No one knew if they would make it in time, but time was ticking away.
As the time gradually approached 5 PM, the jury, the judge, and the prosecution all began to stir.
Yet, at this crucial moment, Michael's phone was unreachable. Emilia could only fret, while Dukevich, seated in the defendant's box, subtly curved his lips into a smile, seemingly pleased that his subordinates had succeeded.
Meanwhile, outside the courtroom, a battered, completely totaled Ford rattled its way over, astonishing the Interpol officers present.
"Where did this junk car come from?"
"We've waited all this time just for this piece of junk?"
A group of police officers swarmed in from behind, completely surrounding the small, dilapidated car.
Michael opened the door, but it fell directly to the ground and broke apart. The back door wasn't much better; Zhang Jie simply kicked it off.
At this point, he couldn't bother with the door anymore. He walked directly to the Interpol officers, pointing at Jin Kaide, who was climbing out of the car window.
"This is the witness who will be testifying, Darius Jin Kaide."
The leading Interpol officer paused, sized up the three of them, then tilted his head and said, "Follow me."
As the three went through security, the security machines blared wildly.
"Gentlemen, please take everything out of your pockets."
The two gentlemen referred to were, of course, Zhang Jie and Jin Kaide.
The two then walked to the tray and began to pull out the weapons they carried.
Zhang Jie was relatively straightforward: two spare magazines and two glock 34s, and he was done.
Jin Kaide, however, was busy for quite a while, pulling out one gun after another from his body, making Zhang Jie's eyes widen.
Are you Doraemon?
Where do you even put so many guns on your body?
Jin Kaide actually pulled out seven guns from his person.
Michael, standing nearby, was almost going crazy. "Can you hurry up? We're almost out of time."
At this moment, inside the courtroom, the judge tapped her gavel twice. Seeing that it was almost 5 o'clock, she began to declare, "It seems the time limit has expired, and I have no choice but to announce that this case will naturally become..."
Before she could finish her sentence, the courtroom door suddenly burst open.
Jin Kaide and Michael stood at the doorway.
The key witness had arrived, and the trial resumed. Michael began his self-introduction.
Zhang Jie, naturally uninterested in such a lengthy self-introduction, began his sweep as soon as the two entered the courtroom.
Yes, because along the way, he had already noticed several anomalies. These individuals didn't resemble police officers or court personnel at all; instead, they looked like assassins.
Since he had taken on this job, he naturally had to protect his employer's safety. His bodyguard mission wasn't over until the trial concluded.
So, as he walked, Zhang Jie continuously cleared out the assassins disguised as staff members.
Either knocking them out or directly eliminating them, he was swift and decisive, without any hesitation.
And in the courtroom, Michael finally understood. It turned out that the murdered pastor was Jin Kaide's biological father, and Jin Kaide had not actually accepted Dukevich's employment in the true sense.
Instead, on April 17, 2012, he had visited Dukevich, hoping he could help eliminate political rivals who had fled to England.
Faced with the substantial commission, Jin Kaide did not agree.
"I cannot condone those who indiscriminately kill innocent people." Jin Kaide's answer echoed in Michael's ears, deafening like thunder.
It turned out he had misunderstood him all this time.
And the 'first mission at 16' he spoke of was actually to avenge his own biological father.
But the judge, of course, couldn't just take his word for it and immediately asked, "Do you have evidence to prove this?"
"Of course."
Although he hadn't accepted Dukevich's employment, he had witnessed Dukevich massacring civilians and had preserved all the footage.
As a top assassin, how could he not have a backup plan? So he turned to the clerk next to him and said, "Open the Raven 257 FTP site."
The clerk immediately complied and opened the website's index, but a password prompt popped up.
At this moment, Jin Kaide, as if waking from a dream, said, "I'm sorry, the password is..."
"DUKEVICHISASHA
diao, with 'diao' lowercase and everything else uppercase."
At this, everyone burst into laughter. Such blatant sarcasm truly let the whole world know about Dukevich's... small dd.
Subsequently, Jin Kaide added, "These things cannot be handed over to Interpol; they are not trustworthy."
As the website opened, images began to pop up, and everyone on the projector was shocked. The pictures showed photographs of massacred people and photos taken during the massacres, each one bloody.
With the evidence laid bare, amidst everyone's shock, Dukevich knew he had no way to recover. He gave a look to his subordinates seated on the periphery.
Then he stood up and openly admitted his atrocities.
"I am the President, the President of the country. All my actions are legal. Those lawless elements who resist me should be massacred."
This blatant anti-human declaration directly stimulated the nerves of everyone present. Deputy Director Furge, seeing the situation, knew he couldn't stay any longer, so he stealthily slipped out.
As soon as he walked out, he ran into Zhang Jie, who had just finished clearing out everyone and was walking over.
Seeing him in this state, Zhang Jie instinctively punched him.
The punch directly knocked the Deputy Director to the ground, dazed, followed by another punch.
"Baby Sleep Fist, good night."
Emilia, who had followed them out, was astonished to see this.
"Oh, Emilia, good afternoon." Zhang Jie smiled and greeted her, then prepared to push open the door and enter the courtroom.
Boom—!
A massive explosion accompanied by a shockwave directly rushed into the hallway. Zhang Jie was hit by the shockwave and almost fainted.
"Damn it, what era is this? There's still a bombing attack!"
Dazed, Zhang Jie stood up. The shockwave of the explosion had made him a bit blurry.
When he pushed open the door and entered the courtroom, he saw Dukevich snatch a bailiff's gun and fire a shot at Jin Kaide.
Michael, standing nearby, was immediately alarmed and threw himself forward, positioning himself between the bullet and Jin Kaide.
He tackled Jin Kaide to the ground, simultaneously blocking the shot.
Jin Kaide, sprawled on the ground, exclaimed, "This is the 3A service I wanted! Fantastic!"
At this moment, Michael officially became a Level Three bodyguard.
However, when Jin Kaide looked down and saw bloodstains on his shirt, he was shocked: "Fuck!"
He didn't feel any pain, which meant the blood was from Michael, who had just taken the bullet for him. He quickly looked at Michael and anxiously shouted, "Doctor! Call a doctor!"
"Don't worry about me. Go and catch Dukevich! Don't let him get away with it. He must receive the punishment he deserves." Even injured, Michael had no intention of letting Dukevich, that madman, go.
Jin Kaide, gun in hand, chased after him. He absolutely couldn't let the man who injured his bodyguard escape.
Meanwhile, Dukevich had already rushed out of the courtroom, staggering. The dizzy and confused Zhang Jie and Dukevich brushed past each other.
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