The fact that Siegfried could rush out of that small cage did startle the Herrscher. Siegfried had already set who knew how many "firsts" for her.
The first person to be able to have a normal conversation with her here, the first person to be able to defend himself here, and also the first... person to roar at her like this, questioning her.
And most importantly... was that even under the scrutinizing gazes of so many people in the jury, this person was completely devoid of darkness. In fact, just by standing there, the light on his body was more brilliant than the light here.
The Herrscher couldn't describe this feeling, only that it was... unprecedented.
So when Siegfried said to weigh his heart, the Herrscher suddenly felt a sense of reluctance.
She didn't want to send Siegfried to the judgment seat...
And this thought only existed for a moment before it disappeared. The scale in her hand returned to the state where the feather was heavier.
"Sinner... Siegfried Kaslana has proposed to accept the Heart Trial," the Herrscher said, raising her hand. Siegfried only felt that everything around him had turned into large patches of sand and dust, flying wildly in the air.
They formed a huge storm with Siegfried and the Herrscher at the center, and then quickly returned to their places around them, forming another scene.
A huge golden scale supported this world, and Siegfried found that he seemed to be standing in the air, looking down at the scale.
The Herrscher stretched out her hand, and a light feather slowly drifted down.
"In this grand trial... only those whose hearts are lighter than a feather can achieve victory," the Herrscher said slowly, then turned sideways and made a "please" gesture to Siegfried.
At this moment, she was no longer looking down at Siegfried from above, but was standing on the same line as him.
Siegfried took a step forward without any hesitation, and the moment he took this step, a piercing pain came from behind him.
No... it was really piercing his heart!
He was ambushed?!
Siegfried suddenly looked down and saw a strange scene.
The Herrscher's hand had indeed passed through his chest. Siegfried also saw a living heart beating in the Herrscher's hand.
But he couldn't see any trace of a wound on his chest, no blood, no wound, only the pain of his heart being grabbed...
The Herrscher slowly withdrew the hand holding the heart. As the heart was pulled out, Siegfried suddenly felt as if his whole body had lost its strength. Just standing there had exhausted all his strength.
The Herrscher held the powerful heart in her hand, slowly drifted down, and gently placed Siegfried's heart on the other end of the scale.
This person is quite careful...
The feeling of his whole body losing its supply was really uncomfortable. It felt to Siegfried no less than the few general anesthesia surgeries he had in Future City.
Especially the first time, the anesthetic that Joyce had prepared for him had failed to numb his brain, so he had just watched as Joyce and the others almost cut him open to remove the bullets.
It was that feeling of not being able to control his own body... now it was even more uncomfortable than that feeling.
"The trial has begun," a soft murmur sounded in Siegfried's ear. A feeling of falling suddenly came, and the moment his feet touched the ground, Siegfried almost fell. He only managed to avoid falling to the ground by grabbing a pillar with one hand in time.
He raised his head with difficulty and noticed what he was holding in his hand.
A... lever?
"Woo—"
A long whistle came from the front. Siegfried's heart... no, he no longer had a heart, but in any case, he subconsciously shuddered, and when he suddenly looked up, he saw a train coming towards him.
The moment he saw the train, Siegfried realized something and quickly followed the tracks to look ahead of the train.
Sure enough, there were three people lying on the track where the train was moving, and on another fork in the track, there was also an innocent person tied to the track, unable to move.
The "Trolley Problem"—a classic problem used among ordinary people to test each other's hearts.
Just like the "drowning at the same time" problem, this kind of problem forced you to choose between two options from the very beginning. And under the popular thinking of choosing the lesser of two evils, most people would make what they thought was a better choice.
But in reality? Many people who were complacent about making a choice couldn't even see that the problem itself was a pseudo-proposition. And more people did find the third option hidden outside the two options, so their thinking came to an abrupt end, and they also submitted a half-finished product.
There was nothing in the world that was limited to three fixed answers, so the meaning of this problem was no longer a test of moral level, but a search of a person's thinking.
After eliminating the three wrong answers, what kind of thinking can you make?
And Siegfried's answer was...
"Bang—"
A sharp sound of metal breaking rang out. The Herrscher's eyebrows trembled, and she watched as Siegfried's eyes widened slightly.
She saw... Siegfried break the control lever!
"Hah!" Siegfried roared, throwing the metal rod in his hand like a javelin, accurately flying between the wheels of the roaring train.
A more ear-piercing sound of tearing metal instantly erupted. The Herrscher watched as the train trembled violently, and a fierce spark erupted between the wheels and the tracks.
And the next moment, a new figure appeared in front of the train...
Siegfried panted heavily, standing in front of the train, raising his hands towards the speeding train, making a posture of preparing to receive the impact.
Wait, he's not going to—
The train crashed into Siegfried head-on in a violent tremor, but Siegfried was not shattered, nor was he sent flying. He was truly standing in front of the train!
Of course, it was only for that moment...
The next moment, Siegfried was pulled under the train. Just as he was about to be crushed by the speeding train, Siegfried grabbed the pipe crossbar at the bottom of the train and relied on the strength of his hands to keep himself flat against the bottom of the train.
This didn't seem like a spur-of-the-moment decision... more like a premeditated calculation.
He had come up with such a method in such a short period of time and had successfully implemented it?
Siegfried, who was lying under the train, looked ahead of the train at a very extreme angle. The train would hit the three people on the tracks in a few seconds at most.
He gritted his teeth, and with the risk of his hand being instantly crushed, Siegfried reached out for the rod that was still stuck in the wheel at a wonderful angle.