Chapter 169 - 108: Civil Case! The World Turned Upside Down

January 8th.

Noon, 11:30 AM.

Lusen City, Nanshan District, Torch Road Street.

Inside Houde Law Firm.

In the director’s office.

[Congratulations! You have completed one criminal court trial.]

[Your client is extremely satisfied with your service. Satisfaction rating: 99.999%. They have given you the highest possible evaluation!]

[The "Case of the 18th Middle School" has been archived.]

[Case Notes:]

[(You can’t know a person’s heart. Joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, desire, fear, and shock are all on the surface. When you are weak enough, you will personally experience what thoughts are truly hidden behind these masks.)]

In the office.

Xu De sat on the sofa, silently gazing at the faint blue screen that had appeared before him.

[Client satisfaction: 99.999%. Distributing rewards based on satisfaction level...]

[Congratulations! You have obtained the Talent Skill: Psychology Lv. 1 (0/10)]

[Psychology: From a scientific perspective, a person’s facial features are often inextricably linked to their psyche...]

[(Note: This talent can be improved through personal study!)]

[Congratulations! You have obtained 15 Gratitude Coins.]

In a daze,

a sharp pain shot through the spot between Xu De’s eyebrows. His brow twitched, and his muscles tensed slightly.

After a long moment, he let out a deep, turbid breath, and his furrowed brow relaxed.

His mind was now filled with a vast amount of knowledge related to Psychology.

The panel was as crude as ever, giving him no chance to prepare before stuffing a massive amount of information into his brain.

And it forced him to understand it all!!!

(Current Status)

[Name: Xu De]

[Age: 25]

[Gratitude Coins: 25]

[Win Rate: 100%]

[Archived Cases: "Li Family Village Case," "Case of the 18th Middle School"]

[Talent Skills: Chef Lv. 2 (0/20), Bone Reading Lv. 1 (0/10), Psychology Lv. 1 (0/10)]

"Whew."

"This is so brutal... It could probably shock a normal person into becoming an idiot."

Xu De said, rubbing the space between his brows and clicking his tongue in amazement.

He then paused and added helplessly,

"Of course, someone with a slight lack of intelligence... probably wouldn’t be able to get the reward in the first place."

’The panel’s rewards are crude; they could turn a less-intelligent person into a drooling fool.’

’But then again, if you’re not smart enough, how could you expect to solve a case and get a reward? The Li Family Village Case, the Case of the 18th Middle School—which of those could a normal person even win!?’

’Even those elite lawyers could only stare helplessly if they took them on, let alone win.’

"Twenty-five Gratitude Coins..."

Xu De hesitated for a moment, lost in thought.

’In the end, it’s still too few Gratitude Coins. Getting this stuff is just too tedious.’

’The skill I got from the Li Family Village Case is still at level one.’

’I can upgrade something now, so... which one?’

Xu De fell into contemplation.

’The Bone Reading ability is very powerful. If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have dug deeper into the other party’s age in the Case of the 18th Middle School. It was a crucial factor.’

’But...’

’Compared to Psychology, Bone Reading seems much less impressive.’

The knowledge of psychology he now understood could be applied in so many areas.

Including, but not limited to, ’interrogation,’ ’strategic games,’ ’court trials,’ and ’evidence gathering’...

Putting everything else aside,

just being able to see through a client’s lies was a god-tier skill!

’That’s right.’

’A lawyer doesn’t just have to deal with opponents; the most important person to handle is the client!’

’Most people would find it hard to imagine, but the client is a lawyer’s primary opponent. You have to guard against their lies, avoid being misled by them, and extract truly useful information from a sea of falsehoods.’

’Many lawyers have been ruined by their clients, their reputations destroyed.’

’Take Zhang Wei, for example.’

’Is Zhang Wei incompetent? Not at all. During his first trial, when I put a little pressure on him, his squeezed-out potential was on par with a Red Circle Lawyer!’

’He lost the case, but only because his opponent was me and not someone else.’

’Against anyone else, he would have had a 100% chance of winning. The reason I won...’

’...was because Liu Jingqi didn’t tell him the truth!’

’If Zhang Wei had ’Psychology’ from the start and saw through Liu Jingqi’s thoughts... he would have definitely abandoned all defense, plead guilty immediately, and accepted a fifteen-year sentence from the first trial.’

’As long as he yielded and admitted defeat fast enough, I wouldn’t have been able to win!’

’So...’

[10 Gratitude Coins consumed.]

[Psychology Lv. 1 -> Lv. 2 (0/20)]

[Remaining Gratitude Coins: 15]

The instant he leveled it up,

another massive wave of knowledge flooded his mind.

This time, however, it wasn’t like being hit by a truck. It was relatively gentle.

"Whew, not bad."

A moment later, Xu De processed the new knowledge in his head, a smile spreading across his face.

’Bone Reading plus Psychology.’

’I’m not lacking anything now!’

"BRRRING~ BRRRING~"

Just as he was thinking this, the phone on his desk suddenly rang. Xu De answered it subconsciously, and a familiar voice came from the speaker.

"Hello? Lawyer Xu, are you short on internship slots?"

Xu De: "..."

"I am... short on slots."

Xu De decided to take back what he had just been thinking.

This was something he truly lacked!

"Haha, no problem. The Bureau of Justice has a lot of open slots this year, and I was just worrying about who could help me fill them... How many is your firm looking to take?"

Yang Guotao’s voice came through the speaker.

’How many should we take...?’

"Five."

Xu De said after a moment of thought.

Five?

It was a bit low, but for a startup law firm, it was actually a lot.

"How about fifteen? Just consider it a favor to me. I’ll allocate fifteen slots to you," Yang Guotao said.

Xu De raised an eyebrow.

’Fifteen?’

’I’m not picky when it comes to this. Fifteen it is. It’s not like I’m forced to use all the slots anyway.’

"Alright, I’ll go discuss it with the people at the firm. Thank you for your trouble, Director Yang."

Xu De said.

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries before hanging up.

After hanging up, Xu De sat on the sofa, lost in thought.

’From the looks of it, Director Yang must have put our firm on his evaluation list and considers my performance to be outstanding. Otherwise, we’d have to wait until next year for any internship slots.’