CH 70

Zhao Zemu, “…”

Bard, “…” 

The whole courtroom was silent. Everyone felt that Zhao Zemu was behaving bizarrely. No matter what was said at this point, it would be difficult to fully convince anyone that his mind was in good condition that night, unimpaired by anything.

Minimally, there would still remain some doubt.

For a fleeting moment, Zhao Zemu appeared a little stiff, lowering his head, and when he looked back up again, he seemed to have recovered his initial composure. However, his fingers, hanging down by his side, curled slightly.

His answer didn’t come, but Yan Suizhi wasn’t pushy about it. Instead, he directly dropped the subject. “Alright, I won’t put you in a difficult position for now.” 

Bard, “…”

As if you’re fucking for real.

But Yan Suizhi really did turn to a new topic. “You said that you saw his hand up to here.”

He casually pulled the sleeve of his lawyer’s robe, gesturing at the position. “Were you able to see his sleeve?”

Zhao Zemu, “…I did.”

The response was belated, as though afraid that Yan Suizhi would suddenly dig another pit.

Not failing to meet expectations, Yan Suizhi did dig another pit. “What colour was the sleeve? Since you can even see the two horizontal lines on the plate of the ring, there’s no reason for you not to notice such a large piece of fabric.”

When questioning Chen Zhang on the details previously, he remembered Chen Zhang mentioning something. When Chen Zhang dropped off the medicinal vial and communication device then went back up, he had changed his clothes in panic. That was to say, the clothes that he wore when going down to the hall were different from what he wore when he went out the window. 

Zhao Zemu, “…”

All this while, everyone’s attention was focused on the ring-shaped smart device that could determine Chen Zhang’s identity. No one really asked what colour his sleeve was.

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The two lines were worded differently, but they pointed to the same thing—

At that time, Chen Zhang was wearing a dark orange shirt. 

And again, the expressions of everyone in the courtroom turned odd. Yan Suizhi blocked Zhao Zemu’s words once more, “Your medical certificate is also included in the case file. It is indicated that you are not colour blind.”

Of course he wasn’t, if he was would he have waited until today to find out?

Zhao Zemu fell silent under the odd stares of the spectators. As if remembering something, his eyebrows furrowed, but he never spoke again.

This cross-examination left everyone a little perplexed as to what was going on with Zhao Zemu, but that didn’t stop the jury from seriously questioning the credibility of his testimony due to the two aforementioned points. 

Yan Suizhi raised a finger, crossing his hands in a special hand gesture.

In the present-day courtroom in the interstellar alliance, this signified a motion to suppress evidence from court.

The jury quickly left their seats and went into the adjourning room outside the courtroom. It was an excruciating wait for both Zhao Zemu and Bard; the minutes passed like years.

Five minutes later, the jury returned to their seats, and the jury foreperson cleared his throat. He spoke solemnly, “Suppression granted.” 

Zhao Zemu was temporarily removed from the courtroom.

As the crucial evidence whittled away one by one, Prosecutor Bard began to feel antsy.

After two more rounds of insignificant witness examinations, the last person took the witness stand.

This was an expert witness from the Special Investigation Agency. The evidence gathering, medical evaluations, and suchlike for this case were all handled by them. The expert on the witness stand was the supervising director of this case, Moor. 

Bard’s examination was short and quick. He used three questions to stress two points—

One, to satisfy the conditions of the crime, the perpetrator had to have night vision.

Anyone with eyes could tell from those pictures of Manson’s room would unconsciously come to the conclusion that it would be impossible to get through the window to the bathroom without turning on the lights and knocking over or breaking anything, without having an extraordinarily gifted vision.

Two, of all the people at the villa that day, only Chen Zhang met this requirement. 

Chen Zhang’s medical evaluation proved that his night vision was far superior to that of an average person, and that he was extremely sensitive to subtle light. The crack of light coming through from the door was sufficient for him to see most of the obstacles in the room. With a little care, it was indeed possible for him to avoid them.

Yan Suizhi didn’t even listen to Bard’s examination this time. He spent the entirety of it with an arm propping his chin, flipping through a few of the investigative reports.

It was only when the judge called his name that he nodded and stood up, stingily sparing Bard a quick glance.

But it was only a sweep past. The final resting point was on Specialist Moor. 

“Mr Moor.” After a simple greeting, Yan Suizhi straightaway projected the page that he had been reading in his hand to the holographic screen. “Regarding the footwear impression record, I may need you to explain this paragraph on the analysis of the footwear impressions left on the carpet by the window, in a manner more easily understood.”

“The person who broke into George Manson’s room had a footwear size 26cm in length, with an error margin of ±0.02cm?” Yan Suizhi said, “As well as the stride length and the depth of the footfall… which could give an approximate height and weight profile of the suspect?”

Moor said, “That’s correct. The footwear, stride length, and depth of footfall on the plush carpet are as shown on the screen. Although it was the standard socks supplied in the villa, according to several calculation formulae listed above, it can be deduced that the perpetrator is average-sized. He is approximately 178cm tall, with an error margin of ±0.2cm; his weight is approximately 75kg, with an error margin of ±0.15kg.”

“Are the footwear traces clear?” Yan Suizhi said, “Is there any possibility that they were distorted?” 

Moor directly slid the document into a simulated 3D-image renderer, giving a model of the impressions on the plush carpet. “It might be difficult to tell the difference with the naked eye, but it is actually very distinct. You can see that when the perpetrator came in from the ledge, he stepped down with his right foot before his left foot, then took two steps bent over to cushion the landing. After which, he walked with a slight hunch. These are the corresponding footwear impressions.”

Yan Suizhi nodded. “The explanation is easy to follow. Thank you.”

He calmly switched back to the previous video recording. This time, he didn’t focus on Zhao Zemu, but zoomed in directly on Chen Zhang. From the video, everyone could see that whenever Chen Zhang got up, he would subconsciously press his hip. Naturally, this didn’t affect this subsequent movement, but it was noticeable that when he turned around or bent over, he would put slightly less weight on one foot, maintaining this gait for a couple of steps before recovering.

He then pulled up Chen Zhang’s medical certificate. He said, “This is the certificate issued by your agency. Line 12 mentions that my client, Mr Chen Zhang, has a hereditary bone fracture at the pelvis and femur, located on his right leg. It can be seen from the video that when he does certain movements, he puts less weight on his right foot.” 

As he spoke, he placed the medical certificate and the previous 3D rendering side by side, circling the two impressions left during the landing from the ledge, as well as the schematic diagram of the bone fracture.

“Quoting Mr Moor, when the perpetrator came in from the ledge, he stepped down with his right foot before his left foot. This is an accurate analysis without doubt, evident from the simulated 3D-rendered image.” Yan Suizhi said. “Now I ask, how can a person with a hereditary fracture in the femur of his right leg, who habitually places less weight on his right foot, choose to step down with his right foot first when he jumped into the room? Did he think that he wouldn’t fall? Or that his fracture wasn’t that severe?”

Moor instantly went mute.

In fact, the entire courtroom went silent as well. 

In this stagnant silence, Yan Suizhi was the only one unfazed. He tossed the documents aside, unhurriedly finishing his last statement with utmost calmness. “As for night vision, the police report on the scene investigation said that no night vision device or any other relevant equipment was found; those things would definitely have left traces when disposed of. But I have to remind you that there is something else that can achieve the same effect. Although, it isn’t called as such, which is why it is often overlooked.”

Moor jolted. “What is it?”

“The contact lenses specially provided by Yaba Island for use when diving,” said Yan Suizhi.

He had worn them when diving in the sea to rescue Jason Charles. As a long time had passed since the last time he wore them, he was very unused to them, even struggling so much when removing them in the changing room that he had almost needed Gu Yan to help him. 

After saying this, Yan Suizhi added, “Naturally, unless used underwater, they can be quite uncomfortable to the eyes. It magnifies objects, blurring the sense of proximity—”

He paused slightly, then continued to say, “It also makes everything look monocoloured; dark green, light green, fluorescent green, etc.”

With this, the courtroom plunged from silence into dead silence…