Too Bad I Take Things Seriously

"When an avalanche occurs, no snowflake remains intact."

"As everyone knows, a day apart feels like... well, a day. It takes ten years to sharpen a sword, and five years to sharpen half a sword."

"Who would have thought that an 18-year-old girl in the prime of her youth like me was actually only 14 four years ago!"

"..."

These comments were the epitome of nonsense, hardly different from saying nothing at all. Not a single one discussed anything relevant to the case.

After ten minutes, Qin Mu suddenly realized he had wasted another 600 seconds on these useless comments. He gave a helpless smile and clicked on an uploader named "Ma Xiaotiao."

In one of this uploader's videos, he found his own comment section.

Sure enough, the comment section there had already exploded.

"The uploader's next video is out! The verdict is in, it's really in! This result is so satisfying!"

"I knew it! The uploader would never let us down. 'Good deeds go unpunished' is what the people want!"

"Exactly! Why should those who act courageously for a just cause have to pay for others' problems?"

"Has everyone noticed? This case was rather dull. Previously, the uploader used to get at least two or three people sent to jail in the videos..."

"Of course! With so many platforms online, last time our platform got sixty people sent to jail!"

"..."

Little Station's users let their imaginations run wild, even setting up a poll to guess how many people he would get sent to jail this time. The options, from low to high, were 10, 50, 100, 200, and 300 people. Most people chose the 200-person range.

Looking at these comments, Qin Mu found it both amusing and exasperating.

These users... They know me too well. I had hidden it so carefully, not revealing a thing about the lawsuit, yet they still guessed it. And so many had chosen the two-hundred range. They must really believe in me.

「Meanwhile.」

In Jin City, within a certain residential complex, Xia Qingqing helped Yuan Cui Lian, who had nearly fainted from anger, back to their residence.

The verdict... It was a tremendous blow to them. They couldn't accept a mere compensation of 8,000 yuan; it was no different from giving charity to a beggar!

"Mom, don't worry," Xia Qingqing said reassuringly. "I'll make a video detailing the verdict right now. There are so many people online supporting us; they will definitely speak up for us!"

"After making the video, we will appeal!"

"We can use all sorts of methods to protect our rights. We must let more people know the truth!"

Yuan Cui Lian nodded, taking a long time to recover. "Now that your brother is gone, thank goodness I still have you," she sighed, taking a sip of water. "Otherwise... I really wouldn't know what to do."

She was divorced and had raised her two children on her own, teaching them by word and example in their daily lives. Fortunately, both children were grown now, and Xia Qingqing had even gotten into university, becoming her mother's pride.

"Mom, you rest for a bit. I'll prepare the script, and later you just need to read from it," Xia Qingqing reassured her again, then got back to work.

「An hour later.」

After memorizing the script Xia Qingqing had given her, Yuan Cui Lian started recording the video. First, she briefly recounted the verdict. As she spoke, sorrow welled up from her heart, and she suddenly felt incredibly wronged.

"A human life, valued at only 8,000 yuan!"

"We argued our case based on reason and evidence, only to have our lawsuit dismissed!"

"I just want to ask those who killed my son, doesn't your conscience ache?!"

"Don't think that just because you won the case, you've truly won! We will continue to appeal until the law gives us justice!"

"The four who killed my son are Qin Mu, Liang Chengbin, Bai Xuelan, and Hua Li. Their professions are..."

In the video, following Xia Qingqing's script, Yuan Cui Lian not only played the victim but also publicly disclosed the personal information, including occupations, of Qin Mu, Liang Chengbin, Bai Xuelan, and Hua Li.

In Xia Qingqing's words... only this way would Qin Mu and the others be scared!

After the video was recorded, Xia Qingqing hurriedly finished producing it and released it online. The title she chose was equally straightforward and blunt:

"A Human Life, Worth Only 8,000—A Cold Verdict Utterly Lacking in Warmth!"

I won't post this on Little Station... she decided. When distributing the video across various platforms, she deliberately skipped Little Station.

The users of this platform... I just can't handle them. When they saw what my family had gone through, those users were incredibly indifferent, a stark contrast to the users on other platforms! By comparison, I much prefer the users of other platforms. They show empathy. They put themselves in others' shoes. They've been constantly helping us speak out online.

"I hope more people see this and help get justice for my brother," she murmured.

After posting the video, Xia Qingqing began searching online for other methods of rights protection, preparing to use every available resource.

「The next day.」

In the nursing home, after taking several days off, Qin Mu returned to his post. He cleared all the work that had piled up over the past few days, and life seemed to have returned to tranquility.

But in the afternoon, Qing Lan sent him another message: "Uploader, you're being cyberbullied again! One of your followers told me. Your information is being spread all over other platforms; it's a mess."

Following the message were a series of video links from other platforms.

Qin Mu frowned, a bad feeling washing over him.

I just wanted to rest peacefully for a few days, but I didn't expect... not a moment's peace.

He opened the links, watched the video, and couldn't help but show a bizarre expression.

Does the other party... really want to get locked up?

Without a doubt, this video had been released by Yuan Cui Lian and Xia Qingqing. If they had merely announced the verdict and played the victim, lamenting their suffering, there wouldn't have been any problem. Every citizen has the right to share information online and can express themselves freely.

But the problem was... the video revealed not only his and Liang Chengbin's personal identities and occupations but also those of Bai Xuelan and Hua Li. They stopped just short of publishing their home addresses!

Below these videos, a massive new influx of trolls emerged. All sorts of comments seeking attention appeared one after another.

After activating the "Void Seeker" skill, he noticed that the IP addresses of many of these trolls were repeats from before. There were also quite a few "old acquaintances" who had been active previously. Some had flamed him so "exceptionally" that he remembered them with particular clarity.

Please, don't any more of you pop up, I'm really out of money, Qin Mu sighed lightly, looking at the ever-emerging comments.

My main worry now is that too many new, prominent flamers will appear. I won't be able to sue them all.

Generally speaking, criminal lawsuits do not incur litigation fees. However, his cases were exceptional as they included civil lawsuits demanding corresponding compensation. Moreover, the number of defendants for defamation was too large, spread all across the country. According to the relevant litigation laws, it was still necessary to pay some of the fees. These included, for example, fees for assistance from various platforms in obtaining authenticated evidence, remote appearance fees for witnesses, or costs for serving summonses, and so on. Otherwise, for the court to handle a lawsuit against 3,000 people and bear all the costs itself would be too overwhelming.

By now, he had already fleeced the lottery three times; he really didn't dare to try again. If second-place prizes for various lottery games started frequently concentrating in Jin City, the lottery authorities would definitely be up in arms.

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PS: Pop quiz, classmates, do you know what crimes Xia Qingqing might be implicating herself in?