Title: Transmigrated as the Foolish Maid: My System Feeds the Empire
Chapter 2: The Taste of Despair
[DING! Target Madam Ye is experiencing extreme shock. +50 Shock Points!] [DING! Target Guard Captain Zhao is experiencing disbelief. +40 Shock Points!] [DING! Target Ye Chen is confused. +30 Shock Points!]
"Y-You..." Madam Ye stammered, taking a step back. "You can speak properly? You're not a fool?"
"I was a fool to let a pathetic parasite like you hit me," I said coldly. With a flex of my wrists, I channeled a tiny fraction of my newly awakened supernatural power. The iron chains around my wrists, weakened by rust, groaned under the sudden application of physical enhancement.
CLANG!
The iron links shattered like cheap glass, falling into the dust.
The silence in the camp deepened into suffocating horror. Guard Captain Zhao’s hand instinctively dropped to the hilt of his sword. "You little demon... what did you just do?"
I ignored him. I turned my back on the heavily armed guards and knelt beside Ye Chen. The young master was staring at me, his beautiful, exhausted eyes wide.
"Ah-Zhu...?" he whispered, his voice cracking from severe dehydration. His lips were peeling, bleeding at the corners. He hadn't had a drop of water in two days.
"It's me, Young Master," I said softly, my tone completely changing to one of gentle respect. He had taken a beating for me. In my books, that meant he was under my absolute protection. "Are you thirsty?"
"Thirsty?" Ye Wan, the spoiled step-sister, laughed shrilly from behind her mother, breaking the tension. "Of course he's thirsty! We're all thirsty! The nearest well dried up six months ago! The only water left is the mud puddle Captain Zhao found, and that's reserved for the guards! You brainless maid, do you think acting tough will summon rain?"
I smirked, keeping my back to them.
System, extract one liter of ice-cold spring water. Manifest a jade cup.
Right before Ye Chen's disbelieving eyes, I reached into the oversized sleeve of my ragged servant robes. When my hand emerged, I was holding an exquisite, flawless white jade cup. And from a sleek, transparent crystal bottle that definitely did not exist in this era, I poured.
Splash, splash, splash.
The sound of liquid. The most beautiful, impossible sound in a drought-stricken wasteland.
A collective gasp echoed behind me.
Crystal clear, perfectly pure water splashed into the jade cup. A thin wisp of cold vapor rolled off the surface, caused by the stark contrast between the ice-cold water and the sweltering, infernal heat of the desert air.
I held the cup to Ye Chen’s lips. "Drink, Young Master."
Ye Chen trembled, tears welling in his eyes. He didn't ask questions. Survival instinct took over. He grabbed my hand with his cold fingers and drank. The sound of his gulping echoed loudly in the dead silence of the camp.
[DING! Massive Shock Detected! +500 Shock Points from the Exile Convoy!] [DING! Target Guard Captain Zhao is experiencing intense greed! +100 Shock Points!]
"Water..." Madam Ye gasped, her eyes bulging out of her skull. She clawed at her own throat, practically foaming at the mouth. "Pure water! And it's... it's cold! How? Where did you hide that?!"
"Give it to me!" Ye Wan shrieked, losing all her aristocratic dignity. She lunged forward like a rabid dog, reaching for the crystal bottle.
I didn't even look back. I casually waved my left hand backward.
Using my Level 1 Water Elemental Mastery, I manipulated the moisture in the air. It wasn't enough to cause rain, but it was enough to condense the ambient heat into a solid, invisible barrier of kinetic force.
BAM!
Ye Wan slammed into an invisible wall of heavy air, bouncing off and crashing face-first into the jagged rocks.
"Aiyoo! My nose! My nose is broken!" she wailed, blood pouring down her face.
"Wan'er!" Madam Ye screamed, rushing to her daughter. She glared at me with venomous hatred. "You demonic slut! You dare hoard water from your masters? Captain Zhao! Arrest her! Confiscate her water! That is an imperial order!"
Captain Zhao drew his steel blade with a sharp shing. His eyes were glued to the condensation forming on the outside of my plastic water bottle. In a wasteland where gold was worthless, that water was godhood.
"Hand over the bottle, little girl," Zhao threatened, his heavy boots crunching on the dry earth as he approached. Ten other guards drew their weapons, forming a semi-circle around us. "Hand it over, and maybe I’ll let you lick the mud off my boots."
I capped the bottle, tucking it back into my sleeve (sending it back to the spatial inventory). I slowly stood up, brushing the dust off my knees.
"You want water?" I asked, a demonic smile playing on my lips. "Sure. Let me show you what happens when you try to rob a God."
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