Chapter 4402 — A Delicate Balance

"Correct. For now, the situation between us and those people is still held in a delicate balance. We stand off against one another, and neither side dares make a reckless move to swallow the other—not because we cannot, but because we do not wish to," Miss Luan analyzed. Because the mysterious man had been carrying out missions over on the Cloud-Tier Island side all this time and had never once gone out, she understood these matters in far greater detail than he did.

The mysterious man could not help but fall silent. Though he harbored a wary dread of Wei Zhao, who was rising so swiftly, measured against the whole organization's interests, this was no more than a trifling matter; the standoff between the two sides was the great matter that had to be weighed first and foremost.

"The present situation is this: no matter which side it is, if they try to swallow their opponent, the only possible end result is mutual destruction. So however saber-rattling and bow-drawing it may look, both sides are in fact keeping to a tacit understanding—no one is a fool, and without sufficient fuse, no one wants to go and blow themselves up alongside the other for no reason." Miss Luan paused deliberately, then said with a solemn face, by way of warning: "But if you make a move against Wei Zhao, I fear you will light that fuse—and then you truly will set off a war the likes of which the world has not seen!"

"So then—not only can we not deal with Wei Zhao right now, but at the critical moment we may even have to keep him from dying?" The mysterious man could not help but feel a headache coming on. Pressing one hand to his temple, he said, "Those repeated orders for me to step in and shield him—was that in fact the reason all along?"

"Correct. This matter is for your ears and mine only; it is highly classified, and under no circumstances may a third person beyond the two of us learn of it. You know what Dr. Li's methods are like!" Miss Luan reminded him coldly. "As for how we are to treat this Wei Zhao in the days to come, and what exactly we are to keep him for, I have not yet received word from Dr. Li. For now, we watch and wait."

"Understood!" Though doubt still lingered in the mysterious man's heart—some vague sense that this hidden peril would bring disaster—the higher-ups had given their orders, and there was no way he could risk defying them for the sake of so unconfirmable a misgiving. For all that he commanded wind and rain on Cloud-Tier Island, a single sentence from Dr. Li could leave him dying a miserable death!

He had already taken Wei Zhao very seriously indeed—yet even so, he had never once imagined that Wei Zhao's identity could be so critical and sensitive, that one tug would move the whole web. Wei Zhao was, astonishingly, a figure standing between the two great powers, right at the crest of the wave.

"In any case, as things stand now, with the little strength Wei Zhao has, he alone is still far from being able to threaten us. For the time being we need not trouble ourselves with him; our pressing task now is to put our grand plan of development first—that is the true foundation that will decide the situation in the days to come. You must distinguish the primary from the secondary. On no account are you to be distracted over the likes of a mere Wei Zhao," Miss Luan declared with finality.

"Your subordinate understands." The mysterious man nodded and answered.

When all was said and done, Wei Zhao was only a possible hidden peril—and in these times geniuses were a dime a dozen; more than nine in ten of them blazed brilliantly at the outset, yet once they reached the higher levels they lacked staying power, and in the end faded into the common crowd. Wei Zhao might well be unable to escape that same fate.

What was more, even if Wei Zhao truly did grow to his full strength, the threat that one man could create would ultimately be very limited.

Conversely, if this present human experiment—so utterly critical—could be made a success, then the organization would from that point stand in an unassailable position; it could shatter the balance in a single stroke. By then Wei Zhao would have no time and no chance to grow at all—the great war would be over before it began, and the matter long since settled.

"Bring Wang Dayuan and Ma Tian in. This time there has been a mishap, but the human experiment must still go on," Miss Luan instructed.

The mysterious man nodded, and at once called in Wang Dayuan and Ma Tianlang, who had been waiting outside.

"Miss Luan," Wang Dayuan and Ma Tianlang called out respectfully. The two were still trembling with fear, treading as though on thin ice.

Though Ma Tianlang had, in a flash of desperate wit, dragged Sun Hengbiao out, and it had seemed to quell this superior's anger, still—to serve a ruler was to serve a tiger. Who knew what Miss Luan was really thinking? If she had truly set her heart on making an example of them, the two of them would hardly escape death.

"You two—how big a mess this time is, I need not say again, do I?" Miss Luan said, her face expressionless. "Because we failed to obtain the infant ginseng, our experiment has been hard going from the start. Now we are at the critical stage, and suddenly so many test subjects have run off—the whole progress of the experiment will be greatly delayed along with them!"

"Miss Luan, we know our fault! We will go catch them and bring them back right now—we guarantee the experiment's progress will not be delayed!" Wang Dayuan and Ma Tianlang flung themselves to their knees in a flurry, beating their chests in pledge. If they did not hurry and do something to atone for their crimes, and Miss Luan should settle accounts after the autumn harvest, their fates would be very uncertain indeed.

This time they truly had been pushed to desperation. Just now, outside, Wang Dayuan and Ma Tianlang had privately discussed it between themselves: they were prepared to go out and seize people with their own hands. With their strength as Xuan Sheng stage experts, snatching a few Golden Core stage experts would be child's play—so long as there was a suitable target, catching a few dozen at a go would be no trouble at all.

They would never have dared do such a thing before, lest they rouse suspicion; ordinarily they had to find some pretext that would not draw too much notice—like those people who had been locked up in the dungeon before.

But now, driven to desperation, there was no help for it. The human experiment was sorely short of subjects, and if they delayed too long, there was no guaranteeing Miss Luan would not fly into a rage. Of two evils, choose the lesser—so they could only take a bit of a risk.

"Hold on. Are you two idiots or brain-damaged?" Miss Luan frowned.

"Huh?" Wang Dayuan and Ma Tianlang froze at once, staring at each other.

"Hmph. All told, over a hundred Golden Core stage experts have already been seized here in the Demon Cold Sea. The waters of the Southern Continent are notorious for their chaos—even if a few were killed in broad daylight, no one would lift a finger. But over time, have you never considered that it might rouse the suspicion of the other great powers? Going out now to seize people in great numbers—do you still think the mess you have made is not big enough?" Miss Luan looked at the two of them with the expression of one regarding utter fools.

"Well..." Wang Dayuan and Ma Tianlang's mouths twitched. Their minds had been fixed solely on how to atone for their crimes—so long as they could slip past this hurdle with Miss Luan, who the hell cared whether those powers got suspicious or not!

In their eyes, all these so-called great powers could only throw their weight around locally. Before the center, where experts gathered like clouds, what were they but nothing! (To be continued...)