What era is it, still traditional card making

At ten o'clock at night,

This is the agreed time to meet.

Ye Qiong and others returned to the hotel and shared the information they had collected with each other.

First came Aidas. She took out a recruitment poster and placed it on the table, then said:

"The southern part of Riverbank City is a wealthy area. Generally speaking, recruitment posters will not be sent to them because these people have countless ways to escape the conscription. If they really reach a point where there is no escape, they can still leave Riverbank City and leave the Principality."

Ye Qiong looked at the poster on the table, then asked Edas:

"How many demons are there in the rich area?"

"It's all there."

"All of them?"

Ye Qiong was somewhat surprised by Edas's answer. These demons loved the city they lived in so much that they had already received recruitment posters, but they still hadn't realized the seriousness of the problem.

Even if they don't want to recruit soldiers, just looking at the current situation of the Kingdom of Elland, they would think of leaving a way out for themselves and running to a safer city, right?

Ye Qiong didn't know how many demons like this he had seen in the City of Progress.

In the face of disaster, it is human instinct to choose to escape, unless their love for the city or country overcomes this instinct, so they choose to stay here.

There are demons of this kind, but they are not many.

After all, the major cities in the demon world today are actually more like primitive tribes gathered by different demons. They gather together more with the mentality of living together. In the absence of external enemies, they can still live an honest life. But if there is an external enemy that needs to be fought together, then their internal forces will gradually begin to split.

Ye Qiong didn't know how many times he had seen this kind of thing.

That's why he was so surprised by the performance of the demons in Hewan City.

Adas was silent for a while, and then continued:

"Not only are they still here, but they have also donated part of their assets to allow the Duchess to forge weapons."

Hearing this, Kelly couldn't hold back any longer and started to complain:

"Are these still the high-level demons I know? No, that's not right. What kind of magic potion did Elena give them to make these high-level demons so willing to prepare for war for her?"

Ye Qiong showed a thoughtful expression.

"In other words, the strange manifestations of "war" have already taken place in this city?"

The information brought by Adas was undoubtedly good news for them. What they feared most was not trouble, but the inability to collect information.

Then, Edas recounted what he had seen and heard, and ended the sharing.

Next it was Ye Qiong's turn. He placed the bottle of special gunpowder sent by Old Mok on the table, and then told Kelly and Aidas what had happened.

After listening to this, Kelly picked up the glass bottle, uncorked it and smelled the special gunpowder.

Then he turned around and looked at Ye Qiong and Edas, and asked:

"Do you feel anything strange?"

Ye Qiong nodded slightly, while Adas frowned and said to Kelly:

"Put the cork back on the bottle."

It seems that this special gunpowder has a great impact on her. In order to avoid hurting Edas, Kelly quickly put the cork on the bottle.

After completing this step, Kelly finally spoke out her conclusion:

"Obviously, the remains of the dragon slayer were added here, which is why the dragons instinctively feel disgusted. In fact, in my opinion as a master of magic, this is not the right choice.

Dragon-killing vine, holy silver powder, and magic-forbidden stone powder, these three things combined together are actually enough to refine a weapon that can hurt the dragon clan.

There is no need to add the remains of the dragon slayer.

It is true that the dragons do hate dragon slayers, but that doesn't mean they are fools. Just ask yourself, if such a gas spread all over the battlefield, would they really charge forward foolishly?

The dragons are arrogant and think they are invincible, but they are not stupid. After discovering this special gunpowder, they will definitely suspend their attack and choose to destroy these things before launching an offensive.

In order to maximize the effectiveness of these special gunpowders, the best way is to make them colorless and odorless, gather all the dragons together, and then detonate them on the battlefield."

In fact, Ye Qiong's idea is similar to Kelly's. In his opinion, adding the remains of the dragon slayer is actually a failure. Apart from making the dragon clan feel uneasy and alert, it doesn't have much other effect. After adding this thing, the special gunpowder only has the function of creating an atmosphere. The dragon clan is not stupid, how could they approach this thing when they know it is dangerous?

Ye Qiong suspected that there might be something hidden inside. He looked at Kelly and asked:

"Can you analyze what else might be hidden inside this thing?"

"Sure, give me some time and I should be able to analyze it."

Kelly took the bottle, put it into her space ring, and then started talking about what she saw and heard in the east and west parts of Hewan City.

The mechanical puppet she controlled went to the eastern part of Hewan City, and she soon discovered that the entire eastern part of the city was deserted and as dark as a ghost town. No one lived there at all, and no one knew what had happened here.

Hearing this, Ye Qiong interrupted:

"Maybe there are not many people living in your house? It's already night time, so it's normal for them to turn off the lights and go to bed, right?"

"That's what I thought at the beginning, so I controlled the mechanical puppets to search every house. The houses in the eastern city were basically empty. The owners of the houses may have moved all their belongings away and fled."

"Wait a minute, with such a big incident happening in the eastern city, how is it possible that those hooligans in the north didn't receive any intelligence at all?"

"Maybe he thinks everyone knows about it, so there's no need to tell you?"

When Edas heard this, he shook his head and said:

"No, as far as I know, the wealthy areas in the south also seem to know nothing about this. Logically, those wealthy guys should be the most concerned about their lives. After seeing the abnormal situation in the east, why didn't they think of escaping, but instead vigorously helped the Duchess resist the war? The only possibility I can think of is that they may know nothing about this."

Kelly looked puzzled and retorted:

"That shouldn't be the case. Such a large city area is completely empty. Any normal person would be able to notice that, right? Are the hooligans in the north and the rich people in the south all unaware of this? Could it be that..."

"Some special force has hidden this abnormality."

Ye Qiong added, repeating the second half of Kelly's words. This was the only reasonable explanation.

If there is a special force intervening behind the city, then everything makes sense.

Ye Qiong looked at Kelly and said:

"Western City? What's the situation there?"

"There are many new factories and barracks built there. The special gunpowder you just gave me is probably produced here."

"The north is the slums, the south is the rich area, the east is the refugees, and the west is the industrial area. This River Bay City is really well organized."

Although Edas is not the actual manager of the City of Progress, he has been with his mother for many years and naturally has his own insights into city management.

"It's abnormal, too abnormal. This city is really weird everywhere. It's as if they are forcibly maintaining peace under the influence of some special force."

"Could this mysterious power be the seed of war? Clearly the war has not yet swept here, but the shadow of war is revealed everywhere."

Kelly spoke her mind.

Ye Qiong was lost in thought.

What Kelly said does make sense. If we connect the current situation with the seeds of war, then everything makes sense.

However, is this answer a little too easy?

It had been less than a day since they arrived at Hewan City.

They found clues and traces of the Seed of War in such a short time?

It’s not that Ye Qiong is suspicious by nature. His intuition tells him that this matter may not be as simple as he imagined.

After thinking for a while, he looked at Kelly and asked:

"Do you have a way to see Duke Elena?"

When Kelly heard this question, she nodded without hesitation and answered:

"Sure, I'll probably be able to arrange it the day after tomorrow."

"That's good. Tomorrow, Eddas and I will pretend to be your servants, and we will go to meet the Duchess."

After sharing the information, the three of them returned to their own rooms to rest.

The next day comes,

After Kelly arranged the meeting, she stayed in the hotel to analyze whether the special gunpowder contained other things. Adas and Ye Qiong went to various places in Hewan City to continue collecting intelligence.

Ye Qiong went to the North City District and found Old Mok.

Old Mok was both sad and happy that this generous customer had found him. He was happy because he could probably make a fortune again, but he was sad because although big shots like this were generous, they could easily be involved in certain power struggles. A small person like him, once involved in those events, would basically be doomed to death.

Ye Qiong looked at the tall demon in front of him whose acting skills were enough to shock Zhang Yimou, and couldn't help but complain in his heart:

"You want to pay more money?"

When Old Mok heard this, he nodded subconsciously:

"May I?"

"What do you think?"

Old Mok didn't seem embarrassed at all. He chuckled, rubbed his hands, and said in a slightly flattering tone, "Boss, what kind of information do you want today?"

"Dongcheng District, what exactly happened there?"

Ye Qiong was not vague and directly stated the purpose of his trip.

When Old Mok heard this question, he looked puzzled, as if he did not understand what Ye Qiong meant.

He asked hesitantly:

"Boss, can't we see what's happening in Dongcheng District at a glance?"

"you know?"

Upon hearing this, Old Mok laughed out loud, pointed at his eyes, and then continued:

"Hey, boss, I'm not blind, how could I not see the situation in Dongcheng District? Since you asked, you must have been there, right?

The people who lived there were originally a large demon clan called Shadow Gate Demon. These guys usually relied on their few stinky money to act arrogant all day long, and always tried to cheat others when doing business.

I don't know if you have ever heard of this joke,

There was an old drunkard who wanted to drink, so he found a Shadow Gate Demon to borrow a silver coin. They discussed the terms and the old drunkard needed to pay back double the money next spring. During this period, he needed to use his axe as collateral.

Just as the old drunkard was about to leave, the Shadow Gate Demon called him:

"Wait a minute, I remembered something. It may be difficult for you to collect two silver coins by next spring. How about you return half of it to me first?"

This made the old drunkard spend money, so he returned the silver coin, then walked on the road and thought for a while, then said to himself: "Strange, the silver coin is gone, the axe is gone, and I still owe the Shadow Gate Demon a silver coin, what's going on?"

After Old Mok told this joke, Ye Qiong didn't laugh, but he couldn't help laughing out loud.

"Boss, is my joke funny?"

As he was laughing, he suddenly realized that his boss seemed to have a high sense of humor, so he took the initiative to explain:

"Well, boss, the funny thing is that this old drunkard has no idea how shameless the Shadow Gate Demons are. Anyone who does business with them will basically be exploited by them. If they have no money, they will be sold as a slave.

These guys don't have a good reputation here, and they also know their own situation, so after realizing that the war was coming, most of the Shadow Gate Demons chose to run away. Some Shadow Gate Demons who still had a fluke mentality were ordered to be captured by the bigwigs above.

These guys, apart from other things, are really good at running away. After birth, their family will awaken an ability that can open the shadow door and move to other places with shadows. The strategic significance of this ability is quite large. "

Ye Qiong lowered his head and thought for a while, then asked:

"The entire East City District is occupied by the Shadow Gate Demons? How many people are there in their tribe?"

"Not many, only about one or two thousand. Apart from the Shadow Demons, most of the others living here are demons who have signed slave contracts with them. There are probably more than 20,000 of these demons."

"Since the Shadow Gate Demon City has already fled, why is no one living there? There shouldn't be many people who would refuse such a good deal, right?" (End of this chapter)