Cage Mountain, command post.

"Captain, another piece of information ...... the same kind" The Joker walked over to Hill Fox with a note.

Even years had passed, and the original circus companions still habitually referred to him as the troupe leader.

"Where did you send it from?" Hill took the note and glanced at it, "Can you trace it back to the source?"

"The location of the messenger was released from the southern part of Yongdong, and there are three cities there, and there are no other hints on the seal. ”

Ciel frowned and pondered for a moment, then stood up abruptly, "Help me inform Lord Ironaxe and Lord Edith that we may be in trouble." ”

......

Fifteen minutes later.

Edith put down the information and tapped lightly on the table, "...... That is, this happened all over Yongdong at the same time?

Hill nodded, "Although it is impossible to confirm which cities are carrying out this order, judging from the distribution of intelligence, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the overall trend." ”

In the past few days, the intelligence department has received several secret letters with similar contents.

The letter shows that the nobility is using coercive means to relocate the local population.

And they all move in the direction of the north.

With such similarities and yet information from different regions that could hardly be misinformed or falsified, in other words, the nobles of Eternal Winter are engaged in a unified operation.

Although MeSign only mentions the word "migration" simply, it is by no means a trivial matter. There is a limit to the carrying capacity of a city, and too few or too many people can paralyze it. On the other hand, there are more things to take into account on the migration route, such as food for people to eat, temporary shelter, belongings to carry, and so on...... Neverwinter definitely knows this very well. It can even be said that the cities ruled by the old aristocracy are simply not capable of completing a large-scale migration, and without strong strength and materials to support it, the so-called migration is just a road to death.

It is true that most nobles do not care about the lives of commoners, but only when they are "individuals". The lord's taxation and rule are inseparable from the common people, and if there is no one under his rule, no matter how powerful the power is, it will be meaningless. Once these civilians find themselves unable to benefit from the relocation, they will inevitably lose all hearts and minds. What's more, gathering a large number of people together can easily lead to a riot, so even the most arrogant nobles will not easily do such an amazing thing.

But now it's not just one nobleman doing this, it's the whole north doing it, clearly at the behest of other forces.

The only thing the Eternal Winter Kingdom has the power to do is the devil.

"But why would the devil do this?" Edith muttered to herself, confused, "if you just want to weaken the war potential of the Grey Keep, you can kill all the civilians...... If there is a spider demon, even if the nobles are unwilling, they are powerless to stop it. ”

"Maybe the devil thinks it...... They are still useful. Dawn tried to speculate.

"If it's useful, they shouldn't be forcibly relocated," Ciel shook his head, "Yongdong is the least large city among the four kingdoms, and even the royal capital can only accommodate twenty or thirty thousand people without prior preparation, not to mention that their movement route does not end in the royal capital." ”

"The northernmost big city is ......," Edith looked at the map.

"Snow Castle, backed by the source of the Desperate Mountain Range, is only half the size of the royal capital. Fei Lin immediately added the relevant information, "Due to its unique topography and low permanent population, it is also the first place where the red fog appears. ”

"If the devil is going to move everyone here, it's no different than just killing them. Hill said.

"And the enemy will never do more than that," Edith nodded in agreement, "and I think there must have been something unnoticed about that caused the devil to take this seemingly inexplicable action." ”

"What could that be?" Iron Axe asked.

"I don't know......," Edith said slowly, "but it shouldn't be good news. Inform the front line first and let them be on alert. ”

......

"This red cloud...... Could it be where the Devil's Obelisk is?" muttered Tilly.

"No," Lightning replied with a solemn expression, "at this distance, we shouldn't be able to see the red mist......

"Can't see it?"

"Because the red mist is all downward-flowing goo," replied Maisie, "I've seen the mist cascade down from the edge of a desperate mountain, like a waterfall!"

"Yes, I don't know if it's because the red mist is heavier than the air that makes it easier for them to gather at low altitudes, but one thing is for sure, when the red mist invaded the Eternal Winter Kingdom from the continental spine, the mountain tops weren't all red. Lightning added.

"You mean, they were flowing down the ravine?" Tilly raised an eyebrow.

That's why she said that the red mist could not be seen at this distance—they were now hundreds of kilometers away from the highest mountain range on the continent, and if the red mist did not rise, it would inevitably be hindered by the mountains and peaks.

"More than that," Lightning affirmed, "I patrolled north along the Desperate Mountains a month ago, and approached the edge of the Red Mist Zone, but there was no red cloud on the continental spine at that time. It...... It doesn't seem like it rose out of the Great Rift Valley. 」

Tilly couldn't help but feel a chill rise in her back, and she gradually noticed that the red on the mountain peak was not a thin layer, but a whole from top to bottom, more precisely, like a huge pillar of cloud pouring down from the clouds.

She stared at the vision in front of her and was silent for a moment before she spoke, "There is a way to make us see more clearly. ”

Lightning looked up at the dark clouds overhead, "I think so, too. 」

The higher you fly, the farther you can see.

As long as they can take the continental spine into their eyes, it is possible to see the true face of that red cloud.

"In that case, let's give it a try—" Tilly cranked the throttle to the maximum again, pulling up the nose and climbing into the clouds, lightning following closely beside the cockpit, covering Tilly as much as the magic could.

With the cooperation of the two, the altimeter hand on the Phoenix was slightly deflected towards the end.

When it rose to an altitude of 7,500 meters, the earth had taken on a distinct arc, the dark clouds had become intermittent instead of a single piece, and the edges of the earth had a light shade of blue.

Dense fine sweat broke out on Lightning's forehead, and it was obvious that the high altitude had also taken a lot of burden on her sympathy barrier, and through the glass window, Tilly found that the fuselage had been covered with white frost, if it weren't for the other party's constant use of magic to ease her discomfort, I am afraid she would not have been able to focus on flying the plane as much as she is now.

"Almost," Tilly could clearly feel the thrust of the engine weakening rapidly, "let's find a gap here." ”

"Leave it to me!" Maisie poked her head out and shifted to Hawkeye mode.

In a quarter of an hour or so, she had found an excellent vantage point—a small silhouette of the continental spine in the distance could be seen through the gaps in the clouds.

However, when the scene above the red mist came under the lookout glasses, the trio could hardly believe their eyes.

They saw a floating piece of land.