Chapter 813

To the north stood a high platform, and Xiao Ning stood atop it in a full suit of exotic armor.

Beside her were four alien lords; the remaining alien lords stood below the platform with two hundred alien soldiers.

The Xiao family stood right in the middle.

The other three families stood on either side of the Xiao family.

The unaffiliated folk stood loosely behind them.

Zhao Chi squeezed his way toward the northwest, toward the Zhao family's spot.

As he pushed through, he listened to the villagers buzzing with discussion.

"What's going on?"

"No idea."

"That female lord from the Xiao family looks like she's about to announce something."

"Don't need you to tell us that — anyone with eyes can see it."

"I don't think it's good news. Look at those aliens — every one of them looks like a vicious demon. They don't look like good people at all."

"You don't get it. The fiercer they look, the kinder their hearts."

"Kind my ass."

"Huh? Why are you cursing people?"

"Not only will I curse you, I'll beat you up too."

"On what grounds?"

"On the grounds that your mouth is spraying shit. Wait till your whole family's killed by the aliens — then you can go on praising them."

"Huh?"

"Exactly, I don't think there are any good ones among these aliens either. Same as those nobles — none of them are good."

"Keep your voice down. The aliens have sharp hearing. They'll come grab you if you do."

"Shit! Why didn't you say so earlier!"

Zhao Chi quickly squeezed his way to the Zhao family's spot.

Zhao Huai and Zhao Jiao had both come too.

This was the first time he had seen them since they came back.

From their expressions, they had both already accepted the fact that they had lost their territory.

Now they were both leading troops in Fourth Uncle Zhao Qiye's territory, at least giving them something to do.

Beside Zhao Jiao stood Su Qin.

The two were whispering something to each other.

After a while longer, Xiao Ning on the platform cleared her throat.

Then she said loudly: "Everyone quiet down, our meeting is about to begin."

Her voice was loud, and every villager could hear it clearly. Besides the timbre of a human woman's voice, there was also a touch of the aliens' hoarse rasp.

Perhaps from living with the aliens so long, her pronunciation had changed a little too?

Every villager present turned to look at her.

Xiao Ning swept her gaze around once, then continued speaking loudly.

"Right now our Snowfield City is at war everywhere, dangerous everywhere. Especially the county and the towns — it's like they've been utterly destroyed.

"All of us have been caught up in this war, all of us have been affected.

"But everyone also knows what caused this war.

"The reason is that our great Holy Race warriors have taken up arms against those damned nobles — for the sake of all the residents of Snowfield City!!"

Xiao Ning said that last sentence very loudly.

She even cracked her voice a little.

One could tell she was even a bit worked up.

The alien lords beside her began to clap.

But the villagers below the platform were dead silent — everyone was thinking the same question.

Holy Race?

Who the hell is the Holy Race?

These ugly-looking aliens are now calling themselves the Holy Race?

The nobles haven't even lost yet, and they're already getting so full of themselves?

Holy Race my ass! Aliens are aliens!

Also.

How are these aliens "great" exactly?

They fought the nobles alongside the resistance — wasn't it for the nobles' assets? How did it turn into "for the residents"?

But no one spoke; everyone watched Xiao Ning in silence.

Xiao Ning sighed:

"So, all of us must wholeheartedly support the Holy Race — supporting the Holy Race is supporting ourselves.

"Right now the Holy Race's soldiers are all fighting at the front, while you lot sit here quietly enjoying the benefits they've fought for. That shouldn't be!

"Everyone must feel bad about it, right?

"I'm also a person of Brook Village. I understand what everyone's thinking — everyone must also hope for a chance to repay these Holy Race warriors.

"Now, that chance has come.

"First of all, from now on we no longer have to pay taxes to those damned nobles. All taxes will be handed over to our Holy Race to manage.

【】

"With this money, the Holy Clan's warriors can defeat the bloodsucking nobles even faster, and our peace will arrive that much sooner.

"And the Holy Clan has already promised that once the war ends, all taxes will be reduced by 30%!"

At last, murmuring broke out below the stage.

No one was a fool; everyone knew what Xiao Ning meant.

Though she had said a great deal, speaking with passionate fervor, the core meaning was only one thing.

From now on, the taxes would go to the alien race.

But what surprised everyone was that the tax rate had actually been lowered by so much?

Honestly, it was very tempting.

But the most important thing was that Xiao Ning was now the alien race's representative.

Brook Village could not refuse.

Xiao Ning watched the expressions on everyone's faces with satisfaction and continued:

"You see, this is how generous the Holy Clan is. We all wronged them before.

"But now is the critical moment of the war against those noble dogs, and our Holy Clan warriors need everyone's support.

"So during the war, we have no choice but to temporarily increase the tax, but the increase is only 25%.

"Please rest assured, once the war ends, the Holy Clan will immediately reduce the taxes and fulfill their promise!

"So all we need to do is give our full cooperation and help the Holy Clan defeat the nobles faster, so the war ends sooner!"

The whole place erupted.

So that was what she meant.

If you want to raise taxes, just say so—why dress it up so prettily?

And a 25% tax increase was already a lot.

Many goods only had a profit margin of 25%, and there were even plenty of cheap products that didn't cover that tax amount.

At this rate, every single item would have to go up in price.

Damn it to hell.

Everyone cursed silently in their hearts.

The people from several families looked at the Xiao family in unison.

But the Xiao family members all looked perfectly composed—they must have known about this long ago.

Xiao Ning ignored everyone's displeasure and continued:

"I see many of you don't look happy. I understand—this temporary 25% tax isn't low, and it may affect everyone.

"But the Holy Clan's warriors don't take money for nothing. They know our village suffered a bandit attack and lost quite a bit.

"So this time they specially sent me to protect our village. You all probably don't know my identity yet, do you?