[System Notice]
Defendant No. 8 has entered.
Name: Liu Jing
Age: 39
Profession: Licensed Psychological Counselor
Charges: Over a period of five years, he allegedly induced 16 clients into self-doubt, dissociative states, or suicidal ideation under the guise of "therapy."
Victim Outcomes: Five suicides, three institutionalized, eight permanently disabled or mute.
[Auditorium Noise: Intensifying]
[Prosecutor's Voiceover]: "He didn't use blades, but every word he spoke cut deeper than any weapon."
[Lights dim, spotlight on the defendant's stand.]
Liu Jing stands beneath the light, still in his off-white trench coat, a worn mechanical watch on his wrist. When he lifts his head, his gaze is calm, even warm—like someone ready to ask:
"How have you been feeling lately?"
But no one answers.
"Do you admit to your crimes?" booms the voice from the void.
Liu Jing doesn't answer immediately. He adjusts his glasses slightly and responds:
"I never led anyone to self-destruction. I only led them to the mirror, to see their true selves."
The words ripple through Shen Yan like a stone cast into deep water.
"The truth"?
[Spectator Anxiety Index +30]
[A voice cries out from the crowd]: "My sister jumped after you told her she just lacked the courage to face real pain!"
Liu Jing turns toward the outburst but does not respond. He merely sighs:
"What I said wasn't entirely wrong. But I was wrong… to say it then."
His voice is steady.
"Psychological therapy isn't about comforting. It's about walking into the darkest places with someone. But I believed—mistakenly—that everyone was ready."
He believed everyone could handle the truth.
"You claim you're not an abuser."
Shen Yan speaks for the first time, his voice low, leaning against the judge's bench.
"But you knew where you were taking them. You just didn't care whether they made it back."
"Yes." Liu Jing doesn't deny it.
"So what are you then? A healer? A mirror showing them reality?"
"No."
"Then what?"
There's a long silence before Liu Jing responds:
"I was someone trying to challenge the boundary of comforting lies. I failed."
[System Prompt]
The jury must now decide:
Should Liu Jing be held criminally liable for "subjective inducement of harm" in his clients' deterioration?
Was he a manipulative abuser who exploited mental vulnerability?
Or merely someone who lifted the lid on a pot that was already boiling over?
[Live Voting Opened]
[Shen Yan's thoughts are spiraling]
— Do humans need comfort, or awakening?
— He recalls his childhood, all the phrases: "You must be strong," "You need to accept it," "Pain makes you grow."
Were those the words that slowly broke him down, too?
[Shen Yan's Memory Fragment]
"Are you willing to face it?"
"Are you willing to reconcile with yourself?"
"You're not broken. You're just... you're just..."
—I was just a child no one cared about.
And those words only handed me the blade to cut myself.
[Memory Ends]
[Countdown Begins: 60 seconds]
Please render judgment.
Shen Yan opens his eyes and looks at Liu Jing.
"Your mistake wasn't speaking the truth. It was believing everyone could survive hearing it."
Liu Jing nods, accepting this final psychological diagnosis.
[System Notice]
Vote Complete.
Defendant No. 8: Liu Jing — Verdict: Guilty.
However, from this point forward, language used in counseling will be categorized as a system-sensitive risk factor.
[Defendant Exit Imminent]
Liu Jing glances at Shen Yan one last time.
"You… are different."
"You'll survive this place."
Shen Yan gives no answer.
But something deep inside him crumbles.