Chapter 3207: Support from Various Countries, Eliminating Suspicions

"Help me reply to Yierlan that I will personally travel to Ailan to participate in the investigation. Tell them to protect the scene well and wait for me to arrive before conducting any investigation."

Xia Duo made his decision quickly. He was going to make a trip to Ailan; besides continuing to provoke the Illuminati, he also wanted to personally examine the traces left at the scene after the Illuminati's attack.

After all, he had only seen one attack through the perspective of the "pawn" Poson, and he knew absolutely nothing about the other six attacks.

Furthermore, this was one of the few opportunities to openly suspect and investigate the Illuminati, and he did not want to miss it.

Dumu and Tili'ao were not surprised by Xia Duo's decision; in their impression, Xia Duo was indeed the kind of person who cared for his people.

Tili'ao even made a promise on behalf of the Seven Towers, "If Lord Xia Duo has any needs, you can contact me at any time, or notify the Council. The Seven Towers will provide the greatest support."

"If there is a need, I will. And thank you for the generosity of the Seven Towers."

Next, Xia Duo asked Tili'ao, "What is the Alliance's attitude toward this attack incident? Is there any formal investigation or countermeasure plan?"

Although the losses from this attack were mostly borne by Xia Duo and Yierlan, their activities within Ailan were all conducted under the banner of the Alliance. If the Ailan development plan succeeded, the Alliance would also be able to share a portion of the benefits.

The current situation was indeed very unfortunate, but the Alliance could not just take the benefits and do nothing, not to mention that both Netheril and Yierlan held immense influence within the Alliance.

As for the terrorist attack itself, it did indeed occur within Ailan and had little to do with other countries, but other countries would not want similar incidents to spread to their own territories, would they?

Therefore, in Xia Duo's view, the Alliance should have made a relatively intense reaction, and in this regard, Tili'ao did not disappoint him:

"Immediately after the incident, representatives of various countries have already consulted with me. They are also very indignant about this event, but considering the attack on Consultant Xia Duo and the investment from Yierlan, they cannot make any statement without your permission and that of Yierlan. However, one thing is certain: as long as clues about the attackers are confirmed, all countries will cooperate to the best of their ability."

Speaking of this, Tili'ao glanced at Dumu again. The two exchanged a look, and then he continued to explain: "Actually, I came to Dumu's place this time specifically to wait for you. Dumu told me that the first place you would go upon arriving at the Headquarters would be here."

"As for the purpose of my visit, besides bringing greetings from the Seven Towers and the Council, I also shoulder a mission from the Alliance: the representatives of various countries have also requested to join the investigation, or at least participate in the investigation process involving you and Yierlan."

"Does this count as a condition?" Xia Duo asked.

"It does not. Even if you both refuse, the various countries will still cooperate to the best of their ability in tracking down the attackers. However, due to the lack of intelligence sharing, the various countries will inevitably waste time re-investigating to confirm the authenticity of the clues. Therefore, my view is—if it does not involve secrets, it might be better to let the various countries send Observers to investigate with you."

Tili'ao's explanation was reasonable and well-founded. Xia Duo considered it for a moment and gave his verbal consent, but he also said, "I don't have any problem on my end, but I cannot guarantee the situation on Yierlan's side."

"How could we trouble Lord Xia Duo to go and persuade Yierlan again? A representative from Keman has already gone to Yierlan, and I believe news will come soon. Regardless of whether it is good or bad, all countries are grateful for your open-mindedness."

After Tili'ao finished speaking, he excused himself and left in a hurry, saying he was going to discuss and confirm the candidates for the Observers with the representatives of various countries. Clearly, he believed there was a high probability that the Keman representative would succeed in persuading Yierlan.

After Tili'ao left, only Xia Duo and Dumu remained in Dumu's office. Xia Duo expressed his gratitude to Dumu and then prepared to leave, but Dumu stopped him and asked:

"Does Consultant Xia Duo have any suspicions about the identity of the mastermind behind this attack?"

"If this attack hadn't happened in Ailan, I might have suspected Kalishi. But this time, Yierlan's interests also suffered huge losses, and it might even trigger outside questioning of their continued right to protect Ailan. If Kalishi did this, Yierlan would probably have to change its attitude toward the New Artifact Project now."

Moreover, the most critical point was that the urgency of this matter had already surpassed Kalishi's New Artifact Project. Until a result acceptable to all parties was reached on this matter, Kalishi's New Artifact Project would likely be indefinitely shelved.

Although Xia Duo also wanted to implicate Kalishi in the attack, it was difficult to produce reasons that would convince others.

Of course, more importantly, he already knew who the attackers were, and the Illuminati was also a potentially dangerous and unstable factor to him.

Under these circumstances, there was no need to force Kalishi into the water; he could just focus on dealing with the Illuminati.

"Currently, the relationship between the Northland and various countries is relatively stable. Even for Zhamu Dasi, they have no need to pull such a stunt at this juncture. After ruling out various possibilities, the answer is obvious—the Illuminati!"

Indeed, even if Xia Duo had not confirmed through the "pawn" Poson that this attack was the work of the Illuminati, he could have locked onto the Illuminati as the main suspect through the process of elimination.

Currently, the internal and external relations of the Northland Alliance were relatively stable. Except for the Illuminati, no other force had a reason to carry out such a terrorist attack. Otherwise, if this were discovered, they would basically be cutting themselves off from the Northland and from the Main Plane.

It was unknown how much of a price would have to be paid to settle this matter; it was probably impossible to settle at all.

Therefore, there was only one answer, and that was the Illuminati. Xia Duo believed that the countries of the Northland could also make such a judgment. It was just that after having just conducted a comprehensive test against Demon Descendants, the Illuminati had caused such a major event, which would likely have an immeasurable impact on the future situation of Demon Descendants in the Northland.

"Lord Xia Duo, could you reveal how much you actually know about the Illuminati?" Dumu addressed Xia Duo by his title in Netheril, undoubtedly wanting to use this method to draw the two sides closer.

But how could Xia Duo easily reveal such a crucial secret? Even if he revealed it to Dumu, it would probably only increase the other party's worry and fear.

The true leaders of the Illuminati were not the stubborn Demon Descendants that the Northland Alliance currently believed them to be, but very likely existed among the high-ranking officials of various countries.

Once such a shocking secret was leaked, it wouldn't matter if Dumu died, but the key was that it would expose Xia Duo's speculation about the true identity of the mastermind behind the Illuminati, which would very likely trigger a frantic counterattack from the Illuminati.

Under these circumstances, even if Xia Duo controlled many resources and possessed great martial power, so what? As long as he could not suppress the entire Northland Alliance in one fell swoop, he still had to act according to the rules of the Alliance.

And under the rules of the Alliance, as long as there was no conclusive evidence proving that a certain Elf was the leader of the Illuminati, the Elf countries would certainly still be more willing to believe the prophets who had interests linked to them, rather than Xia Duo.

If you startle the snake, it would be very difficult to catch it again.