CH 210

It was the trial of the century.

Whether they were sitting in the criminal court to listen to the trial or watching the livestream elsewhere in the alliance, virtually no one was able to completely recall anything that happened at the end of the trial. 

Only one moment was deeply etched into their memory—

After all the Sweeper’s genetic modification surgeries had been retraced, Defence Lawyer Gu Yan stood at the table, lifted his eyes to look at the large holographic screen, then turned his gaze to the judge and said, “I rest my case. Thank you.”

The entire courtroom froze for an age before abruptly boiling over.

And thereafter ended the trial as well. 

Never before had anyone seen a judge look more shellshocked, and never before had anyone ever seen a lawyer and witness look more bewildered. Much less had anyone ever seen Brewer and Miller Manson look more stunned.

The court session opened with extreme gravity and scrutiny, and it closed even more sensationally, attracting an unprecedented level of media attention.

At 2:30 p.m. that day, the Supreme Court of De Carma ordered that the Elderly Bobblehead trial be dismissed.

Meanwhile, major law enforcement agencies across the interstellar alliance formally launched a joint investigation.

Horace Lee was taken away by the joint investigation team in court.

These thirty years, he had hidden from the crimes he committed using a multitude of faces, a good portion of them pinned in the case archives of various law enforcement agencies, that had overwhelming evidence, but was just biding time till the day that his disguise was peeled off to apprehend him.

And the rest of the truth would also come to light during this investigation.

It was exactly as Gu Yan had promised—”You shall not have to bear the weight of any crime that is not yours to bear.” 

But it would, by the same token, be no less than what was his to bear.

Also taken away in court were Brewer and Miller Manson.

In fact, their fluster and astonishment didn’t last long. These two brothers quickly recovered their composure, smoothed down their expensive shirts, and followed the police out of the courtroom.

“It doesn’t matter; we’ll cooperate with all investigations. The business operations of the Manson Group have always abided by the laws, so there will be no issues.” Brewer Manson left the swarming reporters these words. 

As he pulled open the door of the patrol car, he glanced at the reflection in the window, and he paused.

His head turned to look behind him. There was a man standing behind the crowd of reporters atop the long flight of steps of the Supreme Court. His eyes were crystalline, and his gaze cast far over, high above the crowd, yet had a gentle and elegant smile.

It was the ‘man who came back to life’, Yan Suizhi.

In this universe, the ones who knew the truth the best behind his ‘death’ were probably the Manson brothers, and at this moment, even if merely standing there, Yan Suizhi’s very presence was the greatest mockery to them. 

Rubbing salt in the wound, the other had even raised his hand, as if sending them off.

“…”

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If they weren’t at a public venue, he might even have slammed his fist into the car.

Barely any time later, Gu Yan, who had finished signing the trial records, also emerged from the courthouse. 

He said a few words to Yan Suizhi with his head lowered, and he also looked towards the patrol car, his ever-indifferent gaze even more devoid of warmth through the car window, as if he were looking at an irrelevant passer-by.

Like he wasn’t the one who had set off the reverberations in the courtroom just earlier.

Then came Joe, Ke Jin, Eunice, and the chair of Spring Ivy, Devore Yves.

The sagacious and gentlemanly businessman looked this way, his grey-blue eyes extremely pale in the sunlight. 

It was at this time that the elder finally shed all pretenses of cordiality, eyes narrowed into slits before he impassively shifted his gaze away, removing and unhurriedly wiping his spectacles.

A few minutes ago, Brewer Manson had arrogantly claimed that no issues would be found.

But now as the patrol car slowly started with everyone watching on, his expression was more apocalyptic than ever before.

The Manson brothers had always been aggressive and conceited, but it wasn’t without leaving themselves a way out. 

They had a complete set of contingency plans. Once there was a breach, all relevant associations would be cut and cleaned up within three days, and within a week, all traces of research activity would be perfectly hidden.

Based on the normal speed of a police investigation in the alliance, there was a proper process for evidence collection that would minimally take ten days to get through. Furthermore, any random contact in their network was an eminent person in society that no one wanted to cross. Under such pressure, it would take too long to get to the bottom of everything.

But what they didn’t expect was that the most time-consuming part, the lengthy and initial search and organisation of information, had already begun a very long time ago.

They had been investigating for more than two decades. With everything in place, could they really be foiled by those contingency plans? 

The day the joint investigation was launched, Devore Yves and Yan Suizhi submitted all the clues and evidence they had kept over the years.

After learning about the trial, the fake nurse Amy Borro was guided by the officers to divulge everything that she knew, including the missions that she had been involved in and handled over the years, her duties at the infection research institute, how she was placed in Spring Ivy Hospital, and how she went after Horace Lee several times while keeping an eye on Jack White.

She even explained how she had utilised her position to falsify some of the evidence against Horace Lee in the Elderly Bobblehead case.

The next day, Fitz submitted Southcross’ business dealings and ledgers to the police. 

On the same afternoon, Zhao Zemu, who was detained in the detention centre on Tian Qin, rang the electronic bell and, as promised, confessed to the secret collusion and transactions between the Manson brothers, Zhao Company, Cliff Aviation, and others over the years.

Three days.

No, to be precise, it took two and a half; all associations were already nabbed by the police before the Manson brothers’ contingency plans could even kick off.

Southcross Law Firm was run down by the police force that very day, and the partners and involved lawyers were arrested. 

In the early hours of the following morning, Cliff was stopped by the police in the port as he prepared to abscond on a private space shuttle and lie low.

When the alliance’s law enforcement agencies issued the joint investigation notice, they never imagined that the biggest case of the century would actually become one of their fastest investigations.

Brewer and Miller Manson were still able to maintain their poise at first, sitting in the interrogation room in the police station and putting up with the police.

This mask held up for two days before at last cracking from the police’s whirlwind investigation. They started to confront the officers with silence, giving the same answer to every question—I won’t talk until my lawyer is here. 

Little did anyone expect, instead of the bail promised by their lawyer, they ended up receiving another fatal blow during the wait:

Jack White, who had been hovering on the brink of death for days, finally pulled out of critical condition and woke up.

Sans the Mansons and those in cahoots with them, everyone was happy.

This included the police who were stationed outside the ward and even the fake nurse who had confessed her crimes. 

Although he was out of danger, Jack White was still in poor condition and didn’t spend much time awake. Even so, as soon as he opened his eyes, he would press the call button, and, bit by bit, unreservedly shared everything he knew, experienced, and heard to the police.

From him, the police managed to get their hands on all the research and documentation related to the genetic virus, the surgical records of most of the genetic modification surgeries the Sweeper underwent, analysis data of the RK13 virus, and so on.

He had a triple backup of every document carefully saved, as though he had long been waiting for this day.

Because of the information he provided, the research institute under the Manson Group was ransacked before they could do a clean-up, and every key component was fixed as evidence. 

The Sweeper, Horace Lee, with death looming over his head, conversely wanted to drag company down to hell with him, bit back even harder.

Therefore, Brewer and Miller Manson had no defence.

In just half a month, the Manson Group case wrapped up all investigations.

The indictment for the Elderly Bobblehead case was transferred to the Supreme Court of the Alliance on the political hub, Planet Redstone. 

The largest number of witnesses, the most powerful names, and the most First-Class Lawyers in the last century converged for the court case, but it was one of the neatest trials.

On February 13, the year 1257 of the Emma Gregorian calendar, at 4:23 p.m., the Manson Group court case came to a close.

The Chief Justice called for a ten-minute recess before the verdict was to be read.

The heavy doors of the courtroom opened, and all those who were involved in the trial as well as those who sat in on the trial came out one by one, either in muted discussion or to take a breather. 

On the rooftop, Fitz, who had just come down from the witness stand, was finally able to have a normal meeting with Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan.

“The lounge is running short on coffee; there’s only warm water left. Just bear with this for now.” Gu Yan handed her the paper cup.

“Thanks, I’m dying of thirst.”

Fitz took the glass and downed half of it, only then slowly blowing out a breath. 

She leaned against the parapet, gazing at the faraway gold-dipped clouds on the horizon. And suddenly, she felt lost. “Is that it? Is the case over?”

Yan Suizhi, “Strictly speaking, the official conclusion won’t be until the verdict is read out later.”

“Thereabout, then.” Fitz said, “…Somehow, it feels a bit fast, like I’m dreaming. I don’t even remember what I said on the witness stand just now. It just zoomed by and then that’s it.”

Yan Suizhi smiled. “It’s not that it’s fast.” 

“Then why?”

Yan Suizhi said, “That’s because before this, you’ve already walked a very long road.”

Therefore, this last step across the finish line was fleeting, blinking by.

At 5:33 p.m. in the Supreme Court of the Alliance, the Chief Justice read the verdict: 

“…The jury finds the Manson Group, Cliff Aviation, and Westshore Pharmaceutical guilty on all counts.

“Pursuant to Sections 122, 361, and 402 of the Alliance Criminal Code, Defendants Brewer Manson, Miller Manson, and Hill Cliff are sentenced to the death penalty;

“Pursuant to Sections 122, 361, and 402 of the Alliance Criminal Code, Defendant Horace Lee is sentenced to the death penalty;

“Badel Westshore and Bo Gao are sentenced to life imprisonment…” 

Count by count, the verdict reached every corner of the alliance, symbolic of all that was settling like motes of dust into their rightful place.

There was someone burdened for three decades, someone cornered into a cage, and someone who had walked alone in the darkness for far, far too long.

Mercifully, in the cosmos, there would always be stars to guide the way, and thus their traverse through thorny terrain was not in vain.