Chapter 4616 — The Mysterious Man Summons

"Zhong Yongliang too?" Xu Lingchong stared at the note, momentarily dumbfounded. He had assumed the mysterious man was finally moving against Wei Zhao—so why this bizarre command out of nowhere? Could it be a slip of the brush? If it had been himself and Meng Zhou together, that would have made far more sense!

Such were his private speculations, yet however bold Xu Lingchong might be, he dared not presume to alter the mysterious man's written order. Who knew whether some deeper design lay hidden in those words?

"Pinliang, you're coming with me—the higher-ups have named you specifically." Suppressing his bewilderment, Xu Lingchong made the announcement before everyone. The others had not yet dispersed, and at these words Meng Zhou and Kang Jingming were struck with disbelief; all eyes turned, as if drawn by a single thread, to Zhong Yongliang.

On the surface Zhong Yongliang looked blankly bewildered, but in that instant his heart was seized with unspeakable terror, and a cold sweat broke out all over him in a flash. His first thought upon hearing those words was: damn it all, has my spying been found out?

In terms of standing, among them all he ranked only slightly above trash like Ma Dangfeng. He was far beneath Xu Lingchong—even Meng Zhou—and at best roughly on par with Kang Jingming, perhaps not even that, for the man had the backing of Ancestor Xuanchen over on Middle Island, whereas Zhong Yongliang had nothing at all.

From the day he joined the organization until now, neither Zhong Yongliang nor any of the others—Meng Zhou, Kang Jingming, and the rest included—had ever been formally received by the mysterious man. That had always been Xu Lingchong's privilege alone. If not for the exposure of some scandal, how could such an opportunity have fallen inexplicably into his own lap?

Facing the gazes of the others, tinged with a certain envy, Zhong Yongliang's heart pounded wildly against his ribs. This felt like the prelude to some colossal catastrophe! There could be no explanation but discovery—summoned along with Xu Lingchong to meet the mysterious man. Was that not plainly walking into the net of his own accord?!

Zhong Yongliang's expression turned utterly rigid, chill after chill rising within him, and when his thoughts reached the most frightful possibilities his hair stood on end. His legs grew leaden, and for a long moment he did not move.

"Well, get moving—what are you dawdling there for? Anyone would think you'd never seen the world!" Xu Lingchong shot him a puzzled glance, assuming the man was simply overcome with joy.

"Ah—yes." Seeing everyone watching him with complicated expressions, Zhong Yongliang hastily crushed his terror down into the depths of his heart. Even now he could not let his panic show; he would have to take one step at a time and see how things unfolded.

Under cover of night, Xu Lingchong led Zhong Yongliang along a path deliberately chosen to evade the watchful eyes of the Sandie Pavilion guards, and they came soundlessly to a desolate slope. At its crest stood a small, dense, gloom-shrouded grove of pines, and beneath it lay the secret chamber the mysterious man had designated.

Following behind Xu Lingchong, Zhong Yongliang was trembling in every limb, his heart hammering so violently it seemed ready to leap into his throat. Gazing upon a scene fit for a moonless night of murder, he was seized more than once by the urge to turn and flee. In the end he forced himself to hold back—Xu Lingchong's strength far outstripped his own, and even had he run he could never escape. To have his guilt exposed now would only mean a faster death.

The two of them entered the secret chamber one after the other to wait. Zhong Yongliang held his breath and concentrated his mind, all the while covertly surveying the chamber's layout and calculating escape routes in his head. If it truly came to the worst, he would have no choice but to fight to the death.

After a tense wait of some moments, a cool breeze suddenly swept through the space ahead, and the mysterious man's figure appeared before them, still shrouded head to toe in a black robe, his features and build impossible to discern. In such circumstances, of course, Zhong Yongliang did not dare look closely at all; he could only keep his head bowed with all his might, striving to hide from the other's eyes his frozen expression.

"This subordinate greets the Senior!" Xu Lingchong dropped to one knee at once. Though he enjoyed no small measure of the mysterious man's favor, to this day he still did not know the other's identity or exact position—only that the man stood at the very heart of things, wielding immense authority—and so he could only use a vague form of address like "Senior" in greeting.

Zhong Yongliang dared not be remiss; he imitated Xu Lingchong's salute, and seized the chance to bury his head even lower, terrified that the other might read something amiss in his face.

The mysterious man was silent for a moment. His gaze could be felt resting upon Zhong Yongliang, appraising him up and down with a note of doubt, and then he spoke abruptly: "Zhong Yongliang, hear the order!"

Zhong Yongliang gave a violent start, his breath catching of its own accord. Strive as he might to master himself, he could not stop his hands and feet from shaking. Damn it—whatever he feared, here it came. Surely he had not given himself away?

Beside him, Xu Lingchong was likewise taken aback. So the earlier summons had not been written in error after all—the man truly had wanted Zhong Yongliang. Since when had this fellow caught the eye of the higher-ups? How very strange!

The mysterious man glanced at Zhong Yongliang with some surprise. The creature's trembling was impossible to conceal, and his puzzlement only deepened. Try as he might, he could see nothing remarkable about the man—why would Junior Brother Pao value him so highly?

"By order of the higher-ups, Zhong Yongliang is from this day promoted to Special Envoy of the Center stationed on North Island, ranking equal with Xu Lingchong. His principal task shall be to assist me and one other exalted person in jointly administering the North Island branch," the mysterious man announced in a flat tone.

"What?!" The moment the words fell, Zhong Yongliang was struck utterly dumb. He had already braced himself to meet death with dignity—and now this? Special Envoy of the Center stationed on North Island? He had been promoted out of nowhere?

Bewildered, Zhong Yongliang rubbed his head vigorously. He had done nothing of note lately, still less won any merit for the Center—so how had such an enormous pie suddenly dropped into his lap?

Nor was Zhong Yongliang alone; even Xu Lingchong was stunned into silence for a good while, staring at the mysterious man in confusion. What was going on? How had Zhong Yongliang suddenly risen so high—without a shred of merit to his name—and become his equal in a single stroke?

"This... Senior, as the saying goes, one mountain cannot hold two tigers. Zhong Yongliang was my subordinate to begin with, and with a single word you've made him my equal. That will make him hard for me to manage, and hard for the others to accept..." Xu Lingchong could not help blurting out his complaint.

He had never harbored any particular grievance against Zhong Yongliang, but for a subordinate of his to suddenly stand on equal footing with him was a thing that would rankle anyone—especially a proud and lofty man like Xu Lingchong, who could never tolerate such an arrangement.

What was more, the post of North Island Special Envoy had originally belonged to him alone. Now Zhong Yongliang had appeared out of nowhere, and the envoys had become two—was this not plainly a grab for power out of his hands? (To be continued...)