From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 352 Suspicion of Self-Destruction
The confrontation, conflict and suicide bombing in this unknown town on Pyla IV has become one of the hottest topics in the Federation and the Empire at an unprecedented speed.

It stands to reason that Pyla IV is not the most intense and tense point on the current battle line between the two sides. The offensive force deployed by the Federation is newly formed after mobilization, and the defensive force deployed by the Empire in advance is also a newly formed force.
The standing armies of both sides, transferred from military planets, are now "furious fighting" at several key nodes. Logically speaking, these battle nodes should be the ones that receive the most attention.

But now, the headlines and hot searches of major media are dominated by eye-catching headlines such as "Portia's human bomb attack", "Madness before the destruction of the empire", and "The feasibility of including civilians as attack targets as shown by self-destruction".

However, in the eyes of outsiders, the reason for the current situation is very simple. This extremely small-scale conflict happened to be broadcast live by the "Eye of Truth", and the number of real-time viewers at that time reached a peak.

But within Atlas, this reason was not accepted by everyone.

Whether it is the Intelligence Analysis Center, the subordinate External Propaganda Department, or the team responsible for the operation of the "Eye of Truth", they all believe that the heat of this incident is a bit too high and has reached a position that does not belong to it.

"So you think someone is taking advantage of this opportunity to cause trouble?"

At a closed-door meeting initiated by the Intelligence Analysis Center, Amber looked at Isabel and others and asked.

In fact, after Atlas established its own intelligence department, Amber, the former "double agent", had not done her old job for a long time.

After all, no matter how powerful a psychic agent he is or how jumpy his thoughts are, he cannot be more efficient than a group of professionals working together.

Therefore, for a long time, Atlas' intelligence work was carried out by Isabel and her subordinates with the information support of Lilith.

But if they have a problem, they come to Amber.

It's not because of anything else, but because Amber can always magically point out key figures, events or secret places of the Federation or the Empire, which becomes a breakthrough in their intelligence work.

This time was no exception. When everyone at the Intelligence Analysis Center was at a stalemate in their investigation of the suicide attack and its unusual popularity, a member quickly suggested:

"Why not ask the amazing Boss?"

Hence the current meeting.

After Amber asked the question just now, Isabel also answered:

"Through analysis of the abnormal data in the background, we did make this guess, and according to our previous investigation, there has always been a force in cyberspace that has been fueling the flames.

They conducted so-called "in-depth analysis" of the incident through various eye-catching comments, replies, articles, videos, etc., trying to continue to increase the heat of the incident. What they have in common is that they directed the conflict to the civilians of the empire."

"This is the public opinion on the Internet. It is indeed a bit abnormal. It gives me the feeling that someone is launching a 'public opinion war'."

Amber nodded as she spoke, agreeing with what Isabel said, and then continued to ask:
"So what did you find out about the scene of the explosion?"

"It's true." Isabel snapped her fingers, and a video appeared on all the screens.

Amber glanced calmly at a cat-girl assistant beside Isabel, who tapped the virtual touch panel on the table in tacit understanding as Isabel snapped her fingers.

It is obvious that they have already reached a certain level of tacit understanding.

As the video began to play, Amber turned her gaze back to the holographic screen. This video was exactly the scene of the human bomb attack.

However, it is still different from the live broadcast of "Real Eye". The angle is better and the distance is closer. It looks like it is from a soldier's battlefield recorder.

In the picture, among the refugees who were originally sitting on the ground resting and passing drinking water and food distributed by Atlas to each other, a haggard, dishevelled middle-aged man suddenly stood up. Before he took out the detonator hidden in his clothes and was about to detonate it, he looked in a strange direction.

There were no other refugees, no federal troops, and no Atlas soldiers in this direction.

What there is is just the ruins of a collapsed three-story building.

Then, the man opened his mouth and said something, but the battlefield recorder's long-distance sound pickup capability was not its strong point, and the noisy environment around it meant that the man's words were not recorded.

Seeing this, Amber was about to say something when she heard Isabel speak first:
"I know what you want to ask. We are also very curious about the last words this man said, so after checking all the images recorded by battlefield recorders and live cameras, and finally after technical processing..."

As Isabel tapped her fingers, a post-processed and somewhat blurry voice sounded in the conference room.

"Please, please let my family go, please Todoroki!"

Then, Isabel played the second recording. This was what the second man who attempted to self-destruct said before pressing the detonator. Since medic Nia and others were nearby at the time, this part of the recording was relatively clear.

"I did what you asked. Please don't hurt my family!"

The despair reflected in these two recordings silenced everyone in the conference room.

After a moment, Amber said:

"If I'm not mistaken, the second person was also looking in the same direction."

"That's right." Isabel nodded.
"This is also what we feel is problematic. If it was just one person, there might be other explanations, but both suicide bombers looked in the same direction while talking."

"It's as if they wanted to say this to someone, someone who was there but was not discovered by us," Amber continued.

After saying this, he was silent for a moment. Some of the things he had been thinking about in the past two days finally came together, and a possible truth about this incident appeared in his mind.

"I was just skeptical at first, but now it seems that this possibility is not small."

Amber spoke again, attracting the attention of everyone in the conference room.

"This incident is very likely not a simple suicide bombing, but a premeditated propaganda operation that uses the communication capabilities of the 'Eye of Truth' to intentionally escalate the conflict."

"If this is really a 'self-directed and self-acted' show, do you think it was done by the Empire or the Federation?" Isabel asked.

"If there weren't those inexplicable opinions on the Internet, I might really think that it was done by the Star Dragon Empire, but now, the Federation is the most likely. If the opinions continue to ferment, which side will benefit more?"

Having said that, Amber couldn't help but let out a breath and leaned back in her chair.

"Now it seems that my previous arrangements were quite foresighted."

"What arrangement?"

"Why do you think the special operations team of the training team showed up at the federal army's battalion headquarters so quickly?"

(End of this chapter)