1
After straightening my judge’s robe, I signaled to my assistant to start the livestream.
There were more people in the livestream courtroom than expected today, because the person being judged was very special: top superstar Tả Huy.
He ran over a pregnant woman and a child while driving late at night, then fled the scene.
In our country, killing someone in a hit-and-run is a crime punishable by death.
Tả Huy was rich and powerful, and his defense team was nothing short of formidable.
On the victims’ side, only the husband, Hướng Kỳ, remained.
He held portraits of his wife and child, standing at the plaintiff’s table with a solemn expression.
He even got legal aid for free.
A month before the livestream began, Tả Huy’s fans criticized the video on major websites, deleted negative posts, and even held banners and handed out flyers in plazas and shopping districts.
All to send one message to the world: Tả Huy was innocent.
Tả Huy stood at the defendant’s table and smiled faintly, even winking at the camera.
Clearly, Tả Huy was certain he would be found not guilty at this trial.
The assistant signaled that everything was ready.
I struck the gavel, turned toward the camera, and said, “Hello to all the judges watching the livestream! I’m Judge Trương Chính Nghĩa. I’d like to emphasize the rules for this livestream. During the trial, you may join the discussion by posting comments, but insults and troublemaking are prohibited. Anyone who breaks the rules will be removed from the livestream.”
“Once the trial begins, the defendant will be confined in a gas chamber. You can tap like or dislike on the screen. When dislikes exceed 50 percent, the poison gas will start to flow. When dislikes exceed 80 percent, the concentration of the gas will be lethal. Please judge seriously and choose carefully.”
The defense began.
2
A surveillance video from the road played on the large screen in the courtroom.
An eight-months-pregnant woman carrying her child was crossing the road when a speeding sports car suddenly sent her flying several yards.
The sports car hit someone, stopped for a moment, then lowered its window as if to check what had happened.
The pregnant woman lay motionless on the ground, blood flowing from her body, while the child, not far away, was still moving.
The sports car suddenly shifted into reverse, ran over the child, then sped away like an arrow.
The video had never been made public before, but now that it was out, it set off a storm.
[Oh my God, is he even human? This is murder!]
[This is the “brother” you called him. He’s not human—he’s a demon!]
[Why are you in such a hurry to jump to conclusions? Are you sentencing someone to death without knowing what happened?]
[Why was a pregnant woman taking her child out for a walk late at night? If you don’t look after your own safety, who can you blame?]
After the video played, someone from Tả Huy’s defense team stood up.
He was Vương Nghiêu, one of the top lawyers in the field.
He bowed deeply to me and to the audience watching on-screen.
Then he displayed several photos on the large screen.
This photo was taken five years ago. Tả Huy was surrounded by a group of people, and a large circle had been drawn around the person behind him—the deceased.
Some of the photos he showed depicted Tả Huy and the deceased in the same frame.
Vương Nghiêu explained that the deceased had been an obsessive fan of Tả Huy.
For five years, the deceased had occasionally appeared near Tả Huy and had even snuck into his hotel room.
When Tả Huy was asleep, he discovered someone under the bed and had been terrified ever since.
Tả Huy seemed glamorous on the outside, but in truth he was under immense work pressure and entangled in Tà Tịch, and his mental state was steadily deteriorating.
Not long ago, he was diagnosed with a mental disorder, but because he was a celebrity, he kept it secret.
The psychiatric diagnosis appeared in the video.
Vương Nghiêu said passionately, “Tả Huy was a victim of Tà Tịch and suffered from a mental illness. He’d had some alcohol before driving, and when he encountered Tà Tịch on the road, he panicked. What would anyone do? He stepped on the pedal, hit the wrong one—the accelerator—and struck that person. He was terrified and mentally traumatized, so he chose to flee.”
“You’re lying!” the deceased’s husband roared furiously. “My wife didn’t follow any star. She couldn’t have harassed him!”
Vương Nghiêu wagged a finger. “As I understand it, you’d only been married to her for four years. How can you be sure she wasn’t following or harassing my client five years ago?”
Beside him, Tả Huy taunted, “I can close my eyes and still remember your wife lying naked under the bed! She was so ugly!”
[So she was a goddamn stalker. I hate trash like that. Beat her to death.]
[People like them are what drove Tả Huy crazy. If it were me, I’d kill her too.]
[My poor brother. You need to get some good rest once this is over. We’ll be waiting for your comeback!]
[Brother, don’t be afraid. We, the “Quang Huy,” will always support you!]
Tả Huy looked over the crowd, the corners of his mouth lifting in an inscrutable smile.
3
The plaintiff’s lawyer stood up and bowed to the camera. “Although our deceased was an illegitimate child and may have caused the defendant some trouble, she didn’t deserve to die…”
Hướng Kỳ could no longer control his emotions. He grabbed the lawyer by the collar and shouted angrily, “My wife wasn’t an illegitimate child, and she didn’t like Tả Huy! Who told you to slander her like that? Aren’t you supposed to be defending her? Did they pay you off?”
The plaintiff’s lawyer angrily pulled his collar straight. “Plaintiff, if you don’t trust me, I won’t defend you anymore. Do whatever you want!”
[Birds of a feather flock together.]
[I’ll just sit back and watch your performance.]
[The trial will be over soon. I still have to keep an eye on how my brother is doing.]
The courtroom erupted into chaos, and I had to bang the gavel several times. “Silence! Silence!”
The plaintiff’s lawyer angrily sat down and folded his arms across his chest, as if none of this had anything to do with him and he would no longer defend the plaintiff.
Clearly, Tả Huy had bought the man off. He was deliberately throwing obstacles in the plaintiff’s way in court, making him lose control of his emotions.
I winked at my assistant.
A message suddenly appeared in the chat.
[What’s going on here? Look closely at the first picture—the reflection in the mirror doesn’t show a dead person either. Obviously, this is a photoshopped image.]
[Now that you mention it, I can see it. The pictures after that are photoshopped too, all doctored to varying degrees.]
[The psychiatric diagnosis certificate is fake too. I’m a doctor at this hospital, and our hospital’s medical certificates don’t look like that.]
Public opinion in the livestream chat shifted.
I asked solemnly, “Defendant, upon review, these photos were indeed doctored by your lawyer. You committed a crime by submitting fake photos as evidence.”
Vương Nghiêu’s forehead immediately beaded with sweat. “Your Honor, these photos were also provided to me by an overzealous fan. It’s all my fault for not checking whether they were authentic. I was tricked too!”
Someone immediately admitted fault in the chat.
[That woman really was a piece of trash. We just didn’t take any pictures, that’s all.]
[For my brother’s sake, we had no choice but to provide doctored fake photos. But one thing’s for sure: she was an illegitimate child.]
I sneered. “Anyone with common sense could tell at a glance that the photos were fake. You’re a top lawyer—how could you make such a basic mistake? The photos and psychiatric diagnosis certificate have already been confirmed as fake.”
“Under Decree 235, submitting photos as evidence in court is a crime. You will receive twenty lashes immediately.”
The courtroom officers dragged Vương Nghiêu away, and the punishment was carried out on the spot, broadcast live across the internet.
After the first lash, he let out a heart-wrenching scream.
Watching this, Tả Huy turned deathly pale with fear.
After just ten lashes, Vương Nghiêu passed out. Of course, our court doesn’t allow the beating to continue once someone has fainted.
A doctor immediately came over and gave him an injection to wake him up so the beating could continue.
After twenty lashes, he was beaten until his skin was torn and his flesh mangled, then dragged away, barely alive.