The rest of the journey was unusually uneventful, but ultimately peaceful. The group drifted along with the wind, following the direction of last year's swoosh, watching the land below transform from desolation to prosperity.
Yun Wei developed a new habit: in his spare time, he would observe Xie Mulang discreetly.
Because he could clearly sense the emotions hidden beneath the other person's humility and indifference, emotions that were like icebergs on the high seas, unfathomable.
He guessed that this must also be a kind of loneliness.
The reason it's just speculation is because this loneliness is different from the loneliness he once had.
Although the two have some similarities, he couldn't figure it out for the time being due to his limited experience.
Yun Wei felt somewhat helpless. In the past, he wouldn't have had the leisure to think about these things. But once life became peaceful, people tend to overthink and actively savor the taste of sorrow.
...
"Everyone, the Durane River is just ahead. As you can see, the current is quite strong this time of year." Isaac suddenly spoke up from the helm, waking the drowsy group. "The Golden Plains lie on the other side of the river. We're almost at our destination."
Upon hearing his announcement, everyone immediately perked up.
For a moment, the cloud boat was filled with rustling sounds, like all things coming back to life.
It was morning, and Yun Wei was enjoying the spring sunshine by the porthole when he inadvertently dozed off.
He was squinting, lazily raising his arm and moving his wrist in mid-air, when he suddenly snapped awake when he noticed the magic turret in the distance.
To be precise, they were scared.
Because he could clearly see that the magic turrets of the Alchemy City were currently activated. Not only were the dynamic crimson patterns on the turrets slowly flashing, but the gyroscopes at the turret tips were also constantly rotating and searching.
Clearly, this is the full-power mode when facing an enemy.
Without hesitation, he told the knight, "Isa, we'll land near the Durane River. The magic turrets are activated; something must have happened in the city."
Moreover, it's a major event, a major event that could activate all the magic-powered turrets.
Yun Wei's heart was in turmoil, but he kept forcing himself not to panic and to stay calm.
The Alchemy City has thirteen magic-powered turrets, with the tallest located in the council center. The rest are divided into inner and outer layers, forming two nested hexagons.
Overall, it appears as a giant six-pointed star.
This design not only ensures that every three adjacent turrets form a standard equilateral triangle, creating the most dense and robust defense, but also allows the energy circuits to form an interconnected network, reducing unnecessary energy consumption.
It's important to understand that the daily operating costs of these turrets, which utilize ancient technological heritage, are astronomical enough to bankrupt some small earls.
Even though Yun Wei racked his brains, he still couldn't imagine what had happened in the city that would make the stingy council so willing to put on such a show and activate all the turrets.
The others also noticed the strange phenomenon Yun Wei had mentioned, and their expressions turned serious.
Uncle Xie said, "Xiao Yun is right. Although there is an anti-surveillance array engraved on the cloud boat, the magic energy turret is already in operation, so it's better to be safe."
Richard laughed, shaking his head. "Oh dear, could it be that I'm incompatible with Alchemy City? Why is everything always so bad here?"
Yinlong chuckled awkwardly for a while, but seeing that Yun Wei's brows remained furrowed, he finally gave up his joking.
Qin Lushu stared at the view below, quickly sketching on a piece of paper. Xie Mulang remained silent, only helping to tidy up the somewhat messy desk.
Isaac followed his instructions and slowly descended the cloud boat, gently comforting him, "Don't worry, everything will be clear once we see Sid."
Yun Wei had no choice but to nod in the end.
Thinking too much now will only throw us into disarray; we can only get into the city first and discuss things further when we see Sid.
He immediately said to Uncle Xie, "Old Xie, just say later that you are suppliers found by the lab, bringing new samples to talk business with Xi De - we don't know what's going on in the city right now, going through the formal channels might cause some trouble."
After all, Bili City is still too mysterious. Openly getting too close to the Sid Laboratory would inevitably arouse suspicion from the other three major forces.
Moreover, from beginning to end, the person Yun Wei was connecting with was not Alchemy City, but Sid Laboratory and Bethlehem Territory.
Uncle Xie was a seasoned veteran; he understood Yun Wei's meaning perfectly well and readily agreed.
Yun Wei then took out some New Year's goods that he and Isaac had bought on a whim in Bili City from his spatial storage (to be honest, they really bought a lot), and casually distributed them among the group to deal with the inspection when entering the city.
...
When they arrived outside the city, the merchants thronged outside, so densely packed that it looked like a meeting of crows.
Yun Wei's group was too conspicuous, attracting the attention of many people.
After all, not to mention that more than half of the people in the group had beautiful faces, Richard's flashy clothes alone were enough to attract everyone's attention.
Many of these gazes were malicious, but Yun Wei pretended not to notice and led the group straight to the city gate. However, his spiritual power quietly spread out, gathering information from the merchants who were sitting or standing.
A merchant with a scar on his face whispered, "Hey, could these be fat sheep from Bili? Look at them, some old and some young, I wonder how they've traveled so far."
A seemingly honest merchant standing nearby replied, "I also find it strange. We usually only see merchants from Bili City after May... Now look what's happened, they've come all this way only to be dumbfounded."
The scarred man sighed, "Let's not talk about them. Today is market day, why won't they let me in? My goods are going to rot in my hands."
His companion scolded, "Who told you not to grit your teeth and spend a fortune to buy a spatial artifact?"
The scarred man remained silent, his eyes darting menacingly over the spatial rings of Yun Wei and the others.
There were many similar conversations, but Yun Wei listened to them all and couldn't extract any useful information from them. As for the scarred man... he really didn't care about him at all.
But Richard was not one to back down. His silver eyes flashed, and he casually swung out several ice blades that pierced the ground along the seams of the man's trousers, scaring the scarred man so much that he wet himself.
The ice blade was manipulated with extreme precision, almost gliding directly onto the surface of the opponent's thigh before disappearing into the ground. Had it deviated even slightly, the scarred man's leg would likely have been gone.
Even if traveling merchants had bad intentions towards strangers, they would choose to do so on the banks of the Durand River.
No one has ever dared to be so presumptuous outside Alchemy City.
"Murder! Murder!" Seeing the playful smile on Richard's face, the scarred man immediately started screaming and crying.
Yun Wei quickly reminded him, "Richard, keep a low profile and don't cause trouble."
Richard blew on his fingers, shrugged as if nothing had happened, and said innocently, "I've been very restrained, little guy."
Otherwise, he would have burned these ants to ashes long ago.
How dare they covet the dragon clan's treasure! Ha, what audacity!
Yun Wei couldn't help but sigh inwardly, but he had already heard commotion coming from the city gate, so he quickly perked up.
A group of soldiers carrying long halberds rushed over, and stepping out from behind them was an old acquaintance of Yun Wei:
Wild Forest, Gilded.
The other person's cricket-like mustache remained as nimble as ever, able to keenly detect the scent of money as it twitched up and down.
This Mr. Manglin clearly also remembered Yun Xiaofeiyang Wei. He nodded to Yun Wei first, but then said to the scarred man with displeasure, "Why are you still here? I told you the market day has been canceled. Why don't you get back home now!"
Having said that, he raised the handkerchief in his hand with disdain.
Upon receiving the order from their superior, the soldiers behind him ignored the scarred man's desperate pleas and dragged him away like a dead dog.
At this moment, Mang Lin looked at Yun Wei and smiled warmly, "Oh, it's Mr. Claude, long time no see. When did you leave Alchemy City? I don't remember."
“I greeted you at the end of last year. Look at you, you really have a bad memory.” Yun Wei’s eyes gleamed. Although he was reluctant, he still handed over the small money bag he had prepared. “Mr. Mang Lin, this is the tax for entering the city. A total of one hundred and sixty gold coins.”
He and Isaac got certificates, forty in total. The other four didn't get certificates, for a total of one hundred and twenty.
Mang Lin smiled and took the heavy money bag from Yun Wei's hand. Just as he was about to change the subject, his mind suddenly went blank.
Once he had his beloved money, he was almost instantly manipulated by Yun Wei's hints, throwing the ban on anyone entering the city to the winds.
He immediately turned around and directed the puzzled soldiers behind him to let them pass.
But when Yun Wei entered the city, he subconsciously sighed, "I heard you were staying at Mr. Sid's house, right? Alas, it's a pity you weren't there at the time... Sid really had a hard life, such a big thing happened to him."
As he spoke, the chubby tax collector even pretended to wipe the corner of his eye.
But his tone was full of malice, brimming with barely concealed schadenfreude.
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