At the outer periter of the Landing Site, so soldiers stationed there were collecting the bodies of the attackers.
Since the intelligence about the alien entity was exposed, there had been multiple attempts in recent days by people trying to make contact with it, resorting to suicide attacks to breach the defensive line ford by Xisiya soldiers.
Naturally, the result was their death.
Although Xisiya's strength was inferior to that of Beixing and the Suroma Empire, it was still a world power. The defensive line ford by heavy troops was not sothing civilian forces could break through.
Without support from Beixing and Suroma, it was impossible for so ard civilian organizations and rcenary groups to even breach the outer periter, let alone the inner lines guarded by even more elite troops.
"What a bunch of lunatics. Isn't this just seeking death?"
"Who knows what these guys are thinking."
"Maybe there are parasitized forms among them, trying to cause damage through the questioning."
"We don't need to worry about that. Anyone approaching without authorization orders gets shot on sight."
The soldiers chatted casually. At that mont, a vehicle approached from the distance. It was an official vehicle from Xisiya.
When it pulled up close, the driver showed authorization docunts to the soldiers. They ca directly from the highest Administrator, Yelanka.
After cross-verifying and confirming everything was correct, the soldier curiously glanced inside the vehicle compartnt. Inside sat a team of soldiers ard to the teeth.
"Are they adding people to the inner lines?"
"Don't ask what you shouldn't."
"Yes, clear to pass!"
After passing the outermost defensive line, the vehicle went through three more lines consecutively before finally reaching the core area of the Landing Site.
After the vehicle stopped, Sigaochin, responsible for the innermost core area, walked over.
She glanced at the soldiers getting off the vehicle, assigned them to the ranks, and kept only one soldier separate.
"It's you, right, Teacher Guan Tong?" Sigaochin looked at the soldier with a complicated expression.
The soldier pushed up his goggles, revealing a pair of deep, dark eyes.
"It's . We et again, Ms. Sigaochin."
"...I truly don't understand how the Administrator could agree to this."
Sigaochin had previously received a secret communication from Yelanka. When she learned that the latter had agreed to let Guan Tong contact the alien entity, she found it completely unbelievable.
She confird with Yelanka several tis, believing it was far too dangerous.
If Guan Tong harbored malicious intent, it could very likely cause irreparable, terrifying consequences for Xisiya.
But facing Yelanka, who insisted on her own view, Sigaochin naturally wouldn't disobey orders.
However, saying it was easy, but actually carrying it out wasn't that simple.
Because although the alien entity's Landing Site was within Xisiya, matters concerning its handling, arrangents, questioning, and such were not decided by Xisiya alone, but were centrally decided by the Human Consortium.
Xisiya only possessed defense rights, but was also not allowed to ask it any questions independently.
Now, even if Yelanka agreed to give Guan Tong a questioning opportunity, actually implenting it was troubleso.
On-site, besides Xisiya soldiers, there were also "observers" from various mber nations of the Human Consortium. Their task, ostensibly, was to observe the alien entity, but in reality, they were also monitoring Xisiya's soldiers.
If Xisiya acted on its own initiative, they would imdiately report to the Human Consortium, which would imdiately launch an inquiry.
To enter the Landing Site without attracting these people's attention, Guan Tong had to disguise himself as one of the Xisiya soldiers. This was the decision reached after discussion between Yelanka and Sigaochin.
That's right, just to get Guan Tong in, the entire squad of soldiers was cover.
Now that Guan Tong had successfully arrived at the Landing Site without attracting any attention, Sigaochin found it hard to feel particularly happy upon seeing him.
"Whether you believe it or not, I have no intention of harming the people of Xisiya," Guan Tong said.
Sigaochin stated bluntly, "But your question itself is a potential hazard."
"..."
"However, this is the Administrator's decision. I won't obstruct it," Sigaochin said. "But arranging the specific questioning matter still requires careful planning. Forget everything else, how do we avoid the many eyes on-site?"
The soldiers on-site plus the Human Consortium observer team mbers—so many people were watching the alien entity's every move. Besides that, there were also satellites in the sky.
Even if Yelanka agreed to let Guan Tong ask a question, she couldn't possibly let him walk over openly to ask it.
The consequence of doing that would be the Human Consortium imdiately discovering and intervening.
How to avoid everyone's notice and complete the questioning—this was the problem Guan Tong needed to consider.
"I'll handle this problem," Guan Tong said.
"How will you handle it?"
Naturally, by utilizing Shadow's power.
Moreover, Guan Tong believed Yelanka might have already guessed this thod.
Regarding intelligence about the Ascendant "Shadow," major organizations all placed great importance on it, and Xisiya was naturally no exception.
Then, as the Administrator, wouldn't Yelanka know that the intelligence included the detail that "Shadow can summon the living dead"?
This piece of intelligence had been discovered as early as the First Ascendant Challenge Tournant, after the battle on Holy Grail Island. Furthermore, the intelligence ntioned that "the living dead appear accompanied by a whistle sound."
So, the mont Guan Tong took out the [Corpse Whistle] in the museum and summoned the living dead, it was equivalent to telling Yelanka that he was Shadow.
Yelanka was so intelligent. The mont Guan Tong revealed his identity, she must have sensed his sincerity.
This sincerity also made Guan Tong's promise carry more weight.
A promise of protection from an academy teacher versus a promise of protection from the world-famous Ascendant "Shadow"—which carried more weight went without saying.
Guan Tong felt that precisely because he exposed his identity, making his promise more substantial, Yelanka ultimately decided, after weighing the options, to let him contact the alien entity.
However, judging from Sigaochin's reaction, Yelanka undoubtedly hadn't revealed the secret of his identity.
Therefore, from Sigaochin's perspective, being so "lenient" towards Guan Tong, a re academy teacher, really didn't seem like a decision a qualified Administrator should make.
"...Forget it. Whatever plan you have, as the on-site Commander, I need to know your plan won't threaten the soldiers' safety."
"Agreed."
"Also, even if you can create an opportunity to ask a question, you'll have to wait until the next ti," Sigaochin said. "The Human Consortium has already decided on a new question through a eting, and it will be asked this afternoon."
"A new question... I understand."
"Keep your goggles on. Don't let others notice your identity, Teacher Guan Tong."
"I left the academy long ago; I'm not a teacher anymore. You can just call
by my na."
Sigaochin nodded, her stern expression conveying the unquestionable authority of a Commander. "Guan Tong, from now on you must stay by my side at all tis. Although the Administrator trusts you, it doesn't an you can move freely around the Landing Site. That would increase the risk."
Guan Tong pushed his goggles back down.
Yelanka and Sigaochin didn't want this matter discovered by the outside world, and he certainly didn't either. So regarding his disguise, he would do as Sigaochin said.
As for his companion Uenoshi, she would stay in the Ice Field town first, reuniting with him after his operation here concluded.
Afterwards, he followed Sigaochin as she moved about. Although the other soldiers didn't know who this newcor following the Commander was, they didn't dare ask without authorization, fearing to displease Sigaochin.
After following for a while, Guan Tong noticed that although Sigaochin didn't say it, her actions intentionally planned the route so that he, following her, could quickly understand the deploynt situation in the Landing Site's core area.
The personnel deploynt of the entire Landing Site was arranged in a ring formation centered on the alien entity.
The inner ring section consisted of large empty zones, with no equipnt or personnel placed there. However, judging from so residual marks on the ground, Guan Tong guessed these empty zones were specifically for placing "food."
Outside the "food zones" was the area where Human Consortium observers and elite soldiers were mixed. Sigaochin herself was stationed in this area, able to monitor the alien entity's condition at any ti and mobilize soldiers for action imdiately.
Further out was the equipnt area, containing so equipnt like signal jamrs.
Guan Tong looked further into the distance. Observation watchtowers were set up in different directions a few hundred ters away, eight in total. Each watchtower had soldiers inside; he guessed they were likely observers and snipers.
Additionally, he noticed so special teams, probably composed of Ascendants. These people were responsible for guarding against other Ascendants, setting up barriers, and similar tasks.
With these people's complex arrangents, there was no need to worry about Ascendants suddenly approaching the alien entity from a distance using teleportation-type items.
After walking around the entire area, Guan Tong was extrely impressed with the defensive specifications of this Landing Site. He admitted to himself that if he hadn't obtained Yelanka's agreent and tried to infiltrate using his own power, it would have been absolutely impossible to avoid alerting the guards.
In the afternoon, transport vehicles arrived one after another, carrying parasitized forms prepared for the new question.
So were "stock" from various countries, while others were fresh ones, just captured by the Joint Force from the Black Flag Country area and imdiately transported to Xisiya.
Seeing these parasitized forms, Guan Tong imdiately had an idea.
He told Sigaochin that he wanted to mix one living dead among these parasitized forms.
This way, when the question was asked and the alien black ooze began feeding, they could observe whether it would eat the living dead. If it did, then the substitution succeeded, and Guan Tong wouldn't need to ask the additional na question.
If it didn't eat, that ant failure. At that ti, Guan Tong would leave imdiately, without another word.
After considering it, Sigaochin agreed.
Guan Tong knew she had no reason to refuse, because this would make her feel more at ease than directly letting him find an opportunity to ask a question she didn't know anything about.
The transport process for the parasitized forms lasted several hours. During this ti, transport vehicles ca one after another without interruption.
Guan Tong made a rough calculation and determined the total number of transported parasitized forms had exceeded ten thousand. This made him curious: what question did the Human Consortium plan to ask this ti?
It definitely wouldn't be a simple question; otherwise, they wouldn't have prepared so much food in advance.
He also noticed that as more and more parasitized forms were delivered, Sigaochin's expression grew increasingly grim.
She knew very well: the more food, the more difficult the question.
The more difficult the question, the more dangerous it was for the soldiers on-site.
Finally, as evening approached, the transport temporarily stopped. A total of over thirty thousand dormant parasitized forms were concentrated at the Landing Site, arranged in a dense ring around the alien entity, waiting to beco the price for humanity's question.
No one would notice that among these thirty thousand plus parasitized forms, one living dead controlled by Guan Tong had mixed in. At this mont, it was closing its eyes, pretending to be dormant.
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