Chapter 18

At nine o 'clock in the morning, the Federal Court officially began its trial.

Just as Gu Ding had expected, Pearson arrived late at the start of the trial. Gu Ding finally met the guy named Pearson.

Gu Ding wanted to laugh when he first saw the guy. The word "ball-shaped" was the best way to describe his body. His legs, however, did not match his body at all. They were as thin as bamboo, and they looked to be only half the length of a normal adult. In comparison, his arms looked a little too long. This strange body combination was not the end of it. His face was even more difficult to look at.

His face was full of muscles, and the folds of fat on his neck were piled up, making him look like he had three chins. His mouth was extremely small, and the color was so bright that it looked like lipstick. It was not an exaggeration to say that his mouth was small like a cherry. Above his mouth was his nose, which was three times the size of a normal person's, and the tip of his nose was a mess of red. Further up were his eyes, which were the size of mung beans. Mung bean size was not an adjective here. His eyes were really the size of mung beans. As for his eyebrows, they were not visible at all. Gu Ding wondered if he had shaved them off himself, or if they never grew. In any case, his facial features were ugly enough to look at individually, and when put together, they were even more unsightly.

Gu Ding could not look at him directly after taking one look at him. He was amazed by the wonders of the Creator.

"Time's up. Let's begin," Pearson looked at the time and urged. His voice was very feminine, and it made one's hair stand on end.

Gu Ding nodded at the judge. "It's alright. Let's begin."

Gu Ding did not see Reed, but he was not worried. Reed was not only a chatterbox, but he was also a gossipy man who always looked cynical. However, he was still reliable when it mattered.

The presiding judge finally hit the gavel and announced the start of the trial. Pearson, as the plaintiff, began to read the indictment.

Gu Ding listened quietly. Not only did Pearson announce that he was guilty of releasing the wanted criminal, Cain, but he also blamed him for the system failures in the Skyriver Prison Headquarters and more than eighty branches. He also emphasized that it was a Class-A crime that would cause chaos in the entire galaxy, and he should be sentenced to death immediately.

Although he was the one who caused the system malfunction in the Skyriver Prison, judging from Pearson's expression, he did not seem to know that he was the real culprit. He was merely trying to push the blame onto him to increase his own guilt.

Gu Ding was brought to the Federal Court at the last minute and did not have time to prepare his defense.

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

Gu Ding nodded. "I'll only say one thing. If you say I did all these things, then show me the evidence!"

The presiding judge lowered his head and made a series of summaries of the two's statements. Then, he began the process of cross-examination.

Gu Ding did not have any information to submit, but Pearson did not prepare much either because he did not have any concrete evidence to begin with.

The information was all electronic, and it took Neptune less than a second to finish reading it. He said to Gu Ding, "His so-called evidence is nothing more than some videos of the prison system's abnormalities and chaos, as well as some inferences."

After reading the information, the presiding judge raised an objection to Pearson. "Mr. Pearson, there is no actual evidence in the information you submitted. If there is, please submit it as soon as possible. "

Pearson's face turned green. He was about to speak but was stopped by his lawyer.

"We haven't prepared the new evidence yet, but we will have it soon," the lawyer whispered into Pearson's ear.

Pearson glanced in Gu Ding's direction and a sinister smile appeared on his face. What he did not know was that Neptune had heard everything the lawyer had said.

"The lawyer said that it's not difficult to get the evidence. If there is no result in court, the prison can unilaterally apply to detain the suspect for 72 hours until the case is over. During the detention period, he can use his authority to extort a confession from you and use your fingerprint and iris scan records to create fake evidence, "Neptune relayed what he had heard.

"Don't fingerprint and iris scans record time?" Gu Ding lowered his head and typed his question on the screen of his wristwatch. The others thought that he was wearing an ordinary civilian wristwatch and did not pay attention to what he was doing.

"It's easy to change the record time. Anyone who knows a little about the recording process can do it," Neptune explained. "If you don't want to suffer, you'd better win the case today."

They were about to enter the stage of interrogating the witnesses, but Reid was still nowhere to be seen. Gu Ding was a little worried about his safety. Logically speaking, Reid should have come straight after breakfast. Forty minutes should have been enough, but now an hour had passed.

What Gu Ding did not expect was that Reid would encounter something else.

After Reid received Gu Ding's call, he hurriedly changed his clothes and left the house. Although he told Gu Ding not to worry, he was still quite worried. For breakfast, he bought a donut and a can of milk from a roadside stall. He ate as he walked toward the parking lot.

He was halfway through his doughnut when his communicator rang. It was an unknown number. He glanced at it and immediately hung up. Two seconds later, his communicator rang again. He hesitated for a moment. Although he did not know who it was, it seemed to be something urgent, so he pressed the answer button.

"Hello, who's this?" Reid stuffed the donut into his mouth and spoke incoherently.

"Are you Reid?" A woman's voice came from the other side. It sounded quite sweet.

"I am. What's the matter? I'm a little busy right now. "Reid threw the remaining half can of milk into the trash can by the door and walked toward the parking lot.

"Do you know where Gu Ding is?" The female voice on the other side of the phone asked a question that stunned Reid.

"Who are you?" Reid immediately became vigilant.

"I'm Parma from Cerule Basic Military College's Pharmacy Department. I have some questions about medicine preparation that I'd like to ask him." The female voice's answer made Reid even more vigilant.

"I'm sorry, you've got the wrong person. Gu Ding doesn't know how to refine medicine." Reid hung up after saying that. He felt that Gu Ding's situation was not as simple as it seemed.

Less than three seconds after the call ended, his communicator rang again. It was the woman's number again. He hesitated for a moment but still picked up the call. He wanted to hear what kind of story the other party would come up with.

"Why did you hang up?!" The woman's voice had a questioning tone.

"Big Sis, I'm really busy right now. Please check the other party's background before you come up with a story. Don't casually say things that are obviously flawed …"

Before Reid could finish, he was interrupted by the other party. "Reid, if you don't want to get your graduation certificate and enter Advanced Military College, I advise you not to hang up on me. Let me finish."

The other party's voice was chilling. Even Reid, who was usually bold, was slightly stunned by the threat. "Who the hell are you?!"

"I told you that I'm Parma from the pharmaceutical faculty. I didn't think that Gu Ding would hide the fact that he's a pharmacologist from you, his best friend." Parma's tone finally softened a little.

"Parma … why does this name sound so familiar …" Reid finally realized. "You're the pharmacist professor?! The genius woman who became a B-level pharmacologist at the age of twenty-two and currently holds the position of an elder in the Hermean Alliance branch in Skyriver Sector?! "

"That's right, that's me! Are you interested in telling me about Gu Ding now? "Parma seemed to have heard the surprise in Reid's voice. There was a hint of pride in her voice.