74: Chapter 74: You call this a construction team?
"Snake Eye" was brought onto the assault boat.
His hands were tied behind his back with a special kind of rope. He didn't know what material it was made of, but it had incredible resilience. He tried to struggle, but the more he struggled, the tighter it got, digging into his bones with painful force.
He stopped making futile attempts at resistance.
As a top-tier agent, he knew very well when it was time to give up.
The assault boat sped through the thick fog, yet the young man piloting it seemed to know the waterway like the back of his hand, making every turn with pinpoint precision.
"Snake Eye" knew that this eerie, dense fog that trapped them simply did not exist for these people.
He looked at the two young men escorting him; they couldn't have been more than twenty, with a hint of childishness still on their faces, yet the calmness and sharpness in their eyes were like nothing he had ever seen before.
They were neither soldiers nor police.
They possessed a unique aura, a pride that transcended the secular world.
Just like the captain of what claimed to be an "Engineering Team."
"Kunlun Engineering Team," what an ironic name.
"Snake Eye" smiled bitterly to himself.
He finally understood now why their three reconnaissance teams in the desert had "vanished into thin air."
They hadn't been captured, nor had they been killed.
They had most likely encountered this group of "monsters" right before him.
In the face of such power, their equipment, skills, and experience—things they took such pride in—were completely meaningless.
The assault boat quickly burst out of the dense fog zone.
When the brilliant lights of Donghai City reappeared before his eyes, "Snake Eye" felt as if he had returned from another lifetime.
He was brought to the "Pearl of the East Sea Project Forward Command Post"—that abandoned old shipyard he had tried every possible way to infiltrate but never succeeded.
It was even more heavily guarded than he had imagined.
High barbed wire fences, armed soldiers stationed every three steps, and... the members of the "Kunlun Engineering Team" patrolling in the shadows.
He saw his team members being marched in, one by one, heads hanging low in defeat.
"Rhino's" shoulder had been crudely bandaged, and his face was pale.
"Chameleon" was still in a state of total paralysis after being "acupressure-struck" and was being carried by two men.
"Witch" and "Doctor" were trembling with fear, unable to say a single word.
Their "Ghost" squad had never known defeat in the ten years since its formation; they were hailed as the sharpest blade of "Obelisk."
And today, this blade had been snapped with ease.
A Xia country official in a dark uniform, who looked like the person in charge, walked over.
He was Director Zhao Lixin.
Director Zhao Lixin looked at the disheveled group of US agents before him, his heart filled with a complex mix of emotions.
Just a few hours ago, he had been deeply worried about these people's infiltration.
And now, they had become prisoners.
This entire turnaround stemmed from the young girl who was still in the command room at this moment.
"Interrogate them separately," Director Zhao Lixin ordered his subordinates. "Strip them of everything on them, including their clothes and shoes, and send it all to Engineer Jiang's laboratory. Not a single screw can be missing!"
"Yes!"
"Snake Eye" was escorted by two fully armed soldiers toward a separate interrogation room.
Passing by that massive, brightly lit factory building, he instinctively glanced inside.
He saw it.
He saw a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
In the very center of the factory, a massive city model, composed of light points and lines, was floating and slowly rotating.
It was unmistakably a three-dimensional model of the entire Donghai City!
A young girl wearing a plain white T-shirt and sweatpants was standing quietly in front of the model.
She wasn't performing any operations, yet the entire model seemed to pulse in rhythm with her breathing.
Every street, every building, and every lit lamp in the city was under her control.
She was the... god of this city.
"Snake Eye's" steps came to a sudden halt.
He stared fixedly at the girl's back.
Although he couldn't see her face, he could clearly feel an indescribable, almost tangible pressure radiating from that petite frame.
It was an absolute crushing superiority on the level of life itself.
In his eyes, the girl's back seemed to grow larger and larger.
She was no longer just a person; she had merged with the entire city and that starry sky.
She was the source of power for that "security guard" in the park who had prevented his men from approaching with just a glance.
She was the one who drew the "blueprints" that the old engineer at the construction site treated as gospel.
She was the "deity" who had cast the mist at sea and played them like puppets in the palm of her hand!
"Snake Eye's" whole body began to tremble uncontrollably.
He finally understood.
He finally understood what he was truly facing.
It wasn't some high-tech gadget, nor was it some secret weapon.
It was a... kind of absolute power, beyond his understanding and imagination, that stood above everything else.
All his pride and all his confidence were shattered to pieces at this moment.
He remembered the cruelty and excitement he felt when he pressed that red button.
Thinking about it now, how laughable that must have been.
It was like an ant raising its antennae, foolishly attempting to shake a planet.
"Move!" the soldier escorting him pushed him impatiently.
"Snake Eye" stumbled, snapping back to reality.
He took one last deep look at that back, his eyes filled with a terror and despair he had never known in his life.
Then, he lowered his arrogant head and, like a puppet drained of all its spirit, was dragged into the dark interrogation room.
...
Inside the command room.
Jiang Ning seemed to sense something; she turned her head and glanced toward the door.
"What's wrong, Engineer Jiang?" Director Zhao Lixin asked, having just entered from outside and seen her movement.
"Nothing," Jiang Ning shook her head. "I just felt that a fly finally saw who was swatting it before it got squashed."
Director Zhao Lixin froze for a moment, then immediately understood what she meant.
He shook his head with a bitter smile.
To Engineer Jiang, the top-tier ace agents of the US might truly be no different from a fly.
"Engineer Jiang, the people have all been captured," he reported. "As you instructed, all their equipment has been sent to your laboratory. What would you like to do next?"
"Leave the people to you," Jiang Ning's interest was clearly not in interrogation. "I only want the things."
"Understood," Director Zhao Lixin nodded. "Then... the US side will definitely react quickly—protests, pressure... and on our side..."
"That is your business, not mine," Jiang Ning interrupted him, turning back to face the model. "My task is to build this city. Everything else, I don't care about."
Director Zhao Lixin looked at her back, a sense of unprecedented security welling up in his heart.
Yes, with such a "deity" holding down the fort here, what else did he have to fear?
If the sky fell, she would be the one to hold it up.
All he needed to do was handle the mundane worldly affairs that the "deity" couldn't be bothered with.
He straightened his back, and his entire demeanor changed.
"I understand, Engineer Jiang," he said in a deep voice. "Rest assured, before you finish this city, nothing will be able to disturb you."
After saying this, he turned and strode out.
He had to go write a report to the capital.
He had to go handle the diplomatic dispute with the US.
He had to go welcome the coming world-class storm.
But this time, his heart was filled with confidence.