Invalidation
Yundu Financial Court·Seventh Arbitration Court
When Charlotte unbuttoned the second button of her shirt, the audience heard a series of shutter sounds. This was not out of coveting beauty, but the bruise below her collarbone - evidence of the shock wave of the explosion last night left on her skin, which was now being scanned by the Morningstar Group's lawyers with a macro lens.
"Please ask the witness to explain the legality of this agreement." The arbitrator knocked on the holographic table, and the paper patent book from 1998 was projected and suspended in the center of the court, with yellowed corners rolling up the rough edges of memory.
The attorney representing Lei Ting Home Appliances pushed the AR glasses: "Lin Jianye voluntarily signed the technology sharing agreement, proving that Morningstar Group has a legal... "
"Objection." Charlotte pressed the smart bracelet on the sensing area of the defense seat, "Presenting new evidence: after judicial appraisal, the signing date of the agreement was chemically tampered with."
A circular light curtain was lowered from the dome of the court. Spectral analysis showed that the cobalt oxychloride component in the ink, a stabilizer that was only mass-produced in 2005, formed a dazzling blue spot on the 1998 document.
The audience was in uproar. The agarwood bracelet of the Morningstar vice president suddenly broke, and the sound of the sandalwood beads rolling across the walnut floor was very similar to the bearings scattered on his father's workbench before the laboratory explosion that year.
The arbitrator called up the hologram of the will of Morningstar founder Zhou Weimin: "Please explain to the defendant why Mr. Zhou transferred the core patent to an overseas trust fund before his death?"
"This has nothing to do with this case." Morningstar's lawyer's Adam's apple was sweating.
"Of course it is related." Charlotte clicked on the equity structure chart floating in the air, "The beneficiaries of the fund include the wife of the current CEO of Thunder Home Appliances."
It was at this time that Alexander broke in. His right arm was fixed with a carbon fiber bracket, and the hem of his suit was left with traces of fire foam. Amid the warning of the chief arbitrator, he walked straight to the evidence table and inserted the blood-stained mobile hard drive into the forensic identification instrument.
"The temperature control code of the third-generation Morning Star smart lock," he raised his head and drank the half bottle of mineral water that Charlotte had left, "Line 147 contains the list of my father's mistresses."
The holographic screen was suddenly covered with erotic hotel bills, two of which were made using the public account of Thunder Appliances. The audience burst into exclamations, and the reporters' photon pens poked ripples on the virtual files.
"Objection! The source of the evidence is illegal!"
"Legal acquisition." Alexander showed the gauze oozing blood from the wound, "The rescue record of the Fourth People's Hospital last night can prove it--"
He suddenly staggered and held Charlotte's chair back, his body temperature burning her neck through the silk shirt. When his lips brushed her ear, the mint scent was no longer exhaled, but the bitter taste of the painkiller injection: "There is more than just the agreement in the safe."
The arbitration tribunal suddenly lost power. The moment the emergency light came on, Charlotte saw someone in the dock take out a micro laser pen. She instinctively turned to protect Alexander, but he pushed her into his arms.
The moment the burning beam pierced his left shoulder, Charlotte saw the Thor's hammer logo on the murder weapon.
"The third time." Alexander's voice was full of laughter, and blood dripped on her chiffon skirt and bloomed into coral. "You often protect me from disasters."
When the riot police rushed in, he took the opportunity to stuff the metal USB drive into the inside of her belt. The body temperature sensor lock vibrated on the skin, and the password prompt that appeared made the pupils shrink suddenly-
Please enter the laboratory access code on the day Lin Jianye committed suicide
In the chaos, Alexander was carried away from the scene on a stretcher. Charlotte held the bloody USB drive tightly and heard the sound of her back teeth rubbing. On that rainy night seven years ago, her father held her hand with his last strength and carved the string of numbers on the bed guardrail...
"Adjourn!" The arbitrator's hammer hit the infrasonic vibration.
The holographic screen froze on a certain scene in the ripples: hidden in the interlayer of Zhou Weimin's will was a half-burnt baby photo, and on the swaddling clothes was embroidered Lin Jianye's handwritten number - C-0917.