The unique mountains of the Carter Royal Capital blocked the migration of the land-bound demons.
But they could not block the flight of the sky demons.
Lin Gui looked up at the sky.
Black shadows streaked across the sky beneath the cloud layer.
One, two, ten, a hundred.
They were densely packed, appearing like a moving storm cloud.
Those were sky demons.
There were huge winged demons with wingspans exceeding ten meters, their wings whipping up violent gales as they flapped.
There were slender, bat-like night demons, hanging upside down from the edges of the clouds.
There were dragon-like demons covered in black scales, their mouths filled with rows of needle-sharp teeth when they opened them.
They flew over the Carter Royal Capital.
They did not stop.
They did not dive.
They simply flew.
Heading in the same direction.
To the Withered Rift.
That was the center of the Dark Tide.
It was where the Demigod demon was awakening.
The eyes of those demons held no desire for slaughter, only a hollow, manipulated obedience.
They were like puppets being pulled by a higher-order existence, converging toward that direction.
As Lin Gui watched those black shadows, his pupils constricted slightly.
It was a torrent of demons numbering in the tens of millions.
Even if they were only flying overhead, the pressure was enough to stifle one's breath.
Elvia stood beside him, her face pale.
Her hand gripped Lin Gui's sleeve so tightly her knuckles turned white.
Lin Gui took a deep breath and looked away.
Now was not the time for sightseeing.
He looked at Caleb.
“Begin.”
Caleb nodded.
The assassins behind him moved.
Those blood-stained people walked silently into the crowd.
They took the letters one by one, opened the paper, and scanned the contents quickly.
Some letters were returned almost immediately, with the assassin nodding to signal that they could pass.
Other letters were held as the assassin looked at the sender, asked a few questions, and then returned them.
A few letters were confiscated directly, and the assassins bared their blades at those senders.
The senders turned pale but dared not say a word before being led away.
Lin Gui knew that those letters must have contained things they shouldn't have written.
About Catriona.
About Warren.
About those blood-red knights.
About everything they weren't supposed to know.
But most people were just there to send letters.
They just wanted to send one last message to their relatives in distant lands.
Lin Gui began collecting letters.
Elvia stood by his side, helping him organize them.
One, two, ten, a hundred.
The letters were handed over from the crowd like snowflakes.
Lin Gui scanned the destinations of the letters.
Then, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.
The addresses were too scattered.
New Covenant City, Caran City, Whitegull Port, Silvertop City, Blackwood Town, Windworn Town, Flowerwood City...
In total, there were forty-nine recorded city-states throughout the borderlands, large and small.
All of them were represented here.
And every single one of these city-states was within the impact zone of the Dark Tide.
In Lin Gui's mind, the [Messenger's Chart] appeared.
Starting from the Withered Rift and ending at the Fortress City of Shield.
The diameter covered almost the entire borderlands.
It even extended to the southern part of the Blackwater Corridor to the northwest.
To the southern part of the Greywood Tundra to the north.
To a portion of the Boundless Desert to the east.
The impact zone of this Dark Tide was massive.
So large that it exceeded Lin Gui's expectations.
By the time he actually reached the destinations these letters were bound for...
Forget people.
He wouldn't even find corpses; there would only be rubble and debris left.
Fortunately, there were a few merchants and several slaves who had been sold to the Carter Royal Capital.
The destinations for their letters were not within the impact zone of the Dark Tide.
Some were in the Central City-States, some in coastal cities, and some were even further away in the far north.
The bad news was that those destinations were incredibly far away.
So far that they exceeded the route to Dawn City.
But their existence gave Lin Gui hope of completing the System's commission.
A one percent sign-off rate.
If he could deliver those letters, it should be enough.
Lin Gui continued to collect letters.
The crowd grew.
At first, it was only those on the street.
Then, people emerged from the alleys.
Then, people came running from even more distant streets.
Lin Gui saw the look in their eyes.
Fear.
Deep fear.
Their bodies trembled when they looked at Caleb.
Their faces turned pale when they looked at those assassins.
But they came anyway.
They came despite the risk of being killed, seized, or dealt with as "people who know too much."
Because they knew that this truly might be their last chance.
A cook wearing a tattered apron was trembling violently as he handed a letter to Lin Gui.
He glanced at Caleb standing not far away, then quickly lowered his head.
“Mage Lord...”
His voice was very low.
“This letter... can it be delivered?”
Lin Gui looked at him.
“I will do my best.”
The cook nodded and turned to run.
He disappeared into the crowd.
A woman holding a child stuffed a letter into Lin Gui's hand.
Her eyes were red, but she wasn't crying.
She just stared at Lin Gui.
“Mage Lord, I heard you only charge seven copper coins for a delivery.”
She fished out seven copper coins from her bosom and carefully placed them in Lin Gui's hand.
The copper coins still held her body heat.
“This is mine.”
“Thank you.”
She carried the child and left as well.
A gaunt old man leaning on a cane walked tremulously to Lin Gui.
His letter was very thin, consisting of only a single sheet of paper.
“Mage Lord.”
His voice was raspy.
“To my son.”
“He's in Flowerwood City.”
“If... if he's still alive.”
Lin Gui took the letter.
The old man nodded, turned, and left.
He walked very slowly.
But his back was straight.
More and more people emerged from their locked doors.
They gathered toward Lin Gui.
Lin Gui received more and more letters.
Two hundred.
Three hundred.
Four hundred.
His hands almost never stopped.
Elvia helped him categorize them by destination, sorting them into several rough piles.
The assassins' audit speed also increased.
At first, they carefully read every letter.
Later, they simply scanned them and nodded.
Because in most letters, there was truly nothing but ordinary sentiment.
They were final testaments and last words to families.
There were no secrets in those letters.
Only tears.
The sun began to dip into the west.
Lin Gui looked up at the sky.
Then, he took a deep breath and said loudly:
“I must depart when the sun sets.”
“Everyone, please hurry.”
“The later I depart, the more likely I am to be swallowed by the Dark Tide.”
“So please, everyone, be faster.”
The crowd grew quiet for a moment.
Then, the speed of letter delivery increased.
It wasn't until the final afterglow of the sun faded that the last person handed a letter to Lin Gui.
It was a white-haired man wearing a faded coarse robe; his back was severely hunched, and he walked with a tremor.
He held a wooden cross in his hand, etched with simple patterns and polished smooth from years of handling.
The old man handed the letter to Lin Gui.
Then, he raised the cross and pressed it against his forehead.
He closed his eyes.
“Goddess of Light.”
His voice was hoarse but filled with devotion.
“Please protect this messenger mage.”
“Keep him safe in the wilderness.”
“Protect him from the demons' harm.”
“Grant him the strength to leave this hell alive.”
“Even... even if our letters cannot be delivered.”
“Please, bless him to live.”
The old man opened his eyes and looked at Lin Gui.
There were tears in those cloudy eyes.
“Mage Lord, have a safe journey.”
Lin Gui looked at him.
He was silent for a second.
Then, he nodded.
“Thank you.”
He turned around.
With a wave of his hand, the several wooden crates filled with letters beside him rose into the air.
They hovered at his side like loyal attendants.
Lin Gui reached out and pulled Elvia up.
The two of them sat on the staff.
They slowly rose into the sky.
Below, the dense crowd looked up at them.
No one spoke.
There were only countless eyes shimmering with a faint light in the dusk.
Lin Gui took one look at them.
Then, he pulled his gaze back.
The staff accelerated.
Flying toward the distance.
Behind them, the Carter Royal Capital, surrounded by its mountains, gradually grew smaller.
In the twilight, the people still standing in the streets turned into tiny black specks.
Finally, they vanished from sight.
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