Chapter 1867: Behind-the-Scenes Financier, A Terrifying Guess

Meanwhile, a preliminary result had been reached regarding the interrogation and investigation of Sailuo.

Ougesi's voice was unusually grave during the Sending: "Asuosi, you would never guess what we've discovered. Stop surveying the Mythallar Node for now; call Saijisi and come over to take a look!"

Although Ougesi intended to be cryptic, Xia Duo understood that, barring any accidents, Ougesi must have discovered the connection between Sailuo and Gulite.

Or rather, Ougesi and the others must have already discovered the fact that Gulite was a Demon Descendant.

Xia Duo did not delay and immediately called Saijisi to teleport back.

Returning to Cloudtop Tower.

The location Ougesi told Xia Duo to go to during the Sending confirmed Xia Duo's guess; it was a heavily guarded magic prison located beneath Cloudtop Tower.

The guards led Xia Duo and Saijisi outside the single cell where Sailuo was held. Ougesi, the Eye of Terror, and Katunidede, who was responsible for diplomatic affairs, were all there.

Xia Duo immediately understood. If everything went smoothly, the stalemate in negotiations between Evereska and the Northland nations would likely be broken through Wuweilun.

After exchanging greetings, Xia Duo asked:

"Ougesi, what did you discover that made you so uncomposed?"

"It's about the guy inside, of course!"

Ougesi pointed to Sailuo, who was being held in a twisted, spread-eagled position by a Jinjufazhen inside the cell. His tone was slightly heavy while also revealing a trace of disbelief:

"Yesterday, Lakelaisi discovered some materials in this guy's residence. After repeated discussions between me and Ougesi, we determined it to be a simplified Ritual Spell intended to transform Elves into Demon Descendants.

"Of course, this spell is still in the refinement stage. Fortunately, it was discovered early; otherwise, the situation yesterday might not have been limited to the Jinqiangwei Community, but the entire Evereska!

"We investigated this guy's past movements. The most outrageous thing is that just a short while ago, he had just submitted an application to the Government Hall to contract land to establish a medicinal herb planting base.

"If the Government Hall hadn't had other plans for that land, it likely would have been approved for him! Just thinking about it now still gives me lingering fear!"

"Building a medicinal herb base? Does that spell for transforming Demon Descendants have something to do with medicinal herbs?" Xia Duo asked again.

"It is related, but also not."

Ougesi sighed and explained: "Sailuo originally settled in Evereska as a herbalist, which earned him the respect and trust of the vast majority of residents in the Jinqiangwei Community.

"Likewise, this allowed him to conduct some unconventional research without being reported by community residents due to minor suspicions.

"If he had succeeded in building the medicinal herb planting base, he might have been able to influence more communities. In fact, the current impact is already great enough.

"Even though a large number of Jinqiangwei Community residents witnessed the entire process of Sailuo transforming into a demon yesterday, there are still many surviving residents today pleading with the Government Hall to let us release Sailuo!"

By the end, Ougesi's tone had sunk to the extreme. Just thinking about the residents under his jurisdiction pleading for a criminal was practically a slap in his own face!

"Is that all? Who is behind Sailuo? And how did he usually obtain his medicinal herbs?"

Xia Duo raised his own doubts again, "A public herbalist in a community who has to treat patients for the community while also researching a Ritual Spell alone—he couldn't possibly go into the mountains to pick herbs himself, right? There must be someone silently supporting him behind the scenes!"

"You've hit the nail on the head! We thoroughly investigated every social connection Sailuo had since entering Evereska. Guess what we found?"

"What did you find?"

"The Funasi Chamber of Commerce! Although there is no direct link, we interrogated the middlemen who provided herbs to Sailuo, and they confessed that it was the Funasi Chamber of Commerce funding it from behind the scenes!"

After finishing, Ougesi said meaningfully, "Do you know what this means?"

Of course he knew!

It was just that Xia Duo hadn't expected that while he had originally designed for Ougesi to discover Gulite's trail by investigating Sailuo's past movements, he had clearly underestimated Gulite's level of caution.

Listening to Ougesi's tone, it was highly probable that they hadn't discovered the connection between Gulite and Sailuo, but the Funasi Chamber of Commerce and Sailuo were deeply intertwined.

In normal times, this hidden connection might not have been noticed by anyone, but once an incident occurred, the various traces could not be cleaned up in a short time.

At the very least, it could not be done quietly without arousing suspicion from the Evereska side.

"Then is Gulite also a Demon Descendant? Have you confirmed it?"

"Just before I notified you, we had already re-conducted a check specifically targeting Demon Descendants on him. The result was as expected: Gulite is also a Demon Descendant!"

Speaking of this, Ougesi sighed again with a complex expression. He glanced at Katunidede, who was standing silently to the side, and continued:

"What I am most worried about now is that the Demon Descendants plotting to assassinate Crown King Yintewa of Wuweilun will have a huge impact on Evereska and even the entire Northland!

"Whether this incident is an internal conflict among the Demon Descendant forces or the final battle they are launching to seize power, it is all too heavy for us."

"This—"

Xia Duo was also somewhat hesitant. If the Demon Descendants had already completely infiltrated and controlled Wuweilun, that would be too terrifying. It was just a pity that although Gulite had a miraculous birth, his status within the Demon Descendants was still not high enough, and the intelligence he had gathered was very limited.

Relying only on the incomplete memories of Gulite that he currently possessed, Xia Duo could not judge whether Wuweilun had already fallen into the hands of the Demon Descendants.

It was just that, associating this with the not-so-distant future where Wuweilun was suddenly destroyed, it was hard for him to say there was no connection at all!

"Then what are you planning to do now?"

Xia Duo knew that seeking verification directly from the Wuweilun side was likely a dead end, because you couldn't be sure if the target you found was a Demon Descendant, and even Crown King Yintewa might not be reliable.

"Saian has already gone to the Elf Court. The Elders should not have any problems; there should be a proper plan for handling this."

What Ougesi didn't say was that if the Elders also had problems, that would be a catastrophic disaster for Evereska—a real-life version of "the clown is actually me."

In the following days, the Council of Elders had been waiting for news from the Elf Court, while Xia Duo and Saijisi's work surveying the Old Mythallar nodes had not stopped.

Because the future situation had become even more uncertain, the time they spent going to Wild Vine Valley to study the New Mythallar was greatly shortened.

According to Ougesi, if it were confirmed that Wuweilun had been infiltrated by Demon Descendants, then Evereska would have to consider the necessity of forced independence.

By then, dismantling the Old Mythallar would become the top priority. As for the New Mythallar, a basic Protective Maze Lock could be used as a temporary substitute for the time being.