Cataclysm: Undead Dragons and Zero Empire

Chapter 97 Crime and Punishment

On the frozen earth, the cold wind still swirled fine snowflakes, but the courtroom in the underground city was not as cold as it was on the ground. The constant temperature system was functioning well, but the atmosphere inside was even more biting than the wind and snow.

Two flags hung above the courthouse dome: one bearing the "Hand with the Flame" of the Death Knights, and the other the dragon bone emblem of the Death Faction.

Now the great purge is coming to an end, and it is also the most ruthless finale. The courtroom is brightly lit day and night, judges and jury members take turns, but the defendant's dock is always full, with mountains of files recording the crimes.

"quiet!"

The judge, dressed in military uniform, struck his gavel on the bench. The heavy sound echoed in the empty courtroom, instantly silencing the noise from the defendant's dock.

In the dock, a group of divine mages, bound by shackles that suppressed their psychic powers, were pale-faced, some with expressions of arrogance and resentment.

One person was still trying to shout, saying loudly, "I have done good for humanity, I have shed blood for the church, I want to see the leader!" Then he was shocked by the electric current released from the seat and could only make a hoarse sound. After several attempts, he finally gave up and was left with only resentment and fear on his face.

"Defendant Corey, for inciting believers, fabricating oracles, and illegally organizing armed forces, the evidence is conclusive. This court hereby pronounces the sentence—" The judge's gaze swept across the defendant's dock, his voice firm and resolute, "Death penalty, to be carried out immediately!"

"Defendant Windsor violated ethical prohibitions by conducting consciousness-uploading experiments on 37 people, resulting in brain death in 31 people and permanent mental breakdown in 6 others. The circumstances are egregious; therefore, this court hereby sentences her to death, to be carried out immediately!"

"The defendant, Nelson, initiated a prototype experiment without authorization, causing psionic disorder in the urban area, resulting in a large-scale traffic accident that killed 127 people and seriously injured over 300. The circumstances are extremely serious, and this court hereby sentences him to death, to be carried out immediately!"

The gavel fell again and again, like a heavy hammer striking the hearts of every spectator. The courtroom was packed, and the live broadcast covered all inhabited areas of human civilization, with countless people watching this public trial in their spare time.

The trial proceeded with an almost ruthless efficiency, without any lawyers to defend the defendant, without asking if the defendant had any objections, only the pronouncements of the verdicts.

In court, some defendants tried to exonerate themselves by claiming "freedom of religion," some tried to shift the blame to their accomplices to lessen their crimes, and some broke down in the face of irrefutable evidence, weeping and confessing their sins to the Lord. But no matter what they did, they could not change the established facts.

The number of participants in this trial was so large that the central court was unable to complete the sentencing in a short time. As a result, local courts were also mobilized to form a committee to participate in this trial of the century.

Tens of thousands were sentenced to death, several thousand to life imprisonment, and the remaining several thousand with minor offenses were sentenced to hard labor. They will be sent to border mining stations to atone for their sins through labor.

Howard received a thick, book-like summary of judgments. His gaze swept over the death penalty lists, each listing the name, number, place of origin, and crime of every condemned prisoner. Behind the dense handwriting were lives, and each signature meant sentencing an entire list of people to death.

He had spent his life in the military, fighting his way out of the hail of bullets and seeing battlefields strewn with corpses and famines with countless starving people. He had personally executed countless enemies and was already used to death. But this time, he was to sign off on the execution of tens of thousands of his former colleagues who had worked together to build human civilization.

Howard could tolerate different ideas, different development approaches, and even personal attacks and criticisms, but he could never tolerate anyone dragging this civilization, which had barely escaped the apocalypse, back into the abyss of division and destruction.

For the sake of the survival of human civilization, he must be an impartial and incorruptible swordsman.

After Howard reviewed all the death warrants, the public execution ceremony quickly began. The site where the relief food distribution point had been set up was now cleared out, and a cordon was set up around it. The soldiers of the Death Cavalry, armed to the teeth, surrounded the entire square.

The square was crowded with people who came to watch the execution. Terence stood on the high platform with a lantern. The lantern was carved with dragon bone patterns and a lot of runes. The base of the lantern was shaped like a curled-up skull. A small red flame burned in the lantern.

The first batch of one thousand death row inmates were brought up and made to kneel on the ground, lined up neatly. Their heads were covered with coarse cloth sacks, while the psionicists wore heavy shackles on their hands and feet. No matter how surging their psionic energy was, they could only face execution helplessly like ordinary people.

The soldiers, rifles at the ready, pointed their guns at the kneeling death row inmates in front of them, their fingers on the triggers, their faces expressionless, their eyes cold and hard as iron.

The execution commander stood on the high platform, his gaze sweeping across the entire area. The loudspeaker amplified his cold command to everyone present: "Ready—!"

Among the death row inmates kneeling on the ground, some began to tremble, some whimpered and cried, and some twisted their bodies frantically, trying to break free of their restraints, but were held down firmly by the soldiers behind them and could not move.

"Fire!"

The moment the command was given, a barrage of gunfire erupted, deafeningly loud, like a torrential downpour. The sacks were instantly soaked in blood, staining the ground red. Rows of bodies covered in sacks collapsed forward, never to be heard again.

The crowd was completely silent. Some people turned their children's faces away to prevent them from seeing, while others stared intently at the execution ground, their eyes filled with complex emotions.

After the first batch of executions was completed, soldiers immediately went forward to check each of the condemned prisoners who had fallen to the ground to confirm that they were dead. Then they lifted the bodies onto the transport vehicles next to them and verified their identities. The whole process was as smooth as an assembly line in a factory.

Soon, a second batch of one thousand death row inmates were brought up. They knelt on the blood-stained ground, about to add another stroke to the totem of death on the ground with their lives.

"preparation--!"

"Fire!"

The same commands, the same gunshots, round after round, never stopped in the square, like a tireless machine sending one sinful life after another into the abyss of doom.

Terence watched the executions silently. Each time a gunshot rang out and a condemned prisoner's life ended, a nearly transparent phantom of a soul would float up from the corpse, as if drawn by an invisible messenger, and fly toward the lantern in his hand.

The moment a large number of souls rush into the lamp, the flame will suddenly flicker and become more intense. The sinful souls that are sucked in will be repeatedly roasted in the eternal flame, enduring endless pain, as if they have fallen into the legendary hell.

This is the endgame that Terence tailored for these sinners who blasphemed the authority of God and betrayed human civilization. Death is not the end, but the beginning of punishment.

When the final round of executions ended, the square was completely soaked in blood, which dried into a dark brown color. Transport trucks made round and round, sending the identified bodies into the crematorium to be reduced to ashes, ineligible for burial in the cemetery around Anle Tree.

The flame in Terence's lantern had grown quite strong, casting flickering shadows on the ground.

Soon after, the lamp was enshrined in a temple on the home planet, burning day and night, never going out, and people called it the "Lamp of Judgment." This legend quickly spread throughout human civilization.

Adults would use the legend of this lamp to scare naughty children, saying that if they did something bad, their souls would be sucked into the lamp of judgment and endlessly roasted by the flames, never to escape. The children would often stare with terrified eyes, too scared to sleep.

This trial of the century has come to an end, leaving only a lantern to serve as a constant reminder to everyone: faith must not be desecrated, and civilization must not be betrayed.