"Forget it—since you seem like a decent sort to me, I'll say one more thing. Joining the Center means starting over. Under normal circumstances, your handler will always be your handler, because whenever a mission earns any credit at all, the handler eats the meat and you get the broth. But this secret mission is a rare opportunity. If you're content to let Jing Taiyang keep squatting on your neck and shitting on you forever, then pretend I never said a word." With that, Qin Yuanming turned and walked off without a moment's hesitation.

Those words struck right at Jing Yueming's weak spot. It was true he and Jing Taiyang were cousins, and true that he was a subordinate Jing Taiyang had developed, but every time he watched Jing Taiyang strutting around in front of him, he dreamed of climbing onto the other man's head in turn—he simply had never had the strength for it. Now, however, the opportunity had come.

"All right, I'll go with you." Jing Yueming made up his mind on the spot and hurried to catch up with Qin Yuanming. But before long he froze, because the people who appeared ahead were not Dr. Glasses and Brother Dafeng, but Wei Zhao and Lin Dongfang.

"Not bad—you haven't disappointed me. Keep it up." Wei Zhao smiled.

"Yes. So who's next?" This time Qin Yuanming was quite conscientious. He wanted more than to stay alive; he wanted to gamble on a future. Besides, so long as one was shrewd about such matters, there was hardly any risk—at least it was far easier than fighting and killing. A free merit was not to be refused.

"The Five Luminaries Sect of Antiquity—Canlong," Wei Zhao said offhandedly.

"Understood." At those words Qin Yuanming set off again at once, while Jing Yueming, who had come along with him, was left staring dumbstruck. What on earth was going on here?!

"You... you're from the Center too?" Jing Yueming looked at Qin Yuanming's departing back, then at Wei Zhao and Lin Dongfang, utterly bewildered.

"It's not fear of not knowing your goods, it's fear of comparing goods with goods. I used to think Qin Yuanming was nothing much, but now I actually think you've got a good eye, kid—at least you're not like this one here, dumb as a rock." Lin Dongfang looked at Jing Yueming with amusement.

"Dumb as a rock?" Jing Yueming still had not figured out the situation. He genuinely assumed that Wei Zhao and Lin Dongfang, like himself, had secretly thrown in their lot with the Center—especially since these two were fine hands such as the secular world could scarcely produce. Only their secret allegiance to the Center could explain it, along with the Center's improved pills. There was no second possibility.

"Enough chatter." Wei Zhao could not be bothered explaining things to this fool who helped count the money after being cheated. He stepped forward and drove a blast of Five Elements killing qi straight down through the top of Jing Yueming's head. Jing Yueming was still only a late-stage Foundation Establishment hand, with not a shred of power to resist; he collapsed with a wail on the spot and soon passed out from the pain. Compared with Qin Yuanming, this one really was far inferior.

Once the toxic qi hidden in his dantian was dealt with, Lin Dongfang personally planted the gu. The whole process went smoothly, and what followed was even simpler and clearer: Jing Yueming was not only useless, he was far more craven than Qin Yuanming. Before Wei Zhao had even finished speaking, he was already scrambling to his knees.

After Qin Yuanming came Jing Yueming; after Jing Yueming came Canlong. Wei Zhao used this method to break them down one by one, secretly subduing all three in succession. The progress was so smooth it was almost unexpected.

"So what do you plan to do next—keep hunting for people, or lie low for now?" Lin Dongfang asked.

"Let's see how things stand first." Wei Zhao thought it over. From what he had learned earlier, Dr. Glasses and his people acted with great caution. Besides developing people one-on-one, they regularly had them go to one of their temporary bases for physical examinations. He did not know whether the tampering he had done on Qin Yuanming and the other two would be detected. Only once they cleared that hurdle would there be any further significance.

Sure enough, a few days later Dr. Glasses took Qin Yuanming out alone—precisely to give him a physical examination.

On the one hand, it was to collect data and transmit it back to the Center so the improved pills could be perfected—after all, these were rare human samples. On the other hand, it was to monitor everyone's physical condition, so that any sign of the toxic qi running out of control could be caught early. And if anything else that should not be there was found in their bodies, it likewise would have no hope of escaping such comprehensive, rigorous surveillance. Everything was ensured to be foolproof.

Wei Zhao's method had not only eliminated that toxic qi in their dantians, but also planted gu in their brains. Although Lin Dongfang had acted personally and with extreme secrecy, whether it could ultimately escape detection by the Center's high-tech precision instruments was a major question.

Even Wei Zhao himself had no confidence on this point and could only wait for the results.

Fortunately, the news Qin Yuanming brought back was good: from beginning to end the examination results were all normal, with nothing abnormal detected. Wei Zhao was still a little uneasy, but when Jing Yueming and Canlong subsequently reported back with the same results, he finally relaxed.

It seemed the Center's physical examination could not truly pinpoint the toxic qi in the dantian; it could only be discovered once the toxic qi showed signs of running out of control. As for the minuscule traces of the gu, even Qin Yuanming and the others could hardly detect them themselves, so it stood to reason that the Center's high-tech instruments could not detect them either—after all, this was Lin Dongfang's handiwork.

This result not only let Wei Zhao breathe a sigh of relief; Qin Yuanming and the other two were secretly shocked as well. Previously they had merely felt themselves unlucky to have been noticed by Wei Zhao, and frankly had not thought Wei Zhao all that formidable—especially compared with the mysterious, unfathomable Center, he was not on the same level at all. But after personally undergoing this physical examination, that preconceived notion was completely overturned.

The Center's toxic qi Wei Zhao could resolve with ease, whereas the gu Wei Zhao had had Lin Dongfang plant in them—the Center could not detect the slightest abnormality. The difference in skill was plain at a glance.

"Looks like things are going well. So, what's the next move?" Lin Dongfang asked with keen interest.

"Since the Center wants to stir things up in the shadows, then we'll play along with them properly. For every one they develop, we turn one. Let's see who outplays whom." Wei Zhao smiled faintly.

"Interesting. Apart from Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming, by your account the ones they truly control with toxic qi are just these three, and you've gathered them all in. At this rate you're practically half the boss of the Center." Lin Dongfang laughed heartily.

"Isn't that good? With me, the boss behind the scenes, keeping an eye on them, it saves them from wreaking havoc on others everywhere." Wei Zhao smiled, then said, "By the way, old man, the next one will need your help—I can't handle it alone."

"Oh? Don't tell me you're thinking of going after Xue Jianming?" Lin Dongfang guessed.

"That one won't do. He's harbored too deep a grudge against me from before; even with gu planted, he'd be hard to truly control, and who knows what mess he might stir up. Besides, after taking losses a few times, that one has grown very cautious in his dealings—not so easy to hook. I mean the other one," Wei Zhao said. (To be continued.)