Mobile City Travel Guide

"Omnipotent Mother of Mist, may you generously bestow upon us your grace and blessings. We will fervently follow your will in the world, and let your radiance shine upon the Kingdom of Heaven."

In the square of Rustwind Town, the leading old man murmured devoutly.

The town was surrounded by townspeople from all directions, each of them bowing respectfully and praying in hushed tones.

Li Xin and Zhang Yue watched from a distance.

This is a prayer ceremony held in Rustwind before low tide. The elderly man presiding over the ceremony is both the mayor and a priest of the church. According to the townspeople, federal officials often hold important positions in the church as well.

It was already evening, and this night in the sky was quite unusual. Because of the extremely thick sea of ​​clouds overhead, there was only a faint, grayish-white light, resulting in very low visibility.

Thinking of this, Li Xin subconsciously looked up at the sea of ​​clouds above his head—he was very curious about what was above the sea of ​​clouds.

Zhang Yue was taken aback at first, then put a hand on his shoulder.

"What's more deadly than ignorance and arrogance is curiosity," he said solemnly. "To survive, we must learn to restrain ourselves."

Li Xin was slightly taken aback, then smiled.

"I know."

Silent all night.

When Li Xin woke up again, it was already a new day.

After quickly getting dressed and washing up and going up to the deck, he suddenly felt a slightly cool touch on his face.

When I reached out and touched it, I found it was rain.

It fell from the sea of ​​clouds tens of thousands of meters away. At first, there were only a few scattered spots, leaving small circular imprints on the deck, but they quickly became denser.

As you look around, the outlines of the sky and earth gradually become denser.

Looking towards Rustwind Town, he noticed that the townspeople were busily preparing for something, and some were even in a state of disarray.

At first, Li Xin was completely confused, but he was stunned when he accidentally saw the black mist.

The tide is receding, it has begun.

The black mist that permeated the bottom of the floating world, resembling a "black earth," began to sink silently.

Where the fog receded, the greyish-white light of day revealed the floating islands and mountains that had been swallowed up for who knows how many years.

Moments later, the black fog had already descended over a thousand meters, and its speed was still increasing.

"We need to hurry down!" Amy said anxiously. "The low tide won't last long; it'll come back up soon!"

Li Xin scratched his head. It seemed that plans were not going to keep up with changes. He had originally planned to prepare for the diving expedition today, but he did not expect the black fog to recede so quickly.

Even the townspeople of Rustwind were caught off guard, and they were all scrambling to repair vehicle engines, prepare exploration supplies, and stock up on dry rations and water bags.

At this moment, the two mobile cities, Spark and Iron Mole, have shown a first-mover advantage—although they were also unprepared, they could eat, wear, live, and travel in the city and could pack up slowly after departure.

With Li Xin's command, the Xinghuo began to sink slowly and steadily. Its power engine output slowed down, the sails on the deck were half-retracted, and the propeller speed gradually decreased.

Matthew and Amy gripped the railing tightly, looking down with a mixture of nervousness and anticipation.

To facilitate their exploration, the brother and sister cleverly hitched a ride on the Spark. Firstly, the Spark became their "stopover" during their dives, and secondly, it saved them a considerable amount of fuel.

Not only do they rent aircraft, but purchasing fuel also consumes a significant amount of work points. According to the siblings, almost everything related to air tourists' food, clothing, housing, and transportation is monopolized by the federal government, and all of it requires work points to earn.

The Windcatcher-X1, whose tail section had been bitten off, was repaired last night, thanks to Amy urging her brother to get it done quickly.

Li Xin gripped the railing tightly with one hand and wiped the raindrops from his face with the other. It had to be said, the weather was truly uncooperative, starting to rain at this crucial moment.

At this moment, the black fog had descended to almost nothingness, revealing large areas of empty land below.

"This range must be tens of thousands of meters! That's really outrageous!" he thought to himself.

The Starfire accelerated its descent in the wind and rain, with the Iron Mole close behind, followed by hundreds of various vehicles from Rustwind Town.

As they gradually descended, a scene came into view.

It was a vibrant floating island. The island was covered with lush flowers, trees, and foliage, a verdant paradise.

Li Xin stared wide-eyed in disbelief. He had just experienced the "high tide" and witnessed the floating islands and mountains being swallowed and destroyed by the black mist. Why was this submerged floating island so full of life?

"This is a gift from the Mother of Mist," Amy explained softly. "She will devour everything, and she will give everything."

"According to those scholars' theories, this black fog can sometimes reshape or even elevate the ecology of what it devours," Matthew added.

Li Xin was skeptical. Was the black mist really that magical? But he had to admit that his previous view of the black mist had been too one-sided.

"At this rate, we'll discover many more amazing things if we keep going," he thought.

The sudden appearance of the floating island was surprising, but no one stopped. After all, everyone came with the idea of ​​getting rich, and at most, they could only cut down trees and mine some minerals on the island.

As they continued downwards, they soon made another discovery.

The ruins of a large town.

This time, it and the floating island it was on looked much more normal. The town was full of collapsed ruins, and the floating island it was on had also collapsed more than halfway.

"This must be Anvil Town," Amy said, lost in thought. "Several years ago, one night, the black fog suddenly and without warning surged, and all the more than a thousand people in the town were asleep and didn't have time to evacuate..."

Li Xin nodded slightly.

For air travelers, this high tide is truly an ecological disaster.

Matthew frowned.

"I think it won't be long before the town is relocated again."

The so-called "upward migration" refers to the process where people need to move to higher floating islands when the black fog rises to a height that threatens the safety of their settlements.

In fact, it's not just Rustwind Town; because the black fog rises as a whole, many towns, cities, and member states at lower altitudes need to relocate. Historically, there have even been instances of entire federations relocating upwards.

Upon hearing this, Li Xin's expression shifted slightly, and he seemed somewhat moved.

From this perspective, the history of this aerial civilization is a history of continuous upward movement.

Immediately afterwards, he keenly grasped a key piece of information.

"Wait, member states?"

He had originally thought that the federation where his siblings lived was the kind of union of many states, but now it sounded like an alliance of many countries.

At this moment, Matthew was still unaware of his slip of the tongue and added a sentence without thinking.

"What's so strange about that? The Federation was unified hundreds of years ago through the Glorious War."