Chapter 1410: Lost Control

Next, we will announce the final verdict of the Nine Major Bases concerning biologist Ye Mu.

"The defendant, Ye Mu, while living at Nanhai Base, illegally conducted human-calamity fusion experiments, kidnapped children aged 15-18 for human experimentation, and secretly disposed of bodies using his position of power. He also used his identity within the medical system to purchase and hoard patient organs, and illegally produced psychoactive drugs mixed with calamity cells."

"After deliberation by the Nanhai Base high command, the case was submitted for a joint ruling by the Nine Major Bases. Biologist Ye Mu was ultimately sentenced to lifelong deprivation of political rights, expulsion from Nanhai Base, and permanent prohibition from entering any human base."

Blinding lights illuminated Teacher Ye, as a solemn and resolute voice echoed from above, reverberating through the vast courtroom. Numerous figures stood on the judge's bench, coldly looking down at the harmless-looking research scholar in a shirt below, making no attempt to hide the apprehension and disgust in their eyes. At the defendant's stand, Ye Mu's chest heaved violently.

"No... no! I didn't! I dispute the Nine Major Bases' verdict!" he exclaimed, his face flushed with anger.

"Ye Mu, which part do you dispute?"

"All of it! I dispute everything!" Ye Mu's veins bulged on his neck. "I've done none of what you've claimed! You know me, I'm a conscientious biologist! I've never conducted human experiments... much less kidnapped children or hoarded organs!"

"Are you implying that the Nine Major Human Bases are collectively slandering you?" a voice on the judge's bench scoffed.

Ye Mu paused, then immediately retorted: "I don't know, I don't know why you're doing this... but I can assure you, I've done nothing!"

"Stop trying to argue. We've conducted a systematic screening this month, and it proves that no one else had the authority to do these things. Everyone in the lab has an alibi, except for you... you perfectly missed every time an incident occurred."

"Then where's the evidence?! If you're going to judge me, you need to provide proof! For those charges you listed, do you have any witness testimony or material evidence?!"

As soon as Ye Mu uttered these words, the entire courtroom fell silent.

"Nothing! You have nothing! You're going to accuse me based solely on some screenings and speculation?! Is this the fairness and justice of the Nine Major Human Bases?!" Ye Mu almost roared.

"We don't know what method you used to influence those people, to erase their memories of you... nor do we know how you managed to get victims to willingly lie down on the experimental table without leaving even a single fingerprint... But all suspicions point to you."

"I, Ye Mu, swear to the heavens, I absolutely did not use children for private human experiments! I absolutely did not privately sell organs, nor did I secretly sell addictive drugs within human bases! The disappearance of those children truly has nothing to do with me... truly... truly..."

Ye Mu was at a loss for how to prove his innocence, filled with both anger and frustration. He could only turn his gaze to the figure at the very center of the courtroom. "Chu Changqing!! I am your teacher! Don't you know what kind of person I am?!"

The young figure standing on the judge's bench remained silent.

"I see... so it was you," Ye Mu said with a bitter laugh, as if realizing something. "I wondered why you stole my papers on fusion, and my own blood samples... Were you afraid I would unravel the secret of fusion, making you, the esteemed Lord of Nanhai, lose your uniqueness? Is that why you concocted this plan to expel me from human society?"

With his greenish hair spread across the courtroom floor, the young man at the top finally spoke for the first time during this trial: "The papers and samples, I took them..."

"Chu Changqing, you..."

"I just don't understand," Chu Changqing paused. "I know where my uniqueness lies, I know why I can fuse with those calamities, and I know what I've sacrificed to fuse with them... But, Teacher, I truly can't figure it out... How did *you*, an ordinary person, fuse with world-ending calamities? Not only without any side effects, but also becoming younger after the fusion? I was once your student, and we worked on so many complex projects together, yet... yet I can't understand your papers, or your data from who knows where, or your baffling references... Teacher, your fusion, and my fusion... Are they truly the same?"

Ye Mu was slightly stunned. Under the blinding lights, he clearly saw Chu Changqing's gaze. In those greenish eyes, a faint shimmer of tears appeared. His former star student was looking at him with a gaze of suspicion and fear, as if he were no longer human, but some kind of monster in human skin.

"Those are papers I poured my heart and soul into, conclusions I drew after my brainpower was enhanced by fusion! Of course you can't understand them!" Ye Mu retorted angrily.

Ye Mu roared hysterically from the defendant's stand, labeling his once-favorite student a "thankless wretch" and "selfish scoundrel," and denouncing the injustice of Nanhai Base and the complicity of the other Nine Major Human Bases. Lacking conclusive evidence, everyone present hesitated, their gazes fixed on Chu Changqing, seemingly awaiting his final decision.

Finally, Chu Changqing slowly closed his eyes.

"This base carries one-ninth of humanity's future... Under no circumstances can any uncontrollable risk factors be allowed to remain," Chu Changqing said as he turned and slowly walked out of the courtroom. "Execute the verdict. I will bear all consequences alone."

Numerous figures rushed towards the defendant's stand, seized Ye Mu, and led him away in another direction.

"No!!"

"I do not accept the joint verdict of the Nine Major Bases! I do not accept it!!!!"

Above the devastated wasteland, Teacher Ye suddenly opened his eyes! Cold sweat dripped from his temples, and his entire back was drenched. He stood pale, as if waking from a nightmare, the hem of his shirt fluttering in the blood-scented wind.

"Where... where is this?" Teacher Ye looked around in confusion.

The mangled corpses of the Pu family lay on the ground beside him. Icy, bone-chilling seawater submerged his ankles, and a wailing cold wind poured from the completely shattered tortoise shell, instantly freezing the blood-tainted seawater into crimson ice. Teacher Ye slowly pulled his feet from the bloody ice. Only then did the realization slowly dawn on him.

"We... we've been overrun?"