Zang Xin replied in a serious manner, "It's hard to say. However, this attack did indeed cause a lot of damage, and from the information we've received, the warship that had been destroyed was undergoing maintenance at the time, so there were only basic maintenance staff on the ship. Hence, not many people perished during the attack. Under normal circumstances, over 3,000 people would've died on that warship."

A thought suddenly occurred to Tang Wulin. "Could this have been orchestrated by the military itself?"

Zang Xin shook his head in response. "No, the price being paid is too heavy. That black warship does indeed belong to the Eagle Faction, and they definitely wouldn't be able to sacrifice such an expensive warship as part of an act. Hence, someone else had to have been responsible for the attack, and there are only so many people who have access to ninth-grade soul missiles."

Tang Wulin contemplated the issue for a moment before deciding, "Let's wait and observe how this situation unfolds for now. If this attack is an intentional ploy to instigate the war earlier than it would otherwise commence, then someone will definitely blow the entire incident out of proportion and spread information to create controversy. Have you contacted the Star Luo Empire and Dou Spirit Empire? We need to verify that they aren't responsible for the attack first."

Long Yuxue interjected, "That's very hard to say. Even if one of the empires were responsible for the attack, they most likely wouldn't admit it."

Everyone fell silent upon hearing this.

Yuanen Yehui asked, "Your Majesty, will this incident affect our trip to the Dou Spirit Empire?"

Zang Xin nodded in response. "It definitely will. The coastline had been placed into complete lockdown, and even though we can still set sail, the chances of us being discovered will be much higher than before, so we'll most likely have to wait. However, if we keep waiting and the federation decides to instigate the war earlier than planned, then we might not be able to step in in time. Unless..."

Tang Wulin's eyes narrowed slightly as he continued where Zang Xin left off. 

Yue Zhengyu's brows furrowed, and he said, "Our identities are too sensitive, so we won't be able to do any investigating. How are we going to accomplish this?"

Tang Wulin paced from one side of the room to the other, and Zang Xin's brows were also tightly furrowed. They had everything planned out, yet his sudden interlude could quite possibly ruin their entire plan and render them unable to prevent the war from taking place.

After a long while, Tang Wulin suddenly raised his head and turned toward Long Yuxue. "We can't expose our identities, but what if we do this on behalf of the Blood God Legion? The Blood God Legion is a confidential legion that only the higher-ups of the federation know about, but at the same time, the Blood God Legion is undeniably a federal legion, and officials in our legion are ranked higher than the same level officials in other legions. We have no choice but to take a risk now. Yuxue, contact the legion and ask them to cooperate with us. I'll tell His Majesty, the Mirror Douluo, about this situation."

"Alright." Long Yuxue always seemed to have unconditional support for Tang Wulin, and she immediately agreed to his request before going to the surface to make the call as there was no signal underground.

Zang Xin turned to Tang Wulin with a slightly concerned expression. "Wulin, make sure you don't bite off more than you can chew!"

Tang Wulin smiled, and replied, "We have no choice but to take some risks now. Otherwise, if things continue to play out like this, all of our efforts will be wasted. We can't let this war happen no matter what. They want to add more fuel to the flame, right? Then we'll just have to divert everyone's attention. Compared to the Star Luo Empire and Dou Spirit Empire, the most hated entity in the federation is still the Holy Spirit Cult."

"Do you have evidence that they were behind this, Boss?" Xie Xie asked.

Tang Wulin shrugged in response. "I don't care who did it, but from now on, the Holy Spirit Cult will be the sole perpetrator. The evidence will come, regardless of where it comes from and whether it's real evidence or not. They're not the only ones who can blackmail and shift the blame onto others."

……

Following that massive explosion, a very tense atmosphere had settled over the entirety of Skysea City.

Citizens of the city didn't dare to emerge from their homes, and to the vast majority of people, this was the first time that it had truly dawned on them that a war was imminent.

Even though the Eastsea Fleet had been docked on the coast of Skysea City this entire time, that had nowhere near as much of an impact as that explosion had.

That doomsday-like explosion and the tsunami that had almost rushed into the entire city filled everyone with panic and horror.

Everyone was staying indoors, watching the news being broadcasted on their soul televisions for further updates on the situation.

"According to the evidence we've discovered, it's very likely that a secret organization in the Star Luo Empire was responsible for this attack. The federation has adopted a very firm and aggressive stance on the matter, and the military has stated that should these reports be confirmed to be true, then they'll definitely be retaliating in an even more intense manner."

News reports surrounding the incident were cropping up one after another, and aside from reports condemning the perpetrators behind this incident, there were also experts analyzing the probability of a war taking place, as well as how the federal military stacked up against the military of the Star Luo Empire.

There seemed to be the same underlying message embedded within all of these news reports; war was imminent!

At the Eastsea Legion United Control Center.

It had been less than half a year since the united control center had been established, and it was a conglomeration of the Northsea Fleet, the Eastsea Fleet, and the number one fleet in the federation, the Sea God Fleet.

The united control center currently presided over three fleets, as well as the field armies that these fleets belonged to, which amounted to a total of over 400,000 troops.

The entire Douluo Federation had around 1,000,000 troops, of which 300,000 were part of the navy, and over half of all of the naval troops had been gathered here.

It could be said that this united control center presided over close to half of the entire federal military.

At this moment, the atmosphere inside the control center was very heavy, and on the main seat sat an elderly man with a high nose bridge and a pair of sunken eyes. He had a grim look on his face, and his epaulets indicated that he was a federal admiral. 

His aura was like a boundless unfathomable abyss, and the vast majority of the oppressive atmosphere in the entire control center stemmed from him.

All of the soldiers sitting on either side of the long table before him were all extremely high-ranking military officials, and even major generals could only sit at the end of the table. The two people seated directly on either side of him were also admirals and generals, but their auras were far inferior to his.

According to Douluo Federation's military hierarchy, admirals and generals ranked directly below the military commander-in-chief. However, due to the different roles they were assigned, even admirals and generals weren't all equal. It was undoubtedly the case that the man occupying the main seat here definitely stood at the very pinnacle of the federal military, and was vastly influential.

"Commander, according to the information we've gathered, all of the evidence points toward the perpetrators coming from the Star Luo Empire. We've already begun an exhaustive investigation to search for all suspicious individuals," a major general said in a respectful manner.

"The Star Luo Empire?" The commander on the main seat swept his gaze over the faces of all of the military officials present with a cold smile on his face.

"Are you all idiots or do you think I'm an idiot? The basis for anyone's actions lay in their motives. How about you tell me what motive the Star Luo Empire would have for attacking us? Also, why did they just so happen to attack a warship that had been vacated for maintenance? Are you telling me it was a coincidence? Old Man Xu, the warship was yours; you tell me what's going on," the commander said as he turned to one of the generals beside him.

The general also had a dark expression on his face. Black-grade warships were extremely expensive to produce, and it would take an astronomical sum to replace the one that had been destroyed. 

General Xu Yangyun had only recently become the commander of the Northsea Legion, and to say that he was currently in a foul mood would be a massive understatement.

He slammed a hand onto the table, and replied, "We have to launch an exhaustive investigation! I don't care who's behind this; we have to get to the bottom of this!"

The commander looked into his furious eyes, and nodded in response. "We do indeed have to launch an exhaustive investigation, and that begins with an internal investigation. Who's responsible for the federal fleet radar department?"

One of the major generals sitting near the end of the table stood up with a pale complexion and extended a military salute. "It's me, Commander."

"Detain him!" the commander said in a cold manner.

Two burly soldiers immediately strode in from outside before each grabbing onto one of the major general's arms.

"I'm innocent, Commander! This has nothing to do with me!" The major general immediately began to panic. He was well aware of how harsh their commander was, and if he were to be detained, then it was all over for him.

"Setting aside whether you colluded with the perpetrators, you're still guilty of malfeasance, and that alone is enough to prosecute you. Take him away for interrogation," the commander said in an implacable manner.

All of the other officials present reflexively sat up straighter, and sweat began to bead up on many people's foreheads. Even the fury in Xu Yangyun's face seemed to have abated slightly in the wake of this development.

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