Fushimi Roku didn't mind. He flipped through the case files and court documents, continuing to speak about the differences between civil disputes and criminal cases:

"As far as I know, civil cases should generally have a much lower standard of proof than criminal cases, but in practice it's quite the opposite. Many civil cases have a tight chain of evidence, while the standard for criminal cases is very low with an extremely low burden of proof."

"The proof standards for civil and criminal cases are supposed to be different. Criminal cases involve whether someone is convicted, whether they are sentenced, and what the sentence is. It is the exercise of state power granted by citizens and such serious decisions, yet the proof standards are extraordinarily low."

"Case handlers and the judicial system all have a strong subjective bias towards guilt. If Mr. Sun wants to plead not guilty, they will condescendingly assume you are guilty."

"For example, when the police were interrogating Mr. Sun, they once asked 'You say you're not guilty; then how do you prove your innocence?' This statement harbors a strong subjective bias towards guilt."

"In theory, whether Mr. Sun is guilty should be proved by the police, and it shouldn't be Mr. Sun proving his innocence."

Upon hearing this, Minamoto Tamako wanted to interject; she wanted to retort, 'Why not point this out in court and let the judge make a fair decision?'

Before she could voice her question, Fushimi Roku explained why:

"Take for instance the judge that Mr. Sun is about to face in court; it is very likely that they will essentially act as a second prosecutor. Given his past habits, he would probably ask, 'You say you're not guilty, so why are so many people accusing you of a crime and not anyone else?' or 'You claim to be innocent, so how do you prove that? Why are they accusing you instead of others?'..."

Minamoto Tamako understood and felt the judge was somewhat like her elementary school teacher who, when students fought, would challenge the defiant student by saying, 'It takes two to tango; why did he hit you and not someone else?'

Upon this reflection, she finally understood why Fujimura-kun always acted like a barrister, using the law as a weapon to attack others... Now that she thought about it, it might be because he'd endured too much injustice?

Listening to all this, Brother Sun felt that this case might be a tough one. He couldn't ignore the body lying by the card table and couldn't help but ask, "So what did the prosecutor say?"

Fushimi Roku adjusted his glasses: "The prosecutor has quotas. He will only make you plead guilty and accept punishment. As long as you do that, everything will be fine. If you don't, then the sentence will be heavier."

"How could it be like this?" Minamoto Tamako finally couldn't resist interjecting.

Her faith in laws was very devout, but she knew nothing about courtroom defenses, trial processes, or the prosecutor's negotiations with the parties involved...

Her only understanding came from the legal texts she studied with Taira Sakurako.

Fushimi Roku didn't mind her interruption and proactively explained: "On one hand, there's immense pressure due to the court's workload; judges handle far more cases than you'd imagine. On the other hand, our criminal laws contain numerous expressions that skew the personnel's perception towards subjective guilt."

"For example, what constitutes 'knowing', 'should know', 'aware', 'grossly negligent', 'of a huge scale', or 'seriously grave'? The criminal laws are full of ambiguous terms, allowing case handlers' inner guilt-driven thought processes to align seamlessly, completing logical coherence."

"Hence, criminal cases are influenced by the significant number of vague descriptions and strong bias from handling personnel which now hinges many cases on 'whether there was knowledge' as a basis."

"For example, in 'cover-up', 'assistance', 'contract fraud', nearly all intentional crimes rely heavily on confessions to determine whether the perpetrator had knowledge."

"As long as there's a confession, that's all that's needed."

"What if there's no confession? You've experienced this, Mr. Sun, haven't you? Coercive interrogation or inducement to confess, the police need a confession before they can consider bail."

"Even if a mistake is made in the case, it doesn't matter because there's an all-purpose fallback system called plea bargaining. If Mr. Sun agrees to plead guilty and accept punishment, then everything can be solved. The case can't be overturned; it's like nullifying the lawyer's role."

Brother Sun, upon hearing this, felt uneasy. This lawyer seems to be pushing him towards admitting guilt as if aiming to send him straight to prison.

He scratched the tattoo on his arm and couldn't help asking, "Does my intentional harm count in this? Can a confession alone settle it? Can't it be retracted later?"

Fushimi Roku shook his head and explained, "As I mentioned earlier, the criminal code has many vague catch-all charges like 'provoking disturbances', 'endangering public safety by dangerous means', 'extortion', 'negligent homicide', 'major accident liability' and so on... There's always one that will fit Mr. Sun."

"This results in an unsatisfying outcome both in substantive and procedural law."

"Academic empirical research is entirely fictitious. Whether the conclusions drawn can guide practice is a big question mark."

"So Mr. Sun, don't count on the personnel to adhere strictly to procedural justice. Issues like coercion, false records, and altering witness statements don't matter. As long as Mr. Sun pleads guilty and accepts punishment, the case is resolved."

Brother Sun understood some law; he's been in this game long enough to know where the boundaries lie, so he couldn't be oblivious to the law. Hearing this, he couldn't help but ask, "Confessions alone can't be used as the basis for a decision, right?"

If he's wrongfully convicted this way, wouldn't he be spending years in jail? By then, the world outside would have changed dramatically!

"That's not the case in practice," Fushimi Roku stated without a hint of expression.

Minamoto Tamako felt her image of the law shatter. Fushimi had never spoken to her about things like this. Her hand holding the gun felt heavy. If what the court symbolizes is no longer pure justice, then the mission on her shoulders becomes a joke.

She couldn't help but interrupt and ask:

"Then, things like the legality principle, presumption of innocence, favoring the defendant in case of doubt, innocent until proven guilty, and prioritizing procedural justice over substantive justice when there's a conflict... Are none of these important?"

Brother Sun had noticed her interjections twice and suspected this young one knew the lawyer, but he refrained from saying it outright. Besides, he was concerned with this issue too. If justice was this roughshod, what room did he have to maneuver?

Unfortunately, Fushimi Roku ruthlessly dashed their last hopes: "They're just empty words."

Brother Sun began to panic, "Then what about my case?" Before he could finish, he suddenly remembered what Lawyer Zhou said about 'excelling at mediating.' Linking this with Lawyer Zhou's acclaimed win rate, he instantly understood the implication, cautiously asking, "Does your 'mediating' mean what I think it means?"

"Yes," Fushimi Roku didn't shy away from the acknowledgment.

"I didn't expect Lawyer Zhou to be so capable. I was wrong before; I was neglectful," Brother Sun beamed. "Come, come, come, let's have a drink together? Little Liu's situation isn't a big deal. People here are tight-lipped; it won't get out..."

"No."

Fushimi Roku's tone was unruffled: "As I said before, I'm here to advise you to plead guilty and accept the punishment, honestly face the legal consequences."

"Huh?" Brother Sun was stunned, "Why?"

"If you don't sign, I can only kill you," Fushimi Roku once again drew out a fruit knife, wiping it with his glasses cloth, "Previously, I gave Mr. Cao the same choice, but unfortunately, he refused."

Hearing this, Minamoto Tamako suddenly realized.

She finally understood what Fushimi Roku was doing.

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