Chapter 3239: A Gold Mountain Dropped on the Head

Given this topic, and the hesitant expression on Dumu's face, how could Xia Duo not guess what Dumu was thinking? So, he spoke openly:

"You want to say that the Tower of Time has also engaged in smuggling here in Ailan?"

"The intelligence provided by Yierlan says so, and we have confirmed this point. It's just that, according to what we understand, the Tower of Time's smuggling of grain in Ailan happened some time ago; at the very least, it stopped after the Ailan factories began construction. Yierlan admits this as well, but they have now discovered traces of smuggling again, so—"

Dumu did not continue, but Xia Duo knew what he meant. He told the other party clearly: "I know you are worried that starting an investigation into the Ailan smuggling will eventually lead back to me, and that you will neither find the Darkness Society nor avoid wasting time.

"So I am telling you now: after I reached a cooperation agreement with Yierlan regarding the development of Ailan, I have not smuggled anything into Ailan since.

"Perhaps the Tower of Time's Void Warehouse has been utilized, but that is the personal behavior of the Void Warehouse users. If you find clues related to the Darkness Society, I can cooperate with the investigation."

In fact, Yierlan had already spoken with Xia Duo regarding the recent smuggling, and Xia Duo had responded clearly. Now that Yierlan is reporting this situation to the Alliance, it seems they may have truly discovered some clues rather than just looking to cause him trouble.

As for Xia Duo himself, he had indeed discovered suspected excited state magic artifacts or ritual components stored by the Darkness Society within the Tower of Time's Void Warehouse, but he had no conclusive evidence to prove it was the work of the Darkness Society.

Moreover, I have no selfish motives. On one hand, it is a lack of trust in the Alliance's (past) investigative capabilities; on the other hand, I hope that the matter is something I reveal proactively, so as not to let users lose trust in the Tower of Time's Void Warehouse.

After all, these two excited state magic artifacts were stored in the Stasis Space Warehouse. No matter how safe it is, it is still related to the Void Warehouse, and so-called safety inspections are mostly aimed at items that can threaten the safety of the Void Warehouse.

Because from the perspective of absolute hard power, that organization is far inferior to the Alliance. Even if the Darkness Society dared to stand out and fight head-on, Xia Duo himself or any country in the Alliance (except Irusk) could wipe them all out.

Now the Alliance, especially the various Elf nations, has made up its mind to eliminate the Darkness Society. As for secrecy, the recent attacks and the smuggling issues are all individual clues that can be traced.

After exchanging information regarding that organization with Ailan for a while, the materials the Alliance used for the sacrificial experiment had already arrived at the camp. Just like the sacrificial objects chosen during the Yierlan experiment, the Alliance also used old magic artifacts for the experiment.

As the final window for the Time-Involving Ritual draws ever closer, the actions of that organization will become more and more frequent. This feeling is like prey caught in a spider web; the more it struggles, the faster it dies.

The reason that organization is difficult to deal with lies in its ultra-strong secrecy and its intricate connections with the Elf upper echelons.

In other words, the amount I can apply for reimbursement could also be half of Yierlan's!

……

It even included the old magic artifacts that Yierlan had previously invested; most of the costs could also be reimbursed by the Alliance. Even the student assignments Xia Duo had previously invested had people coming to ask about the costs, which made Xia Duo's heart jump fiercely.

And the most critical thing is that no matter what, the Darkness Society cannot destroy the entire Magic Net of the Main Plane in an instant. Xia Duo is even looking forward to the Darkness Society doing something even crazier!

For this, I can fully accept bearing a little more risk.

Even if the Alliance ultimately does not consider Iolum's repair plan, but instead adopts the plan of investing magic items to let the Magic Net heal itself, the follow-up cost might not just be a matter of tens of millions, but hundreds of millions, billions, or even more!

But I have also made a promise to cooperate with the investigation. As long as the Alliance has any directional clues, I will cooperate without hesitation and to the maximum extent.

In this way, on one hand, it can make the Alliance's determination to clear out the Darkness Society at any cost more firm; on the other hand, frequent actions will also cause the Darkness Society to expose more clues that can be traced.

Furthermore, even if the Darkness Society were to crazily destroy the Magic Net now, it would only increase the cost of using the Magic Net in the future and lower efficiency; it would not have too much impact on the upper limit of power that a Spellcaster can reach.

If it threatened something else, there would be no reason to inspect it at all. After all, magic items are inherently very dangerous, at least to ordinary people.

As for whether doing so will lead to missing the best opportunity to find the Darkness Society, that is not something Xia Duo needs to worry about. No one can take care of every aspect; he just made the choice that was relatively more favorable to him.

But the worry about the trust level of the Void Warehouse users still exists, so Xia Duo still has not revealed to Ailan the two excited state magic artifacts he discovered that were suspected to be stored by the Darkness Society.

So the inspection reason Xia Duo gave was just aimed at the Void Warehouse itself. Others can accept this; after all, you used my warehouse, you can't cause damage to my warehouse, right?

What I worry about most is precisely the Darkness Society doing nothing, enduring it, and acting like a poisonous snake lurking in the dark; that is what makes people restless!

Not to mention the Giant Mithril Mine in the Grey Peak Mountains, which is a super giant mine that might not be mined out for thousands of years! (Estimated based on the Alliance's current mining level)

Even for the recycling of old magic artifacts, the actual cost for Yierlan must be at least several tens of millions. Although the purchasing power of Gold Coins is continuously falling due to the large amount of gold and silver that can be produced from the Giant Mithril Mine in the Grey Peak Mountains, several tens of millions of Gold Coins is still not a small number.

Now, Xia Duo's confidence in the Alliance's investigative ability has increased a bit. It is mainly because the determination is greater, so the ability will naturally improve. Before, the determination was not great, so even if they had the ability, they would not necessarily use it.

That is reality.

One can imagine the temptation of these tens of millions to Xia Duo!

Or to put it more vividly, the cost of a Floating City might only be ten million or so; several tens of millions in cash is several Floating Cities!

A small portion of it was collected on-site from Evereska, but the majority actually came from Yierlan, which had been prepared long ago; it's just that the cost of this experiment will be borne by the Alliance.

If one were to use the standard for ordinary people to conduct safety inspections on items in the Void Warehouse, then perhaps the vast majority of magic items could not be stored inside.

But the Tower of Time has too many places where it needs money; in reality, it cannot save much money at all. Given the Tower of Time's current net income, several tens of millions in cash might take at least ten years to accumulate.

Taking the current Tower of Time as an example, including all income from mass-produced magic items, Communication Mythallar, Void Warehouses, and Computing Power Pool orders, etc., the annual income is no more than ten million.

This makes it very difficult to keep my mood calm. Yierlan claims to have invested old magic artifacts worth over a hundred million, and Xia Duo has handled those artifacts, so there isn't much exaggeration.

The most critical thing is that Xia Duo doesn't have to worry about the Alliance not being able to pay that money, because the Alliance's largest source of income now—the Computing Power Pool—is managed by me.

Judging from the acquisition of Divine Grace and the on-site test data, the effect of the student assignments I invested can account for about half of the old magic artifacts invested by Yierlan.