Investigation (2)

[Thanks for the reminder. I checked, and it was my mistake. I will rationalize the issues regarding the Douling Empire mentioned earlier. At the same time, to put the controversy to rest and for the sake of this book's impact, I will push back the appearance of Rus Wang and the Zheer Continent by a thousand years.]

This is the latest map.

Additionally, regarding the fragmentation of the plot and the question of whether there is an outline, rest assured, it has already been cut.

Looking at the new order Ulides had issued to her on the communication book, Thranduil, who had not carried out a mission for the Grey Feather Division in over a decade, quickly shifted into state.

[I understand.]

Thranduil then took a communication book out of her bracelet-style storage Soul Guidance Device, wrote a few sentences on it, and walked out of the room.

"My lady, are you going out for a stroll?"

The maid, unaware of the situation, asked.

"No, I am going to attend to official business. It might take a month, or perhaps several months. Keep the manor maintained. As for my daughter Noelle, I have already entrusted a dragon elder to look after her."

"Understood."

The maid stopped asking and remained at the doorway.

When Thranduil saw the black car in front of the door, she hesitated for half a second before walking to the back seat, opening the door, and sitting inside.

As she settled in, the Soul Guidance Device car hummed, and its four tires began to drive.

"Tell me, what's going on at the top? Why do you need to mobilize a nine-star agent like me?"

"The situation is indeed urgent this time. For the details, Agent, you will know once you look at this."

The Grey Feather Division member driving the car handed an unopened, sealed file bag stamped with the words "Top Secret" (in running script) to Thranduil, then kept his eyes on the road ahead and said.

"You will need to use the military's spatial teleportation array, my lady."

"Use the military's spatial teleportation array?"

Thranduil felt a surge of suspicion in her heart. She looked at the file bag in her hand, tore it open, and began to read the contents of the papers inside.

The military's spatial teleportation array used the set that the Light Dragon King had originally given to Rus Wang. It was a simplified version capable of transporting 500 soul beasts to an array 8,000 kilometers away by consuming Soul Power.

Rus Wang had handed it over to his son Barus and the elf team specializing in the development of Soul Guidance Device arrays to simplify it and make it truly viable for military use.

It took Barus five years to roughly calculate ten feasible simplification schemes before handing them to the elf team for testing. The elf team took only one year to prove that all ten were feasible, but the energy consumption required to start the array with existing mineral materials was massive, making it not yet fully militarized.

The elf team was too embarrassed to bother Barus, who was then learning to craft Dragon Ascension Pillars under the guidance of the Light Dragon King. It took another forty years of back-and-forth before they found a high-concentration, safe mineral suitable for the array: Thorium-90. (This level of radiation is harmless to the elven body.)

"Damn, something this big? Has our location been exposed? Do the ancestors and the Dragon King need to monitor this with their own eyes?"

In the spiritual space, the Turquoise Dragon Scher read through the papers taken from the file bag via Thranduil's perspective and said in surprise.

"This indeed requires me to go and investigate in person to see what exactly is going on over there."

Thranduil thought gloomily. At the same time, she reached into the file bag again. Inside was a ring, which was also a tool for the Light Dragon King and Rus Wang to conduct real-time observation. Thranduil put the ring on the index finger of her left hand and then tossed the file bag into her storage Soul Guidance belt.

As the car entered a section of uneven road, the entire vehicle began to shake violently...

The Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus Riven, Colonel Elion, and the newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Stias had been in the Dragon Valley Forest for thirty years. Originally, the three of them were about to be rotated out with the Giant Mountain Golden Ape and another team of officers, but it was precisely during this time of handover that the observation group below reported such a massive leak.

Following an investigation report sent from the King's presence rather than the Ministry of Defense, the trio of Riven, Elion, and Stias fell into a long silence.

"When will the personnel from the Grey Feather Division and the military tribunal arrive?"

Riven asked his adjutant, Elion, in a dry voice.

"I don't know. We can only accept the investigation. With such dereliction of duty from those below, we, as their superiors, cannot escape responsibility."

They had never felt such torment. The office they were accustomed to had become dim and unbearable at this moment. The Soul Guidance temperature regulator was clearly still working normally, but the two elves and one dragon had never felt so hot.

No high-ranking elf official liked to welcome an investigation by the Grey Feather Division, and that included the military. The Grey Feather Division had a department within the military called the Zero Military Police, which was directly under the King and usually followed the orders of the highest-ranking Army Marshal or General.

Since it was sent from the King's presence this time, the Zero Military Police should have been the first to arrive, but they hadn't. Clearly, the higher-ups were sending a heavyweight from the Grey Feather Division to conduct a specialized investigation.

"Are the members who went to those observation posts to monitor the Black Water River front this year all locked up now?"

Riven asked Elion.

"They are all in the confinement cells. The Grey Feather Division stationed in the Dragon Valley Forest has already gone to take them into custody."

"For now, we can only wait for the verdict."

Riven thought for a moment and said to Stias, who was standing by the coffee machine: "Stias, give me a cup of coffee, no sugar. Maybe drinking something bitter will make me feel a bit better."

"Give me one too, thanks."

Stias nodded, filled three ceramic mugs, placed two on the coffee table, and returned to the side of the coffee machine. He leaned against the wall while taking a sip from the third cup of coffee.

Stias spoke up.

"However, I still cannot understand. We used stealth runes and wall-penetrating runes. Even though we hollowed out the inside of the entire mountain, the interior space is over a hundred meters from the surface. How did those humans discover us? Did they open their eyes to see through things? Did they see our subordinates' body heat or Soul Power reactions through the mountain?"

"The facilities inside the mountain were specifically equipped with arrays to prevent external sensing of Soul Power. They weren't even the simplified versions; they were specialized dragon rune arrays."

The Star Luo People and the indigenous humans currently confronting each other on the Black Water River defense line were no longer the same as the ones Rus Wang, Yanjin, and Barus had observed from a random bush back in the day.

Instead, they were in an observation station specifically built deep underground in a mountain, a full fifteen kilometers away from the battlefield, using dragon rune arrays and the trees around the battlefield as eyes.

And from there, they would notify the elves and soul beasts lying in ambush on the Star Luo logistics line to carry out their strikes.

But that was precisely the problem: the photos of the Elf observation posts from the Grey Feather Division were far more numerous than the photos of the ambushed Star Luo People logistics line. The content exposed on the logistics line consisted only of soul beasts and not a single Elf, which left Riven and the other two completely baffled.

How exactly did someone infiltrate the observation post built into the mountain to take those pictures? After reviewing the Image Recording Stone of the observation post dozens of times, there wasn't even a shadow of a human to be seen. Could the Dragon race's Image Recording Stone have been compromised to aid the enemy? That shouldn't be possible, right?

The three generals and field officers, Riven included, could only suffer in silence.

"Major General Riven, the personnel sent from above to handle this have arrived."

"Oh, they've finally arrived?"

Upon hearing the report from the Grey Feather Division outside the door, Riven knew he had to leave his office and head out to face the final investigation.

"It is our dereliction of duty as well; prepare to be investigated."

"Mm."

The three of them wore bitter expressions, then proceeded with calm minds toward the teleportation array at the Dragon Valley Forest military station.

When they arrived at the location, Riven's eyes widened slightly.

"It's you?! Thranduil Frederick."

"What? With a matter this big, if I didn't come, who else would? The Grand Mentor herself?"

At the center of the teleportation array, once the spell had finished, Thranduil tossed her long hair, looked at the shocked Riven, and smiled with narrowed eyes.

"Now then, General Riven and everyone else who has been stationed here for a full thirty years, please cooperate with me in this investigation regarding the major leak. Thank you."