Chapter 3426: The Secret of Dali

————It will be later~~

————

Dali looked at the Tide Queen with a pained expression, calling out her name, hoping to win some trust by invoking his status as her uncle. But Taisi had no other choice at this moment; she stared at Dali with a calm face and asked the first question:

"Please, Uncle Dali, explain why you were sending a message externally just now. Haven't you always disliked dealing with external matters in the past? Such work is usually done by others. Can you tell me who you were contacting?"

This was a question Xia Duo had discussed with her, and it was a point Dali could not refute. No matter how Dali answered, it would expose his true intentions.

Seeing the Queen actually ask this question, Dali was deeply shocked. For a moment, he did not know how to answer to gain the Queen's trust, but he still maintained a composed appearance on the surface, while not hiding his hatred for the outsider.

"Uncle Dali, is this question hard to answer?"

"I, I was not sending a message externally just now."

His brain raced frantically. In the end, Dali still did not admit that he had just sent an external message. This kind of thing was hard to prove; as long as he insisted that it was a frame-up by the outsider, the Queen had grown up under his watch, so she would surely trust him more.

It was just that this little scheme of Dali's had long been anticipated by Xia Duo. Regarding such an answer from Dali, the Queen also had a response, and she continued to ask:

"Please, Uncle Dali, hand over the communication key for your personal Sending. I need to verify something."

Xia Duo had already intercepted Dali's communication, but due to time constraints, he had not yet been able to decrypt it. However, if he had the key provided by Dali, it would be very easy to decrypt.

But for the Tide Queen, she herself already possessed a portion of Dali's communication keys. It was just that the keys she held only corresponded to their private communications, while what she was demanding now was the portion Dali held.

In this way, even without the key held by the communication target, just by using the original key held by Dali, it would be enough to decrypt the encrypted information Xia Duo had intercepted.

Moreover, in this situation, it would be difficult for Dali to fabricate one on the spot, because the Queen could easily verify it using past communication records.

As for the possibility that the communication Xia Duo intercepted was encrypted using a completely independent original key, it would indeed be impossible to decrypt directly. However, since both original keys were designed by Dali alone, there would inevitably be some similarities in his logic, which could also reduce the decryption time.

For Xia Duo, as long as he obtained Dali's communication key, there would only be two results. One was that the key was genuine and corresponded to the encrypted information he had intercepted; once decrypted, that would basically be the final nail in the coffin.

The other possibility was that the key was genuine but did not correspond to the encrypted information he had intercepted. However, because it came from the same designer with similar logic, it would still shorten the decryption time.

Of course, for Dali, he could still choose to refuse to hand over any communication key, or hand over a fake one. But once he did that, he could basically be classified as a traitor by the Tide Queen.

And for a traitor, there would be no mercy to speak of. Not to mention Xia Duo, even the Queen herself had plenty of ways to deal with him.

So now Dali was once again caught in a dilemma. It was just handing over a communication key; they weren't raiding his home for an inspection, just verifying it right here in the great hall. If he didn't hand it over, wouldn't it be too obvious?

But if he did hand it over, it would be even more inappropriate. Others might not know, but Dali himself knew all too well what kind of information he had just sent outside!

……

Dali's hesitation might have been seen by himself as a concern for privacy, but to the Tide Queen, it was almost no different from a direct admission. According to her impression of Dali in the past, under normal circumstances, if such a thing happened, Dali would definitely hand over the communication key very readily to generously demonstrate his loyalty. But now—

He hesitated!

"Uncle Dali——"

The Tide Queen's eyes drooped slightly, and she did not continue to speak, appearing to be heartbroken by Dali's betrayal. At this moment, the bystander Yila also seemed to realize something, though he still dared not believe that his friend of many years had actually betrayed the Queen. He shouted the other's name, urging him to do something quickly to prove himself:

"Dali, it's just a communication key! If the Queen wants it, just give it to her. We've lived for more than half our lives, is there anything we can't let go of? Do you not trust me, or do you not trust the Queen!"

If the previous silence could still be considered somewhat excusable, then remaining silent even after Yila joined in the persuasion undoubtedly revealed the truth behind the silence—

Dali had actually betrayed the Queen!

……

The atmosphere in the great hall visibly cooled. Everyone was silent, not knowing what to do next. Xia Duo broke the silence first; he really did not want to waste any more time:

"Queen Taisi, time is urgent. Let me question him next!"

Of course, this was just the public explanation. According to what he had privately agreed upon with Taisi, he needed to make a Consciousness Copy of Dali. However, when he talked to Taisi, he did not explicitly say "make a Consciousness Copy," but rather said he had special interrogation techniques.

Although Xia Duo's urging was caused by objective circumstances and time indeed did not allow them to waste any more, to Queen Taisi, it still felt like coercion. However, she could not think of a better solution for the time being.

There was also the world-ending crisis of the Illuminati that Xia Duo mentioned; she actually did not have much of a concept of it, but for now, it seemed this was the only way.

Taisi nodded silently. Having received the signal, Xia Duo immediately set to work making a Consciousness Copy of Dali. Based on Dali's status and strength, he made ten copies at once and then transferred them to his main body via his Personal Space.

While the main body performed the brute-force decryption, the avatar began to question Dali. Although he did not hold much hope for such an interrogation, what if the other party actually spoke?

At the very least, it could save some search time for the main body's decryption, and questioning him in front of the Tide Queen could better demonstrate his openness.

……

"When did you get in touch with the Illuminati? How did you make contact?"

This was not only a question Xia Duo wanted to know, but also one the Tide Queen was concerned about. However, Dali seemed to have decided to remain silent to the end; he did not say a word, only occasionally looking at Xia Duo with eyes full of hatred.

"Let me guess your motive for colluding with the Illuminati. Is it because of your dissatisfaction with the Surface Elves? Plus the New World Promise given by the Illuminati?" Xia Duo continued.

He noticed that when he mentioned the Illuminati's New World Promise, Dali's eyes flickered, as if he had hit the mark. The Tide Queen also had some questions about the Illuminati's New World Promise that Xia Duo mentioned, and she sent a private message asking for an explanation.