Chapter 329: The Reason for Revenge

After driving in tense silence for a few minutes, Rudy glanced in the rearview mirror. "Would you guys like to listen to some music? I can turn on the radio. You can just tell me to change the channels if you do not like the songs."

"That sounds wonderful," Balzac responded lazily, kicking his boots up slightly.

Rudy turned on the radio, filling the car with soft, classical music.

Solomon was incredibly confused. ’Why is this interrogator suddenly acting so overly friendly with us? Is this some sort of trick for us to let our guard down? Or maybe his acquaintances are waiting to ambush us somewhere?’ he wondered, glaring at the back of Rudy’s head. ’And why is Balzac completely relaxed and not cautious around him at all?’

About half an hour later, Rudy pulled the luxury car over near a bustling transit station on the outer edge of District Six, safely dropping the two of them off before driving away.

Solomon and Balzac walked down the crowded pavement of District Six. Even though a prominent guild had been completely destroyed in this district just last night, there was absolutely no change in the city’s atmosphere or its public. The civilians went about their daily routines as though they couldn’t care less.

However, the news of the Six Savers guild’s real estate scheme, courtesy of Paul’s viral video, was currently the hottest topic of conversation on every street corner.

As they walked past a bustling cafe, Balzac suddenly broke the silence. "Why did you get arrested on purpose, Solomon?"

Solomon furrowed his brow, keeping his hands stuffed in his hoodie pockets. "If you already knew that I got arrested on purpose, then why did you step in and bail me out?"

"Because they were eventually going to prove that you were the culprit," Balzac responded, adjusting his sleeping mask.

"I made sure not to leave any concrete evidence behind," Solomon argued defensively.

Balzac stopped walking and pointed a finger toward the distant, chained-up, and police-sealed headquarters of the Six Savers guild. "That guild building was riddled with internal security cameras. The footage of a small girl single-handedly slaughtering every single executive and enforcer inside was still actively stored on their servers when I got there. I had to destroy the drives before the cops found them. Otherwise, they would have gone hunting for that girl, and they would have eventually found her."

Solomon clamped his mouth shut. He didn’t say a word in response as they kept walking.

"You are severely underestimating the local officials and the Awakened authorities and their investigative capabilities," Balzac continued, his lazy drawl completely gone. "They can find anyone they want if they are motivated enough. There are countless Awakened detectives working in those precincts with specialized, divinatory talents who can uncover the truth behind erased evidence."

Balzac gave the teenager a sideways glance. "And if anything were to happen to that girl, or if they arrested her, you would have undoubtedly tried to save her. You would have officially become a hunted, international criminal."

A short while later, Solomon looked up. "How did you even get here so fast?"

"It was because of that documentary video your friend posted on the global network," Balzac answered smoothly. "The Live Streaming Academy was tagged with your ’#SoloMan’ hashtag."

"..."

"When the academy administration saw the video and realized what was happening in your home district, the Grandmaster became incredibly impatient," Balzac explained, stopping near the entrance of the local park.

"He sent me here to check on the situation. When I arrived, I saw the Six Savers guild being destroyed by that powerful girl. Then, the terrified man from the video showed up to pick her up on an electric scooter. So, I followed them from a safe distance."

Balzac crossed his arms. "And that is exactly how I ended up watching The BlueYorker’s Shield headquarters explode and collapse, right before I watched you fly out of the inferno and get saved by the girl."

Solomon let out a long, heavy sigh. "So you literally knew everything from the very beginning."

Balzac turned to Solomon with a deeply serious, uncharacteristically intense look on his face. "I am going to ask you once again, Solomon. Why did you get arrested on purpose? What exactly was your grand plan? I am not asking to know why you blew up those guilds. I am asking why you intentionally surrendered to the cops. Was it just some kind of sudden change of heart? Did you feel guilty and decide to turn yourself in?"

Solomon stayed quiet for a long moment, staring at the grass. "I did it to fulfill the final part of my revenge."

"And what was that?" Balzac asked. ℴ

"When The BlueYorker’s Shield guild was originally sued and taken to trial for the dungeon tragedy three years ago, the legal team behind that trial was completely rigged," Solomon explained, his voice turning cold. "The jury, the presiding judge, the lead prosecutor, the defense attorney... everyone who passed the final verdict of innocence. It was a coordinated team of twenty-seven corrupt officials."

Solomon paused. "And there were three major corporate investors pulling the strings behind them. So, a total of thirty names."

"I planned to kill every single one of them," Solomon confessed, looking directly at the professor. "Because they were all equally corrupt and completely complicit in covering up the murders of two hundred honest adventurers."

Balzac stared at him, his expression unreadable. "Would you have actually stopped after that?"

Solomon blinked, confused by the question. "What do you mean?"

"Why would you choose this convoluted path?" Balzac asked, stepping closer. "Why not just hunt them down one by one in the dark, if you already knew all their names and faces?"

"It is incredibly hard to track down thirty high-profile government officials and corporate billionaires," Solomon responded logically. "Knowing their exact daily locations would have taken months of surveillance, and it required way too much logistical planning. I only had a few days of leave from the academy."

He immediately added. "Not to mention, if they learned that someone was assassinating the people involved in that trial, the survivors would have immediately gone into hiding or surrounded themselves with S-rank bodyguards, making it completely impossible to find them."

"So you were hoping to get arrested, gather them all in one single courtroom for your own trial, and kill them all at once?" Balzac asked. "That was completely impossible to begin with. They do not all work in the same district. oh by the way, the three investors you just mentioned were killed by that girl in the sixth saver guild, so I guess that’s three less people for you to kill."

"I was going to take the courtroom hostage, make specific demands, and force them to bring everyone to me," Solomon answered stubbornly.

Balzac was genuinely surprised by the sheer madness of the plan. "Were you actually planning to slaughter government officials in front of the entire world, broadcasting your crimes to the public, and proving them right that you were a terrorist? Did you not think about what would happen to you, or your family, afterward?"

Solomon chuckled bitterly. "That was my original plan. And no, I did not care what happened to me afterward. But... I changed my plans."

He looked away, his silver eyes softening slightly. "I remembered my new life at the academy. I remembered my friends, my chat, and... Lune. I realized I actually have things I want to go back to now."

Solomon kicked a pebble across the pavement. "Perhaps my plan was destined to fail from the very beginning. Everything went completely sideways when I unexpectedly ran into the Good Life financial company and the Six Savers guild’s real estate fiasco. Dealing with that distraction took up way too much of my time."