"Mr. Lin En, there have been some new developments in the wilderness; please have a look, this might also be the reason for the airship losing its way." The speeding transporter flew across the sky above the wilderness, while Mid’s holographic projection appeared on the central console. At this moment, the transport was establishing contact with the base stations on the high walls of Yilan City through its own high-frequency base station. As Mid spoke, a piece of information was transmitted over. He Ao glanced briefly at the information, then he gently asked, "Has some kind of invisible ’barrier’ appeared near Yilan City?" Mid slowly nodded, "This ’barrier’ is about nearly one kilometer wide, it seems to be transparent, and cannot be observed with the naked eye. You can see the outside scene through the barrier, and everything seems normal, "But according to messages from sentries in the wilderness, once you approach or ’enter’ the barrier, you would lose your sense of direction. Although you can still clearly see your surroundings, you can no longer distinguish the original orientation and can only follow your instincts forward, then unwittingly circle back to the starting point. "According to our estimates, up until several tens of minutes ago, this barrier was still passable. Although it still affected direction, if one followed the road straight, they could still exit, so nobody realized this issue at that time, since the roads in the wilderness are mostly simple and easy to recognize. "And this might be the reason why that airship got lost. Now the detour taken by the airship intersects with its original route, and this intersection is likely to the west of Yilan City, near this barrier. "The airship might have entered the barrier area unknowingly, lost its direction, changing from southward to northward, and at the same time, entered the clouds, "We suspect that the clouds above also have the same psychological inducing effect, causing the pilots of the airship to feel disoriented, unaware that they were taking a wrong path. "However, the airship’s built-in composite radar scans the nearby density of exotic beast herds, guiding the automatic flight system along a ’safe route’ that avoids the herds, which is how they entered the original ’Dawn-Yilan’ route, and flew the wrong way, heading towards Dawn City. "And Kopes Mining’s Mercenary Corps just happened to be stationed along this route; their exercises nearby frightened away the beast herds, creating a large empty region devoid of beasts. "The airship’s composite radar scanned this empty area, and coupled with the distance traveled, the automatic system thought it had arrived at Yilan City and chose to descend, then due to unknown reasons, it encountered an accident and crashed near Kopes Mining." He Ao spoke slowly, "Can we determine the scope of this invisible barrier now?" "Our sentries are still investigating. I have already contacted General Corvey, and South City has also dispatched sentries at the same time," Mid paused, seemingly hesitant to continue, "Mr. Lin En, the situation might not be good. From the intelligence we currently hold, this barrier might not only appear in a small area but is like a continuous ’cover,’ along with the clouds above, enveloping both Yilan City and the nearby wilderness. "On the isolated trade routes, many caravans have been stuck by now, and exotic beasts are also trapped within," As he said this, Mid’s tone softened, "I feel that it might be physically sealing off all the paths connecting to Yilan City completely, like..." "Like a hunter preparing a cage specifically to prevent their prey from escaping." He Ao continued calmly. Mid looked at He Ao, his voice hoarse as he spoke, "And the speed at which this barrier is sealing off is very fast; we estimate that the change from being passable to essentially impassable might have been instantaneous, basically giving us no time to react." "Can we make a rough estimate of the range of the barrier?" He Ao asked in a low voice. Mid nodded lightly and sent over a map, "This is our rough estimate of the barrier area." He Ao looked down at the map—a map of Yilan City and the surrounding wilderness areas. At this moment, there was an irregular circle drawn on it with Yilan City at the center and a radius of about one hundred kilometers. "Contact General Corvey, close the city gates, prohibit anyone from going out, issue a recall order to all the caravans trapped within the barrier, and try to get all the caravans back to the city, especially those from the north." He Ao raised his head to glance out the transport ship’s window at the overcast clouds and the sprawling wilderness below before speaking rapidly. Mid immediately responded, then he lowered his head as if he remembered something and said softly, "The crashed airship is near Kopes Mining Mercenary Corps’ location. According to Federation laws, they should be obligated to rescue the airship crash survivors. Should someone contact the Mercenary Corps Leader in advance and inquire about the specific situation of the airship?" He Ao shook his head, looked down at the map, and the location of Kopes Mining Mercenary Corps within the circle, "I’ll ask him myself." Mid nodded lightly, but he did not disconnect the communication and slightly opened his mouth as if he wanted to ask something, but ultimately he did not speak. It was also at this time that He Ao’s calm voice slowly rose. The Elderly raised his head, gazing at the seemingly endless overcast clouds, his eyes calm and natural as if such a Transcendent event engulfing a city was just an everyday occurrence to him. That aged yet composed voice echoed in Mid’s ear and also reverberated through the vast wilderness, "Being in a cage doesn’t necessarily mean you are the prey." Inside the narrow and confined lower deck cabin, a woman dressed in the chief steward’s uniform looked towards the corpulent woman next to her, "This is the airship’s communication equipment." Looking at the dense array of various buttons and small modules, along with the multiple screens that had already darkened, the corpulent woman was somewhat puzzled. Standing next to the chief steward, the young man with a mechanic’s badge shook his head, lifted his hand, and pointed at all the equipment in front of him, "These are all parts of the airship’s communication equipment. To be precise, they are the bottom control panel and the mainframe; the transmitting and receiving equipment are set up on the top and around the sides of the airship." Looking at the equipment before her, the corpulent woman swallowed hard. She now truly believed what the redhead girl had said about the airship’s communication equipment being powerful. Then her gaze fell on the equipment in front of her, "This seems to be broken, can it be fixed?" The mechanic shook his head, "Some antennas may have been damaged in the air, but the mainframe is probably still fine. I’ll do my best to fix it." The corpulent woman took a deep breath and looked at the mechanic, "Please, the faster we are, the sooner we attract the City Defense Army over here, the greater our chances of survival will be, and the less pressure she will have to bear over there." Kopes Mining Mercenary Corps Base The inspecting officer looked up at the mercenary in front of him and said coldly, "Stay alert. If Lin En comes attacking with the Yilan City Defense Army, you’re likely to be killed before you can even react." "Boss, are you joking here?" The mercenary lifted his head, yawned, and laughed, "Who in the Federation doesn’t know that the City Defense Army is just a bunch of turtles, only knows how to hide in their shells? They’d need their mamas to coax them for half a month just to get out of the city gate." Another mercenary beside him also laughed and said, "Captain, I think you got scared by those little turtles last time. If we were to attack the city, they’d hide in their shells and try to hit us, and we might get frightened a bit. But if he really dares to come out of his shell, it’s not certain yet who will be left rolling and peeing themselves with laughter, hahaha." "Boss, take a look at what we’re holding here," Another tall mercenary on the other side lifted his rifle and laughed out loud, "This is the latest toy from Evis Spatial System. One shot from this could blow a big hole in a bear. If Lin En really dares to bring his people over, we’ll show him who’s the real boss of the wilderness! Just hope the old guy isn’t so scared he wets his pants." Suddenly, the standing mercenaries all burst into laughter. The entire wilderness was enveloped in a jovial atmosphere. Hearing these words, the officer in front was about to scold them when a mercenary in the corner suddenly raised his hand, pointing at the dark spot under the distant clouds, The roaring storm approached swiftly, and with a violent thunderous sound, a giant transport ship accompanied by a squad of Mecha was getting closer rapidly. "Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Alert! Alert!" The officer at the front immediately grabbed his gun and shouted loudly. Soon, the giant transport ship arrived not far from them. However, once it got there, the transport ship stopped and did not directly rush into the Mercenary Corps. Then, under the tense gaze of the mercenaries, the transport ship slowly descended, and an Elderly wearing a gray suit and holding a golden cane jumped down from the ship. He glanced at the outpost, lifted his foot, and slowly moved forward. His pace was very slow, and his steps were small, yet he almost instantly crossed hundreds of meters and appeared in front of the mercenary squad. The leading officer trembled as he watched the Elderly who suddenly appeared before his eyes. He naturally recognized this Elderly. After the retreat that day, the Mercenary Corps Leader had sent Lin En’s photo to all the officers. This was to ensure that if one day the city were breached, the officers wouldn’t let Lin En escape and could report his whereabouts at any time, making it easier to capture the ’culprit Mayor’. But he never expected Lin En to suddenly appear here, before the encampment of Kopes Mining Mercenary Corps, and all by himself. He swallowed a gulp of saliva, his voice trembling a bit, "What... what are you going to do?" These lower-ranking soldiers didn’t know the extent of Lin En’s strength, but he had heard it mentioned by a close friend who followed the Corps Leader. The messenger sent by the Corporation to meet with the Corps Leader brought information about this ’Mayor Lin En’. The not-so-extensive information described the Corporation’s stance, considering this ’Mayor Lin En’ a very potent high-ranking Transcendent. Such a strong Transcendent would find it as easy to crush him at this close distance as crushing an ant. "Boss, is this Lin En?" However, as he was speaking, the tall mercenary beside him suddenly saw a glint in his eyes, and he immediately raised his gun, "Old Geezer, Heaven presented a path which you did not take, Hell had no gate yet you broke in; surrender quickly, I’m about to strike it rich." Hearing his words, He Ao turned his head back and gave him a glance. Like a frail soul swept by the icy gaze of a fierce beast, the oppression emanating from the hierarchy of life made the tall mercenary’s body start to tremble uncontrollably. A cold, desolate wind began to blow from the void, as if the footsteps of death were steadily approaching, then sticking closely to the mercenary’s back. The mercenary stared dully into those cold eyes, seemingly devoid of any emotion. Eyes that seemed capable of tearing open his soul at any moment, flaying his flesh bit by bit, letting him die slowly in despair. A twisted fear spread in the mercenary’s heart, gradually taking over his entire spirit. The mercenary, trembling, dropped his gun and took a few steps back. A strong stench permeated the breeze of the wasteland, as hot liquid trailed down along the loose trouser legs of the mercenary, pouring into his shoes and onto the grass below. Staggering, he clutched his head and knelt on the ground, as if praying to a Divine Being, begging not to let the Elder see him. But at this time, the Elder truly could no longer see him. Because He Ao had already looked away, during the entire process he had merely glanced ordinarily and had not lingered on the mercenary, not even for a split second. His gaze turned to the officer in front of him who hadn’t even realized what had just happened and calmly continued the ’conversation’. "Tell your Captain to come see me." Kopes Mining Mercenary Corps · Command Center The flame furnace burned with scorching brilliance, boiling the white solution in the round-bottomed flask, and the hazy mist arising from it passed through the narrow cooling device, condensing into droplets that fell into the beaker below. The red-haired girl stood in front of the beaker, silently gazing at the drops falling one by one. "It’s been tens of minutes," Suddenly, a screen standing not far away lit up, and a man with sideburns appeared on the screen, his gaze piercing through it, watching the girl, "Has your experiment not started yet?" "The things your people found weren’t right at all," The red-haired girl kept her gaze fixed on the distillation apparatus in front of her, "I asked you to find anhydrous ethanol with a purity of over 99.5%, such a simple thing, and you guys brought me a bucket of medical alcohol, and now I have to distill it myself, it would be odd if I could start now." "My men are all rough folks, having a middle school diploma is considered high education for them, it’s normal for them to not distinguish different alcohols and ethanol." The man with sideburns rasped, "But I also remind you, don’t try to be clever. If I don’t see the sample by tonight, I will kill one person every ten minutes, until you get it done. "If you really can’t make it, think of an epitaph for yourself, I’ll leave it beside your corpse. I hope, after your body has been devoured by wild beasts, it can still be preserved, for your family to see." The expression of the red-haired girl darkened slightly. The man with sideburns on the screen seemed very pleased with the girl’s expression. He opened his mouth, ready to say something, when a mercenary suddenly ran in from outside, leaned into his ear, and quickly said a few words. His face changed, looking at the mercenary beside him with an expression of surprise and incredulity, he exclaimed,