Chapter 329: The New World

After the two sides of representatives, namely Wei Chen and James’s team, had exchanged pleasantries, they soon left the Riverine Containment & Research Facility.

James Stanton had arranged a black SUV for them, an ordinary-looking vehicle that was spacious enough to accommodate the entire group. Although it was heavily armored and bulletproof, its appearance was deliberately kept discreet. It looked more like a vehicle meant to transport important guests than a multimillion-dollar military vehicle.

As the SUV traveled through the city, Mo Xingyao could not stop looking out the window.

Her eyes moved from one building to another, taking in the enormous skyscrapers that seemed to pierce the sky.

Marveling at the novel-looking structures, she murmured, "What an impressive city..."

She turned toward Wei Chen.

"These buildings must have been built by many renowned builders and experts, right? I don’t think those with low cultivation would be able to cut stone and shape glass to this degree."

She then looked around even more through the window.

"Wait... don’t tell me... the entire city was built by the same team of builders!? How much did that cost!?" Mo Xingyao exclaimed.

Wei Chen glanced outside and smiled. He knew exactly why Mo Xingyao seemed so excited at the sight of the metropolis.

"These buildings were constructed by mortals."

Mo Xingyao turned toward him in surprise.

"Mortals? You’re joking, right?"

Wei Chen shook his head.

"No... why would I lie to you? Unlike our world, the people of this world have developed machinery capable of performing much of the heavy labor required for construction."

Mo Xingyao looked outside again, her eyes filled with awe as she marveled at the concrete forest.

In her world, famous architects and builders were almost entirely made up of cultivators. Without advanced machinery, constructing massive buildings required considerable physical strength and spiritual techniques. Those who excelled in construction were often cultivators who had spent decades perfecting their craft.

"But how can mortals construct buildings this large?" she asked.

James, who was sitting nearby, overheard the conversation and smiled.

"We have something called heavy machinery. Cranes, excavators, bulldozers, concrete pumps, and various other machines. They allow ordinary people to move enormous amounts of material and construct buildings on a scale that would otherwise require a tremendous amount of manpower."

Mo Xingyao’s eyes immediately lit up.

"Heavy machinery?"

James nodded.

"Yes, my lady. They are essentially machines designed to perform work that would otherwise require a large number of people, or work that would be impossible for mortals to accomplish by hand alone."

Mo Xingyao’s expression became noticeably more interested.

As a merchant, she immediately recognized the potential.

*Heavy machinery that allows mortals to do the work of cultivators? That’s very interesting. And by mortal standards, they don’t have spiritual qi, so I don’t need to worry about spirit stone expenditure either.*

"Are you selling this... heavy machinery by any chance?"

James paused.

This was surprising. He had never expected the people from the other world to suddenly become interested in heavy machinery.

"I’m sorry, my lady. I don’t have the authority to authorize such a sale. I’ll leave that to the negotiation team."

Mo Xingyao nodded thoughtfully.

*It’s as expected. This miraculous artifact called heavy machinery is, of course, not easy to come by.*

Wei Chen glanced at James and snorted as he retorted inside his mind.

*You don’t have the authority to authorize the sale of heavy machinery!? What a load of crap. This is just a normal commodity that any construction company with enough money could buy.*

He decided to tell Mo Xingyao about this later. Right now, they were inside the car, and everything they were saying would definitely be heard by this guy.

The SUV continued along the road toward the CIS safehouse that had been prepared for the diplomatic party.

Neither the people inside nor the driver noticed that they were not the only ones watching their journey.

Hiding within the crowd and observing through telescopes, several intelligence operatives had already noticed the unusual convoy.

In Russia, a report was quietly passed through intelligence channels. The report went directly to the Kremlin and immediately landed on the desks of people with the highest authority.

In China, the same report also landed on the chairman’s desk. They were listening to the report from the agent on-site, while many other high-ranking officials were also sitting in the same room and listening to the same report.

Neither side had managed to see the passengers inside the vehicles. They could not confirm who was being transported, nor could they obtain any clear photographs of the guests.

But the circumstances were enough to raise suspicions.

A heavily protected diplomatic convoy had left the portal facility shortly after the arrival of the diplomatic party from the other side.

It was not difficult for them to reach that conclusion. They were all major powers with intelligence networks spread across the world. Even though they were unable to obtain more information, they had enough pieces to make an educated guess.

With just a guess, they knew that whatever was inside that convoy was almost certainly one of the most important guests to have arrived from the other side of the portal.

In Russia, President Dimitri Volkov exhaled a long white trail of smoke from his cigar as he looked at the head of the KGB standing in front of him.

"We can’t lose this chance. Activate the sleeper agents. Whatever it takes, we must make contact with the guests from the other side. We can’t let the US hog this opportunity alone," President Dimitri Volkov said in a solemn tone.

At this moment, he had the same mindset as a gambling addict who had decided to go all in.

These sleeper agents had been stationed in the US for emergency situations only, and they would never be activated unless it was absolutely necessary.

"Yes, sir! We’ll activate them!" The head of the KGB accepted the command and immediately left to execute it.

In Beijing, the same scene was playing out at the Wang Clan’s residence. The Wang Clan had held the seat of the chairman of China for the longest period of time. They were essentially the modern-day Chinese imperial family.

"Chairman, we suspect that the people inside those cars are the guests from the other side," the agent’s voice came from the other side of the live conference screen.

Wang Zhenhua turned toward his advisor.

"Do our insiders inside the CIA know anything about the identity of the guests?"

"No, Chairman, they don’t. This is a top-secret operation, and only a select few people know the deeper context behind it. There’s no way our insiders could know about this," the advisor said with a tired sigh.

This operation had been kept extremely secret. They had already lost many of their assets inside the US. In this one month alone, they had lost nearly all of their secret and valuable assets. What remained were only a few relatively unimportant assets that did not have enough influence or access to obtain deeper information.

"Do everything we can to create an opportunity for us to contact the guests. Try pressuring them if we have enough cards to play. If they want something that isn’t too much, give it to them. As long as we have a chance to make contact with the guests," the chairman said with determination.

At this moment, the door opened, and an old man dressed in traditional clothing walked in.

Seeing the newcomer, the chairman’s expression softened.

"Master Liu Jianmin, what brings you here?" the chairman asked.

"Chairman, can you give me an opportunity to contact the guests?" the old man asked.

"Right now, we are trying our best. We’ve lost many high-value assets in the US just to secure this information. This information was hidden so deeply that even some high-ranking officials over there didn’t know that the guests from the other side had arrived today," the chairman said, his voice half tired and half resigned.

The old man, Liu Jianmin, remained silent as he looked at the screen, which showed only the departing convoy.

"I’ll go there myself and see if I can find an opportunity to contact them," the old man stated.

"Are you sure? Master Liu... these CIA agents are..." The chairman wanted to dissuade him, but the old man held up his hand.

"I know they are troublesome, but only troublesome. You know my strength, Chairman. Bullets hold no threat against me," the old man said confidently.

Hearing this, Chairman Wang let out a sigh.

This old man, Liu Jianmin, was the patriarch of the strongest hidden martial clan, a clan with a deep heritage of martial arts that could be traced back to ancient times, when martial arts were truly powerful and capable of feats that seemed almost miraculous.

However, after the invention of firearms, these martial clans had gradually hidden themselves deep within society. Most of them had transformed into influential clans, using their wealth and connections to maintain their position in modern society. Only a few still held firmly to their ancient heritage and continued to practice martial arts at the highest level, becoming true masters.

"Yes, Master Liu. I’ll send people to escort you there," the chairman agreed.