With the glow of several flares, the airship's gangway was slowly lowered. The side of the air chamber was engraved with a large and shiny royal insignia of the Ryan Yelu royal family, which dazzled the hunters who were saluting on either side of the gangway. Before he could step down the last step, Yoda felt himself being thrown into a hot furnace. Boiling heat rose from the ground, like a beast licking blood, sucking the water from the little prince's body through its hunting suit. If it weren't for the reminder of his subordinates, the young man deliberately changed into a heat-insulated device before landing, and he didn't even doubt that he would have burned his feet immediately and embarrassed in front of the sergeants.

"Your Highness!" The middle-aged man stood at the head of the line, recognized the figure that stepped out of the cabin, and then hurried forward. The man leaned over and saluted respectfully, his loose cloth clothes were heavily wet, and his sweat towel was also wet, apparently he had been waiting for a long time.

"Good work." Yoda owed, and then asked, "The owner of this camp—"

"Contemptible people are." The steward raised his hand and led towards the outside of the landing pad, keeping up with the little prince's pace.

"That's right, Kerr is still in the cabin, she's a little uncomfortable, probably from heat stroke. We're going to be on the hunting ground for a few days, and I don't want her to stay in the sweltering airship all the time. ”

"The princess is here too?" The embarrassed color on the man's face flashed, "Although it is not compliant...... However, if the princess is not in good health, a doctor can be assigned to accompany her throughout the day. ”

"There are royal physicians on board, so you just need to provide some quiet barracks and let her settle down as soon as possible." Yoda waved his hand, sensing the other party's emotions, he raised his head slightly, looked at the steward and said with a wry smile, "Where the kid wants to go, even I can't stop it, if it affects the work process of the camp, I will apologize here in advance." ”

"Your Highness is serious—" The steward gave a deep sigh and whispered a few words to the entourage beside him. He made a gesture from afar, and the wooden fence leading to the outside of the landing pad creaked open, and the hunters on the left and right guarded gave a military salute in unison: "The room has been prepared for a long time, and it is near the center of the camp. After receiving the letter, we temporarily sent additional defense personnel, so Your Highness does not need to worry about security. It's just that...... As you can see, the whole hunting ground looks like this, and the camp is not much cooler than the boat. ”

The tall Emerald Tower towered over the horizon, and under the gloomy sky, the outline of the ancient tower was a little blurred in the vision of the two of them, this was the relic hunting ground in the territory of Ryan Yelu. The young prince followed the path into the distance, and the semi-permanent camp was in full view. The camp was expanded from a former supply depot, and the oversized transports were guarded by a series of tents and prefabricated houses, like a battle fortress rising from the ground. Traces of alterations on the fortress were evident, with countless dark gun muzzles hidden behind the flooded towers, as if something was under heavy guard.

"How serious?" Yoda's face turned grim and asked in a deep voice. Around the young prince, the jungle on the outskirts of the hunting ground was no longer what he remembered, it was obviously one of the most densely vegetated boundaries in the country, but at this moment it was full of exhaustion. The ancient trees beside the road without exception showed a sickly wilting yellow, which was clearly a manifestation of excessive transpiration, and there seemed to be an invisible flame between heaven and earth, burning the little vitality left in this land all the time.

"The number of summary reports sent to Wangcheng has increased to one delivery every two days, but it still can't keep up with the deterioration. When I woke up this morning, if I hadn't been able to see the Emerald Tower, I'd have thought I was in Loclac—Your Highness came with me. ”

Without greeting the hunters stationed in the camp, Yoda went straight to the top of the transport boat in the center of the camp under the guidance of the steward. There was no natural vantage point in the dense forest, so the hunters had to set up an open-air lookout on the top of the air chamber. Standing under the awning, the young man's vision suddenly widened. His brow furrowed: "Those smoke ......"

"It's wildfire, Your Highness." Where Yoda couldn't see, the middle-aged man pursed his lips slightly. As far as the eye can see, the Emerald Tower resembles a megatown full of workshops, and the black-and-gray smoke spreads from all over the ruins, staining the sky a hue of gray. Before landing, Yoda thought it was rain clouds, but he didn't expect it to be embers covering the sky.

The first fire was observed after unusually high temperatures in the hunting grounds had been going on for more than a week. The fire spread from the depths of the ruins in the southerly wind, and it was even more difficult to extinguish when it was discovered. In the days that followed, alarms erupted throughout the ruins, and fires broke out in several unrelated hunting areas, and the rescue team finally realized that this was not some accident.

"In the first few days, more than a dozen fire zones were found in the camp's field of vision, and the airship brought back more sighting information than that, and every once in a while new dangers appeared......

"What about the nearby towns and villages? Is the location of the camp still safe? The little prince asked nervously.

"It's okay for the time being." The steward replied worriedly, "Hunter Ancestor, although we have nothing to do about the deeper calamity, the fires at the recent fires have been initially brought under control. However, once the southerly wind returns, the barrier will have to be doubled to function steadily. This is only an ideal scenario – if the heat continues, no one can guarantee that new fires will not occur directly north of the barrier. ”

"Besides, Your Highness, the real danger is not only the flames themselves."

Affected by the disaster, a large tide of beasts has once again formed in the hunting grounds, and more than half of the team is dealing with them. The first herds were successfully guided to the nearest resettlement area, but the carrying capacity of the resettlement area was also limited. The hunters had to hunt down some of the more threatening lords, and even so, they were overstretched by the seemingly endless monsters in the depths of the hunting grounds.

"Even if there are plenty of hunting grounds nearby, the camp needs more new blood to make sure the evacuation work goes smoothly. The monsters on the run are so aggressive that even I have never seen them in my life. The commission mortality rate remained high, and the warriors were almost risking their lives to fill a bottomless pit. I already have a thick stack of death reports on my desk, many of which are about your age, Your Highness......"

"I'm not a kid anymore, so I don't need to use such emotional cards against me." Yoda interrupted the man's narration with some irritation. I don't know if it's the environment or the psychological effect, a faint smell of burnt paste lingered in the young man's nose: "It's true that you are the leader of this commission, but the warriors who died in battle are all subordinates of the royal family, and the people threatened by the disaster are also my compatriots." I've been sent to assess the size of the next batch of backups, and can I still cut corners on the report? ”

Seeing that the young prince straightened his face, the steward hesitated for a long time, and said reluctantly: "There is a precedent for border towns, and of course I will not doubt His Highness's enthusiasm for the people...... It's just that the letter said that Wang Cheng was going to send someone to investigate on the spot, and the contemptible people never thought that it would be you. ”

Realizing the other party's off-string sound, Yoda couldn't help but laugh angrily: "Sure enough...... Rumors about the royal family are always very widespread. ”

The rumors of the little prince being hidden in the snow have been rumored for a long time, perhaps as far back as the night the border town was destroyed. In the most extensive version, Yoda forcibly requisitioned a large number of border airships to transport the victims, which directly led to the poachers' captains driving straight in, and rampant in the territory of Ryan Yelu for several days. After many years, Scarlet's emblem once again floated in the airspace of Ryan Yeru, and God knows what he did to the kingdom's territory, and it was thanks to him that he traced the origin. After this battle, the royal family lost face, and in shame, he erased his exploits in the disaster and banned most of his privileges. The rights and wrongs of this are still inconclusive in the eyes of others, but after all, if the identity of young people is like this, just relying on the various influences caused by their enthusiasm is enough to become the talk of the people after dinner.

"Contemptible...... Don't dare to speculate. The middle-aged man said this, and the opposite meaning was clearly flowing in his eyes. Now there are frequent visions in the territory of Ryan Yelu, and there is news that the one on the Spirit Peak is also showing signs of awakening, and the manpower in the four realms is in a hurry. Yoda was still young, had no real power in the kingdom or the union, and had not built up his own army, so it was difficult for him to get decent assistance from the royal family with just a piece of paper. In fact, the moment the little prince appeared on the landing pad, he concluded that the ruins hunting ground had once again been selectively abandoned by the royal family.

Looking at the increasingly tragic meaning on the leader's face, the young man smiled helplessly: "Believe it or not, when I set off from Wangcheng, the reinforcements were already on the way. Of course, you will not receive the report, and the information will be intercepted by the kingdom's trade union headquarters in accordance with international regulations, and it will be conveyed later. ”

The steward was stunned for a moment, and finally reacted to the meaning of His Highness's words, and raised his voice in disbelief: "What do you mean...... The reinforcements were sent by Scarlet? ”

"Only one of those rumors is true, and there is no one in the royal family who is more competent than me if you want to contact a helper abroad."

"But ......" After a short period of joy when he heard the news, the middle-aged man immediately fell into deeper worry, "The last poacher incident has only been a short time ago, and it is really appropriate to be visited twice by Scarlet in such a short period of time?" ”

Yoda turned his back on his hand and looked into the depths of the smoke-filled hunting grounds: "Frankly, I don't know the whole picture, but I'm afraid we're in the midst of a continent-level disaster. Now it is no longer the time for Ryan Yelu to think about the struggle between countries, and if the people of the kingdom want to survive, they must use all the forces they can to rely on. "That's why I'm here with another commission to collect information about the disaster for the union and find out what's really going on in this hunting ground." Beyond what is described in the commissioned interim report, how much more do you know about the fire? Let's say the reason for it – the real reason. ”

temporarily dispelled the doubts about the increase of troops in his heart, but he heard a terrible secret from the mouths of the royal family, so that the middle-aged leader didn't know how to react for a while, and he lost his mind in front of the little prince for a long time. Hearing Yoda's repeated calls, he finally apologized: "Hunter glory is above, and there is nothing to hide in the report. When the team first set up, they also thought about tracing the source of the disaster, but they sent hunting ships to patrol many times, but they still found nothing. ”

"We did have some speculation that the real hardest hit area was further south, near the core of the hunting grounds, but that was only speculation because ...... For that reason, information from deeper depths has been delayed, and hunting ships have so far only been able to cover a few dozen kilometers south of the camp. ”

The end of the incident at the top of the tower was like yesterday, and the ruins hunting ground suffered such a catastrophe again before it could heal the scars caused by the fall of the ancient dragon. The impact of the Kirin's remains on the Emerald Tower cannot be eliminated overnight, and even if Ryan lifts the ban on the Ancient Dragon Graveyard one day, it is unlikely that any hunter will be willing to brave the curse of the natural disaster to set foot in that land in a short period of time, and it is understandable that the progress of intelligence gathering is slow.

"You mean this disaster...... Does it have anything to do with the fallen ancient dragon? The little prince asked, turning his head.

"Not really, Your Highness." The steward shook his head and said, Qilin's death was jointly confirmed by many high-level hunters and the union systems of the two countries, and dead monsters can't make waves, and natural disasters are no exception, "Besides, this kind of vision is not that guy's style, our field scribes have all given the same inference." ”

"Do our scribes have any other inferences? Let's talk about it together. ”

The middle-aged steward looked at the face of the junior in front of him a little overstep, hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Your Highness, just take this as my own talk." ”

"I've been a hunter for more than 10 years since I left the camp, and I've been a team leader for even longer since I retired from injury. In the troubled country of Ryan Yelu, an experienced hunter can sense the dangers of the hunting grounds just by smell. If you want me to say, the Qilin may not be the only ancient dragon species in the Emerald Tower, and whatever is sleeping in the depths of the hunting ground now is much more dangerous than when the thunder beast was alive. Your Highness...... Your Highness? You okay? After a few words, the team leader realized that his tone was clearly threatening. Seeing that Yoda was silent, thinking that the young man was frightened by his words, he hurriedly called out.

"Is there something wrong with my eyes, or is that smoke getting thicker and thicker from the beginning?" The little prince turned his head, and his face pointed strangely at a wisp of black smoke in the depths of his vision.

In front of the young man's fingers, a series of flares of different colors lit up near the smoke. Seeing the arrangement of the signals clearly, the steward's face darkened: "Your Highness, I'm sorry to lose my company first." ”

"What does the signal just mean?"

"The fire is out of control, and I have to go back to the command room immediately to dispatch manpower." The leader climbed to the top of the ladder and replied hurriedly.

"What about these...... Do they all mean the same thing? Yoda's gaze swept across the sky, and the surprise in his eyes instantly turned to panic.

Under the sky, which was obscured by the embers for days, flares of various colors rose from the smoke and dust like flowers blooming in spring. Behind the flowers, in the depths of the hunting ground, a will, which had been sleeping for a long time, opened its eyes lazily, and cast its gaze towards the north with a little confusion.