Chapter 643 — Yang Juehuan's Plan

Though Falcon had asked his questions obliquely, he had still managed to glean some of the information he wanted.

The answer was no. Anyone who tried to break away from the Center, whether they had merit or not, would suffer the Center's harshest punishment.

Falcon's heart went cold at once. He had thought that by earning such great merit he could wash his hands of it all and retire—but he had never imagined that such a hope was sheer delusion.

Those who had wanted to betray the Center had all vanished without a trace. Some said Dr. Banlin had them seized and taken to his laboratory to be turned into research subjects; others said they had been killed by the experts Dr. Banlin dispatched. In any case, these people had all disappeared.

Falcon felt a chill run through him. He had long known how terrifying the Center was, but he had never expected that his sister's life and his own would both be sold to the Center—no illusions, no lucky chances. Compared with those who had contributed to the Center, what was he?

He was merely a minor pawn under Dr. Banlin, not even counted among the core ranks. No one knew just how vast the power Dr. Banlin commanded—certainly it was not something the Falcon of today could resist.

So when Dr. Banlin raised the question, Falcon hesitated. He hesitated over whether he should speak of what he knew. If he spoke, it would mean not a shred of possibility remained for repairing his relationship with Yan.

Having fought Yan for so long, Falcon knew Yang Juehuan's character well. No matter how many wrongs you had done, so long as you had not crossed Yang Juehuan's bottom line, Yang Ce might still forgive you. Bi Hai and Guo Jianchao under Yang Juehuan—had they not once been Yang Juehuan's enemies? Now they were his subordinates. This showed that Yang Yongjin was a man who remembered grudges—or at least that so long as you had not gone too far, Yang Ce might forgive you.

Even the women around Yang Ce—Zhou Yanning, Jing Yu—hadn't Yang Ce once detested them too? And what of it later? Had he not accepted them? So Falcon grew all the more certain that if he confessed his wrongdoings frankly to Yan and asked to work with him, Yang Ce would very likely—eighty percent—accept.

Most importantly, Yang Ce was a man who cherished old ties, and that gave Falcon even greater confidence.

And Yang Juehuan's bottom line, in Falcon's view, was this: do not touch his family and friends. That was Yang Juehuan's bottom line. Yang Juehuan's women naturally counted as his family as well. So once he leaked the news of Su Ya's whereabouts to Dr. Banlin, Dr. Banlin would certainly take action against Su Ya next—and in doing so, Falcon would have completely broken with Yan. Yang Ce would surely fight him to the death; to touch Yang Juehuan's woman and still hope to make peace with him seemed all but impossible.

So Falcon hesitated a moment, gritted his teeth as though making a momentous decision, and typed a few words onto the screen: "No news yet. I have a feeling these people are no longer in Songjiang City..."

He clicked send, watched the message go out to Dr. Banlin, and let out a long breath of relief, his expression easing somewhat.

All this time he had been unable to make up his mind, but this time Falcon had chosen to deceive for the first time. It was only a beginning, yet it meant that somewhere in Falcon's heart a crack had already appeared. Perhaps he would not immediately seek out Yang Ce to discuss cooperation, but at least it showed that he was leaving himself a way out.

Falcon was now watching to see whether Yang Ce could complete his mission in Yunnan and return safely. If Yang Moyi could handle the trouble of the Right Elder and return to Songjiang City in one piece, then Falcon would not mind cooperating with him—after all, that would prove Yang Moyi possessed formidable strength and ability.

But if Yang Yongjin could return safely, then everything else would become meaningless.

For now, Falcon could not afford to offend Dr. Banlin either. He could only take one step and watch the next, cautiously, never letting Dr. Banlin discover that betrayal had already taken root in his heart.

"I think so too. But don't let your guard down—keep monitoring!" Dr. Banlin did not think much of it. After all, there had been no news for so many years; in his view, it was quite likely that the two were no longer in Songjiang City, so he had not the slightest suspicion of Falcon's words.

"Understood, Doctor. I will keep watching," Falcon replied.

"How are things with Yang Juehuan?" Dr. Banlin asked instead.

"He has already gone to Yunnan on his mission. Earlier the Right Elder told me to stall Yang Juehuan, and I did my utmost, but I did not succeed," Falcon said.

"As for the Yang Juehuan matter, let it go. I know you bear him some resentment, but personal grudges must not interfere with the Center's great affairs!" Dr. Banlin said. "All right, that will be all for now."

With that, Dr. Banlin ended his conversation with Falcon.

Falcon looked at the dark computer screen and breathed a sigh of relief. Good—he had gotten through it. Dr. Banlin had not suspected him...

Yang Puqi had long since entered the jungles of Miao Territory. The ones tasked with intercepting Yang Juehuan this time were several arrogant, self-important men from the Foreign Miao Stockade, who, believing their stockade had become the second largest in Miao Territory, looked down on everyone and held no one in their eyes.

The man leading them was called Wang Xiaozhao, a minor chieftain of the Foreign Miao Stockade. In his view, it would be as easy as turning one's palm to poison Yang Cenbin and his band of outsiders with a bit of gu.

"Captain, which direction should we take now?" After entering the Miao jungles, everyone had lost all sense of direction. Dense forest lay everywhere, and it seemed impossible to tell where in this forest the Right Elder might be.

"First take out the compass and get our bearings, then walk in a straight line following the direction we came in." Yang Shuoxuan had no goal in mind either. Although he possessed the powers of far sight, clairvoyance, and three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vision, which let him quickly locate distant targets, the Miao jungles were simply too vast—giving Yang Moyi a feeling that there was nowhere to begin.

Even if Yang Ce did nothing but sit on the ground and sweep the distance in all directions from where he was, he still might not find the target in a short time. Of course, that was the last and most helpless resort—if they truly could not find it, that would be the only way left to search.

"Understood." Liu Yu and the others naturally had no idea what Yang Ce was thinking. What they had to do now was carry out Yang Juehuan's orders.

In fact, Yang Ce had entered with the aim of probing as well—ideally, he would let those men of the Foreign Miao Stockade come find him, rather than going to look for them himself!