#757 - Dealing with the root cause of fear

"Ugh~"

Lin Lie couldn't help but yawn. It was already past midnight, and the day's training had been so strenuous that he had gone to bed early, hoping for a good night's sleep. He didn't expect to be called for a midnight assembly.

Although he felt a bit resentful, Lin Lie still dutifully went to the command center. When he opened the door, he found a group of people turning to look at him.

It seemed he was the last to arrive.

"You're late, Lin Lie," Ji Shuangshuang couldn't help but facepalm. "We've all been waiting here for you for three minutes."

"S-sorry," Lin Lie scratched his head awkwardly and quickly walked into the group.

"Alright, now that everyone's here, let's begin," Zheng Xian scanned the group, then took out something the size of a pen. As he pressed the button on it, the huge monitor behind Zheng Xian lit up.

"Just now, at exactly midnight, our satellite in space sent back a message indicating that seven unknown objects are approaching Earth at extremely high speeds."

As Zheng Xian explained, related images appeared on the monitor behind him, all of which were data charts that Lin Lie couldn't understand at all.

"These objects are wrapped in a strange energy, and our satellites can't detect the objects' true forms. We can only rely on data to detect where these things will land."

Zheng Xian clicked the remote control again, and the image on the monitor changed to a three-dimensional image of the Earth, which he pulled out of the monitor. At the same time, seven beams of light aimed at the image and struck it.

"One of these is heading for our country, and the remaining six are heading for other countries. Let's not discuss the other countries for now. The one heading for our country has already landed in Shennongjia. We're lucky that no one was injured as a result."

Zheng Xian said seriously, "We launched missiles to try to intercept it, but we failed."

"What exactly is it that can withstand a missile attack?"

Lin Lie turned to look. The one speaking was the Weather Witch, the leader of the first special team, Dynasty, of the S.H.I.E.L.D., and considered a veteran in the S.H.I.E.L.D..

"Even after it landed, we still can't see what it really looks like?"

"You can rest assured about that," Zheng Xian clicked the remote control again. "The advance team has already sent back pictures of the thing."

The screen changed, and everyone who saw the new image was stunned.

In the photo, a huge crater occupied most of the area. Around the crater were piles of charred remains, which used to be the most common trees in Shennongjia.

Located in the middle of the crater was the true cause of all this, a slender round rod inserted into a short, thick cylinder. No matter how you looked at it, it resembled a hammer.

"Is that... a hammer?" Acheng couldn't help but say. He wasn't the only one; everyone present thought so.

"I asked the people from Kunlun," Zheng Xian put down his arm. "They don't know what it is either, but they said it looks a bit like Thor's hammer, Mjolnir. Of course, it just looks similar; the real Mjolnir doesn't look like that."

"Thor? If I remember correctly, those are the gods of Asgard, right?" The Weather Witch frowned. "I remember our newest allies seem to have some connection with Asgard, right? Can't we ask them to identify it?"

"We contacted them as soon as we confirmed it," Zheng Xian nodded. "Although we couldn't reach Yang Le, we contacted his deputy, Franklin. He'll be here soon."

"Before that, Team Three Emperors, you are responsible for going to the site to guard that hammer."

"Roger!" Ji Shuangshuang responded immediately, while Acheng and Lin Lie were slightly slower.

"Roger!" ×2

...

Yang Le stretched his neck. He wasn't in a good state right now. Anyone who was pulled out of their sleep in the middle of the night probably wouldn't be.

But it was Heimdall who had called him. According to him, Odin had important matters to discuss with him, so he got out of bed and arrived in Asgard via the Rainbow Bridge.

This time, Yang Le stepped off the Rainbow Bridge and went directly to the throne room of the Golden Palace. Seeing Odin standing in front of him, Yang Le guessed that Odin must have used Odin's power to change the landing point of the Rainbow Bridge.

It seemed that this matter was indeed very important.

"The Serpent's seal has been broken," Odin said directly as soon as he saw Yang Le. This sentence stifled the yawn that Yang Le was about to let out.

"Isn't the Sky Hammer in the Odin's Vault?"

"Odin's Vault has been robbed."

One question and one answer resulted in more question marks on Yang Le's head. He remembered that Odin had solemnly assured him not long ago that Odin's Vault was the safest place in the Nine Realms.

Yang Le knew that the Sky Hammer would eventually appear, and he didn't think that Odin's Vault could really hide the Sky Hammer forever, but he didn't expect this day to come so quickly. It hadn't even been a week.

Looking at Odin's face, which seemed much older, Yang Le couldn't bring himself to say any words of complaint, let alone that he didn't have any intention of doing so.

"A total of two things were stolen from the Vault, one is the Sky Hammer, and the other is the Ancient Winter Coffin," Odin covered his forehead. "It's Loki; she took those two things."

"I guess she heard something from Laufey and was then bewitched by him to go to Odin's Vault to find the Ancient Winter Coffin to explore whether she is an Asgardian."

Odin showed a bitter smile and said, "This wouldn't have been anything, but who would have thought? Loki is actually the first Sky Hammer Venerable in the prophecy. I didn't expect that she is actually Skadi who opened the seal."

Yang Le was also speechless. Who would have thought of such a coincidence? They were clearly being careful in everything. Now Yang Le understood what it meant to say that human calculations are not as good as Heaven's calculations.

"Now is not the time to be decadent," Yang Le crossed his arms. "We should shift our attention to what is about to happen."

"You're right, child," Odin sighed and braced himself. "Sitting here won't solve things by themselves. We have to find a way to deal with what's coming next."

Yang Le didn't respond. The Serpent was both simple and difficult to deal with. As long as Odin was willing to send Thor out, everything would be solved.

In simple terms, the Serpent is like a mechanism monster in a game. It's not particularly strong, but its unique mechanism can make it a particularly troublesome BOSS.

And Thor is like a one-time item in the game that can solve the Serpent, but once it's used, it's gone.