The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Chapter 81 A Shocking Verdict

The next morning, Yu Qing was still having breakfast when there was a knock on the door.

He instructed Yao Dan, "If it's the neighbor next door coming to take his wife, just tell her to leave."

A moment later, Yao Dan came running back angrily, saying, "Husband, the neighbors have sued us. The people from the Justice Bureau have come to ask us to come to court."

Yu Qing laughed and asked, "What is the Hall of Justice?"

"Xianggong, which is the old-fashioned court. Our neighbors are suing us for illegally abducting people."

Chang'e said, "Ignore it, we're leaving soon anyway."

Yu Qing said, "No, this is also an opportunity. We can use this to fill in some gaps in our understanding of the world today. At worst, we can cause a huge uproar before we leave."

Yu Qing followed Yao Dan to the gate and invited the people from the "Hall of Justice" to come in and sit down. However, they quickly took a step back and said, "That won't do. We can't trespass on your private territory unless we get your written permission."

"I'll go write it for you right away."

"There's no need for that. You should come with us to the Hall of Justice, which is a public place. There we will adjudicate the case against your neighbor for accusing you of stealing his wife."

Yu Qing had only seen court rulings and similar matters in some video materials he had seen when he was a child, so he really wanted to see what they were like in person.

However, Yao Dan whispered in his ear, "They are not human, but humanoid beauties."

Yu Qing was somewhat disappointed. This meant that the trial was conducted by robots according to legal provisions, devoid of any human emotion, and completely unlike the eloquent speeches, tearful pleas, and treacherous schemes he had seen in the videos. It was truly boring.

When Yu Qing and his group arrived at the Justice Hall, the male neighbor was already waiting there. The so-called notary in the Justice Hall was actually a robot judge. She pulled up the surveillance footage from Yaoling's surveillance system and successfully reconstructed the scene of the incident that occurred between the two families the day before.

The matter is very clear, and there is no doubt about it.

Therefore, based on the provisions of Chapter 1, Section 2 of the Yaoling Civil Code, everything within the exclusive territory belongs to the lord, including any items, plants, or animals that enter it for any reason, as well as natural elements such as rain, wind, and light. The notary ruled as follows:

The left hand of Angelica sinensis, from the palm to the elbow joint, is 7.84 cm long and belongs to resident Mo Liang.
The right hand of Mo Ying, from the palm to 2.87 cm below the elbow joint, belongs to the resident Angelica sinensis;
Yu Qing's backpack is 700 centimeters long, of which 363.22 centimeters belong to resident Mo Ying;
The right hand of the humanoid Shu Yan'er, measuring 8.06 centimeters from the palm to below the elbow joint, belongs to resident Mo Liang;
Erlang entered the Mo residence and should have belonged to Mo Liang, but he actively drove him away and returned him to Yu Qing's courtyard, so he still belongs to Yu Qing.
Although Yu Qing's dagger entered the Mo residence, it was not prevented from being returned. In accordance with the principle of the final ownership of items, it still belongs to Yu Qing.

Furthermore, according to Article 183, Section 6 of the Yaoling Civil Code, property obtained through robbery should be returned to its original owner, and the resident who committed the robbery should be fined between one hundred and ten thousand times the other party's losses, depending on the circumstances. The ruling is as follows:
Mo Ying first attempted to snatch the other half of the backpack, which did not belong to her, prompting Chang'e to pull her into her own yard. This constituted forced entry and did not fall into her exclusive territory voluntarily. Therefore, the ownership she acquired was invalid, and the situation should be immediately restored to the state before the snatching occurred.

However, Mo Ying was at fault for the robbery and had no right to demand a fine; and Chang'e suffered no actual loss, so she could not demand a fine either.

This ruling left Yu Qing and his neighbors dumbfounded; it was tantamount to crippling one of their hands. Even more bizarrely, once the ruling was issued, neither party could withdraw their case and both had to comply within three days to uphold the dignity of the law.

Yu Qing's mind raced, because they had fifteen minutes to object to the ruling and provide evidence and reasons.

Their rulings were accurate to two decimal places, indicating that the clarity of the surveillance system here was extremely high, and Yu Qing had no way to overturn their rulings using the scene. But then he suddenly noticed a major flaw and said with a smile:
"Justice, I object to your ruling. Your ruling does not adequately comply with Article 1, Section 2 of the General Principles of Civil Law. In your determination of the backpack's ownership, you violated this spirit." "Please specify where you failed to comply with Article 1, Section 2?"

"Notary, you haven't ruled on the items in my backpack. To whom should those items in my backpack belong? Or how should they be divided?"

"This...is indeed an oversight. We cannot yet accurately determine which side the items in the backpack were on at the time. I hereby declare the ruling suspended pending the results of further investigation, with a final ruling to be made within fifteen days. During this period, neither party is permitted to leave Yaoling."

Yu Qing panicked upon hearing this, realizing that he had just resolved the immediate crisis only to find himself trapped here again!

The neighbor named Mo Liang was also anxious. He hadn't gained anything, and instead, he was about to lose Mo Ying's hand. What kind of situation was this? So he shouted loudly:
“Notary, I believe that your decision to suspend execution without hearing my statement after the ruling violates Article 1, Section 1 of the General Principles of Civil Law, which stipulates that all residents of Yaoling have equal rights to request a ruling and to raise objections to the ruling.”

The notary said, "The reasons given by resident Yu Qing are absolutely irrefutable, so my ruling is fair."

Mo Liang said, "Even so, this violates the adjudication procedure. You must confirm that I have completed my statement before you can make a decision. Now, based on my doubts about your professional competence, I request the Justice Bureau to replace the notary and re-adjudicate the case."

The notary replied, "Resident Mo Liang's reasons are valid. Does resident Yu Qing have any objections?"

Yu Qing said, "I have no objection."

The notary said, "I hereby declare all rulings invalid, and a new notary will adjudicate the case in three days."

Yu Qing and his group, along with Mo Liang, were overjoyed. To the notary's astonishment, they actually shook hands in the Hall of Justice to celebrate their shared victory. Yu Qing immediately told Mo Liang that he would release Mo Ying upon returning home.

Yu Qing knew the matter was over. According to the provisions of Yaoling's "General Survey of Civil Law," if the person requesting the ruling fails to appear in court, they only need to pay a fine of 100,000 RB, and the request will be automatically terminated.

When Yu Qing and his companions returned home, they were all beaming with joy. They immediately packed their belongings, ready to leave. Their neighbors, the Mo Liang family, were also throwing a grand feast to celebrate. When Yu Qing knocked on the Mo Liang family's door from outside their private property, the man inside said, "Don't worry, we won't be appearing in court in three days."

Yu Qing said, "That's not what I meant. I meant that we're leaving here soon, and I'm here to give you this house for free. We've already completed the relevant procedures through Tianyan (a Chinese surveillance system), you just need to confirm it."

Mo Liang said gratefully, "Thank you... May I ask where you're planning to go?"

Yu Qing replied, "Let's go to Jinchengzi first."

Mo Liang hesitated for a moment, then said, "That's not a good place. Jinchengzi is inhabited by winged people; we call them bird people. All flying vehicles are prohibited from flying there..."

"You mean you're referring to his sphere of influence, meaning our cars aren't allowed to fly?"

"That's right, the space only allows birdmen to fly. Twenty miles outside of Yaoling is their territory. Yaoling is a very small place."

(End of this chapter)