Reed's Late Arrival

Pa Ma was someone Reed dared not offend in the slightest. Not only was she a genius serum master, but her teacher was the only A-Grade Gene Serum Master in the entire Tianhe Star Region—Ma Dike.

Ma Dike's network was terrifyingly vast. He knew almost every high-ranking official in the Tianhe Star Region and had good relations with all of them. Gene serum masters were a special profession like that—the Federal Government kept them well-supplied, even Interstellar Pirates were afraid to cross them, and countless other forces scrambled to curry favor.

As Ma Dike's direct disciple and a beauty to boot, Pa Ma's popularity wasn't quite on his level, but it wasn't far off either. The circles she moved in on a daily basis were mostly high-ranking Federal Government officials. A single word from her could probably ruin someone's future.

After carefully answering a few questions Pa Ma had asked, Reed finally got around to telling her about Gu Ding being sent to the Federal Court. By this time, he was already more than twenty minutes behind schedule.

"I'll go with you. I've heard of that guy Prisson too—his reputation stinks, and he holds grudges like crazy. I've heard people mention his feud with Kane before. It wasn't really a big deal. But from the looks of it now, with Kane gone, Prisson's shifted all that hatred onto Gu Ding. Gu Ding is definitely in for it. If the trial ends without a result, he'll probably directly request to have Gu Ding sent to prison for torture under interrogation." Pa Ma had been moving in the upper circles of the Federation for a while and was familiar with some of the unspoken rules. She was worried Gu Ding would suffer that kind of treatment.

"Then I'll head over first. You come as soon as you can. With you speaking up, Prisson probably won't dare to act recklessly." Reed's heart suddenly tightened. As a Senior Lawyer, he had heard of some of the unspoken rules in the relevant industry, even if he hadn't seen them firsthand. He hadn't thought about it before because he was confident he could win the case. But now that Pa Ma had brought up this possibility, he was worried about Gu Ding.

He got in his car and sped straight to the Federal Court. As a Senior Lawyer, he had handled thousands of cases and was certainly no stranger to the location of the Federal Court.

It took him about twenty-five minutes to reach the court. He looked down at his watch—he was still twenty minutes late.

As he pushed open the doors of the Federal Court, he happened to hear the presiding judge say, "Alright, now bring in the first witness."

Many people turned to look at Reed at the sound of the door opening. He walked calmly over to the lawyer's seat beside Gu Ding. "Sorry, something came up and delayed me. I'm late."

"You're Reed?!" Prisson's lawyer's face turned extremely ugly the moment he saw Reed. Clearly, he recognized him.

"You're Prisson's lawyer?" Reed smiled nonchalantly. He didn't seem to know the man and didn't seem to think much of him either. "I can only wish you good luck."

"So your lawyer is Mr. Reed," the presiding judge said, nodding slightly at Reed. He was clearly familiar with him.

"Who is this kid?" Prisson asked in a low voice.

"His name is Reed. He's the only Senior Lawyer on Hai Lan Star and a super VIP member of the Tianhe Star Region Law Association. He got his Senior Lawyer qualification at fourteen, which not only set a record for the entire Tianhe Star Region but also ranks him in the top ten across the entire Universe Country. The number of cases he's taken on isn't huge—only a little over five hundred—but he's never lost a single one," the middle-aged lawyer explained in a low voice.

The presiding judge banged his gavel again, signaling both lawyers to begin questioning the witness.

As soon as the first witness came up, Gu Ding and Reed could clearly see that his mental state wasn't good. He looked like he hadn't slept well, his gaze was dull, and when he saw Prisson, his expression showed obvious fear.

"This guy was definitely tortured last night," Neptune said, also seeing the witness's appearance.

"Wait!" Reed spoke up before the other lawyer could ask his first question.

"Reed, do you have a problem?" the presiding judge asked with a slight frown.

"Your Honor, I personally believe that testimony obtained through torture is unreliable. What do you think, Your Honor?" Reed stood up directly and said unhurriedly.

"The Federal Court does not permit the existence of torture to extract confessions. Testimony obtained through such means is not admissible in the Federal Court," the presiding judge nodded.

"What makes you say this witness was tortured by us?" the opposing lawyer immediately raised an objection.

"Simple," Reed turned to look at Gu Ding. "Gu Ding, what do you see on this man?"

"His hands are trembling unnaturally, and when he picks up paper, he doesn't dare use any force. He's clearly in a lot of pain. The nails on his ten fingers are much redder than normal. That's because those nails were regenerated through cell regeneration fluid—they're thinner. To verify, you just need to pinch his nail and squeeze a little—it will snap right off at the root. But the reason his hands can't exert force isn't just because his nails were pulled out."

"Ordinary flesh wounds can heal completely after three hours of soaking in F-Grade cell regeneration fluid, but bone damage takes longer—at least three consecutive days of soaking to fully heal. What he has is multiple fractures in all ten fingers. With only one day of soaking in F-Grade cell regeneration fluid, the bones wrapped in flesh only heal initially. Any slight force will cause them to fracture again. Of course, these injuries can all be seen through an X-ray scanner. A professional doctor can easily determine the time of injury based on the X-ray images."

"Also, he's been in the courtroom for less than two minutes, but his face keeps showing pained expressions. However, the source of his pain isn't in his hands—it's inside his body. External injuries are easy to heal with cell regeneration fluid, but internal injuries are in places the fluid can't reach. To determine whether he has internal injuries, just take him for a full-body scan."

After Gu Ding finished, Reed gave him a thumbs-up. "Gu Ding said it very well. Let me add one more point."

"When this witness came in, I noticed a detail. His gaze was dull, and his mental state was very poor. Just now, while Gu Ding was describing things, I also looked up this person's file through photo comparison. Let me read it out for everyone."

"Bo Lunte, Interstellar Pirate, bounty 130 million. Convicted of murder, arson, and rape, sentenced by the Federal Government to 330 years in prison." Reed finished reading and looked up at Prisson. "A bounty of 130 million—that's about the highest in Hai Lan Star Prison, isn't it, Warden?"

"He was the highest before Kane, so what?" Prisson replied dismissively.

"That means this guy had the highest bounty whether before Kane entered the prison or after Kane escaped. So, I ask you, who in the prison would dare to provoke him? His mental state has deteriorated to this point, which clearly indicates he's suffered a blow. Psychological trauma usually has two causes: one is physical torture beyond a person's endurance, leading to mental collapse. The other reason is being dumped by a woman."

Reed paused for a moment after saying this, then continued, "Just now, when he entered the courtroom and saw our Warden, he showed obvious signs of fear."

"This is all just your speculation. Show me some evidence!" Prisson said with a look of indifference.

"Evidence? That's simple." Reed nodded. "Then please cooperate, Warden."

Prisson didn't care what Reed was trying to do, because he didn't think Reed could pull anything off.

"Warden, please stand where I am." Reed walked straight up to the witness, Bo Lunte. Bo Lunte just stared blankly at him for a moment, then lowered his head without any reaction.

Prisson now roughly guessed what Reed was thinking. He tried to force a relaxed smile as he slowly walked toward Bo Lunte's position.

When Bo Lunte saw Prisson, his expression became visibly tense. In his eyes, Prisson's smiling face was ten thousand times more terrifying than his stern one, because that was exactly the smile he wore when torturing him. As Prisson approached step by step, Bo Lunte began to tremble violently. "Don't come near me, don't come near me... please... I'll tell you everything..."

Reed spread his hands. "The witness's reaction is enough to explain everything, isn't it? I suspect that all of the Warden's so-called witnesses are in the same condition, right?"

"Bring up the other witnesses. If they show similar mental states, their testimony is invalid!" the presiding judge nodded and banged his gavel again.