In Teyvat, it all begins with rescuing the grass god.

Once Dolly's funds arrived, a massive construction project officially began.

Candice and Uncle Amp made a good arrangement.

They first made use of all the vacant houses in the village, whether by renting or buying, they managed to get enough houses to temporarily house the villagers whose land had been occupied, and promised that once the new houses were built, they would be redistributed to them according to the value of their previous houses.

This is also the first time the concept of "relocation households" has appeared on the continent of Teyvat.

In fact, Candice and her group could have forced these villagers to move out without paying a single penny in compensation, and no one would have dared to say anything.

In the name of Candice's guardian.

Theoretically, there is no possibility of any holdout households.

However, Uncle Amp and Candice still showed the villagers the utmost respect and gave everyone the right to choose.

And sure enough, some holdouts appeared who wanted to get more compensation for themselves.

For these people.

The village will agree to reasonable demands, but for unreasonable demands, they will try to reason with the villagers first and then resort to force. If they insist on demanding unreasonable compensation, Uncle Anpu will not hesitate to order them to be driven out of the village.

That's right.

It means driving them out of the village.

Moreover, Candice had no objection to this decision.

"This behavior is undermining the stability and development of the village."

“We old-fashioned, conservative folks won’t stand up for this, so what gives you the right? Just because you bunch of bastards have lived in the village for the past few years?”

This was the reason Uncle Anpu gave when he kicked people out.

This action also changed Rhodes's perception of Uncle Ampu.

In his eyes.

The old village chief was always kind and friendly, always smiling when he met people. When he heard about his "experience", he immediately offered him some preferential treatment, as if he would never get angry over anything.

But now, on this major issue concerning the future of the village...

He was surprisingly ruthless and showed no mercy. Once it came to violence, there was no room for maneuver.

"The person who was able to build Aru Village to this extent is indeed no ordinary person."

This is the conclusion Rhodes came to after this incident.

……

During this time.

Aside from the demolition and relocation issues.

There's another thing.

That is the Mustache of Ahmar.

Upon receiving Kusela's letter, the group members immediately set off from their encampment deep in the desert, finally arriving just when the village needed manpower the most.

However, after reuniting with the old commander.

Before they could even rejoice at the reconciliation between Kusela and Disia, they were immediately met with devastating news.

"You will spend the rest of your lives in Aru Village atoning for your past sins."

In front of everyone, Rhodes announced the matter directly.

This sudden decision was naturally unacceptable to the mercenaries who had come to see the leader so happily.

In their view.

Rod was referring to the fact that they were forced to come to Aru Village as prisoners.

In reality, they were indeed brought here to be prisoners, truly imprisoned and never able to gain freedom for the rest of their lives.

Such a demand immediately prompted the mercenaries, who were used to their freedom, to loudly question whether Kusela had betrayed them. They also sternly questioned who Dirod was, asking what gave him the right to give them orders and make such a foolish decision on their behalf.

Some are clever.

When they saw that Desia and Kusela were standing behind Rhodes, seemingly following him, these smart people wisely chose to keep quiet and did not join in the commotion, waiting quietly for Rhodes to say what he would say next.

Faced with this overwhelming questioning and dissent about his identity.

The fake identity of the Crimson King's messenger that was used to fool Kusela last time can definitely not be used again in front of so many people.

The status of being the son-in-law of Kousela, which has not yet been recognized, is naturally unacceptable.

Fortunately.

Remove these unusable identities.

In Aru Village, Rhodes has another identity that is recognized as being on par with the Guardians, but the village hasn't yet decided on a title for him.

The biggest advantage this identity brought him was...

He has the same decision-making power as Uncle Candice Ampu when it comes to important village matters.

Since such a right exists.

That means Rhodes can now decide the fate of Ahmar's Beard and the others without going through the village.

So, after trying to be polite first, Rhodes showed those mercenaries who didn't respect his status what gave him the right to command them.

simply put.

Just one sentence.

Since you are unwilling to listen to me, I also know a little bit of martial arts.

When they saw the mercenaries who failed Narcida's mind-reading ability being beaten and thrown out of the village to die, the rest of the people became obedient and followed Rhodes's orders without daring to raise any objections.

"The best way to deal with mercenaries is through violence."

This was taught to Rod by Desia.

Only fists can make those lawless mercenaries understand human language.

With these able-bodied men joining the construction of Aru Village, the originally severe manpower shortage problem was immediately and greatly alleviated.

This is the end.

The whole process took nearly a month.

The construction of Aru Village has finally officially gotten on track.

They built roads on the outside and houses on the inside.

Young people go to learn new skills, try new ways of farming, and eagerly absorb knowledge they have never had before. The elderly provide these young people with all kinds of logistical support, from cooking to mending clothes to helping take care of the children in the family. Everyone is doing what they can and making their own contribution to the village. Even if the contribution is small, they are happy to do it.

During this time.

The hybrids that Rhodes had accelerated with the help of fertile soil also flowered for the first time, and entered the next stage of hybridization breeding experiments.

Everything is developing in a thriving direction.

Looking at this scene that is about to bear abundant fruit.

do not know why.

Rod felt a strange sense of accomplishment.

Before his eyes.

It was as if I had already seen a completely new Aru village, a village that shone like gold in the desert.

“You are happy.”

The words were addressed to Rhodes, but Narcida's voice revealed that she was also pleased.

"Yes."

"I am very happy."

Standing atop the highest peak of Aru Village, overlooking the villagers toiling below, Rhodes suddenly had a sudden urge to tell Nasita his story of when he first arrived in Teyvat. After finishing his story, he added, "At first, my idea for doing all this was simply to use the power of Aru Village to help me take revenge."

"Ah."

Rhodes chuckled self-deprecatingly: "Back then, I was truly blinded by hatred. All I could think about was killing every single person in the Tanit tribe, regardless of age or gender."

"what about now?"

Naxi Da asked.

"You know the answer."

Rhodes shrugged: "I don't know if it's because of Dixia, or because I've lived in the peaceful village of Aru for too long, but the anger in my heart has been worn down a lot, and I've become much more rational. The idea that I wanted to wipe out an entire family has gradually changed over the past few months."

"Have you ever considered that perhaps this is your true nature?"

Nasita's voice held a hint of pity: "Your past is indeed pitiful. If it weren't for that Eye of God, you would have died under Tanit's iron heel long ago. And after that, all you saw were scenes of cannibalism. Although I don't quite understand human emotions, I know that people will be assimilated if they are in such an environment for a long time."

"Sounds reasonable."

"Because that's simply the truth."

"Maybe."

After the conversation ended, Rod felt much better.

Yes.

How could someone who has never even killed a chicken have such a strong sense of violence!

Yes, it must be the desert's fault!

It's all its fault that I became that violent person before!

Since it's a mistake, it must be corrected!

If a sapling isn't pruned, it will grow crooked. As for those branches that are already crooked, just cut them all off, and the remaining branches will naturally be straight!

(End of this chapter)

Recommend this book

The book is titled The Lost People of Teyvat.