There were also many Jin City locals. These locals, speaking with a distinct regional accent, stood on tiptoe, eager to watch the spectacle. Additionally, over a dozen teams of internet influencers were present, equipped with cameras and professional crews. They were using the courthouse and the dense crowd as a backdrop for their live streams and check-in photos. It seemed they wanted to ride the wave of this case’s popularity, hoping to achieve viral fame online. After all, the case had been brewing overnight, and now the entire internet was fixated on it. If they could successfully piggyback on this trending topic, they might just become overnight sensations!

Before anyone realized, the area outside the courthouse had become a prime check-in spot for these influencers.

"Let’s go attend the trial first."

Glancing at these influencers, Qin Mu shook his head. Supporting Old Zhang, he squeezed into the crowd. Outside the courthouse, it was a sea of people, packed layer upon layer. There was no such thing as lining up; whether one could push to the front depended entirely on personal ability. Fortunately, with the physique granted by the system, he managed to forge a path in fifty minutes. Just as it approached ten o’clock, he entered the courthouse. Like yesterday, he continued to move between various trial courts, pressing charges against each defendant.

「Jin City.」

At the nursing home, Li Weiguo, Song Tiancheng, and others were sitting on benches, watching the screen with expressions of anticipation. Various snacks were laid out beside them, as they had prepared to watch for the entire day. On Screen Number One, the live broadcast from the First Criminal Trial Court was displayed. Not far away, another group of elderly people gathered before Screen Number Two, watching the live broadcast from the Second Criminal Court. To satisfy their desire to watch the live broadcasts, the nursing home administration had approved the request to set up eight projection screens within the facility. These seniors could freely choose which area to watch from based on their interests.

"Come quick, come quick! I’m at screen three here, and I’ve found a very promising defendant. He says he has intermittent mental illness."

"That’s nothing! I’ve found a defendant here who actually claims he was framed—that someone else used his phone to post the messages."

"Over here, I saw a defendant who said his three-year-old son used his phone to forward it."

"Blaming his own son? A three-year-old isn’t criminally responsible, so it’s not really throwing his son under the bus. It’s more like taking the fall for him. Otherwise, if he were sentenced, his son wouldn’t be able to apply for civil service jobs in the future."

"..."

With eight live streams running, everyone was incredibly excited, constantly shouting to each other to discuss the trial proceedings. Whenever they spotted a defendant on their screen making a particularly ’noteworthy’ argument, they would notify others to come and watch. The elderly people bustled between screens, their steps spry and movements nimble, thoroughly enjoying themselves. Before long, they had identified a dozen of these ’geniuses’ who were using all sorts of clumsy excuses in an attempt to evade guilt. The reactions of many lawyers were identical to Zhang Wei’s earlier behavior, like carbon copies of him.

「Evening.」

Seven o’clock. The court sessions, which had lasted all day, finally concluded one after another in the eight trial courts. Throughout the day, the trials of 2,800 people had been completed. Including the previous days, case reviews and judgments for a cumulative total of 4,600 people had been completed. Most were sentenced to probation. However, these ’geniuses,’ who had presented new evidence, had their detailed reviews postponed, so no verdicts were announced for them yet.

Qin Mu also brought Zhang Qingyuan ’off duty’ back to the nursing home, and then went home to rest himself.

Over the next few days, he continued to take Zhang Qingyuan to the courthouse, braving the ’morning rush hour’ and navigating the crowded throngs to give the remaining defendants the ’care’ they deserved. This continued for five full days. The case, a national sensation, finally entered its closing stages. All 15,000 individuals had received the judgments they deserved, except for the few who had provided ’new evidence.’

"It’s finally over. Earning a little money is truly hard," Zhang Qingyuan sighed, wiping sweat from his brow as he walked out of the courthouse. These past few days, following Qin Mu, he had been worked like a dog from eight in the morning until seven in the evening. Even tilling the fields back in the countryside hadn’t been this exhausting.