Chapter 76 - 67: Hexagonal Chart

「December 13th.」

「3:30 PM.」

"Anyone here? Got a delivery."

A postal worker knocked on the main door of Zhenghe Law Firm—the firm representing the defendant, Liu Jingqi, in the No. 18 Middle School case.

An assistant went to the door and tore open the package handed to him.

Inside was a court summons.

The assistant glanced at the summons. The next second, his expression changed, and he hurried toward a special case conference room.

「Inside the conference room.」

"The trial should be starting soon."

"Let’s confirm our advantages one last time. There were no surveillance cameras on the rooftop where it happened..."

"Additionally, the deceased had no potentially fatal wounds that could be linked to the bullying."

"Right now, the three defendants and the deceased’s homeroom teacher, Lv Guangjun, all have matching testimonies. We can get the intentional homicide charge dropped and argue for intentional injury at most..."

"For this case, we’ll push for an acquittal due to insufficient evidence. We have a very high chance of succeeding!"

Seven lawyers were gathered around a portable whiteboard, deep in discussion.

The man leading them was none other than Lawyer Zhang Wei.

Just as Liu Jingqi had said.

The defendant had hired an entire team of Gold Medal Lawyers—two Gold Medal Lawyers and five senior lawyers—to represent her!

Until...

BANG!

Without even knocking, the assistant shoved the door open, abruptly interrupting the meeting.

Zhang Wei and the others looked up, frowning.

"Assistant Xue, what’s so urgent?"

Assistant Xue wore a grim expression as he spoke in a low voice:

"The summons from the court is here, but... there’s been a complication."

Zhang Wei asked, "What kind of complication?"

"The plaintiff hired a civil litigation lawyer."

The seven lawyers seemed unconcerned.

A civil lawyer was nothing to worry about. In a criminal trial, the public prosecutor led the charge.

"The lawyer’s surname is Xu. His name is Xu De," Assistant Xue said, his voice still low and serious.

This time, everyone in the conference room instinctively looked up, their brows furrowing.

"Xu De?"

"The Xu De from the human trafficking case?"

"..."

The conference room erupted in discussion, the previous air of calm completely gone.

Assistant Xue nodded. "Lawyer Zhang, that’s him. The person we saw at the deceased’s family home a month ago... I had a feeling he looked familiar. It must have been him."

As he finished speaking, everyone fell into serious thought.

They had a general understanding of the lawyers in Lusen City, but... but this Xu De was a complete blank slate to them.

He wasn’t a Gold Medal Lawyer. He’d only ever handled a single case.

And yet, in that one case... he had displayed a terrifying level of skill.

"Run a six-dimensional ability analysis chart on him immediately."

Zhang Wei suddenly said in a serious tone, "Analyze his individual abilities and find his weaknesses!"

Studying an opponent and creating a six-dimensional chart based on their abilities was a very effective way to find their flaws. It could clearly visualize a person’s capabilities!

This held true not just now, but even in later generations.

"But he only has one case..." someone said, hesitating.

"Then we’ll analyze just that one case!" Zhang Wei said firmly.

After he spoke, the other lawyers didn’t object. The six of them each took responsibility for evaluating one aspect of their opponent’s abilities.

In criminal cases, every legal team first studies their opponent before strategizing about the case itself.

Sometimes, using an opponent’s weakness as your breakthrough point... is even more effective than objective evidence!

Before long, the six lawyers had each written their assessment for the six-dimensional chart, based on the Li Family Village case, on slips of paper.

The six dimensions were: Courtroom Performance, Legal Theory, Connections, Negotiation & Strategy, Evidence Analysis & Investigation, and Professional Bottom Line.

Zhang Wei picked one at random. It was ’Legal Theory’.

He paused, then went to the whiteboard and maxed out the corner of the hexagonal chart representing ’Legal Theory’.

The lawyer who had graded that aspect then explained:

"This man’s understanding of legal theory is bottomless. I don’t know if you all noticed a particular detail in the news reports."

"With no prior preparation, purely through on-the-spot improvisation, he actually refuted arguments using the *National Unified Training Textbook for Judges*, citing the exact article and case example!"

"But that’s a textbook for judges."

"Why would a lawyer memorize that? And to be able to actually use it!"

Zhang Wei nodded, then drew another slip of paper, this one for ’Negotiation & Strategy’. After reading it, he paused, then maxed out that dimension on the chart as well.

That lawyer said:

"Never mind the fact that he managed to set a trap for Chen Wei during the trial."

"Let’s just talk about the letter of understanding."

"To this day, I still don’t know how he managed to get it... and then he even got the plaintiff sent to jail afterward."

The seven of them thought about it and had to agree. No one objected.

Zhang Wei drew another one, fell silent for a moment, and then maxed out the third dimension.

That lawyer began, "His sensitivity when it comes to analyzing evidence..."

"..."

Normally, a legal team could launch a fierce attack based on their opponent’s weaknesses.

But a problem arose: what do you do when your opponent has no weaknesses?

「After a long while.」

「In the conference room.」

The six lawyers stared at the whiteboard, at the six-dimensional chart with all six corners maxed out, and fell into deep thought.

That’s right. Based on their initial review of the Li Family Village case alone, Xu De’s six-dimensional attributes were completely maxed out. From his outrageous courtroom reactions to his bottomless reserve of legal theory, he was ridiculously, monstrously competent.

And as they maxed out the chart, the six lawyers had each provided irrefutable evidence to back it up!

"Switch!"

Zhang Wei felt a knot of pressure in his gut, but he forced himself to remain calm. He looked at the six others and said:

"Redo the six-dimensional chart!"

He refused to believe anyone could be so well-rounded as to be without a single flaw. Since that was the case...

...each ability would be re-evaluated by a different person!

The six lawyers got to work again, only this time...

A long moment passed. Zhang Wei stared at the six-dimensional chart before him, maxed out in every category for a second time, and fell into thought.

The lawyer who had been responsible for ’Professional Bottom Line’ couldn’t help but speak up:

"I feel like this guy’s bottom line is pretty low, too."

"At least, I’ve never seen someone use a letter of understanding one minute, then have the procuratorate and the court arrest the person who signed it the very next."

"And while his reputation for social morality might be good, I really don’t see any professional ethics or integrity when it comes to his opponents."

A low moral bottom line wasn’t a weakness.

Especially not in an opponent, because you could never imagine what kind of dirty tricks they might pull, or from what angle they’d search for evidence.

And these words...

...once again indirectly confirmed that the two six-dimensional charts hadn’t been drawn up carelessly.

"This was just his performance in a single trial. Maybe it was a flash of genius, or maybe he was just performing way above his usual level."

"He can’t possibly maintain this standard all the time!"

Zhang Wei took a deep breath and offered some words of comfort:

"It’s fine."

"Our testimonies, witnesses, and information are all aligned. As long as we follow the law, we’ll be..."

"...flawless!"

"Besides, the trial is about to start, but I haven’t received any evidence submitted by the opposing party."

"The accusing party isn’t like the defense. Without evidence, he can’t do a thing!"

Zhang Wei steadied everyone’s nerves. He looked at the assistant and asked,

"When does the summons say the trial will begin?"

The assistant replied, "The 17th."

Zhang Wei did a quick mental calculation and immediately relaxed.

There were only four days until the trial. The other party didn’t have enough time to complete the process of collecting, presenting, and cross-examining evidence. That being the case...

"We’ll just wait for the trial to start!"