The red spotlight beamed down slowly.
The system's voice, cold yet dispassionate, announced:
> [Defendant No. ⑤: Female, age 26. Former middle school history teacher. Resigned after being reported for "non-compliant educational content." No criminal record. Lives alone.]
She walked up to the platform without shackles, yet something about her posture suggested a weight far heavier than metal.
Shen Yan observed her. There was nothing remarkable at first glance — neat attire, tied-back hair, expression neutral to the point of vacancy.
"What's your name?" he asked.
She raised her eyes. Her voice was soft, nearly dissolving into the air.
"I no longer have one."
"…What do you mean?"
"My students," she began, "one of them reported me for discussing topics like war trauma, authoritarianism, censorship in class."
"You were a history teacher."
"Yes," she nodded. "All I did was tell them what actually happened."
"And then?"
"I was summoned. The media filmed me leaving school — branded me a radical. My students were sent for 'psychological correction.' Parents demanded I write an apology. The school suspended me."
She gave a faint, brittle smile.
"I thought someone would speak up."
"No one did."
Shen Yan looked at her for a long while.
"What do you think of it all now?"
"I think I was naive," she said. "I thought telling the truth was a form of integrity."
"Why are you here then? Seeking pardon… or punishment?"
"I came," she whispered, "to see if truth still has a place in this world."
---
[Shen Yan's Memory · Fragment]
Back in elementary school, someone once asked the teacher:
"Why doesn't the textbook talk about that year?"
The teacher paused, then said:
"Some things aren't suitable for school materials."
I later learned that "suitable" is just another kind of censorship.
Since then, I stopped asking "what's the truth."
I started asking:
"Who's allowed to say it?"
Shen Yan stood still. Not because he didn't know how to decide — but because for the first time, he feared that even a vote would be meaningless.
For if truth itself was treated like a threat…
Then what could justice ever hope to protect?