Arknights, but the family has fallen again

"Captain, how come you're more comfortable wearing such heavy armor than us?"

But since it had been a while since the incident, Mudstone was a little confused: "Huh?"

A weak chuckle came from the team.

"I seem to smell the scent of water..."

"Does water have a taste?"

"Hallucination?"

"Nonsense!" A Sarkaz stood out from the crowd and even fell to the ground.

Then he used his hands and feet to climb up a slope.

Seeing him staring blankly at that place, Mud Rock slowly approached: "Are you okay...?"

Across the desolate earthen slope, at the end of the desolate land, is an equally desolate abandoned village.

Sarkaz collapsed to the ground, and his enthusiasm and vigor just now fell down with his knees.

"Shit..."

He wailed, "[Sa Cu] is useless! There's no one!"

A Reboba (a hyena of the spotted clan) climbed up excitedly and said, "Since there used to be a village here, there must be a water source! Maybe a well!"

is it possible?

maybe.

Regardless, the Mudrock Squad was revitalized.

-----------------

After a morning, the Dongguo team finally found the location of the village. This natural village had no nominal or administrative headman, but it was clear that there was a family with considerable authority.

"...So! A natural disaster is coming soon!" Yan opened his arms, trying to make himself look bigger and more convincing.

Although they weren't exactly enthusiastic, they were still able to talk to each other. But when the topic of natural disasters came up, their expressions changed instantly.

Even the person in charge of this household...

"Oh." The middle-aged man from Elafia responded lightly with a numb look in his eyes, and then said, "Excuse me."

A young Elafia child looked at the three with hatred and said fiercely, "Our land is worthless! Get out! Get out!"

The voice hasn't changed yet, but it should be a boy.

An old woman with a forced smile covered the boy's mouth and laughed, "The child was just joking. Our village still welcomes the messenger of natural disasters."

Ye Dao however interjected, "But reporting is not welcome?"

"...Everyone is welcome. Everyone is welcome."

This is a lie.

Yue He took over the topic: "If we farm here, water seems to be a big problem."

"Yes..." The old woman said helplessly: "The climate here is different from most parts of Leithania."

The middle-aged man seemed to be going out to work. He sneered again as he passed by: "If it's the same, then why are we here?"

Yue He narrowed her eyes. "I guess you don't grow wheat anymore?"

The old woman sighed and said, "Come in, the sun is scorching outside."

The exterior of the building had gradually lost its original character, but the interior still retained a distinct Leithian style. The old woman removed her flute from the table and busily used her Originium skills to heat a pot of tea for the three of them.

"please."

As if to dispel any doubts, the old woman said, "The problem here is not that there is no water, but that we can't store water."

"If you can preserve the water, you can still drink tea."

Longmen’s porcelain for export... Indeed, Longmen and Yumen are both very good at this kind of dryland farming.

Yue He was just about to use this to ease the atmosphere, but the old woman took the initiative to say, "Don't beat around the bush."

"We hate Scourge Messengers because they have done bad things for our lords." She was vague.

"Then why don't you hate your lord?!" Yan played the role of a fool so as to leave the position of understanding to Yu Zi.

The old woman frowned, her annoyed face full of the wrinkles of time: "So! We hid here!"

Yue He looked at Yan, nodded, and then scolded: "Yan! That's outrageous!"

Then, she apologized gracefully, "I'm very sorry. Our banquet was impolite. To express our apology, how about..."

ten minutes later.

"So, all I need to do with this net is collect the water once every morning?" The old woman was a little incredulous. "It's almost like 'planting water'."

"Just like you said, there's no shortage of water here. We just lack ways to preserve it."

Yue He explained, "This wilderness isn't quite a desert, so there's relatively ample moisture. However, the temperature difference between day and night is quite extreme. In this situation, even without visible fog, there's still a lot of water in the air..."

"I don't understand." The old woman interrupted Yue He and said, "Anyway, it's enough to collect water once every morning, right?"

"It needs to be filtered and disinfected before it can be safely consumed!" Yan Cou said jokingly.

"I definitely understand that!" The old woman scolded the annoying guy, "Do you really think I'm stupid?!"

Then, she grabbed Yue He's hand and said with a smile, "I see, you... aren't from here either?"

Yue He responded, "Yes, I am the Disaster Patrol of the East Country."

She deliberately said this word in Dongguo language.

The old woman said with satisfaction, "Yes, it's the 'disaster patrol', not the natural disaster messenger."

Chapter 280 Such a Tax Collector

"You guys are so hard to find!" The Elafian tax collector arrogantly cursed at the villagers, "You brainless bastards! So far from the waterway! You deserve to be chewing sand here!"

The gray-haired village chief, Lupo, bowed and smiled apologetically, saying, "During the last natural disaster, we were unable to evacuate in time and lost a lot of things."

The infected villages found by the Rim Billiton team were relatively close to shipping routes, making trade with other mobile cities more convenient. The dryland villages found by the East Country team, on the other hand, were deeper into the wilderness, making them difficult for both Scourge messengers and tax collectors to find.

The current village of Rupert is somewhere in between.

The tax collector frowned. “What does that have to do with you guys being here?”

"The infected are located a little further away, so they have the most supplies left. They took up a good spot first."

But what the village chief was thinking about now was the village that had snatched the dry land.

How wonderful that is!

Stay away from these [Laicuo] noble lords!

"Those damn infected people? They're clearly covered in growths! And they still can't use a few spells!" The tax collector said with disgust, "I'm not going to that damn place! To avoid getting infected!"

Just as the village chief began to feel a little envious, the tax collector used his power to give him a big task.

"Your village must pay their share as well!"

"Ah!?" Rupert's defense was broken, and the wrinkles on his face were almost squeezed into one. He said anxiously: "How can we afford it!?"

The onlookers also looked embarrassed, and even the guards who came with the tax collectors looked at each other in confusion.

The village chief spoke quickly and anxiously: "We've planted all the seeds! There's nothing left except food!"

The tax collector was puzzled, not knowing whether he was really stupid or pretending to be stupid.

He flipped open the document in his hand and verified it: "The Lord is kind-hearted and exempted you from last year's taxes. How come this year you can't even pay two-thirds of the taxes of previous years?"

Old Rupert almost cursed out loud. He gritted his teeth and explained with difficulty: "Sir, we used to be one village, but now we are three villages, and the manpower is different..."

"It's none of my business!" The tax collector impatiently took back the booklet and tucked it under his arm. "I'm being merciful by not asking you to pay the remaining one as well!"

"Old man! Where is your home? I'm staying there tonight!" The tax collector said to the guards, "What are you standing there for? Follow me!"

Old Rupert's breathing was almost like a bellows, but he still tried his best to steady himself: "Sir... this way... this way... please!"

When the tax collector saw the boy from old Rupert's family, his disappointment was barely concealed.

"Tsk! Where's your girl? Why is there only one little kid left?"

"She is infected!" The village chief finally couldn't help it.

Glancing at little Rupert's torso, the tax collector said in disappointment, "Forget it...it all smells the same anyway."

"Make room for the night. The village chief and I have something to discuss!"

After a while, the village chief and the tax collector were the only two people left in the room.

The tax collector looked around for a long time and found that there was really no musical instrument, so he curled his lips.

Rupert is Rupert!

He seemed to be nonchalant and said, "Old man... if you don't want to go to the infected, I don't want to go either."

The tax collector hinted, "With so many people eating, drinking, defecating, and urinating, it's a lot. If I go again...wouldn't it cost me more?"

It turned out that the ugly face was not only a revelation of his true feelings, but also a means for him to extort bribes.

"We really have nothing left!" The village chief understood this, but after the natural disaster, this small village, which was divided into three parts, could no longer withstand additional exploitation.

"How can you say you have nothing left?" The tax collector said viciously, "Don't you still have life?"

He said in a pretentious way, "The tower needs some hands—hands with stones on them."

“…” Old Rupert swallowed.

The white palms of the Elafia tax collector stretched out from the lace-trimmed armholes.

He showed his palm, which had only a few calluses on the fingers.

"Tell me, is it a pity that my hands are stained with blood?"

"……pity."

Snapped!

"What a shame!" The tax collector immediately slapped the village chief and said, "I'm just a glove. If I don't get my hands dirty, then whose hands are dirty?"

"understand!?"

Old Rupert's fist clenched into a little blood, and he spoke slowly, "How much?"

"Besides your daughter, how many people are there?"

There was dead silence in the room.

"……Gone."

"That's it, then."

……

The village chief trembled as he closed the door. He struggled to support himself by the window and remained silent for a long time before he sighed, "Ah..."

Outside the window, the gray-brown vegetation appeared to have the same white luster under the bright moonlight.

Graythroat huddled alone in the back seat, his head bowed, while the scavenger in the passenger seat leaned half his elbow against the window, staring blankly at the moonlit vegetation.

Provence, who was originally cheerful, looked much more serious than these two people.

When everyone is silent, there will always be someone who suddenly realizes that he or she should take on the responsibility of livening up the atmosphere.

"Miss Provence, were you infected after becoming the Messenger of Scourge, or before that?" Graythroat asked.

Very good, this is also a person who is good at talking about things that are not related to the topic.

"Should we tell her?" asked the scavenger.

"I still have to drive, you come."

Scavenger is different from most other field operators. She belongs to another branch called "SWEEP", which stands for "Special Eradication Protocol".