Investigation (3)

Elion and Stias are the next generation of officers the military intends to cultivate, while Riven, as a Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus within the Dragon Valley Forest, was also elected by the Dragon Clan Committee to serve as the Dragon Representative stationed in the Dragon Valley Forest for thirty years.

The three of them have worked together for at least thirty years, and before this serious leak incident occurred, there had never been a single mistake, not even instances of embezzlement or private punishment. No matter how the Grey Feather Division changed its agents stationed in the Dragon Valley Forest, the final result of every secret investigation was that these three guys handled everything in an orderly manner, strictly following military regulations, and even proposed ideas to improve the observation posts.

The Blackwater River Observation Station is undoubtedly the masterpiece of these three, and it even received special approval from the military and the Dragon Clan Committee, who dispatched specialized rune array masters to assist in its construction.

But in this thirtieth year, at the critical juncture of an impending rotation, trouble arose. This left Ruse King furious, while also making him wonder: was that guy from the God Realm causing trouble again? After all, he had failed during the incident with his granddaughter, Toriya.

Therefore, after seeking out the Light Dragon King, he and the Light Dragon King stayed together in the Dragon Valley World, observing through the ring given to Thranduil from a first-person perspective.

They intended to see whether it was a lapse by the military personnel or if that guy from the God Realm was secretly meddling—creating chaos because he couldn't get what he wanted, all to facilitate his own underhanded schemes.

After Thranduil had normal contact with Riven, Elion, and Stias, she began her investigation, starting with the military station, surrounded by the officers.

She walked along a gravel path and arrived inside the metal shack where rune imprinting on the body is mandatory before the military observation team departs.

"Well-constructed, with all necessary facilities inside."

Thranduil looked at the interior facilities. This site is managed by a dragon who has a spiritual contract with Elion, allowing it to reach a pseudo-hundred-thousand-year level and take human form. Furthermore, every elf heading to the observation station has their rune imprinting done in a separate room; after this dragon finishes imprinting one person, the next enters the room for their turn.

"Are you the rune imprint master here?"

Looking at the dragon who had taken human form and looked nervous, Thranduil did not act aggressively, but first asked if he worked here.

"Ye... yes, I specialize in rune imprinting for personnel heading to the military observation station, Investigator."

"No need to be so nervous. The Star Luo People and the indigenous humans are about to break out into war at the Blackwater River again. I won't spend too much time investigating everyone at the military station, but I won't miss a single detail either."

Thranduil then looked at the Dragon Clan Recording Stone in the upper left corner of each room.

"Let me ask you this: for the personnel exposed in the photos printed by the Grey Feather Division, are there recordings of them on the Recording Stone?"

It is laughable, really. The Star Luo Empire's intelligence agency was able to sneak into an observation station buried a hundred meters underground to secretly photograph elves without anyone noticing, yet they were completely defenseless in their own archives. The Grey Feather Division agents walked right in, searching and using Recording Stones to document everything for a full two hours. The humans in the archives didn't even bother to ask what the Grey Feather Division was looking for.

This was especially apparent when the Grey Feather Division agent who had leaked the photos and used the Recording Stone to send them back to the Elf Kingdom stood before Thranduil, explaining how he had done it, highlighting just how foolish the Star Luo People were.

"Investigator, every time we perform a rune imprinting, we make a recording. Please, take a look."

A Recording Stone cannot be faked because it contains a specialized array; if anyone tries to forcibly cut the footage inside, it will immediately explode.

Thranduil checked the Recording Stone in every room, especially the records of the leaked personnel. The faces of the elves exposed in those Star Luo photos were all present in the recordings.

To Thranduil, this made the entire leak incident feel even more bizarre. Since every rune imprinting for the personnel heading to the military observation post had been recorded, the problem likely didn't lie with the station's stationed personnel.

Instead, there was something wrong inside that military outpost itself.

"It seems we must pay a visit to that military outpost?"

Thranduil immediately asked General Riven.

"Is there still anyone guarding it over there?"

"Several Grey Feather Division agents are left stationed there, and a pseudo-hundred-thousand-year Crimson Fire Dragon, who has a spiritual contract with Stias and is stationed in the Dragon Valley Forest, is also there checking the military outpost's arrays," Elion said hurriedly.

"Since there are people there, Major General Riven, Colonel Elion, Lieutenant Colonel Stias, come with me for rune imprinting, and then we will conduct an on-site visit to that military observation outpost. Scher, you come out of the spiritual world as well and undergo the rune imprinting according to the rules."

In the Dragon Valley World, Ruse King and the Light Dragon King sat on the ground, looking at the crystal ball in front of them, and began to communicate.

"The Recording Stone cannot be tampered with, but the restrictions inside only apply to those below the God level."

The Light Dragon King repeatedly watched the leak incident, the photos of the elves taken by the human side, and then looked at the layout of the Recording Stones in the military outpost buried in the mountain.

"From the visual perspective of the photos, it should be from one of the Recording Stones inside the military observation outpost. It seems the guy above didn't succeed with your granddaughter, so he's starting to pull strings again."

"It hasn't even been a few days in the God Realm? He has time for this already?"

Ruse King looked at the senior Light Dragon King, somewhat surprised. How did Destruction manage things? He couldn't even delay Tang San for more than a few days?

"He's anxious. You can't tell what a cornered dog might do."

The Light Dragon King thought for a moment and shifted his gaze away from the photos.

While the Dragon Valley World can rely on the things left behind by the Dragon God to shield itself from the prying eyes of the God Realm, it cannot withstand a direct strike from the gods themselves. Therefore, after Ruse King arrived, and given that the heavenly tribulation had wiped out the inheritance of the Dragon Kings in the entire Dragon Valley Forest, the Light Dragon King had been making preparations for two contingencies.

One was to relocate the remaining dragon clan to the Zheer Continent, where there are no humans. The other was to create copies of the dragon clan's heritage—which is in no way inferior to the Dragon God Core—including those rune secret arts and their production manuals, and store them in the dragon habitat in the Nanshan Rainforest on the Zheer Continent.

Of course, the most important point... The Light Dragon King looked at Ruse King.

His student, Barus, had once told him in their correspondence that he had compared his own blood with that of his father, Ruse King, and found that Ruse King's bloodline was stronger than his own.

Time cannot erode the strength of a dragon's bloodline, so there could only be one possibility. A dragon descendant, whom the Light Dragon King had been waiting for for tens of thousands of years since the fall of the Dragon God, and who was suspected of being able to withstand a million-year heavenly tribulation, had appeared.

Moreover, judging by the report from the Dragon Clan Committee that Ruse King had blocked the entire heavenly tribulation for a dragon undergoing a hundred-thousand-year tribulation and remained almost unscathed... it was highly likely.

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

Seeing the Light Dragon King lost in thought, Ruse King focused his attention entirely on the system panel, feeling a bit excited that he was one step closer to evolving into the Seer Elf of his dreams.

"Ruse."

"Hmm? What is it, Senior?"

The Light Dragon King looked at Thranduil's perspective inside the underground military observation post through the ring, his dragon face bitter. He thought about those gods in the God Realm and the contingency plans he had left behind in the God Realm before his physical body perished.

If humans were foolish enough to believe that the reason they couldn't ascend to godhood was because they thought their own strength was insufficient, then he might as well personally break through that layer of the sky, which had been sealed off by the selfish desires of a certain god. Even if he were to face retaliation from that god afterward, it wouldn't matter.

"You must be prepared at all times for the days after I am gone. I will have the Dragon Clan Committee follow your orders in their entirety; your presence will be as my own, and the Silver Dragon King shall have no authority to command the Dragon Clan Committee."

"Huh?"

Rus Wang's face was full of confusion.

Senior Light Dragon King, what are you talking about?

"The gods of the God Realm have interfered. They have disabled the dragon rune arrays used for teleportation."

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

Within the vision displayed by the crystal ball, Thranduil looked bitter as she watched the report from the Grey Feather Division regarding the failure of the teleportation arrays at the military observation post, and saw the human Title Douluo leading a team, rapidly approaching the mountain peak where the observation post was located.

She said to Riven, Elion, and Stias beside her.

"Prepare for battle."

Meanwhile, on the banks of the Black Water River, Dai Ruoheng watched his own body, signaled the members of his guard unit, and flew alone to a spot fifteen kilometers behind the battlefield. He unleashed his Avatar of Martial Soul and smashed it down toward a mountain that showed no signs of excavation and looked no different from its surroundings.