The boss of a foreign organization called the police, claiming that he was defrauded by me

These spies also possess a great deal of high-level state secrets. If they are captured and unable to withstand interrogation, they might reveal all the state secrets, which would be a huge loss for them.

"What should we do? I've tried to contact them, but the signal over there seems to be completely blocked by something, and I can't get any messages back."

“I’ve tried to contact them too. Logically speaking, we’re not the only country that covets the Great Zhou Dynasty; there must be other countries taking action as well. If we can’t get in touch with them, it means they can’t either, so we don’t need to worry too much. We’ll just take it one step at a time.”

In any case, the worst-case scenario is that the spies are caught, but their families are still under their control. They can still distinguish between what is important and what is not.

There's no need to worry about spies leaking state secrets; they would only do something so foolish if they didn't want their own families to live in peace.

McClane's face was terribly grim. He said, "Although we can't contact them now, I still have one last secret weapon. We won't let our country fall into dire straits. So you don't need to worry too much about these things. Just do your own jobs."

Hearing what McClane said, the others breathed a sigh of relief. At least they still had a trump card, and they wouldn't be suspected for a while.

"Try to contact them again. If you really can't get in touch, then we'll make plans later."

Michael left the conference room in a huff. He couldn't understand what kind of people he had around him. They were all sycophants on ordinary days, but when it came to the crucial moment, they were of no use at all.

It always takes him to solve problems. It seems it's time to weed out a group of people and promote the truly capable ones, so that when we need people, we don't find that we have no one to rely on.

Meanwhile, Yang Xia couldn't help but smile as he watched the weather controller being set up.

Yang Xia stretched. He had barely rested these past two days while setting up the weather controller, and he would come over to keep an eye on it whenever he had a spare moment, just in case something went wrong during the setup process.

Most of the time, Mengyin is the one who looks after things for him, so he doesn't have to worry too much.

Just as I feared, my worst fears came true. While the weather controller was being built, a cry of alarm came from afar. Someone had accidentally broken a part, which suddenly made it impossible to continue building the weather controller, which was almost finished.

The man was so frightened that he knelt on the ground. He knew how important this weather controller was to the king, who would come here almost every day to keep an eye on it, fearing that something might go wrong.

He was extremely careful, but somehow, his hand slipped and a part fell down. By the time he found it, the part had broken in two.

Yang Xia hurried over and saw the man kneeling on the ground, trembling and pleading.

"Your Majesty, I didn't mean to. I don't know why this thing is so slippery. I didn't hold it properly and it fell to the ground."

Seeing his terrified expression, Yang Xia was angry, but felt there was no need to punish him, since he hadn't done it on purpose.

The most urgent task is to fix this part as soon as possible; they don't have much time to wait.

Yang Xia bent down and picked up the part. It was a rhombus-shaped part, now broken in two, and impossible to put back together. With current technology, it was impossible to carve such a part.

He sat in the chair with the parts in his hand, not saying a word. This terrified the man who had broken the parts. He had elderly parents and young children to support, and if he died here today, there would be no one to earn money to support his family.

Therefore, he was determined not to die here and had to find a way to survive.

Thinking of his younger brother, who was a carpenter, he suddenly had a brilliant idea and came up with a suggestion: "Your Majesty, please calm down. I may have a way to make amends. I only ask that Your Majesty spare my life."

Yang Xia asked, "Are you planning to use wood to replace this part?"

He thought about it for a while, and the idea wasn't entirely unfeasible. As long as it could be made to run normally, there shouldn't be any problems.

However, this requires a high level of craftsmanship. If there is even the slightest deviation, the desired effect cannot be achieved. In other words, it really tests a person's skill.

To save his own life, the man nodded repeatedly and even pushed his younger brother forward: "Yes, although he is young, his skills are already quite advanced. He has been learning for at least ten years, so there shouldn't be any problems."

To survive, they had no choice but to take the risk.

"Bring your brother here tomorrow. I want to question him myself. You'd better not lie to me. I hate being deceived the most."

Yang Xia did not pursue the man's crime, but if the other party dared to deceive him, that would be a different story.

People inevitably make mistakes, but repeating the same mistake is truly unforgivable.

Because one of the parts was damaged, the construction of the weather controller could not continue. Yang Xia waved his hand and told everyone to go back and rest early.

Once the parts arrive, we'll proceed with building the weather controller. This is also to give everyone a break so they can better focus on the subsequent work.

Yang Xia rubbed his deflated belly, casually tossing aside what he was holding. In his mind, nothing was more important than eating.

Now that it's lunchtime, he can't neglect his stomach.

While Yang Xia was eating, he received a call from Meng Yu.

He couldn't see what was happening on the other end of the phone; he could only hear heavy breathing. He tried to ask what was going on, but it seemed like the other person couldn't hear him at all.

"What exactly happened on your end?"

Are you safe now?

He asked two questions in a row, and after a while, the camera finally stopped shaking and came to a complete stop.

Meng Yu hid in a corner, trying to hold his breath. He didn't know what kind of monster he had encountered. He had fled all the way here, but he still couldn't get rid of those things.

Left with no other option, he had to make another video call for help.

Many of his men had already been injured, and not a single intact body had been left. The people around were already in a state of panic, and many were even considering backing out and taking this opportunity to leave.

If it weren't for his persistent persuasion and lack of forceful obstruction, he would probably be all alone in this dark and gloomy place.

The task is already halfway done, how can we give up halfway? Besides, if they back down at the first sign of difficulty, what's the difference between their courage and that of a rat?
"We think we've encountered a ferocious beast, but we can't see exactly where it is. We only know that it's huge and seems to be guarding something nearby. This is the only way through, but we don't even know where the enemy is."

It's shameful to even mention it, but the soldiers he led only knew how to flee for their lives, and didn't even know where the enemy was.

After this fierce battle, only a few of them remained, with only a few skilled fighters still alive.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before he himself succumbed to exhaustion. He wasn't afraid of death, but he feared dying without value or meaning. He only wanted to complete this mission; nothing else mattered to him, including his own life. As long as he could fulfill the king's mission, he would have no regrets even if he sacrificed himself.

After hearing his description, many terrifying scenes flashed through Yang Xia's mind, but he quickly dismissed them all.

There is no such thing as ghosts or gods in this world, and the enormous creature they encountered was probably not a zombie.

Things that live in tombs generally prefer dark environments, just like the giant snake they encountered when they entered the cave. Such dark and damp places are the favorite habitats of snakes and centipedes.

Yang Xia asked, "Are there any casualties among you?"

When this question was raised, Meng Yu lowered his head in shame and said, "Many people died. One of the brothers I just rescued also couldn't be saved because his injuries were too severe."

In this resource-scarce place, once bitten by that thing, it seems like there's only one way out: death.

They struggled desperately, hoping to leave this place alive, but it seemed as if fate was playing a cruel joke on them; things didn't go as planned, and they were unable to leave this hellish place.

Even the road they came from was completely blocked by a landslide, which blocked all the intersections, so they had no way to leave.

Yang Xia gave them a suggestion: "If I'm not mistaken, what's chasing you is a snake. Besides realgar, the thing snakes fear most is fire."

"It would be best to get a torch to scare the snake away so you can leave this place."

Although torches cannot kill snakes, they can make snakes very wary and dare not approach them easily.

Upon hearing Yang Xia's reminder, Meng Yu immediately had an idea. He smiled and said, "I know what to do. Thank you for your reminder, Your Majesty."

"Be very careful over there. If things get really bad, I'll send another squad of Imperial Guards to help you."

Yang Xia was still somewhat worried about Meng Yu's situation. After all, when they entered the cave and obtained the core components of the weather controller, they had gone through a life-or-death ordeal.

Even with guards and many skilled fighters protecting him, it was still extremely difficult.

Meng Yu remained silent for a moment before rejecting Yang Xia's suggestion. Leaving aside the numerous dangers lurking around them, he couldn't even pinpoint their exact location.

Most of the people who had passed the previous checkpoints did so by luck, and he really wasn't confident that he could guide others to get there.

"I estimate we've entered the central area now, and we should be able to handle it."

Seeing his insistence, Yang Xia had no choice but to say, "Then you must be extra careful. Don't hang up yet. You're skilled; go out and see what's causing this trouble."

Meng Yu nodded, took off his coat, rolled it into a ball, found a tree trunk nearby, and wrapped the coat around it.

He then set his clothes on fire, instantly illuminating the previously pitch-black area. Perhaps sensing the sudden light, rustling sounds began to emanate from the otherwise quiet place.

Meng Yu didn't dare to breathe loudly, fearing that any sudden movement would cost him his life. He whispered to the people around him, "I heard the sound coming from the front. Quietly go around to the back now. If you find anything unusual, don't panic."

The worst thing for a person is to lose their composure and panic before even starting anything. Then, forget about dealing with something of unknown origin; they might not even be able to tell which way to go.

Yang Xia was also staring intently at the screen. When he saw the enormous thing that suddenly appeared, his heart skipped a beat. This thing was even bigger than anything he had ever seen before.

It was at least twice the size of the snake they had encountered before, and possibly more. Due to the limitations of the video, he could only see what was in front of him, not what was behind.

He dared not make a sound, fearing that his voice would reveal Meng Yu's location, and could only stare intently at the screen.

Thinking of this, Yang Xia suddenly beckoned to the maid and gestured.

Peony immediately understood his meaning and quickly prepared a pen and paper. Yang Xia quickly wrote down a few large characters and then pasted them on the camera hole so that Meng Yu could see them clearly.

Meng Yu noticed the words on it.

"Strike the snake at its vital point!"

Yang Xia wrote a few more words.

"The torch was kept burning. The snake didn't rely on its eyes to see, but on the heat from the person's body to locate them."

Snakes, being cold-blooded animals, can only rely on their forked tongues to determine the approximate location of their prey, because their eyes are basically useless and they can't see clearly most of the time.

This gave them the opportunity to fight back.

Meng Yu took a deep breath, grabbed the torch, and rushed out. Almost instantly, the giant snake sensed his location, swam over at incredible speed, and slammed him against the wall.

His men rushed forward to save him, unafraid of the giant snake, moving with incredible speed in the blink of an eye.

The two were entangled together. The giant snake seemed to have come to life, swaying its massive body. Its skin was almost impervious to blades and spears.

Anyone who got close to it was flung away by the snake's tail, unable to cause it any harm whatsoever.

During the fight, the phone was accidentally dropped. Meng Yu tried to pick it up, but the snake didn't give him a chance, wrapping its arms around him with lightning speed.

In an instant, Meng Yu felt short of breath, as if he would die at any moment.

He shouted desperately, and his men tried their best to save him, but their strength was far too little against the snake.

There was no way to control the snake; they could only watch helplessly as it disappeared into a cave with Meng Yu.

By the time they caught up, the snake was nowhere to be found.

Yang Xia called out on the phone for a while, but when no one responded, he realized that something bad had probably happened to them, which was why they couldn't answer him.

That snake was probably not venomous, but its enormous body was its best weapon, able to tightly coil around a person, making it impossible for them to launch an attack.

In this situation, Meng Yu can only hope for the best. Even if he sends people over now, it's unlikely they'll arrive in time to provide assistance; after all, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. (End of Chapter)