I Really Am a Bad Guy

“Name?” “Yaxiu... Yaxiu Heath.” “Age?” “I don't know. I have amnesia.” “Gender?” “Let me check... Male.” “Race?” “Probably not a dog?” “Past background?” “I really don't know. I have amnesia.” ... Bloodmad Hunter Amy watched through the two-way mirror into the interrogation room. Hearing the cult leader answer the questioning with such casual, arrogant insolence, her eyes narrowed into slits and her fingernails grew long with rage. “Captain, does this scoundrel think everyone in the Sin Hunting Hall is an idiot? Interrogating him like this won't work. Let me step in! Back when I was in school, I spent my spare time studying torture under my father, and I even earned a Level One Torturer Certificate. On my father's name, I swear I'll make this bastard spit out every time he wet the bed as a kid!” “Burn that torturer certificate,” Gerard said calmly. “Twelve years ago, the Detailed Rules for the Amendment of the Human Rights Act abolished the torturer system, completely banning the Sin Hunting Hall from torturing suspects. Violators face having their hunter licenses revoked at best, or over a century of imprisonment at worst. The council is keeping a very close eye on us. If Yaxiu Heath even loses sleep at night, we'll be in trouble. If you want the council to sink their teeth into you, I won't stop you.” “Hmph.” Amy curled her lip in angry timidity and changed the subject. “What about a memory master? He's been captured for this long—why hasn't a memory master arrived to extract this villain's memories?” “A memory master won't be coming.” “Why? In a major case like this, shouldn't a memory master come to extract memory evidence regardless? I recall the Penal Code says all criminal offenses require memory as direct evidence, right?” “He is different.” “How is he different?” Gerard glanced at her. “He has seen the Four Pillar Gods.” Amy froze for a moment, then understood. “Not just him—memories cannot be extracted from any cultist,” Gerard said. “Memory contamination is the Four Pillar Gods' specialty. A hundred and thirty-four years ago, in a Four Pillar Gods cult case I helped crack, a memory master extracted memories from a cultist and unknowingly became a believer of the Four Pillar Gods. That is precisely why the Four Pillar Gods cult relentlessly rises from the ashes.” “Then what do we do?” Amy was dumbfounded. “Questioning yields no evidence, torture is forbidden, and memories can't be extracted... Could he really be released without charge? Or do we handle this as an exception?” “No exception is needed,” Gerard said. “There is a form of capital punishment perfectly suited for an atrocious sinner like him who has stirred up boiling public outrage... The interrogation here is merely going through the motions. The true trial must wait until eight in the evening on the fifteenth, to be carried out together by all the citizens of the city.” Amy understood at once. But when she looked back and saw the cult leader still spouting “I don't know” this and “I have amnesia” that in the interrogation room, she still couldn't swallow her anger. Sticking out her tongue with a raspberry of pure contempt, she dragged her drooping gray tail and turned to leave. Gerard continued watching the pointless interrogation. Because the questioning had exceeded fifteen minutes, it had to be paused so the suspect could rest—this, too, was a basic right stipulated by the Human Rights Act. The cult leader was drinking water, occasionally touching his chest where it had recently been pierced, a look of wonder in his eyes that quickly turned to worry. For some reason, Gerard felt he wasn't lying. His various reactions—fluster, curiosity, fear, bewilderment... truly resembled an ordinary person with amnesia. According to the Human Rights Act, conditions such as split personality, amnesia, and psychiatric disorders could be deemed as lacking civil capacity, exempting the individual from criminal punishment. If memory extraction were used and confirmed Yaxiu truly had amnesia, he might even be acquitted. Yet none of that concerned Gerard. Because of the Four Pillar Gods, no memory master would or could extract his memories, so... “Judging you is the public's duty. All we need to do is deliver you into their sight.” Gerard turned and walked away, setting out to hunt the next suspect. ... ... “At this rate, dying early really is an early release...” Lying on a clean, springy bed, Yaxiu set down the dossier in his hands and looked around the bright, spacious cell complete with a private bathroom, his heart plunged into gloom. Although seeing those four “angels” reveal such repulsive forms before perishing had given Yaxiu a vague foreboding, he hadn't expected the reality to be even worse than he imagined—the hunters' accusations against him were completely accurate. He was a bona fide cult leader through and through. The gods who had bestowed power upon Yaxiu were the four most infamous Pillar Gods of this world. They bore many aliases, but their most prominent trait was that they often appeared together, unleashing boundless chaos across the world. The Lord of Countless Radiance, also known as the Tyrant, pursued endless war and mountains of corpses drowned in seas of blood. His followers slaughtered everything they saw, even themselves; The Monarch of Wind, Rain, and Snow, also known as the Treacherous Chancellor, was renowned for toying with conspiracies and manipulating mortals. He loved granting his followers' wishes, though fulfilling them drove his followers into extreme madness; The Heart of Eternal Heat, also known as the Loving Father, was the source of all plagues and diseases, the final home of rotting matter. His followers became breeding grounds for illness, living in agony, horror, and despair, yet unable to die; The Soul of Phantasmal Freedom, also known as the Prince of Indulgence, represented the ceaseless desires of living beings. He was also the one described most extensively in the dossier—intelligent races were the easiest prey for his corruption. Once tainted by desire into becoming his followers, sapient beings turned into instinctive beasts incapable of satisfaction, their reason swallowed whole by primal drive. Yaxiu had wondered if they had fabricated the dossier to deceive him. But for one thing, he had already been captured; they could bend him into whatever shape they pleased without going to such trouble. For another, the dossier was richly illustrated with photographs of Heath's crimes and detailed accounts of his deeds. The brutality of the methods made Yaxiu want to throw up the mushroom-sauce chicken noodles he had just eaten. Since Heath was a villain, the Four Pillar Gods were naturally evil deities. And conversely, the Bloodmad Hunters who hunted him were the forces of justice... or at least the forces maintaining social stability. In just half a day, Yaxiu had experienced dizzying emotional whiplash. At first, he had thought he was a hero preparing to leave the starter village, only to turn out to be a cult leader who had just secured his first angel round of funding to launch a startup. And then he had been farmed like a wild elite mob by a party of heroes. Transmigrating into a cult leader right off the bat was bad enough, but of all times, it had to happen right when the hunters were springing their net to wipe out the cult... Had he come all this way just to pad the hunters' performance reviews? Yaxiu tossed and turned in bed, lamenting the unfairness of fate while wondering if he had worked himself to death from overtime. But all his thoughts ultimately converged into one question: How are they going to execute me? Although their interrogation had been exceptionally polite, and they even provided free meals and a luxurious private room—leaving Yaxiu feeling as if he were on vacation, aside from being forced to wear exquisite bracelets and anklets—he didn't need more than half a brain to know they would never let him off. Still, Yaxiu had a faint impression that the civilization in this world seemed very advanced. Maybe they had abolished capital punishment, leaving him a glimmer of hope... Suddenly, a crisp notification chime sounded in his mind. *Ding-dong!* Yaxiu felt a warmth at the nape of his neck, and then a screen of light unfolded before his eyes. His heart jolted, and with immense anticipation, he deciphered the unfamiliar script on the light screen: [Dear Mr. Yaxiu Heath, Inmate No. 4001623. Kaimeng City Hall cordially invites you to be a featured guest on Kaimeng Channel 1's program “Blood Moon Trial” at 8:00 PM on the 15th of this month. Please pay attention to your appearance and grooming at that time; dedicated personnel will escort you to the live broadcast studio. If you wish to withdraw from the program, please reply “TC.”] Though he had no idea what this “Blood Moon Trial” was, the name certainly didn't sound like anything good. Yaxiu naturally hurried to type “TC” into the dialogue box. However, the moment his intention moved, another prompt popped up on the light screen: [You are currently under arrest and interrogation. The messaging function has been disabled.] Damn it, so that last sentence of the notice was just messing with me?! Yaxiu figured that this “Blood Moon Trial” was likely his execution. Even so, his attention had already shifted to the light screen before him. He touched the back of his neck. He couldn't feel any obvious protrusion, but he clearly sensed that the nape of his neck was intimately linked to the light screen, as if its settings were implanted there. Since an announcement like a “death sentence” was delivered through this method, Yaxiu guessed it was probably this world's communication device, not something unique to him. Sure enough, when his thoughts focused on the “?” in the upper-left corner of the light screen, a stream of information immediately popped up: [Name: “Heath's” “Consciousness Light Screen”] [Version: 14.4.1] [Current Status: Messaging disabled, Network access disabled, Channel access disabled, Image capture disabled, Kinetic output restricted, Void Realm access disabled, Sorcery power output disabled...] [Service Provider: Kaimeng Channeling] Yaxiu casually changed the name to [“Yaxiu's” “Consciousness Light Screen”]. He mused that the technological system in this world was truly advanced—not only possessing superhuman abilities that elevated individual combat power, but also having technological peripherals widespread among everyone. Laughably, Yaxiu had just thought it was his transmigration cheat, never imagining it was standard issue for every commoner. It was like an ancient person transmigrating to modern times, picking up a smartphone, and mistaking it for a divine artifact. At the thought of his childish delusion just now, Yaxiu felt his cheeks burn. Although Yaxiu really wanted to inspect this new toy, the vast majority of functions were disabled. Aside from the calendar, messages, notepad, and calculator, the only thing left was... *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook*? Yaxiu stared blankly.