Chapter 99 - 76: Cross-Examination Can Make a Hostage Faint!?

Huang Shi’s expression was grim, his thoughts unreadable.

At the defendant’s table, their expressions soured. They had tried to target Xu De, hoping to find a weakness to exploit. But when they pulled out their briefcases, took out their own analysis reports, and saw his—several hexagonal charts with every dimension maxed out—they remembered...

The man before them was flawless.

Just as everyone...

Just as the nerves of the dozens of people inside the Second Courtroom were stretched taut...

BANG!

"Given that key facts of this case are still in dispute and require further investigation, I now announce..."

On the judge’s bench.

Presiding Judge Zhang Bingxin raised his gavel high and struck it down. Immediately after,

his voice seemed to echo in the depths of everyone’s minds.

"Court is recessed!"

The moment those words rang out,

everyone froze for a moment, and then the taut string of tension inside them quietly slackened.

Honestly, no one ever wants a recess in a normal case. It just drags things out, which benefits no one.

But...

But right now, everyone shared the same thought...

’Finally, a recess!’

Even the court clerk breathed a sigh of relief. Immediately, the exhaustion he’d been suppressing washed over him like a tide, leaving him completely drained.

"Everyone, please exit the courtroom in an orderly manner."

On the judge’s bench.

The three judges, looking as if they had aged several years, rose to their feet, their faces etched with fatigue. Zhang Bingxin made the listless announcement, then departed with heavy steps.

At the prosecution’s table.

Huang Shi and his team were also feeling an unprecedented level of exhaustion. He quickly gathered his things and walked out with Xu De and a few others.

...

「Outside the Second Courtroom.」

Every reporter was staring intently at the main doors, a forest of cameras aimed at the slightest crack between them.

They were waiting.

Waiting for the trial to conclude!

The trial was closed to the public, but that wouldn’t stop the case details from being released. They needed to know what had transpired inside that courtroom over the past several hours!

Their breathing grew ragged, their curiosity clawing at them like an unbearable itch.

Until...

CREAK~

The main doors to the Second Courtroom suddenly swung open.

Several figures appeared before the crowd. It was the prosecutors and Xu De.

In an instant,

the crowd of reporters swarmed them like a tsunami.

A cacophony of anxious questions engulfed them.

"Prosecutor Huang! What happened in there just now? Why did the trial seem to get out of control!?"

"Lawyer Xu, are you confident you’ll win this case?"

"What’s the current status of the case? Can you give us an update!?"

"Excuse me, would you be open to an exclusive interview..."

"..."

The reporters were in a frenzy, all semblance of order gone as they fought to get to the front and demand an answer.

There was nothing for it.

The case was so intriguing it was driving them mad with curiosity; they wished they could have burst into the courtroom to see it for themselves.

After all...

They truly couldn’t fathom what could have possibly happened in a single case to make the prosecution and the defense so thoroughly disregard courtroom decorum and engage in a high-intensity legal bombardment that lasted for hours!!!

It had gone on for hours!

’Just listening to it would give you a splitting headache...’

But as they were conducting their interviews...

The reporter, Zhang Xia, peered through a gap in the crowd, her gaze falling back inside the courtroom.

And it was that one casual glance...

...that made her stop dead in her tracks the very next second.

She saw...

At the defendant’s table.

Zhang Wei, his face deathly pale, felt the tension finally drain from his muscles. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but the side effects of having his mind relentlessly squeezed by Xu De for hours... were finally setting in!

First, an overwhelming feeling of suffocation washed over him. Zhang Wei felt dizzy, and his temples began to throb.

Next, his vision started to fill with blurry black spots. His ears rang, his limbs grew weak, and he could barely stand steady. And then...

...his consciousness began to fade!

Zhang Wei staggered for a moment, and then everything went black.

The next second...

THUD!

Zhang Wei collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

’This is...’

In a daze...

A shocked cry came from inside the courtroom.

"He fainted! He fainted!"

"Quick, call an ambulance! The defense lawyer fainted!"

"The infirmary! Quick, get the doctor from the infirmary! The defense lawyer collapsed!!!"

"..."

Watching this scene unfold, Zhang Xia’s face was a mask of astonishment.

’He... fainted?’

’Someone fainted from a cross-examination!?’

She whipped her head around, staring at Xu De and the prosecutors in utter disbelief, a question born of pure shock erupting from her.

"This case..."

"What in God’s name did you people do in there!?"

...

...

PS: I got totally screwed. The novel just launched and I was immediately scapegoated for something huge, and it stuck for 24 hours.

The Chapter titles were pre-listed for seven Chapters, and I don’t have the ability to edit them now, so you can clearly see I was always planning to release seven Chapters.

This Chapter is nearly 5,000 characters long as compensation, and it won’t affect the three-Chapter, 12,000-character update at noon.

I’ll be updating at least 20,000 characters today. Please vote! Please vote!