Chapter 689 — Shocking

"The Center?" Fang Tian blinked, taken aback. "What sort of place is that?"

"The Center is just a loose name for it—what it's actually called, I don't know either," Dong Yan said. "It's an enormous organization, and who's pulling the strings behind it, I have no idea. But my sister and I both worked under a Doctor Ban Lin..."

"Go on!" Fang Tian said, his expression grave. Matters had already developed far beyond anything he had imagined, and he knew nothing at all about what lay inside this business. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought that a power like this could exist behind Dong Jun!

And if a being as formidable as Alice was also controlled by such an organization, then where was this Center? What exactly did it do?

"My sister and I are both orphans. Doctor Ban Lin took us in when we were very small, but he didn't teach us any particular skills—only how to adapt, so we could survive well in any environment..." Dong Yan said. "But the Center seems to focus on researching the limits of human potential and certain supernatural abilities. Where the Center is located, or who else belongs to it, I have no idea at all. I only know that Doctor Ban Lin is my direct superior, and under Doctor Ban Lin I'm at the very bottom—there are many far more powerful people above me..."

"What! You're at the very bottom?" Fang Tian's eyes went wide with astonishment. In his view, though Dong Jun might not possess those whatever-you-call-them phone powers, his other abilities were hardly weak—his qinggong in particular was remarkable. And a man like that was merely the lowest rung?

"Yes..." Dong Jun said with a bitter smile. "And that in itself shows just how powerful and irresistible the Center is. All I know is that it's something like a terrorist organization abroad, and that almost all of us deal with Doctor Ban Lin through a single channel. Only a few who have worked together before are in contact with one another."

"Then what about Alice? What kind of existence is Alice?" Fang Tian asked instinctively.

These days, very little could stir Fang Tian anymore, but this business with Dong Yan had set his mind churning and he could not calm it.

"Alice... she's the same as me, also at the very bottom..." Dong Jun said with some helplessness. "The wealth Alice controls is simply astonishing, and yet even so, she and I are on exactly the same level!"

"This Doctor Ban Lin really is a formidable figure!" Fang Tian could not help saying in amazement. "But how is it I've never heard of this Center, or of Doctor Ban Lin? Have they never once come out to stir up trouble?"

This was what puzzled Fang Tian. Dong Yan's account was vivid and detailed, but Fang Tian, as the king of assassins, was himself a considerable figure who had brushed against no small number of dark forces—yet he had never once heard of a place called the Center, nor of anyone named Doctor Ban Lin.

So Fang Tian had reason to doubt the truth of Dong Yan's words. But as the saying goes, a dying man's words are kind. Dong Jun knew Fang Tian would surely kill him, and that there was no chance of begging for mercy—he could only entrust his sister Alice to Fang Tian's care. Under such circumstances, would Dong Jun possibly speak falsehoods to deceive him?

Fang Tian thought it rather unlikely.

"That seems to be the case..." Dong Jun paused, then nodded. "Whether they stir up trouble, I don't know, but everyone connected to me and Alice through this line has no intention of stirring anything up. We each have our own assigned tasks, though they're basically all private affairs."

"What do you mean by that?" Fang Tian asked, puzzled.

"For instance, Alice's main task is to amass wealth for Doctor Ban Lin. Doctor Ban Lin's research requires enormous funding, and that has to come from people like Alice. As far as I know, Alice isn't the only one playing the role of a money-making machine—there are others—but we have no contact with one another. So who exactly belongs to Doctor Ban Lin only becomes clear when the need to contact one another arises!" Dong Yan said. "And my main task here is to find a girl named Su Ya, and to gather information on a man named Sun Ce..."

"Su Ya?" Fang Tian's gaze sharpened almost imperceptibly. Others might not know who Su Ya was, but he did! Yang Ce had not kept this from Fang Tian—he had told him everything about himself and Su Ya. But Fang Tian had never imagined that Dong Jun was looking for Su Ya! Yet his gaze sharpened for only an instant before he spoke. "So did you find this Su Ya?"

"I... Master, I've already found Su Ya. She's Yang Juehuan's girlfriend..." Dong Jun confessed truthfully. Having reached the point of certain death, Dong Jun would conceal nothing further.

"Found her? Then did you report this to your boss, Doctor Ban Lin?" Fang Tian asked with a cold laugh.

"No..." Dong Jun shook his head. "When I got this information, I actually meant to use it as a great merit, to negotiate with Doctor Ban Lin in exchange for my freedom and my sister Alice's. But through an old veteran of the Center I'd worked with before, I learned some inside information: there was once a subordinate of Ban Lin's, just like me, who wanted to trade merit for freedom—and was promptly silenced... So I lost faith in Doctor Ban Lin... If even meritorious service couldn't win me freedom, why should I tell him? And just then my sister Alice called, urging me not to oppose Yan, telling me to be honest with Yan and trade on Yang Juehuan's sympathy and help, to use Yang Ce to help the two of us escape Doctor Ban Lin's control!"

"Oh? So before you came to me, you had already given up on the idea of moving against Yang Juehuan?" Fang Tian was rather surprised.

"Yes, Master! I came here to sound you out, that's all. I already know Yang Juehuan's intentions—he's a man who cherishes old ties, he won't kill me. If I sincerely repent, and he's become my senior brother, I think he won't abandon me, his junior brother. I believe Yang Puqi will surely lend me a hand." Here Dong Yan gave Fang Tian a bitter smile and continued, "But I know you're not the soft-hearted sort, Master, so I came to test you, to see whether you could forgive me... hah... looks like that's still a no... Never mind, it's all my fault anyway, and I accept my fate. This is a mistake I made myself, and I'll bear it myself! But I beg you, Master, to look after my sister Alice!"