Finishing the book means death; I abandoned the whole world.

"A brilliant debate, but with a fatal flaw."

He walked to the jury box, his gaze sweeping over each person: "Liu Tianyong said Lin Ruyan forced the survivors to commit suicide, but did those survivors really die?"

He snapped his fingers, and an image appeared in the air: the survivors in the bank lobby, still huddled in a corner, trembling, but they were indeed still alive.

"See? Although Lin Ruyan was in danger, she did not actually die, but Liu Tianyong directly caused the end of Lin Ruyan's story."

The prosecutor turned to Liu Tianyong with a cold smile: "You used the pretext of potential harm to commit actual harm, which is untenable in any narrative logic."

"Excuse me, may I speak?" the middle-aged woman holding the plush toy asked unexpectedly.

Reviewer: [Jury member Hu Qiaozhen is permitted to speak]

Aunt Hu stood up and placed the rag doll on the seat. "I write farming novels. Older people like these kinds of things. Maybe some of you have read my books, maybe you haven't, but it doesn't matter."

She looked at Liu Tianyong with a hint of understanding in her eyes, "Little Liu, I understand what you're saying. We small writers are really annoyed by those high-and-mighty authors who always try to intimidate us with their literary value and emotional depth, but..."

He changed the subject abruptly: "You've gone a bit too far this time. Lin Ruyan is disgusting, but you could have simply sealed her away or written her as a side story. Why did you have to kill her off?"

Liu Tianyong smiled bitterly: "Sister Hu, in that situation, I didn't have enough narrative weight to seal her away. She opened her domain, and if I hadn't gone all out, it would have been me and the survivors who died."

"Oh?" Sister Hu nodded. "Then this counts as emergency avoidance?"

I think it counts.

"Then explain yourself clearly!" Aunt Hu clapped her hands. "Why didn't you mention this when you were stating your case earlier?"

Yong Ge didn't know what to say at that moment.

The prosecutor's smile deepened. "Because the reason of emergency avoidance requires proof that there were no other options at the time, and Liu Tianyong, didn't you have any other options at the time?"

He snapped his fingers again, and the scene changed: Liu Tianyong stood in the bank lobby, surrounded by golden mist, while Lin Ruyan stood on a statue of the Virgin Mary, with a boy next to her having his neck wrapped around his neck.

"You could have chosen to run away, you could have negotiated, you could have even chosen to compromise temporarily and wait for a turn of events!" The monitoring officer's voice was like a judgment. "But you chose the most direct and violent method! Killing the other party!"

"This isn't emergency avoidance! This is narrative hegemony!"

The golden words, like chains, coiled around Yong Ge.

Yong Ge felt a tightness in his chest, and the narrative weight began to drop rapidly: [Current Narrative Weight: 720→620→560]

"Wait!" Huang Chaobin suddenly stood up.

Reviewer: [Jury member Huang Chaobin is permitted to speak.]

Huang Chaobin looked at Liu Tianyong, then at the prosecutor: "I'm a food deliveryman, I don't understand these grand principles of narrative ethics. I just want to ask one question: if Liu Tianyong had run away back then, what would have happened to the survivors?"

Prosecutor: "Although Lin Ruyan's territory is dangerous, it is not necessarily fatal."

Huang Chaobin interrupted him: "Wasn't it certain death? That girl with glasses almost strangled herself to death! That middle-aged man held a piece of broken glass to his throat, wasn't that certain death?"

His voice grew louder and louder: "What we readers hate most in books are those self-righteous hypocrites who talk big without understanding the pain and make others sacrifice themselves! Now it seems that Lin Ruyan is that kind of person! She uses emotional manipulation to blackmail others and make them pay for her 'aesthetics'!"

Turning to the other jurors: "Ladies and gentlemen, imagine if your authors did the same, sacrificing supporting characters for the sake of a so-called plot climax, would you be willing to accept that?"

Li Yumeng, a girl in her pajamas, shook her head: "No, I hate those kinds of plots that are just for the sake of being cruel."

The blond-haired boy nodded, "Exactly! The last book I read, the author killed off your second male lead! Just to elevate the theme! I dropped it immediately!"

……

Huang Chaobin concluded: "Liu Tianyong may have used excessive methods, but he at least proved that in this world, hypocrisy is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. I don't think that's wrong."

That's what readers are like. Although they may sometimes scold you, urge you, or imagine some strange things, they will still stand up for you when it matters.

The prosecutor's expression changed slightly, but he quickly regained his composure: "Second statement from the prosecution."

He walked toward the jury box, his tone becoming earnest: "I understand Mr. Huang Chaobin's anger, and I understand the readers' disgust with hypocrisy, but we must consider a more serious issue: precedent!"

His voice lowered: "If today, Liu Tianyong's killing of Lin Ruyan under the pretext of 'exposing hypocrisy' is deemed 'justified,' then tomorrow, there will be even more authors killing each other under the pretext of 'disliking' something."

"His writing is terrible, damn it."

"Her storyline is so melodramatic, damn it."

"His protagonist is too overpowered, damn it."

The prosecutor looked at Liu Tianyong with piercing eyes: "Once this door is opened, 'narrative ethics' will vanish completely. Authors will be embroiled in an endless 'plot war,' and who will ultimately suffer?"

He pointed to the readers in the jury: "It is you, it is the book you love, it is the work you follow, it is the fate of the characters you have emotionally invested in."

"Today it's Lin Ruyan who dies, tomorrow it could be your favorite author!"

It must be said that the prosecutor had a strong ability to control the atmosphere, and the atmosphere in the jury became tense again.

The middle-aged woman holding the rag doll turned pale: "This...this is terrifying..."

The bespectacled old man nodded in agreement: "From the perspective of the stability of the author community, we really can't set this precedent."

Zhang Gou Dan scratched his head: "That makes sense."

Liu Tianyong felt that things were getting a bit tricky. The prosecutor was ruthless. He didn't argue with him about whether Lin Ruyan should die or not. Instead, he raised the issue to the level of the entire industry. Once readers started to worry, they would tend to choose the "safe" option.

Narrative psychological warfare? Impressive!

[Defendant's Second Statement]

Yong-ge's little brain was working at lightning speed. "Everyone, the prosecutor just appeared and said that if I am found innocent, it will lead to authors killing each other. So I have to ask, what is the premise for killing each other?"

He looked at the prosecutor: "Was it one of the authors who actively attacked other authors?"

"Of course." The prosecutor frowned.

"Then let me ask you again, did Lin Ruyan attack me first? Of course she did! But her targets were everyone! Including those innocent survivors. She used moral blackmail to force them to commit suicide. This isn't a war between authors; this is an author's massacre of readers!"

Yong Ge turned to the jury: "I killed her not because of any grudges between authors, but to protect my readers. If this is punishable, then which author will stand up for you in the future?"

The voice gradually rose: "The prosecutor says this will lead to mutual slaughter, but I say, if I am found guilty today, that would be the real disaster!"

"Because this means that moral blackmail has become a legal weapon! Hypocrisy has become a get-out-of-jail-free card! Authors like Lin Ruyan can unscrupulously use sentimentality, sacrifice, and great love to blackmail everyone! And you can only obediently accept it, because resistance is a crime!"

The red characters burned in the air, a raging fire.

"I do not accept this kind of world! In this apocalypse, we can die, we can be eaten by monsters, we can be archived in the graveyard of narratives! But we cannot be eaten by hypocrisy! We cannot be archived by moral blackmail! Morality is for restraining oneself, not for coercing others!"

"If protecting readers is a crime, then I am guilty!!"

[Defendant has finished stating their statement; narrative logic verification in progress. Passed; narrative weight +100]

In the jury, Huang Chaobin led the applause, followed by the blond-haired boy, and then the girl in pajamas, Li Yumeng…

Zhang Gou Dan waved his shorts around his neck: "This kid's got some interesting skills!"

The prosecutor looked grave; he hadn't expected Liu Tianyong to play the reader protection card so well.