"And what else could have happened?" Wei Zhao shot him a glance. In his heart he knew that although his sudden arrival had exposed Dafeng-ge, it had at the same time rid him of an enormous hidden danger. The trip had not been in vain. Had he not come, and had Dafeng-ge later contacted Wu Chengtian and the others only to be discovered by that thing while Wei Zhao was absent, that would have been truly fatal.

"Terrifying. The Center's headquarters actually sent such a skilled hand just to investigate a nobody like me—I'm flattered, truly." Dafeng-ge was trembling all over with the aftershock, and he hurriedly lit a cigarette to steady his nerves.

"You'd better think hard again, and see whether there are any other suspicious characters under your command. If there are, get rid of them at once, or your life won't be safe in days to come," Wei Zhao warned.

Dafeng-ge knitted his brows and thought carefully for a long while, then shook his head. "There are none. In the past two years the only newcomer has been Mute; the rest are just insignificant outsiders. Leader, why don't you take another look for me?"

He had been quite confident before, but after the day's affair he no longer felt secure. What if among the underlings of the cruise-ship branch there was another two-faced rat hidden away?

"I looked over the men on this cruise ship when I came aboard. They're all ordinary people. Even if a few aren't, their strength is low, so they shouldn't be the Center's headquarters' people. It's not hard to understand, really. Sending one early-Foundation-stage expert to investigate you was already more than enough for the Center's headquarters this time; sending anyone else would be gilding the lily. Your real trouble right now actually lies with this Mute," Wei Zhao said, frowning slightly.

"Leader, you mean that even after he's dead, the Center's headquarters will still suspect me?" Dafeng-ge was startled again.

"Exactly. We don't know how he communicated with the Center's headquarters, nor what he reported before. With him dead, the Center's headquarters will certainly make some move. But the one silver lining in this misfortune is that he was an early-Foundation-stage expert." Wei Zhao suddenly smiled.

"What do you mean?" Dafeng-ge did not follow.

"With his early-Foundation-stage strength, there's no way you could have killed him, so the Center certainly won't pin the suspicion on you. As it happens, the Primordial Alliance has now come out into the secular world for training. Only someone from the Primordial Alliance would have the strength to kill him, so the Center's attention will surely fall on the Primordial Alliance," Wei Zhao analyzed.

"So that's it. That's just fine, then. I really ought to thank this so-called Primordial Alliance for taking the blame for me." Dafeng-ge let out a breath of relief at once.

"Still, don't get careless. The Center's headquarters may well send more people. From now on, keep as low a profile as you can, and don't contact Wu Chengtian and the others unless there's good reason. Let everything wait until the storm passes," Wei Zhao instructed.

"Rest easy, Leader. Our Red Conch's domestic branch is a major power in its own right. If the Center's headquarters really moved against me in the present situation, it would amount to uprooting the entire branch. Unless they find solid evidence, they shouldn't do anything to me." Dafeng-ge had finally regained his composure and patted his chest confidently.

"Mm. As I said, caution never goes amiss. Remember that well." Wei Zhao repeated his warning. However one looked at it, Dafeng-ge was now one of his own. He did not want anything to happen to him.

Dafeng-ge nodded again and again in assent, but inwardly Wei Zhao was growing suspicious. Since when had the Center produced early-Foundation-stage experts? If this were someone from the Primordial Alliance, that would be no surprise at all—but this was an undercover agent sent out half a year ago. Given the spiritual-energy conditions of the secular world, how could an early-Foundation-stage expert possibly arise?

"Leader Wei Zhao, do you think I should use this opportunity to test the Center's headquarters' reaction?" Dafeng-ge said suddenly, a thought striking him.

Wei Zhao's eyes lit up at that. It really was an opportunity! But then he shook his head. "This Mute was an undercover agent sent by the Center's headquarters. In theory, you aren't supposed to know his identity. How would you report it to the Center's headquarters? Bringing it up out of the blue would be meaningless, and would only needlessly increase your danger. Once the Center's headquarters' suspicions of you deepen, your position will become quite bad."

Since the Center's headquarters had the ability to send an early-Foundation-stage expert to infiltrate and spy, then taking Dafeng-ge's life would be easier still—if only they made up their minds to do it.

"Yes, yes, I know it's risky, but this really is a rare opportunity. Don't you think so, Leader?" Dafeng-ge was still thrilled by his own stroke of inspiration.

"All right, it really is a rare opportunity. So how do you plan to put it? You can't very well say you happened to discover Mute's identity, and then happened to kill him, can you?" Wei Zhao looked at him.

"Of course not. Leader, didn't you just mention that Primordial Alliance? I'll just pin the whole blame on the Primordial Alliance. And counting the days, it's about time for the routine report anyway—mentioning this in passing shouldn't seem too abrupt, should it?" Dafeng-ge chuckled confidently.

"That's true enough, but if you're really going to do this, then the wording has to be carefully designed. It needn't be seamless, but at the very least no one should be able to hear a flaw in it." Wei Zhao pondered for a moment, and the corners of his mouth suddenly curved into a faint arc. "I do have a rather good idea."

Half an hour later, Dafeng-ge brought Wei Zhao to his private office. Inside there was nothing but a desk and a computer; nothing else.

Dafeng-ge gave Wei Zhao a look, then turned on the computer. On the desktop there was only one program: Request to Speak.

This was Dafeng-ge's only privilege. Each month he could request a call to report to the Center's headquarters. Of course, the decision was not his to make; whether he got the chance at all depended on the will of those above.

Ten minutes later, the computer screen suddenly changed, turning into a pitch-black silhouette, and a somewhat hoarse, middle-aged male voice came from within: "There are still two days until the routine report. Why have you requested to speak early this time?" (To be continued~^~)