Hand Of God

Chapter 26 I suspect you're cheating on his behalf

Henry raised his hand and asked, "So, you mentioned earlier that we can bring weapons into the trial. How do we ensure the fairness of the combat?"

Thomas's expression remained unchanged, but inwardly he felt a stir, his seasoned judgment sensing something off about the question.

At least in the past, he had never heard a similar doubt raised.

Sure enough, Sissi, standing at the edge of the Judges' Bench, spoke up:

"I think it's normal to have such doubts. After all, there's no precedent for an E-rated student to be here, so it's natural to worry about fairness."

"Are you serious?!" Diana interjected, surprised that Sissi would be so willful and tactless, insisting on this issue in such a setting.

"I've explained multiple times why an E-rated superhuman could receive an assessment-free admission slot, and the trial is about to start. Won't you see for yourself whether he's qualified or not?!"

Diana's words were perfectly valid.

Many of the high-level officials present, who might have doubted Adam's identity before, would not raise this issue now.

After all, the trial was about to begin, and one's abilities would soon be revealed—superpower ratings weren't that important.

Moreover, Sissi, not being a judge, technically had no right to stand out and make such remarks.

So, many high-level officials looked at Sissi with a degree of dissatisfaction.

But Sissi didn't care; she had already prepared for this.

"Of course, it's not that simple because I suspect you're cheating on his behalf!"

Sissi pointed at Diana, her gaze drifting to Adam.

Her jealousy was burning fiercely; she no longer cared about her own dignity.

But looking at Adam's expression, she was quickly disappointed.

The emotions she hoped to see—anger, fear, apprehension, or grievance—were all absent from his face.

Adam only wore a puzzled expression, looking at Sissi as if she were being foolish.

With a shrug, Adam spoke, but his topic didn't lead to any cheating issue, nor did he offer an explanation. He simply questioned:

"Why are you suddenly targeting me? It's not a big deal that I mistook you for a waitress earlier; you do look the part."

"What?!" Sissi was taken aback. Was this guy missing the point? Was he still talking about the waitress thing?

But then she reacted with rage:

"Who looks like a waitress! Where do I look like a waitress?"

"You do. Your attire is different from others, neat and tidy, and you're clearly older, which makes you look like service staff."

"Who's old?! Look closely! This is the standard assessor's uniform! How does this look like..."

Sissi, fuming with anger, clutched her collar, but midway through her rebuke, her gaze changed, and she stopped herself.

Wait a minute.

Isn't the direction of this conversation a bit off?

She was talking about cheating! How did they suddenly shift to whether she look like a waitress?

She's been sidetracked!

In the Judges' Bench, a large man standing at 1.9 meters tall with broad shoulders frowned at Sissi and said sternly:

"At such a serious moment, if you suspect cheating, focus on the key points! Don't bring up your usual miscellaneous part-time jobs, do you treat this as a joke?!"

Hearing the man's words, Sissi felt a surge of anger welling up in her chest, as if something was pressing against her heart, almost making her choke with frustration.

Sissi: What do you mean by part-time jobs?! Is it a fact that I'm a waitress now?!

However, she also knew who the man was—the Super Elite from the BEA, codenamed Strengthquaker. Although he and Diana were both Super Elites, their status was not entirely the same, and Sissi did not dare to say much in front of him, so she kept silent.

Sissi took a deep breath and quickly adjusted her mindset, pulling her thoughts back on track.

She now realized that this E-rated student named Adam might be a bit of an oddball. As soon as she started speaking, he led the conversation astray, disrupting her rhythm.

Could this also be his superpower?

After a few seconds of adjustment, Sissi no longer looked at Adam and addressed the panel of judges:

"According to the reports Diana sent back, his E-rated superpower has developed a very special variant, with ice attributes, and a high-level ice attribute at that."

"When he arrived here, he was said to have demonstrated it to the staff responsible for issuing SID cards."

"However, on both occasions, Diana herself was standing by, so I believe that it wasn't him doing it at all, but Diana cheating on his behalf!"

Her words caused a quick commotion among the students, who began to discuss.

In fact, this commotion was also orchestrated by Sissi. She had previously arranged for Henry and a few other students to spread rumors and cause a stir, inciting doubt among the people.

After all, most people are blind followers; with someone leading, there will be those who follow, and with many in the crowd who already look down on low-rated superpowers, the voices naturally became loud.

"Then at least in this trial, I won't be able to go in with him, and I have no motive to help anyone cheat," Diana said, feeling a bit at a loss on how to explain the baseless accusations.

After all, Adam's superpower did seem similar to hers, and the way it was used was also similar to how she used to employ hers.

"But maybe you gave her some of your superpower devices to help her pass?"

"I didn't! And I can't make such superpower devices!" Diana said anxiously.

"But who knows? Maybe you suddenly could? Who can say for sure, after all, you are so talented."

Sissi immediately spoke up, pressing her advantage.

This was the first time she felt she could gain the upper hand in a confrontation with Diana, and she felt a wave of satisfaction.

With deliberate instigation from some people, the crowd behind her also began to discuss.

"You can't be serious, that would be outrageous if true."

"What should we do about this? Shouldn't we investigate?"

Adam observed coldly, his eyes sweeping over the faces of everyone who spoke, committing their appearances to memory, but remained silent.

Since ancient times, "proving one's innocence" has been the most difficult thing, and he would not waste his breath.

"So, my suggestion is to search for contraband, to find any possible prohibited items!" Sissi said, clearly pleased with herself.

Diana's face showed anger; she realized that Sissi didn't care about cheating or not, she was simply here to cause trouble.

"That's impossible! This is a complete humiliation, you have no evidence at all!"

At that moment, Adam reached out a hand and gently patted Diana's shoulder, stepping forward to stand in front of her.

"Thank you for speaking up for me, but in the court of public opinion, guilty until proven innocent never leads to clarity," he said.

Then, Adam turned his head and looked at Thomas, "President Freud, don't you have anything to say?"

Throughout Sissi's outburst, Thomas's expression had remained unchanged; the wrinkles on his smiling face successfully hid his eyes, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

"I've scanned him, and there's nothing out of the ordinary about him," Thomas's laughter came after a few seconds of silence, then he turned to Sissi:

"As for the question of whether there are any prohibited items, that's also easy to resolve."

With a casual wave of his hand, a transparent bracelet appeared on each of the 126 students present.

"Originally, we also planned to make some changes this time. This is a hastily crafted energy bracelet that will better ensure your safety; when you suffer severe injuries, you can use the bracelet to request to exit."

"I've just added a space-superpower storage function to it. Anything you want to bring in can be placed inside, and it will automatically reject prohibited items."