Riding high! Ambitions that soared to the clouds!

Not guilty...

Not guilty!!!

The moment those two words fell, the entire courtroom sank into deathly silence.

Everyone froze.

The Eastern Kingdom was a populous nation, occupying nearly half a continent, with a territory of 9.601 million square kilometers and a population of 1.28 billion. It accounted for an enormous share of the world's population.

More people meant more conflict.

In a year—365 days—the nation's public security authorities opened 4.33 million criminal cases.

And its thousands of courts tried 730,000 criminal cases annually. Among those, only...

Five criminal cases in which the defendant had definitely killed someone ended in acquittal!

No, that wasn't right.

It was fewer than five. Across all of 2002, among those 730,000 cases, most likely only three involving confirmed killings would end in acquittal!

And in those three cases, the defense lawyers standing before the defendants...

Either came from Yanjing's Red Circle law firms or belonged to elite legal teams with international connections, deep backing, formidable influence, and exceptional teamwork!

It took more than a dozen powerful figures at the very pinnacle of the legal profession, working around the defendant for a whole year, to achieve that!

But in 2002, for someone to secure an acquittal for a defendant who had undeniably killed a person, without a team, relying purely on individual ability to confront the prosecution's and the judge's "principles" head-on...

Forget seeing it.

They had never even heard of it!

Yet now they had seen it... with their own eyes!!!

"Not... not guilty..."

For a moment, everything felt unreal.

In the public gallery, someone swallowed numbly, unconsciously murmuring those two words.

Like a stone stirring up a thousand waves, the previously "dead" courtroom began to stir. The commotion grew louder and more chaotic, utterly impossible to contain!

"Not guilty? Really not guilty? Am I still dreaming!?"

"It's real... unbelievable... this is nothing short of a miracle. A one-in-several-hundred-thousand chance, right before our eyes!"

"What was the last case that ended in acquittal?"

"The Huang Xin case. Rape and murder. Acquitted in court..."

"But the semen left inside the victim wasn't even his. In the Li Family Village Case... they'd confirmed that Wang Qiang was the killer!!!"

"..."

Suddenly, as though some critical threshold had been reached.

The First Courtroom erupted, the noise flooding the room like a raging torrent.

Some were shocked, some bewildered, and others covered their mouths, their faces filled with disbelief.

Acquittals did happen in criminal cases.

But there was essentially only one way to obtain one.

Break the chain of evidence supporting the prosecutor's charges!

In other words, only when they could not prove the defendant had killed the victim would the judge acquit him.

Yet here, the chain of evidence was complete, and the defendant was confirmed to have killed the victim. An acquittal under those circumstances had no comparable precedent even going back decades... it was simply unheard of!

At that thought.

Everyone grew even more excited, their bodies burning with agitation. The uproar gradually turned into a clamorous frenzy, the courtroom descending into utter chaos.

"When I came to court, I was hoping the defendant might be exempted from punishment... even that seemed impossible to me!"

"You were optimistic. I came hoping for a suspended sentence..."

"Damn it, it's not your fault. Judging by the first hearing, even a suspended sentence was out of reach. He should've gotten at least a few years. But this time... that defense lawyer went at it like he was running on diesel!"

At that, everyone paused to think, then their breathing quickened and their spirits surged.

Indeed.

Judging by the previous hearing, a lenient sentence had been entirely possible, and it would not have been unacceptable.

But who could have imagined... the moment court opened, the defense lawyer went straight to war with the prosecution, demolishing every basis for its charges with overwhelming force!

He had even submitted a stack of favorable materials. Taken together...

Even the harshest possible outcome would have been exemption from punishment!

What did exemption from punishment mean? It meant declaring someone guilty but requiring no sentence to be served—not a single day behind bars, not even a spoken apology. It was no different from being released in court.

At that thought.

Their gazes gradually burned with fervor, unconsciously turning toward the defense, toward that young figure standing tall and straight.

Just seeing him stand there filled them with excitement.

As though they had endless energy and nowhere to release it.

On the judges' bench.

"Order! Order!!!"

Presiding Judge Zhang Bingxin kept banging his gavel and shouting sternly, trying to bring the courtroom under control.

Unfortunately.

His voice was like raindrops falling into an ocean, unable to stir so much as a ripple. It even seemed to make the noise louder.

Zhang Bingxin felt exhausted. A helpless expression crossed his face, and he finally gave up trying to maintain order.

Instead, he simply announced:

"If you disagree with this judgment, you may appeal to the Lüse City Intermediate People's Court, either through this court or directly, within ten days beginning on the day after you receive the written judgment."

"I hereby declare..."

"Court adjourned!"

Having said that, Zhang Bingxin did not want to stay a moment longer. He headed straight out, with Liu Guojian and Sun Dong following closely behind.

At the Defendant's Bench...

The moment the verdict was announced, the taut string in Xu De's mind finally relaxed. His constant readiness to appeal and keep fighting vanished as well.

"Phew..."

He slumped into his chair and let out a deep breath, all his energy draining away at once until he felt utterly spent.

We won...

The moment the verdict was spoken, the case had come to an end.

The High Court and the Supreme Court would not reject this sound defense. Wang Qiang was completely cleared of the crime. Naturally, the prosecution would not seek a second trial, and the plaintiff could find no evidence on which to apply for one.

So...

We won for good!

"That was a lot of pressure."

Only after Xu De came back to himself did he realize that his once immaculate suit was soaked in sweat. He could not help letting out a rueful laugh.

Mounting a defense for acquittal in 2002 was on an entirely different level of difficulty from doing so in 2026.

Or rather, it was only eighteen years later, when the "Brother Long case" emerged, that those dormant provisions allowing acquittal were indirectly brought out of obscurity, and the difficulty of securing an acquittal began to plummet.

It was difficult in 2002. Especially for someone like Wang Qiang, who had indeed killed a person, years could pass without a single acquittal.

Very difficult.

But...

He had done it in the end!

Of course, to some extent, Presiding Judge Zhang Bingxin had also delivered the verdict under pressure from "political factors." After all, in this day and age...

He really could end up suffering consequences for it.

At that thought.

Xu De raised his head, his earlier gravity and caution gone. He lifted his chest, straightened his back, and glanced toward the nearby Prosecution Bench.

At the Prosecution Bench.

Wang Wei looked like a defeated fighting cock. He sighed, gathered his things, and quietly left the courtroom with Hu Guang.

Xu De looked away.

A smile rested on his face.

Then he stood, walked over to the Defendant's Bench, and addressed the two stunned bailiffs beside Wang Qiang:

"Please remove his handcuffs."

Only then did the two bailiffs react.

"Oh, right!"

They hurriedly began unlocking the cuffs.

Once someone was acquitted and released in court, there was no need to keep him handcuffed. The defendant was innocent and could go straight home once the paperwork was finished.

Click!

With the crisp sound of the spring mechanism, the cuffs around Wang Qiang's withered wrists came undone.

Wang Qiang felt his hands grow lighter. He lowered his head and stared blankly at his bare hands, his mind empty, still unable to comprehend what had happened.

Pat!

Xu De patted his shoulder and said softly, "Come with me to finish the paperwork."

Wang Qiang felt as though he were dreaming.

He did not know when court had adjourned, nor what else the "savior" beside him, to whom he owed so much, had said.

As though his very soul had wandered away, he remained dazed while Xu De guided him through the release paperwork.

Only an hour later...

Hiss!

When Wang Qiang came to his senses, he found himself wearing his plain clothes, standing on the raised landing outside the courthouse's main entrance.

He looked up.

Dazzling light shone on his face, making him instinctively raise a hand to shield his eyes. Yet it streamed through his fingers, forcing him to squint.

He lowered his head.

He watched the bustling traffic outside the courthouse and felt the incredibly gentle breeze sweep past, brushing his skin.

Wang Qiang was spellbound.

He felt as though he were dreaming, as though he had stepped into a fantasy. Everything was so unbelievable. Just two days earlier, in the detention center, the other "suspects" had told him to prepare to serve ten years.

Wang Qiang turned and stared blankly at Xu De, who stood calmly beside him.

And now...

The shackles... were gone.

The crime... was gone too.

The daughter he had spent ten years searching for... had been reunited with him.

If this is a dream... let me never wake up. That would be too cruel.

The next second...

Countless figures holding microphones suddenly surged toward them from the courthouse entrance. Accompanied by the flashing lights of countless cameras, they surrounded the two men in the blink of an eye.

"Mr. Xu! Mr. Xu, please grant us an interview!"

"Mr. Xu, I'm a reporter from Phoenix Newspaper. Our editor-in-chief would like to arrange an exclusive interview with you. Would you..."

"Mr. Xu, could you tell us what went through your mind during this case!?"

"When no one had any faith in this case and no one dared take it, what mindset led you to accept it!?"

"Mr. Wang, is there anything you'd like to say at this moment?"

"We're from Zhulang News..."

"..."

Wave after wave of overwhelming noise, feverish with urgency and fervor, engulfed the two men like a deep sea.