Pa Ma did not dare offend Reed in the slightest. Not only was he a genius serum master, but his teacher was Ma Dike—the Tianhe Star Region's only A-Grade Gene Serum Master.
Ma Dike's connections were truly terrifying. He knew nearly every high-ranking figure in the Tianhe Star Region and was on good terms with all of them. Serum masters were a special profession: the Federal Government treated them with great respect, Interstellar Pirates feared offending them, and every other faction scrambled to curry favor with them.
As Ma Dike's personal disciple—and a beauty at that—Pa Ma was somewhat less popular than Ma Dike, but not by much. The circles she usually moved in consisted mostly of high-ranking Federal Government officials. She could probably ruin someone's future with a single sentence.
After cautiously answering several questions Pa Ma had asked, Reed finally told her that Gu Ding had been sent to the Federal Court. By then, they were already more than twenty minutes behind schedule.
"I'll go with you. I've heard of that Prisson guy too. His reputation is terrible, and he holds grudges fiercely. I've heard people mention his feud with Kane before. It was actually nothing serious. But now that Kane has escaped, Prisson has shifted all his hatred onto Gu Ding. Gu Ding is definitely going to suffer. If the interrogation ends without a result, he'll probably request to have Gu Ding detained in prison and then torture a confession out of him." Pa Ma had spent some time among the upper circles of the Federal Government and had heard of certain unspoken rules. She was worried that Gu Ding would be subjected to such treatment.
"Then I'll go first. Get there as soon as you can too. With you speaking up for him, Prisson probably won't dare act recklessly." Reed immediately grew nervous. As a Senior Lawyer, he had heard of some of the unspoken rules in the field, even if he had never witnessed them himself. He had not considered that possibility before because he had been confident that he would win the case. But after Pa Ma brought it up, he began to worry about Gu Ding.
He started the car and headed straight for the Federal Court. As a Senior Lawyer, he had handled thousands of cases, so he was naturally familiar with its location.
It took him only about twenty-five minutes to reach the court. He looked down at the time on his wristwatch and found that he was still twenty minutes late.
As he pushed open the doors to the Federal Court, he happened to hear the presiding judge say, "All right, bring in the first witness."
Quite a few people turned toward Reed at the sound of the door opening. He calmly walked to the lawyer's seat beside Gu Ding. "Sorry, something held me up. I'm late."
"You're Reed?!" Prisson's lawyer's expression immediately turned extremely ugly when he saw Reed. Clearly, he knew him.
"You're Prisson's lawyer?" Reed smiled indifferently. He seemed not to recognize the man, nor did he think much of him. "All I can do is wish you good luck."
"So Mr. Reed is your lawyer." The presiding judge nodded slightly when he saw Reed. Clearly, he was already quite familiar with him.
"Who is this kid?" Prisson asked in a low voice.
"His name is Reed. He's the only Senior Lawyer on Deep Sea Star and a Super VIP member of the Tianhe Star Region Law Association. He obtained his Senior Lawyer certification at fourteen, setting a record for the entire Tianhe Star Region. Even across the whole Universe Country, he ranks among the top ten. He hasn't handled many cases, only a little over five hundred, but he has never lost a single one," the middle-aged lawyer explained in a lowered voice.
The presiding judge struck the gavel again, signaling for the lawyers from both sides to begin questioning the witness.
The moment the first witness entered, Gu Ding and Reed could clearly see that he was in poor mental condition. He looked as if he had not slept well, his eyes vacant. The moment he saw Prisson, a clear look of terror appeared on his face.
"This guy was definitely tortured during interrogation last night." Sea Emperor had noticed the man's appearance as well.
"Wait!" Reed spoke before the other side could ask its first question.
"Reed, do you have another question?" the presiding judge asked with a slight frown.
"Your Honor, I personally believe that testimony extracted through torture is unreliable. What do you think?" Reed stood up and spoke calmly.
"The Federal Court does not permit torture to extract confessions. Testimony obtained through such means will not be accepted by the Federal Court," the presiding judge said with a nod.
"What makes you say that we tortured this witness?" the opposing lawyer immediately objected.
"It's very simple." Reed turned to Gu Ding. "Gu Ding, what do you see in this man?"
"His hands are trembling unnaturally. Yet when he picks up paper, he doesn't dare use any force. He is clearly in great pain. The fingernails on all ten of his fingers are much redder than usual because they were newly grown through cell regeneration fluid, making them relatively thin. Verifying it is simple. Just pinch one of his nails and apply a little pressure, and it will break from the root. However, the reason his hands cannot exert force is not because his nails were pulled out."
"Ordinary flesh wounds can fully recover after soaking in F-Grade cell regeneration fluid for three hours, but bone injuries are not so quick. They need to be soaked continuously for at least three days before healing completely. All ten of his fingers have multiple fractures. After soaking in F-Grade cell regeneration fluid for only one day, the bones wrapped in flesh would only be initially healed. Any slight exertion would fracture them again. Of course, these injuries can all be seen through a scanner. A professional doctor can determine when he was injured from the scan images."
"Also, he has been in the courtroom for less than two minutes, yet painful expressions keep appearing on his face. But the source of his pain is not his hands—it is inside his body. External injuries are easy to heal with cell regeneration fluid, but internal injuries are beyond its reach. To determine whether he has internal injuries, simply take him for a full-body scan."
After Gu Ding finished, Reed gave him a thumbs-up. "Gu Ding explained that very well. Let me add one more point."
"After this witness entered, I noticed a detail. His eyes are vacant, and his mental condition is very poor. While Gu Ding was speaking, I looked up his records and compared them with photographs. Let me read them aloud."
"Bo Lunte, Interstellar Pirate, bounty of 130 million. Convicted of murder, arson, and rape, sentenced by the Federal Government to three hundred and thirty years in prison." After finishing, Reed looked up at Prisson. "A bounty of 130 million was practically the highest in Hai Lan Star Prison, wasn't it, Warden?"
"Before Kane, he was the highest. So what?" Prisson answered carelessly.
"In other words, whether before Kane entered the prison or after Kane escaped, this man had the highest bounty. Then who in the prison would dare provoke him? His current mental state clearly shows that he suffered a severe blow. There are generally two causes for psychological trauma. One is that a person suffers inhuman torture beyond what he can endure, causing a mental breakdown. The other is getting dumped by a woman."
After saying that, Reed paused before continuing, "When he entered the courtroom just now and saw our esteemed warden, he clearly showed fear."
"These are all just your guesses. Show us some evidence!" Prisson wore an unconcerned expression.
"You want evidence? That's simple." Reed nodded. "Then please have the warden cooperate with us."
Prisson did not care what Reed intended to do because he did not believe Reed could make anything of it.
"Warden, please stand where I am." Reed walked directly in front of the witness, Bo Lunte. Bo Lunte merely gave him a vacant glance before lowering his head again without any reaction.
Prisson roughly guessed Reed's intentions now. He tried to put on a relaxed smile and slowly walked toward Bo Lunte.
The moment Bo Lunte saw Prisson, his expression visibly tightened. To him, Prisson's smiling face was ten thousand times more terrifying than his stern one, because Prisson had worn that same smile while torturing him. As Prisson drew closer step by step, Bo Lunte's body began shaking violently. "Don't come over, don't come over... Please... I'll tell you everything..."
Reed spread his hands. "Isn't the witness's reaction enough to explain everything? I would guess that the warden's so-called witnesses are all in this condition."
"Bring up all the other witnesses. Any testimony from those with similar mental conditions will be invalid!" The presiding judge nodded and struck the gavel again.
(The pacing of these recent chapters has been a little slower because the story developed rather quickly earlier. I personally think it would feel better to give everyone a breather before the next satisfying moment. The courtroom segment should be over tomorrow.)
Before you continue