CH 119

After the applause ended, everyone took their seats, and the four elders sat on the main stage. The elder on the far left began to speak.

"Greetings to all pillars of the empire. I am Elder Cheng Wei from the Supreme Elder Council. On behalf of the Supreme Elder Council, I declare the opening of the seventh joint meeting of the thirteen provinces under the divine light."

After the enthusiastic applause, Elder Cheng continued, "The meeting will be co-chaired by me, Elder Ye Nantian, Elder Wang Wengong, and Elder Xu Chengguo."

"The agenda of the meeting is: to listen to the work reports of the governors of the thirteen provinces; to approve the capital allocation plan for the thirteen provinces; to review the officials in charge of the thirteen provinces; to adjudicate disputes in each province;"

"Now, please Governor Wang Bo'an of Zhongzhou to report on his work."

A man in his fifties stood up, walked to the speaker's position below the stage, coughed, and began to speak.

Reporters from all walks of life aimed their cameras at him from various angles.

"Greetings everyone, I am Wang Bo'an, and I will now begin the governor's work report."

The entire morning was filled with work reports. The thirteen governors took turns on stage. Lin Wen almost fell asleep, while Qi Mu seemed to have turned into stone, standing rigidly in his seat.

At noon, they had a brief meal at the exclusive restaurant next to the conference hall.

In the afternoon, they approved the capital allocation plan for the thirteen provinces.

As evening approached, the approval was completed. The thirteen governors reached a unanimous decision, and the four elders jointly approved it.

The next round of capital allocation for the empire was thus determined.

Of course, this was only the final step. The real dispute was at the beginning of the plan formation. That was when the real chaos ensued.

The officials all breathed a sigh of relief. There wasn't much time left in the meeting, and the official review would likely be postponed until tomorrow.

Just then, an official stood up from the far-left seat. His uniform was a solemn and sharp gray.

"I am Lai Juncheng, the head of the Supreme Review Council's Inspection Department. On behalf of the Supreme Review Council, I propose that the official review begins now."

Lin Wen was jolted awake from his drowsiness. He immediately sat up straight, his gaze sweeping over, only to see a strange man.

His appearance was indeed that of Lai Juncheng, but his aura was completely different.

Lai Juncheng was like a dead, heavy black mire, but this man was extremely active in shades of gray, black, and white. This indicated that he was filled with extreme hatred. Moreover, the white and gray parts of him were turning black at a visible speed.

Lin Wen frowned. He had never seen this phenomenon before. The black aura was a reflection of a person's evil deeds at the bottom of their heart, a collection of a person's inherent evil.

However, a change in nature requires action to confirm. The black aura obtained merely through theory or imagination is unstable and can disappear at any moment.

On the other hand, once confirmed, the black aura is extremely difficult to eliminate.

So, once completely black, it is incurable. This means that evil has penetrated their bones and occupied their souls.

Its degree is far beyond that of ordinary death row inmates. It must have extremely evil thoughts, and based on its extremely evil nature, it must have committed extremely evil acts. Only after verifying these two aspects repeatedly can one become completely black.

Such people, no matter how many times they are reformed or educated, are no longer useful. They only have one path left in the world, and that is to do evil.

Killing them is a good thing for most people in the world. This is the fundamental reason for gaining good karma.

Killing to protect life, cutting off karma is not killing people.

This is the principle.

Therefore, the "Observation of Qi" and serious law are quite different. It is more like a kind of morality, a more advanced way, and the law is just its supplement.

At least that's how it is for Lin Wen.

And the man in front of him, he hasn't done anything yet, but his nature is changing rapidly. This is extremely rare.

Perhaps he is a genius, born with the potential to become a demon.

Lin Wen thought.

But he was sure that this man was not Lai Juncheng.

On the stage, Elder Cheng said, "Director Lai, we don't have much time."

"Director Lai" said, "I only have one proposal, as the beginning of the review."

The four elders briefly exchanged words, and Elder Wang said, "Go ahead."

Elder Cheng coldly said, "All reporters leave the scene. The following is a closed-door meeting. Keep it short, just propose, and we'll discuss it tomorrow."

The reporters quickly left the scene. Director Lai respectfully bowed to the elders, walked onto the stage, and said:

"The local officials of the empire should protect the lives and property of the citizens, shield the people from wind and rain, uphold fairness and justice, and become the clear sky for the people. This is the pillar of the empire."

"But there is one person, a local official with great power, who is doing evil, acting recklessly, oppressing the good, corrupting, killing innocents, raping women, suppressing officials who protect the people, slaughtering all dissenters, monopolizing the government, ordering the imperial army, leading troops to attack neighboring cities, allowing soldiers to loot, burn, kill, and loot."

"The crimes he committed are simply shocking and too numerous to mention."

"I propose to strip Lin Wen, the newly appointed sheriff of Changshan County in East Qin Prefecture, of all his powers, immediately detain him, and have the Supreme Review Council execute him immediately! To prove the justice of the empire!"

When he began to speak, there was still some buzzing in the venue, but by the time he was halfway through, the venue was already silent. When he finished speaking, there was a buzz of discussion throughout the venue.

"Is it true? Is there such a powerful person?"

"Who is this Lin Wen? I've never heard of him."

"Where is Changshan County? Have you ever been there?"

"Ordering the army, leading troops to attack neighboring cities, this person is crazy."

"Heh, he must be a newcomer who doesn't know the rules. He thinks he can do whatever he wants as soon as he takes office."

"That's right, he must have played too big and offended someone he shouldn't have."

"He offended Director Lai."

"Hehe, he's from East Qin Prefecture, didn't you hear?"

"He's under Governor Sheng, no wonder, no wonder."

There were also quite a few people on the scene who had received his black material. They were spreading the news everywhere.

"Hey, let me tell you, this guy is not just that. Do you know how many women he has taken back? At least a whole group!""Is it true? I just spoke with Lin Wen yesterday. He's a young man, well-spoken, polite, and refined. He doesn't seem like that at all."

"Hey, you only know a person's facade. They can be a gentleman in public, but a beast in private. You haven't seen enough."

A quick look at "pawread dot com" will leave you more fulfilled.

"Let me tell you, he's quite domineering in his own territory. Anyone who opposes him is shot on the spot, no trial or anything."

"How could such a brute become a sheriff? This sounds made up."

"It must be made up. There's no way such a person exists."

"Cough!"

The elder coughed, and the meeting room immediately fell silent, not a peep to be heard.

He said with a gloomy face, "Let's vote."

His expression represented his attitude, not his true feelings. All his faction members and close allies immediately knew they were to vote against.

Countless ballot officers ran out from unseen corners. The officials only needed to press the approve, oppose, or abstain button on the ballot box they held.

Only the presiding officials could vote, accompanying personnel were not eligible.

The vote was supposedly anonymous, but your fingerprints were on it. Only a fool would believe it was anonymous.

The ballot box was a rectangular box with blue, red, and gray colors. Blue for approval, red for opposition, and gray for abstention.

Lin Wen pressed it and found the button was mechanical, the color was painted on. After pressing, there was a click of gears, and a blue card flipped out from the bottom of the box.

The ballot officer glanced at the nameplate on Lin Wen's desk, then at the ballot box, his expression slightly complex.

But he said nothing, took the blue card, and put it in a small box behind the ballot box. The vote was thus completed.

Without any electronic devices, the whole voting process had a strange feeling, both solemn and bizarre.

Qi Mu, sitting next to him, whispered, "Lin, Boss Lin, who is that official? His name sounds like yours."

Lin Wen smiled, "That's me."

Qi Mu's face turned pale, after a moment he said, "It must be the bad guys framing you!"

Lin Wen nodded, "Exactly."

Qi Mu said indignantly, "This is too much, even a good person like Boss Lin is being framed. We will definitely bring him down, right?"

"Of course."

Qi Mu clenched his fist, suddenly thought of something, and asked, "Then why did you vote in favor?"

Lin Wen casually said, "I've never played this before, I just pressed it randomly and ended up voting."

Qi Mu scratched his head, suddenly feeling that Boss Lin was very approachable.

The voting was quickly completed. The joint meeting was designed to save time, the whole process took less than two minutes, and the results were out.

111 votes in favor; 51 votes against; 42 abstentions.

The impeachment motion against Lin Wen was formed and passed.

---

The first day's agenda ended.

As soon as he returned to his private car, Lin Wen immediately called Qin Luoshuang.

Due to the strict search when entering, it was impossible to bring in devices like satellite phones, so it was left in the car.

Lin Wen recounted what had happened today.

Qin Luoshuang said, "The formation of the impeachment motion is certain to pass. The adjudication committee is all from the review council, and it's unlikely to be stopped. The key is the general meeting. I have reorganized all the evidence and sent it to Governor Sheng via telegram."

"You must remember, all the people you killed were attempting to rebel. You attacked Qingcheng because you received news of rebels infiltrating Qingcheng with malicious intent. All the bad things were done by the rebels. The two large-scale lethal weapons were used by the rebels. I have sent someone to deliver the final key evidence. He's on the plane and should arrive tonight."

After the call ended, Lin Wen was about to leave when the car door was knocked.

Lin Wen got out of the car and saw that it was Ling Huayue, the man who looked like a woman.