Chapter 852: Before the Trial

Rayton Mireille held a special status, and convicting him required a public trial. If the Black Epaulets dared to come knocking directly, they certainly wouldn't let this "witness" from the Holy Sword Society be killed so easily.

And Lady Lily was confident that Ahsis Vilner would stumble over this, and whatever her contingency plans were, she clearly wasn't relying on Xu Huo's assassination attempt.

So Xu Huo didn't intercept the man halfway.

First, the success rate was extremely low. Forget going head-to-head with that C-level player, even breaking through the Black Epaulets' protective perimeter was nearly impossible.

Second, keeping this man alive held far greater value for him.

He had watched two public trials and had a rough understanding of the courtroom layout. Estimating the approximate position where the accused would stand, he took out a bag of powder and gently blew it into the courtroom.

A dust-like substance scattered evenly across the ground. Xu Huo bent down to inspect it before quietly withdrawing from the courtroom.

What he used wasn't an item, just a special powder.

The Black Epaulets would thoroughly inspect the courtroom inside and out before the trial began, and the chances of an item going undetected were very slim. This powder was a type of plant pollen that was easily carried underfoot, and the pollen grains attracted one another. It had no major function, only able to detect where people who had stepped on this pollen had walked within a very short range, but it had one obvious advantage: it drew no attention.

Under such tight surveillance, unless one possessed overwhelming combat power, the odds of successfully pulling off covert tricks were very small. So after completing these few small tasks, Xu Huo followed the second patrol team out of the courthouse building and found a random spot nearby to rest.

Storing his communicator in the luggage compartment, he patiently waited until the next morning.

Sure enough, before the trial participants arrived, a large number of Black Epaulets and a handful of White Epaulets passed through identity verification and filed into the courthouse building for inspection.

The identity verification method was on-site genetic testing. Each person's match was unique and impossible to fake, so the chance of disguising one's appearance and slipping in was negligible.

However, the White Epaulets got into a conflict with the Black Epaulets upon entering. All the important areas in the courthouse were controlled by the Black Epaulets, and the White Epaulets were only assigned places like the staff temporary lounge or changing rooms. Before an important trial, the courthouse's own staff, unless absolutely essential, were mostly given leave.

"What's there to check in these places?" the White Epaulets complained. "They might as well have us check the bathrooms!"

"The bathrooms are extremely important places. Captain Ran specifically instructed us before we came. You think you'd get to handle those? Dream on!" the Black Epaulets shot back.

This was merely a simple verbal clash. The two sides traded a few barbs before hurrying off to carry out their duties.

Members of the Enforcement Department filed in and out, and the Black Epaulet responsible for verification left on his own.

Xu Huo kept a certain distance and followed the man, but unexpectedly, the man broke away from the Enforcement Department team and dumped all the blood collected from verification into the trash bin.

Witnessing this, Xu Huo's brow twitched slightly. Blood was like a true name to players. It wasn't absolutely forbidden to leak, but under normal circumstances, they would take special care not to expose it. Besides, genetic verification wasn't completely without loopholes. How could someone from the Enforcement Department make such a low-level mistake?

Even if it were to be disposed of as waste, it wouldn't be done this way.

He widened the distance, placed a micro camera at a spot farther away, then retreated to an even more remote location, observing the area around the trash bin with binoculars.

Soon, a middle-aged woman came by carrying a basket. She sorted the garbage and discarded it, then tipped her basket upside down over the trash bin and tapped it.

When she tipped the basket, Xu Huo noticed the camera he had placed nearby shudder slightly. He opened the connection feed, and sure enough, the screen had gone black. Meanwhile, his own binoculars, which had little technical sophistication, remained perfectly intact.

Seeing her take the blood away, he leaped to the rooftop of another building and watched until she entered a residential building.

Because the distance was too great, he couldn't tell which floor she went to, but soon she reappeared in his field of vision. After greeting a neighbor in the hallway, the woman walked into the living room, left the curtains open, then picked up a few items of dirty laundry and walked back out.

It looked like she was heading to the laundry room, but she never came back out again.

Xu Huo waited outside for ten minutes. Judging that the timing was about right, he set up a camera on the rooftop aimed at the room across the way, then returned to the area near the courthouse building.

The secret in the cleaning staff's changing room had already been discovered by the White Epaulets. Everyone who had come to do the final cleaning before the trial was arrested. The White Epaulets refused to interrogate jointly with the Black Epaulets and directly hauled the people away.

The Black Epaulets certainly weren't idle either. After checking the perimeter cameras, they removed some of the defensive items and arranged guards at their posts according to plan.

The broken water pipe in the men's restroom had also been discovered, but the maintenance worker said it was likely due to aging pipes and couldn't be fixed quickly. After consulting Ran Ying, the Black Epaulets sealed off the men's restroom and temporarily converted the women's restroom into a unisex one.

Naturally, they had also used items to inspect both restrooms thoroughly beforehand.

By late morning, the Holy Sword Society player was finally delivered to the courthouse. A face shield covered his head, and his hands and feet were pierced through with restraints. These were naturally not ordinary restraints either. Aside from tormenting the flesh, they released a toxin that filled the body with exhaustion. To prevent his escape, his hands were also bound with items separately, keeping his fingers from closing into a grip.

The Black Epaulets escorting him also maintained a certain distance and were all equipped with protective suits and helmets that blocked mental interference.

The man was wrapped up tightly. His face, hands, and feet were all concealed. Aside from his approximate height and build, this Holy Sword Society player revealed no other identifying characteristics. He paused at the courthouse door, seeming to ask the Black Epaulet beside him something. After receiving Ran Ying's approval, the Black Epaulet said something to him, and only then did the group formally enter the courthouse building.

Following behind was Rayton Mireille. This not-so-young noble scion was in fine condition except for his somewhat listless mental state.

In addition, Ahsis Vilner, Cag Hellert, and others, along with Lady Lily and other nobles or players who had come to watch the trial, also filed into the building one after another after passing identity verification.

By the time they arrived, Xu Huo had no choice but to retreat from his elevated position and blend into the crowd gathered to watch the excitement.

The outer perimeter of the courthouse building was entirely guarded by the Black Epaulets. Once the trial began, no one was allowed in or out. Even the few White Epaulets who wanted to go back inside to recheck the changing rooms were blocked outside.

These White Epaulets, looking for trouble, shouted that they had already found important leads. They threatened that if the Black Epaulets didn't let them through and something went wrong, the responsibility would fall entirely on the Black Epaulets. They also refused the Black Epaulets' suggestion to hand over the leads, and after arguing for a while, it was decided that the Black Epaulets could accompany them inside.