Chapter Nine

And just like he promised. Boss Lu submitted to the court. He was brought in front of the judge to wait for his sentence. The large courtroom was intimidating and the jury's eyes did their best to peer into his soul.

It was like any other court hearing. It didn't feel all that special. They showed the evidence. The pictures of his lookalikes, the witnesses, old business scandals that never mattered before this.

Boss Lu sat there and took it. He waited for his chance. But he didn't know if he would ever get one.

His lawyer tried their best with what they had. But without Boss Lu fighting back, they were punching with an open fist. It was needless, he was practically already guilty.

But what surprised Boss Lu the most was a witness that they brought in. A young girl, one around high school. You could tell she was nervous, her shoulders were caved in. Her pretty face was faced downward with her hair framing her eyes and tears were hanging on the ends of her eyelashes. She looked around the room and spotted Boss Lu's nonchalant form. Who was laying back in his seat as he watched the trial as if he wasn't the accused criminal. Boss Lu took note of how she trembled at the sight of him and looked at the point of breaking down. Investigator Yi, the man who brought her in, wrapped his arm around her shoulder and spoke silent words into her ears.

To everyone else in the courtroom, the picture was clear.

Boss Lu let out a loud sigh from his mouth that sounded more like a mocking laugh. The girl flinched dramatically at the sound.

The girl was asked what her name was, "Sha Xiaomo." She said.

She was asked why she was here. She noticeably stilled and took small glances at Boss Lu before quickly looking away. "H-here, t-to t-t-testify against Mr. Lu."

Investigator Yi took over and said to both the jury and the judge. "Ms. Sha is a victim of human trafficking. My team and I were able to save her only a couple of weeks ago." He gave Boss Lu a hard glance. "Mr. Lu was the one who sold her."

That caused a rally. Investigator Yi was asked to follow through with evidence, to which he pulled out a familiar list of names out of another folder. Boss Lu almost jumped out of his seat out of recognition. He would have if he wasn't trying to stop himself from beating the front of his head.

Of course, it would show up now. He thought.

His luck was terrible at times like this.

It was one of the things Boss Lu had planted for Ms. Sung a while ago. A list of high school girls' names. Along with many other parts of information that practically scream human trafficking. Boss Lu was going to use that as a last resort to get rid of Ms. Sung in case she would leave. But before he was even able to consider it, his program stopped him.

Meaning, this Ms. Sha was an actor. Also meaning that the story behind her was fake. Boss Lu looked towards Investigator Yi with a hardened gaze. And at the same time, Investigator Yi also turned towards him. He didn't change his expression, but the look in his eyes was completely different. He tilted his head to the side and ran his hand through his hair. And on the side of his temple was a multitude of small black lines. Boss Lu's eyes widened as he recognized it as a barcode.

Boss Lu turned his gaze towards the victim girl. He studied her face closely and found the same black lines on her temple, hiding beneath her strands of hair.

Boss Lu could once again feel the same strain in his throat. Practically begging him to let out a mocking 'ha ha' but he stopped himself. He knew what those barcodes were. He hadn't seen them often, but those times where he had, he didn't think he would ever be able to get those burning memories out of his head. His head filled with some strange murderous feeling at the thought of it.

If these people were systems in disguise, then he wondered where the transigrator from before had gone. If a system that's powerful enough to own a body was doing the job instead, then it must be pretty important. Boss Lu felt a strange sense of pride fill his chest.

Because yup, that problem was him.

He leaned farther back into his chair and picked some stray earwax out of his ear. He let out an open-mouthed yawn which brought several eye daggers to shoot towards his direction. His black hair leaned back with him and he stared into the blinding lights above him. Why did they have to make these rooms so bright? A small giggle left him as he thought that perhaps it was to serve as a light justice.

Justice his ass.

He thought about which one was worse. The fact that he tried to fake himself into being a criminal, or that those bastards were doing it for him.

How ironic.

He covered his burning eyes with his hands and let the strain of his stress leave him. If the systems were doing it by themselves, then that means that the man before wasn't willing to do it, right?

He hoped so.

The court hearing continued. And Boss Lu didn't fight back, in fact, the only thing he was trying to fight off was his boredom. His lawyer was left tongue-tied and empty-handed as the other side continued to pile on evidence after evidence. It was practically a closed case.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself, Lu Jiang?" The judge asked him. Boss Lu found the wording funny and let out a chuckle that was stuck in his throat for a while.

"Yeah, I do." He said as he leaned forward in his chair. It creaked along with the movement. He looked towards both the victim girl and Investigator Yi. He split his pointer finger and middle finger to point at the both of them, "Those two..." He gave them a strange smile adorned with furrowed eyebrows. "If I'm going to hell, I'm bringing them with me."

The crowd created another fury and the judge bashed the gavel into his desk. "Lu Jiang, do you plead guilty?" said the white-haired man. In response, Boss Lu shrugged his shoulder, "Sure buddy, whatever you want me to be." He raised his hands high into the sky and yelled out, "I plead guilty!"

And with the raise of his hands came the rumbling through the ground. It started small. The water next to his lawyer created ripples against the glass container. The jury quieted and focused on the tremors. "An earthquake?" someone said. Perhaps it was an earthquake, but as the tremors turned to non-stop shaking, they thought otherwise. "The whole building is shaking..." Mumbled Boss Lu. His eyes shined mysteriously and his white teeth once again made an appearance. The people in the jury had to grasp onto one another to stay steady, while others fell onto their bottoms. Boss Lu steadied himself onto the table in front of him and did his best to keep his legs from giving out.

Boss Lu watched as Investigator Yi and Sha Xiaomo went onto the defense. Their limbs straightened and they quickly glanced from left to right. He wanted to continue to watch them out of amusement but the intense shockwave that tore out part of the wall stopped him.

He looked at the hole in shock. The intense shaking of the ground and building along with the newly added razor-sharp wind blades cutting into everyone's skin. Boss Lu swung his head towards the two disguised systems and yelled out, "You motherfuckers! What did you say to the guy to get him this angry?!" In this type of genre, what kind of disaster could do something like this? Of course, only things from outside the plot could do it, only leaving Bai Mo to be the only other possible cause. Both of the systems realized this and paled noticeably.

Along with the defining sound of the wind and tremors, Boss Lu tried his best to shield his face from the sharp wind blades. He looked towards the large hole in the wall only to spot the same familiar silhouette from before. Boss Lu could feel the bucket of ice pour over him at the sight. Or perhaps it wasn't metaphorically, but instead, it was intense cold that spread over the room.

The ceiling beams gave out and fell. Boss Lu saw in the corner of his eyes, the ceiling fell onto the jury. And another fell onto the audience. It was unknown whether they survived or not. And amidst all of it, stood the same tall man he's seen before. His hair waved along with the intense wind but none of the blades cut through his skin. He stood straight, with his feet planted directly onto the shaking floor. He wasn't at all unsteady. Boss Lu looked into his eyes. The pools didn't make contact with him but instead seemed to drown within themselves, making him look dazed and unfocused. But Boss Lu knew that he was conscious. The pressure emitting off of him was dark and solid. It made it hard for Boss Lu to breathe, let alone move.

With the slight twist of his slender neck, Bai Mo descended his gaze towards them. Sparks of electricity frizzled through his hair and into the wuthering winds. He stood in the middle of the chaos and looked at them like he was a lonely god. One that was betrayed and set cast aside by their loved ones. The sight struck Boss Lu's mind. The destruction surrounding one man as he took on the world. Two different pictures mixed into each other in his mind as he felt a sense of Deja vu.

"Bai...Mo?" His voice, as quiet as a mouse. He couldn't even hear himself over the rumbling ground and deafening winds. His eyes widened, and they became so dry from the wind that they hurt.

Bai Mo's super hearing ears twitched at the sound of his name. He turned his head towards Boss Lu. He seemed to be looking straight through him and into the nothingness inside him. For Boss Lu, time seems to stop, the feeling that he had become more intense, it built up inside him and went straight towards his head. "Bai Mo!" Investigator Yi called out. "What do you think you're doing!?" It was hard to hear the system, but for Bai Mo it was easy. He turned his attention to the Investigator. A fake smile, one more akin to a cold smirk grew onto his face. "You expect me to stay still? I am not a saint, nor do I have their patience." He raised his hand to pull his hair back, and to Boss Lu's surprise adorned to his forehead were streaks of dried blood. And underneath was a scar, one of the same color of the systems. "I already was suspicious before, so, do you want to explain this?"

Once again, the color of the system's skin had gotten paler. He looked towards the girl next to him and they both nodded.

"Bai Mo, I don't have the right to explain..."

Bai Mo's patience was short, "Alright, then tell me who does!"

He took several large steps towards the system. The daze in his eyes faded away and was replaced with crazed desperation. "Why is it that you can't tell me? Why is it that it healed so quickly?" He pointed his slender jointed finger at the identical scar next to the system's temple. "Why is it that it healed just as fast as your fake ass body!? Why can't you tell me? You say you have no right, but as far as I know, no one does!" His arm swept through the air, and along with it came more blazing winds. The loud crash of thunder sounded outside and the bright light of the lightning came just after.

"And this..." Said Bai Mo, as he looked at his trembling hand, where several sparks of static weaved around his fingers. "Why is this happening? This is something you can't do, isn't it?"

"Bai Mo, let's just get this mission over with and go back, alright? We can figure it out then."

Bai Mo stopped moving and his arms fell to his side. Everything went quiet. The wind died down, and the ground went still. Bai Mo's hair and the tilt of his head covered his expression. "Ah..." He said. "I see." He was very quiet. With his downtrodden look and the disappointed aura around him, Boss Lu thought that he looked like a rejected child. But at the same time, deep chills crept up all of the bystanders' spines. "It's alright." Bai Mo said, in the same tone as before. He looked up and the straightened typical expression was back onto his face. "I don't care anymore. It was useless from the start. I don't need answers, they wouldn't stop my hatred for you anyways."

At that moment, because of the stop of the wind, objects being held up by it began to fall. One of which was directly behind Boss Lu. The female disguised system took its chance and ran up to him and gave him a good push in the way of the falling debris. But once again, the wind blew fiercely, and Boss Lu felt himself get caught.

Bai Mo had caught Boss Lu and tossed him onto his shoulder. Boss Lu let out a respectable 'oof' at the impact. Boss Lu turned his head towards the front and said, "W-what the?"

Bai Mo held the female system by the neck and said to no one in particular. "You have a lot of courage." His hands grew tighter. "This is definitely the wrong time, sadly." His eyes glowed slightly and the wind picked up. "Since I don't think you need this anymore, I'll just take it." The area lights up and Boss Lu could hear the Investigator calling out to Bai Mo to stop. When the light dimmed down, the system's body fell from Bai Mo's hand and onto the ground, lifeless. A light similar to Boss Lu's orb system was in his hands. It seemed to pulse faintly before Bai Mo crushed it in his palm. It directly turned into mist and floated into Bai Mo's nostrils. Bai Mo gave a small smirk, "Ha. Who knew..."

The Investigator trembled slightly, "Bai Mo, w-what have you..."

"I'll advise you to stop speaking. Or else I don't know if I'll be able to hold myself from ending you here and now." Bai Mo interrupted the Investigator. He adjusted his grip on Boss Lu and began to walk towards the large hole in the wall. "I would like to savor ending you. So don't make me rush it."

Bai Mo left the system behind and walked outside with Boss Lu on his shoulder. Compared to the destruction left behind him, the crazed look from before, and the chaos that he created, Boss Lu thought that Bai Mo seemed way too nonchalant.