Early morning.
Zhao Yi slowly opened his eyes from the dilapidated sofa.
His gaze swept to the wall clock on the wall. He slowly and arduously sat up. The ancient sofa frame emitted creaking and buzzing sounds. By the time Zhao Yi sat up straight from the sofa, his head was already covered in sweat.
He took off his top with both hands and walked in front of the narrow, long floor mirror. In the mirror's reflection, a ferocious whipping wound was currently entrenched on his back. The split-open skin and flesh didn't have the slightest sign of healing. Instead, the pitch-black Curse Runes surrounding the wound had deepened even further into the flesh.
Zhao Yi reached out and lightly touched it, hurting so much he directly grimaced. At the same time, Ling'er's crisp and lively voice transmitted from behind the door:
"Brother Zhao Yi, are you awake?"
Zhao Yi put his top back on again. Opening the room door, he saw that Ling'er had already changed clothes and was standing outside the door, blinking her eyes and looking at him.
"What's wrong?" Zhao Yi's voice was as gentle as possible.
"Brother Zhao Yi, didn't you say we're going to audit the court today and need to wake up early? I'm already prepared."
Zhao Yi closed the room door and rapidly changed his clothes. A gray, old padded jacket was put on the outermost layer. He was just about to leave when his gaze glanced at a section of a drawer beside the table, and he suddenly stopped his footsteps.
He narrowed his eyes, light flickering within them, his inner heart struggling incomparably.
A moment later, he still took a deep breath. Taking out a section of something from the drawer, he quickly stuffed it into the pocket of his padded jacket...
That was a Short Blade flickering with cold light.
After doing all this, Zhao Yi pushed open the room door as if nothing had happened, smilingly holding Ling'er's hand. "Let's go."
The other residents of District Three had all already prepared properly. Some held banners, some carried megaphones. Seeing Zhao Yi and the other come down, they counted the number of people a bit, and a large crowd of people walked imposingly towards the direction of the court.
"What are you guys preparing to do?" Zhao Yi asked, puzzled.
"If that group of people falsely accuses Chief Han Meng again later, we'll carry the megaphones and curse back at them! Let's see whose voice is louder!"
"Exactly, can white still let them speak it into black? Do they truly treat us as dead people?"
"Little Yi, we've all planned it out. When the time comes even if we're driven out it doesn't matter. Everyone will shout one by one, it'll always have some effect..."
The crowd spoke one word after another. Zhao Yi's expression was somewhat helpless. His right hand stuffed in his pocket touched a wipe of ice-coldness, and his gaze gradually became solemn.
They traveled on foot traversing through street after street, finally arriving in front of the court. With familiar ease they completed the registration. They were just about to walk into the spectator seats, but were stopped one after another.
"Megaphones are considered contraband items, prohibited from entering." A single sentence from a Law Enforcer directly shattered the crowd's fantasy.
"This... how can this be considered a contraband item..."
"Yeah, this doesn't hurt anyone either... we promise not to speak, alright?"
"Who said this is a megaphone? This is my muffler! If you don't believe me I'll wear it for you to see..."
The Law Enforcers had long since remembered this group of people. Regardless of how they acted shamelessly, they refused to let the megaphones enter.
Under helplessness, the crowd could only choose to compromise, temporarily storing the megaphones outside. But immediately following was an extremely strict body search. The Law Enforcer felt out a banner from a resident's body, revealing an 'as expected' expression.
"Banners are also prohibited from entering."
"??? But when we came last time there wasn't this rule!"
"Guess why this rule was set up?"
The crowd: ...
Seeing this scene at the doorway, Zhao Yi's face was somewhat ugly. He didn't expect the security this time to be this strict. One hand tightly gripped the knife handle in his pocket, remaining silent without speaking.
"Little Yi, what's wrong with you?" Seeing his complexion was incorrect, Xu Chongguo stepped forward and asked.
Zhao Yi didn't speak. He merely secretly pulled out a section of the knife handle from his pocket, let Xu Chongguo take a look, and then rapidly stuffed it back in again.
Seeing that thing clearly, Xu Chongguo's expression changed. He immediately dragged Zhao Yi to the side, lowering his voice and asking:
"Why are you carrying a knife??"
"That ungrateful wretch Old Man Ding, if he lets out a fart in court again today, I'll go up and stab him to death!" Cold light flickered in Zhao Yi's gaze. "Without the witness, they won't have a way to convict Han Meng..."
"Absurd!!" Xu Chongguo snatched the knife from his hands in one grab. Looking around and seeing no one, he buried it into the soil of the flowerbed beside the steps.
"Little Yi, I know you value friendship and loyalty, wanting to clean up traitors for District Three... but if you do this and get yourself mixed into it, what will Ling'er do? She only has you as her one relative right now!"
Zhao Yi opened his mouth and still wanted to say something, but Xu Chongguo immediately spoke after:
"Don't say that we can take care of her! In that child's heart, you are already her irreplaceable brother, just like your dad's status in your heart... She has already lost her Grandmother once, do you still want to make her experience that kind of pain one more time?"
Zhao Yi was stunned. He was silent for a long time, slowly lowering his head.
Xu Chongguo took a deep breath, pulling Zhao Yi and walking towards the inside of the court. Handing over the banners and passing the security check, the crowd's figures disappeared at the main doorway.
Not long after they entered, a figure draped in a brown overcoat unhurriedly stepped up the stairs.
He walked straight in front of the registering Law Enforcer, a wipe of confusion and fluster emerging on his face.
"Umm..."
"Reporter Lin?" The Law Enforcer had seen Chen Ling once. Seeing that his complexion was not very good, he asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
"I just passed by behind you guys, and saw... saw that there seems to be someone fainted there."
"What?"
The Law Enforcer was startled. He immediately brought several companions and walked towards the direction of the back door. Indeed, they saw a short, dark-skinned figure currently lying on the ground, unconscious.
"Isn't this the witness Old Man Ding?" A Law Enforcer saw that familiar face and spoke in astonishment.
"Old Man Ding??"
Another Law Enforcer's face revealed joy, hurriedly running in a direction. A moment later, Fang Lichang draped in a black windbreaker walked over with quick steps.
"Found him? Where is he??"
"Don't know how, he just fainted here... Looking at him it seems he fainted from hunger?"
"Do you want to send him to the hospital to take a look?"
"There's no time, the court is opening immediately." Fang Lichang confirmed it was Old Man Ding, and that his vital signs were all normal. He instantly felt wild joy in his heart. Now even the last trace of win rate was filled up. For this court verdict, he had a ten out of ten certainty!
He immediately spoke, "He doesn't have any major issues. Wake him up for me, prepare to go to court and give testimony!"
Finishing speaking, he then hurriedly walked towards the entrance for internal personnel entering the court.
At the court doorway, Chen Ling saw this scene from afar, the corner of his mouth slightly hooking up.
With familiar ease, he passed the security check. Holding a camera, he returned to his original spectator seat. Surrounding him was still that circle of District Three Survivors. It was just that Wen Shilin had other matters to be busy with, so he was temporarily unable to attend.
As the crowd all took their seats, Judge Gu Yuan slowly walked over from the entrance. In the spectator seats, Chen Ling gently pushed the half-frame glasses on the bridge of his nose, murmuring to himself:
"The good show... begins."