Atus West, somewhere in the desert.
In the early morning, the sunlight of dawn overflowed from the distant horizon, shining upon the desolate land. In the desert where the dead wandered, a rider was moving forward. Keluoxi was riding his horse, strolling between desolation and death.
After finally escaping the pursuit in Dosa City, Keluoxi immediately went to his secret stronghold outside of Dosa City. After obtaining a horse there, he rushed towards Kanak without stopping. After a night of trekking, crossing a large area guarded by the dead, he finally approached his destination. At dawn, he arrived at the forward position outside Kanak City.
"Who goes there! Stop!"
In the trenches of the forward position, the guarding Save the World soldiers, upon discovering someone crossing the undead guarded area, immediately raised their firearms and pointed them at the target ahead. Keluoxi, being pointed at, immediately raised his hands and shouted loudly.
"Don't shoot! I'm one of you!"
Looking at the position ahead, Keluoxi immediately dismounted and raised his hands. Then, a Save the World soldier walked out of the trench and came before Keluoxi. After a simple search, he was taken before the officer in charge of the position. Here, Keluoxi showed his identity. After confirming, the officer did not delay and immediately let Keluoxi leave the position. Keluoxi also immediately mounted a new horse and continued towards Kanak.
And as Keluoxi was moving on the position, the location of this forward position and all its arrangements, which his eyes saw, were reflected in the eyes of Dorothy in the distance without missing a single detail.
"Wuwu... I've finally reached the position, so it shouldn't be far from Kanak now..."
On the edge of the undead alert zone, there was a camel caravan camp standing at this time. In the camp, there were various figures wearing North Wu robes busy working, and several camels were squatting together resting. In the middle of the camp, there was a tent. Inside the tent, Dorothy, who seemed to have just gotten up not long ago, was wearing a robe, sitting on the carpet, yawning and muttering to herself. After speaking, she also drank some Atus specialty tea from the low table in front of her, and then took a bite of a meat pie.
After learning that there were spies from Kanak lurking in Dosa City, Dorothy immediately realized that this was an opportunity to infiltrate her reconnaissance into Kanak. In order to find the location of the spies in Dosa City, Dorothy first contacted Adan and asked him to announce the attack, which would cause the spies in Dosa City to move and transmit messages to Kanak. Then, she asked Naifnis to invite the Soul Xu of the Wilderness Spirit again to help her capture the transmitting Ghost.
In her previous analysis, Dorothy judged that the spies lurking in Dosa City would likely use Ghost messengers to transmit messages by going through the Netherworld. Therefore, Dorothy arranged for Soul Xu to lurk in the Netherworld, ambushing the spies' transmitting Ghost. Unlike the Dream World, although the Netherworld is also one of the many inner realms, its coordinate relationship with the present world is one-to-one, not chaotic. This means that if Soul Xu and the Ghost messenger both infiltrate the Netherworld in Dosa, their coordinates in the Netherworld will be close.
Soul Xu has the ability to smell soul aura from a long distance, so it can monitor a large area of the Netherworld by itself as a cat. If ordinary spirits were used, many spirits would need to be dispatched to the Netherworld together to achieve the same effect, which might alert the spies on the sending side.
After ordinary spirits enter the Netherworld, they will directly sink down into the Netherworld River, flowing downwards with thousands of other spirits towards the depths of the Netherworld. However, transmitting spirits will not go down to the Netherworld River, but will go horizontally to the projection sites of other present world areas. Therefore, Soul Xu on alert in the Dosa Netherworld only needs to smell which spirit is going in a horizontal direction instead of a vertical direction to confirm that it is a transmitting spirit, and then chase after it and devour it. The strength of ordinary spirits is far inferior to that of the Wilderness Spirit.
After losing the spirit messenger, the spies in Dosa City, in order to communicate with Kanak in a timely manner, were likely to set up a radio station to send telegrams. Dorothy could then use the ability of the Summoning Thunder Master combined with the superpower model of Misaka Mikoto to locate the radio station's position by sensing electromagnetic waves, thus confirming the hiding place of that group of spies. Afterwards, Dorothy used acting methods to leave a puppet mark on the largest spy without the other party noticing, hiding it among the numerous scars deliberately created on his back, and sent him back to Kanak to serve as her informant.
Without the support of information channels, the maximum operating distance of Dorothy's puppet is about twenty kilometers, but the operating distance here refers to the distance that ensures optimal operating efficiency, not the range of influence.
After twenty kilometers, the spiritual threads connecting Dorothy to ordinary Corpse Puppets or puppets without information channel support begin to become thinner, control commands become difficult, and operating efficiency will begin to decline significantly. Around twenty-two kilometers, effective control to complete large movements will be impossible, but the thin spiritual threads can still obtain sensory information for Dorothy. Sensory information will not be transmitted until after thirty kilometers, and positioning information will also disappear above fifty kilometers. Dorothy will not be able to perceive the puppet's location unless it returns within fifty kilometers. After one hundred kilometers, the spiritual threads that are not forcefully maintained by providing additional Spirituality will be completely broken, and the puppet will completely lose control of Dorothy. Unless they appear before Dorothy again, Dorothy will not be able to re-establish a connection with them.
The range of the Kanak undead alert zone is twenty-five kilometers in radius. For Keluoxi, who is going deep into the alert zone towards Kanak, although Dorothy cannot effectively control him, she can still obtain his sensory information.
Just like that, Dorothy was eating breakfast while watching Keluoxi's journey in the distance. After leaving the forward position, Keluoxi immediately accelerated his journey on the new horse. Finally, after riding for a while, he arrived in front of Kanak City.
Kanak is a small city located in Atus West, near the border area. It is much smaller in scale than Dosa. Kanak is located in front of the Seven Forked Mountains, at the junction of mountains and plains. It is a city that rose because of mining. In peacetime, the ore transported from the Long Saber Mountains would arrive at Kanak, and then be transported from Kanak to Dosa. Many miners and their families live here, and there are also many industries serving mining.
Of course, since the Atus Civil War, Kanak's mining industry has been disrupted. What Dorothy saw from Keluoxi's perspective was a heavily guarded and deserted city. Outside the city, Dorothy could not see how many tall buildings there were in the city. At the several intersections outside the city, Save the World soldiers could be seen guarding. There was not a single soldier's figure seen on the streets in the city. In the background behind the city, tall continuous mountain slopes could be seen, which were the Seven Forked Mountains. The Dead Eagle Valley, where Rahman was buried, was inside, and it was not far from Kanak.
Drinking tea, Dorothy watched Keluoxi enter Kanak City after completing the inspection. Then he was led all the way to a not-so-large building in the small city. Judging from the appearance of the building, it seemed to be the original municipal center of Kanak.
Entering the municipal building, Keluoxi underwent another round of inspections, including information confirmation, mental evaluation, Extraordinary detection, etc. During this process, Dorothy temporarily released the connection to Keluoxi, and reconnected after avoiding the Extraordinary detection.
After the inspection was completed, Keluoxi was allowed to continue deeper into the municipal building. He passed through layers of security and finally arrived at a spacious office. Here, he saw a large military map hanging on the office wall. The map depicted the detailed situation of Kanak and the surrounding areas, including the city defenses and the arrangement of the forward positions of Kanak. Below the map, two figures were standing at this time. One was a North Wu human officer in a military uniform, wearing a Pure Sun badge on his chest, with a large beard and a fierce expression. The other was a middle-aged white man from the Main Continent wearing a suit. He had a slightly plump figure and a neatly trimmed yellow mustache.
"Officer Shahabu, Mr. Moen... I'm very sorry, the stronghold in Dosa has been cleared, and we have lost the opportunity to monitor Adan. This is my dereliction of duty."
Upon seeing the two people standing below the map, Keluoxi respectfully saluted and spoke in a tone of great apology. Dorothy in the distance instantly memorized the large map on the wall after Keluoxi glanced at it, and then examined the two figures in front of Keluoxi. According to Keluoxi, one was named Shahabu and the other was named Moen.
Shahabu, Dorothy is familiar with this name. He is the highest commander of the Save the World in Kanak, the most prestigious Save the World leader in Atus, and the leader of the Kanak armed forces. As for the one named Moen, Dorothy judged that he should be a member of the Netherworld Coffin Society, the head of the Netherworld Coffin Society in Kanak.
"What's going on... The secret sentry in Dosa is gone! Do you know what time it is now!" Facing Keluoxi's words, Shahabu said in an agitated tone, while Moen on the side slowly spoke with a calm expression.
"How were you found by Adan... Where exactly was it exposed?"
"I don't know... Last night, shortly after we received the reply from here, someone came knocking on our door. Those guys were prepared. If I hadn't been lucky, I would have been caught. I don't know what went wrong. This might be related to my messenger disappearing in the Netherworld. Perhaps... perhaps they captured my messenger and obtained some information from him."
Facing the two people in front of him, Keluoxi truthfully answered the information and guesses he knew. Listening to Keluoxi's words, Shahabu frowned and then turned to look at Moen beside him.
"Netherworld... You should be very familiar with that place. How could you stumble in the Netherworld!"
Listening to Shahabu's words, Moen fell silent for a moment. After taking two steps, he spoke in a stern tone.
"According to our previous investigation... Adan should have very little control over the Netherworld. With the abilities he has, he shouldn't be able to interfere with our messengers. Before this, the messengers had completed a considerable number of tasks... The sudden occurrence of such a situation should be because Adan has obtained some reinforcement from the'Silence' Extraordinary level..."
"Reinforcement... Are you talking about some advisor sent by Shadi? Is he an Extraordinary of'Silence'?"
"It's very possible, and he should be a Chalk level'Silence'. This might be Shadi's mercenary, specifically hired to deal with us. It seems that Shadi can't hold back anymore and is concentrating his forces in Dosa with great effort. He wants to launch a decisive battle here... He is currently clearing the interior..."
Moen analyzed the existing intelligence and spoke. Hearing that Shadi might be concentrating his forces in Dosa on a large scale to prepare for a decisive battle, and even specifically hired experts to deal with the undead, a hint of anxiety couldn't help but appear on Shahabu's face. He looked at Moen and said irritably.
"That traitor Shadi is going to make a big move... What about you? How is your progress? The ceremonial chamber hasn't been opened yet? You said before that you could open the ceremonial chamber very quickly! It's been so long and there's still no movement!"
"Plans can't keep up with changes. There was a problem in Kankdar. Robert inexplicably collapsed, and there is still no sign of the sacrificial book... I initially thought that with the Baruch Royal Family and the Faloro agent united, the situation in Kankdar should have been decided, but I didn't expect it to be a union of an incompetent person and a running dog."
Gritting his teeth, Moen suppressed his emotions and said in a low voice. Listening to his words, the impatience on Robert's face on the other side intensified.
"I don't care! Now Shadi is going to fight us to the death. If the ceremonial chamber can't be opened, we'll all be finished. You must open the ceremonial chamber immediately! No matter how you open it! I'll give you as much dynamite as you need!"
"I said, this is not a matter of dynamite. The things in front can be solved with dynamite, but the ceremonial chamber can only be opened by ritual. No matter how much dynamite you pile up, it's useless." Listening to Shahabu's words, Moen slightly raised his voice and said seriously to Shahabu. Shahabu, however, showed a look of disdain on his face and then spoke to Moen.
"Piling up dynamite is useless? Hmph, I don't believe it. Wasn't the ritual object room also incredibly sturdy before? One portion of dynamite couldn't blow it open. You said you had to wait for some key to open it. I didn't believe your evil and put three portions, and it was blown open. The blessed object you used to perform the ritual was found from there. Without me blowing out this blessed object and starting this death ritual, Adan's people would have already attacked! You still want to say dynamite is useless!?"
With a hint of excitement, Shahabu continued to speak to Moen. Listening to Shahabu's words, Moen's anger in his heart directly showed on his face, and then he restrained it. He gritted his teeth and suppressed himself from continuing to speak.
"That's different. The material of the ritual object room is completely different from the ceremonial chamber. The ceremonial chamber is built with Corpse Coffin Stone. Even if you pile up ten portions of dynamite, it's useless!"
"Then pile up twenty portions!"
"Twenty portions... Are you crazy! With so much dynamite exploding in the underground palace, not to mention whether the ceremonial chamber can be blown open, the entire underground palace will definitely be completely blown down! At that time, the ceremonial chamber will be buried by the mountain, and it will be impossible for us to enter in a short time! Use your brain, you Light fanatic!"
Listening to Shahabu's unbelievable answer, Moen immediately became furious, unable to control his emotions and burst out, while Shahabu was indifferent to Moen's words and continued to speak.
"I don't care! Now that you've been unable to open the ceremonial chamber for so long, I can only use my own method to 'open the door'! I'll give you two more days. If it still doesn't work, I'll go myself!"
"Crazy... If you do this, even if you can open the ceremonial chamber, it will cause the Rahman undead inside to directly lose control! At that time, none of us will survive! We want to control Rahman! Not let it go crazy and kill everyone!" Facing Shahabu, whose eyes had already shown a hint of madness, Moen said sternly, while Shahabu said with an indifferent smile.
"A Rahman out of control? Heh, what's wrong with that? As long as it can punish Shadi, who stole his country, according to its instincts, as long as it can destroy Shadi's Atus and avenge Mr. Muktar, then that's enough."