Chapter 3255: The Enemy is Underground, Temporary Transfer of Authority

Regardless of the legends, what can be confirmed now is that the giant plateau where the city-state of Evereska is located is indeed made of stone, consistent with the material of the surrounding peaks.

In other words, the imaginable space beneath Evereska is vast!

It is entirely possible for the Illuminati to have built a secret stronghold beneath Evereska, and they could even use the deep underground Earth Element Domain environment to completely shield themselves from Evereska's monitoring.

Under normal circumstances, no one would specifically develop Scrying Spells for the Earth Element Domain, and even if they were developed, such overly singular methods of detection are very easily shielded or misled.

They are far inferior to the currently most popular Scrying Spells in the Main Plane, which are based on the perception amplification and projection of Elves or humans themselves; however, such Scrying Spells are only best suited for places where Elves or humans can operate.

The underground is not the domain of intelligent races, especially solid rock layers; even Dwarves would sigh at the sight, completely unable to penetrate them, let alone operate within them.

Perhaps only those Elemental Creatures could be in their element in such an environment!

Xia Duo had never thought before that the Illuminati might have built a secret stronghold beneath Evereska; in the past, he might have overestimated the Elves and overestimated Evereska.

Of course, even now, he did not discover the Illuminati's secret stronghold through direct detection methods, but rather through the Pre-teleportation path that was highly likely to have been actively exposed by the other party.

Then, why would the other party make such a move that would expose their secret stronghold to him?

Is it because there are big fish within the Rus Chamber of Commerce and several other targets, and the value of those big fish is far higher than a secret stronghold?

Or is it because the situation has developed to the point where the Illuminati no longer cares about these things at all?

As for the possibility that the Illuminati believed they would not be tracked to their secret stronghold by the Alliance, Xia Duo completely ignored it; he did not believe that the Illuminati, capable of designing such a Pre-teleportation method, would be unaware of its drawbacks.

It can be said that the only advantage of Pre-teleportation is that it is almost impossible to stop or intercept, and the rest are all drawbacks.

If it were an organization operating in the open, it could of course ignore those drawbacks, but for an organization that needs to remain hidden, a method with such obvious drawbacks as Pre-teleportation seems hardly worth it.

Yet the Illuminati used it, and they used it right in front of Xia Duo.

Regardless of the true reason for the Illuminati using this method, Xia Duo's attention was indeed drawn to that secret stronghold located beneath Evereska.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo's expression darkened slightly as he looked at Bulaide beside him, "There is something I would like to ask you to help me inquire about from your country's Council of Elders."

"What is it?" Bulaide was not yet aware of Xia Duo's discovery; he was still feeling happy about the smooth operation of the field team, not knowing that the small fry caught below were worthless, and the real big fish were still hiding underground!

"I want to ask if your country's Council of Elders has any intention of turning Evereska into a Floating City?"

"Turning Evereska into a Floating City?"

Even though Bulaide was prepared, he did not expect Xia Duo's train of thought to be so erratic; they were clearly in the middle of an arrest operation, so how did he suddenly jump to building a Floating City!

"I will help Consultant Xia Duo convey this."

"No, there is not much time left; report to your superiors now! Also, add one more thing: if you do not want to build a Floating City, would you mind lowering the city's altitude?"

"Lowering the city's altitude?" Bulaide seemed to have some realization, but he could not grasp the key point, so he simply passed it on to the Council of Elders as it was, letting the Elders judge for themselves.

Soon, almost at the same time Bulaide agreed to the Sending, Xia Duo received an inquiry from Laruian, "Has Consultant Xia Duo discovered any clues that would cause huge turmoil for Evereska?"

"I have some."

Xia Duo told Laruian about his discovery and offered his conjecture, "I think the Illuminati might launch an operation against Evereska in the near future, or even today. Perhaps it will be like what happened before in Ailan, only they attacked a Magic Artifact Factory then, and now they are attacking an entire city!"

If it were just an attack with the intensity of one Magic Artifact Factory, it would be far from enough to destroy Evereska, but one must know that the Magic Artifact Factory was only attacked once.

It is entirely possible for the Illuminati to launch multiple attacks on Evereska simultaneously, which would be equivalent to throwing those seven Magic Web Decay Zones from Ailan onto Evereska all at once.

Regardless of whether the Illuminati has the ability to launch such an attack again, neither Xia Duo nor Laruian could afford not to consider such a scenario.

And now, when Laruian heard that the Illuminati might target Evereska next, his terror was almost written all over his face, and he hurriedly asked:

"Consultant Xia Duo, is this news accurate? Should we confirm it again?"

"There is no time; you must make a decision immediately: do you want to save Evereska or not! If you need to, I can help you!"

On the other side, Laruian had already rushed to the Cloudtop Tower, and the other Elders had all arrived; he synchronized the communication process with Xia Duo to all the Elders, but none of them expected that the time for a decision had arrived so soon.

While the other Elders remained silent, the High Elder Dewen took the lead in setting the tone: "Regardless of whether this news is true or false, we cannot refuse Consultant Xia Duo's good intentions."

Indeed, when it concerns the fate of a city and a country, who dares, who can bear the responsibility of this refusal!

Yet they also knew that once they agreed to Xia Duo, they might fall into another kind of trap, but the situation no longer allowed them to continue hesitating.

Soon, Xia Duo received a message from Laruian, who also indicated that Elder Dewen wanted to meet with him; Xia Duo provided the temporary coordinates of the Semi-plane Villa garden, and the next moment, an Elf elder with a worried face appeared in the garden.

"Elder Dewen?" Dumu and Maigeluoer were surprised by Dewen's sudden arrival, while Bulaide was lost in thought, showing a worried expression.

In front of Dumu and Maigeluoer, Xia Duo showed Elder Dewen the process of how he discovered the Illuminati's secret stronghold; the three Supervisors, especially Bulaide who was from Evereska, all showed expressions of panic.

Elder Dewen, on the other hand, calmed down at this moment; he stared at Xia Duo, seemingly wanting to see the truth of the matter from Xia Duo's expression and eyes, but unfortunately, what Xia Duo said contained no concealment or deception, let alone any conspiracy.

Finally, Dewen extended a hand, placed a silver Scepter into Xia Duo's hand, and said, "I will leave the rest to you, Consultant Xia Duo."

"I will certainly not let the Elder down!" Xia Duo took the Scepter, his heart neither happy nor sad; all he felt was hatred for the Illuminati and immense confidence in the upcoming operation.