Chapter 2943: Shocking and Disagreements

Having understood the basic background of the various chambers of commerce within the Diya Merchant Group, especially the Xinnong Chamber of Commerce where Yilai is located, Xia Duo was actually already inclined to cooperate with them in his heart.

Although he had now become the person in charge of the Alliance Public Computing Resource Pool project and possessed significant say in related matters, not everything could be decided by him alone.

At the very least, regarding the establishment of the National Sub-network for each country, he could set standards and perform post-construction inspections, but it was difficult to intervene directly; fundamentally, it still had to be left to the relevant personnel of each country to carry out.

Xia Duo had a favorable impression of Maiyelita, and by extension, of Wuweilun as well; the Xinnong Chamber of Commerce and even the entire Diya Merchant Group could, to a greater or lesser extent, be linked to Maiyelita and Wuweilun, and naturally, they inherited this favorable impression.

Since those specific construction projects had to be given to someone anyway, and since the Diya Merchant Group had already taken the initiative to come knocking for cooperation, what reason did Xia Duo have to refuse?

As for the other chambers of commerce that had come to visit him recently, they had also mentioned cooperation, but it was limited to the construction of the Public Computing Resource Pool itself; such cooperation was less like cooperation and more like begging for food.

In a situation where there was a better choice, Xia Duo would naturally choose the better collaborator.

……

In the following few days, Yilai and other representatives of the Diya Merchant Group visited one after another; although Xia Duo still did not promise anything, he introduced them to the newly established Nether Mining, which was effectively a tacit agreement to cooperate.

During this period, the final few tests for the Public Computing Resource Pool were also nearing their end, and if nothing unexpected happened, a perfect report card could be delivered before the end of the month.

With the spread of this news, more and more Elves, both acquaintances and strangers, visited Xia Duo; Xia Duo found this unbearably annoying, and in the end, he simply hid at the Alliance Headquarters, using the excuse of wrapping up the final tests, which finally brought him some peace.

In this second half of April, besides the Public Computing Resource Pool matter that tugged at everyone's heartstrings, there was another major event that absolutely could not be ignored: the Demon Descendant Mages captured by the Alliance during the raids on two Time-Involving Rituals some time ago.

Secret investigations had been ongoing previously, and news had finally leaked out recently; countless Elves were implicated, including several Upper Families from Elven nations such as Cormanthor.

This result was simply shocking, to the point that even though news had leaked, few Elves dared to discuss this matter openly in public; it was not that they feared those few exposed Upper Families, but rather—

Just this preliminary investigation had uncovered so many Elves involved with Demon Descendants; once a comprehensive inspection was conducted, there was no telling how many would be found!

It should be known that there had been rumors since a month ago that the various nations of the Alliance were preparing to conduct comprehensive Demon Descendant inspections within their own borders, but the volume of such talk had grown increasingly faint by now.

Especially with the recent leak of the investigation results, it had made the entire Northland panic.

……

Alliance conference room, closed-door meeting of representatives.

While the outside world was already in a panic over partial investigation results, the Alliance itself was also feeling troubled by this shocking investigation report!

If it were made public, it would very likely cause even greater unrest. If it were not made public, it would not be reasonable; with such a major event occurring, they had to provide an explanation to the outside world.

"What do you suggest we do now? I said from the beginning that we should strictly limit the identities of the investigators, and now look, the investigation isn't even over yet, and people are already spreading rumors!"

As the only human present, Tili'ao had every reason to complain, because at the current stage, the incidents involving Demon Descendants were almost entirely unrelated to Netheril.

Danzo was the same, but the Danzo representative was habitually neutral and could not possibly take the initiative to point out such a sharp issue.

The implication in Tili'ao's words was that the Elves had leaked the information; yet, all the representatives were well aware of this point, though it was not necessarily the Elves who leaked it, as there were also humans and Dwarves among the investigators.

But at least everyone acknowledged that the possibility of an Elven leak was greater; at the moment, only five representatives were present in the conference room, and it was a closed-door meeting that would not be made public, so there was no need for any war of words.

The three Elven representatives could only respond with silence.

Seeing that the Elven representatives did not speak, Tili'ao did not mind; in any case, the ones most affected by the leaks were the Elven nations, not Netheril, but the Demon Descendant problem was something the entire Northland needed to face.

Although Netheril had not yet discovered a single case of a Demon Descendant, no one could guarantee that there would be none in the future, and it was even possible that Demon Descendants had already infiltrated.

"The biggest problem right now is actually not the leak of the investigation results, but whether to continue the investigation, and how to deal with the discovered Demon Descendants and their protectors!"

This was a problem that not only Netheril could not avoid, but the Elven nations could avoid even less, because this was what was happening right now; when Tili'ao said this, the three Elven representatives could no longer remain silent.

"The investigation must certainly continue, but as for how to deal with them—"

Speaking of this, the Elven representative hesitated; seeing this, Tili'ao could not help but chuckle, then teased, "The scope of the crackdown is too broad, and you can't bear it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of the three Elven representatives changed instantly, and the Cormanthor representative responded without any courtesy—

"Tili'ao, don't be too smug. It's just that the Demon Descendants haven't reached Netheril yet, but just because there aren't any now doesn't mean there won't be in the future. What we are encountering now is what you will encounter in the future; what do you have to be smug about!"

These words caused Tili'ao to restrain his smile, and his expression became grave; indeed, Netheril had not yet seen any cases of Demon Descendants, but that did not mean it would not in the future.

More importantly, the country was currently hesitant about whether to conduct a comprehensive inspection; according to news from home, this decision did not seem easy to make.

"It was my slip of the tongue. Then what is the stance of the three nations now? Netheril and Danzo are waiting for the handling results from your three nations; perhaps it can serve as a reference for us in the future. This is not a joke; I am speaking about this very seriously."

"Cormanthor's consistent attitude toward Demon Descendants is absolute zero tolerance; once discovered, they are to be eliminated immediately, and those who harbor Demon Descendants must also be dealt with severely!"

As soon as this was said, before Tili'ao and Enjier (the Danzo representative) could express anything, the Illefarn representative Saiputalisi immediately expressed opposition:

"Eliminate them all? Do you know how many Elves that would kill?"

In fact, up to this point, Illefarn had discovered the fewest Demon Descendants domestically, but even with the smallest hidden danger of Demon Descendants, Illefarn could not make the decision to eliminate them all.

In the past, the ones who cracked down on Demon Descendants most severely were Cormanthor and Yierlan; Illefarn had almost never had any Demon Descendant incidents, nor had it suffered any Demon Descendant disasters, and more importantly—

The current Illefarn originated from the Commoners of ancient Illefarn rebuilding their homeland, and they held a certain degree of sympathy for the Demon Descendants who were also victims of the Aryvandaar war of conquest.

The reason for cracking down on Demon Descendants was more because they had joined the Northland Alliance and it was an Alliance policy; furthermore, Demon Descendants had become increasingly active in recent years, even carrying out indiscriminate attacks.

What Illefarn could not tolerate most was the Time-Involving Ritual.

But all of this was not enough to make Illefarn make the decision to completely eliminate the Demon Descendants.