"Hahaha! Lan Tuo Xing, you're no good either!"
As though something had come to mind, Lan Tuo Xing's expression grew even uglier.
He withdrew his hand, gave Qi Xiyuan a cold look, then turned and headed toward the center of the square.
Meanwhile,
on the fourth platform, the atmosphere around Tan Lin had grown somewhat heavy.
After repeated attempts at persuasion proved fruitless, the clerk from a corporation under the Lan Tuo Family was shoved aside by the special representative who had arrived with Lan Tuo Xing.
The representative took a document from his briefcase, held it high, and declared loudly:
"Tan Lin, take a look at this!"
At his voice, many people there turned their eyes toward him in unison. It was unmistakably an adoption approval form bearing the red official seal of the Eternal Kingdom's Parliament.
"This is an adoption approval form authorized by the Supreme Parliament!"
The Lan Tuo Family's representative continued:
"Your status as an orphan of Feng City residents was already questionable!
There is no way to trace or verify the circumstances of your birth, either. You simply do not meet the requirements of the Eternal Kingdom's laws! By the rules, you have no right whatsoever to enjoy their protection..."
His words sent an uproar through the crowd.
"What? There's a problem with his identity? Why didn't anyone expose it before? Was someone 'vouching' for him?"
"No wonder, with those obvious Outer Domain features..."
"That explains it..."
All sorts of murmurs rose one after another.
Tan Lin stood amid the crowd, watching the representative expressionlessly.
His gaze was calm, as though the man's words were beneath his notice.
His hand, however, had quietly clenched.
But just then,
suddenly,
Click... click... click...
A somewhat familiar series of crisp footsteps sounded from beyond the crowd.
Those footsteps