Why did you provoke me?

The nine people in the first battlefield were being trained by Jingyi. Normally, Jingyi was easy to talk to. But when it came to training, nothing she said mattered.

So the nine of them began a period of hardship, questioning the meaning of life.

On the seventh day, Yu Meng finally met the leader of the secret service.

She handed the intact round token to the leader of the secret service. "I've modified the design of this one; it should be easier to use than before."

"Lord, may I try?" The leader of the secret service took the round token.

"Sure," Yu Meng nodded with a smile. "It's yours to begin with, so of course you can do whatever you want with it."

Although the lines bear Yu Meng's mark, as long as Yu Meng doesn't manipulate them, no one else can detect them.

Yu Meng discovered this later when she went to verify the power of these lines; otherwise, she would have been thinking about how to compensate her subordinates for what she had taken.

The leader of the secret service held the round token, closed his eyes, and seemed to say something, but Yu Meng couldn't hear it.

Just as she was wondering what was going on, a large mass of lines suddenly swarmed towards her. Yu Meng never expected that the leader of the secret service would suddenly attack her.

The tyrant's tentacles shot out with lightning speed, and the little black cat instantly landed on Yu Meng's shoulder. Yu Meng retreated at an extremely fast pace.

In that instant, defense, offense, and retreat were executed flawlessly. The attacking lines were perfectly avoided, while the Overlord's tentacles, arriving late, instantly blocked all the lines.

The cripple sat to the side, mouth agape, stunned for three seconds before shouting, "Secret Shadow, how dare you!"

The tyrant's tentacles gathered all the lines together, and the little black cat floated into the air. Yu Meng immediately understood its meaning. It wanted to wash away Yu Meng's mark; it didn't want Yu Meng's underlings who had attacked her.

"It's okay, come back."

The leader of the secret service stared at the Overlord and the little black cat in the air, and his eyes changed.

He slowly walked up to Yu Meng, knelt on one knee, and removed the mask from his head. It revealed a fair-skinned young man in his twenties with captivating peach blossom eyes.

"Mysterious Shadow greets the Lord of the Palace. I swear by my life that I am completely loyal to the Lord of the Palace. If I break this oath, may I be parasitized by thousands of alien creatures."

Yu Meng glanced at the gloomy-faced cripple, then looked down at the kneeling Mi Ying, and asked, "Why did you suddenly launch a sneak attack?"

Shadow raised her head. "Because I don't want to follow the weak."

Yu Meng's smile faded. "What if I can't avoid it?"

"I will be seriously injured, but my life is not in danger. I will not swear allegiance to God."

Yu Meng looked at the cripple and asked, "Should I take in someone like that?"

The cripple seemed to have just come to his senses. "It's my fault for not teaching him properly, which allowed him to become so arrogant. As for whether to take him back or not, that's up to you. However, if you do take him back, revenge will be much easier."

Yu Meng raised an eyebrow, not thinking she hadn't seen his little gesture. She just hadn't understood what it meant at the time.

Yu Meng laughed, "That's true. Daring to lay a hand on his master, he can't escape punishment. How about I send him back to your side, and you can teach him some manners?"

Yu Meng gestured for Mi Ying to stand up. "If you, as the boss, are this unruly, your underlings are probably in even worse shape. Take the senior back to your base. Once you've disciplined all of you, then you can personally send him back."

Secret Shadow bowed and replied, "Yes."

The cripple was dumbfounded; this wasn't the outcome he wanted. The one who launched the attack was Shadow, and he should be punished. How did this get pinned on him? And now he's being sent to the Secret Department's base—will he ever be able to return?

"No, Yu Meng, this has nothing to do with me. You can't take it out on me," the cripple hurriedly said, trying to dissuade Yu Meng from this idea.

"How can it be okay? Isn't he one of yours? Did you teach him everything? Doesn't he only listen to you?"

Yu Meng's questions were asked quickly, and they were all true.

"But it's not me this time either..."

Before the cripple could finish speaking, Yu Meng interrupted him, "I know you didn't make him do it; he just subconsciously obeyed your orders."

The cripple wanted to argue, but Yu Meng raised her hand and made a gesture.

The lame man sighed and lowered his head. "I'm used to it. There's really no need to punish me like this."

At this moment, Shadow stood in front of the cripple, already reaching out to forcibly take him away.

"Yu Meng, let's talk things over. Don't make things difficult for me. This trip back and forth will break my old bones."

Yu Meng waved her hand, and Mi Ying stepped aside.

"Really? We can discuss anything."

The cripple knew he was being manipulated by Yu Meng, but there was nothing he could do; after all, Yu Meng had discovered his weakness.

"Tell me, but only if it's something I can do?"

Yu Meng was pleased. "I never make things difficult for others. You know I'm very busy, and there are some things that you have to handle personally."

The lame man sensed something was wrong and quickly interjected, "Yu Meng, look at me, I just escaped death, and my body is completely worn out. Even if I sit here, who can I intimidate?"

Yu Meng pointed to the shadowy figure beside him, "Don't be modest, old man. He executes your every move without the slightest hesitation."

The cripple chuckled, "Didn't I already say it was an accident? Why are you still holding onto it?"

"I let you go, so you didn't have to go back to the Secret Service, did you?" Yu Meng looked at him innocently. "I just became the Palace Master, and I can't even carry out my first order. What's the point of me being the Palace Master? Is it just so I can take the blame at crucial moments?" Yu Meng's eyes changed, as if there really was such a thing.

The cripple was utterly speechless. Finally, he glared at Secret Shadow with hatred and said, "It's all your fault."

Secret Shadow stood there expressionless, without reacting at all.

The cripple looked at Yu Meng dejectedly, "Just tell me what you want me to do?"

Yu Meng smiled, "It's nothing serious. Uncle Wu sometimes comes to talk to you about things, so just cooperate with him."

The cripple looked at Yu Meng warily. "Tell me the specifics. Don't think I don't know. Xiao Wu has a lot of things to manage. If he makes me cooperate with everything, he'll be exhausted."

Yu Meng glared at him. "If you don't want to, I won't force you. Then you go back with Mi Ying and retrain these people. They must be absolutely loyal to me."

The cripple raised his finger at Yu Meng, as if to say something, but then helplessly lowered his arm.

"Okay, I agree. But you know I have trouble walking, so give me two more of your communication bells."

"Didn't I already give it to you? Why do you want it back? Making that is very tiring."

The cripple got angry, "You still say that? It doesn't work at the Jing family. This time, you'd better bring me something better."

Secretly watching Yu Meng, Mi Ying knew that anything the old palace master coveted must be extraordinary, and he wanted it too.

Yu Meng waved her hand, "I don't care about these things, you can ask Uncle Wu for them."

Secret Shadow stepped forward. "Lord, what are your next instructions for me?"

Yu Meng's face remained expressionless. "No instructions. You all focus on improving your strength. Don't let yourself become useless when I need you."

Yu Meng turned and left. Behind her came Mi Ying's voice, "Then, Palace Master, how can I contact you? Should I send two people to run errands for you?"

"You should also ask Uncle Wu for a voicemail ringtone, add him as a friend, and tell him if you need anything."

Yu Meng returned to her room. On the third day, she inserted the thread into the small water droplet again, but it didn't absorb a single drop of energy.

Seven days have passed, and she needs to go back and try. If that doesn't work, she'll have to study that alien mother crystal core.