After saying this, he walked forward under the soldiers' escort, leaving only Dr. Mei behind with a thoughtful expression.
The Moth to Fire also had its own court. It simply was not normally used, and would only be opened when a member of the Moth to Fire committed a serious offense.
Generally speaking, most cases concerned matters on the battlefield. This seemed to be the first time they had ever put a scientist on trial.
After all, everyone knew that the Moth to Fire's scientists were more or less a little unhinged. If they truly put them all on trial, not a single one would escape.
Ai Yue soon sat down in his assigned seat. Yet in the enormous courtroom, aside from him and the soldiers guarding him, there was not a single living person. Everywhere he looked, there were only projections so blurry that merely their forms could be seen.
A Cyber Court? How interesting.
The more Ai Yue looked, the more he could not help laughing.
"Be serious!"
The Moth to Fire's court had no judge. Or rather, so long as someone belonged to the decision-making body, anyone could be a judge. Thus, the layout resembled an auditorium more than a courtroom.
Ai Yue's seat was right in the center. In front of him, several rows of chairs were arranged in a fan shape. The very first row had only five seats, clearly reserved for representatives of the most powerful forces.
The projection in the middle, who had just told Ai Yue to be serious, paused before continuing, "Ai Yue, do you plead guilty?"
"I don't understand what crime I've committed," Ai Yue said calmly. "I just killed the Eighth Herrscher, who threatened the safety of human civilization."
"You controlled the global network through Artificial Intelligence. That behavior itself constituted a threat to humanity!"
"But I just killed the Eighth Herrscher, who threatened the safety of human civilization."
"You also altered the military orders of several countries, seriously endangering their security!"
"But I just killed the Eighth Herrscher, who threatened the safety of human civilization."
"You even cut off all communication between Moth to Fire headquarters and the outside world, thereby illegally seizing command of the soldiers!"
"But..."
"Shut up!" Faced with Ai Yue's robotic repetition, the other party finally lost his temper. "Even without you, we could have killed the Eighth Herrscher! But the crimes you committed are undeniable!"
"That sounds easy enough, sir." Ai Yue could not help sneering. "Then can you tell me how you planned to locate the Eighth Herrscher?"
The other party was immediately rendered speechless.
To be honest, he still had not even figured out what had happened. Why had the Eighth Herrscher chosen to hide? How had she been found and killed? To them, the entire process was a blank.
There simply had not been enough time. From the outbreak of the Eighth Great Honkai to the Eighth Herrscher's defeat, and then to Ai Yue's current trial, not even forty-eight hours had passed.
Aside from Ai Yue, no one would have connected the Eighth Herrscher with the strange coma incidents reported online. Much less would anyone have noticed that certain content spreading across the internet had caused those incidents, let alone investigated the Eighth Herrscher through them.
"Even so, that is no justification for what you did." Another projection, whose voice was somewhat gentler, took over. "You could have achieved your goal through more reasonable means."
"Of course I could have used more reasonable means, but could ordinary people afford to wait?" Ai Yue shook his head. "Madam, the fact is that I resolved a disaster capable of threatening the safety of humanity worldwide in less than two days. I prevented countless deaths and enormous negative publicity, and maintained social stability and harmony. Yet you treat me as a criminal."
"Of all the Herrscher incidents resolved by the Moth to Fire, when has any of them been handled more efficiently than mine?"
"Stop making excuses." Another projection spoke up. "No matter how eloquently you put it, your actions still endangered the safety of the world. You must bear the consequences."
"Bear the consequences? Fine." Ai Yue spread his hands, a trace of anticipation appearing on his face. "Looks like you can't hold back any longer. Then let me hear the final verdict. Since you say I committed the crime of 'endangering humanity,' the punishment should be death, right?"
"No. Based on the result of our discussions, you will be deprived of your freedom for life. Under continuous, twenty-four-hour surveillance and control, you will continue your research for the development of human civilization." The other party replied, "This is the only way for you to atone for your crimes."
"Atone?" The smile vanished completely from Ai Yue's face. "Yes, someone should atone. But who exactly?"
"Everyone, you just made the wrong choice for the last time."
Ai Yue's voice was icy cold, as though he were the judge passing sentence.
Chapter 71: I Will Judge
"Dr. Mobius, is this really all right?"
While Ai Yue was standing trial, Mobius was busy in her First Research Institute.
Before her lay the Eighth Herrscher's corpse. As the most authoritative scholar in the Moth to Fire—and even the entire world's—field of genetic science, the task of dissecting the Eighth Herrscher's body and analyzing her genes naturally fell to Mobius.
The assignment had appeared on Mobius's phone alongside the notice about Ai Yue's trial, clearly conveying that they did not want Mobius involved in the matter.
After all, Mobius was a famous scientific fanatic within the Moth to Fire, and she was also very close to Ai Yue. It was difficult for the higher-ups not to suspect that she had participated in Ai Yue's plan.
Fortunately, Mobius had been extremely cooperative with the task assigned by the higher-ups. She had even provided evidence claiming that Ai Yue had coerced her into participating in the plan, thereby making it clear that she had cut ties with him.
Yet in the eyes of her assistant, Klein, this behavior was unquestionably strange.
When had Mobius ever cared about orders from the Moth to Fire's higher-ups? Before Ai Yue carried out this series of shocking operations, she had been the organization's biggest thorn in its side.
She had secretly performed a Fused Warrior surgery on herself with a zero-percent success rate. That was not something an ordinary madman could do.
Yet Mobius was being so cooperative under these circumstances. That could only mean she was preparing to blow up something huge for the Moth to Fire—perhaps plotting something no less significant than Ai Yue's plan.
"Hmm? What are you talking about?" Mobius focused her gaze on the Eighth Herrscher's chest without looking up. "Hand me the forceps."
"Of course I'm talking about Dr. Ai Yue." Klein passed her the forceps. "I know you must feel terrible about Dr. Ai Yue being put on trial, but please don't do anything foolish because of it..."
"What foolish thing? What are you talking about?" Mobius searched through the chest cavity for a while before looking up at Klein. "Klein, your brain isn't suited to thinking about these things. Just focus on what's in front of you."
"As for Ai Yue..." The corners of Mobius's mouth curved beneath her mask. "It's hard to say who is really on trial."
"Dr. Mobius!"
At Danzhu's voice, two figures entered the operating room. Danzhu handed over the bag in her hand. "These are the scan results. Please take a look."
Mobius accepted the bag and removed several black medical films. She held them beneath the operating light and soon smiled. "Just as I thought."
"Thought what?" Klein asked instinctively.
"Nothing." Mobius put the scan results back into the bag. "Danzhu, lock this thing away. Don't give it to anyone, no matter who comes."
After saying this, she bent down again and immersed herself in the dissection.
The smile at the corner of her mouth, however, grew more and more pronounced.
Neither dissection nor scanning had revealed the Herrscher Core that should have been inside the Eighth Herrscher's body.
So where should that thing be now?
"Watch your attitude, Ai Yue!"
Hearing Ai Yue speak so arrogantly, the projections expressed their displeasure one after another. The leader could not help pounding the table. "Don't forget your status. What right do you have to say such things?"
"Look at you. You're not even willing to call me Doctor." Ai Yue shook his head slightly. "I know. You've grown accustomed to being high and mighty, believing that you control the future of civilization and refusing to let anyone defy the rules you set."
"But what are you really?" Ai Yue continued leisurely. "You're nothing more than a pack of dogs that caught the scent of meat. You want it badly, don't you? A super Artificial Intelligence capable of overturning the world order?"
"That is a project product you are obligated to hand over!" the projection said angrily. "Don't forget who provided the funding for your research!"
"Of course I haven't forgotten. Wasn't it paid for with the taxes collected from people all over the world?" Ai Yue looked puzzled, then suddenly enlightened. "Oh, I see. Have you gentlemen mistaken that money for your own?"
"Ai Yue, you..."
"Am I wrong?" Ai Yue interrupted him directly, then shook his head. "Sorry, perhaps I've gone off topic. What I really wanted to say is—I'm truly disappointed."
"All this time, I've restrained myself. I wanted to become someone worthy of the light, so that in the future I would have the qualifications to wield that power." Ai Yue paused and spoke slowly. "So although I knew people like you were not worth hoping for, I still gave you chance after chance."
"But you've truly disappointed me." Ai Yue sighed, deep exhaustion showing in his voice. "People can pursue profit, but they must not pursue profit alone. The most important thing right now was clearly handling the aftermath of the Eighth Great Honkai, yet what were you doing? Arguing with one another over profit and pinning the crime of 'endangering humanity' on me!"
"Was it really humanity I endangered? Or was it the profit you were clutching so tightly?"
"Ai Yue, watch your words!" one projection sternly warned. "We spared your life because of your contributions to humanity!"
"Wasn't it so you could squeeze out the last bit of my value?" Ai Yue retorted with a cold laugh. "I would rather you sentenced me to death. At least then it would prove that, when faced with an unstable factor capable of threatening civilization and willing to do so, you still possessed the resolve to sacrifice profit for the greater good!"
"But you don't even possess that!" Ai Yue finally roared. At that moment, he seemed to cast off every burden and reveal his true self before those false projections. "Congratulations. You've successfully made me abandon the thing I valued most!"
Ai Yue took a deep breath and raised his right hand.
In his palm, a crystal radiating brilliant light released an energy fluctuation so terrifying that, the instant it appeared, all sound vanished from the courtroom.
The Herrscher Core of the Eighth Herrscher. With it, one could temporarily grasp the authority over consciousness.
"Now, all of you, kneel." Ai Yue spoke each word clearly. "Then worship me as the supreme god in your hearts."
In the ensuing silence, all the projections, along with the soldiers standing behind Ai Yue, slowly knelt on the ground.
They lowered their once noble and arrogant heads, offering their purest faith to the world's new god.
Chapter 72: Thinking Any Further Would Do None of Us Any Good
Outside the courtroom, Dr. Mei and all the members of the Fused Warrior squad were waiting.
When Vill-V arrived, she saw a group of people standing outside with tightly furrowed brows, while others paced back and forth.
"What's with all of you?" Vill-V greeted them, a strange look on her face. "You don't look like you're waiting outside a courthouse. You look more like you're waiting outside a delivery room..."
"That might actually be about right. Either way, the worst-case scenario is that none of us can keep our lives..." Cosmo had only gotten halfway through his sentence when everyone gave him a death glare. He quickly lowered his head. "Sorry, I was joking."
"Vill-V, come over here for a moment." Dr. Mei then led Vill-V to a quiet corner. "What exactly did Ai Yue plan with you? You seem to know much more than I do."
"Nothing. I just followed his instructions. It should be the same for you—we were simply each responsible for different parts." Vill-V shrugged, looking relaxed. "Don't worry. Would someone like him do anything without confidence? He isn't even willing to accept a one-percent risk. How could he casually place his life in someone else's hands?"
"I was worried about him at first too, but now I realize I may have been wrong." Dr. Mei sighed, her eyes filled with complicated emotions. "Ai Yue was probably arranging this scene from the very beginning."
"Ah, you figured it out?" Vill-V was stunned for a moment before continuing. "Sorry. Ai Yue actually told me about it before he locked down the Moth to Fire's internal network, but I didn't tell you then."
"No. The real plan didn't begin at that point." Mei sighed, her tone impossible to distinguish as admiration or fear. "From the moment Ai Yue used a patent to win Kalpas's freedom, he was already laying the groundwork for today. But why?"
First, he had shown weakness to the powerful figures through Kalpas's affair, presenting himself as soft and easy to bully. Then, through Prometheus's abilities, he had demonstrated his value, causing those above to mark him as prey. Finally, he had bought time with his own stalling, giving those who came later a chance to muddy the waters, and then used Vill-V's "betrayal" and suggestion to guide them toward choosing a trial.
In this way, a hunting ground belonging solely to Ai Yue had been created by the prey themselves.
Even the timing had been perfectly calculated. Dr. Mei was certain that Prometheus had not lifted the network blockade for everyone simultaneously. Only by making some people believe they had seized the initiative could he ensure that they would rush straight to the Moth to Fire, trying to claim all the benefits for themselves before they had time to consider the suspicious details.
When the later arrivals "received the news" and entered the scene, they muddied the entire situation. By then, no one had the time or inclination to care about those issues anymore.
Yet this still failed to answer the final question in Dr. Mei's heart: how exactly would this hunt end?
Gathering everyone together would lead to one outcome: after all the factions fought among themselves, a balance would eventually be maintained. Under such circumstances, Ai Yue would probably not be in mortal danger, but he certainly would not end up well either. From Dr. Mei's perspective, she did not believe Ai Yue would settle for such an outcome. He must be plotting something more.
But the powerful figures at the top would not personally appear at the Moth to Fire. That meant conventional methods were meaningless against them. Even if Prometheus's performance surpassed its era, it would be difficult to kill them all through a network connection. Moreover, killing them alone would be pointless. The forces behind them could simply replace them with a new batch of people.
The key to breaking the deadlock that Dr. Mei could think of was the Eighth Herrscher's authority.
A Herrscher who toyed with consciousness could influence every corner of the world through the network. Under these circumstances, such power was virtually invincible.
It could even be said that this hunting ground had been prepared for the Eighth Herrscher's authority.
But if Ai Yue had truly planned this hunt long in advance, how had he taken the Eighth Herrscher's abilities into account?
Compared with "Ai Yue being able to master and use the Eighth Herrscher's power in a few short hours," the possibility that "Ai Yue could predict the Eighth Herrscher's authority" was even more terrifying.
Of course, the former was already astonishing enough. But it was Ai Yue, so people had grown used to it.
"You thought of that too?" Vill-V's expression barely changed. She was ultimately a genius no less capable than Dr. Mei, and had naturally noticed something as well. "How should I put it? Perhaps it isn't as exaggerated as you think. After all, this plan could be stopped at any time. Ai Yue isn't an idiot. If he hadn't encountered a suitable opportunity, he could simply have postponed everything."
Compared with Dr. Mei, Vill-V had once struggled in society and had even made a living through trickery and deception. Her perspective was therefore much broader. In her eyes, Ai Yue clearly possessed noble character and had left himself ample escape routes, so the plan did not seem quite so supernatural.
"...I overlooked that." Dr. Mei thought for a moment and was quickly led astray by Vill-V. "That possibility does seem more likely."
She stopped dwelling on whether Ai Yue could predict the future Herrscher's authority. She did not know whether she simply believed Ai Yue was not that supernatural, or whether she did not want to let the question lead her toward even more terrifying possibilities.
Aponia's ability to foresee humanity's destiny meant that humanity had never possessed true freedom in any meaningful sense. If even the existence of Herrschers could be predicted, did that mean the Herrschers—and even the Honkai itself—had been arranged by some order incomprehensible to humanity?
After their brief exchange, the two never mentioned the subject again. Before long, the courtroom doors finally opened.
Amid everyone's expectant gazes, Ai Yue walked out at a leisurely pace.
Looking through the doorway, they could no longer see any trace of projections in the enormous courtroom.
"Is it over?" Kevin was the first to speak. "What was the result?"
"Acquitted," Ai Yue said with a shrug. "I told you nothing would happen. All right, everyone, go about your business."
"Acquitted?" Desdrobia could not help widening her eyes. "How is that possible? With such a huge commotion, it just ended that easily?"
Cosmo also nodded. To be honest, he had already prepared himself to participate in a prison break. The fact that it had ended so peacefully left him a little disappointed.
"Whatever happened, it's good that you're safe." Elysia finally smiled. Although she had encouraged everyone not to imagine the worst, she had not actually held out much hope either. "Oh, right. Since Ai Yue is safe and sound, shouldn't we hold a party?"
According to the Moth to Fire's tradition, every time they defeated a Herrscher, they would hold a party to relieve the soldiers' stress after their long battles.
"Is a party really necessary this time?" Hen could not help complaining. "Aside from that special situation, this was probably the easiest battle I've ever participated in."
"Then let's hold a celebration banquet for Ai Yue..." Elysia quickly changed the name. But when she turned around, surprise appeared on her face. "Huh? Where's Ai Yue?"
"He's already left." Vill-V took over, looking in the direction Ai Yue had gone. "Don't you all feel that Ai Yue seemed a little strange?"
With such a delightful and celebratory result, why did he look somewhat sad?
Before you continue