Chapter 91 - 73: Iron-clad Evidence

The next moment.

A voice suddenly blared in everyone’s ears.

"The victim’s family hired a lawyer. Looks like they’re going to press criminal charges. Does this mean you won’t be getting that letter of forgiveness?"

"Lv Guangjun, this is all your fault! Why did you have to go and tell Qi she couldn’t bully her classmates?"

"If you hadn’t said anything..."

Lv Guangjun: "Can’t you be reasonable!?"

"It was Liu Jingqi who forced her onto the rooftop ledge, and she’s the one who deliberately shook Yang Jiale’s leg to scare her, causing her to fall to her death..."

...

In that moment, the entire Second Courtroom fell silent for a good thirty seconds.

Thirty seconds can be an instant or an eternity.

But in that moment, all three parties felt as if every second was stretching into an eternity. Everyone seemed to have stopped breathing, their eyes fixed blankly on the screen, their minds struggling to process what they’d just heard.

He’d just incriminated himself...

Lv Guangjun... had just incriminated himself.

Liu Jingqi’s intentional homicide, his own acceptance of bribes, the collusion on their testimony, his instigation of the initial conflict...

GULP.

On the judge’s bench.

Presiding Judge Zhang Bingxin swallowed hard, his stunned gaze shifting to the witness stand.

On the witness stand.

Lv Guangjun was gasping for air, like a man who had just been pulled from the water. He stared blankly at the projection screen, motionless even though the video had long since ended.

No one made a sound.

Until...

"Objection! Objection! OBJECTION! OBJECTION!!!"

A sharp, furious shout suddenly erupted from the defendant’s table, shattering the silence.

The eyes of Zhang Wei and Sun Bing were filled with sheer terror, their pupils trembling. They slammed their hands on the table and, with all the strength they could muster, roared:

"OBJECTION!!!"

"Your Honor, that was an illicit recording! A secret recording! The evidence was obtained illegally!"

"It violates the witness’s personal privacy! We move to have it ruled inadmissible! We move to have it thrown out!!!"

"Illegally obtained evidence is inadmissible!"

"The witness was engaged in a private conversation! This has no legal standing! It is a gross violation of the privacy of everyone on that call!!!"

"..."

The furious, roaring shouts continued, one after another.

All seven lawyers were in a frenzy.

In that moment, any semblance of discipline or courtroom decorum was thrown to the wind.

No one had expected Xu De to pull a stunt like this.

’What was this?’

This was a smoking gun!

If admitted, it was the kind of iron-clad proof that would seal the defendant’s fate, no further trial needed!!!

’The man’s a lunatic... a complete lunatic!!!’

Zhang Wei slammed his hand on the table and roared:

"Lv Guangjun was entrapped! The evidence was obtained illegally! It’s invalid! We demand a mistrial!!!"

The defendant’s table was in an uproar.

The prosecution’s table, by contrast, was eerily silent.

’A smoking gun... This is a smoking gun!’

A storm was raging in Huang Shi’s mind. His breathing was ragged and his eyes were wide as he stared in disbelief at Xu De, who had held this card until the perfect moment.

’He actually waited for Lv Guangjun and the others to finish perjuring themselves before dropping the video...’

Insane.

This was absolutely insane!

Huang Shi was at a loss for words to describe the man’s sheer audacity. His mind was filled with the warning Hu Guang had given him.

Then, a wave of ecstasy washed over him.

’This is a smoking gun. As long as it gets admitted...’

’Justifiable self-defense? Excessive force?’

’Any defense they could offer would be like a pebble on a train track, doomed to be crushed to powder!’

’This evidence would be the very rails of that track, carrying them straight to a ’Guilty’ verdict!!!’

Except...

In the face of the defense’s torrential flood of objections,

At the plaintiff’s counsel’s table,

Xu De seemed to have become an ostrich. He didn’t say a thing, not uttering a single word.

’Speak up... Say something!’

Huang Shi was frantic with anxiety. His fists clenched, and he gritted his teeth.

’Say something! Counter them... Counter their objection!’

’Come on, why won’t you talk... Say something!’

A long moment passed.

Still, not a peep came from the plaintiff’s counsel’s table, as if he had silently conceded to the defense’s objection.

Watching Xu De retreat into his shell like a turtle, Huang Shi’s face turned crimson, and he clenched his fists.

He screamed internally.

’You dropped this bombshell... now defend the damn thing!!!’