Doomsday Mage Summons the Undead.

Chapter 253 Health Tax

As soon as he entered the village entrance, Qi Lin saw the low and decadent buildings in the village.

The ancient houses lean on both sides of the village road, the tiles are incomplete, and the walls are mottled and peeling off.

Although time has eroded their appearance, they still reveal a vicissitudes of beauty.

Several old brick and tile houses near the entrance of the village have cracked lines, revealing the imprint of years under the baptism of the sun and rain.

Smoke rose from it, and through the cracks in the wall, Qi Lin saw a mother wearing an apron praising her child with joy in front of the firewood stove.

Qi Lin had seen that child before, and he was one of the members happily carried back to the bark.

"Master, the woman is praising her child for his ability and bringing back a lot of iron armor tree bark. With these, their family will have enough food for the next two days."

The ghost patrolling around Qi Lin all the time noticed Qi Lin's gaze, and quickly came to this dangerous brick house that had been checked many times, and reported the words inside to Qi Lin.

"What is this food? It's as miserable as the master"

Lao Jiuba chirped and said something in the public soul link channel that silenced Qi Lin.

Qi Lin ignored the ruthless and worldly old Jiu, but continued to walk forward, looking at the flowers extending from the outside of the village to the inside of the village.

The reason why Qi Lin pays special attention to flowers is because each of those flowers is covered with magic patterns.

Investigation information shows that the function of those magic patterns is to keep flowers blooming at their most beautiful moment all the time.

The ancient village, the mother's praise, the curling smoke.
When he first entered this village, Qi Lin was in a good mood.

But soon, Qi Lin saw an unexpected scene.

After about 1000 meters away from the village, the flower road disappeared.

At the same time, the natural fragrance all over the sky was quickly covered by the stench.

There are also many mosquitoes and flies in the air.

Qi Lin glanced behind him subconsciously.

One step away, one environment is heaven, and the other environment is hell.

What caused such a gap was a white magic pattern.

According to investigation information, its function is to shield the odor and isolate the underground pollution source, so as to ensure the blooming of flowers outside.

Why did this appear soon after entering the village?
It stands to reason that this extraordinary magic pattern should not be affordable by the village.

It shouldn't be in this position either.
Qi Lin took a few steps forward, and soon saw the reason.

A stinking ditch next to the main road of the village.

There were mosquitoes and flies inside, and Qi Lin even saw some feces mixed in.

Those magic lines block the stench in the village, prevent the stench from overflowing the village, and prevent the pollution of the ground from affecting the flowers outside.
"This gutter wasn't like this before."

The guide Cheng Xiao took a step forward sensiblely, but still lagged behind Qi Lin's shoulder.

"Later, because of the sewage discharged from the factory, it was said that they were afraid that the sewage would pollute the surrounding natural environment, and then the sewage was taken away from the village."

"Didn't the factory shut down?" Qi Lin raised his eyebrows and asked, his pace quickened a little.

"The work has stopped, but the excrement in the town has not stopped." Cheng Xiao whispered.

Qi Lin looked at the dilapidated old houses next to the smelly ditch. Most of them were made of mud. Many of the cracks were wide open, and the simple layout of the houses could be seen.

Cheng Xiao waved his hand to drive away the mosquitoes and flies around Qi Lin: "This ditch has been here for so many years, and it smells bad no matter spring, summer, autumn or winter, but even a place like this has still become a shelter for thousands of people."

"They have been living in such an environment full of bacteria and diseases all these years." Qi Lin looked back at Cheng Xiao in some surprise and said in doubt: "Even if the town doesn't care, the people here can't help themselves."

Before he finished speaking, Qi Lin closed his mouth.

"I'm too stupid." Qi Lin laughed at himself: "The factory and the town are full of waste, and the people here are hard to manage."

"Actually, it's nothing." Cheng Xiao said with a bitter smile, "If it rains, the smelly water from the gutter will overflow into the house."

"That kind of scene can only be resigned to fate."

The three of them walked forward for a long time in silence.

Along the way, there is no more fragrance and cleanliness.

There are only mosquitoes and flies in the sky and the stench.

And as the sun went down, crowds of people came from the south to the homes that had been in disrepair next to the stinking ditch.

Qi Lin swept away from the corner of his eye, and the houses kept dropping mud.

There is always a risk of collapse.

Qi Lin didn't speak, just kept moving forward in silence.

After experiencing Yutou Village, Qi Lin thought that there was an extraordinary existence, and that in the future there would be technological support from the major surviving cities.

The quality of life of these people may improve a lot in the future.

Technology trees and the like will also grow by leaps and bounds because of the surviving cities.

But now it seems.
The people at the bottom of this world seem to be far more difficult than imagined.

blah blah.

blah blah.

The main road in the village is narrow and rugged due to the expansion of the smelly ditch.

The three of Qi Lin walked among the hurried pedestrians, looking extraordinarily different.

Because whenever someone sees Cheng Xiao's father and daughter's attire, they all walk aside with fear and bow their heads.

"It seems that they are very afraid of you." Qi Lin said casually without stopping.

"They are not afraid of me, they are afraid of mercenaries." Cheng Xiao replied in a low voice.

The sun was setting and the sky was getting dark.

In the afterglow of dusk, a coachman in a jacket returned home dejectedly from the south.

Coachman is a job with a decent income in the steam town, after all, the rich people in the town don't run around here and there.

That would be very indecent.

The car is a product of the steam factory.

The coachmen get the cars from the factory managers every day, and then return the cars to the factory on time after pulling the guests. At the same time, another driver will take over from the previous driver and continue to pull the car to pick up the work.

Simply put, people never stop.

If the coachman survives for a day, except for the certain commission paid to the factory, the rest is enough for a family of three to spend for a day.

But today, the coachman was a little unlucky.

At the time when the car was supposed to be delivered, I met a mercenary.

The mercenary threatened the coachman to send him somewhere, thus delaying the delivery of the coachman, and the factory fined him all his income for the day.

To make matters worse, after the mercenaries were brought to the place, the mercenaries didn't give the coachman a dime.

The coachman who was supposed to get home early not only came back late, but he didn't bring back a single coin.

The most serious thing is that his wife waits for him to buy noodles
As soon as he got home, before he entered the door, he saw his wife looking at him eagerly at the door and said in a distant voice: "Did Zaheer buy it?"

The coachman didn't say a word, just passed his wife, returned to the house tiredly, sat on the creaky musty-smelling bed and didn't say a word.

The wife continued: "Forgot?"

"Bring the money, I'll buy it myself."

The coachman still didn't say a word, lying weakly on the bed, with his back to his wife.

He muttered in a low voice, "No money."

"Where did the money go?" the wife asked.

"Can you let me sleep for a while?" the coachman asked impatiently.

These words seemed to ignite his wife's gunpowder keg: "The meal for noon hasn't been settled yet! I've been waiting for you for a day and a night, have you come back yet?"

"You don't care if you can't uncover the pot at home?"

The wife's words also seemed to ignite the powder keg of the coachman. The coachman suddenly turned over and scolded his wife: "Do you care if I live or die outside?"

"I've had enough of being useless outside, and I'm still angry with you when I come back!?"

A coachman's wages for one day are only enough for one day's expenses.

If you have no money, you can only starve.

The wife didn't know what her husband had gone through, she just kept scolding her husband.

"Okay! I'm not right!" The husband's scalp was numb from the scolding. He jumped up from the bed and walked out angrily: "I'm leaving! I'm getting out!"

When the driver slammed the door angrily, he happened to meet two people dressed as mercenaries and a man in black passing by the door.

Perhaps the sound of slamming the door was a bit heavy, which attracted the eyes of the leader in black.

The coachman hurriedly walked against the wall and ran south quickly.

"Mercenaries are indeed quite intimidating." Qi Lin turned his head and glanced at Cheng Xiao, who looked innocent, and joked.

Cheng Xiao glanced at the driver who was running fast in front of him, and said helplessly: "Sometimes mercenaries have quite a lot of identities."

"Sir! My dad is a good mercenary!" The younger Alice did not hear Qi Lin's joke and mistakenly thought that Qi Lin had a bad negative impression of Cheng Xiao because of this, and hurriedly defended: "My dad has never I have never bullied anyone! I even helped others with missions for free!"

"My lord, the child is young and ignorant!" Cheng Xiao hurriedly said in panic, and at the same time motioned Alice to apologize to Qi Lin.

The latter waved his hand to indicate nothing, but his eyes were a little calm: "Good people don't live long."

Seeing what Cheng Xiao was about to say, Qi Lin waved his hands to stop the meaningless conversation: "How far is it from the house you mentioned most likely to have clues to the station?"

"Hurry up, turn three more turns and we'll be there!" Cheng Xiao quickly replied.

Qi Lin nodded and continued to move forward.

Not far after walking out, I heard the voice of the coachman who had slammed the door before, and an old voice was persuading, telling the bitterness of today.

It was probably because the mercenary put a knife on his neck and threatened to send him away, and then delayed the delivery time to Luanggang, and his wages were all confiscated.

When Qi Lin and his party turned a corner, they happened to see the residents gathered by the stinking ditch.

There were people of all ages, and one of them, an old man, complained: "Wherever the high officials in the town live, we will build roads, plant flowers and build houses wherever they live!"

"What's wrong with us? They don't care!"

"We have to live by the stinky ditch for the rest of our lives!"

"Crushed to death, sick, starved to death!"

An old lady who had been watching the bustle of the coachman stopped in fear: "Brother, don't tell me, I'm shivering!"

As the old lady spoke, she glanced at Qi Lin with lingering fear.

After realizing that Qi Lin who was getting closer was also looking at her, the old lady quickly lowered her head and dared not look directly.

Cheng Xiao said in a low voice: "My lord, don't blame me. Some people have nothing to do when they are full, and some people complain when they have nothing to eat."

Qi Lin didn't answer, but saw the old man who came over with Qi Lin and his party, his eyes flashed with hatred, and his voice became louder,
"We are honest! We are timid and afraid of getting into trouble! We will be bullied all our lives!"

"I can't live! I will fight him!"

The old man cursed and waved his arms to everyone around him: "Let's fight with them!"

The old man's last words were blatantly yelled at Qi Lin.

The five people who dared to answer these words quickly moved away from the old man as if they were avoiding the plague.

Cheng Xiao also gritted his teeth and explained to Qi Lin in a low voice: "My lord, this old man mistakenly thought you were an official sent by the town. After all, your cloak is not worn by ordinary people."

Hearing this, Qi Lin glanced at his cloak. Occasionally, there would be magic patterns flashing across his face. He was thinking about how to cover it up to avoid unnecessary trouble.

"Be quiet, they are not targeting us, why are you arguing to kill them all?" Qi Lin looked at the soul link, and said something to calm the anger of the ghosts.

The episode where the old man pointed at Sang and scolded Huai was soon interrupted by another episode.

"Neighbours!"

Just when Qi Lin was about to cross the crowd and turn to the second fork in the road.

A tall, thin man dressed in shabby clothes came from the south, and after seeing Qi Lin in surprise, he bent down and saluted, then ran towards the crowd behind Qi Lin, and shouted at the people who were slowly gathering without incident: Taxes are collected!"

"You can't even mix wheat chaff, so you still have to pay the fucking tax?" the coachman, who was already in a bad mood, scolded angrily.

"What tax?" The old man glanced at the back of Qi Lin who was about to leave, and snorted coldly.

"His tax is tax!" The thin and tall man sneered, "You don't know a single word, why do you know this?"

"There must be a name for the tax, right?" the former toothless old lady apologized with a smile.

The tall and thin man sneered again, then took out a small notebook from his pocket and opened it, pretending to shout to the people who were staring at him, "This time it's health tax!"

The title of health tax made the old man furious instantly.

"Who came up with the idea?"

The old man stood up angrily: "Fuck his eight generations of ancestors!"

Afterwards, the old head thought of something, turned around and stared at the back of Qi Lin who disappeared from sight and shouted in a distant voice: "Go back and talk to those officials!"

"Fix the ditches! Fix the roads! We'll pay taxes!!!"

"otherwise"

Seeing that Qi Lin's back disappeared, the old man yelled with all his energy, "I'm going to die! I just have no money!!!"

When the old man yelled, he kept heading in the direction Qi Lin was leaving.

This confused the tall thin man a little.

Shouldn't you be talking to yourself?

Why are you shouting at the south?
I'm afraid the old man has lost his mind and lost his mind!

Do you think your yelling can be heard by the officials in the southern town? !
The tall and thin man sneered and closed the book, stuffed it into his arms again and said nonchalantly to the old man: "Why are we old neighbors? I don't care about this, and I won't tell those knights on you."

"only"

The tall and thin man, who was about to turn around and continue to pass on the health tax to the north, paused, squinted at the frightened people around him and said with a sneer, "The tax is settled!"

"Do you like it or not?"

"Anyway, there will be a place for you to pay when the time comes!"

"Hmph!" The tall and thin man sneered and turned to go north: "As long as you are here, you can't afford to pay!"

"A Bunch of Mud Legs"

(End of this chapter)