CH 47

Yalin anxiously waited in the detention room for Aubrey to return, but after only two or three days, he already looked much haggard.

After learning about Yalin’s situation, Aubrey naturally wanted to return to the Imperial Star immediately to save him. However, they were still in the midst of practical exercises and couldn’t return to the Imperial Star unless under special circumstances. So Aubrey had to come up with a plan and rush back to the Imperial Star ahead of time.

When Yalin saw Aubrey finally appear, he grabbed him excitedly and said, “Aubrey, you must save me! You have to find a way to save me!”

“I’m already working on it. I’ve replaced your lawyer with a better one, but…” Aubrey frowned, hesitated, and said, “But the lawyer said that in your situation, it’s impossible to completely exonerate you without any penalties. They can only try to minimize the time you spend in prison. You… you need to be mentally prepared.”

“I don’t want to be mentally prepared, I don’t want to go to prison!” Yalin cried out in fear. He pleaded with Aubrey, “Please, you must find a way to save me. I can’t go to prison, otherwise, my life is over. Your parents will never allow you to marry someone who has been in prison. No matter how long I stay inside, once I get out, we can never be together again…”

Aubrey lowered his head in silence. In reality, his parents already opposed their relationship. He intentionally got injured during the practical exercises to return to the Imperial Star as soon as possible. Now, he was enduring the pain while running around for Yalin. After his parents found out, they sternly warned him not to get involved with Yalin anymore and demanded that he break up with him immediately. Regardless of the outcome of Yalin’s situation, they could no longer be together.

“Go and ask General Reynold,” Yalin thought of the only person who might be able to save him and said to Aubrey, “He’s the only one who can save me now. He must have a way to save me. You’re his foster son. Please, go and plead with him. He will definitely agree!”

“…,” Aubrey remained silent before saying, “You know that I’m already not as favored as the other two in my father’s heart. If I go to him because of your matter, he will be even more displeased with me and certainly won’t agree to save you.”

“No matter what the result may be, please try. Please go and ask him, okay?” Yalin pleaded with tears streaming down his face, “Otherwise, there’s no other way to save me. I beg you, please go and ask the General?!”

“I’ll… I’ll give it a try,” Aubrey looked at Yalin’s weary and fearful appearance, unable to bear refusing him, so he agreed to give it a try.

Aubrey left the place where Yalin was temporarily detained and prepared to go back to the General’s Mansion. However, halfway there, he received a call from his parents, summoning him back to their original home.

“Father, Mother,” Aubrey looked at his parents sitting on the sofa, their faces serious and displeased.

“Did you go see Yalin?” Aubrey’s father said, “Didn’t I tell you not to see him? You should be well aware of his current situation. Even if his personal and professional life is ruined, do you still want to be implicated by him?”

“I’ll go to the General’s Mansion to plead. Maybe he has a way to save Yalin,” Aubrey whispered.

“You’ve been confused!” Aubrey’s father scolded, “In a situation like this, even others couldn’t escape in time, yet you not only got involved but now you want to seek the General’s help for him? Do you think you’ve secured your position as the heir?! Do you realize that seeking the General’s help to save Yalin might lead the General to dislike you as well? Do you know that?!”

“But I… I can’t just ignore Yalin…” Aubrey suddenly felt dizzy, and his vision became increasingly blurred as if the whole house had started spinning.

“You two aren’t married yet, so why can’t you ignore him? You should ignore him now…” Aubrey’s father intended to give him a good scolding to make him sober up, but Aubrey suddenly collapsed in front of him, interrupting his words. He nervously watched Aubrey on the ground and called out, “Aubrey!”

“Son!” Aubrey’s mother hurriedly rushed to his side. “What’s wrong with you?! Someone, quickly call a doctor! Hurry, call a doctor!”

Aubrey suddenly fainted. When the doctor arrived, a simple examination revealed that his wound had worsened and developed an infection, causing a virus to spread. He needed immediate emergency treatment at the hospital. As Aubrey was military personnel, he could be directly admitted to a military hospital for treatment. After being taken to the hospital, although his life was saved, the situation was still very grim.

With Aubrey’s sudden illness, he could no longer continue his efforts to save Yalin. Despite having hired a good lawyer for Yalin, once the matter involved military personnel, it would be difficult for even the best lawyer to mitigate his charges.

Bob pushed the door open slightly, confirmed that no one was outside, and prepared to leave with his suitcase. However, before the door was fully opened, an external force blocked it.

“Where do you think you’re going, Professor Bob?” Several men wearing black trench coats stood outside the door, and the leader pushed Bob back into the house, bringing everyone inside. The others continued walking in, and the last person to enter closed the door and stood still at the entrance.

“I… I’m going to work at the school.” Bob nervously and fearfully looked at the men.

“Going to work at the school with a suitcase?” The leader of the men in black kicked Bob’s suitcase.

“Recently, I… I have a research project that requires me to stay at the school to complete it as quickly as possible.” Bob’s face turned pale as he searched for an excuse.

“Is that so?” The leader of the men in black said, “But how come I heard that you’ve already taken a long leave from the school?”

“…” Bob’s lie was immediately exposed. He opened his trembling lips but couldn’t say anything.

“You’re not planning to repay the debt you own, don’t you?”

“I… I will repay it, but I really don’t have the money right now. Please give me some more time, and I will certainly repay you once I have the money. Please, just a little more time.” Bob nervously explained.

Bob was the professor who testified for Yalin, saying that Xyler had a higher possibility of stealing Yalin’s research results. During this period, Bob developed a gambling addiction and accumulated a significant amount of debt. He had already taken leave from school, planning to hide at a distant relative’s house on a remote planet. However, he was now trapped at home by his creditors.

“Repaying debts is a matter of course. The deadline we gave you has already passed, and today you must pay us back in full.” The leader of the men in black sat down on the sofa, crossed his legs, and looked at Bob.

“But I truly don’t have any money left.” Bob wiped his face and said helplessly, tears streaming down his face. “Even if you force me, I can’t come up with it!”

“If you can’t come up with money, then use something valuable as collateral.” The leader of the men in black pointed inside the house and said, “Go and see if there’s anything valuable in this house, take everything away.”

The men in black started searching inside the house, flipping things over. Bob watched them rummaging around, his eyes filled with panic and fear, praying desperately that they wouldn’t find the safe where he had hidden his most valuable possessions.

However, these men were professionals and managed to find every possible hiding place. Naturally, they also discovered Bob’s safe.

“Open it.” The leader of the men in black pointed at the safe that had been brought out, signaling Bob to open it.

“There’s really nothing inside!” Bob said anxiously. “There’s really nothing inside, please believe me!”

“If there’s nothing, why are you so nervous?” The leader said. “If there’s nothing inside, open it and prove it.”

“There’s really nothing inside…” Bob didn’t want to open the safe because it contained important mementos left by his parents. It was the only valuable thing he had left and he couldn’t let them take it away.

The leader looked at the others, then nodded, and two men stepped forward and held Bob down, giving him a severe beating.

Bob screamed in agony, the pain nearly making him faint. In the end, they covered his mouth and continued to beat him while he was pinned to the ground. These men were skilled, causing Bob excruciating pain but leaving no visible injuries.

Unable to bear the pain any longer, Bob reluctantly agreed to open the safe. He was dragged in front of the safe and lay on the ground, his hands trembling as he entered the password to open it.

The leader took out the jewelry from inside and waved it in front of Bob, saying, “You seem to be quite wealthy. These jewels can fetch a good price.”

“These… they were left to me by my parents, they are heirlooms. Please, don’t take them. I will repay you as soon as I have the money.” Bob’s face turned pale, and he trembled all over as he pleaded.

“Well, when you have the money, you can come back here and redeem these things. But whether these things will still be here when you have the money is uncertain.” The leader of the men said, then continued searching the safe. When he found a storage device, he immediately showed curiosity, and they connected the device to a computer to see its contents.

When they saw that it was a collection of recorded intimate activities, the leader of the men smiled and said, “I never expected you to have such interests. But the other person in the videos seems somewhat familiar.”

“The other person is Yalin, who recently appeared in the news,” another man reminded.

“Is that so?” The leader of the men rubbed his chin and said, “If I were to make these things public, it would be quite interesting. Sharing happiness is better than enjoying it alone, so let’s make everyone happy by letting them see it. The professor of the medical department of the Imperial Military Academy in fact has this kind of relationship with his student. I already have a great headline in mind for the news department. I truly have talent.”

“Let’s go,” the leader of the men stood up and said, “These jewels can cover most of his debts. Let’s take these videos as the interest.”

Bob raise his hands to ask for the storage device back, but his body was too sore to get up and chase after them. He wasn’t worried about Yalin, but was worried that after those people made the videos public, he wouldn’t be able to keep his job and certification as a professor.

……………………

Just before Yalin was about to go to court to face charges and receive a verdict, another incident related to him was exposed, becoming the most sensational news and also a scandal during this period.

The news revealed that a professor from the Imperial Military Academy’s medical department was involved in a relationship with one of his former students, who happened to have a fiancé. The specific details of the video content, which included discussions of framing and rewards for helping conceal certain matters, remained unknown.

Under collective pressure and interrogation from the school authorities, Bob eventually admitted that he had slept with Yalin. He explained that it was because he had helped Yalin provide false testimony to frame Xyler for stealing research results. The school authorities were furious. Dismissing Bob was a definite action they would take, but Bob’s actions had not only wronged an outstanding student but also burdened that student with a tarnished reputation. Such a situation was a disgrace to the Imperial Military Academy, and they would not let it go easily.

Upon learning about the incident, Aubrey’s parents were almost driven to death by anger. They couldn’t believe that their son, who was on the brink of death due to saving Yalin, had become entangled in such a filthy and disgraceful affair. Not only did Arlin engage in a relationship with the professor, but he also got involved with their son. Just thinking about it made them sick to their stomachs.

After Yalin’s lawyer informed him of everything that had happened recently, he fell into utter despair. It was clear that Aubrey couldn’t continue helping him after learning about these things. Yalin had lost all hope. His life was completely ruined.

After learning about everything that had unfolded outside, Yalin felt like a soulless walking corpse, waiting for the outcome of the verdict.