48: Who is the real devil?

In the Command Center, there was a deathly silence.

Zhao Dahai looked at the young man standing in front of the main console, who seemed to be glowing, and felt his blood burning!

He understood!

He understood everything!

This kid, he wasn't lying!

He was using a bigger lie to cover another lie!

He was using the craziest, most impossible method to forcibly seize the initiative of this trial back from the devil's hands!

On the screen, the face of "Gao Fan," distorted by shock, shattered inch by inch like a statue struck by a heavy hammer!

All his plans, all his pride, were utterly dismantled by Chen Mo in a way that defied comprehension!

"No... impossible..."

He let out a roar that sounded inhuman!

"You are lying! You must be lying!"

"Lying?"

A cold, mocking smile appeared on Chen Mo's lips.

"Then you tell me, if I wasn't an undercover agent, how could I have consecutively solved those cold cases, some sealed away for over a decade, in just a few days?"

"You think it was luck?"

"No, that's because..."

His voice was like a heavy hammer, smashing fiercely onto the hearts of "Gao Fan" and "The Emperor"!

"Those cases, from the very beginning, were the... road signs I personally laid out!"

"It was me, step by step, guiding you to today's trial stand!"

"And you, Gao Fan."

Chen Mo's gaze, like two scalpels, was fixed immovably upon "Gao Fan's" face.

"You thought you achieved eternal life?"

"No, you are just a pawn thrown out by 'The Emperor,' a pathetic ghost used to test me."

"He has already abandoned you."

"And now..."

Chen Mo slowly raised his hand, pointing at the screen like a true judge.

"It's my turn to... judge you."

The moment he finished speaking!

Chen Mo suddenly turned around and let out an earth-shattering roar at Li Ke, who had completely frozen in shock behind him!

"Li Ke!"

"Here! Team Leader Chen!" Li Ke sprang up from his chair like a coiled spring!

"Counterattack!"

Chen Mo's voice was full of undeniable resolve!

"Take all the evidence we just fabricated regarding 'Lin Yuan,' and pin it on Gao Fan!"

"What?!" Li Ke's eyes nearly popped out of his head!

"'The Emperor' wants to play a trial, doesn't he?!"

Chen Mo's eyes were bloodshot from frantic thinking and extreme excitement!

"Then I'll let him see what the hell a surprise looks like!"

"I want everyone in the city to know that there is no damned 'Lin Yuan' at all!"

"From beginning to end, there was only one person!"

"A scumbag who wore a police uniform but committed the deeds of a devil!"

"A beast who, fifteen years ago, personally murdered his own parents and framed a non-existent ghost!"

"That beast is..."

Chen Mo abruptly pointed at the thoroughly stunned "Gao Fan" on the screen!

"You!"

BOOM—!!!

The entire Command Center felt as if it had been struck by a real nuclear bomb!

Zhao Dahai's body swayed violently; he couldn't believe his ears!

Su Qingxue's hand dropped limply, and for the first time, her usually icy eyes revealed an emotion called "absurdity"!

Director Qian, who was slumped on the floor, had his mouth open wide enough to fit an egg!

He's crazy!

This young man named Chen Mo, he's a goddamn lunatic!

He wasn't solving a case!

He was... creating crime!

He was using an even crazier, more subversive lie to cover all the previous lies!

He was going to make this trial completely turn into a... carnival of calling a deer a horse!

A sickly flush appeared on Li Ke's face!

His fingers, like sprites dancing on a piano, created blurs of motion on the keyboard!

"Received! Team Leader Chen!"

"Data splicing initiated!"

"Fingerprint comparison... modified successfully!"

"Confession recording... voiceprint replaced successfully!"

"Criminal file... name replaced successfully!"

The next second!

On the interface of the Human Court APP!

In the defendant's box, the avatar belonging to "Lin Yuan" suddenly flickered!

Then, under the horrified gazes of billions of viewers across the city!

It turned into... Gao Fan's face!

Meanwhile, "Gao Fan" in the prosecutor's box, who had just been speaking eloquently, froze in place like a puppet whose soul had been extracted!

The entire world, at this moment, fell into a strange, ten-second silence!

And then!

"AWOO—!!!"

An eruption of fury, a hundred times more violent than any before, instantly detonated!

"Holy crap! What's happening?! The prosecutor became the defendant?!"

"Gao Fan is the real killer?! He killed his own parents and framed someone else?!"

"This beast! He's been lying to us all along! He's no hero at all! He's a devil!"

The public's emotions, like a pot of boiling oil suddenly brought to a boil, spiraled completely out of control!

The adoration and sympathy they had just built up for "Gao Fan" instantly transformed into the most extreme hatred and rage!

On the screen.

All composure and elegance vanished from the face of the digital "Gao Fan."

Replacing them were distortion and... fear, as if his program had malfunctioned!

He was just a digital ghost implanted with a fixed program!

He was completely unable to understand or cope with the utterly absurd scene before him!

"No... it wasn't me..."

He began incoherently repeating the most pathetic defense!

"I'm the prosecutor... I'm the hero..."

A thousand miles away, on the mysterious island.

"The Emperor" watched the digital ghost, whom he had personally resurrected, being toyed with by his opponent.

On his face, which was beautiful like a demon, an expression called "astonishment" appeared for the first time.

He slowly stood up.

He spread his arms, like a conductor welcoming the most magnificent piece of music.

"Haha... Hahahaha!"

He began to laugh wildly, his laughter rising from deep to high-pitched, filled with the joy of meeting a worthy opponent!

"This is right! This is right!"

"This is the 'Judge' I know!"

"Using my court to judge my pawn!"

"Using my rules to slap my face!"

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

He suddenly grabbed the phone on the table and dialed a number.

"The game needs an upgrade."

... Jiang City, Command Center.

Chen Mo looked at the completely broken digital ghost on the screen.

He slowly raised his hand.

Like a true judge holding the power of life and death.

"Now."

His voice, broadcast through the Human Court APP, echoed in everyone's ears.

"I declare."

"The trial begins."

"Jurors, please cast your sacred vote."

The moment he finished speaking!

Three blood-red options popped up on the screen!

[A. Not Guilty]

[B. Permanent Imprisonment (Data Formatting)]

[C. Death Penalty (Server Physical Destruction)]

Without the slightest hesitation!

Billions of citizens across the city, using fingers trembling with rage, frantically tapped the option representing the most extreme punishment!

The votes for [C. Death Penalty] instantly skyrocketed to 99.9%, as if riding a rocket!

On the screen.

The face of the digital "Gao Fan" showed extreme terror!

His body began to decompose and dissipate little by little, like snowflakes!

"No—!"

He let out an inhuman shriek!

"Chen Mo! You are the devil! You are the real devil!"

Chen Mo did not speak.

He merely watched him silently, his eyes burning with cold fire, devoid of any pity.

Just then!

A strange smile, identical to "The Emperor's," suddenly appeared on the face of the dissipating "Gao Fan"!

"You think you've won?"

His voice suddenly shifted to the elegant yet cruel tone of "The Emperor"!

"No, my Judge."

"You have merely... personally opened the next door for me."

The moment he finished speaking!

His rapidly dissipating body suddenly transformed into a stream of blood-red data!

It violently shot toward another corner of the screen!

In that corner, there had always been a gray, unactivated avatar!

[Second Defendant]!

The blood-red light injected itself into the avatar!

The avatar slowly lit up!

Revealing a face that everyone was incredibly familiar with, yet caused their pupils to contract sharply!

It was... the Director of the Municipal Bureau, Zhou Zhengguo!