A young man in a military academy uniform stepped forward and gave them a slight nod before putting on a pair of gloves.
"..."
Mu Qingyun frowned slightly at the sight. Being taken advantage of was one thing—after all, the man was rather good-looking—but if her true identity as a woman were discovered, that would be a serious problem.
"Move back. They probably will not search you," Kazel whispered as he casually grabbed her arm and subtly pulled her behind him.
His thinking aligned with Mu Qingyun's. Since the Judgement Unit had arrived, there must be something incriminating on Xiong Ruoyou.
All they needed to do was stall—just long enough for the item on Xiong Ruoyou to be found.
With that in mind, Kazel cast a resentful glance at Xiong Ruoyou. Are all bears this brainless?
"Hmm," Mu Qingyun responded calmly, taking shelter behind him.
Standing nearby, Su Quancheng had witnessed the entire exchange. Though his expression remained neutral, he felt deeply uncomfortable.
Why are those two so close?
At a time like this, they were still speaking privately. What could they possibly be talking about? Would it not be better for her to talk to him instead? He could try to negotiate with the review team and resolve the whole matter.
Seriously, what is wrong with her? Can she not see the bigger picture?
He lowered his head, no longer willing to look at Mu Qingyun and Kazel.
"We found it!"
On the other side, a female judge had discovered a small pouch inside Xiong Ruoyou's storage bag. She held it high above her head and announced, "I found the Berserk Powder. This is it!"
[Whoa, it's actually real?][Damn, my faith has crumbled. I cannot believe this. What is wrong with Black Bear? She had Mu-ge as her solid backup. Why did she not get rid of the banned substance earlier?][You upstairs clearly have no moral compass. Banned substances are prohibited. The fact that she brought it is already her fault!]
"Impossible!" Xiong Ruoyou's face turned ghostly pale as she stared at the pouch in the judge's hand, eyes filled with disbelief.
That item had been given to her by Her Highness.
Moreover, when Her Highness handed it over, there had been no one around. Her livestream had been turned off. There was no way anyone could have seen it.
Wait... no way someone did see?
"No, that cannot be. She is the Pride of the Planet. She would not do this to me." She shook her head, softly denying her own suspicions. Yet once that thought entered her mind, it could no longer be suppressed and kept drilling deeper into her consciousness.
"..."
Mu Qingyun glanced at Xiong Ruoyou's ashen face and sighed lightly. This child had likely been truly shaken this time.
"Xiong Ruoyou, who gave you this? Tell us now, and you might still have a chance."
"It was Mu Xueyao!" Upon hearing that, Xiong Ruoyou no longer dared to hide the truth. She immediately shouted the name.
"Enough. The item was found on you, and now you want to drag someone else down with you?" the female judge scoffed in disdain, clearly a supporter of Mu Xueyao. "You said nothing earlier, and now that it has been found, suddenly you speak? Do you think we are fools?"
The other judges, upon seeing the physical evidence, also ceased their searches. "We regret to inform you that due to your teammate's personal actions, your entire team will be disqualified."
"It was not me! Truly, it was not!" Xiong Ruoyou suddenly seemed to wake from a dream. It was not her that Mu Xueyao had targeted—it must have been Mu-ge!
"This morning, when I went to the river to fetch water, I ran into Mu Xueyao. She gave me that thing and asked me to hold onto it for her. It really is not mine!"
She shook her head repeatedly, tears welling up in her eyes, though she forced herself not to let them fall. "At the time, I was trying to wipe some water droplets off my livestream device and accidentally turned it off. That was when she gave it to me!"
"That is enough. Be quiet!" The female judge had clearly lost all patience. She snorted coldly and yanked Xiong Ruoyou by the arm. "How could it be such a coincidence? And why would Her Highness target you? She is such a gentle and kind person. Why would she behave this way toward you of all people?"
[Whoa, this judge is really… something else.][What? I think she makes sense. It is far too convenient a coincidence. And if what Black Bear says is true, it means the princess planned this all in advance?][Exactly. Our princess would never do such a thing. I think Black Bear likes Mu-ge, but Mu-ge and the princess do not get along. So now that Black Bear is in trouble, she is trying to drag the princess down with her.][Does no one believe in Sister Black Bear? Given her personality, I doubt she would ever do something like this.][You must be very naive. Not everyone who wears human skin is actually human. Can you really judge character by appearances alone?]
...
"Xiong Ruoyou, did you ever touch that item?" Mu Qingyun was completely unfazed by the female judge's words and spoke up loudly.
"No. Mu Xueyao was the one who put it into the bag. I never touched it," Xiong Ruoyou quickly replied.
Upon hearing that, Mu Qingyun turned toward the young man in front of her. "You are part of the Judgement Unit from the military academy. You should not make such arbitrary decisions. If Xiong Ruoyou had touched that item, there would definitely be fingerprints.
If no fingerprints are found, then it proves that she did not handle it herself. That would mean someone else placed it there, possibly just as she claimed."
She said everything in one breath, using every vocabulary term she could recall from the original host's memory.
The young man looked slightly stunned by how much Mu Qingyun had said. He subconsciously turned to look at the squad leader beside him.
He was still new to the Judgement Unit and did not yet have the authority to make such decisions.
"There are many ways to erase fingerprints," the squad leader said coldly, staring at her.
In a high-tech planetary era, if cases were judged solely on fingerprint evidence, there would be countless wrongful convictions.
"However, I do apologize on behalf of our examiner for her earlier comments," he added. "She indeed acted rashly and spoke out of line."
With that, he took a scanner from his own storage bag and handed it to the young man beside him. "Go test it."
"Yes, sir." The young man nodded, took the scanner, and quickly walked over to Xiong Ruoyou and her group.
"Even if no fingerprints are found, it still does not prove the item is not hers," Kazel murmured in Mu Qingyun's ear as he watched the young man leave.
"I know," she replied coldly, her gaze fixed on the scanner. "This entire situation reeks of manipulation. But there is a loophole to exploit—we can downplay the incident."
Downplay it?
"You mean you want Xiong Ruoyou to accept the blame?" Kazel raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised.
Given Mu Qingyun's personality, she did not seem like someone who would swallow her pride or say something like "downplay the matter."
This injustice—not only would Xiong Ruoyou struggle to accept it, but Mu Qingyun herself likely would not tolerate it either.