The weather forecast was indeed accurate. On December 1st, the Federal capital of San Lorenzo welcomed its largest snowfall since the beginning of winter.

Mo Xin stood by the window, watching as two columns of armed soldiers downstairs dutifully kept dozens of journalists outside the security perimeter.

The so-called “Trial of the Century” was about to begin, and regardless of the outcome, these people all wanted to get firsthand information. But they probably wouldn’t know that the military commissioners participating in the trial still couldn’t reach a consensus and were arguing fiercely in the council chamber.

Reinis was the leading advocate for the death penalty.

“Liang Qiuchi must be executed by firing squad, immediately! There’s no need to be soft on terrorists!”

“Too radical,” Chellensee objected firmly. “Liang Qiuchi is a key figure in the Lugo Armed Forces. In the two months since his arrest, Lugo has launched retaliatory attacks in multiple regions. Sentencing him to death at this time would only add fuel to the fire.”

“Lugo is just a small fry, how many people are there in total? Look at how frightened you’ve become,” Reinis sneered at him. “Those who have never been on the battlefield and touched a gun should just shut up, or you’ll only appear ignorant and cowardly.”

Someone tried to mediate, but Reinis didn’t give them a chance to speak. “Liang Qiuchi defected from the Federation and joined Lugo, becoming our enemy. His existence is the greatest insult to the Federation! I propose broadcasting his execution live to the world, so everyone can see what fate awaits this scum who tramples on the honor of the Federation!”

Chellensee let out a derisive laugh.

“What are you laughing at?” Reinis glared at him.

“Nothing,” Chellensee shook his head. “Just suddenly remembered when you went to the Federal Military Academy to award Liang Qiuchi a medal. At that time, you didn’t curse at him like this.”

Reinis’s face instantly darkened.

Chellensee shrugged teasingly at the two young military officers beside him. “It’s been a few years, I don’t know if you’ve seen that news.” His gaze swept around the council chamber quickly before settling on the upright figure by the window.

“General Mo, you also graduated from the Federal Military Academy, right? Come and back me up. Wasn’t General Reinis praising Liang Qiuchi to the heavens as a role model back then?”

Everyone’s eyes followed his gaze.

Mo Xin turned his head slightly, his expression indifferent. “I forgot.”

Chellensee felt awkward after failing to elicit a response and tried to say something to save face, but then a middle-aged officer hurriedly entered the council chamber, saluting Reinis and Mo Xin in quick succession.

“Report! There’s intense gunfire on Blue Flag Street, and the vehicle transporting the prisoner is surrounded…”

“What’s going on!” Reinis’s gray eyebrows furrowed instantly. “Has the emergency plan been activated?”

“We activated Plan C immediately, but the other side was well-prepared, and their attack was too fierce…” The figure by the window moved slightly, and the middle-aged officer instinctively glanced in that direction, interrupting his report.

Reinis muttered “useless” under his breath and quickly followed Mo Xin out of the council chamber.

The Blue Flag Street where the incident occurred was far beyond the tenth block, and it was difficult to travel in the heavy snow. By the time they arrived at the scene, the firefight had already ended.

Several overturned cars on the side of the street were ablaze, and the intense flames mixed with the gunpowder smoke were particularly suffocating. Among them, the armored vehicle lying across the middle of the road was burning most fiercely, with only half of its metal shell left, riddled with bullet holes.

“Where is Liang Qiuchi? And where are the people escorting him? Where did they all go?!” Reinis repeatedly demanded, while the commander temporarily assigned to handle the scene stammered and stuttered, unable to provide any useful information, which only further infuriated Reinis.

Several pieces of metal blasted from the cars lay along the roadside. Mo Xin, wearing white gloves, picked up some ash from the metal pieces, examined it for a moment, then slowly crushed it. He interrupted Reinis’s reprimand, ordering the commander to collect biological samples from the escort vehicle after the fire was extinguished and send them to the lab for comparison.

The commander hurriedly acknowledged and rushed off to find people to carry out the task.

Halfway through venting his anger, Reinis turned his ire towards Mo Xin. “What’s the use of comparing DNA? Do you think there will be Liang Qiuchi’s remains in that heap of ashes in the car?”

“If there were, wouldn’t that suit your desires?” Mo Xin retorted.

Reinis let out a disdainful snort from his nostrils. “I want him to face justice before he dies.”

“Oh, do you have a better suggestion?” Mo Xin took off his gloves and looked at Reinis.

The escort route had been cleared in advance, and bystanders were not allowed to approach. All the soldiers responsible for the escort mission were killed, meaning there were no witnesses. Additionally, nearby surveillance cameras were destroyed during the firefight, leaving them with very few clues to investigate.

Confirming the identities of the severely burned corpses inside the armored vehicle was indeed the quickest and most effective method.

The best outcome would be if Liang Qiuchi had not escaped and had been burned to ashes inside the vehicle, saving them from expending further effort to track down his whereabouts.

But sometimes, it’s better to keep some things to oneself rather than reveal them.

However, Mo Xin insisted on revealing the truth, displaying a rather poor sense of emotional intelligence.

Reinis decided to give this young man, who had just returned from the front line and was full of pride due to his military achievements, a good lesson.

He said, “Although you’re not directly responsible for escorting prisoners, your Security Bureau is coordinating anti-terrorism defense forces. With the operation turning out like this, General Mo, you really need to think about how to explain this to the President. Short tenure is not a good excuse.”

Even after mentioning the President, Mo Xin still didn’t seem to feel any pressure. He responded nonchalantly, “Thank you for the reminder.”

Seeing that Mo Xin was not receptive, Reinis didn’t bother to argue further with him. But just as he turned to leave, he suddenly turned back. “Chellensee reminded me today. When you were in military school, were you classmates with Liang Qiuchi?”

“Not in the same year,” Mo Xin corrected him.

Reinis looked at him with a smirk, full of ill intentions. “I’m curious, if Liang Qiuchi had been successfully brought to the military court today, would you have shown leniency to your former schoolmate?”

Mo Xin looked at the burned-out armored vehicle, and even the blazing flames couldn’t reflect warmth in his indifferent eyes. “I’m not close to him, so there’s no reason to show mercy.”

Reinis raised an eyebrow, said nothing more, and after another look around the scene, he left first to report to the President.

Not long after, snow began to fall from the sky again.

Mo Xin unfastened the disciplinary clasp on his military uniform, and snowflakes drifted into his collar, barely suppressing the irritation in his heart. He walked to the outside of the security perimeter and lit a cigarette from his cigarette case.

The commander had intended to take this opportunity to express his gratitude to him for the recent relief efforts and to ingratiate himself with this rising political figure. But seeing Mo Xin smoking, he hesitated.

Standing in the snowy silence, exuding an aura of aloofness that kept others at bay, he dared not disturb him easily.

After finishing a cigarette, a thin layer of snow had settled on Mo Xin’s shoulders.

He waved for the commander waiting nearby, gave a brief explanation, then got into his car and returned to his private villa on the outskirts of San Lorenzo.

His aide, Vincent, had been waiting at the door for some time.

Once Mo Xin got out of the car, he walked straight into the courtyard, with Vincent following closely behind.

The two of them walked in silence until they reached the porch, where Mo Xin finally spoke, asking, “How is he?”

“He took a bullet to the chest and is still unconscious,” Vincent chose his words carefully, considering Mo Xin’s feelings, “the situation is not very optimistic.”