Chapter 217 Verdict
Shi Nian'an subconsciously took a step back, and his calf hit the edge of the bed. But before he could cry out in pain, he raised his arm and aimed the gun at Seventeen.
She remembered that the energy battery in this micro-pistol could support 11 shots, enough for her to kill all the way from the bedroom to the outside of Floating Cloud Palace.
I'm afraid that by then, she will be arrested by the government as a terrorist?
But why would I think of this kind of plot that only appears in movies at this moment?
Shi Nian'an bit his lower lip and felt the tension and fear fade away, replaced by another kind of relaxation and excitement. Even his stiff arms became relaxed.
Speak as calmly as possible.
"As you can see, I've killed Qiao Yanzhi. Your goal has been achieved. Can you let me go now?"
If there was a third person here, they would definitely regard her as a cold-blooded murderer rather than a victim.
But unfortunately, the person who came was Seventeen, a monster who was far more cold-blooded than her.
Even when a gun was pointed at her, she didn't frown at all, and she could even glance at Qiao Yanzhi's body calmly.
If she hadn't seen a thumb-sized bloody hole on his chest, she would have thought he had just fainted.
Under the mask, Seventeen raised his lips in satisfaction, "You did a good job, but..."
She changed the subject, "Are you really going to leave like this?"
Shi Nian'an's eyes grew wary. "Are you afraid I'll sue you for kidnapping? Don't worry, I'll tell the judge I don't know who you are. After all, you're wearing a mask."
Seventeen raised his eyes and stared at the gun in her hand, but did not move. He continued calmly, "You misunderstood. What I meant was that you should be the one worried."
Shi Nian'an frowned in confusion.
"If I'm not mistaken, the gun in your hand wasn't purchased legally, was it? I've checked, and neither the market nor the military has a laser gun of your model. Laser weapons of the same type are almost all enormous, impossible to hold in hand or even mount on a truck. So, how did you get your gun? And how are you going to explain to the judge the wound on Qiao Yanzhi's body?"
Cold sweat suddenly broke out on Shi Nian'an's forehead, and fear once again struck his heart.
This person was right. How could she have forgotten such an important point? Could she lie and say the wound was caused by a hot iron spike?
But why would a high-temperature iron spike happen to be in a normal person's room? Could it be that Qiao Yanzhi just had this kind of perverted fetish?
Or, what about keeping silent about the murder weapon? As long as objective facts prove she acted in self-defense, it wouldn't matter if she didn't disclose the weapon, right?
Little did she know that her silence was immediately seen as consent by Seventeen.
The other party said confidently, "It seems that this laser gun is indeed produced by Tianqiong. If the outside world knew that Tianqiong's material machines can not only produce daily necessities but also weapons, it would definitely cause an uproar, right?"
Shi Nian'an's heart suddenly sank, and the hand holding the gun lost its strength.
If telling the truth would hurt Tianqiong and her mother, she would rather remain silent.
Even if it means going to jail or dying, I would not hesitate.
Thinking of this, she raised her eyes resolutely, "If I just kill you, won't no one know the truth?"
"What if I can help you?"
This sentence was almost spoken at the end of her voice. Shi Nian'an's finger had just pulled the trigger when his movement paused.
She saw Seventeen reach behind his waist and quickly pull out a pitch-black knife about half an arm's length.
When he saw the hand in the black leather glove touching the sharp blade, Shi Nian'an suddenly recalled the pain when she grabbed his wrist in the car. Even though it was she who was holding the gun, it was still her who was afraid.
This person gave her a really dangerous feeling.
"what you up to?"
Seventeen lowered his eyes and looked at the shiny black murder weapon in his hand, a hint of coldness in his eyes.
"This is a three-edged military bayonet, known as the most poisonous in the world. Just a few centimeters of penetration can kill instantly. The wound it inflicts is deep and large enough to destroy the gunshot wound you inflicted."
"What?" Shi Nian'an widened her eyes, unable to believe that she was there to help her destroy the body.
Seventeen narrowed his eyes slightly. "This triangular military dagger belongs to Qiao Yanzhi's collection. It only has his fingerprints on it. Using it to conceal the existence of the laser gun is perfect."
As she spoke, she walked towards Qiao Yanzhi's body, her black boots stepping on the soft carpet without making any sound.
Shi Nian'an felt that she should do something, stop her or something, but in the end, she just stood there and watched.
Seventeen raised the triangular bayonet in his hand high, and with a flash of cold light, the bayonet pierced into Qiao Yanzhi's chest, following the wound caused by the laser beam and going straight through to the bottom.
Then the knife was pulled out and a small amount of blood flowed out of the wound.
Seventeen threw the murder weapon to the ground and turned to look at Shi Nian'an, "You can leave now. Once you leave Floating Cloud Palace, you and I will be strangers who have never met."
Shi Nian'an finally came back to his senses from his surprise.
She didn't dare put the gun down, pointing it at Seventeen as she retreated toward the door. Once she was out of the room, she put the gun away and turned to run toward the villa's exit.
Not long after this, the police arrived.
————
After the recollection ended, Shi Nian'an looked at Du Xiao, who was quickly flipping through the information and defending her under pressure. She took a deep breath and finally made up her mind.
"No need to say more, I admit it is..."
"It was me. I was the one who stabbed him the second time."
Two voices sounded almost at the same time. Shi Nian'an turned around in shock, only to see a young woman in a black windbreaker standing up from the audience.
It’s seventeen!
This was the first time Shi Nian'an saw her face clearly. She had thick eyebrows and pale eyes, as calm as two deep pools of water. Her facial lines were sharp and clean, but like a painting hanging on the wall, outstanding but lacking softness and warmth.
He exudes an aloof and withdrawn temperament, is so rational that he is unkind, and seems out of tune with the human beings in this world.
The surprised looks of the people around her seemed to be nothing to Seventeen. She strode forward and stood at the defense table.
"I am Qiao Shiqi, the younger sister of the deceased Qiao Yanzhi. I am willing to testify in court for the defendant."
The audience in the courtroom suddenly became noisy, and the buzzing sound was endless.
The deceased's sister came forward to testify for the defendant? This is simply unbelievable.
Qiao Zhizhang was even more annoyed. Seventeen standing up at this time was tantamount to publicly challenging his authority.
"Nonsense! You're disrupting the order of the court. Get the hell out of here!"
Du Xiao immediately realized that this might be the key witness testimony that could change the case, and he immediately retorted, "If she is related to this case, the court should allow her to testify. This will ensure a fair trial outcome, right?"
Qiao Zhizhang jumped up from his seat. "Nonsense! She has nothing to do with this case!"
"Silence!" Jin Jianmin struck the gavel again.
She pondered for a moment and spoke in a deep voice, "Since the witness claims to be relevant to this case, this court allows him to make his statement."
Seventeen nodded slightly, "Thank you, Judge. Then I will start from the beginning."
"On the day of the incident, I hid in the defendant's car according to Qiao Yanzhi's instructions, forced her to change her route to Floating Cloud Palace, and then locked her in Qiao Yanzhi's room."
This made the prosecutor's face change. In order to get Shi Nian'an sentenced to death, he did not submit evidence that she was kidnapped or coerced. After all, judging from the photos taken by the road surveillance, Shi Nian'an drove to Fuyun Palace by herself.
When everyone saw his expression, they began to believe what Seventeen said.
"Besides that, there's one point the prosecutor's materials haven't mentioned: Qiao Yanzhi once tried to force Shi Nian'an to be his lover. If you'd investigated the loan sharking company that forced Shi's father to jump off a building, you'd have known that the man behind it was Qiao Yanzhi."
W-What?!
Everyone widened their eyes in surprise. They never expected to hear the secrets of the Huangtian Group here.
Qiao Zhizhang even wanted to rush over to stop her from continuing, but was held down by the bailiff.
"Qiao Yanzhi originally thought that this would force Shi Nian'an to surrender, but he didn't expect Tianqiong to be resurrected with the help of the material machine. I'm sure everyone knows what happened next. He tried to plagiarize Tianqiong's material machine technology to defeat it, but the laboratory exploded and his tens of billions of investment was lost. And on the night he was dismissed, he called me and threatened me, asking me to help him kidnap Shi Nian'an. I have a recording of this call as evidence."
Jin Jianmin asked her to submit the recording and play it in court. When everyone heard Qiao Yanzhi's bad tone in the recording, they clenched their fists in anger. Such a person deserved to die!
"Let's talk about what happened that night. The prosecutor just said that the plaintiff first killed Qiao Yanzhi and then used a bayonet to damage the fatal wound. This speculation is completely unreasonable. Because doing so will not only fail to clear the suspicion of intentional homicide, but will also leave more evidence. If the plaintiff really intended to kill, there would be no need to do this."
"The truth is, when I saw Qiao Yanzhi enter the room and lock the door, I felt immense regret. I thought about all the years he had oppressed me. We were both his father's children, so why was he allowed to be the heir to the throne while I could only live in the shadows, being ordered around by him like a servant?"
"At that moment, anger was like wildfire, overwhelming my rationality. I couldn't wait to fight it all. I rushed to open the door, determined to ruin Qiao Yanzhi's plan, but what I saw was his nearly naked body lying on the ground, and Shi Nian'an standing by the bed in shock."
"I was really angry at the time. She killed Qiao Yanzhi, and I would never have the chance to take revenge on him. Impulsively, I picked up the triangular bayonet that Qiao Yanzhi kept in his room and stabbed him in the chest. If you prosecutors weren't so careless, you would have known that there were no fingerprints of Shi Nian'an on the bayonet. Of course, there were no fingerprints of mine either, because I was wearing gloves when I did it."
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a buzz in the audience, and everyone whispered to each other, obviously very surprised by what Seventeen said.
The prosecutor obviously did not expect to encounter such an unexpected situation. He never thought that there was a third party in this case.
He was flustered and could only force himself to argue, "You're lying! Apart from your testimony, you can't produce any evidence to prove that the second knife wasn't done by Shi Nian'an!"
Hearing this question, Seventeen smiled.
The prosecutor had completely forgotten about the first wound. But then again, his goal was to accuse Shi Nian'an of intentional homicide. As for the weapon that killed Qiao Yan in one blow, he couldn't prove it, so it was naturally excluded from the logic of the accusation.
"Before this, I didn't even know Shi Nian'an, so there was no reason for me to lie for her. Besides, if I hadn't stabbed her myself, how would I know everything that happened that night?"
"The reason I stood up to testify for Shi Nian'an was purely to get revenge on Qiao Yanzhi. If Shi Nian'an loses the case, a scumbag like him will definitely be worshipped by those idiots online as a 'perfect but pitiful man framed by a woman'. The thought of it makes me sick. Even if he dies, I want him to be ruined!"
Faced with Seventeen's well-reasoned words, the prosecutor knew that it would be futile even if he continued to argue, so he simply gave up raising any objections.
Qiao Zhizhang was trembling with rage. He violently broke free from the bailiff's restraints and cursed, "Who do you think you are? How dare you resent your brother here? You even want to covet Huangtian's inheritance rights. You should be thankful to be born into the Qiao family. Otherwise, a monster like you would have died long ago!"
After he finished speaking, the courtroom fell into dead silence, and everyone looked at him as if he were a hysterical madman.
The presiding judge's calm, almost harsh, voice came from the top, "Please ask the bailiff to take the plaintiff's defense lawyer out of the courtroom to calm down. The court is now adjourned."
Qiao Zhizhang's eyes widened in anger and he was about to protest when he was dragged out of the court by the bailiff.
After this, the nine judges left the courtroom one by one, just as they had come.
Shi Nian'an knew that this meant the oral trial was over, and the judges would announce the trial results after adjourning for deliberation.
No one knows what the outcome will be until the last moment.
But Shi Nian'an no longer felt nervous. Perhaps others didn't know why the court suddenly changed the judge, but she knew deep down that there was only one person who could do this for her.
The figure of that person appeared in his mind, and his heart warmed. Then he thought of Seventeen. The situation just now was too dangerous. If it weren't for her, it would be impossible to turn the situation in the court.
Shi Nian'an walked up to Seventeen and apologized to her in a low voice, but she said with a cold face, "No need, I didn't think of helping you."
"I know, but I still want to thank you." Shi Nian'an already knew that this was her personality, so he didn't care. He thought that he would give her a big gift to thank her after the case was over.
After waiting for about an hour, the recess and deliberation ended, and the judges returned to the courtroom and took their seats again. Qiao Zhizhang, who had been dragged out to calm down, also returned to the plaintiff's seat.
Shi Nian'an looked at him coldly and shook his head secretly. After an hour of calmness, how come Old Deng looked even more haggard than before?
Not only did she lose the momentum she had when she threatened to sentence her to death before the trial, but even her once sleek and shiny hair was now a mess. If this was photographed by the media, it would definitely be a hot topic!
At this time, Justice Jin stood up, and Shi Nian'an hurriedly withdrew his gaze and turned his attention back to the court.
"After deliberation by the collegial panel, the verdict of this case is now pronounced. Everyone please stand."
Shi Nian'an straightened his back, but out of the corner of his eye he saw that Qiao Zhizhang's face was ashen, with a cold glint of hatred in his eyes.
"This court believes that the defendant Shi Nian'an's actions constituted legitimate self-defense and that he bears no criminal responsibility. The defendant Shi Nian'an is hereby acquitted and released immediately."
There was a sudden cheer in the courtroom. Shi Nian'an was also ecstatic, and his heart instantly settled down.
But this doesn't represent the final result. Judge Jin Jianmin continued, "Now the collegial panel will vote."
Shi Nian'an immediately became nervous again, holding his breath, and staring at the movements of the nine people in the judge's seat -
Five judges raised their hands.
"Five votes in favor, four against," Jin Jianmin slammed the gavel and announced, "The verdict is upheld!"
These four simple words are powerful.
Shi Nian'an let out a long breath, as if he had survived a disaster. Just as he was about to move, he heard cheers from behind him, and then he was hugged tightly.
Du Xiao was extremely excited. "We won! We actually won the case!"
Qiao Zhizhang stood not far away, glaring at them with resentment and clenching his fists.
At this time, the court announced the results of its review of Shiqi, believing that she was suspected of kidnapping and insulting corpses, and decided to sentence her to criminal detention.
When the bailiff was holding Seventeen and passing in front of Qiao Zhizhang, she, who had been wearing a cold face, finally showed an extremely bright smile.
"Father, you'll find a way to get me out, right? After all, you don't want me to reveal the things you ordered me to do, right?"
Qiao Zhizhang's face suddenly darkened.
This monster, he shouldn't have let her live in the first place!
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