Feasibility of Mermaids Infiltrating Qilin

The yellow sand grew ever larger, and the trees on both sides of the official road had long since withered, leaving only their trunks.

Desolation, silence, decay... these are the main themes of this journey.

Su Xingze looked up at the sky, a look of doubt creeping onto his face: "Little Qilin, have we really left the area of ​​Qinghao Town?"

The dim sky was filled with a sun that looked like an egg yolk. There were no clouds, but the sky was covered by yellow sand, obscuring its original clear blue color.

Zhang Shenglin nodded with certainty: "We left Qinghao Town three days ago."

The area of ​​a town in this world is very large. It took them nearly a month to walk out of Sunny Town and enter the area of ​​another town.

This group of over three thousand people is simply too large.

The drought has lasted for almost four or five months. Water is so scarce that even we ourselves are running out of water to drink, let alone give water to our livestock.

Most of the livestock had already been slaughtered and made into food, so only a small number of people in the group used horses, donkeys, or other means of transportation; most people actually walked.

In the heat and water shortage, people's condition was obviously not good, and they could not travel fast every day. In addition, there were occasional attacks by drought demons and wild animals, which naturally slowed down their journey.

“That’s strange.” Su Xingze looked puzzled. “Logically, once we’re outside Qinghao Town, the situation should be better, but the temperature around us is hardly changing.”

Li Mingzhen possesses a magical artifact that allows him to contact the prefectural city, enabling him to stay informed about the outside world even while residing in Qinghao Town.

Before leaving, Li Mingzhen compiled a new intelligence report for them about the entire Daze Prefecture.

According to that thick intelligence report, although the areas outside Qinghao Town were also affected by drought and heat, they were not as severely affected as Qinghao Town.

In some places, the drought demon was cleared away as soon as it was discovered, before the area was even affected by it, and the environment within a certain range even remained as it was before the drought demon's disaster.

They cleared away all the drought demons they encountered along the way, and the little Qilin would lead two other warriors to patrol around the group every day to ensure safety.

It is certain that there are no other drought demons around them.

They have already moved far away from the area where the ancestor of drought demons lived, so why is the surrounding environment still so hot, with no sign of it getting cooler?

"The water consumption these past few days has been quite abnormal; more than half of the water has evaporated out of thin air."

Su Xingze talked about the various suspicious points he had noticed recently, and then gave his own guess: "This situation looks like a drought demon is secretly following us, which is why the water in the whole team evaporates out of thin air, and the surrounding temperature has not changed much."

Zhang Shenglin's eyes darkened, and he gripped his knife tightly as he stood up: "I'll go check it out."

He spoke briefly with the other two constables and warriors, then mounted his horse and left the area where the group was resting.

The drought demon has two passive attributes: drought and heat. The effects of drought demons vary depending on their level.

The severity of drought and heat, and the extent of the impact, vary depending on the level of the drought demon.

The most powerful drought demon ever to appear is a level four drought demon, which can affect an area of ​​about ten miles in radius.

The little Qilin had already gone to test whether the temperature would change significantly after leaving the group, and Su Xingze was not idle either.

He put away the small table he used for drawing talismans and beckoned Dong Zhile over.

Has anything strange happened in the team these past few days?

Dong Zhile always treated Su Xingze with a degree of respect, even though Su Xingze was clearly several years younger than him. He always cooperated fully with whatever Su Xingze asked him to do.

Upon hearing Su Fushi's question, Dong Zhile pondered for a moment.

"There are actually two or three strange things."

"Due to the heat and water shortage, even though a certain amount of water is provided to the townspeople every day, most of them are in worse and worse condition. Except when they are traveling, they will cooperate and keep up. Otherwise, they will not move as much as possible. This is the case for most people."

"But I noticed that whenever the team rested, there would always be a few people who would secretly leave the resting place and not return until an hour or two later. They seemed to be in much better spirits than the other townspeople."

"The second thing is that the youngest son of the master of the martial arts school in town has not gotten off the carriage for a long time. He takes care of everything in the carriage, from traveling to eating to resting."

“According to the townspeople nearby, every time the martial arts master’s carriage stopped to rest, strange noises would come out. They speculated that the master was taking his anger out on his son.”

In fact, there was something else Dong Zhile didn't say. The townspeople were still secretly speculating whether the martial arts master had some kind of shady affair with his youngest son, since the noise coming from the car at night was really suggestive.

Just to avoid offending Master Su's ears, Dong Zhile didn't say anything more.

"Oh, and there's also the young lady from the town's largest embroidery shop. I heard she's trading gold, silver, dry rations, and precious water for roadside twigs, leaves, weeds, and stones. Apparently, she's discovered a new embroidery technique that requires these materials."

But now that many people can only rely on the Tongwu Division for daily relief, it seems particularly strange that this young lady would exchange precious food and water for common trinkets.

"And the big boss of the restaurant in town..."

It's normal for a few strange things to happen in a large group of over three thousand people. Su Xingze didn't say anything after hearing this and just let Dong Zhile go about her own business.

As the aroma of food began to waft through the camp, Zhang Shenglin finally returned on horseback.

Upon seeing his expression, Su Xingze knew that his guess had come true.

Zhang Shenglin dismounted, his dark eyes gleaming with a hint of coldness.

"I left the camp about three or four miles away, and the temperature dropped noticeably." Not much, maybe only three or four degrees, but that already speaks volumes.

Temperatures don't change suddenly for no reason. To prevent him from misjudging the situation, Zhang Shenglin also patrolled the camp where they were resting in Qinghao Town and checked the surrounding environment.

As a result, the temperature only rose in the area near Qinghao Town where people were resting.

The little mermaid's guess came true.

Su Xingze also told him the information he had received from Dong Zhile. Seeing the little Qilin deep in thought after listening, he sighed.

"All the arid and hot lands affected by the drought demon are filled with the power of the drought demon. This omnipresent power has affected my perception. Otherwise, if a drought demon appeared in the team, I would definitely be able to sense it immediately."

Zhang Shenglin did not believe it was his fault, as the little merfolk had no obligation to ensure the safety of the team.

He raised his hand to comfort the little mermaid, then began to analyze:

"The drought demon has the instinct to eat people. So far, there have been no abnormal deaths in the team. If this drought demon is not of such a high level that it can control its desires, then someone is raising this drought demon."

Since leaving Qinghao Town, due to the harsh environment, lack of water and food, heat, and psychological factors, people in the team have been dying every day.

People have died from dehydration, heatstroke, or suicide due to unbearable pressure; these are all quite normal deaths in the current situation.

Zhang Shenglin suddenly thought of a possibility, his eyes changed, and his face turned completely cold.