86: Chapter 86 Rear Villages, Refugees Everywhere

Early the next morning, as the sky was just beginning to brighten.

Lin Han led Kuina and a selected squad of soldiers away from the port area, heading inland.

He did not choose the main road leading to the royal capital, Alubarna.

Instead, he turned into a sandy path that deviated from the main road.

This road had clearly not been maintained for a long time; the surface was potholed, the bushes on both sides were withered and drooping, and their leaves were covered with a thin layer of dust.

The further inland they went, the sparser the vegetation became and the drier the land grew.

The dry, dusty scent in the air also grew stronger and stronger.

After walking for about two hours, they encountered the first abandoned village.

It was a small settlement that once must have had dozens of households, but now only broken walls and ruins remained.

Most of the houses' mud walls had collapsed, and the thatch on the roofs had been scattered by the wind across the surrounding sandy ground.

A few withered jujube trees stood at the entrance of the village, their branches twisted as if silently recounting the suffering of this land.

The village well had completely dried up, and its mouth was mostly buried by wind-blown sand, leaving only a vague outline.

Kuina stood at the village entrance, looking at the scene before her, her fingers gripping the hilt tightening slightly.

She did not speak.

But in those eyes, a suppressed emotion flickered.

Lin Han stopped beside her, watched silently for a moment, and then said softly,

"Let's go, there should be more people ahead who need help."

They continued forward.

The scenery along the way became increasingly distressing.

Farmland buried by sandstorms, collapsed livestock sheds, and tattered furniture and daily necessities abandoned by the roadside.

Occasionally, one could see the skeletal remains of animals, half-buried in the sandy soil, casting a pale, ghastly light under the scorching sun.

Refugees were also becoming more and more numerous.

At first, it was just sporadic groups of three or five, dragging their families along, carrying their remaining belongings on their backs, and staggering toward the port.

Their faces were written with exhaustion and despair, their eyes hollow, and their lips chapped, as if they had been walking for a very, very long time.

Later, the number of refugees gradually increased, turning into squads of a dozen or groups of several dozen.

Some people pushed wheelbarrows piled with quilts, pots, and pans.

Some led scrawny donkeys, with young children loaded onto their backs.

A young mother holding an infant sat on a rock by the roadside.

The infant's cries were as faint as a kitten's whimpers.

The mother's tears had dried up; she only mechanically rocked the child in her arms.

Kuina looked at all this, her steps becoming heavier and heavier.

She walked over to Lin Han, her voice somewhat hoarse.

"Master... These people are so pitiful."

Lin Han nodded, his gaze sweeping across those weary and despairing faces, and slowly said,

"Mm. That's why we came here."

He didn't say much more, simply quickening his pace and walking deeper in.

Walking for about another hour, they came to a small village.

This village was slightly better than the ones they had seen before.

At least a few houses had not completely collapsed, and though the leaves of the old banyan tree at the village entrance were mostly withered and yellow, it still stood tenaciously.

But the scene inside the village was equally desolate.

Most of the villagers had already fled; those remaining were mostly the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled.

White-haired elders, pregnant women with limited mobility, and a few young people unable to make a long journey due to illness or injury.

They gathered under that old banyan tree at the village entrance, with numb expressions and hollow eyes.

Seeing a squad of neatly dressed Marine uniform personnel appear at the village entrance, the crowd was stunned for a moment.

Then a wave of excited commotion broke out.

A white-haired elder leaning on a cane stood up tremblingly; he was the village chief.

He hurried over to Lin Han, his wrinkled face filled with excitement and anticipation, his voice hoarse and trembling.

"Lord Marine, you've finally come. Save us, we haven't had clean water to drink in days."

"The village well is blocked by sand, and the young people have all gone off to fight in the war. There's truly nothing we old fellows can do."

As he spoke, his eye rims turned red, and cloudy tears slid down the gullies on his face.

Lin Han reached out to support the old village chief's shoulders, his tone gentle yet firm.

"Elder, don't worry, we are here precisely to help you. Please take me to see that well first."

The old village chief nodded repeatedly, leading the way with his cane.

Lin Han followed behind him, with Kuina and the soldiers closely following suit.

The well was located in the plaza at the center of the village, an old well built with stones.

The mouth of the well originally should have had a circle of fencing, but now it was mostly buried by wind-blown sand, leaving only a section of the stone rim exposed outside.

Lin Han walked to the edge of the well and peered down.

There was indeed still water at the bottom of the well, but the water level was very low, and a layer of fine sand and debris floated on the surface, making the water quality unbearably murky.

He straightened up and turned to say to Kuina,

"Kuina, you clear the sand at the well mouth. Use your cold air to freeze the sand layer solid, then dig it open."

Kuina nodded, drew the wado ichimonji, and aimed the blade at the sand layer around the well mouth.

She took a deep breath, circulating the cold air within her body, and a layer of white frost rapidly condensed on the blade.

She thrust the blade into the sand layer, and the cold air spread along the blade, freezing the surrounding sandy soil into a hard frozen-soil mixture.

"Dig."

At Lin Han's command, several soldiers picked up the shovels they brought and began digging into the frozen-hard sandy soil.

Frozen soil was much easier to dig than loose sand.

In less than half an hour, the sand layer at the well mouth was cleaned away, revealing the original stone-built well rim.

Lin Han then had the soldiers carry a manual water pump from the ship and install it on the well mouth.

Several soldiers took turns rocking the pump handle, and with a creaking sound, a gush of clear groundwater surged out from the pipe, flowing into pre-prepared buckets.

The moment they saw the clean water flowing out, the watching villagers burst into a long-suppressed cheer.

Several elders wept on the spot, kneeling on the ground with their hands clasped together, bowing continuously in Lin Han's direction to express their gratitude.

Lin Han walked over and helped the elder kneeling on the ground back up.

"Elder, don't be like this, this is what we ought to do."

The elder took his hand, tears streaming down his old face.

"Lord Marine... You are good people... We thought the Marine had all gone to the royal capital to fight and that no one cared about us anymore..."

Lin Han patted the elder's hand back and said gently,

"Rest assured, we won't leave. We'll stay here first, help you clear the well, repair the damaged houses, and leave some food and medicine for you."

He turned to look at Kuina.

"You take a few people and go into the village to tally how many people remain and what supplies are needed. I and the others will go check the surrounding sandstorm situation to see if we can find a way to prevent further encroachment by the sandstorms."

Kuina stood at attention and saluted.

"Yes, Master."

She turned around and, leading a few soldiers, began visiting the village's survivors house by house.

Lin Han led the remaining few people and walked toward the outer edges of the village.

He stood by a farmland eroded by sandstorms, squatted down, grabbed a handful of dry sandy soil, rubbed it between his fingertips, and his gaze grew profound.

Alabasta's desertification was even more severe than he had imagined.

This wasn't just caused by war; it was also being catalyzed in secret by Crocodile's Sand-Sand Fruit abilities.

If left unchecked, this land would sooner or later completely turn into a barren desert.

He stood up, patted the sand off his hands, and gazed into the distant sky shrouded in dust.

"Crocodile..."

He muttered this name softly, a rare hint of chill flashing through his gaze.

"The sins you have created will sooner or later have to be repaid."