Chapter 93: Chapter 93: The Arrest of Liu Qiang
In addition to the litigation costs, there were also fees for hiring a lawyer. Lawyer fees could vary greatly. Typically, attorney fees for a civil lawsuit ranged from four thousand to thirty thousand. Although it wasn’t mandatory to have an attorney to file a lawsuit, having a professional lawyer could significantly increase the probability of winning. Otherwise, a layman going to court could be easily misled by the opposing counsel and lose.
As for this lawsuit, although fifty-five people were being sued, the trial would be conducted for all of them together.
In total, the cost of filing his lawsuit was about eight hundred thousand. If Wang Dachui pushed a little harder, aiming for more compensation for mental distress, damage to reputation, loss of earnings, and nutritional support, then after winning, the losing party would bear the main litigation costs. He wouldn’t actually lose money; he might even make a small profit.
Besides, never mind that he had money. Even if he didn’t, he would borrow money to sue these online trolls! These people indulged their glib tongues, making reckless comments online and randomly accusing others... They should pay the price for their actions! Over the years, the number of people driven to self-isolation or even suicide by online abuse was certainly not small. To cleanse the online environment, it needed to start with incarceration!
"COUGH COUGH. Since you’ve already calculated the costs, I won’t say much more." On the other end of the phone, Shen Dao, seeing Qin Mu’s resolve, nodded. He said no more. To sue or not to sue, that was Qin Mu’s right and freedom. But just thinking about the staggering litigation cost of eight hundred thousand... His heart ached a bit.
「The next day.」
On Monday, the court officially opened. Early in the morning, Qin Mu didn’t even visit the nursing home. He went directly to the court with the complaints and supporting materials and handed them to the relevant staff.
"How... you’re here again?" Zhou Lin, the staff member responsible for receiving the lawsuits, looked surprised. If she remembered correctly, Qin Mu had already visited four or five times this month. Initially, he had come with a lawyer and was unfamiliar with the various departments of the court. But now, Qin Mu was thoroughly familiar with the court’s organization and occasionally even helped other plaintiffs with directions.
"This time, I was insulted again." Qin Mu sighed and said somewhat innocently, "I couldn’t swallow this grievance, so I thought I’d send them a ’package.’" After saying this, he took out a thick stack of lawsuits, which also included many comment screenshots, documents, and so on. Zhou Lin looked at the ten-centimeter-high stack of lawsuits and swallowed.
She couldn’t help but ask, "How many people are you suing this time?"
Qin Mu answered truthfully, "Not many, just sixty."
He had patiently waited at home all day yesterday, but only five new "warriors" had emerged, yielding meager results. Altogether, only sixty people met the criteria for filing a case.
"Sixty?!" Zhou Lin’s eyes widened in disbelief. "You must have broken some divine law, right? How could so many people insult you?" She had been working here for three years and had handled hundreds of cases, big and small. But this was the first time... she had seen someone suing sixty people at once! Although these were just lawsuits for defamation and insult, it still counted as a major case.
Then, she carefully reviewed all the lawsuits and found they were all written according to the proper procedures, with no errors. She looked up at Qin Mu again. "The lawsuit documents are fine, but let me remind you: if the case filing is approved, you’ll have to advance the litigation fees for sixty cases, estimated at eight hundred and seventy thousand."
According to the court’s litigation process, an advance payment was generally made at the time of filing the case. After the trial concluded, the difference was settled. And eight hundred seventy thousand... To an ordinary person, it was undoubtedly a huge sum.
Qin Mu nodded. Having been to the court so many times, he was very clear about these processes. After submitting the complaints, he took a taxi back to the nursing home and started his routine workday. Meanwhile, he awaited the results from both the court and the police station. The police station needed to apprehend the eight individuals suspected of incitement before the court could schedule a hearing. As for the defamation charges he filed, they needed to be reviewed and accepted by the case-filing division. Only once the cases were formally accepted would the court issue subpoenas to these sixty individuals.
「Yangcheng.」
A certain university, male dormitory building. Room 520.
"Damn! What’s with this delivery guy? He’s taking forever!" Liu Qiang was sitting in front of his laptop. Staring at the dark game screen, he couldn’t help but complain.
Just two days ago, he had watched a video on some website about a delivery driver receiving a bad review for a late delivery. The delivery driver, overwhelmed by the pressures of life, had suddenly broken down. After watching the video, his adrenaline surged, and he couldn’t sit still. Feeling a surge of righteous indignation, he had criticized the customer who left the bad review. He also kindly advised the delivery driver to spit in the customer’s food. However, at this moment, he had completely forgotten his previous sympathy for the delivery driver.
"These delivery drivers always cut it close; they never deliver before the last possible moment! Don’t push me into giving you a bad review!" He looked at the delivery tracking map on the app, cursing and mumbling. Finally, within the last couple of minutes of the delivery window, the food was "punctually" handed to him.
Upon opening the delivery, he first inspected it to ensure there were no "foreign objects" like saliva. Only then did he begin to eat with peace of mind. He had only eaten halfway when he saw several police officers walk into the dorm room.
"Hello, are you Liu Qiang?" An officer first showed his badge and then began to question him.
Liu Qiang was stunned for a moment and nodded.
But the officers’ next words scared him so badly his face turned deathly pale. "Upon investigation, you are suspected of poisoning. Please come with us." One of the officers even produced a pair of silver handcuffs.
"This... Th-there must be some mistake, right? How could I have poisoned someone? I’ve been in my dorm room the whole time; I haven’t gone anywhere! My roommates can vouch for me!" Liu Qiang hastily stepped back, trying to put some distance between himself and the officers, all while vehemently defending himself. Though completely bewildered, he insisted on his innocence.
Inside the dorm room, his other roommates immediately nodded. "Yes, we can testify!"
"Officers, you must have the wrong person! He’s been in the dorm playing games all these days. He hasn’t even gone downstairs; I’m the one who’s been getting his food deliveries. We’ve been together all day, and no one’s been poisoned..."
However, one of the officers took out his smartphone, played a video, and showed it to Liu Qiang. He spoke solemnly, "The account in this video’s comment section, nicknamed ’Brother Qiang’—that’s yours, isn’t it?"
Liu Qiang, stunned, nodded blankly, his face a mask of confusion. He couldn’t understand how a poisoning charge could suddenly be connected to an account issue. Moreover, his account was clean; he had always stood against gambling and drugs and had never done anything illegal.