The Highest Bounty

Chapter 20: I Didn’t Like His Face, So I Punched Him

There were many security cameras in the Federal Court. The courtroom alone had eight hidden cameras. There were also multiple cameras in each holding room to monitor every movement made by the witnesses.

Neptune easily gained control of the network and the security feed. He spent less than one second to discern the identities of the four remaining witnesses. He was sure that only one of them had seen Gu Ding before this. The other three should be false witnesses that Pearson found to make up the numbers.

“Gu Ding. There are three false witnesses in the holding room. You’ve never met them before,” Neptune reminded him.

Gu Ding covertly elbowed Reid and whispered into his ear.

Reid told the judge, “Your Honor, I have a small request to make before bringing the other witnesses to the stand.”

The judge was a little surprised. He could not imagine what Reid might request. “Say it.”

“To prevent any false witnesses, I would like to swap places with Gu Ding. I’ll pretend that I am the accused. If the witnesses cannot tell that I am not Gu Ding, it’s solid proof that they are false witnesses.”

This was only a simple test to prevent any false witnesses. Of course, if they were all briefed beforehand about how Gu Ding looked like, then this method was useless. “They can be called up into the court together, but they have to be separated in case they communicate with each other.”

“Request granted.” The judge nodded.

A while later, all the four remaining witnesses were brought into the courtroom. All of them were wearing special electromagnetic helmets that isolated their vision and hearing. Gu Ding, sitting in the attorney’s seat, swept his eyes across the four people and only paused his gaze on one of them that looked slightly larger than the others. His mental condition did not look to be in good shape. Among the four men, he only knew this one. He was the inmate who escaped along with Bront.

The courtroom staff unlocked their helmets, then Gu Ding began his questioning. “You just have to answer my question. Don’t waste your time talking about other things.”

The larger man was slightly surprised when he saw Gu Ding. The other three did not react in any way and must have mistaken Gu Ding for Reid.

“Question number one. Look at the alleged criminal. Is he the person that you saw at the scene of the crime?”

“Yes!”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

Three of them gave definite answers. The larger man was silent and only squeezed out a few words later. “It’s not him.”

“It has to be him. I remember his face.” One of the other men immediately retorted.

The other two people also agreed with him. “Yes, I remember clearly that it’s him.”

“There is no punishment for perjury, though it will be recorded in your lifetime case file. Didn’t anyone tell you this before you were summoned? If you have a record of perjury, your statements will never again be admitted in all branches of the Federation Government. Not only does this include the Federal Prisons, but it also concerns the Court and the Army.” Reid sitting in the defendant’s seat opened his mouth.

The three men looked flustered when they heard this.

“Your Honor, I believe bearing false witness is strictly forbidden in the Federal Court? I’ll leave it up to Your Honor to decide how to deal with these three,” Reid said.

“Record all of this down in their profiles. At the end of this hearing, the Federal court will contact their respective departments and recommend any disciplinary actions.” The presiding judge was unhappy. He had been a judge for more than twenty years and despised false witnesses. Undeniably, these three were presented as witnesses under Pearson’s instructions.

“As for the remaining witness, his mental condition is also unsound. He should be treated the same as Bront. His statement is invalid,” the presiding judge continued, “This means, Mr. Pearson, that you don’t have any valid witnesses. I can only conclude the hearing at this point. Does the jury have a verdict?”

In a few minutes, the jury verdict was unanimous: Not Guilty.

The presiding judge received the verdict of the jury and announced his final verdict. Gu Ding was not guilty and was immediately acquitted.

Pearson’s face was ghastly when he heard the verdict. There was nothing that he could do but to glare at Gu Ding.

“You don’t look too good, Mr. Chief Warden.”

Pearson was seething inside. He did not reply and turned around to leave.

“Mr. Chief Warden. A friend of mine sent me some videos. I think these will interest you very much.” Gu Ding’s tone of voice was mocking. “I’ve dropped it in your public mailbox. You can view them at your pleasure.”

Pearson looked at his intelligent ring and the image was projected onto his palm. Gu Ding sent him three messages. Pearson opened the first one with the volume muted.

The video showed him torturing one of the inmates. He zoomed in on the inmate’s face and saw that he was Bront. The video was genuine. He began to feel a little uneasy.

He opened the other video. It was about him beating the other witness that was brought to court.

He urgently opened the third video. This was not a scene of him interrogating the inmates. Rather, it was about him sitting in the courtroom earlier with his attorney whispering into his ear. He remembered this scene that happened less than twenty minutes ago. The attorney was telling him that he could detain Gu Ding into a Federal Prison, then torture a confession out of him. At the end of the video, he saw that malicious smile he flashed.

He closed the mailbox and turned around to look at Gu Ding. He knew that if he ignored Gu Ding’s threat, he would lose his position as chief warden and might even be sent to prison. “What do you want?!”

“Mr. Chief Warden, you should know that whatever transpired between you two is a crime, right?” The corners of Gu Ding’s lips curled.

Pearson glared coldly at Gu Ding and did not say anything.

“Well, my friend says that he has about a thousand of such videos,” Gu Ding continued, “I think that’s enough to send you away for more than three hundred years. Imagine that, the chief warden being imprisoned in their own prison. I wonder how excited the other inmates would feel.”

“What do you want?” Pearson’s heart skipped a beat. This was what he was most afraid of. His tone of voice was gentle. He had tortured many inmates in the Skyriver Prison Headquarters. He knew that if he became a prisoner, he would receive ten times the agony he had caused upon the inmates.

“That’s easy.” Gu Ding knew from his tone of voice that he was willing to accept the conditions. “Just stay away from me and my friends in the future.”

Pearson exhaled a sigh of relief. He thought that Gu Ding would blackmail something from him. He nodded. “That is possible. If you have anything else that you want to ask for, ask for them all at once. I hope to end this matter here.”

“The second condition is even simpler.” Gu Ding summoned his Combat Armor, clenched his right fist and threw a vicious punch onto Parson’s face.

Pearson did not set up his guard. Even though he was Gene Level 5, blood still gushed from his nose.

People were lingering in the courtroom and they were shocked when they saw this scene happen. Parma, who had just arrived at the courtroom, also witnessed this. She covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming. The guards rushed in but were stopped by Pearson.

Pearson’s face was calm as usual, even after he was punched. “This is a private matter between me and him. Stand down!”

“This punch is for Uncle Cain!” Gu Ding spoke fiercely.

He threw another punch on Pearson’s face again. “This punch is for those you tortured!”

Pearson still did not set up his guard. His body was sent flying and landed on a bench, breaking it. When he stood up again, his left cheek was already swollen. He spat out two front teeth then walked calmly toward Gu Ding.

Gu Ding clenched his fist tightly and focused his power. When Pearson came close again, he threw another punch, this time landing on the bridge of his nose. “This punch is for messing with me!”

Pearson’s body was sent flying again…

Everyone was shocked when they saw this unbelievable scene. Even Reid, who was a genius detective, could only watch with his jaw opened wide. He could not imagine what dirt Gu Ding had on Pearson that the latter would allow him to punch him publicly. One had to know that Pearson was someone very conscious of his public image. There was no public image to be salvaged in this scene. Even his dignity had been torn to shreds.

Pearson’s nose had already collapsed, and blood was flowing freely from his nostrils. His mouth was also bloody, and his face was so swollen that no one could recognize him.

He still calmly walked toward Gu Ding.

“Consider the grudge between you and me over.” After Gu Ding spoke this, Pearson let out a long sigh of relief.

“Remember my conditions.” Everyone was shocked once again when they heard Gu Ding say this.

Even Parma, standing at the entrance, did not know how to react to this. She had intended to warn Pearson not to mess with Gu Ding using the name of the Hermean Alliance and the authority of her mentor. The scene that she witnessed as she entered the courtroom had left her speechless.

“Let’s go!” Gu Ding waved at Reid, then left the courtroom.

On their way back, curiosity finally overcame Reid and he asked, “So what happened just now?”

“Nothing. I didn’t like his face, so I punched him!”