"From the very beginning, your target was Yun Feidian, not me."
Looking at Lü Zhongqi's calm yet unfathomable expression, Meng Chao's thoughts raced, and realization dawned on him. "Silencing him forever?"
"That's right. We couldn't kill you, and killing you would have been meaningless anyway. We couldn't possibly escape the Net of Heaven and Earth you laid down. Futile struggle would only have inflicted unnecessary wounds upon Dragon City."
Lü Zhongqi smiled. "Yun Feidian was different from you. He knew too much."
Meng Chao narrowed his eyes. "You were afraid we'd capture him alive, and he'd reveal the Blood Alliance's secrets?"
"He would."
Lü Zhongqi sighed. "Yun Feidian may have been the most dazzling miracle to rise in Dragon City over the past twenty years, aside from you. Had our plan succeeded this time, I would never have doubted that he could lead the Blood Alliance, reborn from the ashes, to grow stronger and flourish, becoming the most powerful engine driving Dragon City Civilization's triumphant advance. And he himself would have become a great leader whose name would be recorded in history.
"But, Meng Chao, the greatest difference between Yun Feidian and you is that he came from a Cultivation Family. His parents were both highly placed figures of great authority. From childhood, he had lived in silk and satin, with limitless resources. Since first entering the business world and beginning to make a name for himself, everything had gone smoothly for him. He had never encountered setbacks, pain, failure, or hardship.
"Over the past decades, he had grown accustomed to marching from one victory to the next, accustomed to keeping everything under his control, accustomed to crushing every opponent and resolving every problem with superior resources. But he had never grown accustomed to, nor did he know how to,