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Page 24
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Three days later, at midnight.
"The Knights of Favonius will conduct a public trial of Lin Jiu'an in ten days at the statue of the Wind God."
Ying, who had just arrived in Qingquan Town with the women that afternoon, learned of this news.
Ying thought about it for half the night but still couldn't figure it out.
How were Lin Jiu'an captured by them?
If he was captured by the Thousand Rocks in Mondstadt, that would be one thing, but how did those lousy Knights of Favonius manage to capture him?
Although she had a vague feeling that Lin Jiu'an was planning something big, the girl still couldn't help feeling uneasy.
Just as she was struggling to fall asleep, there was a gentle knock on the door.
Ying opened the door and saw the female croupier named Shirley, along with several other women standing at her door.
"You are..."
"We want to go back to Mondstadt."
Seeing their worried expressions, Ying realized that they had also heard the news of Lin Jiu'an's arrest.
“I know this is a lot of trouble for you, but he saved our lives, gave us a second chance, and we thought that if we went back, perhaps we could do something for him…”
Ying wanted to comfort them and tell them not to worry, but the words wouldn't come out.
As if possessed, he said, "Okay."
······
Five days later.
Ying met Lisa, Yura, and others at Diluc's manor.
"In the end what happened?"
"I also want to know."
Lisa smiled wryly and said, "I've thought about it for five days and five nights and I still can't figure it out."
“Even the people I’ve contacted these past few days to try and rescue him have all refused.”
"If we're talking about who knows him best, then you are. I'd like to ask what your opinion is."
Ying seemed to have grasped something and asked, "What exactly happened that day?"
Yura recounted the events of that day to Ying.
As she listened, Ying's cherry lips tightened more and more, and finally her expression became incredibly complicated.
"Do you have any ideas?"
"probably."
Ying looked at the crowd looking over, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "I was just thinking that many Mondstadt residents would probably come to watch this public trial, right?"
"The venue is huge, and with their relentless promotion, there will easily be tens of thousands of people..."
Diluc suddenly fell silent as he was speaking.
"No way?" Ying asked.
"Should?" Yura's voice lacked any confidence.
Lisa suddenly said, "If he can do what he did that day, what else can't he do?"
Everyone fell silent.
Paimon grew anxious as he watched everyone fall silent, seemingly having rehearsed their lines.
"Hey, what on earth are you thinking of? Can't you do something?"
"Speak quickly!"
"Ugh! Riddlers are so annoying!"
······
The deepest part of the Knights of Favonius's prison.
The sound of a lock being opened rang out.
Lin Jiu'an looked up and saw several knights standing guard at the door, looking at him with eyes full of hostility and a little fear.
"The time has come; it's time to go to the execution ground."
Lin Jiu'an stood up.
He was still dressed in the same clothes, his hands and feet bound by heavy shackles.
Accompanied by the sound of heavy iron chains being dragged, Lin Jiu'an followed them out of the prison cell.
The sunlight was perfect, so bright that Lin Jiu'an, who was used to the darkness of the prison cell, couldn't help but squint his eyes slightly as he made his way to the execution ground.
A colossal statue of the wind god stood tall behind the makeshift execution platform.
The square and the stepped streets below were packed with people.
I glanced at it briefly.
Several thousand? Or tens of thousands?
Looking at so many people, Lin Jiu'an couldn't help but smirk slightly.
"What are you laughing at? Time's up, hurry up and go up!"
Having been escorted all the way here, the knight had grown a bit bolder and shoved Lin Jiu'an on the shoulder.
They even voluntarily walked onto the execution platform.
Seeing Lin Jiu'an's strange behavior, Frederica felt uneasy. After thinking about it, she laughed self-deprecatingly. In any case, to make an example of him, the trial was necessary.
Even though the opponent could kill the Knights Captain in a one-on-one situation.
But just in case, there are at least two captains here. Unless the other party has the strength of Grand Master Falgar, what can he possibly do?
Lin Jiu'an stood on that high platform.
The sun is just right.
The church's elderly pastor stood on the platform and loudly recounted the 'sins' he had committed.
Lin Jiu'an listened for a while and then found it rather boring. It was the same old trick. The crime of massacring the Fenghua Mansion was not so important. They were just throwing the blame for their own crimes onto him.
However, he felt the increasingly hateful gazes of the Mondstadt people who had traveled from afar to witness the trial.
Those loud, swearing words.
Lin Jiu'an suddenly realized that being framed was actually a very interesting thing.
Because of the sheer number of crimes, the elderly pastor spoke for over half an hour before finally recounting all of Lin Jiu'an's 'crimes.' Feeling the gazes of the ignorant people below, who looked at Lin Jiu'an as if he were their father's killer, the pastor was extremely satisfied.
He had even pinned some of his own misdeeds, such as the death and disappearance of a little boy, on Lin Jiu'an, and no one noticed anything amiss.
This gave him an unprecedented sense of peace.
He had been tormented by guilt for a long time for fear of being discovered and ruined, but with Lin Jiu'an's death today, all the blame will fall on Lin Jiu'an.
"Are you finished?"
The elderly pastor instinctively replied, "That's all."
After he finished speaking, he suddenly realized something was wrong, turned around to look at the speaker, and saw Lin Jiu'an smiling brightly.
"Now that you've finished speaking, it's my turn."
Chapter Twenty-Nine: This is Mondstadt!
Lin Jiu'an's voice wasn't loud; it was just loud enough for the elderly priest and a few knights nearby to hear.
And just then.
"and many more!"
With the help of the wings of wind, the golden figure flew from a high place onto the stage.
It was firefly.
Ying was holding a woman in her arms.
Lin Jiu'an recognized the woman as one of the pitiful women he had casually rescued in the casino. Realizing something, he smiled mockingly.
Things went as he had predicted.
The woman was from Mondstadt. She was kidnapped and sold into a casino when she was just over ten years old while playing in the street. Ying brought her here to expose the crimes they had fabricated against her.
"Moreover, he came to Mondstadt with me, and we've only been there for a little over a month."
"How could he have committed so many crimes from so long ago?"
The argument is clear and logical, and although there is no evidence, it is much more reasonable than the church's fabricated charges.
However, after Ying finished speaking with the woman, she noticed that the people's reaction was unusually indifferent. There were even some mocking voices in the crowd, saying things like, "They're in cahoots with Lin Jiu'an," and "The Knight of Honor isn't any better."
Some people in the crowd even publicly recounted their 'personal experiences,' describing the various evil deeds Ying had committed during this period.
Looking at Ying, who seemed somewhat bewildered, and the crowd of people who were stirred by the tearful narration of their 'fellow travelers', Ying looked on with amusement.
Frederica's lips curled into a slight, disdainful smile.
They had known for some time that Ying was returning to Mondstadt, and they had long guessed that Ying would bring those women to the execution ground to prove Lin Jiu'an's 'innocence,' so they were already prepared.
People are like this; they will always believe in their own people and hate those in power. As long as you plant some people in the crowd and stir things up a little, you can easily make them hate those they envy.
"Indeed, all crows under the sky are black."
A middle-aged knight stepped forward with a cold smile; he was the acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, succeeding Jean.
The middle-aged knight declared righteously, "I hereby declare that Ying's 'Honorary Knight' title is revoked."
"Put down your weapons and surrender."
Ying was caught off guard by this sudden reversal.
How come Lin Jiu'an couldn't be saved and suddenly some people started slandering her, and so many people believed it without any evidence? Now she's about to be arrested?
"Hahahahaha!"
Are you guys trying to kill me?
The man's voice, which he could no longer suppress, carried clearly through the empty square.
Everyone turned to look in the direction of the sound.
On the execution platform, Lin Jiu'an's face was full of smiles, with a strong sense of mockery, just like a guest watching a circus performance who was amused by the clowns' wonderful acting skills, and even laughed until tears came out.
"Stubborn!"
The middle-aged knight looked somewhat embarrassed.
Lin Jiu'an ignored him and looked at Ying with a smile, saying, "How come it's been so long? Have you always been this naive?"
Ying felt a little wronged; she always felt that Lin Jiu'an actually meant to say that she was stupid.
"Watch closely, I'll only demonstrate it to you once."
Lin Jiu'an's body vibrated with wind element, and the shackles on his hands and feet instantly turned into powder.
He reached out and grabbed the old pastor's shoulder. With a sickeningly loud sound of flesh being torn apart, everyone was horrified to see that the old pastor's shoulder had been ripped off by Lin Jiu'an.
"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!"
Until the old pastor's pitiful, pig-like screams filled the entire square.
Only then did everyone react.
Screams of terror rang out one after another.
Frederica frowned slightly at the sight, but quickly relaxed.
She had seen plenty of bloody scenes, and Lin Jiu'an's behavior was within her expectations. She had been suspicious of how easily he was caught, so his sudden outburst was also to be expected.
On the contrary, everything was still within her calculations.
Lin Jiu'an's public behavior undoubtedly put him on the opposite side of the Mondstadt people. The crimes that were forcibly attributed to him and could not stand up to scrutiny would no longer be questioned. In addition, they had arranged a number of captain-level knights in the vicinity in advance.