Chapter 4403 — The Courier of Cloud Terrace Island

"This experiment is our foremost priority on Cloud Terrace Island, and the key trump card by which we shall seize the initiative in the days to come. It must therefore be carried out under strict secrecy, absolutely without the outside world catching wind of it. As for the local powers of Cloud Terrace Island—wiping them out would be no hardship—but the moment word leaks out, everything we have done thus far will have been for nothing." Miss Luan nodded as she spoke.

"This subordinate was a fool and nearly ruined the organization's grand design. I beg Miss Luan's forgiveness," Wang Dayuan and Ma Tianlang hastened to confess their guilt.

"Hmph. Foolish is too kind a word—you are downright stupid. You could not even keep watch over a pack of Golden Core cultivators. Utterly worthless!" Miss Luan said coldly. "Their escape is a secondary matter; losing test subjects creates a gap in the samples, but what we must fear most now is this: through the mouths of these people, will word of our human experiments spread, stirring panic and alarm among the other powers?"

"These runaways will be afraid of the news leaking out and being caught again, so for a short while they likely will not dare to spread it about. But given time, who can say." The mysterious man frowned as he said this.

"Rest assured, Miss Luan. This subordinate will throw every effort into the pursuit. When these people were first captured, their identities were recorded. With our organization's intelligence network and power, hunting them down should not prove too difficult," Wang Dayuan hastened to pledge.

"Very well. This matter is yours to handle. Word must not leak out. If they cannot be taken alive, then silence them. Remember—this is your last chance to save yourselves. Fail again, and do not bother coming back to see me." Miss Luan's voice was icy. "Also, as for that brute and Lu Bianren—leave them be. You need not go after them."

"Yes, yes, we shall redeem ourselves by our deeds, we surely shall," Wang Dayuan and Ma Tianlang nodded again and again, cold sweat pouring down them. Though they did not understand why the brute and Lu Bianren were not to be pursued, they dared not ask.

"We cannot afford to invite suspicion, but the experiments must go on. Since the dungeon has been destroyed this time, we shall move elsewhere—to another stretch of sea. We have captured a good many people here as it is, and to continue would no longer be safe. Wang Dayuan, you are the man in charge here in South Continent. This too is yours to handle. One more slip, and you lose your head—no exceptions!" Miss Luan commanded.

"Yes!" Wang Dayuan answered in a low voice, his life hanging in the balance. He had already resolved that even if the affairs of the Moleng Branch had to be cast aside, these two tasks must first be done well—otherwise he would not keep his head. What meaning was there in skimming off a little more profit?

……………………

In the secular world, the Gu family villa.

Ever since He Dantou and the host of the Iron Garment Sect had come in force last time and been sent packing by Lin Dongfang with scarcely a lift of his hand, the villa had returned to its former calm—calmer, in fact, than before.

For all manner of rumor was running wild in the neighborhood: that this place was a hotbed of strange winds and shifting clouds, that uncanny phenomena appeared here from time to time. Many of the surrounding households had moved away. With matters so uncanny, one had best believe they exist rather than not; and anyone who could afford a villa here was hardly short of money—who would choose to forgo a comfortable life and stay in a place like this, trembling with fear?

That the neighboring households had moved away was no bad thing for the group Wei Zhao had left behind. Cultivators, whatever their temperaments to begin with, in the end usually came to prefer quiet; and with the unconscious women all lodged in the villa, a quieter environment was precisely what was needed.

Originally, once the last incident had been settled, Lin Dongfang had proposed that they all move to West Star Mountain Village, but after some discussion the group had politely declined.

With a great one like Lin Dongfang to shelter them, moving to West Star Mountain Village would indeed have been safer than the Gu family villa. But each of them had a life of their own; none had yet reached the point of being utterly free of ties. To shut themselves off from the world so completely was plainly unrealistic.

Besides, after this last affair, even a savage like He Dantou had been frightened out of his wits—what of the common rabble?

This was, after all, only the secular world, and the strength of everyone here stood at its very peak. Each was renowned and feared; it was for others to dread them, not for anyone to dare provoke them.

Even if someone truly could deal with so many masters at the Great Perfection of the Heaven Rank, should they by some chance draw out the great one behind them, Lin Dongfang, who the hell could stand against that?

For the underlings to go off on their own and leave the unconscious women behind, forcing Lin Dongfang and Aunt Qing to look after so many people at once, was plainly unreasonable—the old couple still wanted their time alone, after all. So they simply kept everything as it was: the women remained lodged in the villa, and the others still came in pairs to stand watch in rotation.

Today it was Wu Chengtian and Qiu Lingshan's turn for watch duty. Qiu Lingshan was inside the rooms tending to the women, while Wu Chengtian was busy downstairs with General Weiwu and the Wind-Thunder Purple Lightning Beast—one man and two beasts all looking extremely tense, as though facing a mighty foe, in the middle of a game of Dou Dizhu…

People, when bored, will always contrive some confounded nonsense—cultivators are no exception. Playing Dou Dizhu with two spirit beasts, Wu Chengtian's feat was surely unprecedented and would never be repeated.

Rarer still, at this very moment his face was plastered all over with strips of white paper. Playing Dou Dizhu with two spirit beasts, he—a full-grown human, no less—was actually, damn it all, the worst loser of the lot…

Wu Chengtian scowled and glared, seeing that he was about to lose everything yet again, the tension thick in the air—when the doorbell suddenly rang.

"Who is it?" Wu Chengtian was slightly taken aback. Seeing that neither beast showed the least sign of alarm, he knew the visitor must be an ordinary person of no threat.

"Delivery!" came a young man's voice from outside the door.

A delivery? Wu Chengtian grew all the more puzzled. He had never bought anything online; and even if the others had, they would never have had it sent here. Where would a delivery even come from?

Moreover, all the villa's supplies were bought by their own people in rotation at the nearby supermarket, and Uncle Qing often brought things over as well. So no one here would ever have ordered a delivery!

At this thought, Wu Chengtian felt something was off. He shot a look at the two beasts and rose at once to answer the door, while the two beasts, with perfect understanding, slipped silently out the back door and circled round from both sides—at the slightest sign of trouble, one man and two beasts would attack as one.