Chapter 336: No. Demi-Human Shelter

With this batch of defectors-turned free labor, the originally so‑quiet Soul Spirit Palace, which could have been used straight away to film a horror movie, finally gained some popularity; at least players no longer scare themselves three feet high when they run into each other, then kick their legs and return to heaven.

However, at first these prisoners dressed as guards were still quite nervous, after all that battle, which could be called terrifying, with its shooting sparks and explosions had already left them with severe psychological trauma.

Now seeing this bunch of ruthless guys actually chatting and laughing with themselves, acting completely unfazed, the strong contrast really makes them a bit uneasy.

But after experiencing all this in the game, the players have also developed two unwritten rules.

——Don't provoke or attack NPCs when you're idle; although players will indeed protect their own, a minority's birth actions can be cut by justice, and then you'll be chased everywhere, unable even to enter Sunlight City—don't regret it later.

——Especially, don't cause trouble for official NPCs; although they won't directly kick you out of the newbie village, every player who does this ends up getting hit by a boomerang, and after finally getting a decent meal, don't seek fleeting pleasure only to smash your own rice bowl.

Moreover, as the standard equipment for Soul Spirit Palace guards, this set of white‑platinum armor itself comes with a voice‑changing mask, so players have no idea these guards are actually the bandits they captured two days ago, chatting and laughing, wondering if raising their favor a bit might trigger a hidden quest.

Little do they know that the warm, heart‑warming smile they think they're showing looks, to the guards, like a man‑eating demon giving a ghoulish chuckle; they can only frantically shake their heads and wave their hands backward, leaving behind the new urban legend: "The palace guards are really aloof—did they forget to install a dialogue module?"

However, in order to earn more exchange points, the players have practically cleared out all the evil forces within a hundred‑li radius nearby.

Even though Ji Ming has been working hard to find various proper jobs for these prisoners, the underground city, no matter how large, can only offer so many positions.

For example, occupying a scenic hill with woods and water, they want to start from here and build the first interworld food‑and‑drink chain brand as a commercial guild.

"No!!!"

"But……"

Then, once they've completely mined out these "human ores"…… Ji Ming even feels that some players are already considering how to go to nearby towns and kill the innocent to gain merit.

Furthermore, as the currently most stable, simplest, and quickest channel for obtaining exchange points, the surrounding bandits haven't all been captured yet at this stage, so this New Triangle Trade Movement can still have some positive effect.

"I think this is a warning from the officials; if we keep going deeper, we'll likely face an enemy beyond what our current stage can handle—in other words, a higher‑level map."

For instance, discovering a high‑quality iron vein, they want to develop deep‑processing technology while mining and selling it to gain extra profits as an industrial guild.

No choice—Ji Ming could only temporarily issue a new announcement that the mall would close prisoner recycling, while other recycling functions remain unchanged.

Thus, Double Moon Struggle unintentionally turned into a farming‑focused game; players began gathering useful knowledge everywhere, and experts in the relevant fields launched point‑to‑point support, while livestream viewers frequently offered suggestions, making it the most engaging episode.

【Actually there's no need to go deeper either—this broken forest has no usable roads, moving goods in and out is a hassle, occupying it is pointless, and you'd still have to spend time patrolling and managing it, a pure waste of manpower.】

The players' triangle‑trade era ended faster than anyone imagined, but even if this recycling function stays open, if players don't resort to little tricks, it's indeed hard to capture large numbers of prisoners again.

Thus, when the players of the Super London Eye finally managed to drive that disobedient band of bandits back to the Underground World, the first thing they saw upon looking up was this bad news.

Moreover, some players are even competing with officials for work—just the gates of Dog Town's walls get wiped clean twenty‑odd times a day; if the underground lighting weren't insufficient, they'd practically be shining as if they had their own lights.

"When I was exploring alone earlier, the locals told me this area is rumored to harbor a huge monster with six arms; considering typical game settings, such legends often turn out to be true."

Because it's impossible for the vast wilderness to be entirely made of soft persimmons for them to knead, after clearing out the low‑level bandits who merely loitered at the forest edge, the players finally encountered a formidable foe with some substance less than a hundred li deep into the wilderness.

The players who had completely swallowed the bandits' territories, under a joint appeal from several major guilds, switched back to a defensive stance, deciding first to consolidate and develop what they already held before looking elsewhere.

However, not every guild can be like the well‑known Spear Blade, Starry Sky, and Justice guilds, which have enough scale and talent reserves to evolve into a large, comprehensive organization dominating multiple fields.

……Well, calling them unknown guilds is misleading—they can actually lead a faction in today's Double Moon Struggle; their leaders may not be "dragons among men," but they should at least be resounding, clang‑clang‑clang figures.

To boost their competitiveness and income, these guilds—so insignificant that even vying for second‑rate status makes them sweat—can only each find their own niche.

Although these werewolves still can't stop their advance, even that mage chieftain of over level thirty gets hung up and beaten as a boss by the players; the combat pressure they bring is still less than the scramble for experience among themselves.

For example, settling beside a sizable lake, they want to draw water for farming and also catch some fish as a side‑product for an agricultural guild.

And besides these conventional directions and behaviors, naturally there are also some special ideas and thoughts, such as……

"Hold on, what does this sign mean?"

As the map expands, the Jinyi Night Travel guild now has its own bus—admittedly just a large wagon pulled by two horses—but it's far more convenient than before.

However, as the two walked along the forest trail toward the External Affairs Bureau's station, they unintentionally spotted a very strange wooden plaque by the roadside, prompting them to halt the carriage.

Walking up for a closer look, they saw a goblin drawn with one eye closed, smiling and giving a thumbs‑up, and below it, written in the Yangyue common language, the words 【Welcome, friends, to No. 1 Demi‑Human Shelter】.

If that were all, Cang Lang would think it's an Easter egg planted by the game officials, and Ji Ming would think it's just the locals goofing off while idle—but beneath that large text there are several more lines of small print.

???

They actually repeated that sentence in Chinese, English, French, Russian, Arabic, and Spanish?

"These are the six working languages of the Adhesion Union, and this sign was put up by players!!"

This outing was already meant to be a bit of a tour, and with no time limit, Cang Lang and Ji Ming figured they'd have to go see it no matter what—surely some players are secretly pulling off something nasty.

As expected, before they'd even reached halfway up the slope they saw a few short figures approaching from afar; upon closer look, they discovered it was a party made up of goblins, dog‑headed folk, and dwarves.

As they walked, they communicated using rather broken common language and exaggerated gestures, making the exchange extremely difficult; those who understood said they were chatting about what they'd eaten for lunch, while those who didn't thought they were arguing.

Besides that, each of them had a sign swaying on their chest, written in the common language

——【Hello, player, I'm a friendly NPC, please don't attack】

Ji Ming and Cang Lang exchanged a glance.

"You guessed who it is?"

"Who else could it be?"

So they openly stepped out from the bend ahead, revealing their identity and purpose before the timid demi‑humans could panic and flee.

"Oh oh, so you're the friendly Pioneer sir? Please follow us this way—our king is over here."

One of the dwarves, who could barely put together a sentence, greeted them and then led the two, accompanied by the demi‑human guards beside him, to a settlement on the mid‑slope.

Before they could even push open the crooked door, they heard a hysterical shout from inside.

"Over here, follow the direction I'm pointing—goodness, you should grab this spot with both hands, not lean forward! This is a polearm; you need to make use of its reach!"

That was the 【Killer Goblin】 trying to instruct a large group of demi‑humans on how to use spears; although he tried hard, this bunch, whose intelligence is naturally low and coordination poor, still couldn't grasp proper spear handling.

【Killer Goblin: blood pressure up up】

Seeing the two appear at the doorway, he could only announce a temporary break, wiping sweat with a large towel as he walked over, wearing a helpless smile.

"All I can say is that the demi‑humans aren't doing well for no reason—from mind to body they're truly a total mess……"

Cang Lang glanced at the group, some standing, some lying, all looking disheveled, many even as frail as hemp stalks—the "militia in training."

"No way—I remember those goblins under your command were practically eating their way to becoming little beastmen; why are they all skinny again? Did you make them watch movies together? At least pick something good to watch."

"How could that be possible!"

Sha Ge let out a long sigh, his rough green face full of regret.

"The tribe keeps getting bigger; staying again on that previous little hill is really suffocating. Coincidentally, the public test also recruited many non-human players who want to live a high-difficulty life, so I thought of moving out of the Underground World together with other guilds, going to the barbarian plains to pick a suitable hill to settle down. Who would have thought..."

As the internal test duel king, Sha Ge, though not interested in dominating the game, still has strong influence as a star player.

Especially as he continually absorbs scattered goblins, he is especially friendly toward players who can't join big guilds yet crave a large collective, since as long as they don't cause trouble, even the weakest player is stronger than an ordinary goblin.

Therefore, after announcing the move, he successfully gathered the largest team in the migration guild, with thousands of goblins and hundreds of players marching forward in great numbers, like an army advancing into the barbarian plains that resembled a green world.

But only upon entering did he discover that, due to the wolf plague on the wasteland, the goblins fleeing here from the grasslands were as numerous as cow hairs, and as a very weak race, one of their survival instincts is to cling to a strong thigh when they encounter one.

Therefore, upon seeing such a force that might be fewer in number but definitely strong as the elite army of a large tribe, they wished to offer food and drink in welcome of the royal army, just to gain qualification to join the tribe.

Sha Ge thought, since he had already prepared mountains of food for today, what's a few little goblins? Now is the time to greatly expand the troops; we're broad-minded, we'll accept everyone!

Thus his team expanded like a balloon being inflated, reaching nearly ten thousand in just one day out, with countless scattered goblins hearing of the tribe here and moving in with their families.

Sha Ge originally also planned to, like other guilds, squeeze out some bandits on the road for training and earn a little extra cash, but such a huge troop passing by would be seen even by the blind; the bandits on the road all covered their drums and fled in the wind, fearing that if they ran slow they'd become the star of a exciting comic.

"Guild Leader, they run faster than horses; we really can't catch them!"

If that were all, it would be fine, but upon hearing that the neighboring goblins had found a large force, soon clever dwarves and gnomes came here to show off their skills wanting to join, followed by dog-headed people, cavemen, and special slimes with some intelligence.

In short—please, considering we're all non-humans, come lend a brother a hand, lend a brother a hand!

If the tribe really only had goblins, Sha Ge would have stubbornly refused, but seeing the strange, messy players beside him, he could only nod, indicating they're welcome to come if they wish, since our food is sufficient, we're broad-minded, we'll accept everyone!

Thus the migrating tribe began to expand like a snowball, and at the increasingly slow pace paying tribute to the legendary commoner protector Liu Huangshu, Sha Ge finally encountered other goblin tribes.

The local chieftain hurriedly invited the renowned over-the-river dragon to his humble abode as a guest, and personally led the clan's high-ranking members out several miles to welcome him.

But as the anxious Sha Ge stepped down from the carriage to meet another goblin leader, he suddenly discovered……

"Um, thanks for everyone's enthusiasm, so which esteemed person is the chieftain of your tribe?"

In the crowd, the most central figure, a goblin dressed most luxuriously, hurriedly bowed and said respectfully.

"Thanks for your exaltation, it's none other than Little Wang!"

Sha Ge lowered his head, his brows furrowed.

"... How come you're so short?"