Arknights? Colonization Ark!

Chapter 50: Where Did They All Go?

For these approaching troops.

Zhang Miao knew that now was not the time to take action. If a fight really broke out, he could kill all these people within a minute.

But there was no point in doing so, he would not gain anything by killing these people.

Three thousand people disappeared. Even a fool would know that there is something fishy going on in this place.

At that time, Zhang Miao would have to confront the entire Ursus directly, and then, if necessary, wipe out several of the opponent's large cities and armies from the map.

Killing Ursus would surely arouse public outrage, and he would then become a global enemy. No one would turn a blind eye to a person who could easily destroy a country.

Most people would think that they were lucky enough to have dug up some ancient ruins and obtained weapons of mass destruction.

Now his secondary gun can accurately strike all larger units within the range of the mining radar. Even though his main gun is still under repair, his missiles are still in good condition. If they are all fired out, they can wash the surface of the planet clean.

The result is that the world will be pushed back to its primitive age. He will be fine, but he will probably have to play with clones here alone.

Of course, there is also a very small possibility that everyone will become his vassal state or lead to something else.

But neither of these two things makes sense to him. Why does he want a vassal state?

Therefore, for someone who is obsessed with farming, starting a conflict now is not a good choice.

His military force can only serve as a backup.

Besides, what era is this? Still using fists?

Some things kill people without shedding blood.

Military force is only needed to put an end to it.

Zhang Miao is now like Gulliver who has squeezed into Lilliput. He can play this game however he wants, and he will be the final winner. The only difference is how much he can get at the final settlement.

So, Zhang Miao sat on a big tree branch, quietly watching Kampf, who was almost reaching the first village. His choice determined Zhang Miao's future direction.

......

Kampf sat in the passenger seat bored. His men had already rushed into the village. It wouldn't be long before they would tie up a large group of infected people and torture them here.

No matter the other party speaks or not, he will be executed here in the end.

Anyway, these settlements are like weeds in the fields. Even if they are removed, they will continue to grow again.

But as he waited longer and longer, Kampf, who had begun to get impatient, became a little annoyed.

Did these guys have too much fun in there? Why haven't they come out for so long?

He then winked at his adjutant and asked him to go into the village to see what was going on.

Not long after, his adjutant brought back the battalion commander who had gone in to search.

The battalion commander had a very unhappy expression on his face. It was obvious that the operation had not gone well. He had thought he would win the first prize, but he got nothing.

"Tell me, what's going on inside?"

Kampf knocked on the door with his hand outside the car window, signaling the other party not to waste time and to fart quickly.

The battalion commander said to his boss with a sullen face

"There's no one left in the village, and it looks like they just left not long ago, and they didn't leave anything behind."

Upon hearing the news, Kampf immediately stood up, reached out of the car window with both hands, and grabbed his battalion commander by the collar.

"What did you say? They all ran away?"

"..."

Kampf, who didn't believe it, immediately went in to search the place himself to make sure that his battalion commander had not lied to him.

But what's going on?

Full of doubts, he immediately ordered to go to the next village, and left some people and the Rift Beast to search the nearby area to see if they were hiding in the nearby woods. Maybe those guys had not run far.

Soon he arrived at the second gathering place of the infected. This time he personally led the team to search, but just like before, all the people in the village had disappeared.

However, there are clues. Obviously, a large number of convoys have entered the village here, and it was one of the convoys that took them away!

Some of the wheel tracks were identified as those of Ursus' own military vehicles, and other tracks were much larger than those of their vehicles.

When Kampf learned about this, he thought it was weird. Could there be a third party involved in this matter?

The other party not only knew clearly about our raid plan, but also arranged vehicles to transport us away in a timely manner.

But it was obvious that this action was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and I only told my superiors, so how could the information have been leaked?

Kampf, who was trapped in the mystery, became more and more scared the more he thought about it. He felt that he was just a small chess piece caught in a whirlpool, and an invisible hand was controlling everything.

This one-sided transparency of information made him feel very aggrieved, but he couldn't just leave like this. If he didn't explain, those bastards would definitely continue to cause trouble for him, thinking that he was unwilling to cooperate with them sincerely.

Moreover, if he left in such disgrace, it would greatly affect the morale of his subordinates and their trust in him.

So I just made up my mind and went to the next gathering place, the largest one.

If I fail to get away with it this time, I will have to think carefully about the next countermeasures. Failure to do my duty may be a small matter, but I may even lose my life because of it.

After coming out, he did not explain much to his adjutant. He left a group of people behind as usual and continued to move towards the next target in a mighty manner.

Soon, they arrived at their destination, which was also the former base of the Integration Movement. But now it was completely silent. Even the traps originally set by the shield guards were all dismantled at Zhang Miao's signal.

So when Kampf rushed into the village with a large group of people, he couldn't find anyone, not even a dog.

Kampf, already furious, shouted to his men:

"Search them for me! I don't believe they all ran away!"

It is the middle of winter now. Judging from the traces of life in the three villages they checked, the total population is about 1,000 to 2,000. How could they all be transported away in such a short time?

How could it be possible that as the garrison commander, he didn't receive any news about the mobilization of such a large convoy?

And it's definitely not just this village. It looks like all the infected people nearby have been taken away.

Aren't these people really taking him too lightly?

He was so angry that he wanted to catch all the infected people...

Just when he was about to lose his temper, his adjutant came hurriedly and whispered in his ear.

The adjutant's news obviously stunned him.

"Are you serious?"

"It is absolutely true. Come and see for yourself."

Kampf, skeptical, followed his adjutant and jogged all the way to the gate of a warehouse. This was the temporary food warehouse that was built earlier, and it was also used by Tallulah to store other things.

After instructing a few guards to guard the gate, the two entered the warehouse.

There were three large boxes quietly placed in the middle of the warehouse. The boxes had been opened by the soldiers who had searched before. They were neatly filled with pure Originium and red gold. They were all treasures brought back from the industrial zone.

Tallulah originally wanted to use these to exchange for useful supplies, but now she has left them all behind.

But for Kampf, these things were not the most important. What attracted him most was a document bag placed on it.

Chapter 51: The Army Withdraws

When the adjutant handed over the document bag, Kampf was still quite nervous. After carefully observing the surroundings to make sure that there was no one around, he asked his adjutant to go outside to patrol.

What happened today is so bizarre that we have to be cautious.

After hearing the door closing behind him, he carefully tore open the seal and reached in to take out the things hidden inside.

As a result, after just a few quick glances, his face turned like an RGB-equipped side-transparent case, changing from white to green and then to red, and his nostrils were still breathing heavily.

His trembling hands showed that his heart was as turbulent as the rolling waves. The contents of the document made his eyes pop out, and his already big eyeballs looked like they were about to pop out.

How dare they! How dare they do this!

He knew that those people were greedy for money, but he never expected them to be so bold.

Damn it! These damn bitches are making so much money!

But besides being angry, he was also frightened and broke out in a cold sweat, which made him calm down quickly.

It was obvious that the other party had left this document for me to read. The meaning of it was crystal clear, and this kind of information was actually given to me like this...

Rather than continue to take unknown risks in chasing the infected, he now prefers to turn back.

If the stuff above were to be made public, those arrogant bastards would surely suffer heavy losses, and might even be purged by the Emperor. This would be considered a way for them to get back on their feet.

He looked at the boxes of things piled in front of him again. It would be a lie to say that he was not tempted. These things added up were much more than what he had earned on this trip. After all, they were the savings that Sonov had embezzled over the years. It was not a small thing. The money he had made over the years might not even be half of what he could get here.

......

The adjutant, who was standing at the door and looking around vigilantly for a moment, heard the sound of the door frame rubbing against the ground, and Kampf came out.

He calmly instructed his adjutant:

"Find a few quick-witted and tight-lipped guys to carry these back to the car, and then burn all the buildings in the villages we searched."

After saying this, he was about to leave, but his foot stopped in mid-air and he added

"We killed hundreds of infected thugs this time. For safety reasons, all the bodies have been burned. The bandit leader was seriously injured and fled into the snow forest. Do you understand?"

"understood."

The adjutant had been following the other party for a long time and understood his superior's psychology very well. He knew that this operation might have yielded some great results, so he did not dare to delay and immediately arranged for people to complete the task assigned by Kampf.

The soldiers who had followed along so quickly were already puzzled enough after two empty trips. This time, they didn't even see anyone and were notified to retreat. Some of those with bad tempers began to complain in private.

But soon they received another piece of news that the military pay for this month would be doubled and would be paid as soon as they returned, which immediately shut everyone up.

No one has trouble with money.

So the group came in a grand procession and went back in a grand procession, the only difference being that there were a few more boxes in the car.

Looking at the surveillance footage of their marching route back, Zhang Miao was not surprised at all.

The content of the document was captured by the surveillance camera left by Zhang Miao in the industrial zone, and it was extremely explosive.

The emperor wanted to support domestic industry and commerce to revitalize the economy, rather than relying on endless wars to plunder wealth as before.

Nice idea, but it was clear that his hold on the nobility wasn't as strong as he thought.

The new aristocrats built factories, opened universities, and established various research institutes, and it seemed as if capitalism was taking root in this land, and all things were flourishing and full of vitality.

But in reality, they were using various excuses to enclose land, converting those minerals from state-owned into company property, and then dividing them over to their own names.

Apply for a large amount of low-interest or even interest-free loans from the bank, then take out a little money from the loans to purchase advanced scientific research equipment abroad, and use it as an excuse to trade in a large number of abandoned or second-hand production lines, refurbish them, re-label them, and transfer them back to the country.

The price difference between the two transactions is at least ten times.

Then he used some unrealistic projects from Columbia or somewhere else to let those desperate scientific researchers use theories that the emperor could not understand to get more funds from him and put them into their own pockets.

These guys are much more ruthless in making money than those guys who only know how to fight.

So when he found this account, even Zhang Miao was surprised. He didn't expect these guys to be so crazy.

But on second thought, I felt it was too normal.

The emperor wanted to vigorously develop industry and commerce, but he did not realize that he himself was the biggest stumbling block on this road.

His status as an emperor meant that this path would not be easy for him to take.

Because the bourgeoisie must control politics in order to maximize profits, and the emperor is the largest privileged class in the country, which means that he cannot easily cede power to these capitalists and can easily deprive them of the fruits of development.

Since these capitalist aristocrats did not have military power and could not directly compete with the old aristocrats, they had to rely on the emperor.

Only when the old aristocrats are finished, will it be their turn to fight for power with the emperor, so they will constantly drain the central treasury in the process. This will not only weaken the imperial power, but also fill themselves up. Why not do it?

Perhaps the emperor had noticed some clues, but after the great rebellion, he had lost the chance to get rid of these leeches on his body and could only continue to play that balancing act to maintain his privileges.

And no matter how secretive they were, once Sonov died, he would have to settle the score. When this score was settled, their secrets would be exposed to Zhang Miao's eyes.

These unexpected surprises became the best bargaining chips in Zhang Miao's hand. They could easily force Kampf to withdraw his troops, and also allow them to go back and have a good fight with each other.

At least in the short term, no one will pay attention to his development on the ice field. And if Kampf is smarter, he can let Tallulah and the others attack various mines to rescue the infected without encountering too many obstacles in the future.

This is even better for him.

After making sure that the army had completely left, Zhang Miao also wanted to go back.

Because the transfer of Tallulah and her team is nearing completion, the city's first batch of residents are waiting for their lord to call for dinner.

It would be ungraceful to delay too long.