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墨書 Inktalez
"Night Pearl Powder!" Lin Dahe blurted out. The spots glimmering under the sunlight were exactly what he had previously fabricated as "Night Pearl Powder," but in reality, they were a special material noted by the system!
Suddenly, a shout from Huo Lang Zhang echoed from a distance: "Collecting old books and scrap paper!" Accompanied by the rhythmic ringing of bells, it was clearly some kind of signal.
Cui Xiaoman quickly pulled Lin Dahe along. "Hurry! The people from the Inspection Office are coming this way!"
As the two hid in the side hall of the ancestral temple, they heard the sound of synchronized hoofbeats approaching the village entrance. Peering through a crack in the window, Lin Dahe saw more than ten black-clad officers armed with weapons. The leading official held up a sign that boldly read "Investigate Yao Shu."
At that moment, the system's display suddenly turned bright red: [Ultimate Task Activated: Expose the Grain Storage Corruption Case within 72 hours, or face total extermination!]
The candlelight in the side hall flickered erratically in the draft, casting the shadow of the One-Armed Veteran on the mottled wall, distorted like an eagle preparing to take flight. Lin Dahe stared at the flashing countdown on the system interface: [71:59:59]. His throat tightened. "Two thousand stones of moldy grain mixed with fresh grain... enough to poison half the county."
"Not just that." The Old Soldier pulled out a turtle-shell-like iron plate from his pocket, which bore the inscription "Tianqi Year Seven Yanzhou Guard." "This was found on the corpse of the Mad Old Woman's daughter—she was a clerk in the household department."
Cui Xiaoman suddenly gripped the edge of the table, her knuckles turning white. "So my father..."
"The military doctor Cui identified mold toxins and wrote up a report overnight." The Old Soldier's voice was like a dull knife scraping bone. "Zhou Liangzhang's father was then serving as an official in the household department and intercepted the documents at the post station."
The candle flared and popped, and Lin Dahe suddenly recalled something hard at Aunt Ma's waist—could it also be such an iron plate? The system's display promptly popped up an analysis: [Key evidence insufficient, unable to identify mastermind.]
"I need your farming skills as cover," said the Old Soldier, his single eye gleaming with intensity. "The people behind the Zhou family..."
A piercing scream suddenly shattered the night sky. The Mad Old Woman burst into the ancestral hall, her hair disheveled and her bony fingers gripping Lin Dahe's shoulder tightly. "The well! The well is drying up!"
Black mud fell from her fingernails like rain, carrying a pungent smell of sulfur. Lin Dahe's heart raced—this was a characteristic of deep soil!
The village well was already surrounded by villagers. Torches illuminated newly exposed water level lines on the well walls, with moss at the bottom visibly wilting at an alarming rate. In the murky water at the bottom of the well, several small fish floated belly-up.
"Three days..." Seventh Uncle trembled as he touched the markings on the well rope. "It can last at most three days."
The system interface suddenly filled with blood-red warnings: [Water Source Crisis! Emergency Task: Dig underground waterways to divert mountain springs.]
Requirements: Penetrate through West Mountain rock layers
Deadline: Seven days
Reward: Underground Water Resource Map
Penalty: Relocation of entire village (Main task failure)
Lin Dahe crouched down and dipped his fingertip into the well water. A sharp burning sensation made him gasp—excessively acidic! He looked up at the dark silhouette of West Mountain in the distance and suddenly realized: The Mad Old Woman's prophecy was not about natural disasters but man-made calamities!
"It’s Zhou family dumping Nitre in the mine!" Cui Xiaoman gritted her teeth. "They want to force us to sell our land and flee!"
The oil lamp cast a flickering circle of light over his drawings. Lin Dahe bit down on his pencil, staring anxiously at his contour map—over thirty zhang of limestone layers lay between West Mountain and their village; it would be impossible to dig through with just hoes and shovels.
"If only I could get my hands on some gunpowder..." he muttered to himself, sketching an explosion symbol.
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