Fishy Souls Recognize Each Other

Lin Xiao, as the chief, said nothing, so his kinfolk naturally acted on their own instincts. As the two groups of Murlocs chatted, they gradually hit it off.

The first Gray Mist Fishman to speak was quite clever. Though he gave no hints, much of his idle chatter with the native Murloc involved things Lin Xiao had wanted to ask as well.

Most of it was nonsense, but a few questions were remarkably well asked. Lin Xiao secretly gave him a thumbs-up.

Through all that random chatter, they gathered quite a bit of interesting intelligence.

Murlocs had limited intelligence and no awareness of counterintelligence. Basically, if they could answer a question, they would.

And "could answer" did not mean there were things they could not say. Wild Murlocs were simply not smart enough to know how to answer many questions.

After chatting for roughly half an hour, the native Murlocs stopped talking and led two or three thousand subordinates to fish and gather kelp beneath the Coral Reef by the island. That was their food.

Watching several thousand Murlocs leave just like that, Lin Xiao pressed his scaled hand against his equally scaled, ugly chin and rubbed it until it creaked.

He felt that he might need to change his approach.

His previous plan had been simple: kill his way through.

Now, though, he felt that might not be necessary. The mission required him to destroy this Murloc Tribe of around twenty thousand, but slaughtering them all was one form of destruction. Subduing the tribe also counted as destruction. There was no rule saying he had to kill every last one.

If he could subdue this Murloc Tribe... His eyes gleamed as his thoughts raced.

If—just if—he could subdue this wild Murloc Tribe from a Different Plane and bring those twenty thousand Murlocs under his command, his strength would surely increase dramatically.

In that case, he could easily complete the remaining three missions. He would also have enough strength to attempt those high-difficulty missions rated above ninety points.

There were several high-difficulty missions rated above ninety in the nearby waters. Their rewards were extremely generous, but he had previously lacked the strength even to consider them. If he could subdue those twenty thousand Murlocs, he could give them a try.

The rewards for high-difficulty missions were far greater than those of his current missions, whether in physical rewards, ranking points, or personal gains.

As long as he completed one, a top-five ranking in this Final Exam would be guaranteed.

He squeezed his chin hard, quietly making up his mind.

He waved toward the native Murlocs cutting kelp nearby in greeting, then left with his subordinates.

He thought as he traveled. By the time he returned to the Temporary Tribe, he already had a simple plan in mind.

First, he sent several Naga leading a group of Murlocs to visit that native Murloc Tribe, bringing some food with them.

There was only one purpose: to make their presence known and tell them that a new small Murloc Tribe had appeared not far north of the large Murloc Tribe.

Then, he scattered the remaining Murlocs to explore the surrounding area, mainly northward and into the depths of the eastern sea. They were to search for stable food sources, hunt large quantities of fish and other food, and bring food along whenever they paid a visit.

The key was food. Every visit would include a certain amount of food as well as other gifts.

As the saying went, once you had eaten someone's food, your mouth went soft; once you had taken someone's gift, your hand went soft. After enough visits, each one carrying food, the native Murlocs would naturally grow fond of them.

Every time they went, Lin Xiao repeatedly instructed his subordinates to investigate the large Murloc Tribe while making their normal visit.

He named that clever Little Fishman "Gulu" and promoted him to leader of the Murloc delegation. Each time, Lin Xiao personally explained exactly what he needed to do.

Murlocs were simply too limited in intelligence. Since he had finally found one slightly smarter than the rest of his kind, Lin Xiao intended to cultivate him properly.

The delegation visited roughly twice a month. During that time, Lin Xiao personally led his subordinates out to hunt the surrounding fish, as well as sea beasts that threatened Murlocs, such as Sharks, Sea Lizards, Sea Spirits, and Crocodiles living around the small islands.

They occasionally encountered Lobsterfolk, all of which were killed by the Murlocs or Naga and eaten as snacks.

Unfortunately, after searching for a long time, they still failed to find the Lobsterfolk Nest. Lin Xiao had not forgotten how delicious Lobsterfolk were, and he wanted to catch some and raise them in the Divine Domain.

Eventually, he simply gave up and had Gulu ask about it while visiting the native Murloc Tribe.

What made him want to complain was that although this Murloc Tribe was enormous and belonged to the Merfolk Empire, it was completely undeveloped. Not only did they speak only a rudimentary aquatic language, but they did not even have a name for their own tribe.

Though the tribe was fairly large, Murlocs were Murlocs, and their location was at the very edge of the sea. Their status within the Merfolk Empire was low, and they received no attention. Other than an envoy from the Merfolk Empire arriving at the end of each year to collect taxes and tribute, they had no contact with the Merfolk Empire at all.

Merfolk and Murlocs looked as though their names had merely been reversed, but they were actually entirely different races.

One was like an upright fish, while the other was a beautiful creature with a human upper body and a fish tail.

Murlocs were the lowest sort of species, while Merfolk were an advanced race.

It took Gulu two visits' worth of conversation before he finally learned the location of the Lobsterfolk Nest from the native Murlocs.

It was actually south of the large native Murloc Tribe. No wonder they had never found it—they had not gone in that direction yet.

Lin Xiao then went there personally. Seven or eight kilometers south of the large native Murloc Tribe, he discovered a large Lobsterfolk Nest containing three or four thousand Lobsterfolk. Between the two tribes lay a river mouth flowing into the sea. Large quantities of nutrients flowed into the ocean with the river water, and the delta was rich with seagrass and fish, making it a natural hunting ground for both tribes.

The two tribes had fought over that hunting ground for many years, yet neither side had ever emerged victorious.

The Lobsterfolk Nest was located amid a complex underwater field of jagged rocks south of the small river. The terrain was intricate, and the Lobsterfolk held the advantage there, leaving the large Murloc Tribe unable to deal with them.

It was worth mentioning that this large Lobsterfolk group was also a peripheral subordinate of the Merfolk Empire and had to offer tribute every year.

Like the large Murloc Tribe, they were ignored by the Merfolk Empire. Even if they were wiped out entirely, the Merfolk Empire would not pay attention.

After observing for a time, Lin Xiao sent envoys to negotiate with the large Murloc Tribe and propose a joint attack on the Lobsterfolk Tribe.

The large Murloc Tribe, which had long regarded the Lobsterfolk as mortal enemies, readily agreed. The two sides set a date, and Lin Xiao led all his subordinates out, gathering near the river mouth.

He brought out all his forces, and so did the Murlocs. Nearly twenty thousand Murlocs formed a vast, dark mass.

The Murloc Tribe's chief was a Tier-3 Murloc Tidecaller, a type of Murloc Warlock capable of summoning tides and Water Elementals to aid in battle.