Pillar of Yita

”So this is why I don’t like communicating with these Lizardmen, always so cryptic,” Fang Hong shook his head and gave up the idea of continuing his communication with the Night Lizard Warrior Leader. He pondered for a moment before raising his head.

He looked at Sophie in the visual display and suddenly spoke, ”Sophie, Lady Nether, can you introduce me to your people now?”

Sophie looked at him with bright eyes, a mix of embarrassment and politeness in her slight smile, ”What would you like to know, Xiaya?”

Knowing the past discord between Fang Hong and the Descendants of Flor, she took the initiative at this critical juncture to bring up this alias. Fortunately, her father seemed not to notice this detail, which let Sophie breathe a sigh of relief while internally blaming him for his usual presumptions.

Fang Hong slightly startled noticed the detail but did not retort.

”Who are they?” he only asked, ”Earlier from the sky, I observed the others launching an offensive against the Night Lizardmen. The command style was distinct from Silver Weslan. That wasn’t you commanding, was it, Sophie?”

After thinking it over, he continued, ”To be honest, that command style seems familiar, but I only realized this later. If I’m not mistaken — there’s only one person in the Super Competitive League with such an odd tactical mindset — it’s KUN, isn’t it? The ’All-Knower’ of Silver Forest Crown?”

Lady Nether gave a light exclamation, speaking for the first time in a while, ”You’ve noticed? But haven’t you forgotten something?”

”Forgotten what?” Fang Hong was taken aback.

”Call me big sister,” Lady Nether giggled lightly, her laughter tinkling like falling silver bells, albeit with a magnetic quality to her voice, ”All right, no more jokes. But you’ve presumably guessed already who is backing us, right?”

”The Third Combat Zone…,” Fang Hong thought for a moment, he indeed had some ideas, ”Is it the military personnel in charge of the Union campaign?”

People in the hall were slightly taken aback.

They had actually been prepared to answer this question, as well as the current crisis in Fenris Isle, hoping to get his cooperation, but they didn’t expect this somewhat ’rookie’ young man to have already taken the initiative to guess.

Lady Nether was truly astonished, admiring his clear-headedness.

Meanwhile, the military personnel were asking through the communication channel, ”Ask him what he wants to know?”

Lady Nether nodded, no longer ignoring the message but actively speaking out, ”You’re pretty close to the mark, kiddo. Right now, they are asking what you would like to know?”

Fang Hong took a deep breath.

Although he had hypothesized this, aware he would someday face the military, he never imagined it would be under such circumstances.

He subconsciously pushed at his mask, a thought crossing his mind. Since he might have to negotiate with the military someday, why not leave a good impression now? He recalled his earlier performance, feeling reasonably satisfied, yet he also understood that the current event was far from over.

Fang Hong remained silent for a moment, carefully choosing his words before speaking, ”Is there something wrong on the surface of Fenris Isle? I recall there was a momentary disruption in our communication with the surface earlier, and Toragotos had also informed us that Milaila’s Semi-Divine Artifact is here specifically to seal the will of the Deity —”

”So I’m guessing, my previous analysis might unfortunately be correct, right? Toragotos is indeed the mastermind behind all these conspiracies, from the Battle of Bain thirteen years ago till now, gaining the Divine Body of Sarus, trying to resurrect as a genuine Dark Deity.”

”I guess, its plan must inevitably impact Fenris Isle, and that’s precisely why the military is involved. I remember there were several similar occurrences in the past, like at the start of the Battle of Bain, I recall we also had to rebuild the Third Combat Zone Union Command Center back then...”

He paused.

Then he looked up, his gaze bright as he watched Sophie — through the large screen of the command center watching everyone, he asked, ”Am I right?”

”Lady Nether,” the military personnel remained silent for a moment, then spoke softly, ”Ambassador Liao asks you to shift communication authority over to the hall first.”

Lady Nether simply nodded.

And just a moment later, Fang Hong heard a very affable man’s voice coming through the communication channel, ”Your analysis is largely correct, Mr. Xiaya, and indeed it’s thanks to your meticulousness that we discovered Toragotos’s conspiracy ahead of time —”

Fang Hong had envisioned many scenarios for his dealings with the military, but he hadn’t expected them to start by praising him. As he recalled his Stowaway status, he couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty.

His face flushed slightly, shaking his head, he said, ”I’m afraid it wasn’t much in advance.”

”Indeed,” the other side nodded, ”But that’s actually our negligence. However, as you suspect, the situation on Fenris Isle is quite dire now, we barely have time to reallocate resources, thus we need your help, Mr. Xiaya.”

Fang Hong knew that his identity still needed to be cleared by the military, and the current situation was also closely related to him.

Therefore, he nodded and responded, ”What should I do?”

Ambassador Liao, seeing Fang Hong nod, couldn’t help but sigh in relief, fearing he might be the sort who was fiercely independent, but fortunately, the young man appeared to understand the gravity of the situation, which made him grow quite fond of him.