Ian clutched the badge that the old man had given him and once again stood in front of the gate of the Enlightenment Alliance's headquarters.
The heavy iron gate was still closed, and the eyes of the guards at the entrance were sharp and guarded, with a serious look that showed no sign of letting up. Ian slowly approached, only to be stopped once again.
"I must see your chief for something very important." Ian's tone was calm but firm.
The guards surveyed him indifferently, still not budging, "The Alliance is not receiving anyone right now, leave immediately!"
Ian sighed, he knew it was useless to argue, the guards would not listen to his explanation at all. Weighing the situation internally for a moment, he decided to use his newly acquired ability, the Shadow of Concealment.
He slowly retreated away and turned into a dimly lit alley nearby, closing his eyes and gazing, he unleashed the ability of Hidden Shadow. In the next moment, his figure gradually became transparent, like an erratic ghostly shadow.
Ian lightly bypassed the guards and silently entered the interior of the Enlightenment Alliance's headquarters. The corridor was dark and quiet, the dim lights on the walls swayed, and the sounds of distant whispered conversations were faintly heard.
He carefully felt his way along the passageway, his ears keenly catching every bit of movement around him. He knew that he had to find the Alliance leader as soon as possible for a chance to meet him face to face.
After some cautious searching, Ian finally saw a slightly lit room on the top floor of the headquarters building. He vaguely heard the sound of hurried and muffled conversations coming from inside.
Ian closed in on the door of the room, quietly pushed open a slit, and looked in through it.
The room was very simple and serious, and in the center stood a middle-aged man wearing the Enlightenment Alliance's signature dark blue robes. His face was resolute and his brows were furrowed as he was solemnly saying to the several Alliance executives in front of him, "We must transfer the important personnel as soon as possible, this city can no longer hold out. We can only abandon the City of Ashes for the time being."
Hearing these words, a burst of anger that was hard to suppress surged up inside Ian: in times of peace, the three major powers occupied the vast majority of the city's resources, but when danger came, they only thought of escaping themselves, abandoning the hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in the city.
It was a moment of anger that caused the breath to create disarray and fluctuation.
The man seemed to have keenly captured this subtle change, his gaze snapped and he shouted out in a low voice, "Who's there?!"
The guards in the room immediately drew their weapons alertly and approached the doorway, their body's energy instantly radiating out, all of them obviously powerful psychics.
Knowing that he could no longer remain hidden, Ian gritted his teeth and lifted the state of the Shadow of Concealment, revealing his form and calmly walking into the room.
"Who are you to sneak in here?" A guard questioned in a cold voice, the weapon in his hand already pointing at Ian.
Ian calmly raised his hands to show that he was not hostile, "My name is Ian, I am not your enemy, I just desperately need to talk to your leader."
The leader of the Enlightenment Alliance stared at him coldly, his expression filled with wariness and suspicion, "Ian? I've never heard of you, what exactly is your purpose?"
Ian took a deep breath, took out the badge engraved with strange runes from his bosom, and held it up in front of him, "I came here with this."
The room instantly fell into a frozen silence, the chief's face suddenly changed drastically, he took a step forward almost out of control and asked sharply, "How did you get this badge? Who the hell are you?"
Ian gazed at him calmly, his tone sincere and serious, "It was handed to me by an old man, who told me to bring this to you to see, and that you would offer me help."
Complex emotions flashed in the chief's eyes, quickly changing from shock to gravity, "An old man? Who is this old man you speak of? Where is he now?"
Ian said slowly, "He should have already left the City of Ashes, but before he left he said he would meet again. "
Immediately afterward, the chief regained his composure and looked at Ian as he solemnly asked, "Then what is the purpose of your coming to me?"
Ian answered without hesitation, "I hope that the Enlightenment Alliance can unite with other forces to resist the monsters. As you can see, the monsters' attacks have become more violent, and if we can't unite, the City of Ashes will sooner or later be destroyed."
The chief smiled bitterly, "Unite other forces? Do you know how difficult that is? The Brotherhood of Steel only cares about their own interests, and the Free Chamber of Commerce is even more unscrupulous, so why should we, the Enlightenment Alliance, trust them?"
Ian's tone was firm, "I'm not asking you to trust them unconditionally, but I'm asking you to understand that if the division continues, it will only end up costing everyone everything. I am not asking you to naively trust your enemies, but I want you to face a greater threat together. As long as there is a common goal, even the deepest hatred can be put aside for the time being. At the very least, it won't be too late for you to continue fighting after the crisis in the city is resolved again."
The chief was silent for a while, his eyes gradually became deep, he slowly said, "Alright, I promise, the fact that you can get this badge shows that that lord thinks highly of you, I am just looking at his face, I have to promise."
At this time, Ian was even more curious, what exactly was the identity of that mysterious old man, only relying on a badge, so that the chief of one of the three major forces in the City of Ashes could not refuse his request.
The chief immediately ordered, "Pass on my order, except for those who do not have the ability to fight, all the rest of the people suspend the evacuation operation, starting today, the senior aliens will join the guarding operation of the City of Ashes, and at the same time release the news that we, the Enlightened Alliance, will defend the City of Ashes to the death! "
The others received the order and left, the chief said to Ian, "The Enlightenment Alliance has agreed to cooperate for the time being, however, the other two forces, it's up to you to fight for them, I can't help you with anything, this badge has no effect with them, they don't know the story behind this badge.
I can give you some hints, you start with the Brotherhood of Steel, they are selecting potential young generation alien, you join in first, then find a chance to negotiate with their leader."