Chapter 5169 — A Letter from Cloud Terrace Island
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
Now that his aims and direction were clear, the immediate problem was that Wei Zhao had no choice but to halt his original plan. The Center was guarding itself too carefully; there was no way to keep turning its people, and he could only wait and watch how matters unfolded.
What Wei Zhao did not expect was that at the very moment he suspended his subversion campaign, Dr. Glasses's own campaign at the Center ground to a halt as well, as if by tacit agreement. For quite some time he had failed to win over a single new disciple of the Primordial Alliance.
On one hand, this was chiefly because the Primordial Alliance disciples they truly knew and had real ties with were few and far between. Even Xue Jianming, who appeared to have connections everywhere, had dawdled so long over the business and developed only one man, Qin Yuanming—and even he had been secretly turned back by Wei Zhao. Of the rest, there was even less to be said.
No one dared breathe a word of such a thing to anyone they did not truly know and trust; if word leaked out, everything would be ruined. Besides, Bing Wushuang and the others had already been quietly won over by Wei Zhao, so it stood to reason that they would go through the motions without putting their hearts into it.
On the other hand, even Dr. Glasses himself was having doubts. Though he had planted listening devices and found no sign that Bing Wushuang and the others were secretly betraying him, the fact that the several of them had gone to the Cangwu Sect on North Island one after another had still sounded a warning bell in his heart. This business of secret subversion had to be like boiling a frog in warm water—one could not take too big a step, or one was liable to trip oneself up.
Yet dragging on in stalemate forever was no solution either. Caution was all well and good, but if he made no progress at all, he would have no answer to give when Lan Xiaoru came asking. The Primordial Plan was the ladder to advancement he had been plotting toward for so long; he absolutely could not abandon it halfway.
Just as Dr. Glasses was at his wit's end, a special envoy from the Center's headquarters in the mundane world arrived without warning, giving him quite a start. In the past it had always been he who regularly reported to Lan Xiaoru on his own initiative; never had anything like this happened. The Center's headquarters had actually sent a special envoy—surely Lan Xiaoru had not sent someone to punish him?
"Might I ask what urgent business brings the envoy here this time?" Dr. Glasses asked cautiously.
The envoy did not answer directly. Instead he cast a somewhat wary glance at Brother Dafeng beside them. The meaning was plain enough.
"Oh, right—Dafeng, why don't you go make a round of the perimeter and see if anything looks out of the ordinary," Dr. Glasses said, catching on at once and sending Brother Dafeng away.
"Yes, sir." Much as Brother Dafeng would have liked to stay and hear what was going on, doing so would have given himself away too obviously. He could only nod and agree, telling himself that if there was some secret operation afoot, he would surely be able to pick up a few clues in future even if he was not directly involved.
Only after Brother Dafeng had gone did the envoy draw two letters from his breast and hand them to Dr. Glasses. "This is a secret letter from Dr. Lan. She commends and affirms the results you have achieved of late, and hopes you will redouble your efforts, carry the Primordial Plan to an even higher level, and lay the best possible groundwork and preparation for what is to come."
"Good, good. Please convey my thanks to Dr. Lan for her praise, and thank you for your trouble, envoy." Dr. Glasses breathed a sigh of relief—but once the letters were in his hand, he blinked in surprise. "Why are there two?"