The game on the chessboard and the spectators' cheerful conversation seemed to have been paused.
Everyone could tell that Chen Lin was not joking.
The smile faded from Gao Yuliang's face. He glanced at Qin Churan standing nearby, then at Chen Lin's solemn expression, and a sharp gleam flashed through his cloudy old eyes.
He spoke in a low voice, uttering just one word.
"Speak."
The instant that word fell, the air inside the pavilion seemed to solidify.
Every gaze settled on Chen Lin.
The ease and smiles on the retired senior officials' faces vanished, replaced by a grim tension, as though a storm were about to break.
They knew Chen Lin's temperament well.
This young man seemed easygoing, but beneath that exterior lay considerable depth.
Unless something truly momentous had happened, he would never have used that tone, in that setting, to disturb them all.
Chen Lin did not speak immediately. He turned his head, his calm gaze falling on Qin Churan, who stood tensely beside him.
"Captain Qin, brief our retired leaders on the case first."
Qin Churan froze for a moment, then understood.
Chen Lin was laying the groundwork for her, opening the way for the "bombshell" to come in the most official, rigorous manner possible.
She took a deep breath, forced down her nervousness at facing these legendary figures, and stepped forward. Standing ramrod straight, she began her report in the crisp, clear tone of a criminal police officer.
"Sir, this began with a body-disposal case my team uncovered a month ago..."
She gave a concise but complete account, from discovering the dumped body to leading her team to arrest the organ trafficking suspects, only to walk into an ambush involving high explosives and suffer serious injuries herself. She then described how two key leads in