I, from the Celestial Empire, have parachuted into Teyvat.

"Okay, then we'll connect the video call again in ten minutes."

After the conversation ended, Ivan temporarily hung up the communication. The shock on the faces of everyone in the main tent had not yet subsided, and it was clear that most of them had not yet recovered from the barrage of news.

Ningguang said, "Now all the missing persons, whether alive or dead, have been found, and we have not lost contact with the action team, which is a blessing in disguise."

Qin slowly sat back down in her seat and sighed, "Yes, it's a stroke of luck amidst misfortune... but the frontline action team said that all the missing personnel died from infighting, which is just too unbelievable..."

Xu Donghai looked at Ivan and guessed, "Could it be that an irreconcilable conflict occurred among the missing persons while they were trapped?"

Ivan shook his head slightly: "We can't figure out exactly what happened even if we guess for a long time here. Let's talk about the specifics when we have a video call with the frontline operations team later."

Ten minutes passed quickly.

The signal light for the video communication request on the main communications control panel lit up on time, and Ivan immediately connected.

The large screen on the control panel slowly rose, and Quan Shi, wearing a winter coat, quickly appeared on the screen. By observing the surrounding environment through the camera, it could be seen that Quan Shi was inside a cave.

Ivan said, "Team, let's check the condition of the body."

The communication equipment carried by the frontline operations teams is completely modular. If needed, components such as cameras can be disassembled and used separately by the operator.

"clear."

Jeon Seok removed the camera module and took it to the body storage area.

Seeing the rows of mummies appear on the screen, the atmosphere in the main camp suddenly became heavy.

Ivan said in a deep voice, "Team, I want to see the fatal wounds on these corpses."

"it is good."

Jeon Seok waved to several team members who were some distance away. With their cooperation, Jeon Seok used a communication camera while the other team members turned the body over to examine the wounds on it.

Soon all the bodies were examined again, and as Quan Shi had said, all the fatal wounds came from sharp weapons such as knives and swords. Moreover, judging from the angle of the wounds and the many weapons that Quan Shi and the others found at the scene, it all matched up. These missing persons did indeed die from killing each other.

Ivan frowned and said, "They really all died from killing each other... Team, you said you found a diary on the bodies of the missing persons, right?"

Quan Shi nodded and said, "Yes, we found that diary on a member of an adventurer's party. It contains a complete record of what happened in the camp while the missing person was trapped. However, the diary is now in Mr. Abedo's hands... Mr. Abedo!"

At Quan Shi's call, Abedo quickly arrived from the direction of the camp.

Seeing Ivan and the others appear on the communication screen, Abedo briefly showed the diary to the camera, and then described in detail the contents of the notebook.

As Abedo recounted the events, a dark, chaotic, and inhumane tragedy slowly unfolded before everyone's eyes. The expressions of the staff in the main camp changed constantly as the diary progressed, until finally, the vast majority of them had completely darkened their expressions.

Faced with this bloody tragedy, most people would rather believe it is a dark allegory depicting the evil side of human nature than a real event, since it is simply too despairing.

On the other side, Ivan was also shocked by what happened on the snow mountain, but he was more concerned about some of the strange things that happened than the tragedy itself.

"You just said that according to the diary, the missing adventurer team and the subsequent rescue team both encountered a blizzard when they were halfway there, that is, when they were almost at Starlight Cave. This is almost exactly the same situation you encountered, right?"

Upon hearing Ivan's question, Quan Shi nodded: "Yes, we also discovered this before, and as recorded in the diary, the heavy snow outside shows no sign of stopping. Mr. Abedo and I both believe that this blizzard is not a simple weather change."

Abedo added, "Yes, I suspect that we, like the previous missing persons, have stepped into an area controlled by some special force. That's why there are constant snowstorms and blizzards on the snow-capped mountains, while no abnormalities can be detected outside the mountains. If we want to leave here, we'll probably have to find a way to break this force."

At this point in their conversation, Ivan suddenly raised an eyebrow.

Just now, he noticed some details, details that could very well solve the predicament the task force was currently facing!

“Mr. Abedo, I have something I want to ask you, and I want a completely affirmative or completely negative answer.”

Aberdo paused for a moment, clearly not expecting Ivan to ask such a question.

“Mr. Ivan, please speak.”

"Mr. Abedo, has Dulin been resurrected?"

Upon hearing Ivan's words, Abeddo's usually expressionless face suddenly showed surprise: "Mr. Ivan, you... how did you..."

The Knights of Favonius have extensive records about Durin, so it's not surprising that Abedo knew of Durin's existence. What truly surprised Abedo was how Ivan knew that Durin had been resurrected, or rather, how Ivan knew that Durin could be resurrected.

Dulin's nature as an artificial alchemical creature, coupled with the hardness of its dragon heart, means it will not die easily. Even if its body is destroyed, it can be resurrected by slowly accumulating power.

Only Abedo, who shares the same bloodline as Dulin, knows this, and he has never mentioned it to anyone.

Ivan, as if anticipating Abedo's suspicions, delivered his prepared explanation, half-truthfully saying, "Before the team departed, I noticed Mr. Abedo, you looked worried when you heard Miss Sugar mention the monitoring data. After the team left, I went to see Miss Sugar..."

After Ivan finished speaking, he presented all the information he knew as his own speculation. Of course, he omitted the part about Abedo's background, because if he had said it, it would have been impossible to explain. In short, his words were perfectly logical and watertight, making Abedo believe him without a doubt.

"I see. I didn't expect Mr. Ivan to be able to deduce from these fragmented clues that Dulin, who was slumbering in the snow mountain, might have already been resurrected. Yes, when I was active in the snow mountain before, I discovered that there was a power slowly accumulating in Dulin's heart. At that time, I sensed that Dulin might be resurrected, so I installed an alchemical monitoring device around his heart to keep an eye on the Dragon Heart in case of any unforeseen circumstances. Today, the monitoring data suddenly became abnormal, but when I rushed to the Dragon Heart, it was too late. Dulin has indeed been resurrected..."

At this point, Abedo suddenly paused, then realized what he meant and said, "Wait a minute, Mr. Ivan, do you mean... that the force that trapped us in the Starlight Cave is related to Dulin?"

Chapter 336 Nameless Corpse

"Is the force that has trapped us in the Starlight Cave related to Dulin?"

After saying this, Abedo frowned.

Because after saying that, the first three words that popped into Aberdo's mind were "impossible."

Although Dulin's power had accumulated over the years to the point of resurrection, it was still far from enough to create such a massive blizzard "illusion" that could trap people inside. Perhaps no one understood this better than Abedo, who had been monitoring Dulin's condition for many years.

Sure enough, Ivan on the other end of the communicator gave a similar answer.

"Maybe it's related, but not necessarily entirely."

As mentioned before, Ivan discovered some details in the diary entries described by Abedo, and through deduction of these details, Ivan came to a surprising conclusion, which perfectly matched a part of a snow mountain-related plot in the game that Ivan originally had in his mind.

In the original game, there is a storyline about a snow mountain where the player and Abedo encounter a "false body" incident. An unknown enemy uses bio-alchemy to modify and control some deceptive flower monsters, making their mimicry abilities even stronger. They can completely mimic a specific human and replace them without being noticed by ordinary people.

Ivan now strongly suspects that these "deceptive flowers," modified with bio-alchemy technology, infiltrated the camp of missing persons, leading to the series of tragedies that followed.

As for why this matter might be related to Dulin, but not necessarily entirely, it's because in the original game's storyline, there was a lot of information suggesting that Dulin was the mastermind behind modifying these deceptive flowers and manipulating their actions, but it wasn't fully revealed. Therefore, Ivan made this most likely speculation based on incomplete information.

But the fact that it is a speculation rather than a guess means that it has some evidence to support its logic, which brings us back to the details that Ivan had previously discovered.

Ivan said, "If I remember correctly, this diary recorded that on the 22nd of X month, a member of an adventurer's party went crazy and ran out of the camp, right?"

Quan Shi and Abedo both nodded. They had only recently read the diary and still remembered its contents vividly.

Ivan stroked his chin and said, "That person's name is Oliver, right?"

"Yes, Oliver."

To be on the safe side, Jeon Seok opened his diary again to double-check.

Ivan looked up at Jean not far away, raised an eyebrow and said, "Jean, I remember you guys mentioning before that the insane missing person found in the Windrise Land also had this name, right?"

Qin paused for a moment, then nodded as if waking from a dream, saying, "Yes, Oliver. The Knights checked with the Adventurers' Guild, there's no mistake... He's the one who went mad, as recorded in the diary?"

Xu Donghai raised an eyebrow and said, "If the crazy missing person we found in Windrise is the Oliver mentioned in the diary, then how did he get to Windrise? Putting aside the distance and journey from the snow mountain to Windrise, there's absolutely no way he could have made it down the mountain in a blizzard."

On the other end of the communicator, Quan Shi and Abedo nodded in agreement.

They had just experienced a blizzard outside and knew how dangerous it was to walk on mountain roads in such conditions. Even a person with sound limbs and a clear mind could easily fall off a cliff and die if they were not careful, let alone a mentally unstable person.

Ivan also agreed with Xu Donghai's words: "Yes, logically speaking, it is indeed unlikely that a mentally unstable person could come down the mountain and arrive at the Windrise Land under such circumstances. That is the problem."

"Since normal logic doesn't make sense, then there's only one other possibility."

Ivan snapped his fingers as he spoke: "Something moved him directly from Dragonspine Snow Mountain to Windrise."

Upon hearing Ivan's words, both people on the other end of the communication line fell into deep thought.

Ningguang frowned slightly and said, "So, some kind of spatial teleportation power teleported him from the snow mountain to the Windrise Land?"

The power of spatial teleportation is not particularly special in Teyvat.

When the demons attacked Liyue Harbor, the spatial demons among them were able to use spatial power to teleport.

When Ivan was in Inazuma, he also used a naturally generated spatial passage to go to Umijima for help when Narukami Island was blocked.

Ivan nodded and said, "That's the most reasonable, and only, explanation. And if my guess is correct, the bodies of the rescue team members you found in Mondstadt and Liyue should all be those exiled people mentioned in the diaries, or those who tried to find a way out due to insufficient supplies in the latter half of their journey. Like Oliver, the adventurer team member who went mad, they left the Starlight Cave and were teleported to the outside of the snow mountain under certain circumstances. However, they were probably not as lucky as Oliver and may have frozen to death on the snow mountain before being teleported out. Of course, just to be on the safe side, I suggest we recheck the identity information of the missing persons' bodies found in various places to see if it matches the records in the diaries."

Qin nodded. The members of the rescue teams found in various places were originally members of the Knights of Favonius. They were officially registered in the Knights, and their identities could be verified by contacting the Knights' headquarters.

However, just as Jean was about to get up to contact the relevant personnel who were far away in Mondstadt to confirm the information, she was stopped by Ivan.

"Qin, have the Adventurers' Guild also verify the identities of the rescue team members."

Qin was stunned for a moment.

Should we have the Adventurers' Guild verify the identities of the rescue team members who belong to the Knights Order?

Although she didn't understand what Ivan meant, Jyn did as he said.

Not long after, when Qin returned to the main camp, her expression had changed drastically, as if she had heard something unbelievable.

Ivan stroked his chin and narrowed his eyes slightly.

Judging from Qin's expression, he had already deduced that things were probably pretty much as he had guessed.

Xu Donghai asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Qin said somewhat dazedly, "The information we confirmed earlier was incorrect. After the Knights and the Adventurers' Guild jointly verified the information, they discovered that one of the victims was... Bandari, the captain of the adventurer team who went missing in the snowy mountains. Moreover, the cause of death was not freezing or starving to death, but poisoning..."

"what?"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the main camp, as well as Quan Shi and Abedo on the other end of the communication channel, were stunned.

Quan Shi raised an eyebrow and said, "Impossible, right? The diary records that the adventurer team leader, Bandari, died from a sword piercing his heart, and his body is still here."

Ivan raised an eyebrow and said, "Those corpses over there have long since become mummies, their faces drastically altered. Without specific technology to reconstruct the appearance of the corpses, can you really confirm that Bandari is among those corpses?"

Quan Shi was taken aback.

"this......"

Abedo's eye twitched slightly.

"If Bandari's body is in Mondstadt, then whose is the extra body we have here?"

Chapter 337 I've Got You

"If Bandari's body is in Mondstadt, then whose is the extra body we have here?"

Everyone in headquarters turned their attention to Ivan, who was sitting in front of the communications control panel.

Everyone could see that Ivan already had the answer to this question.

However, just when everyone thought Ivan was about to reveal the answer, he suddenly asked, "Mr. Abedo, you told me this morning that you forgot to retrieve something from the snow mountain camp?"

Faced with this question, not only was Aberdo stunned, but everyone present was also stunned.