Judgment Begins

At exactly nine in the morning, the Federal Court officially opened for trial.

Before the trial began, Prisson arrived late, just as Gu Ding had anticipated. Gu Ding finally got to see this guy named Prisson.

The moment Gu Ding laid eyes on him, he almost laughed. Describing his figure with the word "spherical" was truly the most fitting description. His legs, however, were completely disproportionate to his body—thin as bamboo poles and seemingly only about half the length of a normal adult's. In contrast, his arms appeared somewhat long. This bizarre combination of proportions wasn't the end of it; his face was even harder to look at.

His face was covered in flabby flesh, with rolls of fat on his neck stacking upward from bottom to top, making him look like he had three extra chins. His mouth was extremely small, and its color was as bright as if he had applied lipstick—describing it as a "cherry mouth" was no exaggeration. Above that mouth, his nose was absurdly large, three times the size of a normal person's, with a red, bumpy tip. Further up were his mung-bean-sized eyes—"mung-bean-sized" wasn't just a metaphor here; his eyes really were only as big as mung beans. As for eyebrows, there were none to be seen—whether he had shaved them off or never had them in the first place was anyone's guess. Anyway, each of his facial features was ugly on its own, and together, they were a complete eyesore.

Gu Ding couldn't bear to look at him after a single glance and silently marveled at the wonders of the Creator.

"The time's up. Let's begin." Prisson checked the time and urged them on. His voice was effeminate, sending chills down one's spine and making the skin crawl.

Gu Ding nodded at the judge. "It's fine. Let's start first."

Gu Ding hadn't waited for Reed to arrive, but he wasn't worried. That guy Reed, though usually a chatterbox and a gossip who always seemed carefree, was reliable when it counted.

The Chief Judge finally struck the gavel, declared the court in session, and instructed Prisson, as the plaintiff, to read out the indictment.

Gu Ding listened quietly on the side. In his indictment, Prisson not only announced Gu Ding's crime of releasing the wanted criminal Kane but also pinned the system failures of Tianhe Prison Headquarters and over eighty branches on Gu Ding. He heavily emphasized that this was an A-Class crime causing turmoil across the entire star region and demanded an immediate death sentence.

Although the Tianhe Prison system failure was indeed caused by Gu Ding, judging by Prisson's expression, he didn't seem to know the real culprit was Gu Ding himself. He was just trying to shift that part of the blame onto Gu Ding to aggravate his charges.

Gu Ding had been dragged to the Federal Court on short notice and hadn't had time to prepare a defense statement at all.

The presiding judge said to Gu Ding, "If you don't have a defense statement, just say a few words. He said a lot just now—you should have a different opinion."

Gu Ding nodded. "I'll say one thing: if you claim I did all these things, then bring out the evidence!"

The presiding judge bowed his head and summarized both parties' statements, then moved on to the evidence examination process.

Gu Ding had no materials to submit, and Prisson hadn't prepared much either, since he didn't have solid evidence himself.

All the materials were in electronic format. Sea Emperor finished reading them in less than a second and said to Gu Ding, "His so-called evidence is just some videos of prison system anomalies and chaos, along with some speculative text."

After reviewing the materials, the presiding judge raised an objection to Prisson. "Mr. Prisson, the materials you submitted contain no actual physical evidence. If it was omitted, please submit it as soon as possible."

Prisson's face turned pale, and he was about to speak when his lawyer stopped him.

"We haven't prepared new physical evidence yet, but it will be ready soon." With that, the lawyer whispered something in Prisson's ear.

After listening, Prisson glanced in Gu Ding's direction and flashed a sinister smile. He had no idea that everything the lawyer said had been overheard by Sea Emperor.

"That lawyer said getting physical evidence isn't hard. If there's no result in court, the prison can unilaterally apply to detain the suspect for 72 hours until the case is concluded. During the detention, he can use his authority to torture you into confessing and use your fingerprints and iris scans to fabricate fake evidence." Sea Emperor relayed what he had heard.

"Don't fingerprints and iris scans have timestamps?" Gu Ding typed his question on the screen of his wristwatch. Others thought he was just wearing an ordinary civilian smart watch and paid no attention to what he was doing.

"Changing the timestamp is simple—anyone with a basic understanding of the recording program can do it," Sea Emperor explained. "If you don't want to suffer, you'd better win this case today."

They were about to enter the witness questioning phase, but Reed was still nowhere to be seen, making Gu Ding a little worried about his safety. Logically, Reed should have come straight over after breakfast—forty minutes should have been enough—but an hour had already passed.

What Gu Ding didn't expect was that Reed had run into something else.

After receiving Gu Ding's call, Reed hurriedly changed clothes and left. Though he had told Gu Ding not to worry, he was actually quite concerned himself. He grabbed a donut and a carton of milk from a street stall for breakfast, eating as he walked toward the parking lot.

He had only eaten half the donut when he reached the parking lot entrance. His communicator rang—an unfamiliar number. He glanced at it and hung up directly. But two seconds later, it rang again. He hesitated, and though he didn't know who it was, it seemed urgent, so he pressed the answer button.

"Hello, who is this?" Reed stuffed the rest of the donut into his mouth and asked indistinctly.

"Are you Reed?" A female voice came from the other end, sounding quite sweet.

"I am. What's up? I'm kind of busy right now." Reed tossed the remaining half carton of milk into the trash can by the entrance and walked into the parking lot.

"Do you know where Gu Ding is?" The female voice's question caught Reed off guard.

"Who are you?" Reed immediately became wary.

"I'm Pa Ma from the Pharmacy Department of Hai Lan Star Basic Military Academy. I have some questions about potion formulation I'd like to consult him about." The female voice's answer made Reed even more suspicious.

"Sorry, you must have the wrong person. Gu Ding doesn't know how to make potions." With that, Reed hung up. He felt more and more that this situation Gu Ding was in was no simple matter.

Less than three seconds after the call ended, the communicator rang again—the same woman's number. He hesitated but answered, wanting to hear what story she would make up this time.

"Why did you hang up?!" The woman's voice carried a tone of accusation.

"Big Sister, I'm really busy right now. Next time you make up a story, at least check the person's background first. Don't just blurt out something so obviously flawed..."

Before Reed could finish, he was interrupted. "Reed, if you want to get your graduation certificate and enter a higher military academy smoothly, I advise you not to hang up on me and listen to what I have to say."

Her voice sent a chill down his spine. Even Reed, usually bold, was taken aback by the threat. "Who the hell are you?!"

"I told you, I'm Pa Ma from the Pharmacy Department. I didn't expect Gu Ding hadn't told you, his best friend, that he's a pharmacist." Pa Ma's tone finally softened a little.

"Pa Ma... that name sounds familiar..." Reed suddenly realized. "You're that pharmacy professor?! The genius woman who became a B-Grade pharmacist at twenty-two and now serves as an elder in the Tianhe Star Region branch of the Medicine God Alliance?!"

"That's right, it's me! Now are you interested in telling me about Gu Ding?" Hearing the surprise in Reed's voice, Pa Ma's tone carried a hint of smugness.

(Sorry, this chapter was supposed to be coded and posted around 11 last night, but when I set the timer, I realized the internet was down. I called the landlord this morning, and he just came over. I mentioned in the group chat last night that today's update might be late, but some new friends not in the group wouldn't know. Anyway, I'm posting both chapters together so you don't have to keep waiting.)