In the blink of an eye, it was the day of the court hearing.

Minamoto Tamako finally experienced the benefits of being Lawyer Zhou's client. She could sit at the defendant's seat and watch Lawyer Zhou withstand the prosecutor's and judge's questioning.

This guy was arguing again, claiming there was no causal relationship between holding a gun and injuring someone, and there was no evidence to prove that the gun was brought to the scene by Minamoto Tamako, as statements can't be used as direct evidence.

Under the circumstances at the time, it was reasonable for an eight-year-old child to take up arms for self-defense. Why is it possible to legally purchase firearms in the United States? The reason is mainly that disadvantaged groups can protect themselves with firearms, such as elderly people or women living alone, who should have firearms for self-defense when faced with strong assailants.

Illegal possession of firearms and legitimate self-defense are two different matters and should be handled separately.

The process was quite impassioned, rendering the judge and prosecutor speechless with rebuttals. But in the end, the judge selectively ignored the arguments and upheld the original verdict: guilty without penalty, with the family responsible for compensating the victim for medical expenses, but given the victim's imprisonment, they bore no criminal responsibility.

At first glance, this verdict seemed quite good. It didn't allow the lawyer's sophistry to succeed, taught the troublesome child a lesson, and left a criminal record that would affect her life—a form of retribution in disguise.

But on second thought, wasn't this exactly what Lawyer Zhou mentioned to Brother Sun earlier?

"When substantive justice and procedural justice conflict, procedural justice should be prioritized, but in practice, it's entirely the opposite"...

Since everyone knew what was going on, why cling to procedural issues?

Lawyer Zhou was not surprised by the outcome; his first court session was just a formality. After some time, he filed an appeal, the case was retried, and this time, he barely spoke in court before the judge reversed the verdict to not guilty with no penalty, but the parents were held primarily responsible.

Minamoto Tamako's "mother" was willing to pay this price for her daughter's future, making it a case of All's Well That Ends Well.

After Minamoto Tamako "got out," Lawyer Zhou finished his work and quietly left, concealing his achievements and reputation. Her accommodating mother always reminded her to thank Lawyer Zhou, emphasizing that without his help, her life would have been stained with an indelible blemish.

As for Minamoto Tamako herself, after experiencing this ordeal, her perception of law became more complicated.

She finally realized how difficult it was to boast, "Since the law is not perfect, we should correct it and continuously improve it."

After all, the law is just a piece of paper, a system, and whether it can be enforced depends on people.

And the human heart is often the most complex thing.

Minamoto Tamako was unable to judge whether what Lawyer Zhou did to clear her name was good or bad. She could only focus on the present, continuing to find ways to catch Fushimi Roku and resolve his inner issues.

After the case ended, the dreams continued.

Minamoto Tamako began to learn how to browse the internet, looking up special learning materials. Her mother thought her daughter was addicted to the internet but didn't dare to admonish her, fearing she might end up carrying a gun again to kill indiscriminately. She could only buy a laptop and have her daughter stay home and "study" earnestly.

The time point of the dream was 2015, but Minamoto Tamako could find information about events happening in 2022 and beyond. Furthermore, when she searched for some abstruse and obscure knowledge, the web pages would display blank.

She pondered for a long time before figuring it out:

Fushimi Roku had memories extending to 2022 or later, allowing her to search for events beyond 2015. As for the blank pages, it was simply because Fushimi Roku had not encountered such data, hence it wouldn't appear in the dream, for humans can't imagine things unseen.

The fragments of subconscious information in human beings are enormous. Even if an ordinary person merely glances at a physicist's blackboard and can't comprehend the formulas, they could still leave an impression in the subconscious. Even if consciously forgotten, these formulas might still emerge in dreams.

To some extent, every person can "remember what they have seen," as the human brain works like a high-definition photocopier.

Minamoto Tamako found information beyond her imagination, such as boxing fighting, wilderness survival, first aid, and guerrilla tactics... Among them, she also found books like the Barefoot Doctor's Manual, the Militia Military Training Handbook, and informative publications like "Friend of Military-Civilian Talents."

These skills were deemed unimportant by Fushimi Roku and thrown into the corners of the memory palace; now, Minamoto Tamako had reopened them.

Minamoto Tamako studied and practiced simultaneously. To deepen her memory and embed these skills into her instincts, she even really played truant and went into the deep mountains to try wilderness survival for a week.

Her mother thought her daughter went a little mad but couldn't understand what was wrong, so she could only worry day and night.

Day by day passed. Minamoto Tamako opened her eyes at the start of the day and closed them at the end. She felt time pass both by quickly and slowly, and in a blink, more than a month had passed, equivalent to eight hours in the real world.

Fushimi Roku hadn't woken up, and Miyazaki Shizuka hadn't acted, leaving unknowns between the first layer of the dream and reality.

Minamoto Tamako couldn't afford to think deeply. She realized there was no point in worrying foolishly within the second layer of the dream, so she focused on what she could presently do.

After a month of intense, rigorous training, her confidence greatly increased, making her feel sure enough to catch Fushimi Roku, ready to make her mark.

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