Chapter 4402 — A Delicate Balance
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"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.