Chapter 824 It Has Nothing to Do with Me

For the Phantom Thieves, the next few days will obviously not be easy.

Goro Akechi's speech on the show naturally caused a lot of discussion, but the most controversial one was obviously Duanmu Ai's ruthless rebuke and ridicule. For a time, the Internet was excited about Duanmu Ai's remarks. Most people thought that Duanmu Ai was too unsympathetic, but some people thought that Duanmu Ai just said what everyone dared not say.

So, what do the Phantom Thieves think about this?

"She is just talking nonsense!"

Ryuji Sakamoto punched the table in anger, indignant.

"We obviously did a good thing, we saved so many people, but she actually said that our existence is meaningless? Shouldn't those people we rescued be saved?"

"Her statement is not unreasonable, but... I don't think most people have the courage to stand up."

Another member who just joined the Phantom Thieves, Yusuke Kitagawa, shook his head.

"So, we need the Phantom Thieves, right?!"

"Ryuji, your voice is too loud."

Amamiya Ren silently reminded, while looking at the screen on TV, the host and experts were still arguing about these issues. Although there was controversy about Duanmu Ai's remarks, they had to admit that such remarks were very bold. On the one hand, you can't say she was wrong, but on the other hand, this is indeed not the kind of view that people can accept.

Of course, Duanmu Ai herself didn't care about it.

At this time, Gao Juan Xing sighed.

"I think... maybe we really did something wrong?"

"What are you talking about?"

Sakamoto Ryuji stared at Gao Juan Xing with dissatisfaction.

"Are you saying that we shouldn't do this? Shouldn't we send that bastard Kamoshida to jail? And Madarame, that liar!"

"That's not what I mean. I mean... think about it carefully. The reason we have to deal with Kamoshida is because we are threatened by Kamoshida, right? The situation at that time was that if we didn't resist, Kamoshida would force us to drop out of school... So we fought against Kamoshida, right?"

"So what?"

"But... after that, I think everyone's ideas seem to have changed, especially you, Ryuji, you seem to think that with this power, we should be nosy..."

"How can it be called nosy? We are fighting for justice! Besides, didn't Yusuke learn the truth and free himself from Madarame because of us?"

"But, what is our purpose? What exactly does the Phantom Thieves want to do?"

Takamaki An also raised her head at this time and looked at Sakamoto Ryuji.

"On the website, everyone wants us to solve the troubles and injustices they encounter. Why? Just because we are the Phantom Thieves? What do they think of us? Ryuji, we risk our lives to do this, but all we get is some gratitude and thanks—they don't even know who we are... I don't think this is right."

"What? Do you mean, we have to charge for helping others?"

Hearing this, Ryuji Sakamoto also frowned.

"No, I just think... our current situation is a little wrong. Those people support us and appreciate us, and we seem to follow their instructions... Just like now, we are also thinking about how to deal with those more famous adults, and then make the Phantom Thieves famous... I don't think this is what we should do."

"What? Are you scared? Do you want to quit? Coward!"

Hearing Takamaki An's answer, Ryuji Sakamoto snorted and spoke. And hearing what Sakamoto Ryuji said, Takamaki An immediately raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, I may be a coward, but I am much better than a fool like you! You have no brain at all and have no idea what you are doing!"

After saying this, Takamaki An stood up angrily and walked out of the family restaurant. Looking at Takamaki An's receding back and Sakamoto Ryuji's nonchalant look, Amamiya Ren and Kitagawa Yusuke looked at each other and then sighed.

How could things turn out like this?

Takamaki An gritted his teeth as he walked out of the restaurant angrily, feeling angry. After making Madarame repent, Takamaki An found that the atmosphere of the Phantom Thieves had become a little strange. They cared more and more about what those people on the Internet said, and were even willing to "sanction" someone through requests on some websites.

Maybe others didn't notice it, but as a model, Takamaki An instinctively sensed the danger. After all, she has been in this industry for a long time, and knows what it means to be praised more and more and fall more miserably. Is it really a good thing to do everything according to the public's wishes?

Takamaki An doesn't think so.

"Tick-tock...tick-tock..."

Just then, Gao Juanxing felt a cold touch on her face. She looked up and saw raindrops falling from the sky. So Gao Juanxing hurriedly put on her hood and trotted to the nearby station. When she took off her hood, she saw a familiar figure not far away.

"Student Duanmu."

"Hello, Gao Juan."

Hearing Gao Juanxing's voice, Duanmu Ai turned around and nodded to her.

"Why are you here?"

"I... was just having a party with other people and was planning to go home now. What about you?"

"Something happened. I just went to the police station."

Speaking of this, Duanmu Ai frowned. She didn't go to the police station for anything else. It was Dot who contacted her, and the reason why she came to the police station was very simple, that is, the fat man who was arrested before was in prison. Dead--the cause of death seemed to be purely physical.

To be honest, this may not seem like a big deal at first glance, but the problem is that according to the clues collected before, there is a big fish behind this guy.

Moreover, Dot also told her that a few days after Fatty was arrested, the apartment where he lived caught fire.

It's hard not to think something is wrong.

Unfortunately, at least on the surface, there is nothing wrong with all this. The autopsy results were normal. The fire in the apartment was caused by a short circuit in the wires. There was no sign of arson. It can only be said that it was quite unlucky...

Originally, Dot wanted Duanmu Ai to investigate by the way, but Duanmu Ai was not interested in adding more workload to herself. After all, she had to go to the subspace for a period of time through TV after returning home every day to conduct investigations, so she naturally had no intention of working overtime on her own.

"That's it..."

Takamaki Anzu didn't know what to say, so she could only respond casually, and then fell into silence. The two of them just looked at the street in front of them. At the same time, heavy rain poured down, hitting the surroundings, and the whole world seemed to be isolated by a rain curtain.

"Classmate Duanmu..."

Takajuan Xing seemed to have mustered up the courage now and looked at Duanmu Ai.

"I would like to ask...what do you think of the Phantom Thieves?"

"Isn't my attitude made clear on the show?"

"That's not what I meant, I meant... What do you think the Phantom Thieves will become in the future? There are more and more people supporting the Phantom Thieves online..."

"after?"

Facing Takamaki Xing's inquiry, Duanmu Ai glanced at her.

"There will be no future. The Phantom Thieves will be finished sooner or later. No matter how many people support them, it will be useless."

"Useless?"

"That's right, like I said, only those who are cowards, who dare not take reality seriously, and who dare not stand up to fight on their own, will support the Phantom Thieves. But cowards are cowards. No matter how fierce they shout online, in reality they are still They have accomplished nothing. Even if I hang the Phantom Thieves in front of them, these guys who call me happy on the Internet will definitely not dare to do anything. "

Speaking of this, Duanmu Ai snorted softly.

"In the final analysis, they just regard the Phantom Thieves as their psychological sustenance, just like Cinderella in the fairy tale. They always dream that one day Prince Charming will rescue them from the sea of ​​suffering - but the reason why fairy tales are fairy tales is because It's unreal. There's no prince on a white horse coming to save anyone unless they're willing to stand up, and if they continue to kneel - then kneel, that's it."

Speaking of this, Duanmu Ai remembered Zorro, a TV series he had watched before. Zorro in it was a character who punished evil and promoted good. Whenever people were abused by the Spanish colonists, he would appear to help the people fight against the colonists. , and left after defeating the colonists.

Of course, at the time, the plot was very enjoyable, but it was useless.

After Zorro left, wouldn't those people remain the same?

The same goes for heroes in martial arts novels. Punishing corrupt officials and saving people may seem cool, but what's the use?

With the hero gone, won't the people still live in dire straits?

If you have the ability, can you lead a group of people to revolt?

For those who have great ambitions to sacrifice, they dare to teach the sun and the moon to change the sky.

If you don't even have this ability, what's the use of living alone like a lone ranger?

Of course, if you can be like D, and one person is more powerful than a city, that's another matter.

But in fact, even D found a lot of people to formulate new rules and order, and then led this team to fight all over the world, thus laying a new foundation for the current civilized society of the human world.

Therefore, Duanmu Ai sincerely despises the thieves and phantom thieves. In her opinion, this kind of thing simply satisfies their own psychology of punishing evil and promoting good, but in fact it does not really bring about any change.

It's like a neighborhood where crime is rampant and gangs are fighting. The so-called hero comes forward, that is, defeats a few gang bosses and stops the gang fighting.

But will this solve the problem?

Of course not. To fundamentally solve the problem, we must provide more jobs for this neighborhood, reduce the unemployment rate, and improve public security. Only in this way can we avoid the emergence of new gangs and continue the fight. Can a hero do this? ? Can Rogue do it? Can the Phantom Thief do it?

It can't be done.

This is why Duanmu Ai said that the existence of the Phantom Thieves is meaningless at all. They can only change individual cases, but not the environment. The inability to change the environment means that a large number of cases will continue to appear, and they will only be exhausted and eventually die of exhaustion.

Like the previous school bullying incident, the teacher involved went in, but what was the use? Without a proper set of rules and regulations to complete the guarantee, who knows how many similar things will happen in the future. Will they all be handled by the Phantom Thieves?

Therefore, it is not Batman, Robin, or Zorro who maintain law and order, but the police.

It can be seen that procedural justice and result justice are equally important.

Duanmu Huai always needs to stamp the extermination order, and the Tribunal has not said that it will label people as heretics without asking any questions.

The procedures should still be followed.

So this is why the Tribunal rarely interferes in the internal affairs of other countries. This is really a long and arduous task, and the Tribunal has no time to do such things. So as long as the other party does not involve heretics, aliens and demons. No matter how cruel the other party's rule is, it has nothing to do with the Tribunal.

But on the other hand, as long as you have a little connection with these three, no matter how peaceful and prosperous you are now, the Tribunal will praise you.

"……………………"

Hearing Duanmu Ai's words, Gao Juanxing was distracted for a while. She didn't know how long it had been. When she came to her senses, she found that the girl beside her had disappeared, and a bus was slowly approaching not far away.

Maybe, I really have to consider whether I should continue to stay in the Phantom Thieves.

Gao Juanxing thought about this question while getting on the bus.

Just as Gao Juan An was worrying about whether she should continue to stay in the Phantom Thieves, Duanmu Ai, who had returned to the office, was twitching as she looked at the big TV in front of her and the indescribable sound coming from it.

"Ah~~ It's so hot~~~ It's so hot~~~"

A young man wearing only a loincloth was posing and twisting his head on the TV screen.

"What should I do with my extremely hot body? Since it has become like this, I have to go deeper... Break in! Let's go!"

While shouting, the psychopath turned and rushed into the door in front of him, and then the TV screen became dark again.

It was not until then that Lumiel tilted his head and looked at Duanmu Ai in confusion.

"Judge, is this late-night TV?"

"Maybe......"

Duanmu Ai helplessly stretched out his hand to press his forehead and sighed silently.

"Obviously, this man should also be someone's soul projection......"

"Are you going to help?"

"………………"

Faced with Lumiel's question, Duanmu Ai was silent for a moment.

"No."

Then she gave her answer.

"I think they can solve this problem themselves - or, in other words, it's better for him to die......"