Chapter 262: Public Trial and Liquidation

Tokyo, the square in front of the former Ministry of Defense building.

Over these three days, this place had been transformed into an open-air military court.

Not the kind that was thrown together, but a proper one with holographic projection trial seats, witness seats, gallery seats, and even simultaneous translation booths.

Around the square, twelve Yinglong mechs stood in a ring, serving as both security and deterrence.

Even more exaggerated were the three Eye-in-the-Sky drones carried by the Penglai hovering at an altitude of one hundred meters, each equipped with 360-degree panoramic cameras to ensure the live broadcast had no blind spots.

At 9:00 AM, the trial began.

The presiding judge was Zhou Zhengqing, Vice President of the Longguo Supreme Military Court, sixty-five years old, with a square face, looking imposing without being angry.

He struck the gavel, and the sound spread across the entire square through the loudspeaker:

"Court is now in session."

"Bring in the defendant."

The first transport vehicle drove into the square, the door opened, and Takeda Masayoshi was escorted out by two Longguo military police.

In three days, this former leader of the Respect-Emperor Punish-Traitors Volunteer Army had become haggard, but there was still that look of madness in his eyes.

He was pressed into the defendant's seat, and the electronic shackles locked automatically.

"Defendant Takeda Masayoshi," Judge Zhou looked at the holographic case file in front of him.

"You are charged with thirty-seven counts including planning and implementing terrorist attacks, kidnapping civilians, and crimes against humanity. Do you plead guilty?"

Takeda looked up and suddenly grinned: "I am not guilty! Everything I did was for the glory of the Great River Nation! It was for—"

"Overruled," Judge Zhou interrupted calmly, "Prosecution, please present evidence."

On the prosecution side, Chen Guang's holographic projection stood up; he was still at Longyin, but participating in the trial through holographic projection.

"Your Honor, the prosecution requests the use of the Torch Dragon-3 evidence system."

"Granted."

Chen Guang snapped his fingers.

Above the square, a giant three-dimensional timeline suddenly projected—starting from three months ago, marked with event nodes in dense detail by the hour.

"This is the complete behavioral trajectory of the defendant Takeda Masayoshi over the past three months," Chen marked the first point.

"March 15th, Takeda contacted former Eagle Country intelligence officer Davis through the encrypted communication software 'Raven', discussing how to interfere with Longguo's Heaven's Punishment project."

The original dialogue records popped up on the timeline, in both Japanese and English.

Takeda's face changed slightly: "This is forged! How could encrypted communication—"

"Please be quiet," Judge Zhou glanced at him, "Continue."

"March 22nd," Chen marked the second node, "Takeda received old-fashioned weapon blueprints smuggled from White Elephant and began modifying the Ghost Samurai mech at the scrap yard in the suburbs of Sapporo."

The screen switched to the surveillance footage of the scrap yard—Takeda was personally guiding the welding.

"This is forged!" Takeda struggled, "There was no surveillance there at all!"

"Indeed, there wasn't," Chen Guang pushed up his glasses.

"But you forgot, one of your mechanics had his smartphone on the workbench during the modification process."

"Torch Dragon-3 obtained 720 hours of engineering records through his phone camera."

Takeda: "..."

"April 5th," Chen marked the third node, "Takeda planned to kidnap civilians as human shields. This is the recording of the meeting before the kidnapping—"

Takeda's voice came from the loudspeaker: "The elderly and women are easiest to control, children too... as long as the Longguo people don't dare to fire, our suicide cars can rush into their positions!"

In the gallery, there were three hundred representatives of ordinary Foot-Basin-Chicken citizens.

Hearing this recording, many showed expressions of anger.

A middle-aged man stood up and shouted: "Takeda! You demon! My mother was among those kidnapped!"

Takeda bowed his head, not daring to look.

"The above is only partial evidence," Chen Guang closed the timeline.

"The Torch Dragon-3 system has collected 1,247 communication records, 89 capital flows, and 312 hours of surveillance and audio evidence related to the case. All evidence chains are complete, and cross-verification is correct."

Judge Zhou looked at Takeda: "Defendant, do you have anything else to say?"

Takeda opened his mouth and finally squeezed out: "I... I just wanted to defend the country..."

"By kidnapping your own country's civilians to defend the country?" Judge Zhou sneered, "Sentencing."

He pulled up the verdict:

"Defendant Takeda Masayoshi, all thirty-seven charges are established."

"According to Article 3, Paragraph 1 of the 'Longguo Military Control Special Trial Regulations', sentenced to death, to be executed immediately."

Takeda slumped in his chair.

"Take him away."

Two military police stepped forward and lifted him up.

At this moment, Takeda suddenly turned back and roared at the live broadcast camera: "The Great River Nation will never submit! You kill me, there will be thousands more—" 【

The words remained unfinished.

A slender laser fired from a security mech in the corner of the square, precisely hitting his forehead.

Not a drop of blood splattered; there was only a small, charred hole.

Takeda's voice stopped abruptly, and his body went limp.

A laser execution: fast, clean, and sufficiently deterrent.

The entire venue was silent.

In the gallery, some covered their eyes, some sobbed quietly, but more people... wore expressions of relief.

A uniform response rang out in the channel: "Understood!"

"Is it... over just like that?"

"From the start of the trial to the execution, it only took fifteen minutes..."

"Is this the efficiency of technological justice?"

"The key is that the evidence is too solid; there's simply no room for debate."

"What about those who said the evidence was forged? Come out and walk a few steps?"

At ten o'clock in the morning, the second batch of defendants was brought to court.

This was a collective trial of 327 former high-ranking officials and legislators of the Foot-Basin Chicken, including former Prime Minister Ishihara.

The charges ranged from "war crimes" to "corruption and dereliction of duty."

The trial process was even more efficient.

Judge Zhou directly pulled up the social risk assessment report from Torch Dragon-3, with a string of data following each person's name:

【Ishihara Ichiro: Participated in planning the East Sea attack, evidence weight 97%; embezzled war reparations, involved amount 12 billion yen; incited ethnic hatred, social harm index 88/100...】

Ishihara looked at his own data, his face turning deathly pale.

"I plead guilty." He lowered his head, "I... am willing to accept any punishment."

Other officials also pleaded guilty one after another; in the face of ironclad evidence, sophistry was meaningless.

Final verdict:

127 people sentenced to death, to be carried out immediately.

200 people sentenced to life imprisonment, sent to the Moon Base mining area for labor reform—not manual labor in the traditional sense, but serving as monitors in automated mines, which could be considered "making use of waste."

The trial lasted until three in the afternoon.

All verdict results were simultaneously published on the "Tokyo Government Affairs Platform" established by Longguo for public viewing.

Outside the square, the reactions of the Foot-Basin Chicken public were complex.

Some held signs: "Support the just trial!" "We want peace!"

But others muttered: "Is it too harsh..."

A young reporter wearing glasses interviewed an elderly woman holding a sign: "Why do you support the trial?"

The old woman wiped the corner of her eye: "My son died in the East Sea attack... He was on that submarine intercepted by the Longguo mechs."

"It was these politicians who lied to him, saying he was going to 'defend the country,' only to send him to his death."

She pointed toward the court: "They must pay the price."