Navigator: I have a double six-story house

Su Qing aimed her musket at the small, thin figure.

Because it's a goblin.

It was thinner than the goblins they had fought before, only about the waist height of an adult, with grayish-green skin and clearly visible ribs.

It had an iron collar around its neck, and a rusty iron chain dangled to the ground.

The moment Su Qing saw the goblins, his fighting instincts kicked in, and he pulled out his musket, thinking that the goblins had invaded the city.

But he didn't fire immediately because something was wrong with the goblin.

Apart from the collar around his neck, he had no weapons, no armor, and not even any aggression in his eyes.

It saw the weapon in Su Qing's hand, was startled, and stumbled and fell to the ground.

What happened next stunned Su Qing.

Because the goblin actually knelt down in front of him, kowtowing frantically and making gurgling whimpering noises.

Su Qing couldn't understand goblin language, but he could understand the emotions behind it.

That was the biological instinct for survival, pleading, pain, and despair.

This sense of despair felt familiar, making it difficult for him to pull the trigger.

He hesitated for a long time, then discovered something even more amiss.

The residents who came to pay their respects to the "hero" on both sides of the road showed no sign of panic.

There was only one thing in their eyes—disgust.

That kind of disgust when looking at dirty livestock.

At this moment, the cavalry captain also dismounted and came over.

He kicked the goblin away with practiced ease, and smiled obsequiously at Su Qing.

"I'm sorry to have startled you all."

He nodded to Su Qing, his tone casual, as if he had dealt with a trivial matter.

As soon as he finished speaking, a closed door on the side of the street opened, and a man wearing a leather skirt and holding a leather whip walked out.

Excuse me, could you please move aside?

He pushed through the crowd, walked over, grabbed the chain on the collar, and dragged the goblin up.

The goblin didn't resist or even make a sound; it was simply dragged away.

Throughout the entire process, no one felt that anything was wrong.

There were voices of criticism from the crowd, accusing the man of failing to control his goblins and disrupting the hero's rites.

The goblin was dragged inside by the man.

Su Qing's gaze followed the doorway and she saw a scene she had never witnessed before.

That was most likely a workshop, with dozens of goblins bent over, heads down, making leather shoes, all wearing the same iron collar around their necks.

As the man dragged the goblin inside, not one of the goblins that were "working" looked at the companion being dragged back.

Even as this companion is being whipped by a man, emitting painful cries.

It was as if the torment his companion had suffered was far less important than the leather shoe in his hand.

The workshop door was closed.

It was locked up by two other goblins wearing iron collars.

Su Qing put away the musket, her face expressionless.

The crowd returned to its usual clamor, a joyous clamor, a mingling of cheers and blessings.

As if nothing had happened, flowers and applause continued to pour in.

The march continues; this righteous crusade will not cease.

Su Qing stood there, stunned, something within her wavering.

Selena walked up to Su Qing and asked cautiously.

"Captain, what's wrong?"

Her observational skills were never inferior to Su Qing's.

Su Qing didn't look at Selena, but simply said to herself, "It's okay, let's go."

Wang Yao did not ask Su Qing.

It wasn't that he didn't care about Su Qing's strange behavior just now, but that he only knew one thing.

The direction Su Zai was pointing his gun at was the enemy.

Su Qing followed the group forward, but her mind was elsewhere.

The goblins in the workshop were not prisoners, but laborers.

Long-term labor force.

The iron collars were clearly of a uniform design, and the reactions of other residents indicated that this situation existed in more than just this workshop.

In places throughout the city where he couldn't see, this "goblin laborer" phenomenon was probably widespread.

Given its size, is this city truly facing "danger"?

And there was that goblin begging for mercy just now.

Even a weak goblin knows to kowtow and beg for mercy from humans. Is this kind of intelligence something that has developed in a short period of time?

The "goblin threat" mentioned by Lord Griffin—those organized and tactical attacks—are they invasion, or...?

Too many questions, too little information.

Looking back, everything was arranged too smoothly, and he had no chance to access any useful intelligence.

I can't figure it out, but it doesn't matter. As the saying goes, when soldiers come, we'll block them; when water comes, we'll dam it.

The truth will become clear in the upcoming battles.

Su Qing shut out the thoughts in her mind and focused on the battle to come.

Once outside the city gate, the view suddenly opened up, and the noisy residents were no longer around.

The sun blazed fiercely in the sky, its rays shining brightly on the city gate.

Before them stood a neatly arranged guard, well-equipped and uniform, carrying spears and round shields.

The cavalry captain mounted his horse, drew his exquisite sword, and pointed it southwest.

"Target: Goblin camp, 20 miles southwest."

"The whole team, let's go!"

His voice was high-pitched and resonant, filled with a sense of mission.

The column advanced in an orderly fashion, with cavalry in front, infantry in the middle, and Su Qing and his two companions positioned at the very front of the infantry.

Wang Yao walked beside Su Qing, holding the C-grade iron shield that hadn't been destroyed yet.

Even while traveling, he remained vigilant.

This vigilance isn't just directed at goblins that might jump out from the roadside.

They were also part of the Crimson City Guard.

He didn't understand those convoluted things, but he sensed that something was wrong.

This feeling comes from an instinctive intuition.

After marching for two hours, the terrain began to change.

The plains gradually became steeper, and the group moved into the forest, where visibility was limited.

The experienced cavalry captain slowed down, sending out two scouts to explore ahead before advancing slowly from behind.

Before long, a scout reported that the camp was not far ahead.

The cavalry captain raised his hand, and the entire cavalry came to a stop.

He led Su Qing and the other two to climb to a high place, where they lay down behind rocks and looked ahead.

Su Qing saw the "camp" and then frowned.

That didn't resemble the military camp Lord Griffin had described.

There were no sharp barricades, no trenches, and no watchtowers.

It was just trees and stones that barely managed to piece together something that looked like a wall.

Inside the walled compound, wisps of smoke rose from chimneys.

Su Qing took the binoculars from Selena and saw that there were indeed well-equipped soldiers patrolling inside the "walls".

But besides that, there are even more bizarre goblins.

It's not the weaponry that's unusual, but rather the appearance and behavior.

Su Qing put down the binoculars, her eyes filled with conflict.