Chapter 4408 — A Letter Back

In the end, it was Qiu Lingshan who stepped forward to explain the whole affair to Brother Dafeng, from beginning to end, and passed Wei Zhao's handwritten letter around for him to read as well.

Reading what Wei Zhao had written, Brother Dafeng was no less astonished than the others—in fact, more so. He had been scraping by alone among the Red Conch, and it had been a long time since he'd had any word of Wei Zhao; that bewilderment of not knowing when it would ever end was far harder to bear than anything the others present had suffered.

Fortunately, Wei Zhao had left him an antidote before departing, so his life was not in danger—and to this day, he remained profoundly grateful.

"Well? This Central Express—do you know anything about it, what's behind it?" Qiu Lingshan and the others asked, unable to contain their impatience.

"No idea. I only handle part of the Red Conch's business now; it's hard to get a hand in anything else. This Central Express looks to be newly established, no dealings with my side at all. But I can go back and see what I can dig up," Brother Dafeng said thoughtfully.

"Is that so..." The others could not help feeling a little disappointed. If they could get to the bottom of Central Express, they might well learn how to travel freely between Cloud Terrace Island and the mundane world—a matter of the utmost importance. But as things stood, it looked like finding that out would be no easy task.

"Don't lose heart just yet. I still have some authority over there. I can't promise to ferret out the most sensitive intelligence, but at the very least I can try—one way or another, I should be able to dig up some inside information," Brother Dafeng told them.

"Mm, then we'll leave it to you." Everyone nodded.

To avoid arousing suspicion, Brother Dafeng did not linger long at the villa. Under cover of darkness, he slipped quietly away.

Brother Dafeng was efficient. They did not have long to wait—before they had even dispersed from the Gu family villa, first thing the next morning, word came from Brother Dafeng.

"The Cloud Terrace Island parcel supposedly came from a small island in the waters near Las Vegas. That stretch of sea is the Fire Wolf Group's base of operations; their core island is called Fire Wolf New Island, and the parcel was sorted and dispatched from there. Where it was mailed from before that, though—no way to know."

Reading the message from Brother Dafeng, the others fell silent. In truth, by that logic it was easy enough to infer that before reaching Fire Wolf New Island, the parcel must have come from Cloud Terrace Island.

Shocking as this deduction was, it was at present the most reasonable one—which meant that on Fire Wolf New Island, there very likely existed a special passage connecting to Cloud Terrace Island!

Yet even with considerable confidence in this supposition, they had no way to act on it. Whether it was truly so could only be known by seeing it with their own eyes—but Fire Wolf New Island was the Fire Wolf Gang's base. Surely they could not simply storm in by force?

The strength of Heaven-Rank Great Perfection was enough to sweep across the mundane world unhindered. But these people were not the conceited sort; they had never believed themselves truly invincible. What was more, the last incident had sounded a warning bell. Had Lin Dongfang not appeared at the final moment to save them, it was hard to say how many of those present would have survived.

And Heaven-Rank Great Perfection carried deterrent weight only in the mundane world. Once set upon the unfathomable Cloud Terrace Island, as Wei Zhao had said in his letter, it simply wasn't worth mentioning.

Since Fire Wolf New Island could connect to Cloud Terrace Island, who knew what caliber of expert might be hidden there? If even one of them had come down from Cloud Terrace Island, that alone would be absolutely beyond the ability of anyone present to handle.

Many of Wu Chengtian's circle were hot-headed by nature, but they were not brainless. Before they had a clear picture of the enemy's strength, they would not do anything as foolish as charging in to die for nothing.

"Sister-in-law Lingshan, now that we've identified the target, it seems we'll have to trouble the Mystery Investigation Bureau again. If we can't determine what's really there, we mustn't act rashly," the others said cautiously, exchanging glances.

Before Wei Zhao had left, the most important task he had entrusted to them was to protect the unconscious women; everything else was secondary. If they acted rashly to investigate Fire Wolf New Island and stirred up trouble in the process, that would be putting the cart before the horse—a loss with no gain.

"Mm, for now that's all we can do. But don't get your hopes too high. Within Huaxia's borders, the Mystery Investigation Bureau's authority would let it look into things somewhat, but Fire Wolf New Island is an overseas island, and they operate so secretly—even the Bureau can't stretch its reach that far. If they can dig up a bit of peripheral information, we should thank our lucky stars," Qiu Lingshan said, inoculating them against disappointment.

"For now, the more we can learn the better. Knowing a few clues is better than knowing nothing at all. We're not at open odds with them yet, but forewarned is forearmed—best to know both ourselves and the enemy, so we can be prepared for all eventualities. Still, be careful; don't let them catch on," Yu Bing said in a low voice.

"Right. In his letter, Leader Wei Zhao never said we should take on this Central Express and the Fire Wolf New Island behind it. Even if we do investigate them, we must proceed with the utmost caution—absolutely no forcing things or charging ahead, so as not to invite any unnecessary trouble." Everyone nodded in agreement.

In any case, protecting the unconscious women was the first priority. If they carelessly stirred up trouble and provoked a powerful enemy none of them could handle, things would truly get difficult. They could hardly hide out in West Star Mountain Village and trouble the great Lin Dongfang to ride forth again, could they?

Though they were Wei Zhao's own people, they were still masters in their own right. To go troubling the old gentleman over every trifle—they didn't have that kind of nerve.

"Rest assured, everyone. I'll go back to the Mystery Investigation Bureau myself and personally oversee the secret investigation of Fire Wolf New Island. Safety first—I guarantee we won't alert them," Qiu Lingshan nodded in assurance.

"Oh, right—I nearly forgot something very important. That courier fellow said this letter Leader Wei Zhao sent us was a return-receipt item. That means we can write back to Leader Wei Zhao, and Central Express will deliver it to him." Wu Chengtian suddenly slapped his forehead.

"We can write back? Why didn't you say so earlier!" The others were startled, then overjoyed—and then, one and all wearing unfriendly expressions, they seized Wu Chengtian and gave him a sound beating. Thank goodness they hadn't dispersed yet; otherwise would they not have missed this chance, so vital, to send word to Leader Wei Zhao? (To be continued..)

...R861