Investigation (3)

Elion and Stias were the next generation of officers the military planned to cultivate. Riven, a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon in the Dragon Valley Forest, had also been elected by the Dragon Clan Committee to serve as the Dragon Race's representative stationed in the Dragon Valley Forest for thirty years.

The three of them had worked together for at least thirty years. Before this serious leak, not a single thing had gone wrong—not even embezzlement or private punishments. No matter how often the Grey Feather Division rotated its agents stationed in the Dragon Valley Forest, the results of its covert investigations were always the same: these three handled everything in perfect order, followed military regulations to the letter, and had even proposed improvements to the observation posts.

The Blackwater River Observation Station was undoubtedly their handiwork. It had even received special approval from both the military and the Dragon Clan Committee, who sent specialized rune array mages to construct it.

But something had gone wrong in this crucial thirtieth year, just as their rotation was approaching. Rus Wang was furious, but he couldn't help wondering whether that fellow from the Divine Realm was up to something again. After all, he had failed when it came to his granddaughter, Toriya.

So, after finding the Light Dragon King, he stayed with him in the Dragon Valley World, observing everything from a first-person perspective through the ring he had given Thranduil.

He wanted to see whether the military personnel at the outpost had been negligent, or whether that fellow from the Divine Realm was secretly causing trouble—stirring up chaos in advance because he couldn't get what he wanted, so he could make his move under cover of it.

After meeting with Riven, Elion, and Stias as usual, Thranduil began her investigation, starting with the military outpost, surrounded by a group of officers.

After walking along a stretch of gravel path, she arrived at the metal building where rune inscriptions were applied to personnel before they set out with the military observation team.

"Nicely built. It's fully equipped."

Thranduil looked over the facilities inside. The place was managed by a Dragon Race member who had formed a Mental Contract with Elion, allowing the dragon to take human form despite being only a pseudo-hundred-thousand-year-old. Each elf heading to the observation station had a separate room for rune inscriptions. Once the dragon finished inscribing one person, the next would enter the room.

"Are you the rune inscription mage here?"

Looking at the dragon before her, who had taken human form and seemed nervous, Thranduil didn't press him. Instead, she first asked whether he worked there.

"Y-yes. I inscribe runes for personnel heading to the military observation station, Investigator."

"You don't need to be so nervous. The Star Luo People and the Indigenous People are about to go to war on the Black Water River again. I won't take too long to investigate everyone at the military outpost, but I won't overlook any part of the process either."

Thranduil then glanced at the Dragon Clan Recording Stones in the upper-left corners of the rooms.

"Let me ask you something. Were the people whose photos were printed by the Grey Feather Division recorded on these Image Recording Stones?"

It was rather ridiculous. The Star Luo Empire's intelligence service could sneak into an observation station buried a hundred meters underground without anyone noticing and take pictures of the elves. Yet its archives were completely unguarded. Grey Feather Division agents had strolled right in, searching through the records and using Image Recording Stones to document what they found for two whole hours. The humans working in the archives hadn't even asked what the Grey Feather Division was looking for.

This seemed especially absurd when the Grey Feather Division agent who had leaked the personnel photos, recorded them with an Image Recording Stone, and sent them back to the Elf Kingdom stood before Thranduil and described how she had done it. It made the Star Luo People look downright stupid.

"Investigator, we record every rune inscription. Please take a look."

Image Recording Stones couldn't be tampered with, because each contained a special array. If anyone tried to forcibly erase a recording, the stone would explode immediately.

Thranduil checked the Image Recording Stones in every room, especially the records of the personnel whose identities had been leaked. Every elf shown in the Star Luo People's photos appeared in the recordings.

To Thranduil, the leak seemed all the more strange. Since every person whose identity had been leaked had undergone rune inscription before heading to the military observation post, the problem probably didn't lie with the personnel stationed there.

There was something wrong inside the military observation post itself.

"Looks like we'll have to visit that military observation post?"

Thranduil turned to General Riven.

"Are there still people guarding it?"

"Several Grey Feather Division agents are stationed there. Also, a pseudo-hundred-thousand-year-old Crimson Fire Dragon, stationed in the Dragon Valley Forest and bound to Stias by a Mental Contract, is there inspecting the array at the military observation post."

Elion hurriedly explained.

"Since there are people there, Major General Riven, Colonel Elion, Lieutenant Colonel Stias, come with me. We'll get our rune inscriptions and conduct an on-site investigation at the military observation post. Scher, come out of the Mental World too and get your rune inscription according to the rules."

In the Dragon Valley World, Rus Wang and the Light Dragon King sat on the ground, studying the crystal ball before them as they talked.

"Image Recording Stones can't be tampered with, but their restrictions only apply to those below godhood."

The Light Dragon King watched the leaked images taken by the humans several times, then examined the placement of the Image Recording Stones at the military observation post buried in the mountain.

"From the perspective in the photos, the images must have come from an Image Recording Stone inside the military observation post. It seems the fellow up there failed to get your granddaughter, so he's started making trouble again."

"How long has it even been in the Divine Realm? He has time for this again already?"

Rus Wang looked at the Light Dragon King, surprised. What was Destruction doing? He couldn't even keep Tang San occupied for more than a few days?

"He's getting desperate. Who knows what a cornered dog might do?"

The Light Dragon King thought for a moment, then looked away from the photos.

The Dragon Valley World could use what the Dragon God had left behind to block the Divine Realm's prying eyes, but it couldn't withstand an attack from the gods themselves. So, after Rus Wang arrived, the Light Dragon King had begun preparing two backup plans, especially after that Heavenly Tribulation had wiped out the Dragon King inheritance throughout the Dragon Valley Forest.

One was to move the remaining Dragon Race to the Zheer Continent, where there were no humans. The other was to store copies of the Dragon Race's legacy—an inheritance no less valuable than the Dragon God Core—including its rune secrets and instructions for making them, in the Dragon Race's habitat in the Nanshan Rainforest on the Zheer Continent.

But the most important thing... The Light Dragon King looked at Rus Wang.

His student, Barus, had once written to him that he had compared his own blood with that of his father, Rus Wang, and Rus Wang's bloodline was stronger than his.

Time couldn't diminish the strength of a Dragon Race's bloodline. That left only one possible answer: a descendant of the Dragon Race had appeared, one the Light Dragon King had waited tens of thousands of years for since the Dragon God's fall, and who might be able to survive a million-year Heavenly Tribulation.

And judging by the Dragon Clan Committee's report that Rus Wang had taken the full brunt of the Heavenly Tribulation for a Dragon Race member undergoing a hundred-thousand-year tribulation and emerged almost completely unharmed... It was highly likely.

[Dragon God Core detected. Dragon God Core + Blade Ruse King → Starlight Rus Wang]

Seeing the Light Dragon King deep in thought, Rus Wang focused entirely on the system panel. He was excited that he had moved one step closer to evolving into the Seer Elf of his dreams.

"Rus."

"Hmm? What is it, Senior?"

Watching Thranduil's view through the ring as she stood inside the underground military observation post, the Light Dragon King grimaced. He thought about the gods in the Divine Realm, and about the measures he had put in place there before his physical body fell.

If humanity had been foolish enough to believe they hadn't ascended to godhood because they weren't strong enough, then perhaps he should personally shatter the barrier that some god had raised to satisfy his own selfish desires, sealing the sky above them. Even if that god retaliated afterward, he wouldn't care.

"You need to be ready for what comes after I'm gone. I'll place the Dragon Clan Committee entirely under your command. If you're here, then so am I. The Silver Dragon King has no authority to make the Dragon Clan Committee obey her."

"Huh?"

Rus Wang looked completely bewildered.

Senior Light Dragon King, what are you talking about?

"The gods of the Divine Realm have interfered. They've disabled the Dragon Clan Rune Array used for teleportation."

Rus Wang immediately looked at the crystal ball, his eyes widening.

In the view shown by the crystal ball, Thranduil stood inside the military observation post. After the Grey Feather Division reported that the teleportation array had failed and a human Titled Douluo was leading a team toward the mountain where the post was located, she wore a bitter expression.

She turned to Riven, Elion, and Stias.

"Prepare for battle."

Meanwhile, on the banks of the Black Water River, Dai Ruoheng watched helplessly as her body directed the members of her escort squad and flew alone to a point fifteen kilometers behind the battlefield. She activated her Martial Soul Avatar and slammed it down on a mountain with no sign of excavation, indistinguishable from the surrounding terrain.