Side Story: Hell on Earth
Chapter 128
Witnesses
The lawyer was listening to the second charge in despair as anger, irritation, and resentment pushed his sense of hopelessness to its peak.
Everything had two sides. The bad side was that they were being pushed to the edge of a cliff. The good side was a heaven-sent opportunity; if they won the case on the second charge, they would be like two people jumping into an abyss to find a way to survive in a desperate situation.
Even if he luckily escaped danger, Wan would still serve a life sentence for commercial fraud... but... he could save his life, and the defense attorney would become famous. Litigation history would permanently record his name on the glorious list of achievements unmatched in the past and unmatched in the future.
The lawyer's eyes flickered with a firm determination to recover all principal and interest. The desperate man's resolve was not shaken by his client's fearful, gloomy, and hopeless appearance... however... Wan... did not give up.
This guilty person did not yet know how he would be charged, but he was still determined to fight until the last second of injury time. Wan was frantically resisting to save his life. The obsession of a person afraid of death was a spiritual stimulant, inspiring the lawyer to achieve ultimate victory in this endgame.
The Presiding Judge reached out and took the document of the second charge, reading it aloud for everyone to hear:
"In addition to the crime of commercial fraud, the court also charges the defendant with creating a contagious virus that caused the deaths of countless soldiers and civilians in the "Hive", as well as with treason."
The accusation triggered panic like an explosion. The earth-shattering shock shook the lawyer's spirit. He did not care at all about those soldiers, civilians, and officials. They had originally been silent, but the whole square suddenly erupted in noise, with insults, curses, and arguments arising one after another.
Countless questions also followed, with people questioning Liberte, An, the Great General, the monarch, and the Presiding Judge, who were directly related to this trial. The lawyer stared in stunned disbelief, his eyes rigid and unable to blink. More precisely, he fucking didn't dare blink. He was afraid that he would miss an important detail confirming the truth or falsehood of this matter...
And...
Wan's demeanor revealed his emotions, and he could no longer maintain his composure enough to hide his fear of the death penalty. This sudden heavy blow sank the struggling man into the depths of a whirlpool. The lawyer hurriedly steadied his client's faltering, panicked state of mind, while Wan remained preoccupied with a single problem he still could not explain:
"Presiding Judge and monarch, do you have evidence and witnesses to convict my client of that monstrous crime? The witness An and the plaintiff Liberte indeed saw with their own eyes my client bringing medicine and fruit to the monarch. Those two items stained with my client's blood are also real... but... as for the crime of treason and the crime of creating a virus, without specific witnesses and physical evidence, my client cannot be convicted. We require the Presiding Judge to present evidence and witnesses that can prove the second charge is true."
This lawyer did not need to wait for the prosecution to produce witnesses and physical evidence; Wan's fear that the demon of betrayal hiding deep in his heart would reveal its true form was enough... when the demon-revealing mirror saw through the sinner's heart, the defense attorney was certain that Wan was indeed bold and reckless enough to dare to commit high treason...
But...
His client was knocked down by consecutive heavy blows in the first round. This second battle would be ten thousand times more difficult and dangerous. Crises abounded.
The imminent mortal danger would immediately send Wan's head flying if the charge was upheld, proving that Wan had indeed betrayed his country, sold it out, and spread the epidemic.
Strange...
This wild beast about to be imprisoned permanently... had just been scared to death a moment ago, but suddenly regained calm, with gloating and confidence flashing in his eyes, firmly believing he could appeal successfully. This time, the probability was no longer 1%, but abruptly soared to 99%.
Only...
A 1% variable could send Wan to the scaffold...
And the insidious and crafty demon had already erased all traces left by that variable...
Losing the stain can tarnish someone who has long since ceased to be pure…
Neither the Presiding Judge nor the monarch could twist the truth and pin an unforgivable crime on Wan, yet none of this could prove that Wan had committed treason, lost his conscience, and cruelly caused the deaths of countless people.
The lawyer's confidence in winning this life-and-death battle instantly skyrocketed from 1% to 99.9%.
The Presiding Judge did not want to delay or waste any more time. He picked up the megaphone and summoned the witness to enter the courtroom. Everyone turned toward the main door together. The soldiers and civilians were extremely curious, while the officials held their breath, waiting for the party concerned to reveal the truth of the matter.
The crowd did not yet know who the newcomer was. Ordinary people were confused and puzzled until the monarch, the Presiding Judge, generals and officials, as well as other soldiers and civilians, all showed expressions of excitement, gloating, and schadenfreude. Some even noticed the emotions displayed by the crowd... as if... they wanted to hold a banquet to celebrate. Only then did they laugh heartily, realizing that the guilty man was feeling guilty and afraid that the demon in his heart would be seen through by the demon-revealing mirror.
Wan widened his eyes, the whites covered in blood vessels, at the sight before him—a scene he thought would only appear in detective horror movies… as he stared fixedly at the witness as if… the other person were not human… but… a vengeful spirit appearing to testify to the truth and demand the life of the person who murdered him.
The client's faltering, shocked, and dazed appearance dealt a heavy blow to the lawyer's state of mind. His spirit, which had risen to its peak, was instantly dragged into a hell with no escape by the cruel and shameful reality—he was suffering from his own greed, having acted foolishly merely to gain fame.
A person playing with fire did not need at all to wait for that client who thought he was the smartest under heaven—actually dumber than a dog—to admit… who the witness was; he could guess that the man of medium build, with no special features on his face… except for… an expression full of rage, hatred, and a desire to pounce and eat Wan alive… was… the executioner who would drive the nails into the coffin to bury Wan alive… and… incidentally bury the career and life of this man greedy for fame and fortune.
That person bowed respectfully to the monarch and the Presiding Judge, requesting permission to take a seat at the witness stand. The Presiding Judge nodded and, once the witness had settled in, began questioning him:
"Will the witness state your name, age, identity, position, and occupation?"
That person answered the question calmly:
"Respected Presiding Judge, my name is Malaikat, forty years old. I am a Western pharmaceutical pharmacist, Chairman of the Red Sea Pharmaceutical Group."
The Presiding Judge struck his gavel hard on the desk to quell the clamor breaking out among the crowd. He posed the second question:
"What has been the relationship between the witness and the defendant?"
Malaikat looked straight at Wan, who still locked a panic-stricken gaze on him. This slick, crafty, resourceful man originally had not the slightest vigilance at all, nor had he calculated alternative plans for a variable he had excluded from the very beginning.
Never in his wildest dreams did he expect that the variable he firmly believed had long vanished from the world would actually become the turning point driving the case to its end.
"Respected Presiding Judge, I once negotiated the prices of medical supplies, medicines, and pharmaceuticals directly with the defendant and signed a sales contract with him."
The Presiding Judge asked:
"Did the defendant purchase Class A or Class B goods?"
The eyes in the sea of people were turned one after another toward the witness. Liberte, the monarch, and the Presiding Judge divided their lines of sight into two, one half still closely observing Wan's every move, and the other half focused on listening to that witness's statement:
"Respected Presiding Judge, the defendant ordered Class A goods, as stated in the order documents… but…"
Malaikat intentionally paused, testing Wan with it. A silence of merely one second made Wan's already taut nerves ready to snap at any moment, and only then did he raise his head to reveal the truth:
"The defendant colluded with me to swap them for Class B goods, thereby embezzling transaction funds and seeking personal gain. In that transaction, the defendant also specially placed a medical order for his family. Red Sea at that time did not have the types of medicine the defendant wanted to purchase, and I suggested replacing them with other types of equal efficacy. But strangely enough…"
Wan felt a pang of guilt and was startled, forcing himself to calm down and look straight at the Presiding Judge. The monarch let out a strange laugh. The Presiding Judge showed a faint smile, which instantly froze Wan's panic-stricken emotion of being terrified that the demon in his heart would reveal itself once more.
This time, if stripped bare again by the demon-revealing mirror, that demon's face would be ten thousand times uglier and more disgusting than last time, making it all the more deserving of contempt.
And…
The person who replaced the Goddess of Justice turned out to be Malaikat—this accomplice had transformed into a witness exposing a monstrous crime, unforgivable by heaven and earth and provoking divine and human wrath alike… as everyone heard those shocking, terrifying words:
"The defendant stubbornly insisted that I find and purchase them at all costs. He said that if he did not obtain those medicines, his family members were in danger of losing their lives. He paid a deposit and, besides offering three times the price, also promised an additional reward once the transaction succeeded. At that time, I did not suspect anything in the least; his family members were often sick, so it was normal for him to search madly for a cure. But… upon hearing the Presiding Judge accuse the defendant of committing the crime of virus production, I suddenly realized that this purchase of medicines was shrouded in mystery. Could there be some secret, undisclosed motive behind it?"
The attorney immediately countered:
"I object, Presiding Judge. The witness is beating around the bush to imply that my client is guilty, prejudging him and slapping a label on him."
The Presiding Judge struck the gavel on the desk:
"Objection sustained. The witness is required to stop speaking vaguely and state clearly what he means!"
Malaikat apologized and went straight to the point:
"Respected Presiding Judge, I suspect the defendant purchased those medicines to mix them together to manufacture a virus."
Everyone—from the two insiders, Wan and the lawyer, to the officials, generals, military personnel, and civilians who were not directly involved—thought they had misheard. Tens of thousands of faces simultaneously revealed bewildered and shocked expressions for the first time.
Everyone instantly shifted their incredulous gazes away from Malaikat and turned their heads to look at one another. Without anyone needing to speak, they could also understand each other's meaning—everyone was asking themselves why the witness would ruin his own prospects, dig a hole for himself to jump into, and even want to perish together with the defendant?
Wan felt extremely annoyed at this bastard who wanted to perish together with him. Having narrowly escaped death, Malaikat naturally harbored deep hatred for Wan... but... sacrificing his life merely for revenge was utterly absurd, something he would never even dream of doing.
Malaikat gave a cold laugh, not bothering in the least to argue with Wan, who was shouting that he had been wronged:
"Presiding Judge, the witness is falsely accusing the defendant. I never demanded that he purchase medicine at all costs, and the claim that I mixed medicines to manufacture a virus is perjury he made up. I am wronged."
Wan once again confused his pronouns. Whenever pushed into a disadvantageous position and experiencing psychological distress, he would become agitated to the point of losing his composure.
The monarch and the Presiding Judge were no longer surprised by this. The two calmly observed what happened next. The cunning old fox was waiting for his prey to fall into the trap of its own accord.
Two seconds later… the unexpected turned into a nightmare for the mastermind… when… he noticed the monarch, the Presiding Judge, and Liberte all wearing half-smiles.
Those smiles conveyed neither mockery nor contempt... but rather... absolute confidence that they would bring the criminal to justice that day. Malaikat raised his hand and took an oath before the Statue of the Goddess of Justice:
"I swear that everything I have said is completely true. If any of it is false, I am willing to face legal sanctions as well as punishment from the deities."
The lawyer could not remain silent and hurriedly spoke up to defend his client, attempting to stabilize his emotions:
"I object, honorable Presiding Judge. No conclusion can be reached based solely on one-sided testimony. My client demands sufficient evidence, along with confirmation from other witnesses, to establish that Malaikat's statements are true. Moreover, the witness is clearly making accusations against my client and placing all the blame on him."
Wan was secretly satisfied with the lawyer's rebuttal and his insistence on fairness and transparency. This criminal was still sitting on a stack of firewood that was burning fiercely and unextinguishably... moreover... beneath the cold, sneering gazes of the monarch, the Presiding Judge, Liberte, and even... An—that unfilial, cruel daughter who pushed her biological father into a dead end—the heat of the stack of firewood felt ten thousand times more intense.
Those victorious smiles sent a chill deep into Wan's heart, intensifying his fear of death as though a guillotine were poised above his head.
The Presiding Judge asked Malaikat:
"Objection sustained. Do you have evidence proving that you once colluded with the defendant?"
Malaikat pulled out the written record documenting the delivery and proving the purchase of Class B medicine instead of Class A medicine. The lawyer raised an objection on the grounds that the evidence might be fabricated.
Malaikat immediately pulled out a USB flash drive and handed it to the court staff member. She inspected the video clip, confirmed that it was authentic and had not been edited, spliced, or forged, and then handed it to the Presiding Judge.
"Honorable Presiding Judge and the monarch, stored in that USB flash drive is the evidence of my collusion with the defendant."
Malaikat did not need excessive explanations; everyone tacitly understood the meaning he wanted to convey. The Presiding Judge inserted the USB flash drive into the computer and connected the computer to the giant screen on the wall.
This television was placed beside the Queen Bee emblem hanging in the most prominent position in the courtroom. The footage of Malaikat and Wan conspiring in commercial fraud was displayed on the screen.
The audience had long anticipated this scene. Some behaved very calmly, some turned up their noses at it, while others ridiculed, attacked, and cursed Malaikat for colluding with the criminal to discuss coping plans after the matter was exposed.
The scene that made them furious and made them frantically want to rush forward to tear Wan apart was precisely the scene Malaikat had described: the defendant requesting to purchase the specific medicine he had designated, paying three times the price, and promising corresponding rewards.
The Presiding Judge had to knock the gavel on the table three consecutive times, sternly warning:
"The nature of this case has become several times more serious than it was initially; anyone is strictly prohibited from interfering with the investigation. From now on, regardless of the reason, violators will be expelled from the courtroom."
Tens of millions of mouths instantly fell silent, and countless voices were crushed by the majestic Presiding Judge. He looked directly at Wan:
"What explanation does the defendant have regarding this matter?"
This question, however, bore a personal nature; the lawyer could not step forward to defend the defendant, and Wan was forced to defend himself:
"Honorable Presiding Judge, the defendant heard that three days ago, the son of Malaikat, who inherited the Red Sea Group, had sold all shares to the third largest shareholder. That person became the largest shareholder, monopolizing power, and renamed Red Sea to Petrel. But…"
Wan imitated the tactic of pausing for a beat so that the officials, military personnel, and civilians would have to pay their full attention to his words:
"The defendant is asking himself: what is the real reason the heir chose to sell the shares at this sensitive moment?"
Wan suddenly questioned loudly:
"The defendant asked why Malaikat had not sold earlier or later, but had chosen to sell just as this trial was about to take place."
Wan cast a suspicious, scrutinizing gaze at Malaikat and concluded:
"Fearing that the commercial fraud would be exposed and he would share the same fate as the defendant, the witness and his son had staged a scheme in which the heir sold his shares to dissipate assets, guarding against legal sanctions that could seal off the conglomerate and freeze all assets tied to Red Sea. The group is precisely the key link that connects the criminal network in this case."
Wan was secretly proud of his sharp rebuttal, which he believed was sensible, consistent with the course of events and people's psychological state, and legally sound.
The "Hive" Constitution stipulated that if an asset was sold to another person or transferred through inheritance to a family member or relative before being seized, attached, or frozen because of a dispute or legal issue, it would be placed on a list prohibiting any form of transaction, sale, purchase, or transfer.
If the original owner of an asset had committed a crime but had not yet been formally sentenced, the owner had to prove that the asset was unrelated to illegal activity in order to transfer it to an heir without having it frozen or sealed.
An heir who had committed no crime still had the right to inherit and use the asset according to the law and could also freely buy, sell, and trade it because the inheritance was lawful.
Wan was confident that Malaikat could not possibly prove that the shares were entirely free of legal violations, so that bastard had transferred the inheritance rights to his son. After the shares had been sold off, Malaikat secretly sent his son abroad with the enormous assets, helping him flee.
That lawyer had no interest in this kind of mutually destructive scheme—one in which a person would die and drag the other down to hell as well. The only thing he cared about was his own interest; if he could not save Wan, everything was meaningless.
And…
When Malaikat presented the case files, asset transaction statements, lawful evidence, and qualified witnesses proving that Red Sea's shares were unrelated to the funds from commercial fraud, the fame-hungry lawyer grew increasingly annoyed and could barely be bothered to speak.
Malaikat returned the embezzled money and all assets acquired from illicit funds to the "Hive", bowed his head, and admitted that he had been Wan's capable accomplice in embezzlement and in deceiving those above and below:
"I am willing to bear all punishments that the "Hive" imposes on me."
Wan was helpless, unable to refute or pick fault with any arguments, evidence, or witnesses presented by Malaikat, and unable to make any accusations against Malaikat either.
That witness was indeed much cleverer than him; as it turned out, over these years the other party had already prepared everything, only to reduce his sentence as much as possible... while... Wan still smugly believed that he was even more cunning, far more sophisticated than that person who lusted for wealth... so much so that... now he could only blame himself for having made the mistake of underestimating the saying that a proud army is doomed to defeat.
Wan forced himself to endure the humiliation and remain silent. If he refuted or argued, he feared it would expose the matter of hiring a hitman to forge a traffic accident to murder Malaikat.
Wait...
Wan suddenly felt that something was abnormal. Malaikat was an economic criminal who had engaged in dishonest business dealings for a long time, employed brilliant methods of fraud, and carried out countless illegal transactions, yet still managed to escape criminal liability unscathed.
Wan absolutely did not believe that Malaikat could easily force someone to die so that he himself could survive. Wan absolutely did not believe that Malaikat could easily force someone to die in his place. That arrogant, provocative attitude was indeed abnormal.
In the past, Wan had experienced the thrill of victory in a similar situation, when a benefactor had saved him from conceding a goal on the goal line, aiding him in turning the tables at the last moment. The petty, triumphant attitude he had displayed back then was identical to what Malaikat was demonstrating right now.
Could it be that...
Something about that feeling seemed wrong, yet it was confirming his deduction, making Wan involuntarily... look toward the monarch...
And...
The monarch shrugged and smiled, his smile as if saying that the person who claimed to be "the cleverest person in the world" should have long seen through the "Hive"'s methods of combining kindness and severity, soft and hard tactics.
The "Hive" had once coerced and persuaded a death row inmate to accept terms, while he still had a frail, helpless wife and a young child at home, with no one to take care of or protect them.
As long as he agreed to impersonate Malaikat in that traffic accident and die in his place, the "Hive" swore to guarantee that his wife and child would have no worries about food and clothing from then on, living an abundant and stable life.
The "Hive" would support his child in receiving a good education, and after the child succeeded in his studies and possessed corresponding abilities, it would directly employ him, letting him work in a suitable position. The "Hive" would also teach his wife a trade to make a living and provide starting capital to help her start a business.
The monarch sneered, smacked his lips, secretly mocking the man whose face had once been full of hatred and resentment from being played by the "Hive" and Malaikat, but now showed only helplessness, mocking himself for being nothing like the person he had imagined himself to be all these years—the cleverest, sharpest, and fastest-reacting person in the world.
If Wan had discovered it earlier, he would have discussed a plan to counter it with the lawyer. Although it would have been difficult to turn the situation around, at least it would have prevented the trial from ending quickly. This extra time gained by stalling would have favored the defense, giving them the opportunity to look for loopholes and argue their case, thereby increasing their chances of winning the lawsuit. Unfortunately, it was discovered too late, and there was simply no time to discuss countermeasures; failure was only a matter of time.
Malaikat smirked smugly to himself, recalling the events from half a month ago when Liberte had come to persuade him to obey the monarch's instructions.
Initially, Malaikat had been on guard and had not believed Liberte, so Liberte had directly made a video call to the monarch, and the monarch had personally negotiated with Malaikat, instructing him to transfer the inheritance rights to the accomplice's son so that the young man could sell off all the shares.
He meticulously sorted out the legal asset statements to prove that the group had not been involved in the commercial fraud, and gathered the archival files and lined up qualified witnesses as evidence.
If he were obedient, the "Hive" would reduce his life sentence to ten years, and after that, if his annual rehabilitation performance were good, his sentence would continue to be reduced until it reached three years.
After Wan was executed, Malaikat would serve a few years in prison but would no longer have to worry about money. After completing his sentence, Malaikat would be able to bring his wife, child, and huge sum of assets to spend the rest of his life in peace, leisure, and extreme comfort. If he had ambitions, Malaikat would still possess the opportunity to start over from scratch, as the "Hive" promised to assist him in starting a business.
Red Sea's new chairman changed the group's name, severing all ties with the original owner and removing any association with that major commercial fraud case; the "Hive" had no reason to punish Red Sea and did not want to do so.
In this way, it achieved the best of both worlds, shooting down countless targets with one arrow. If Malaikat had not seized this once-in-a-thousand-year opportunity to voluntarily serve as a witness, that would have been the truly strange thing.
Malaikat intentionally displayed a provocative and sarcastic attitude toward Wan. Although this accomplice had not said a single word, that hideous, smug face seemed to make faint, indistinct sounds echo beside the mastermind's ear:
"Ho ho, fool, do you think you are craftier than me? You power-fantasizing maniac, self-righteously believing you are the cleverest person in the world... but... the comical thing is that you actually didn't realize at all that from the day the fraud succeeded, I put that illegal fund into money laundering activities, making a full circle and flowing back into Red Sea Group. I merely sliced off the embezzled principal and handed it over to the "Hive". The pitiful one is you; the monarch doesn't care whether I laundered money or not, nor does he care what method I used to launder money. He only needs to recover that lost money and then punish you for your crime, stupid dog... wait to die; after I get out of prison, I am going to play with women on top of your grave to celebrate my victory... hahahaha…"
The former partner had now become an enemy, yet still refused to let him off, repeatedly displaying a petty, triumphant countenance and hurling cold ridicule and harsh insults.
Luckily, I defected and turned the tables, not being stupid enough to die together with this arrogant person who self-righteously believes he can remain clear-headed no matter what situation he encounters... but... you actually failed to sense anything abnormal from the very beginning, when the order was placed.
The monarch and that bunch of cunning, treacherous officials were vastly more experienced than Wan. They explicitly stated in the purchase order that they were buying the best Class A products. The purpose was very simple: if a dispute arose, either side took the matter to court, or an error or fraud came to light in the future, the "Hive" could use such rhetoric to gag Red Sea and Wan:
I bought Class A products, but what you sent was Class B products. I don't give a damn whether Class B products were the best at that time or not, nor do I care that you later upgraded Class B products into Class A products, because you never announced the existence of Class B products at all.
You never told me that Class A products did not exist at that time, nor did you say that Class B products were products equivalent to Class A products, or were the predecessor of Class A products.
I only know that I bought Class A products, so you must deliver the best products to me, rather than fucking arguing that Class B products were the best at that time, only later upgrading Class B products into Class A products, and even claiming that when delivering the goods to me, Class B products were actually Class A products, and only after Class A products were upgraded and launched were they demoted to Class B products.
This was a calculated linguistic maneuver built into the order from the very beginning to evade all risks and lawsuits; if both sides took the matter to court, the monarch and the "Hive" would hold every advantage.
The question was no longer whether B was the best medicine at that time, but whether Red Sea had accurately delivered the goods according to the order placed by the customer. Even if Red Sea unreasonably argued:
"Now A is the version upgraded from B."
The "Hive" could still pick fault and counter:
"When I placed the order to buy A, did you have A?"
Assuming Red Sea answered yes, it would be equivalent to admitting that B that year was not A. If they answered no, you would have to explain why you accepted an order for Class A but delivered Class B, while failing to notify the customer that Class A did not yet exist.
If Red Sea wanted to play word games by claiming that Class B at that time was Class A, and that A was later upgraded so the old product was only then called B, that would be slapping itself in the face even more. Because the designation of A/B could change, but the product standards determined at the time of the transaction could not be changed at will after the fact just to legitimize the delivered goods.
Precisely for these reasons, the monarch and the "Hive" had chosen every single sentence and every single word with extreme care and precision:
"Absolutely do not say buying "the best type." Must write "Class A medicine," requiring Red Sea to confirm the order as Class A."
Suppose Red Sea had deliberately not announced the existence of Class A and Class B products: it would only have dug itself into an even deeper hole, the "Hive" could have exploited the ambiguity if it had specified that it was buying the "best" products.
But the monarch vigilantly designated the goods directly as Class A in the order, so at any moment, it was not easy for Red Sea to engage in clever trickery or substitute concepts based on product development history.
Malaikat re-evaluated the whole matter in his mind... and... involuntarily raised his eyes in awe and admiration toward the fathomless, incomparably shrewd Monarch.
From the moment the transaction was signed, the king calculated the catastrophic consequences—the possibility that many years later, in the event of a dispute or lawsuit, the opponent would exploit this margin of error to prevail in the legal battle.
This crafty little devil laughed out loud, mocking Wan, who devoted himself wholeheartedly to scheming embezzlement and successfully usurping transactions... yet... forgot this most basic, most elementary principle.
Only now did he realize how impetuous he had been, having failed to calculate that a person as deep-scheming and resourceful as the monarch, together with the high-level bureaucrats and capable military strategists plotting alongside him, would naturally choose their wording cautiously during commercial transactions.
Wan laughed until tears came to his eyes at his own humiliating defeat, berating himself for being stupider than a dog. Right from the beginning he had not sensed anything abnormal, had not detected even a one-percent risk of defeat... but... for a person who did not dare risk his life to gamble in any situation, that one percent was the greatest hazard of failure.
Now...
Wan could only blame himself for letting greed bring calamity upon him and fame and fortune blind him, ultimately driving himself into a dead end.
Malaikat could not help laughing out loud, watching the Presiding Judge slam down the gavel, sternly raising his voice to warn, scaring Wan into a sudden shock:
"The defendant is deliberately rambling about baseless matters to divert attention from the investigation into the charge of virus manufacturing. The defendant and counsel are required to address the core issue directly!"
Wan resolutely refused to plead guilty:
"The defendant admits to the crime of commercial fraud, but the footage of the defendant requesting to purchase accurate types of medicine cannot prove that it was to manufacture the virus."
The attorney agreed with Wan's words. The opportunity to win this battle of life and death finally appeared, and he immediately made full use of it:
"That's right, respected Presiding Judge. My client was merely purchasing accurate medicinal materials to treat his family's illness. If you want to convict him of manufacturing the virus, both Your Excellencies must have concrete footage and witnesses who personally witnessed my client using the medicine to manufacture the virus."
Wan was one hundred percent certain that no one had seen him manufacture the virus. The Presiding Judge, however, slammed the gavel again, shattering that conviction, loudly summoning in a resounding voice:
"Invite the third witness into the courtroom to testify."
Wan was driven nearly to madness by his fury. He clenched both hands tightly, squeezing the railing of the defendant's dock out of shape, continuously suppressing his mind that had tangled into a mess, stopping himself from shouting curses at these tactics of mental torment and psychological interference that the monarch and the Presiding Judge deployed one after another.
However...
His madness was pushed to the point of erupting in fury… when… May—the woman who had shared his bed for twenty years—calmly walked to the witness stand. She bowed to the monarch and the Presiding Judge. The Presiding Judge nodded and said:
"Please state your name, age, position, occupation, and what your relationship is with the defendant, the witness An, and the plaintiff Liberte?"
The adulteress adopted a gentle tone and said:
"Respected Monarch and Presiding Judge, my name is May, forty-six years old, administrative staff, deputy head of the national registry document inspection group. I am the defendant's wife, the witness An's mother. The plaintiff Liberte is my son-in-law."
Wan cursed that shameless bitch in his heart, who calmly described her family relationships with the people involved in this game, showing no panic at all and not feeling the slightest bit of shame when mentioning Liberte—that filthy, beastly son-in-law who served as her secret lover.
May paid no attention to Wan, who wanted to rush up and kill her in court. She serenely took the oath:
"I swear before the Goddess of Justice that the testimony and evidence are completely true. If there is any falsehood, or use of false evidence to frame and plant evidence, I am willing to accept punishment by law and punishment by the deities!"
The Presiding Judge cleared his throat and asked:
"Does the witness have any concrete evidence proving that the defendant committed the crime of manufacturing the virus?"
May took out a USB drive from her pocket and handed it to the court personnel. The female head of the forensic examination room completed the authenticity verification, swore before the Goddess of Justice to tell the truth, and confirmed that the video clip on the USB drive was genuine and had not been fabricated by AI.
The Presiding Judge received the physical evidence, inserted it into the computer, and played the video for everyone to watch the situation where Wan, after the anesthetic took effect and sent his whole family into a deep sleep, walked into the home medical room holding various medicines.
The mastermind wore a sinister, triumphant, demonic expression. He smiled grotesquely, ground various medicines into powder, mixed them together, prepared them as a liquid, and dissolved the mixture in the herbal medicine intended for his birth mother to drink.
The raging fire of anger instantly made his face flush red... then died out, leaving his complexion gray-black like ashes.
The sinister, treacherous man could not imagine, dared not believe, and could not understand why this fatal secret had been exposed at the very beginning of the crime's germination... whereas... he himself still firmly believed that this was known only to demons, deities, heaven, earth, and himself.
The man, arrogant and self-conceited in his ability to manipulate and control various people and keep everything in the palm of his hand... in the end... tragically suffered a disgraceful defeat... because... he fantasized about possessing the power to dominate all things.
A storm of rage erupted once again, resoundingly expressing outrage on behalf of the kind, gentle mother who had been treated by her own son as a virus container to spread the infection to those who came into close contact with her.
The impoverished and hungry people joyfully accepted the goodwill expressed through the sharing of food and fruit and the gifting of clothes... yet... did not know at all that the Grim Reaper was about to claim their souls.
The mother still smiled gently, unaware that her good intentions were actually being exploited by her utterly conscienceless child... who was sowing the Black Death of the epidemic among the people she had sincerely rescued... thereby... compensating for the losses suffered by the innocent and lightening her son's guilt.
The Presiding Judge fixed Wan with an icy gaze, sharp as a laser, scanning Wan's wide-open eyes, whose pupils remained rigid as Wan stared motionlessly.
Crimson blood vessels crisscrossed his eyes, their darkened lines seeming to erode his eyeballs as fury ravaged the face that had always forced itself to remain calm regardless of the situation.
Now this face finally began to crack and shatter, and that last sliver of belief that he could escape the death penalty was also thoroughly shattered, completely stripping him of even the slightest hope.
The attorney struggled to save himself from the imminent destruction of his career, desperately trying to salvage the irreparable situation:
"I object, Presiding Judge. This video is indeed real... but it cannot prove that my client manufactured the virus. He mixed various medicines in order to prepare medicine to cure his mother's illness."
Wan was like a drowning person clutching at a life-saving straw, happier than if he had survived mortal danger, and immediately seized on this lifeline:
"That's right, Presiding Judge, I mixed the medicines in order to treat my mother's illness. I don't know the method of manufacturing the virus at all."
The crowd cursed in contempt. The Presiding Judge had to heavily slam the gavel on the table, ordering the soldiers to drive the agitators out of the courtroom.
The Presiding Judge glared at the crowd, which was intent on making trouble, to intimidate them, and they were dead silent, not daring to utter a single grunt. He smiled coldly and asked Wan:
"Then how does the defendant explain that pleasant emotion and peculiar, triumphant smile when mixing the medicines?"
Wan defended himself:
"The defendant was overly happy and excited because the medicines arrived in time and saved his mother."
The monarch sneered, Liberte mocked, and An together with May despised that hypocritical essence still wearing a false mask before death. The Presiding Judge burst out laughing at the sinner's extremely shameless and brazen specious arguments:
"I have studied psychology for thirty years, and in my half-life career I have come into contact with tens of thousands of types of people and dealt with countless different criminals... however... I have never seen any normal person or criminal, when their family is out of danger and past the crisis... be strangely happy like the defendant."
The Presiding Judge's face turned dark and gloomy, becoming purplish-black, and no one had ever witnessed his excessively angry and hateful appearance.
He could no longer suppress his sorrow and indignation on behalf of that kind, merciful, and honest mother. In this apocalypse of human nature, she was a bright mirror that, even if stained with dust, was absolutely never defiled.
"That demonic face is not the joy of a filial son saving his mother's life... but rather... the hearty gratification and triumph of a demon fully completing his dark plot."
The attorney was happy to the point of going crazy. The Presiding Judge acted on sensibility for the first time, which was the most perfectly fitting opportunity since the opening of the court.
He immediately seized this emotion that was an explosion for ordinary people, but for this righteous and strict judge who was always famous for strict law enforcement, supreme authority, and law not tolerating sentimentality, it was a fatal loophole for him to carve out a bloody path for himself and his client to escape:
"I strongly object, Presiding Judge. You are acting on sensibility, groundlessly concluding criminal acts, completely not relying on conclusive, concrete evidence, yet rendering judgment on my client's emotions and mindset; this is unfair and unreasonable. Whether in reason or emotion, one cannot accept this act of intentionally imposing charges and pushing an unconvicted person toward a dead end…"
This accusation, delivered with extreme contempt and mockery, was intended to ridicule the fact that the person managing the scales of justice had actually applied pressure and deliberately stirred up intense hatred, using this to force the Presiding Judge to fall into a violent emotional impulse.
As long as the person who needed to maintain composure and coolness most in the courtroom was thoroughly enraged, the advantage would tilt toward the client and the attorney, thereby increasing the chance of squeezing through the narrow gap in the injury stoppage time.
A crisp bell sounded, indicating that Liberte, who concurrently served as the plaintiff, wanted to raise a rebuttal. Wan and that attorney were furious to the point of exploding, their gazes fixed like bullets on that still expressionless face, wishing to shoot it to pieces.
This time, he was too lazy to further conceal the reminder and advice implied in his words, intending to make the Presiding Judge sober up, lighting a burning heart yet maintaining a cool head to resist the opponent's provocative intentions. The Presiding Judge nodded as a gesture of thanks to Liberte. He slammed the gavel on the table, allowing the plaintiff to question May:
"May I ask the witness, how did you record this video?"
The enemy asked the very question Wan had been wondering about, and Wan speculated various ways, yet still could not find the answer to how May secretly recorded this video.
He was always cautious, calculating every move in advance, guarding against being attacked from all sides, and strangling all risks of exposure in the bud.
Let the devils and ghosts take this damn whore! How the hell did she manage to lead her husband into a trap step by step without him realizing it?
May respectfully addressed the monarch and the Presiding Judge:
"Your Excellencies. The defendant only believes in himself, is suspicious, and has always suspected even his own relatives. He secretly installed hidden cameras throughout the house to conduct surveillance, treating everyone as mere puppets whose strings he could pull to control them at will. His arrogance blinded him to the fact that the wife he had always looked down upon... had already... discovered that he had installed hidden cameras throughout the house to control the family. I was always on guard against his every move. That day when he drugged the whole family, I alone knew in advance that he was playing tricks. I found a plausible way to avoid taking the potion without arousing his suspicions. The relatives began to grow drowsy. I pretended to be fast asleep and secretly trailed him into the home medical room. He was gloating and chuckling heartily when suddenly the leader called him to discuss an urgent major matter. Every time the leader summoned him, he was extremely delighted, but that time he knitted his brows in displeasure. I felt it was strange and felt something was wrong somewhere. From then on, I began to suspect that he had a dark secret. Intuition told me that an ominous event had occurred."
May looked askance at Wan and threw out mocking words:
"I adjusted the camera so that it still filmed normal scenes of family life, and the time displayed on the screen was continuous and uninterrupted. But it did not show the video of me entering the home medical room. The defendant went back to check and saw that the camera in the home medical room showed a steady image, with no sign that anyone had entered the room. All the scenes he saw were what I wanted him to see, so he no longer suspected. Taking advantage of the day when he was not at home, I secretly installed a hidden camera in the home medical room to see what ghost tricks he was playing. At the time, I found it strange that he seemed pleased. I never dreamed that he would actually manufacture the virus so venomously. That beast even cruelly sowed the virus pathogen into his mother's body, letting her infect countless innocent victims."
Everyone listened to May relating the past events and was astonished to realize that she was a master of technology. People did not care about May's talent; their absolute attention was completely attracted by this bizarre, mysterious case. The Presiding Judge asked:
"Why can the witness be certain that the defendant mixed the medicines in order to manufacture the virus?"
May looked sideways at Wan, who was desperately shaking his head, his heart aching over the family misfortune: a daughter betraying her father, a wife harming her husband.
May saw through his attempt to project a gloomy demeanor to conceal his anxiety and uneasiness, which had become almost suffocating... even though... deep down, Wan still believed she could not prove that he had mixed the medicines to manufacture the virus. May let out a regretful sigh:
"I cannot fabricate convincing false evidence to deceive the deities. Simply put, I merely linked the events of the defendant mixing the medicines, his taking care of his sick mother, and her drinking the medicine he manufactured. My mother-in-law had close contact with the populace. One day later, the victims fell ill and a major epidemic spread. May I ask the Presiding Judge and everyone, is there such a bizarre and hard-to-believe coincidence in the world? Whoever chooses to believe it may do so, but even if I am accused of false accusation and accept legal punishment, I will absolutely never believe it."
The attorney saw that Wan was confident May could not prove that he had mixed the medicines to manufacture the virus. Now, she openly admitted that she dared not commit perjury to deceive the deities, which doubled his momentum to defend, argue stubbornly, turn black into white, and successfully salvage the situation at the final moment:
"I object, Presiding Judge. We are law enforcement personnel who hold the law in the highest regard, and we cannot convict anyone based on absurd beliefs and intuition. I request the witness and the plaintiff to show everyone the evidence and witnesses that confirm the truth. If it cannot be proven that the medicines were mixed to manufacture the virus, Presiding Judge, you must find the defendant not guilty of the second charge."
An rang the bell, producing a clear chime. The defendant's daughter was the least talkative person in the courtroom; from beginning to end, she had remained silent, mainly watching how the proceedings unfolded.
For the first time, she took the initiative to testify in support of her husband's statement. She reiterated her intention to do so. This time, she joined hands with her mother to bring about her father's death.
His relatives continuously "stayed up all night" with his enemy to secretly harm him; Wan was uncontrollably furious, the corners of his mouth twitching, and green veins bulging grotesquely along his violently trembling arms.
He had to grip the railing of the defendant's dock with all his might to keep the Presiding Judge and his enemy from noticing that he was trembling violently. The Presiding Judge glanced at him as he struggled to maintain his composure. He slammed the gavel on the table and allowed An to speak:
"Respected Presiding Judge, please order the "Hive" medical team together with the international quarantine group to mix the medicines exactly as the defendant did in the video and conduct a trial on a death row inmate, waiting patiently for 24 hours from the time the death row inmate takes it. If he is safe and sound, the defendant is not guilty. However…"
An fixed her cold, emotionless gaze on Wan, revealing neither her anger nor her thoughts and refusing to let him see that she was still full of grievances and still harbored a grudge over the humiliation and verbal abuse her father had hurled at her when she first visited him in his solitary confinement cell:
"You insolent slut! How dare you stab me in the back and frame your own father, the man who raised you to adulthood? You son of a bitch, you filthy animal! I raised a tiger only to invite disaster, and kept a fox in my own home!"
No matter what monstrous mistakes children make or how badly they fail their biological parents, parents have the right to punish, beat, and scold them, or even hurl harsh insults at them in anger, calling them unfilial, uneducated, ungrateful, devoid of gratitude, and obsessed with men. That was a very normal thing.
However...
No normal, decent, respectable father would curse his own daughter as a slut. For a woman, being called a slut is an insult that demeans her character and leaves her feeling bitter and ashamed. No woman can suppress such resentment.
At this moment of judgment...
The "unfilial daughter" had lost her way because her father had deliberately led her astray… and she had repaid him with interest, teaching him a lesson he would never forget: "If a person does not act for oneself, heaven and earth will destroy them." Meanwhile, the father who had brainwashed his daughter and corrupted her understanding since childhood had turned her into someone who was no longer pure-hearted.
The daughter...
Had already...
Become...
The fox in the house, raised by the very father who had turned her into… a cold-blooded creature that bit back at the man who had raised her—the very man who had taught her the "principle" of conducting herself by any means necessary, seizing everything she craved, and treating anyone who did not belong to the same camp or follow the same path as an enemy… and… once someone became an opponent, they had to be eradicated at all costs.
To the point that...
Right now...
The fox that had been raised as a hunting tool... was... in turn hunting the hunter who had raised it yet never cherished or loved it...
What was absurd...
Was that the person who had taught the child to be ruthless and unfeeling toward people on different paths and in different camps actually took it for granted that the child he had corrupted would be well-behaved, kind, filial, and obedient to his every demand.
What was laughable...
Was that the person who exploited his relatives had always proudly regarded his daughter as a treasure bestowed by heaven. In reality, he had turned her into a puppet whose strings he could pull to control and manipulate her at will...
Now...
Suffering immediate retribution...
Unable to escape the disastrous ending that had grown out of the poison of selfish thoughts: "If a person does not act for oneself, heaven and earth will destroy them"... it was precisely he himself... who had planted the seed in the past and now had to taste the bitter fruit...
That bitter fruit...
Was precisely...
The final birthday gift the daughter gave her father.
Wan stood blankly, yet no one sympathized with him or believed that he was feeling disappointed and pained over his daughter's betrayal of her father.
They ridiculed him for still acting in a tragic, unfortunate family melodrama... in reality... this fellow who was unfit to be human was afraid that he would have to pay the price for his numerous crimes. He would atone with his life for the countless innocent lives that had died tragically because of the ambitions and malicious plots of this demon wearing human skin.
He trembled all over, panicked, and swallowed his saliva, sensing the gradually approaching shadow of the Grim Reaper... just at this moment... the Presiding Judge announced:
"Please have the "Hive" medical team and the international quarantine group mix the medicines according to the method the defendant used in the video. The court adjourns for 24 hours to await the test results of the death row inmate's condition before continuing the trial."
He struck the gavel on the table and ordered the court to adjourn. Officials, military personnel, and civilians left one after another from the main and side exits. Belief personally led soldiers to escort Wan back to his cell.
The monarch stretched comfortably and walked toward the backstage. A person who had seen through the mortal world had no need to observe Liberte, An, and May—these relatives who were Wan's enemies.
The three "close" people happily joined Ange and Ji—that pair of sisters was sitting and watching in the well-equipped VIP room not far away.