What's wrong with this lawyer?!

"What do you say is the purpose of playing games if not for fun? You've already had your rush after making those purchases, so why should the game company have to reimburse you now?"

"I don't understand the purpose of Lawyer Tang's lawsuit, to be honest. It feels a bit like grandstanding..."

There were many similar comments, and some came from those professing to be professional lawyers.

"Lawyer Da Li": It makes sense to refund the part of a top-up that wasn't spent, but I don't think it's reasonable to return the rest. The plaintiff received services provided by the game company and enjoyed the fun of the game; the contractual purpose had been fulfilled.

Of course, these comments were all posted online by Mei Tian Company's PR department, like those professional opinions, which were taken from the legal department's written defense.

They rebutted from the perspective of both average people and professionals: you spend money to have a good time, and now that you've had your fun, you want a refund. How is that fair?

And you know what, these arguments did indeed muddy the waters, at least making many people who are not into gaming think there was some sense to them.

Ju Haiqing once again became a keyboard warrior, constantly talking about how the game company had been shearing their customers right up until the shutdown, yet the uproar just wasn't building.

Finally, unable to hold back any longer, Du Junfeng directly paid for exposure, and under these circumstances, public opinion finally exploded.

The PR department at Mei Tian couldn't stem the tide because their greed had been a little too off-putting.

"Okay, let's not talk about anything else. Just look at my screenshot. Didn't you game operators know you were going to issue a server shutdown notice next month? Yet look, just ten days before the announcement, you were still launching new servers!" Explore more at My Virtual Library Empire

"There were rumors about the shutdown, but what did they do? They came out and denied it, saying there wouldn't be a shutdown, and then they turned around and issued the shutdown notice."

"Those who say refunds shouldn't be issued, come out and speak up. Shouldn't such a deceptive company be sued?"

Public opinion was completely detonated. Maybe people weren't that interested in whether the characters and items in the game constituted property, but this kind of blatant greed disgusted every gamer.

Those who don't play games might not understand, it's akin to a web novel author who pledges not to leave a story unfinished to elicit large tips and subscriptions from readers, while planning to stop updating once the stored chapters are published...

In such a case, any reasonable person who sees this will want to curse.

With the continuous efforts of the gaming community, the issue finally hit the trending searches.

By nighttime, the lights were still on in Mei Tian Group's PR department; the company boss was in a meeting. They might overlook individual lawsuits, but they had to pay attention to such a hotspot in public opinion.

After all, the gaming market is very competitive, and the fact that this topic climbed so quickly could indicate a rival might be kicking them while they're down...

Don't think big companies wouldn't engage in such things. How could that be possible? It's a struggle, a fight using any means necessary, as long as it's within the bounds of the law.

Zhou Xianying was also listening. Their lawsuit, compared to such an issue, had to stay on the sidelines.

As it happens, those who can lead a company to this stage all have their tricks up their sleeves, and the company soon made a decision.

On the evening of March 25th at nine o'clock, the "Flying" game's official team, which had gone silent for a while, suddenly reappeared and released a new compensation statement.

The main content of the compensation statement was that due to operational errors causing trouble for the massive player base surrounding the server shutdown, they sincerely apologized. To safeguard the players' legal rights, they would refund all top-ups from January 1st to before the shutdown and cover the related channel costs.

The statement was released at night, but it still set the internet ablaze.

"666, did this company have a change of heart? They're actually willing to refund money?"

"Then in this case, doesn't that make the lawsuit unnecessary?"

Among the netizens, various paid posters started to exert their influence, and soon, public opinion began to gradually turn. At least in many people's eyes, a company willing to refund money was a good company.

It's like most people nowadays don't ask for much at their job: just pay the social security contributions, don't dock the salary, and even voluntary overtime is tolerable. Just don't be too overbearing.

Yet, many companies can't even meet these modest demands, preferring to build a moat with various forms of outsourcing and labor dispatch rather than pay salaries normally...

Inside Mei Tian Company, Zhou Xianying had already revised the defense statement. Originally, she was prepared to approach this issue during the trial with the argument of "irrelevance to the case,"

But now things were different. Although in reality, what needed to be refunded is only the top-ups from those five days, it was enough to turn the tide of public opinion and allow Zhou Xianying to perform better in court.

If she harbored any concerns before, now she was brimming with confidence. Tang Fangjing was, after all, just one person.

Amid the various online quarrels, in a hotel room, Old Tang was enjoying a massage from Wang Qingqing.

The argumentation had nothing to do with him; he just wanted people to watch the live stream. As for the rest, he was clueless.

Finally, the time came for the next day.

An online court hearing is really just everyone talking into cameras, and compared to in-person hearings, it lacked that certain flavor – the inability to confront each other face-to-face was a bit of a letdown.