"Mr. Lynn, some new developments have appeared in the wilderness. Take a look—this may also be the reason the airship lost its way."
The speeding transport aircraft streaked across the wilderness sky, while Mide's projection appeared on the central console.
At that moment, the transport aircraft was using its own high-frequency base station to establish contact with the base station on Ilan City's high wall.
As Mide spoke, a file was transmitted over.
He Ao roughly scanned the information, then asked softly, "An invisible 'barrier' has appeared near Ilan City?"
"Yes."
Mide nodded slowly. "The 'barrier' is roughly a kilometer wide. It appears transparent and cannot be observed with the naked eye. You can see the scenery outside through it, and nothing seems unusual.
"But according to reports from wilderness sentries, once someone approaches or 'enters' the barrier, they lose their sense of direction. They can still see their surroundings clearly, but can no longer distinguish their original bearings. They can only follow their instincts forward, then unknowingly circle back to where they started.
"According to our calculations, the barrier was still passable several dozen minutes ago. Although it still affected one's sense of direction, one could get through by walking straight along the road. So no one noticed the problem at the time; after all, wilderness roads are mostly simple and easy to recognize.
"And this may be why that airship lost its way. The airship's current detour route intersects with its original route, and that intersection is roughly west of Ilan City, near this barrier.
"The airship may have unknowingly entered the barrier zone, lost its sense of direction, changed from heading south to heading north, and then entered the clouds.
"We suspect that the clouds in the sky have the same psychological guiding effect, causing the airship's