256: Past, present, and future

"Zzzzt..."

"Pilot detected... Injecting nutrient solution..."

"Neural link—established; Life cycle—started; Fire control matrix—ready..."

"Ready, executing wake-up protocol."

A faint mechanical sound echoed in her ears. In her daze, Wei Lan felt her consciousness slowly returning to her body, followed by a surge of astonishment—she thought she was dead.

Previously, she had disguised herself as an innocent girl to infiltrate the Sanatorium where the young master of the Saint Blade Group was staying, hoping to assassinate him, but she failed.

Afterward, those despicable guys locked her up, kept her alive with some unknown drug, and tortured her for who knows how long.

But just a moment ago, when she felt she couldn't hold on any longer and was about to be released from her suffering, the door to the dark room where she was held was suddenly smashed open—in the last moment before her consciousness drifted away, she only saw a big red guy rush in.

Then, waking up now.

"Congratulations, the surgery was successful—now you can be painted."

Hearing a voice, Wei Lan instinctively opened her eyes, only to find that her field of vision had become a square shape, seemingly a window—and outside the window, a guy wearing red powered armor was walking towards her, carrying several cans of spray paint.

"What... is the situation now?"

Wei Lan instinctively raised her right hand, but what met her eyes was a red and black mechanical arm with a menacing Autocannon hanging from it, and her own voice had turned into an electronic sound with a slight crackle of electricity.

"This warrior, I am currently spraying friendly identification marks and tactical numbers on you," the guy in the red powered armor took off his helmet and answered Wei Lan's question simply—"To avoid painting it crooked, I hope you won't move around for now."

Indeed, the person standing in front of Wei Lan was a member of the logistics department of the Guardian Angel Legion.

Undoubtedly, the Frigates of the Saint Blade Group could hold off the uprising army's offensive only because of their advantages in equipment and fortifications, and when they lost these advantages, the outcome was obvious—in less than 20 minutes, the iron boots descending from the sky directly trampled through the Sanatorium's defensive line.

Several Marines had discovered the dying Wei Lan while clearing the building, and to keep her alive, those Marines made the decision to place her into the cockpit of a refrigerator mecha.

After the person in front of her finished introducing the current situation, he sped up his movements.

Looking at him, Wei Lan couldn't help but ask the question she cared about most: "Then... did our uprising succeed?"

"It succeeded," the logistics member replied after spraying the last identification number on the mecha's left arm and putting down the high-pressure spray can.

"The people on this planet have regained what belonged to them—"

"Not just this planet, but this star system—Sea Witch Constellation V22.78, as well as thousands of other star systems like this one, some better, some worse,"

"They—we, have already sent the loudest declaration to the universe, which is that we have awakened."

"By the way, warrior, what is your name?"

The huge mecha detached from the fixed rack. Wei Lan raised the mechanical arms on both sides of the refrigerator mecha, looked at the red base color, the emblem of a crow with a drop of blood, and a string of white numbers.

She was silent for a moment before saying: "I—my name is Wei Lan," "And you?"

"My name is Ajax, rank First Sergeant," the logistics member replied, then looked up at the mecha's observation window and asked: "In about an hour, there will be a public trial on this planet. That young master of the Saint Blade Group, the one who tortured you to this point, is also on the list to be judged."

"Do you want to watch?"

Wei Lan, buried in the cockpit, had her pupils shrink instantly. Then, the mecha's massive body immediately jumped down from the base of the fixed platform without any hesitation and said: "Please, you must take me—"

"Okay, okay, be careful. After all, you just entered the dreadnought—ah no, the refrigerator mecha. Familiarize yourself with the controls first," seeing Wei Lan's impatient look, Ajax took a half-step back in fear—although he was a clone body, that didn't mean he wanted to be heavily smashed by the refrigerator mecha—if he were smashed, he would either have to go back to the base camp located at the Tianjin Seat, or he would have to stay in those coffin-like refrigerator mecha for this trip.

"For now, follow me, and be careful not to bump into anything."

"Okay."

In every area where the uprising succeeded, holding public trials was the instruction Xi Hai gave to the Legion fleet that went to support, and this instruction was undoubtedly thoroughly implemented and executed.

"Death penalty!" "Bang!!!" "Death penalty!" "Bang!!!"

Although it was called a public trial, it was actually just a process.

For the insurgents below the stage, it was nothing more than those usually high-and-mighty military officers, bosses, and officials being dragged onto the dark high platform, and then, the judge in military uniform would read a series of crimes, tap the small hammer in his hand, and those people who were pressed up would be dragged to the execution ground on the side and shot with a "bang."

Every time a gunshot rang out, cheers and applause would erupt from the crowd.

On a bunker that had been half-blown away, diagonally behind the temporarily erected trial stand, two people were standing side by side—one in a crisp military uniform, and the other covered in dust—yes, these two were Lu 700, who had taken over the supreme command of the planet, and Li Jinyang, who had arrived late with the support fleet.

The two stood there silently watching one "warrior" after another being dragged to the defendant's seat, then dragged to the execution ground a few steps away.

After a long while, Lu 700 looked at Li Jinyang and asked with slight confusion: "Say, what is the point of your trials? If it's to boost morale, it would be better to just throw them to the soldiers below and let the soldiers deal with these enemies of theirs."

Li Jinyang looked at Lu 700, lowered his head, and explained: "We do not advocate individualistic revenge, and we strictly forbid using hatred as a motivation for soldiers."

"Your trial efficiency is not high, or rather, I even feel like this is putting on a show," Lu 700 let out a long breath, "And I still can't understand, dragging them to the high platform like this, reading out that long and smelly stuff, and finally 'bang' and killing them, what can we gain."

Li Jinyang patted Lu 700's shoulder, shaking off a layer of dust from him, "I don't know how to explain it either, or rather, I don't quite understand it myself."

"But do you see it? The look in the eyes of the people below, there is light in their eyes."

"We used an uprising to tell them that those high-and-mighty, arrogant oppressors are also human, and when humans are killed, they will die;"

"Now, we are using a trial to tell them that we firmly stand with them, that the law protects their rights and implements their justice,"

"His Excellency Chusiro said that the law should be like this."

"And he also said that today's trial is not just for the people of today, but also for the people of the future—when one day, darkness covers humanity again, future successors will still be able to find direction from these trials,"

"And then, once again, chisel open the darkness covering humanity."

Lu 700 listened and was silent for a long time before saying: "Maybe your point of view is right, let time prove it—"

"At least, let's manage the present first."

"Right, the present—" Li Jinyang nodded, "Speaking of the present, I happen to have something,"

"The star system under our feet needs a name."

Facing this question, Lu 700 was stunned, then looked at Li Jinyang and asked confusedly: "A name? Isn't this some Sea Witch Constellation V something something?"

"No, that's the landmark location," Li Jinyang shook his head, "This is not my decision, but my superior's, saying it symbolizes a new beginning."

"But it's still early, you can decide slowly."

Lu 700 suddenly laughed, "Hahaha—it's not early now!"

He stretched out his large, dust-covered hand, patted Li Jinyang opposite him heavily just like Li Jinyang had just patted him, leaving several large handprints on the clean military uniform, "Everyone here is already impatient for that new beginning!"

"I'll give you an answer tomorrow afternoon! Going now!"

Saying that, he jumped off the machine gun bunker and left without looking back, while Li Jinyang first watched Lu 700's retreating back, then his gaze slowly moved to the trial stand on the side—the temporary military judge was served by an intern Inquisition member who had joined the fleet, and now on the stage was one of the highlights of this trial—one of the sons of the Saint Blade Group chairman, Kraken.

After watching for a while, Li Jinyang rubbed his eyes.

He probably had too much pressure while traveling and was hallucinating; he actually saw a refrigerator mecha jumping around in the empty space of the auditorium.

It was time to go back to write reports and relax.