Are You Crazy? He's only an Intern Lawyer?-Chapter 68 - 67 Zhang Wei Reveals Consecutive Bombshells, the Perpetrator is Actually

In response to Zhang Wei’s accusation, someone from the prosecution stood up: “The lawyer is testifying himself!”

But this time it was not Huang Fang, but Zhao Jing in the second seat.

It seemed like Huang Fang had been a step too slow, or maybe the impact of the video just now meant her thoughts weren’t keeping up, so Zhao Jing in the second seat had to object.

“Lawyer Zhang, you…”

“Your Honor, I apologize, I shouldn’t have blurted out the hard truth, oh, that’s not right, I mean I shouldn’t have jumped straight to conclusions, I should have proved it step by step!”

Zhang Wei seemed to be apologizing, but there was an underlying message in his words.

“Lawyer Zhang, you’re not exactly a rookie, are you?

This is your third time in court, right?”

Calm Bro asked knowingly.

“Yeah, a rookie lawyer on his third trial, and my license is still pending, isn’t it?”

Zhang Wei retorted, his tone slightly mocking.

What do you mean I’m not a rookie?

I am a true newcomer, with my license still in transit.

“Jury, please disregard the lawyer’s previous statement.

Professor Tan is here as a witness to testify, not as a murderer!”

Calm Bro insisted on reiterating this point, then gave Zhang Wei a warning look.

Zhang Wei pretended to understand, but whether he accepted it internally was another matter altogether.

He took a deep breath and continued questioning.

“Then let me rephrase my question.

Professor Tan, may I ask if you can hold your liquor well?”

Professor Tan also recovered from the earlier accusation, though there was a subtle change in his eyes.

When he heard Zhang Wei’s question, he was surprised, “You’re asking about my drinking capacity; what kind of question is that?”

“How is that not a question?

At least in this case, it’s very important.

Please, answer me truthfully based on your own situation, how good is your drinking capacity?”

Professor Tan thought for a moment, “It should be quite good…”

The ability to drink is not something easy to judge; whether or not you can hold your liquor only becomes evident at the dining table.

“Quite good?

Professor Tan, are you being modest…”

Zhang Wei teased, then smiled, “I remember you said on Monday that you went out for social drinks on the evening of the 13th, and because you drank a lot, you went straight to sleep when you got back to your dormitory, right?”

“Yes, I drank too much that night, so I went to bed early, and when I woke up, it was almost noon the next day,” Professor Tan nodded.

“But that day, the leaders of your institution didn’t toast you much, did they?” Zhang Wei asked further.

“That’s hard to say.

Sometimes I can drink a lot and feel nothing, and other times I get dizzy after just one or two drinks; anyway, I went back that day and slept under the influence of alcohol.”

“Oh~ I see~”

Zhang Wei had an expression of realization.

However, his smile quickly disappeared, and he followed up with another question: “Do you sleepwalk?”

On the prosecution’s side, Zhao Jing quickly nudged Huang Fang, who then belatedly stood up.

“Your Honor, although I shouldn’t say more, court is for legal proceedings, not a place for casual conversation, right?”

Her attitude had become somewhat restrained because of the previous video, at least there was no longer the initial sharp confrontation.

“Lawyer Zhang, what is the meaning behind all these questions you’re asking?” Calm Bro was also somewhat dissatisfied.

Even though I have taken care of you, you can’t waste everyone’s time, can you?

The courtroom is not a joke.

“Your Honor, and the two prosecutors of the prosecution, my questions all have meanings, and I will prove their value to you.

May I have 3 minutes?”

Zhang Wei looked determinedly at the judge.

“I will give you 3 minutes, and I hope you think carefully before asking your next question.

Can you refrain from asking these irrelevant questions?”

“Thank you, Your Honor, I assure you that my questions are very important!”

“I hope so…”

Calm Bro mumbled to himself and looked at Professor Tan, “Witness, please answer the question.”

“I don’t sleepwalk, and my sleep quality is very good?”

“Are you certain you don’t?”

“I don’t!”

Seeing Professor Tan’s categorical response, Zhang Wei smiled with satisfaction.

“That’s strange then.

Since you went to bed on the night of the 13th and slept until the next afternoon, and you don’t have a habit of sleepwalking, it’s absolutely impossible for you to have been at the Medical University Affiliated Laboratory around 11 p.m., right?”

Upon hearing Zhang Wei’s words, Professor Tan’s expression changed.

Similarly, the expressions of both prosecutors also changed.

Zhao Jing’s eyebrows furrowed tightly, and Huang Fang’s pupils contracted sharply for a moment.

Could it be…

In front of the witness stand, Zhang Wei adopted an incredibly curious and troubled demeanor, looking straight at Tan Xiuwen.

“Can you tell me why you were at the laboratory that night?”

“What are you talking about?

I’m not aware of this issue!”

Professor Tan naturally shook his head in denial.

But Zhang Wei had already guessed he would say this and immediately continued, “Your Honor, in response to the witness’s testimony, the defense requests to present evidence to contradict, and we hope the court will approve!”

“Contradicting evidence?”

Calm Bro mumbled and nodded his head, “Since it is evidence to contradict the witness’s testimony, the court approves!”

Zhang Wei once again approached the prosecution bench, ignoring Huang Fang, who was beginning to sweat on her forehead and whose eyes were gradually changing, and instead, he smiled at Zhao Jing beside her.

“Prosecutor Zhao, the contradicting evidence I mentioned is also in that USB drive.

Could you please open this directory’s file for me?”

Zhao Jing had no choice but to follow Zhang Wei’s instructions, clicking on the folder on her laptop and opening a video.

The projection screen displayed an image again, but this time it was clearly a nighttime scene, with a timestamp showing 23:02.

“Professor Tan, you’re familiar with the place in the video, aren’t you?

Do those green belts and walls look familiar to you?” Zhang Wei pointed to a part of the image and asked.

“This is…” Professor Tan indeed felt it looked familiar.

“This is surveillance footage from inside the Medical University, I forgot to tell you that they’ve recently installed new cameras, and you might not know there’s surveillance here.

But this particular area is the necessary path from the dormitory to the Affiliated Laboratory, you should be familiar with that, right?”

Zhang Wei smiled faintly, then gestured for Zhao Jing to fast forward the video.

The image sped up, and suddenly, a blurry figure appeared.

The figure quickly walked through this area coming closer, and as it reached the closest point, the frame froze.

This person was dressed in a black outfit, but unfortunately, the recording didn’t capture their face.

“Professor Tan, who is this person?

Do you know?”

“It’s nighttime and it’s a back view, how would I know?” Professor Tan shook his head vigorously, indicating he didn’t recognize them.

“Really?

Don’t hurry, there’s more.” Zhang Wei then gestured for Zhao Jing to open a second video.

Instantly, the camera switched to a corner of a building.

As the footage fast-forwarded, a figure appeared.

The person suddenly went from a backlit area to beneath a light source, and the face of the figure also suddenly became clear in the video.

“Professor Tan, this time, who is this person?”

Looking at the screen, where the person’s face was incredibly clear, Zhang Wei questioned again.

Professor Tan fell silent, because that person was none other than himself.

He had thought of everything but failed to consider the new surveillance installed by the Medical University.

In the previous period, he was hardly at the Medical University, so naturally, he was unaware of the school’s upgraded security systems.

On the surveillance footage, he was seen wearing a black outfit, hurrying through the recording area, with the Affiliated Laboratory as his destination.

“Eh, what’s going on?

I didn’t hear an answer.

Who is this person?”

Zhang Wei made a gesture of listening intently, his expression brimming with mockery, “Professor Tan, could you tell me why, on the night of the 13th, when you should have been drunk and asleep, you sneaked off to the Affiliated Laboratory and were so cautious about being seen, creeping around like a ghost.

Don’t you find that strange?”

The muscles at the corner of Professor Tan’s mouth twitched, and his gaze shifted drastically.

“I…

I’m not sure…”

“Yes, you’re not sure.”

Zhang Wei, as if he anticipated this answer, continued, “Don’t rush, I have more damning evidence!”

As he spoke, he looked again at Zhao Jing, “Prosecutor Zhao, could you please open these few images and project them onto the screen, thank you!”

Zhao Jing had virtually become Zhang Wei’s assistant, but even if she wanted to resist, she could only obediently comply.

Zhao Jing was feeling bitter inside!

Next to her, Huang Fang no longer dared to make a sound, a stark contrast to her previous domineering attitude.

Wouldn’t speaking up now just be asking for trouble?

Fortunately, no one was paying attention to the feelings of Zhao Jing and Huang Fang; the two prosecutors had turned into mere backdrops.

Everyone held their breath and turned their attention to the projection screen.

This time, a set of code-level data appeared, complete with timestamps and a variety of log entries.

“Professor Tan, do you understand these database entries?

How good are your computer skills?”

Professor Tan remained utterly silent.

“Your Honor, has Professor Tan turned mute?”

Calm Bro, sensing something was wrong, instructed the witness, “Witness, please answer the question.

You’ve taken an oath!”

Professor Tan opened his mouth but eventually decided to speak, “I choose to exercise my Right to Remain Silent granted to me by the law!”

“Oh, as you please, but even if you don’t answer, I’ll explain it myself!”

Zhang Wei chuckled, not at all bothered by Professor Tan’s lack of cooperation.

Because at that very moment, someone among the 12 jurors finally realized something.

And the seeds of doubt began to spread.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, and everyone here in the hearing, please listen carefully.

I’m going to explain the evidence here, and, to accommodate those who do not understand code, I will do so in a straightforward manner.”

“Regarding these lines of code, let me give you a simple analogy of course, this is just an example, so please don’t take it too literally…”

“Once, there was a man named Zhang San.

His family specialized in herbal studies, and he was recently researching poisons.

As we all know, poisons are dangerous, and people can die from being poisoned.

So, he reached out to a security company to help him create a security system to add necessary protections to his pharmacy, ensuring no outsider could easily enter or exit.

However, when commissioning the system, Zhang San made a specific request: he must have the highest level of access, the ability to modify and delete certain data and logs from the system.”

“The company installed the system in the pharmacy to Zhang San’s satisfaction, since it ensured the poisons could not be taken by anyone.

But this presented a problem: the system was monitored 24 hours a day, and even he couldn’t enter or leave without leaving a record.

One day, Zhang San wanted to use the poison to kill a few people, but the poison was locked deep inside the pharmacy, where there was surveillance, and his entry to take the poison would be recorded.

Moreover, if the poisoning were discovered, those logs and entry records would serve as evidence pointing to him.”

“Fortunately, remember the request Zhang San made to the security company?

He had the highest privileges to alter the backend data.

So, one night, he sneaked into the pharmacy, stole the poison, and then accessed the system backend, using his admin privileges to delete all data from 11 PM until 5 AM the next morning, and even established a new rule.

From that day on, every night’s records from 11 PM until 5 AM were automatically deleted, so if anyone knowledgeable asked, he could brush it off with excuses like ‘conserving system space’ or ‘the pharmacy door’s locked at that time; no one would go in’.

Quite clever, huh!”

“Oh, by the way, I should mention, Zhang San wasn’t just bluffing; he really intended to poison and kill people and even prepared a perfect plan.

The day before he sneaked into the pharmacy, he deliberately created some incidents during the day.

For instance, he got several of his helpers out of the pharmacy on various pretexts, leaving behind only one female assistant.

He intentionally made a mistake in an experiment because he knew the assistant’s character—she was determined to work on the experiment and would stay late to rush the work and correct the data.

So, Zhang San concocted an excuse about drinking that evening, creating the illusion that only the female assistant was in the pharmacy, making her his scapegoat.

Unbeknownst to her, while she thought she was diligently working overtime to fix the data, she had actually fallen into Zhang San’s scheme.

After she left that evening, Zhang San snuck into the pharmacy, stole the poison, and then erased the system records…”

Zhang Wei, now standing in front of Professor Tan, said deliberately, “This Zhang San is utterly incorrigible~”

“Are you telling a story?” Professor Tan said, his gaze icy and his tone somewhat subdued.

Yet Zhang Wei locked eyes with him and questioned again, “Professor Tan, when you commissioned Blacksmith Technology to create a security system, may I ask what was your access code for this system?”

“That, I’ve forgotten!”

“Oh, what a good excuse.

But even if you’ve forgotten, it doesn’t matter.

Foll𝑜w current novℯls on ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm.

Blacksmith Technology keeps project files, and they will tell you that your access code is ‘admin001’.

There’s but one ‘admin001’ in this system, and that’s you, Tan Xiuwen yourself!”

“Prosecutor Zhao, please enlarge the last image.

It’s the system operation log for deleting logs and setting permissions, and it tells us the real name of the operator within the system.”

Zhao Jing, albeit reluctantly, clicked on the last photo, revealing a mass of code.

Among the codes, three lines were highlighted with a red circle.

[xx0114 01:45 admin001 delete date log]

[xx0114 01:48 admin001 change systemsettings]

[xx0114 01:55 admin001 exit system]

“Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, these three lines of code show that in the early hours of the 14th, our administrator with ID 001 deleted the system logs of that day, then modified the system settings—I’m referring to the increased daily deletion rule I just mentioned—and finally, he logged out of the system at 1:55 a.m.

Do you all understand what I’m implying?”

Having said this, and seeing that some jurors and audience members showed signs of realization, Zhang Wei turned his gaze back to Professor Tan on the witness stand.

“Professor Tan, what do you have to say about these?

Surely you’re not going to claim that the code deleted and modified its own settings without your involvement?”

“Then how do you explain sneaking into the laboratory and being covertly captured by Medical University’s surveillance video?

You’ve got to give us a proper explanation for both these incidents!”

Professor Tan remained silent.

However, he was also frustrated internally; weren’t those logs deleted?

How did they reappear?

Unknown to him, Zhang Wei had asked Zhao Qingyan for help, and the latter had managed to recover these deleted logs with her methods.

“Young man, your words are compelling.

Even if you proved that I might have returned to the affiliated laboratory and modified the system’s settings, so what?

Am I not allowed to visit a laboratory at night?”

Professor Tan continued to struggle, trying to dissociate himself from the matter.

“I knew you would say that, so let me ask you directly.

Medical University’s surveillance shows that you entered the Medical University Affiliated Laboratory at 11 p.m.

on the 13th.

The system log tells us that you left the laboratory at nearly 2 a.m.

on the 14th.

Could you please tell us what you were doing in the laboratory during those nearly three hours?”

This question was so tricky that the entire courtroom wanted to know the answer.

The jurors, the audience, even the prosecution’s Zhao Jing and Huang Fang, and the defense’s Wang Yuqing, all turned their eyes toward Professor Tan.

Everyone wanted an answer!

“I…” His face contorted for a moment, then he clenched his teeth and said, “I went to the lab and somehow fell asleep, slept there for more than two hours.

As for the system, I don’t remember a thing!”

“Hahaha, what an answer, that’s a brilliant answer!”

Zhang Wei looked at Professor Tan, almost moved to tears by his response.

The answer did not dispel the jury’s suspicions; in fact, many felt that Professor Tan seemed to be making excuses.

“That’s okay, you can continue playing dumb.

I’ve got even more compelling evidence!”

Zhang Wei said, and once more turned to Zhao Jing, who reflexively opened a certain folder without even needing Zhang Wei’s directions.

“Yes, yes, Prosecutor Zhao, that’s the folder.

Please open it.

Inside, there are plenty of surveillance videos.

Start from the first one on the second page, and play them one by one, thank you…”

Reluctantly, Zhao Jing opened the folder, and the projection screen displayed a new image.

This time it was a street surveillance video, showing a coffee shop.

The timestamp showed that the surveillance time was 8 a.m.

on the 14th.

“Here it comes, here it comes!” Zhang Wei announced loudly, prompting everyone to look at the big screen.

A figure emerged from the coffee shop, dressed in a black tracksuit and a hat concealing their face, seemingly holding some envelopes in their hand.

“Keep playing.

Who this mysterious person is, we’ll soon find out!” Zhang Wei prompted, and the footage continued.

The surveillance video had many segments, captured by different devices, but each captured the same mysterious figure.

They walked through several streets, then arrived at a mailbox, stuffing a few letters inside.

Then the footage continued, and the mysterious person quickly left the mailbox, passing some street shops in a hurry, their walking posture somewhat awkward—as if one leg had something heavy tied to it, while the other did not.

By this time, some people were already looking at Professor Tan, who had a known limp.

The footage went on, suddenly freezing on a spot where, as the mysterious person passed an electronics shop, they looked up instinctively into the store.

That one glance allowed everyone in the courtroom to see his face.

The person under the black hat was none other than Professor Tan!

For a moment, the courtroom fell silent as numerous people gasped in shock.

The culprit—it really was him!

…

(Knowing you all are anxious, many readers in the group have been threatening to send razor blades my way.

Author Germ is updating two chapters early today, so you don’t have to wait until the afternoon~ Next chapter at 9 o’clock!)