A Hospital in Another World? - Chapter 245

Summoned?

Questioned?

Regarding the laboratory leakage incident?

Garrett’s face turned pale.

P4 Laboratory had an accident, a Class A, a bunch of Class B infectious bacteria leaked to the outside world, causing the spread of a Class A and a Class B infectious disease, infecting dozens of patients, this…

The legal provisions flipped through Garrett’s mind page by page. Without much effort, Garrett flipped to Article 331 of the Criminal Law:

Anyone who engages in the experiment, storage, carrying, or transportation of infectious bacterial strains or toxic strains, violates relevant regulations, causing the spread of infectious bacterial strains or toxic strains, resulting in serious consequences, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention; if the consequences are particularly serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years.

Am I… considered “seriously” or “particularly seriously” consequential?

How many years will I go to jail?

Wait, in this world, in this Magic Council, are there any relevant regulations? I need a lawyer!

Garrett turned to his followers at home with a pale face. Aurora was also startled and tried to comfort him:

“It’s okay, right? It’s just questioning, it shouldn’t… be too bad, right? If it’s really serious, they should have come to arrest you already…”

The more she said, the less confident she became. For this leakage incident, five members of the review committee personally visited the laboratory, a group of great mages went to the island to study the teleportation array, how many personnel did the patrol teams and law enforcement teams mobilize, Aurora dared not calculate anymore.

“Um, was there any precedent before?” Garrett looked at her anxiously. When it comes to the crunch, he realized that his understanding of the Magic Council was still too little:

“How are magic practitioners who cause trouble like this dealt with? Will they go to jail? How much money do they have to pay? Aurora, have you heard of it?”

Master Worton couldn’t answer for a moment either. He had lived in Nevis City for several years, but relying on his outstanding talent and the favor of his teacher, he turned a blind eye to the outside world and his life trajectory was from home to the Mage Tower, and then from the Mage Tower back home. Rack one’s brains, search hard, and finally remembered a case:

“That… I seem to remember, more than two hundred years ago, there was a great mage who brought something from another dimension, accidentally exploded… at that time, the entire college was implicated, hundreds of young mages suffered. Later, the legendary mages deliberated and sent him to guard the alternate dimension, stationed there for twenty or so years…”

… I don’t want that!

When a great mage causes trouble, he is exiled. If I cause trouble, will I go to jail? I seem to have heard that the Magic Council indeed has prisons…

“Aurora, can you ask your teacher to help plead for mercy…?”

“Don’t worry, the teacher will definitely not stand idly by!” Aurora Worton tried hard to reassure him: “I’ll go find him early tomorrow morning!—But not now, the night train doesn’t run, and I have no means of communication…”

“Oh…” Garrett felt a little down. Aurora dragged him back to the laboratory: “Don’t worry, the review committee won’t do anything to you. The Radiant Lord is watching!”

…Doesn’t that great mage who caused trouble have legendary mages behind him?

Garrett was still a little panicked. He tossed and turned that night, unable to meditate, and couldn’t sleep well. The next morning, he got up early, caught the first train to the mountaintop, and went directly to the Tower of Heaven to wait for communication.

Usually when he came here, whether it was the resting room of the Sub-Tower of Manipulation or the laboratory on the 375th floor of the Tower of Heaven, there was always a place to stay. This time Garrett was nervous, and he didn’t dare to go to either place. He went straight to the 120th floor.

The office was not open, and the conference room was not open. Occasionally, someone hurried past in the corridor, and when they saw Garrett, they all cast strange glances at him. Garrett had no choice but to find a inconspicuous place at the corner of the stairs, squat down silently, and wait.

It was nearly nine o’clock when someone finally came over to attend to Garrett. Two young mages dressed as law enforcement officers, one on the left and one on the right, half accompanying and half escorting, took Garrett into the conference room.

Garrett looked around, there was nothing else in the conference room, only a long table was placed directly opposite the door, with eight high-backed chairs lined up in a row behind it, decorated with gold carvings and luxurious furnishings. Tea, paper, and pens were all properly arranged. If it weren’t for the nature of the meeting, they probably would have even served snacks and melon seeds.

As for himself, there was only a lonely small chair, without cushions, without armrests, and the backrest was only half the height of the opposite one, looking like a student’s chair in a classroom.

… Should I thank you for not installing two armrests and a shield in front of them?

Garrett grumbled and sat up straight. With this distance, this arrangement, he instantly felt like he was being interrogated. When the eight members of the review committee entered one by one, Garrett remained calm on the surface, but he was already drumming in his heart.

“You’re nervous.” The fourth from the left, a middle-aged mage almost facing him, suddenly said. Old Sam immediately turned his head: “Hey, don’t use your tactics on him!”

Several committee members laughed. The prophetic mage, who had shown goodwill towards him a few days ago, smiled and said as he laughed:

“Old Sam, don’t be so protective. ——Detection of thoughts, perception of emotions, spells like these, our faction also has them. It’s not just about enchantment mages who can release them!”

What?

Are they going to use magic against me?

Garrett panicked again. Last time he was hit by a “charming humans” spell face-to-face, and all the painful and dangerous aspects of the surgery came out of his mouth, he still vividly remembered it. As the prophetic mage finished mocking his colleague, he had a stern face and turned to Garrett:

“Mr. Garrett Nordmark. Because of your improper behavior, causing a large-scale plague leakage and causing huge losses to the council, do you admit it?”

“I—” Here it comes! I knew that I wouldn’t be let off lightly by the Magic Council after causing such a big disaster. Garrett’s heart beat faster and he instinctively wanted to defend himself. What came out of his mouth was:

“How much loss?”

“Do you want to hear it?” On the far right of the long table, another mage Garrett hadn’t seen before, smiled and opened a page of paper. “The plague leakage incident ended yesterday, and all losses were not fully calculated until this morning. Since you asked, I will read it to you:

This plague leakage directly

caused 25 people to be infected, including 21 farmers and 4 patrol soldiers. The farmers were treated by you yourself, and Elder Wood, out of consideration for you, did not ask the council for money, so let’s not count that; the cost of divine magic treatment, isolation, destruction of clothing, and related items for the 4 soldiers totaled… 450 gold coins.

Killed and burned 15 war horses, one stable, with a total value of 400 gold coins.”

850 gold coins. Garrett felt a pang of pain and breathed a sigh of relief: although it was a large sum of money, fortunately, he could afford it. Unexpectedly, the great mage continued reading:

“More than 600 teachers and students from three magic academies were mobilized to carry out incineration and disinfection operations. The cost of attendance, even if each person contributes one point per day, for three days of incineration and disinfection, totaled… 1800 contribution points.”

It’s over! Bankrupt!

Garrett’s vision darkened. The great mage smiled and turned another page:

“The production of disinfectant water and bleach involved the 1st to 10th laboratories of the 375th floor of the Tower of Heaven; and 24 laboratories on the 58th to 60th floors of the Mage Tower. Laboratory rent… manpower…

Garrett felt dizzy and weak. Looking to the left, the protection and curse mages were folding their arms, looking like they were enjoying the show;

Looking to the right, Old Sam’s face was heavy, and his eyes showed that he was helpless;

The necromancy mage… hey, necromancy is not good in this regard, with a face wrapped in dry skin and bones, what kind of expression is that, he can’t tell…

Wait a minute, are they trying to make me pay?

If I can afford to pay, there’s a high probability that I won’t go to jail, right? Of course, if I can’t afford to pay… I probably won’t go to jail either, at most I’ll sell myself to pay off the debt…

Garrett’s brain turned a little, and he calmed down a bit. It’s good to talk about money—talk about accident liability, talk about distribution proportions, I’m not the main culprit! Even if I fight for equal responsibility, I can reduce the compensation by half!

It still depends on myself! Garrett struggled to sit up straight and tried to defend himself:

“But the leakage incident was not caused by me intentionally! It was a spy from the Radiant Lord who entered the laboratory, I am the victim!”

“Cough, the direct cause of the leakage incident is indeed the intrusion of a spy.” The protection mage interjected:

“But we all saw it, that spy was just a thief, he didn’t possess powerful magic abilities. He was able to enter your laboratory because the laboratory lacked magical protection!

– We all saw your laboratory, there wasn’t even a magical alarm, all defensive spells were nonexistent, and the leakage caused by foreign invasion is your own fault!”

“It’s not my fault!” Garrett almost jumped up. He raised his head high:

“I didn’t do magical protection, because, the laboratory is in Nevis City! In the heart of the Magic Council! It should have been safe!

– Do other mages have to be punished if their achievements are stolen, causing serious consequences? Does the Magic Council not reflect on its own security problems, but instead wants to punish the victimized mages?!”

I haven’t even claimed compensation yet!

Letting spies run rampant and destroying half of my research results, I haven’t even complained to the Magic Council yet!

The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became tense. The great mages looked at each other, each with a somewhat embarrassed look:

To be honest, blaming Garrett for the spy breaking in and causing trouble can’t be entirely blamed on Garrett. If it were a mage with a hot temper, instead of being summoned by the review committee, he would probably have already gone to the council and demanded compensation.

Forget it, should I tell him the truth?

If I don’t say it, will you say it!

The committee members exchanged glances. In the deadlock, a hurried and hoarse voice suddenly came from the corner of the office roof:

“Nick! Come to the top floor immediately! Large-scale magical reaction! Come up immediately to help observe!”

“Hey! Coming!” The prophetic mage responded, ignoring his colleagues’ gaze, and jumped up to the door:

“Teacher is looking for me! I…I’m going up!”

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