Goblin Chamber of Commerce
In the early hours of the morning, the group returned to the Ruby Base, weary from their journey.
Stacy was awakened and summoned, and the researcher known as Quail was handed over to her. On one hand, Quail had been imprisoned at the Temple of Light's stronghold, Stacy needed to check him for injuries; on the other hand, she needed to thoroughly investigate whether he had any hidden magic arrays or dangerous items on him.
This is both a precaution against a possible trap set by the Temple of Light and a necessary precaution against Quail himself.
Su Ming returned to his residence and had a good sleep, not waking up until noon.
The office secretary has placed the interrogation report on last night's soul-capturing session on the desk.
While eating lunch, Su Ming flipped through the documents and found that most of them were trivial information about the daily operations of the Berit Manor and the handover of personnel and supplies, with very little valuable intelligence.
Quail's situation was also mentioned: he was brought to the base about a month ago, and it seems he was assigned to do research related to magic crystals.
However, these lower-level personnel knew absolutely nothing about the specific research content or his identity.
Does research on Magic Power crystals require capturing people and locking them up in a basement? A hint of doubt flashed through Su Ming's mind.
But then I thought, since the person is at his base, it would be better to just go and ask him directly.
After finishing his meal, he got up and went to the medical center, arriving at Stacy's medical office.
Just as Su Ming was about to knock on the door, he heard an extremely timid, almost inaudible voice from inside. "... Doctor... do you... need... the pants too?"
"I am a professional physician," Stacy's voice was firm and unquestionable. "If you don't cooperate by taking it off, it will affect my diagnostic judgment."
Su Ming shook his head helplessly and pushed the door open to enter. Sure enough, the Quail researcher had been stripped naked from the waist up, wearing only shorts, and was huddled tightly in the innermost corner of the examination bed, almost embedding himself into the wall.
He had already been given a simple makeover; his wounds had been properly bandaged, his messy hair had been cut short, and his stubble had been shaved, unexpectedly revealing a rather handsome face.
Su Ming immediately understood; no wonder Stacy had targeted him.
"You've interrupted my treatment!" The unscrupulous doctor expressed his strong dissatisfaction upon Su Ming's intrusion.
"This month, the administration has received five complaints," Su Ming said calmly. "The complainants claim to have suffered privacy violations at the medical center—and two of the complainants are even dragons!"
"... Is it... Naked Doctor?" Quail suddenly whispered from the corner.
Stacy snorted in annoyance as her identity was exposed on the spot.
"That's right, it's her." Su Ming sat down on a chair nearby, his gaze shifting to Quail, his tone becoming serious. "Now, could you please tell me who you are? And why are you at the Temple of Light's agent outpost?"
However, the Quail seemed to simply lower its head, hug its knees tightly, and remain silent. Su Ming frowned slightly and patiently repeated the question, but the other party only lowered its head even further.
Su Ming sighed inwardly. No wonder the people of the Temple of Light called him Quail; his appearance was quite fitting.
"With your lack of cooperation, it's difficult for us to decide how to deal with you." Su Ming softened his tone, trying to guide the conversation with gentle words. "If we can verify your identity and confirm that you haven't committed any crimes, we can release you."
These words seemed to touch Quail; his body trembled slightly, and he shook his head very gently.
"If you continue to refuse to reveal your identity," Su Ming emphasized, his tone carrying a hint of warning, "Then we'll have no choice but to imprison you indefinitely!"
Upon hearing this, the Quail continued to lower its head, almost burying it in its knees.
Su Ming was completely at a loss.
A person who could be imprisoned by the Temple of Light and entrusted with research tasks could not be an ordinary person. At the very least, he must possess some knowledge or abilities that other scholars in the Temple of Light could not match.
Such people should not be dealt with lightly.
Moreover, the anecdote of Stacy being "Naked Doctor" was unknown to people outside academic circles. He must have been a figure of a certain rank within those circles.
Su Ming got up and left the ward, contacting Newman and Zijin to inquire. However, based on their knowledge in the academic world, neither of them had ever heard of such a person.
"I suggest a gentler approach," Zijin reminded him in the communication. "This person... when I entered the basement, his first reaction was to attempt suicide."
Su Ming's brows furrowed instantly. Suicidal tendencies? This was indeed extremely troublesome. "Could this Quail be a fanatical follower of the Temple of Light?"
"It's confirmed. He worships the Moon Goddess, and he falls into the category of general believers," Zijin replied confidently.
"Understood."
After hanging up the call, Su Ming turned his gaze to Stacy, who was leaning against the door.
"What do you think of this person?" he asked.
"Severe social anxiety and significant symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)," Stacy assessed. "Very difficult to manage."
"Do you have a way to find out his true identity and background?" Su Ming asked.
Just before he entered, when Quail was alone with Stacy, she seemed able to speak. Perhaps she could find a way in.
"... I'll give it a try." Stacy sighed, a hint of helplessness in her eyes. "But I must warn you, I know absolutely nothing about mental illness."
"Do your best," Su Ming said. "I'll contact a third-party intelligence organization to conduct some preliminary investigations and see if we can uncover any information about this person."
****
With other tasks progressing smoothly, the second phase of the Pansy battleship's refit plan was officially put on the agenda.
The plan for offensive weapon configuration has been largely finalized. However, problems exist regarding defensive technology.
Against magical attacks, the technological side has no effective defensive means other than launching a preemptive strike. Or rather, even when facing their own weapons, the technological side generally exhibits a situation where the spear is more powerful than the shield.
Therefore, the core of the defense system will be built upon the magic system.
"The Pansy's hull is so massive that the energy supply from the White Bone Mark alone isn't enough," Newman said. "We need to supplement it with a large number of Magic Power crystals and add more than a dozen integrated magic arrays."
"The amount of Magic Power crystals required must be considerable, right?" Su Ming pointed out the crux of the problem.
"That's natural," Newman replied. "Even the most conservative estimate would require Magic Power crystals worth at least a million gold coins as a base, and... the more the better!"
"In that case, we should try to raise funds." Su Ming began to think about the economic aspects.
But Zijin stopped her, saying, "Raising money isn't very meaningful." She explained to Su Ming, "Magic crystals can be purchased in the market in certain quantities. But with our huge demand, even emptying the market's inventory wouldn't be enough."
"That's right," Newman nodded. "The large, high-quality mineral veins are all controlled by major powers and organizations, including the Temple of Light. For them, this stuff is basically produced and consumed domestically; it doesn't leak out."
"We recently destroyed the Temple of Light, two magical warships, and their accompanying large magical weapons," Zijin added. "They are currently making up for the huge shortage of crystals. The entire Magic Power crystal market is in a state of extreme scarcity, with prices but no buyers."
Su Ming immediately felt a headache coming on.
On the supply side, the Dragon Kingdom possesses a small crystal mine, but even its entire production capacity, supplied to Su Ming, cannot meet his demand. The newly discovered Magic Power crystal vein, though vast, is merely an abandoned vein containing inferior crystals and has no value.
"So, is there a way to remove impurities and purify inferior Magic Power crystals?" Su Ming suggested a direction.
Both scholars shook their heads, rejecting the idea.
This is not surprising. If there were truly reliable purification methods in other worlds, inferior crystal veins would not be considered waste mines.
"Magical methods have significant limitations and are not very effective in purifying magic crystals," Zijin explained. "They are either interfered with or resisted by the crystal's own Magic Power field, or the intervention of Magic Power directly causes the crystal to explode." She paused for a moment, "However, we cannot rule out the possibility that your technological methods might provide some solutions that we have never seen before."
"Understood." Su Ming nodded. "I will plan related research and try this direction."
****
Good news has come from the Electricity-Swallowing Beast's side: after continuous optimization, the translation accuracy of the large model is steadily increasing.
Through human-machine collaboration, the translation team has been able to consistently produce high-quality translations. Moreover, their translation results serve as new parallel corpus data, feeding back into the language model for iterative learning.
Su Ming first arranged for the translation of the production line worker training manual. This content was specially tailored for the current necromancer operators, and not only included detailed operating instructions for the equipment, but also basic physics and chemistry knowledge, which could fundamentally improve their understanding and practical skills of the technological equipment.
Another task is to advance the "Cultural Torrent" project.
A large number of short stories exposing the true nature of the Divine Covenant Faction of the Temple of Light have been translated and incorporated into various "literary" media.
There are in-depth investigative reports and exquisite romance novels prepared for "high-end" readers, as well as popular picture books designed for "low-end" readers, and a wide variety of popular stories full of sensationalism, specially designed for bards to sing or for tavern gossip to spread.
These products were deliberately produced at extremely low cost by reducing the quality of paper and printing. They were then dumped in large quantities, in whole ships, to every corner of the Northern Continent through multiple clandestine channels.
A new story was also inserted into these products. When the finished product came out, Zijin caught a glimpse of the cover title and felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.
She grabbed the fancy-bound picture book and rushed to Su Ming's office to demand an explanation, "What is this? ' The Pale New Words: Identity Revealed'?!"
She didn't read the subtitle aloud, "Shocking! The Pure and Innocent Maiden is Actually Dressed as a Man?"
Su Ming scratched his head. "I'm really sorry about this. I was so busy that I forgot to tell you about it beforehand."
"... Is this a matter of communication?!" Zijin said angrily.
"Why don't you take a look at the contents?" Su Ming suggested. He casually opened the insulated lunchbox on the table and began to eat.
Today's main dish is fried chicken legs, and the aroma immediately fills the air.
Zijin sat down opposite Su Ming and opened the picture book as instructed. The contents were rather serious news reports, namely—
"I'm my brother Weiaoyasi in disguise?" She looked at Su Ming, puzzled. "Why?"
Weiaoyasi, Zijin's human brother. Born ten years after her "Ailisha" form, by Atiya and a man whose name is yet unknown.
He was not tall, and in many ways, he inherited his mother Atiya's features, and bore a striking resemblance to Zijin. Dressing up as her was indeed feasible.
"It wasn't you," Su Ming corrected. "It was the Pale New Words that spread the New Divine Language and founded Star Sand when you weren't around, the one Weiaoyasi impersonated."
As he shoveled rice into his mouth, he pointed to the vegetables in the lunchbox and asked, "Want some too?"
Without any ceremony, Zijin used her chopsticks to poke a chicken leg out of his lunchbox.
"Reason?" she asked, taking a bite of her chicken leg. "Why not accept the facts? Was it actually Katharine in disguise?"
The Pale New Words couldn't possibly be Zijin's own affair; it would be leaked sooner or later. As the two of them begin to stand on an increasingly dazzling stage, their identities and past experiences will inevitably be deciphered and disseminated by various forces.
"Katharine is not suitable," Su Ming explained, swallowing the food in his mouth. "Her identity is too sensitive. As a high-ranking deacon of the church and the empress of the Star Empire, she is a huge stain and original sin for the Star Sand Organization."
The Star Sand Organization is positioned as a resistance force among the common people. It is a beautiful story that Katharine could be a convert who was inspired by the "saint" to join them.
But if she herself is the mastermind behind everything, then the nature of the scheme becomes the scheming and exploitation of the people by the rentier class!
"Hmm," Zijin responded thoughtfully, finishing off the chicken leg completely. "Anything else?"
"I don't trust Katharine," Su Ming said frankly. "This is also a precaution against her. According to our plan, the Star Sand Organization is to become the core that dominates the Temple of Light. If all the glory is concentrated on her alone, Katharine will become the new empress."
The Temple of Light is powerful and important; Su Ming cannot entrust such crucial strategic security to the trust placed in one person.
Zijin nodded, approving of Su Ming's decision.
"Weiaoyasi is my brother." She also realized the key point, "By having him take on this identity, the world will assume that it's my own instruction and a continuation of my legacy."
Weiaoyasi's impersonation does not diminish Zijin's identity as the "Pale New Words" saintess; on the contrary, it serves as a positive portrayal of the younger brother and sister's arduous struggle against the Divine Covenant Faction.
"Furthermore," Su Ming added, "The topic of 'a man impersonating a saint' inherently has explosive potential for dissemination, which actually makes people less likely to doubt its authenticity. Even if Katharine herself wanted to 'debunk' it, she would be powerless against the overwhelming tide of communication studies."
Zijin struck again, snatching the last chicken leg from Su Ming's lunchbox. She looked at Su Ming, "Why, how did you come up with such a method?"
"Actually, it was Miao Xin." Su Ming sighed, whether out of regret for the chicken leg or something else, "Her initial intention was simply that she felt such a good opportunity had to be used to write a transformation story and let the ignorant people from another world see what it was all about!"
"... Alright then." Zijin accepted this explanation. "For the sake of the chicken leg, I'll forgive you this time." She took a soft tissue and carefully wiped the grease from her fingers and the corners of her mouth. "Weiaoyasi, where is he now?"
Su Ming paused, put down the lunchbox, and sat up straight.
Zijin immediately narrowed her eyes.
"Your younger brother, Weiaoyasi, is a highly experienced adventurer," Su Ming replied, "But after completing his last mission of the year, there are no further records of his activity in the Adventurers' Guild."
Zijin was stunned upon hearing this.
"I have a guess that Weiaoyasi's departure might be related to Atiya's attack and death," Su Ming continued. "So yesterday I arranged for someone to take his portrait to the vicinity of Atiya's tomb to investigate with the dragons living there. Sure enough, someone saw him a year ago and paid respects to his deceased mother."
Su Ming looked at Zijin, "I'm sorry, I just received this investigation report and I'm hesitating about how to tell you."
"My foolish younger brother," Zijin sighed, her eyes filled with worry, "He's gone to track down the murderer who killed Mother!"
She reached out and gently touched the inside of her wrist, where two clear intersecting marks marked the blood oath—a sign that the oath had taken effect and would not fade until the oath was fulfilled.
Zijin could even imagine that at this moment, Weiaoyasi must also have the same mark branded on his arm.
"I'm sorry," Su Ming apologized again, "Our current mission focus is on eliminating the Divine Covenant Faction. The investigation into your mother Atiya's murder is currently only at the intelligence gathering stage."
"I know," Zijin's voice returned to calm. "If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have made any blood oath." She explained to Su Ming, "I would have dealt with these matters immediately."
Zijin wasn't worried about forgetting the vow she made; rather, she was worried about not being able to fulfill it immediately.
****
The secretary knocked gently on the door and then entered.
"President Su, Scholar Bay Owl." The secretary greeted him succinctly without any unnecessary formalities, handing him a document. "This is feedback from a third-party intelligence organization regarding the investigation of Mr. Quail."
Previously, Su Ming had sent a portrait of Quail to neutral intelligence channels such as the Thieves' Guild to investigate the person's possible identity. However, the speed at which he received the feedback was faster than he expected.
Su Ming took the document, his gaze sweeping over the key information, "This Quail's real Devila, and he is... the Blue Peacock's brother?"
Blue Peacock, Titled Scholar of alchemy, was known for his infamous private life and died six months ago from a severe sexually transmitted disease. Because he was the younger brother of a "celebrity," his identity was quickly identified by the Thieves Guild's intelligence database.
"I vaguely remember," Zijin nodded thoughtfully. "When Blue Peacock was alive, he did mention having a younger brother who was obsessed with alchemy but feared social interaction and almost never left the house." She recalled briefly, "Blue Peacock even went to great lengths to arrange a marriage for his brother, but that was actually a pretext he made up to get closer to unmarried women."
Recalling the basement of the Berit Manor stronghold, filled with flasks, crucibles, and complex instruments, it was indeed a fully equipped alchemical laboratory.
"That makes perfect sense then." Su Ming pondered for a moment. "Could it be that the Temple of Light is investigating some secret technology or artifacts left behind by the Blue Peacock, so they captured his brother in an attempt to extract them from him?"
"That's possible," Zijin said. "Judging from the signs of use in the underground laboratory, Quail's alchemical skills are probably no less than his brother's." Zijin pointed to the investigation report. "I'll give it to Stacy and see if she can pry anything useful out of Quail."
"Should we have someone else contact him?" Su Ming asked.
According to this intelligence report, Quail rarely stepped out of his house for months at a time, and was so shy in front of women that he dared not even look up.
But then Su Ming thought back to the infirmary, where Quail had clearly spoken to Stacy, whose motives were impure. He wondered to himself, could Quail actually be a repressed pervert?
"No need to change the personnel," Zijin said. "I can roughly guess what strategy Stacy will use next."
****
The commercial area surrounding the Ruby Base is constantly expanding.
This place not only gathers a large number of human workers, but also a considerable number of dragons. Commercial services catering to two different types of customers have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and all kinds of shops have sprung up along the road.
Su Ming maintains an open attitude towards this; as long as the merchants pay their rent on time and their business operations are compliant and legal, he will grant them permission.
The catering industry dominates this sector. The on-site canteen has not invested resources in diversifying its menu. Therefore, it has become common for workers to gather in small groups after work to seek out local snacks in the commercial area.
On the other side of the dragon, the situation is clearly different. Although the food and drinks offered by the "Chicken Dinner Internet Cafe" have tried their best to lower prices, the most basic meal still costs one gold coin due to the high standards.
Local vendors, on the other hand, were more flexible, offering simple and inexpensive food. This suited many dragons perfectly—they only needed to fill their stomachs, and the money saved could be used for flights or to buy their favorite gadgets.
Su Ming had originally considered appropriately lowering the internet fees at the Chicken Dinner Internet Cafe. However, at present, consumption habits for other goods have not yet stabilized, and the effects of diversification have not yet materialized. Moreover, he also intends to maintain a relatively high price to limit the time that the dragons spend immersed in the game.
In particular, some wealthy dragons still had savings that they hadn't spent all of. Even though Su Ming had set up a membership system that prioritized computer access based on work points, these dragons without points were surprisingly patient, waiting in line without getting impatient, and simply refusing to give in and go to work!
Su Ming was extremely dissatisfied with this; he couldn't bear to see these massive dragons being "idled" like this. Fortunately, as the large language models on the Electricity-Swallowing Beast became more and more complete, the machine translation quality of the game finally reached a passable level.
With this, new games with richer gameplay mechanics and more diverse modes began to be launched one after another. Su Ming had already instructed the staff to precisely target those "key dragons" with promotions, making sure to squeeze every last drop of gold coins out of their pockets!
****
Blue Dragon Lan Mao has been having a rather depressing time lately.
As a minor leader in the community, he considered himself quick-witted and understood the various pricing rules of the "Chicken Dinner Internet Cafe" very quickly.
Especially after the recent "demolition" incident, he received a rather generous compensation. However, no matter how carefully he budgeted, the money in his pocket eventually dwindled and was about to be exhausted.
Working? Absolutely not!
Just then, the internet cafe's equipment underwent an online update, and even more games were downloaded to the terminals.
Lan Mao wanted to remain reserved, but he was lucky enough to win a 20% discount coupon!
So he immediately tried one of the games called "PUBG": players randomly play as different dragon species, parachute onto the battlefield, pick up various magic scrolls or strange items, and engage in fierce melee.
This game became an instant hit in internet cafes as soon as it was released. Every two hours, the system launches a gathering of all Dragon Race. The dragons that survive the brutal battle to the end not only win a generous reward of one hundred fresh chickens, but also receive an exclusive commemorative medal symbolizing supreme glory!
What infuriated Lan Mao was that Su Ming shamelessly opened a pay-to-win channel—as long as you were willing to pay extra gold coins, you could choose a suitable piece of equipment from the intermediate armory before entering the battlefield!
For an even higher price, you can get a chance to be resurrected after death!
It was this damn "PUBG" game that caused his internet bill, which could have lasted for ten days, to run out in just one day!
There's also the game "Identity Dragon," where dragons of different races need to cooperate to escape from the pursuit of characters such as "scholars" skilled in dragon wings, "healers" who can spread terrifying skin diseases, and "kings" with explosive tempers.
And then there's the mind-bending mystery game, "Dragonman Kill"...
Thinking about these games that Long was so engrossed in, Lan Mao's mouth was practically watering.
He glanced instinctively at the huge job posting sign at the internet cafe entrance, and a fierce internal struggle began to rage within him.
"Your Excellency Dragon!" A green goblin had somehow appeared at his feet, greeting him solicitously with a megaphone spell, "Our humble shop's ' Unexpected Treasure ' is offering a limited-time free tasting event today!"
Lan Mao was about to leave when he caught the word "free," and he subconsciously rubbed his rumbling stomach. Although there would be no shortage of food back in the nest, since it was free... why not take it!
He readily agreed and followed the goblin to the restaurant called "Unexpected Treasure".
Soon, several goblins worked together to produce a bowl of shredded meat and tuber soup. Although the portion wasn't large, Lan Mao didn't mind since it was free.
"Your Excellency Dragon!" the green goblin appeared at his feet again. "In response to the call, our store is now offering a work subsidy program!"
"Oh?" Lan Mao immediately showed a hint of interest. "Tell me, what kind of subsidy is it?"
****
Su Ming received some long-awaited good news from the mine: traces of magnesium-iron intrusion into the rock mass were found deep underground.
Su Ming rushed to the scene immediately.
Mafic intrusions are formed by the difficult upward flow of high-density magma from the asthenosphere deep within the mantle, along weak zones or fault lines in the Earth's crust. Due to their excessive density, this type of magma usually cannot penetrate the crust and erupt, but is instead trapped in a huge magma chamber beneath the volcano.
In the closed, high-pressure underground environment, these magmas cool at an extremely slow rate, and the minerals within them precipitate out sequentially according to a specific crystallization sequence.
Su Ming has no shortage of most minerals from this deposit—but platinum group metals are an exception!
Under normal conditions, high-density precious metals such as platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), rhodium (Rh), ruthenium (Ru), iridium (Ir), and osmium (Os) are highly concentrated in the deepest parts of the Earth. Intense magmatic activity is the only channel through which they are carried from the mantle to the surface. Volcanic geological movements are almost the only way to form mineral deposits.
Even so, the enrichment level of these elements in the ore is only about one part per million.
Therefore, in this other world, platinum group metals have not yet been developed, yet they happen to be indispensable key materials in the weapon system that Su Ming plans to build next!
This is the core reason why Su Ming chose Red Ridge Volcano as the location.
"Currently, the excavation depth of our main tunnel has reached about one and a half kilometers." Beside the towering headframe at the mine entrance, the dwarf engineer Shiquan reported the situation to Su Ming.
After digging more than a kilometer underground, Su Ming hired these experienced dwarves to lead the excavation and assigned the labor force from the prisoner-of-war camp to their command and control.
"Is there a way to push it deeper?" Su Ming asked, his gaze fixed on the deep mine shaft.
The heavier the element, the more likely it is to accumulate at deeper depths. The atomic numbers of the platinum group metals are all above 70, making them almost the heaviest group of metals in nature, excluding radioactive elements.
"Technically feasible," Shiquan replied, patting the sturdy base of the electric winch beside him. "The power provided by these behemoths, along with the ventilation system you've built, has been a huge help." He was confident. "As long as the equipment keeps up, we can definitely continue drilling downwards, searching for veins of even higher grade."
Su Ming nodded in satisfaction.
Several enormous figures appeared at the mine entrance; they were several giant dragons working there. They loaded the excavated rubble and waste into mine carts, which were then transported by rail train to the Celestite Hydropower Station construction site for dam construction.
The second transportation artery, the "Red-Celeste Line," recently began operation, connecting the hydroelectric power station construction site with the Ruby Base.
One of the Blue Dragon carrying stone chips looked somewhat familiar to Su Ming. He glanced at it a few more times, but couldn't quite place it.
However, the accompanying Final Bone Mad Machines staff member, seeing this, whispered to Su Ming, "Guild Master, that Blue Dragon that's working there is named Lan Mao."
Su Ming then suddenly remembered the dragon chieftain of this settlement he had encountered when surveying the Red Ridge Mountains. In order to relocate them, Su Ming paid his tribe a considerable amount of gold coins.
He and Lan Mao greeted each other amicably.
****
Dragon Gorge Port.
Rupert was having a very pleasant time during this period.
He only needed to work half a day each day, dealing with the busiest and most bustling morning hours at the port, and spending the rest of his time lingering between the noise of the tavern and the gentleness of the pink house.
That day, as usual, he reeked of strong ale and staggered out of his usual tavern. In the dimly lit alley, he bumped into a thin man with glasses perched on his nose, causing him to stumble.
In the darkness, the other man couldn't see Rupert's face, but his imposing figure was enough to instill fear in him. The thin, bespectacled man clearly didn't want to cause trouble and tried to slip away with his head down. But Rupert grabbed his arm and insisted that he "buy him a drink" as an apology.
The thin, bespectacled man couldn't resist his strength and persistence, so he had no choice but to reluctantly agree.
However, as they walked, Rupert suddenly shoved him, squeezing him into an inconspicuous house by the roadside.
The thin, bespectacled man sensed something was wrong and tried to turn and run away, but Rupert held him firmly by the shoulder.
"Mr. Xiyabeite," he grinned, "I'm here to discuss a business deal."
Xiyabeite felt a sharp pain in his shoulder blades, and by the light of the room, he was horrified to discover that Rupert's face was covered with a stiff rubber mask.
Although it wasn't visible from the outside at night, under the lights, it revealed an inhuman paleness and stiffness.
What chilled him to the bone even more was the faintly visible rune circuits engraved on the mask's surface—it was a voice-changing array, clearly indicating that the other party had come prepared!
Xiyabeite swallowed hard, assessed the difference in their sizes, and gave up the idea of struggling.
The room was simply furnished with only a table and chairs, on which several small dishes were already laid out. Rupert gestured for Xiyabeite to sit down.
The fact that the other party didn't show their true face meant they weren't planning to kill them to cover it up. Coupled with their "prepared meeting" demeanor, they must have something to gain. Xiyabeite quickly calculated in her mind, her tense nerves relaxing slightly.
Rupert threw a stack of papers on the table. Xiyabeite picked them up with trembling hands, and after just one glance, cold sweat instantly soaked his back—it was his spending record of the many "pink houses" he had frequented in Dragon Gorge Port over the past year!
The records are incomplete, and many entries are even estimates, yet they accurately cover almost all of his spending on pleasure-seeking, and even speculate on his expenses while he was away from the port.
The consumption itself is not the problem; the trouble lies at the end of the paper, with that scarlet sum of forty gold coins!
Rupert picked up his cutlery, casually taking a bite of food from under his mask, and said, "You're so chivalrous." He chewed, his voice coming through the mask, "Although you never tip a penny, you always order the best and most expensive stuff."
Xiyabeite's face turned pale and then flushed, her lips remained tightly pressed together, and she remained silent.
"As the accountant of the ' Shrewd Gear ' Chamber of Commerce," Rupert tapped the rim of his plate with his fork, making a crisp sound, "Your monthly salary is two gold coins! Wow, that's an enviable income!"
Xiyabeite was highly regarded in the Chamber of Commerce; he could analyze even the most complex accounts meticulously. As a result, his salary was among the highest of the employees.
"What... what exactly are you trying to say?" he asked, his voice hoarse.
"If your goblin boss," Rupert slowly picked up a piece of meat, "knew that his most trusted accountant had been undermining the guild, using embezzled money to 'fund' young girls," he paused, looking at the other's face, which had turned deathly pale, "Guess how he'd recoup his losses? Would he hang you up and whip you, squeezing every last copper coin out of you? Or would he simply pack you up, along with your wife and children, and sell you to some alien territory as slaves?"
Xiyabeite's face turned deathly pale. "You! You're framing me out of thin air!"
Rupert slammed his cutlery on the table. "Fine, then let's go see your boss now." He grabbed Xiyabeite by the collar, dragged him off his chair like a chick, and made as if to pull him out the door. "According to the rules of your Goblin Chamber of Commerce, if a report of embezzlement is true, the whistleblower gets a tenth of the stolen money as a reward!"
Xiyabeite's mental defenses completely crumbled. Her knees buckled, and she collapsed to her knees with a thud, her voice trembling with sobs. "No! Don't go! The bonus... I... I'll give you double! Please, have mercy!"
"Oh?" Rupert stopped, casting a disdainful glance down at him, scanning him from head to toe. "You, right now, can produce ten gold coins?"
Cold sweat streamed down Xiyabeite's forehead, his lips trembled, but he couldn't utter a single word. He might be able to scrape together a few silver coins, but ten gold coins...
Rupert sighed regretfully, "I'm actually quite chivalrous, you know." He took out five gleaming gold coins from his pocket and placed them crisply one by one on the table.
"Accountant Xiyabeite," his voice, tinged with feigned sincerity, came through the mask, "I'm particularly interested in the... business details of the goblins, and I'd love to 'learn and improve' myself."
He cut to the chase. "As long as you can provide us with information that interests us," he tapped the row of gold coins with his knuckles, "This amount—guaranteed, it's all yours every month!"
Rupert reached out and slammed Xiyabeite onto the cold table, the force so great that the accountant's cheek was almost pressed against the edge of the gold coin.
"With these," Rupert's voice held a gentle, seductive quality, unlike his rough handling, "You can continue to live a carefree life in the red room, and you can also secretly cover up the financial hole... From now on, you can rest easy, never worry about trouble again, and your wife and children will live in peace. Isn't that a good deal?"
Xiyabeite's expression shifted rapidly, her eyes flashing with intense struggle, as if she were going through a fierce internal battle.
"Alright, stop putting on this act for me." Rupert scoffed, impatiently grabbing him by the back of his collar and roughly pulling him back into his chair.
"Come on," he tapped his fingers on the table, "Answer me now, has the ' Shrewd Gear ' Chamber of Commerce had any suspicious expenses recently?"