Chapter 3206: Yierlan's Warning, Crossing the Border Secretly

While Poson was successfully returning to Terminos, the various nations of the Northland received news of the tragedy that had occurred within Ailan one after another, and Xia Duo, far away in the southern border of Netheril, was no exception.

Although he had anticipated such an outcome two days prior, he still felt incomparably shocked when it all happened so calmly and firmly.

After receiving the news from the Alliance Headquarters, Xia Duo left behind a Projection that could be operated by an outsider but still retained a portion of his perception, and then handed the task of presiding over the ritual to Niya.

Of course, he did not immediately transfer his consciousness to the avatar; instead, he first returned to the Tower of Time to check, one by one, the Soul State of the victims among his people who had been summoned by the Soul Summoning Array.

The bad news was that almost all the people who had remained within Ailan had perished, totaling forty-two individuals, including a nephew of Aoruipusi; the good news was that these people had died very quickly, and their souls had not suffered any damage.

Generally speaking, unless they had suffered inhuman torture before death or were struck by certain spells that acted directly upon the soul, the souls of most people who died by accident could be resurrected normally.

Of course, with the resurrection technology Xia Duo currently possessed, it was indeed impossible to achieve a completely lossless resurrection; the spellcasting ability of those resurrected would indeed be weakened to a certain degree, but as long as they recuperated well, they could slowly recover over time.

Only after confirming the state of these souls did Xia Duo breathe a sigh of relief; the intensity of the Illuminati's attack had somewhat exceeded his expectations, but fortunately, it had not harmed these souls, which was no small comfort to him.

……

Next, after settling his main body, Xia Duo returned his consciousness to the avatar. At this moment, Evereska was already in an uproar; the news regarding the terrorist attack on the Ailan factories was being spread far and wide, for a time even overshadowing the topic of the New Artifact that had been the talk of the town during this period.

But what was even livelier at this moment was not Evereska, but the Northland Alliance Headquarters.

On the way from Yunfeng Manor to the Headquarters, Xia Duo saw batches of Northland Mages taking the Flying Disks within the city of Evereska, rising in unison from various areas of the city and then flying toward the Alliance Headquarters.

And the reason he could see this scene was, of course, because he had also chosen a more rapid method of flight; otherwise, how could he have seen it so comprehensively from the ground?

Thus, Xia Duo encountered the first congestion at the Flying Disk docking points near the Headquarters since the establishment of the Alliance, and many Mages even began discussing the truth behind this terrorist attack while waiting in line.

In addition, there were Mages who, like Xia Duo, possessed low-altitude flight permissions for the city area; they could not wait for the Flying Disks to queue up and land slowly, so they jumped directly from mid-air and then glided all the way down to the entrance of the Alliance Headquarters.

Xia Duo declined the inquiries of the Mages who landed alongside him and walked straight toward the intelligence department. There were Permission Level settings there, and outsiders could not enter, but upon arriving, he discovered that the intelligence department had unexpectedly also begun to experience congestion.

"It's Consultant Xia Duo! Make way, quickly!" When a human Mage saw Xia Duo coming, he immediately and proudly called out to his human companions and the Elves who hadn't yet reacted to clear a path for Xia Duo.

Seeing this, Xia Duo did not stand on ceremony; he nodded to the human Mage who had spoken first, considering it a mental note of the person, and then headed straight for Dumu's office.

Soon, he saw Dumu in Dumu's office, as well as the unexpected Tili'ao. The two had grave expressions and seemed to be discussing something before Xia Duo's arrival; as soon as Xia Duo arrived, the two immediately stopped talking.

Xia Duo offered a greeting, and only then did Dumu react, hurriedly saying, "Consultant Xia Duo has arrived."

"Mm, I came as soon as I received the news. What is the situation now?" Xia Duo looked at Dumu with an equally grave expression; although he himself had mastered quite a bit of intelligence, the specifics still depended on the professionals.

Hearing Xia Duo's inquiry, Dumu's brow grew even gloomier. He told Xia Duo, "The situation is not good; I must ask Consultant Xia Duo to be mentally prepared."

"Rest assured, I have already heard quite a few rumors on the way here. Tell me the truth; you don't need to worry about my feelings."

"Alright, then I will speak." After finishing, Dumu glanced at Tili'ao, who was showing a worried look nearby, and then continued, "According to the news sent from Ailan, just a short while ago, those factories you built jointly with Yierlan, including those still under construction, were attacked by an unknown force almost simultaneously. The factories were completely destroyed, and none of the relevant personnel survived."

"Anything else?"

"There is also the fact that the Yierlan side invites you to participate in the follow-up investigation of this incident. They have already sent investigators over first, saying they will wait for you for one day. After one day, regardless of whether you send someone or go yourself, they will begin the investigation."

"Anything else?" Xia Duo continued to ask.

Seeing this, Dumu couldn't help but look at Xia Duo strangely, but he didn't take any further action and instead continued to answer, "The rest is the self-inspection report from the Ailan side. I have read it; for the time being, no abnormalities have been discovered."

Seeing that Dumu didn't seem to understand the focus of his inquiry, Xia Duo could only ask again, "I am saying, apart from those attacks within Ailan, have there been any other attacks or abnormal events in the Northland!"

"Whether there are abnormal events will still require some time to confirm, but similar attacks can be confirmed: at least within the Northland, there is no eighth incident."

"Is that so!"

Upon hearing this, Xia Duo fell into deep thought. His view was somewhat similar to Poson's; he felt that the Illuminati's attack this time definitely did not have a simple purpose. Of course, it wouldn't be designed specifically to test Poson, but rather had other, deeper goals.

Otherwise, could it be that the Illuminati just wanted to destroy those few factories? They even destroyed the factories that were still under construction together.

As for the currently explainable reason, Xia Duo could only think of one: those factories that had already been built and had started trial production had created a particularly obvious Time Anchoring effect on the current Time Line.

Or rather, the Illuminati realized that the existence of those factories would cause a very serious negative impact on the final Time-Involving Ritual, which would take place no later than next July; perhaps the final window of opportunity would be significantly advanced or even disappear directly.

That was why the Illuminati had braved the risk of entering the Alliance's field of vision again to brazenly attack and destroy those factories.

This was actually one of the original intentions behind Xia Duo's development plan for Ailan: to force the Illuminati into a corner by changing Ailan, a key place in the hearts of the Illuminati, and thereby expose more flaws.

And in fact, Xia Duo's plan was successful. Aside from those attack sites, through the "bot" Poson, he had also learned more inside information about the Illuminati.

But there was still a considerable distance to go before locking onto the true mastermind behind the Illuminati—that Wood Elf prophet who still existed only in Xia Duo's speculations.