Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 653 - 646: Open Confrontation and Secret Maneuvers

Chapter 653: Chapter 646: Open Confrontation and Secret Maneuvers

"Mr. Delray, we are both from Earth, serving the same Earthly organisation. Mutual cooperation is beneficial to both of us, while strife is detrimental. There’s no need for matters of the Otherworld to keep us at odds," Wang Xu spoke, looking at him.

From the get-go, Wang Xu had displayed an aggressive posture, putting constant pressure on Delray, which is one of the reasons his expression had turned stern.

"Mr. Wang, your words are too harsh. You’re right, humanity should guide our actions, and there should be ethical limits to what we do. Should the virus leak, we naturally have to take responsibility. This is about the safety of all mankind; it is our duty," said Delray, then abruptly changing the topic, asked Wang Xu, "But I’m curious as to what your department’s plan is in transporting the virus to Yazhi City?"

Upon hearing his words, Wang Xu was unexpectedly stumped. Clearly, he had walked into Delray’s trap. The other party’s stance was clear: they guaranteed not to leak the virus, but they were curious about what the headquarters planned to do with the dispatched virus sample.

In such circumstances, no matter what reason Wang Xu gave, it would seem strained. He could only tell the truth: "Of course it’s to carry it back to Earth for vaccine research to end this pandemic as soon as possible."

On hearing those words, a subtle smile flashed across Delray’s face, and then his serious expression eased again: "Ending the pandemic should be the responsibility of all mankind. As we are both Earthlings, we should by right both participate in the vaccine research process and settle the epidemic in the northeastern region of Odelanqi as soon as possible, don’t you agree?"

At his words, Wang Xu’s heart skipped a beat, realizing he had been neatly outmaneuvered by the man before him.

The headquarters had always had a clear strategy-- to use the pandemic, expedite vaccine research, and then use the vaccine as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the Church Court for the inclusion of Lipei within their sphere of influence.

Even though it might sound somewhat unscrupulous, one should note that the Church Court doesn’t stand to lose anything. Lipei might be their territory, but they never paid heed to the development of Lipei. Thus, handing it over to the headquarters wouldn’t result in any loss to them.

Once the pandemic is suppressed and eradicated with the help of the headquarters, the Church Court will gain enormous prestige, thereby solidifying their position in the North. This would be a win-win outcome, which is why the headquarters had been quick to promote the speedy development of a vaccine.

But now, given the proposition of the CIA to join the vaccine research team, not only would they dilute some of the benefits, but their involvement wouldn’t be particularly useful.

Currently, most of the world’s top biochemical experts are working at the Otherworld Research Centre at Haiya Academy. Their addition would merely be lending a name to the efforts, and could potentially lead to the Academy being infiltrated by spies.

The headquarters wouldn’t readily invite others to share this benefit. Never mind allowing the Americans to reap the rewards; they didn’t even want them to catch a whiff of it. This matter was directly related to the gains and losses of Lipei, which is why they were determined not to share their benefits.

However, it’s crucial to recognize that should the Americans develop the vaccine first, the Church Court will most likely lean towards them, thereby nullifying any goodwill the headquarters had managed to accumulate with the Church Court amidst the third Otherworld war.

Even if American research speed isn’t significantly faster than the Otherworld Research Centre’s, in the off chance that they manage to develop the vaccine first, the Church Court would likely switch alliances. By then, the headquarters would lose their semi-control over all regions under the Church Court’s jurisdiction.

"With the virus sample currently missing, it’s not feasible for us to cooperate even if we wanted to. Our top priority should be to find the virus sample as soon as possible," Wang Xu reluctantly admitted after a moment of deep thought.

"Of course, finding and isolating the virus sample should be our main priority. If we find it, we hope that your department would put differences aside, join the research efforts, and help expedite the vaccine development in order to calm the Otherworld crises. What do you think, Mr. Wang?" Delray’s expression was again as casual as it had been earlier.

"It’s good Mr. Delray sees it this way, we are also willing to join in the research efforts to jointly develop a vaccine. But with the current whereabouts of the virus sample unknown, we should all work together to find and secure it as soon as possible to prevent further spread of the infection." Although it was Wang Xu who suggested not to use officialese, at this moment he had no choice but to alleviate the awkwardness through it.

"We have other matters to attend to, so we’ll take our leave now!" With that said, Wang Xu turned and walked away without giving Delray a chance to speak.

"Don’t bother seeing us out, Mr. Wang!" Delray leisurely tapped on the table, a triumphant smile on his face.

Following his encounter with Delray, Wang Xu had some understanding of the stance of the CIA. Firstly, the disappearance of the virus sample definitely had something to do with them. The silver lining, however, seemed to be their intention of taking the sample back to Earth to pioneer the development of the vaccine.

But this posed a problem. Headquarters did not want to share any benefits stemming from the vaccine development with anyone, not even a whiff of it. Most of what was said earlier were mere formalities, in other words, pure bullshit.

If the CIA managed to develop a vaccine first, forget about vying for Lipei, the Church Court would likely end up as their pawn. This was something unacceptable for the headquarters.

At this stage, the cooperation between Headquarters and Ronisca, and Princess Melia of the Masaya Kingdom, enabled them to have control over the entire Northeast of the continent. Meanwhile, progress in Odelanqi had been slow.

Intelligence suggests that Odelanqi’s secular government may have already sided with the CIA. The headquarters can only cooperate with the Church Court to gradually suppress and control the secular administration of Odelanqi, in an effort to eventually control the entire territory of the Aud Empire, which is the northern part of the continent.

If the Church Court and the CIA join forces, the CIA — with both a secular government and the power of the Church Court in Odelanqi — would firmly control the northwest of the mainland, standing off against the headquarters across the river and maintaining parallel structures.

The CIA was also actively intervening in the civil war in the Masaya Kingdom. If Headquarters-backed Princess Melia fails in this war, the Headquarters will completely lose control of the Masaya Kingdom, and its sphere of influence will shrink to the northeast corner of Ronisca.

This is a chain reaction. Though Headquarters appears to be running a tight ship in the Otherworld now, one misstep could lead to successive failures and an ultimate loss of all advantages.

Control over the Otherworld began thirty years ago, after the end of the Second Otherworld War. The country has poured a substantial amount of military budget into this, including the establishment of Haiya Academy and the Otherworld business intelligence network. If they fail, decades of investment will be washed away.

Not making a single mistake is Wang Xu’s only thought at this moment. He must rearrange for the virus sample to be shipped back to Yazhi City and arrange for the Advance Team to intercept the stolen virus sample. Even if the headquarters can’t get it, they won’t let the CIA lay their hands on it.

However, they are currently faced with numerous challenges, the first being to purge CIA spies within the frontline command. Without their help, how could the CIA possibly know the route between the epidemic region and Yazhi City, or even the exact time when the virus sample will be shipped to Yazhi City?

After handling the internal issues, the major challenge facing Wang Xu is the shortage of manpower. At this point, he only has two Advance Teams he can maneuver, and even if both are commissioned, that’s just ten men. Should he deploy mercenaries? No, these mercenaries are likely full of spies. They can’t be sent out to cause further trouble.

After grappling with the problem for a while, Wang Xu suddenly has a flash of insight. He can think of a reliable partner. If they can lend their hand, the pressure faced by the Advance Team could be greatly reduced.

With that thought in mind, Wang Xu called the coachman, whispered a few words to him, and after nodding his understanding, the coachman turned the carriage around and headed in a different direction.