! He cut me in two!"
"He cut off my head! He threw me off the building!"
"He's inhuman! He wiped out the entire instance!"
"We demand that he be put to trial! To be put to trial!"
Unlike the noisy clamor of the monsters, the players standing in the plaintiff's seat remained motionless and silent.
"Silence!" The warden tapped his gavel, silencing the monsters, before slowly turning to Yin Xiu. "Faced with the plaintiffs' accusations that you massacred the dungeons inhumane ways, what defense do you have for yourself?"
Yin Xiu stared at him coldly, "Trial? Is it this copy that's being tried?"
"right."
"I didn't kill that many monsters in this instance." Yin Xiu turned to look at Player Number One beside him. "They were all killed by him—"
His voice paused slightly as he suddenly realized that the person standing in the plaintiff's seat next to him was a strange creature, not the player number one at all.
In a moment of shock, Yin Xiu noticed something on his face. He quickly removed it and saw that it was the player's mask, stained with blood. His own clothes and his own knife were also covered in blood, and even the prison uniform number had changed to 1.
In an instant, he became Player Number One.
The monsters' voices grew even more ferocious.
"It was him! He killed us!" they shrieked, pointing angrily at Yin Xiu. "It was him, this mask, this knife, he killed us!"
"You utterly vicious person! You're a monster!"
"We demand that he be put to trial!"
"Yes! The trial of judgment!"
Faced with the monsters' passionate accusations, Yin Xiu merely frowned and stared coldly at them, silently tightening his grip on the knife in his hand.
The monsters, however, became even more enraged.
"Look! He still wants to kill us! He's the one who should be imprisoned in this instance!"
"He has become a monster, and monsters cannot leave the instance!"
"Put him on trial! He's a monster! Monsters can't pass the trial!"
The warden on the platform struck the gavel again, silencing the monsters, before turning to Yin Xiu. "So, to verify whether you are a human being, we are about to judge your sins and throw you into the trial of judgment."
Before Yin Xiu could even know what the trial of judgment was, the surroundings suddenly began to distort, and the world spun around him.
The so-called trial was as childish as their casual observation of Yin Xiu's reactions.
After the world spun and quieted down again, Yin Xiu found himself standing in the square of the familiar Monster Town. The ground was littered with corpses, countless players' and monsters' bodies piled together, including... Ya Ya's corpse.
Yin Xiu frowned, gripped the knife in his hand tightly, and strode over.
The next second, the town disappeared, and he found himself standing in an area of lava burning with layers of flames.
A scorching heatwave emanated from him, burning his skin. Countless tongues of fire burned and surged, constantly emanating a voice from within: "He is angry! He is angry! He is angry!"
A giant eye unfolded in the gloomy sky, staring at Yin Xiu standing in the fire.
Then his eyes slowly closed, and all the light in the space disappeared.
The next second, a gentle breeze brushed past Yin Xiu, rustling the leaves and carrying a voice that drifted over.
Yin Xiu stood by the lake where he usually fished. The lake surface shimmered, and the lively voices of players could be heard in the distance. This was the environment he was most familiar with.
He turned around and watched Ye Tianxuan walk down the path. Many players surrounded him, excitedly shouting, "Boss Ye, I'll go to your room and cook for you later! You must be exhausted from coming out of the dungeon, go and rest!"
"Yes, yes, what will the town do without you! For the sake of the town and for our sake! You must cherish yourself!"
Ye Tianxuan waved his hand with a faint smile, "Get lost. I don't want to eat the awful food made by a bunch of rough old men. I'll cook for myself."
"Waaaaah... Boss Ye wants us to do something for you, right...?"
He stood on the shore watching those figures walk further and further away, their laughter echoing as they merged into the larger crowd in the town.
The evening breeze swept over his solitary figure standing by the lake, carrying with it a sharp, mocking sound.
"He's jealous! He's jealous! He's jealous!"