Chapter 800 - Sophistry, and Divided or United
Stephanie immediately did as he said.
Stacy and Artemis couldn’t help but glare at the traitor. Didn’t they say that they would show the wizard who was boss when they saw him? She was acting like a dog.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t think of a way to give Stephanie a reminder, and could only follow her.
After he sat down, Luke looked at the three girls and said, “Don’t be polite, sit wherever you like. Butterfly, give them each a glass of ice water.”
Butterfly said, “Yes, Great Wizard.”
Looking at the three girls who had yet to sit down, Luke nodded. “You can stand if you want. Let’s get down to business.”
“Butterfly has reported the results of your recent training. It seems you’ve all been working hard.” He leaned back to make himself more comfortable. “So, I’m here to give you a small reward.”
Looking at the strange smiling face mask, Stacy couldn’t help but say, “Don’t pretend to be a good person! We don’t want any reward. What we need is freedom.”
Luke chuckled and shook a finger. “No, Miss Stacy, you’re mistaken. I never said that I’m a good person, nor do I need to pretend to be one in front of you.”
Looking at Stacy’s ugly expression, he continued to attack her. “And you’re not good kids. It’s a waste to give you freedom. In any case, if you continue to do whatever you want, you’ll sooner or later be sent to a special prison or some secret lab. At that time, you won’t have any freedom anymore.”
Stacy was angry. “It’s none of your business.”
Luke folded his arms and said, “I’m sorry, but I’m not a member of Child Protective Services. You have no right to refuse my supervision, nor do you have the ability to refuse it.”
As he spoke, he looked at the twins. “Besides, Miss Stacy, you also don’t have the right to decide for them.”
Stacy immediately retorted, “The three of us have always been together, and we’ve always worked together.”
Luke chuckled. “Ladies, please tell me, are you really willing to unconditionally support Miss Stacy’s every decision, including running the risk of being caught by special divisions in the future and continuing to do all sorts of illegal things?”
There was a cadence to his British accent as his voice turned gentler and less aggressive, like a kindergarten teacher talking to a kid.
Stephanie’s lips moved, but she finally stopped herself from saying anything. She lowered her head and didn’t say anything.
Her sister Artemis subconsciously shook her head. “I don’t want to rob anymore, and I don’t want the police to…” She suddenly stopped and covered her mouth in shock.
She didn’t know why she would say what she was thinking.
Stacy’s face turned pale when she turned to look at her. “Art, you…”
Luke interrupted her. “You have your own wishes, and want to do whatever you want. They have their own thoughts and don’t want to become criminals. They listened to you before, so why can’t you listen to them now?”
Naturally, he wouldn’t give them a chance to communicate with each other.
When he had successfully hypnotized the three girls last time, he had given the twins a mental suggestion.
His question just now had been a mental cue for the sisters to boldly say what they thought.
The older sister, Stephanie, was a little weak, but she was also more considerate. In the end, she didn’t say anything.
Artemis, on the other hand, was so straightforward that her true thoughts were instantly exposed.
In the face of his question, Stacy opened her mouth but didn’t know how to answer.
If it wasn’t for Luke, who was an outsider, she would’ve been able to convince them to listen to her.
But Luke suddenly pointed out the issue of dominance and placed it on the table.
She couldn’t yell that she was the smartest and best, so the twins should listen to her, right?
There was an even smarter and more capable person in front of them who had caught all three of them.
“Whether you’re friends or sisters, you have no right to ask them to commit crimes at the risk of being imprisoned or even death,” Luke said unhurriedly. “Otherwise, this friendship is worth less than dog sh*t. At the very least, dog sh*t can be wiped away, but this selfish friendship will tie them down, and danger and crime will accompany you for the rest of your life.”
Stacy was sweating. She wasn’t an idiot.
Luke was simply saying that the three girls were equals.
They should decide what to do and what not to do together.
If she dared disagree, she would have no leg to stand on, because Luke had already defined this as selfishness.
In fact, it was indeed selfish.
It was hard to say that blindly asking your friends to help you and insisting that you were always right wasn’t selfish.
Luke, on the other hand, chuckled inwardly. She really was a kid! How many people weren’t selfish? Those who weren’t had to be saints.
He had never minded admitting that he was a selfish person.
But if he wanted something, he would start with mutually beneficial conditions. He wouldn’t force them, nor would he use friendship to “blackmail” his friends.
No friendship could withstand such endless extortion.
Making the other party feel that it was more beneficial to listen to his advice made it easier for them to maintain a deeper friendship.
Dustin, Elsa, Elizabeth, and his other colleagues in the police department had all benefited from their interactions with Luke, and step by step he had built up friendships.
It was hard to maintain an empty friendship.
Actually, Stacy wasn’t that bad.
It was also because of the side effects of Elementary Replication that she was more outgoing and forceful. She naturally took the lead in this girl group.
If she was smart enough, she wouldn’t be stumped by Luke’s sophistry.
Stacy’s face switched between red and black, and Luke was afraid that she would explode with anger.
Thinking for a moment, she finally said, “But they also don’t want you to lock them up like this.”
Luke chuckled. “I’m not your friend. Why should I ask all of you for your opinion?”
Stacy’s face twitched and she wanted to explode. This wizard was even more shameless than she had imagined.
Luke observed Stacy, who was about to explode on the spot, with great interest, and finally said, “Okay, no more jokes. I’m only giving you one chance to change your fate. It’s up to you whether you want to do it or not. You don’t have to ask for my opinion.”
Seeing that Stacy was about to interject again, he put his index finger to his lips and gestured for them to keep quiet. “You’re talented enough, and you don’t need to rely on crime to survive. So, I’m investing in you in advance, which will perhaps produce generous returns in the future.”
The three girls looked at each other.
They already had no family, and had been living on the streets as they swindled people to get by. Nobody had ever talked to them before about such a serious topic.
