Arknights? Colonization Ark!

It's definitely not because of anything else.

Absolutely not.

"Tallulah, our people have roughly calculated the Originium inventory here."

Tallulah, who was bewitched by Zhang Miao's words, suddenly woke up after hearing these words.

He gave the member of the Integration Movement who came to report a grateful look and asked curiously:

"how many?"

"At first, we only found a warehouse on the outermost side, which contained about 1700 tons of Originium. But after several reconnaissance missions, we soon discovered another well-hidden warehouse at the bottom of the industrial zone, which contained nearly tons of Originium."

Obviously, Tallulah and her companions had greatly underestimated the output of Originium here. They only roughly estimated the output from their past attacks on the mines and came up with a figure of only about a thousand tons. However, the greed of the nobles far exceeded their imagination.

Obviously this has exceeded Zhang Miao's transportation capacity, so at that time he can only carry as much as he can.

It’s a pity that I can’t fulfill my boasting.

Unless he can bring a ship over and use a gravity beam to suck the pile away.

Tallulah was hesitating. This was an entire industrial zone. Even though it was paralyzed, it was only a minor fault. If it could be repaired and driven away, then the Integration Movement would truly have a base of its own.

The home of the infected.

"Tallulah, it doesn't belong to us, at least not yet."

Bodracasti's voice reached her ears from beneath the mask.

He was right, the Reunion Movement did not have the ability to control a mobile city, and the people of this city would not believe her.

Unless she uses violence to forcibly control the city, the city will become a burden to them and an obvious target of attack in the eyes of the Ursus army.

Feeling regretful, Tallulah asked the member

"How much Originium has been transported so far?"

"Everyone who can drive is on board. The 37 trucks of various sizes that are now in operation have almost pulled out all the source stones in the outer warehouse. In addition, we have also found a grain warehouse and a small private warehouse filled with red gold and jewels."

By the end of his speech, that member's breathing had become heavy.

There was so much red gold! He had never thought about it in his life. The three brothers who blew up the warehouse with him had tears in their eyes. If they could move it all and hide it, they would not even want to tell Tallulah.

So much money, so much money!

He used to be a college student, and his family used the little money they had left to support his studies. Unfortunately, the Originium destroyed everything. After being rescued from the mine by Tallulah, he has been in charge of material statistics.

Fortunately, his desires had not overwhelmed his reason due to years of education, and after warning the other three, he chose to come back and report to Tallulah.

Talulah was not surprised to hear the other party's report. It was common sense that nobles had their own small treasury. Even those hidden Originiums were probably the private property of Sonov and other block nobles in collusion, and these must not be touched.

Once the private vaults of the nobles are touched, the Integration Movement will inevitably be met with extremely brutal retaliation from the other side.

But Sonov's own private treasury was an exception. With this money, they could do business with the garrison officers who resold military supplies.

Apart from food, clothing, tents and fuel, they lacked everything.

After all, for those people, those who died were cannon fodder, the enemy was the government, and only the gold in their hands belonged to them.

In this era where military merit is hopeless, money is the most important thing.

"Take me there."

Delay would lead to unexpected events. The estimated time was almost up. After instructing the other people to take away the infected people with limited mobility by vehicle, he and the statistician walked towards the treasure place deep in the darkness.

The shadow gradually engulfed both of their figures.

Chapter 25: Failed Performance

"Lexington, how would you rate my performance this time?"

After leaving Tallulah, Zhang Miao did not stay there, but walked out of the industrial area in the opposite direction and came to the open space where trucks were piling up source stones.

"I wanted to give you 59 points, but since you are my captain, I will give you one more point. You can barely pass."

The score given by Lexington was quite low, which made Zhang Miao very dissatisfied.

"Are you kidding me? Only 60 points? I spent a long time preparing for this emotion. Is my acting so worthless?"

"The acting is exaggerated and greasy! If someone else said the words "feel sorry for me" to me, I would spit it out, but if the captain said it to me, I would be very happy."

"Besides, seeing that my captain has been out there flirting with other men only a few days after waking up, how could I, a yesterday's flower who has been alone in an empty room for ten thousand years, look at you in a good face!"

Such sharp words directly turned into long arrows and pierced through Zhang Miao's self-confidence.

Well, it seems that I am not suitable for the acting department.

"But it seems that, Captain, although your performance was terrible, it did work. Both Tallulah and Yelena have lowered their vigilance towards you."

"You have such a bad heart, my black-hearted captain, but I like it so much!"

After saying that, Lexington started to go crazy at Zhang Miao again.

In fact, with the help of vehicle-mounted radar and military-grade micron robots, every word and action of people in the entire city is under Zhang Miao's surveillance.

He saw Sonov's madness and escape, the torture and beating suffered by the infected, and even the tragedy in the vault.

However, the attack on him and Yelena was just an accident at first. The industrial city was well connected, and he had no way of knowing which direction the infected people carrying bombs would decide to go. But it made no difference to him. He even broke the wall himself. Even if he knew Sonov's location, he had to ask the woman again, otherwise there would be a risk of being exposed.

The purpose is to gain as much trust as possible from the integration movement.

"But I still don't quite understand why you went to say those things to Tallulah, Captain? This should not have been part of the original plan."

Zhang Miao looked at the large mining trucks and large excavators approaching from a distance and told Lexington the truth.

"I added this scene temporarily because I didn't expect the gap in combat power between the Reunion Movement would be so huge. The people under Tallulah's command are just a group of ordinary people who have not received any training. They are not even militia. Their presence not only cannot provide mutual assistance to the shield guards and snow monsters, but will distract their attention, forcing them to stop their offensive to protect them."

"And people like this are probably the biggest players in the Reunion Movement. If we let Tallulah continue like this, then this Reunion Movement will be meaningless both for her ideals and for me. A hundred shield guards are more valuable than ten thousand of these miscellaneous soldiers."

"And because of this deal, I have to pay Tallulah a large amount of food. Given her current personality, if she gets so much supplies, the first thing she will do after returning is definitely to start planning to attack the other mines and rescue more people."

"On the surface, the Reunion Movement will gain a large number of personnel due to these actions, and its power will surely snowball and reach an unprecedented peak in a short period of time. However, this large number of people will not only not help it, but will dilute the already weak combat power of the Reunion Movement. It is like a bloated balloon that will burst at the slightest touch of the Ursus regular army, and will also kill Yelena and Bozhukasti."

"This is not the integration movement I want. What I want is a force that can have strong combat capabilities on the snowfield and be able to directly distract the attention of the regular army. It doesn't necessarily need a large number of people, but it must be tightly structured, well-trained, loyal, have faith, and not afraid of sacrifice. Only such a force is worth my investment."

"That's why I said these words to Tallulah at that time. If she was smart, she would know what to do. And she actually encountered an unexpected surprise. The vault incident must have hit her hard, and she would start to reflect on her past actions and make changes."

The enormous computing power of quantum computers can perform calculations based on existing data. If the hardware is strong enough, it can even predict the future to a certain extent.

However, no matter how powerful a computer is, it is impossible to grasp every change in people's hearts. After all, humans are not rational creatures and they may do things that they themselves cannot expect when their minds are hot.

For example, why would the Russians go to such lengths and even break the rules just to bring a bottle of wine into space?

"Then Captain, aren't you afraid that Tallulah will grow beyond your control?"

A large convoy has arrived at the source stone pile. Although there are only three mining trucks and three bulldozers, they are larger than all the transport trucks combined.

The load capacity of a mining truck is up to 800 tons, and three of them is 2400 tons. Seventeen thousand source stones are just a small matter for Cricket, and two trucks can carry most of them.

"The supplies on the snowfield are limited. Without technology, the planting season is only a few months a year, and the food that can be harvested is very little. Judging from the bread they carry, it contains grass seeds and tree bark. Many people are wrapped in several ill-fitting clothes, all of which are patched. The supplies are so scarce that they can't rely on anyone except me. Without the support of an industrial system, the faster they grow, the greater their need for me will be."

"By then, they will eat my food, wear my clothes, and use my things. If I still fail, it only means that I am a complete waste and I deserve to die."

In terms of cultural level, he may be at a lower-middle level in the empire. In terms of manual skills, he is not even as good as a screw-making technician. He is only good at fighting.

But here, in this land, the only one capable of overthrowing him is Lexington.

But Lexington might be more interested in bringing him down than in overthrowing him.

In fact, he could still find a way to seize leadership from Tallulah, but the loyalty of these natives meant nothing to him. Now the top priority was to find a way to restore power supply and contact the empire.

The large bulldozer could scoop up dozens of tons of source stones at a time. The source stones that had just been piled up like a small hill were all loaded onto the truck in less than half an hour.

The people of the Integration Movement are also gradually withdrawing from the industrial zone. The scheduled time is approaching. If they continue to delay, the garrison might arrive. They must hurry and leave.

This operation can be said to have made a lot of money. The weapons and equipment were enough to integrate the movement so that everyone could wear one and throw one away. The weapons were also all replaced with standard equipment instead of the original handmade garbage. There were almost no casualties, except for a few unlucky guys.

However, the shield guards and snow monsters still behaved the same way. They did not take anything other than the large boxes in their hands. Even the food warehouse was ordered by Talulah to only take away three days' rations and no more.

The workers in the industrial zone were hiding in the factories in fear. As long as they did not take the initiative to attack, the Integration Movement would not harm them.

Chapter 26: The Night Before Dawn

When does money appear most alluring and deadly?

When it is covered in blood.

The warm red liquid flowed on the yellow metal and dripped onto the ground.

Two corpses with their eyes open were lying in a pile of countless gold and jewels, but in their hands, they were still tightly holding the culprits who sent them to hell.

This tragic scene silently told Tallulah everything that happened here.

Here, desire overwhelms reason.

Maybe they were good friends yesterday.

Today, we become enemies for this charming glory.

Who made the first move?

I don’t know, I don’t remember.

After the statistician left, the three of them picked up the gold bars and weapons beside them and were wary of each other.

Until someone can no longer suppress the beast called desire.

The only one alive was dragging a big bag full of gold bars, trying desperately to leave here.

With this money, he can go to Colombia, to RIM Billiton, or to any other place where money makes you a big shot and live a carefree life.

He was fed up with digging grass roots and pulling tree bark in the snow and ice and not being able to poop for three days.

I have fought for the integration movement so many times, and these can be considered as rewards. There are still so many in Curry, so what does it matter if I take a little bit?

"Why are you doing this?"

A familiar voice with inexplicable emotion came from behind, causing the man who was walking unsteadily to stop slightly.

His leg had been broken by a gold bar in a previous fight.

His bloodshot eyes regained some clarity at this sound.

But he did not answer, but continued to drag the bag of gold forward.

Tallulah looked at the figure in disbelief.

She doesn't understand.

There were so many treasures here that even the three of them couldn't divide them all.

Even if several of them concealed the truth and left with all the treasure.

Even if it means turning against her for the sake of treasure.

But why?

Why do they still want to kill each other?

In the end, isn't this all he can take away?

It is obvious that as long as we bring back the Originium, we can exchange it for endless food. It is obvious that the red gold here can allow everyone to buy new cotton-padded clothes. It is obvious that we are only one step away from the dawn.

[They love to commit violence, killing people everywhere, self-torture, fear and selfishness... You dream of attracting them and educating them with education and concepts, but you don't know that they are not interested in anything you say... Tallulah, you should know this. They have lived on this land for countless years and are accustomed to a deep-rooted way of life, but you are just a stranger who breaks into their lives. ]

The black snake's whispers echoed in her mind, trying to deny everything she longed for in her heart.

But the time is not right yet. Tallulah is still too young and inexperienced, and the shock she has received is far from what Black Snake wants.

But this is the way the land is.

The twisted land bears twisted fruit. As long as she continues to move forward with her unrealistic ideals, one day she will encounter the fruit that will destroy her cognition.

Tallulah suppressed her inner anger and stopped the statistician who wanted to chase after her.

"Take their bodies back and bury them properly. Say that the three of them were killed in a surprise attack by the remaining garrison troops. Then ask the shield guards to pack these things in boxes and take them back."

She didn't want to see the same thing happen again.

The statistician didn't know why she chose to do this. He looked unwillingly at the man who was still almost exhausted, then turned and left.

Tallulah stood alone in front of the vault. As the Duke's adopted daughter, these things could not shake her mind.

Now, she really wants to burn this place down cleanly, but she can't do that.