Simulation (12,000 words)
Inside a warehouse west of Dragon Gorge Port.
The goods that had been piled up had been cleared away, and the ground was covered with debris that had not yet been cleaned up. A group of goblins, humans, and even a few dwarves and halflings were gathered there.
The air was thick with the smells of sweat and dust, mixed with the sour, rotten odor of the original goods, making it quite pungent.
"The dragons are heartless, treating us like dirt. We must rise up and rebel!" A goblin stood atop three stacked, dilapidated wooden crates, waving his short arms as he spoke passionately.
"How are you going to fight back? Try to bite the Dragon Claw with your mouth?" A short, stocky dwarf crossed his arms and mocked him without any politeness. He felt that coming to the gathering today was incredibly stupid; if it weren't for the fact that the organizers were providing a fairly lavish meal, he wouldn't have wasted his time coming.
Of course, this has absolutely nothing to do with the organizers' promise that there would be an energetic dance performance by young ladies after the gathering.
The dragon's antics in various places during this period have not had a significant impact on these low-level laborers. In fact, due to the surge in infrastructure projects, their incomes have all increased significantly.
Many workers who took on jobs independently saw their actual take-home pay increase because they no longer had to pay the "Labor Chamber of Commerce" a cut.
Most people originally intended to follow suit, but the "Labor Chamber of Commerce" responded extremely quickly. They not only significantly reduced the contribution fees but also improved the welfare benefits, which prevented most people from choosing to withdraw from the association.
Some "Labor Chamber of Commerce" resorted to violence and coercion, but their limited power, though mighty in front of the laborers, was nothing more than a pile of black ashes before the dragon.
The goblin host on stage was immediately speechless at the dwarf's words. "Anyway, we just need to do what we can." He strained to hold up a short, stubby finger. "For example, providing intelligence on the dragons' deployment!"
"Why should we provide you with intelligence?" a human laborer grumbled, tapping his bowl impatiently. "Hey! When are we eating and dancing?"
According to the organizers, after the "energetic" dance performance, ten "lucky audience members" will be selected to have a more "in-depth" interaction with the performers.
"Fifty copper coins for every piece of valuable information provided!" The goblin host immediately opened his palm, and a chorus of disdainful boos erupted from below.
"With this effort, you'd be better off going to the docks and carrying a few more bags of goods!"
"Exactly! This little bit of money is nothing. If the dragons find us, one breath of their breath and we're roasted alive!" a halfling shrieked in agreement. "Only a fool would do this kind of business!"
"One! No, two silver coins!" The goblin host, seeing the situation was turning against him, quickly raised the price.
Boom!
Before he could finish speaking, the tightly closed warehouse door was violently slammed open by an immense force!
Amidst the flying sawdust, a massive, ferocious dragon head covered in fiery red scales, radiating a scorching heat, peered in and blocked the doorway.
"Good evening, my lords." A deep, rumbling voice echoed through the warehouse. As he spoke, a strong smell of sulfur filled the air, irritating everyone's nostrils.
A commotion erupted instantly, followed by a deathly silence. Everyone, including the goblin in charge, scrambled to their knees, trembling uncontrollably. No one dared to run—they were mostly ordinary laborers; how could they possibly outrun a dragon's wings and deadly breath?
The Red Dragon's fiery eyes swept across the entire arena, a clear hint of disappointment flashing across them.
"Hand over the mastermind," he said authoritatively, then glanced at a small note hidden in the center of his Dragon Claw, before turning back and reciting it word by word, "The rest will be dealt with leniently. Those who participate in illegal gatherings, for minor offenses, will be fined—5 silver coins!"
Most of the people kneeling on the ground were initially stunned upon hearing the verdict, but then were overjoyed. A fine! It was just a fine!
They suddenly felt that the Red Dragon in front of them, who was acting according to the "rules," looked so—kind and approachable!
Even if it's just 5 silver coins, it means at least half a month's hard work has been for nothing! But it's still much better than taking a dragon's breath attack!
(Another world currency setting: 1 gold coin = 10 silver coins = 1000 copper coins)
Rupert appeared behind the Red Dragon, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The painstaking "law enforcement training" he had received over the past few days had finally taught these dragons, who were used to acting on instinct, to start following the rules instead of simply and decisively burning the entire warehouse and everyone inside to ashes as before.
The quickest-reacting goblin rushed over, tumbling and scrambling, and immediately handed over five gleaming silver coins. He was then signaled that he could leave and slipped away as if granted a pardon.
However, Rupert called out to him. Amidst everyone's puzzled gazes, Rupert pulled out several heavy gold coins and threw them at the goblin's feet with a clatter.
"No, I—I didn't—" The goblin looked at the gold coins, his face turning deathly pale, and he tried to explain.
Rupert patted the goblin on the shoulder, so hard that the goblin stumbled, and said in a loud voice, "Don't be modest! Thank you for your timely report, you helpful citizen. Keep up the good work next time, and you'll definitely get your reward!"
Upon hearing this, the goblin's face turned ashen, like that of a dead man! Those who had missed the "exciting" performance and lost 5 silver coins all turned their angry, contemptuous, and hostile gazes towards him like knives.
In fact, many of the people here were drawn here by the rally message he relayed!
He's finished!
Rupert didn't care at all whether he had betrayed his informant or what tragic end awaited the goblin who had tried to profit from both sides.
Lured by the reward of gold coins, they have no shortage of greedy whistleblowers.
Rupert deliberately exposed this matter in public, letting more people know about this "way to make money," while using a chain of suspicion to dismantle the foundation of these underground organizations.
This also serves as a strong warning to these laborers whose minds are filled only with "pretty girls" and "energetic dancing," to see if they dare to be fooled again and attend these dubious gatherings!
However, when these things were mentioned, Rupert suddenly had a flash of inspiration and came up with a solution.
"Everyone!" Rupert announced, raising his voice, "With your fine receipts, you can pick up a free—well, a beautiful art book—at the 'Light of Color ' bookstore in the harbor!"
The laborers were still agonizing over the loss of their five silver coins and showed little interest in the "book" compensation Rupert had mentioned, offering no response whatsoever.
However, Rupert wasn't worried. He smiled slightly, thinking that once these people found out the contents of those "picture books," the doorstep of the port bookstore would probably be overwhelmed with customers.
The Red Dragon instructed his human subordinates to begin collecting fines and issuing receipts as required. He himself, in a "friendly" manner disproportionate to his massive size, interrogated the goblin host who had organized the gathering and was now slumped on the ground.
Under the baptism of the Red Dragon's sulfurous aura, the goblin quickly spilled the beans about his online status. The Red Dragon hissed with satisfaction and released the goblin from its claws.
He spread his wings and prepared to lead several fully armed human security officers to "visit" the mastermind behind it all.
"Hey! Remember the rules!" Rupert shouted before he took flight, "Don't kill him outright!"
The Dragon Court has declared they need to gather ten such individuals for a public trial as an example—and they still don't have enough!
"Don't worry!" The Red Dragon's massive wings whipped up a gust of wind as it answered in a booming voice without turning its head, "Look at this one now, I was holding back."
Rupert watched the Red Dragon disappear into the distance before looking down at the goblin leader who had been abandoned on the cold ground.
His entire body looked as if it had been run over by a heavy road roller, flattened considerably. His twisted limbs and torso indicated at least dozens of fractures, and the dark red blood foam oozing from his mouth and nose suggested severe internal organ rupture and bleeding. This gruesome sight would probably make even a necromancer despise his poor quality.
Out of a last shred of compassion, Rupert stepped forward, raised his boot, and stomped down on the goblin's neck.
"Snap!"
A crisp cracking sound rang out, finally ending the goblin's suffering.
****
As soon as Rupert returned to Dragon Gorge Port, Xiyabeite came to him with a shrewd look on her face and handed him a few pages of paper.
The "Shrewd Gear" Chamber of Commerce was raided, and this former accountant naturally lost his job. However, judging from the current situation, he has clearly found a new "employment" path quickly.
Rupert took the document, quickly flipped through it, and found it contained detailed information on four large farms. "Is there a problem?" he asked, looking up.
Or rather, it would be strange if these farms hadn't had problems under the previous "free-range" policy of the dragon. It's just that the rectification of order needs to be done step by step. Administrative violations such as farms evading land rent are obviously not the highest priority to deal with at present.
"There's a big problem!" Xiyabeite grinned. "I know what you need most right now. I'm certain that each of these four farms has hidden over a thousand tons of grain!"
Rupert's eyes immediately lit up. With war looming, supplies like food were definitely always better in abundance!
"Your customs offices have been unusually strict lately, making it difficult for them to transship and unload their goods," Xiyabeite said smugly. "I carefully examined their seed purchase records and fertilizer usage over the past few years, and then, combining this with their annual seasonal recruitment numbers and timing, I calculated that they had concealed..."
Rupert interrupted his rambling, pulled a jingling cloth bag from his person, and tossed it to Xiyabeite with a "thud." "Well done! Please keep finding more granaries like this."
Xiyabeite happily took the bag, weighed it in her hand, and immediately determined that it contained one hundred coins.
He tucked it into his pocket with satisfaction, turned and walked out, his steps lighter. "No problem!"
Rupert watched the smug smile on his face as he turned away, and saw that he was heading straight for the red-light district. How could he not know what he was going to do? Rupert's brows furrowed involuntarily. Those hundred gold coins, if Xiyabeite were to restrain himself a little, would be enough for him to live a life of debauchery for a long time!
That won't do!
"Um— Xiyabeite," Rupert coughed, stopping the accountant who was about to leave, "Have you heard of the Chicken Dinner Internet Cafe '?"
"I know," Xiyabeite stopped and turned back, somewhat puzzled. "Isn't that a place exclusively for dragons' entertainment?"
Rupert stepped forward and put his arm around Xiyabeite's shoulder. "I can get you a limited-edition human VIP experience card!" he whispered enticingly.
"Oh?" A glint of interest flashed in Xiyabeite's grey eyes, but then she hesitated. "But I heard the games inside are all fighting and killing? I'm not very interested in that—"
Rupert grinned. "That's because you're ignorant. The world of games is vast! There are plenty of girls in there who are even prettier and more interactive than those in the real world!"
****
Black Smoke City, the largest industrial hub in the central part of the Dwarf Continent.
Newman walked out of the dwarf workshop, clapped his hands vigorously to shake off the fragments of alchemical explosives clinging to his fingertips, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of sulfur mixed with metallic dust.
"In terms of quality, it barely meets the standards," he said to the dwarf engineer beside him, "But we still need to continue to improve in terms of uniformity and density consistency."
Newman's core mission on this trip is to inspect the alchemical explosives from the Dwarf Kingdom. The upcoming series of battles will require a huge amount of explosives. Relying solely on the Ruby Base's own production capacity is far from sufficient due to the short time it has been accumulating reserves.
Therefore, the mature production capacity of other worlds must be utilized effectively.
However, the quality of the products from these dwarven factories was appalling. It was for this reason that Su Ming dispatched Newman to supervise the relevant improvement work.
However, according to Su Ming's arrangement, this batch of alchemical explosives produced by the dwarves was to be transported to Brown Gold Island.
Newman was unaware of the details of Su Ming's strategic deployment, but that did not prevent him from carrying out his mission. After signing several supplementary contracts with the dwarves regarding quality improvements and subsequent supplies, Newman climbed onto the back of the dragon that had brought him there.
The meager weight of the halfling skeleton was negligible to the dragon. The Azure Dragon flapped its wings, creating a gust of wind, and soared into the sky.
However, instead of returning directly to Ruby Base, they landed on a mountaintop not far from Black Smoke City and waited there quietly.
About an hour later, two fast-moving black dots appeared on the horizon—two flying dragons. Soon, the two flying dragons sensed the presence of the giant dragon below and dared not approach any further.
The passengers on the dragon's back gently patted the mount's head, signaling that they could return. Then, the two of them leaped lightly from the air, drifting down like feathers, and landed in front of Newman.
"Good day, Master Newman." The leader lifted the hood of his cloak, revealing himself to be Katharine.
"Good day, late Queen," Newman replied with an affected yawn.
The person following behind Katharine also lifted his cloak, revealing a silver mask—an assassin named Silver Mask.
The two of them boarded a ship at the Northern Lands port, crossed the ocean and arrived at Red Luo Port in the halfling kingdom of Thousand Cellars Domain. Then they rented flying dragons and sped eastward.
After a hurried journey, they finally met up with Newman here.
"Who is this?" Katharine asked, glancing at the azure dragon beside her.
"My name Qingye, an elder of the Azure Dragon Race," the dragon's deep voice rang out.
Katharine and Silver Mask immediately bowed to the Dragon Race Elder with a standard salute, "Greetings, wise one of the sky!"
"Welcome, you two, distinguished guests from afar!" Qingye replied.
"Hmph, they bow to him with utmost respect," Newman muttered under his breath, clearly dissatisfied.
Elder Qingye seemed to let out a barely audible chuckle. He spread his enormous wings, gesturing for Katharine and Silver Mask. Once the two were steady, he flapped his wings violently, kicking up a cloud of dust, and soared into the sky once more.
"Old Newman," Katharine tapped Newman's skullcap amidst the howling wind, "Have you been flirting with other skeletons behind Dafulin's back lately?"
"I'm incredibly busy!" Newman said. "Not to mention the large-scale hydroelectric power station projects, I also have to constantly build product production lines." His tone carried a hint of proud accomplishment, "And then drive the related products down to rock-bottom prices."
"Dish-cheap?" Katharine asked, puzzled. "What exactly do you mean?"
"Oh, like hydrochloric acid and strong alkalis." Newman extended White Bone finger, pointing to the receding silhouette of the Black Smoke City shrouded in dust below. "The dwarves' demand for this stuff is like a bottomless pit."
These two materials are key to surface treatment of metals, effectively removing oil, stubborn oxide scale, and rust layers, and are a prerequisite for subsequent rust prevention treatment.
"Is Su Ming making money from this now?" Katharine asked.
"It's not about making money." Newman's skull head shook, making a slight clicking sound. "He's robbing us! Our prices are half the market average, and the purity is ridiculously high. But actually," his voice carried a hint of engineer's smugness, "Our production costs are less than a fraction of the selling price."
Hydrochloric acid and strong alkali can be mass-produced by electrolyzing a salt solution, but Su Ming currently has almost free electricity.
****
After several hours of continuous flight, the group finally arrived at the Celestite Hydropower Station, which was already taking shape.
The water level here has been raised further, and a large amount of river water is rushing into the buried turbine unit through the side water intake tunnel, gushing out from the bottom like a white ribbon.
On the other side, the overflow channel prepared for the flood season has been mostly excavated. A large number of dragons are working diligently on it.
Everyone was exhausted upon arrival, so they rested for the night.
Newman remained at the hydroelectric power station to continue his management duties. Meanwhile, Katharine and Silver Mask set off again at dawn the next day, finally arriving at the Dragon Court's location—the shores of Thousand Illusion Lake—at noon.
"Welcome!" Su Ming greeted them in front of the newly erected command post.
"Lady Katharine!" Jielusi also hurried forward, her face beaming with joy.
Katharine carefully examined Jielusi's complexion and nodded with satisfaction, "Good, it seems your condition has improved a lot!"
After a quick lunch, Su Ming and Katharine began exchanging information.
"The goblins have been very quiet these past few days." Su Ming pointed to the battlefield situation map transmitted by a high-altitude drone on the screen. "Except here," he said, his finger sliding to the flank of the battlefield, "A sizable force has advanced."
They are setting up long-range firing positions on the other side of the border.
The footage clearly shows that a massive main force of up to 100,000 troops has been deployed on the goblin border front. In the rear, hundreds of kilometers deep, there is an additional reserve force of about 200,000 troops.
Their closest units were about ten kilometers from the border. Apart from their flanks, this force of nearly ten thousand men stood isolated and out of place. Their forward units were less than a kilometer from the border!
"This is nothing like a normal coordinated operations deployment." Katharine frowned, scrutinizing the layout on the map. "A single unit is advancing so recklessly—who is their commander?"
"We're still waiting for news from the intelligence department," Su Ming replied, then changed the subject, "By the way, what's the latest news on the Divine Covenant Faction?"
"Multiple intelligence sources confirm that the orc forces on Water Chestnut Island are very likely the headquarters of the Plundering Clock," Katharine stated definitively. "The Temple of Light is currently conducting indiscriminate attacks on all orc-related organizations and strongholds."
The Sea of Divine Grace massacre, and their repeated setbacks with Su Ming, left them desperately seeking an outlet for their frustration.
"Since the Temple of Light is targeting the Plundering Clock," Su Ming said, puzzled, "Why do I feel that the pressure here hasn't lessened at all? Assassinations are happening one after another, and conspiracies are piling up one after another!"
"Don't underestimate the resources and manpower of a force with 80 million people," Katharine cautioned. "Moreover, the Plundering Clock has adopted an extreme strategy of retreat and defensive maneuvering, and has not yet engaged in any large-scale direct conflict with the Divine Covenant Faction."
Su Ming had originally hoped that a fierce battle would break out between the Plundering Clock and the Divine Covenant Faction, resulting in mutual destruction.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.
"What about the situation on the main island of Water Chestnut Island?" he pressed. Logically speaking, the temple can't hide even if the monk runs away; at this point, the Divine Covenant Faction should go directly to Water Chestnut Island to cause trouble for the orcs.
"The Divine Covenant Faction certainly wants to go, but Water Chestnut Island is over 7,000 kilometers from the nearest mainland coastline," Katharine explained. "Launching a transoceanic expedition is not impossible, but it would require the entire Temple of Light Navy to be mobilized, along with a large fleet of merchant ships for power projection and logistical support."
Katharine didn't say what she was going to say next, but Su Ming understood. With the existence of the Pansy, even if the Temple of Light hated the Plundering Clock, it wouldn't dare to launch such a large-scale transoceanic expedition.
That would be tantamount to letting Su Ming's side rack up kills like crazy!
Su Ming couldn't help but feel a pang of regret.
"How's the situation in Star Sand?" Su Ming asked in turn.
"Right now, the main force of the Divine Covenant Faction is still focused on suppressing your Final Bone Mad Machines," Katharine replied. "When I left, I left Ge'enda'er and Yise there to oversee command and coordination."
The Temple of Light is located at the southern end of the Northern Continent, directly controlling a sizable territory that borders the royal control area of the Cold Mountain Kingdom. The Northern Lands Branch of Cold Mountain, however, is essentially a religious organization without territorial rights, and its potential for resistance against the Divine Covenant Faction's war tactics would be very limited.
However, the truth about the Sacred Mountain Sea of Divine Grace has not yet been revealed. But the truth will eventually come out; it's only a matter of time.
"If necessary," Su Ming proposed, "We should have Star Sand retreat to Eternal Night Town, or even further north to Northern Ice Island."
With the addition of the Feather Race and the warships left to them by Su Ming, they should have sufficient strength to protect themselves.
Katharine nodded. "That's exactly what we've planned. Evacuation routes for Eternal Night Town and Northern Ice Island have been prepared in case of the worst-case scenario. But we need you to coordinate with the Feather Race."
"I'll contact Qingling in a bit," Su Ming nodded in response.
****
Later, intelligence personnel in the Gray Ridge region sent back a report on the situation at the front.
On the goblin side, King Nilunke personally took charge of the overall command of this battle.
"These flanking units are under the command of a general Babaluo," Su Ming said, pointing to the isolated marker on the map.
Katharine immediately took out her "Blue Bamboo Slips and Rue" notebook and quickly searched for information related to Babaluo. "This person's abilities and past experience seem decent." She frowned slightly. "Logically, he shouldn't have made such a basic tactical mistake."
Currently, Babaluo's forces have become disconnected from the main goblin force in the rear. From an offensive perspective, even if they launch an attack across the border, they will not be able to form a sustained and effective attack chain and will be easily annihilated.
From a defensive perspective, the protrusion formed by this position is extremely vulnerable to being divided and surrounded by the dragon army, making it easy to seize.
However, exposing the overall deployment in order to devour this isolated goblin army would be like picking up a sesame seed and losing a watermelon for Su Ming, and neither he nor Katharine had much interest in it.
"Order the forward troops to strengthen nighttime vigilance," Su Ming decided. "If the enemy dares to cross the border, kill them all without exception."
Katharine agreed with this assessment and immediately took over the task of arranging specific defensive details and alert orders.
However, the border remained peaceful overnight. Babaluo's 10,000-strong force had indeed spent the entire night in the wilderness outside the border, braving the cold wind!
Just as Su Ming and Katharine were completely baffled as to what the goblin high command was up to, a fierce conflict was unfolding in the rear camp of the Babaluo forces.
Janet, still chilly from the morning air, stormed into Babaluo's command post, demanding angrily, "Why didn't you attack as planned!"
"By blatantly disobeying King Nilunke's orders, His Majesty will cut off my head!" Babaluo declared, his face ashen.
"Didn't I prepare a safe escape route for you?!" Janet was furious. "You could have easily left the goblin territory after completing the mission!"
Babaluo suddenly let out a cold laugh. "In the Goblin Kingdom, I, Babaluo, am a great general commanding elite troops, respected by all! You expect me to abandon all of that, flee like a stray dog, and live in anonymity as a lowly servant?" He glared at the group before him. "Don't even think about it!"
Archbishop McIntyre, standing nearby, immediately rebuked him sternly, "How can you be so hesitant when it comes to dedicating yourself to the great cause of light!"
As the archbishop spoke, he drew his scepter, its tip shimmering with light, and the priests behind him followed suit, stepping forward.
Babaluo was equally defiant, drawing his sword with a "whoosh." Seeing this, the members of his personal guard behind him also drew their weapons and stepped forward. The atmosphere in the command post instantly plummeted to freezing point.
But McIntyre' eyes were full of disdain; Babaluo and his guards' fighting strength was no match for them.
How could mere goblins compare to the profound heritage of the great Temple of Light?
"Kill her?" His icy gaze turned to Princess Janet.
"Of course!" Janet waved her hand angrily. "Otherwise, why keep this useless good-for-nothing around?"
****
The sacred stone atop McIntyre's scepter instantly gathered a breathtakingly brilliant light.
"Heh heh!" Faced with this deadly threat, General Babaluo showed no fear whatsoever, but instead suddenly let out a mocking laugh. "I knew you'd pull this! I had already gone to..."
Before the words were even finished, the command post door was suddenly flung open! King Nilunke, his face ashen and his eyes burning with fury, stormed in, surrounded by a group of fully armed royal guards, his steps measured from a goblin's perspective!
General Babaluo's face immediately broke into a triumphant smile. He strode to King Nilunke's side, pointed at Janet and McIntyre, and said urgently, "Your Majesty! It's these people! They're plotting—"
King Nilunke angrily raised his hand to stop Babaluo from continuing, his gaze sweeping over the representative of the Temple of Light before him.
More than twenty days ago, he secretly signed the "war investment" agreement with the Temple of Light and received a large amount of material support from them.
At the time, this seemed like a godsend! But to everyone's surprise, the dragons that he had previously seen as foolish and easily angered were now as unmoved as rocks, no matter how much they provoked or challenged them. This made King Nilunke, who was determined to achieve great things, feel as if he had taken a hard bite out of a hedgehog covered in thorns, feeling frustrated and in pain.
Dragons are few in number. According to King Nilunke's plan, as long as the dragons launch a large-scale attack, the goblins will only have to pay the price of destroying a few border cities and losing hundreds of thousands of goblin soldiers. They can then use weapons such as the "Dragon-Breaking Cone" to deplete the Dragon Race ' elite forces on their home defensive positions.
Conversely, if one's own forces launch a full-scale attack across the border before the dragon's momentum has been broken, the concept is entirely different, and the result will inevitably be disastrous!
"Babaluo!" King Nilunke turned abruptly, righteously rebuking the general, "Why did you betray the great God of Light?"
Babaluo dropped open, all color draining from his face. "Your Majesty?! No—it was me?"
Princess Janet's lips curled into a cold, sneer. That fool Babaluo didn't know that the enormous aid provided by the Temple of Light came with collateral and a harsh wager agreement.
The Goblin Kingdom's numerous high-quality overseas assets—such as lucrative magic workshops and rich magical metal mines—were all included in the list of collateral.
These are all the foundations that the goblin royal family has built up over generations through hard work!
If the Goblin Kingdom ultimately fails to wage war as agreed, the bet will be void. In that case, the Temple of Light will take possession of the collateral!
King Nilunke's gaze toward Babaluo was filled with extreme rage. His original plan was to sacrifice this great general in an attempt to break the stalemate. If Babaluo's troops advanced recklessly and successfully lured the dragons into a full-scale attack, then everyone would be happy; if they failed, he could be used as a scapegoat to quell the anger of all sides.
Moreover, this cross-border provocation was orchestrated by Janet's side, and the goblin royal family was happy to see it succeed, as it would lessen their responsibility should the situation fail.
But this foolish general, thinking himself clever, came to betray us, exposing everything!
Babaluo's gaze swept over the anger in King Nilunke's eyes, the mockery on Princess Janet's face, the cold glint of Archbishop McIntyre's scepter, and the indifferent eyes of the guards around him. He finally realized that everyone was just waiting for him to sacrifice himself!
"Ah--!" Extreme anger overwhelmed Babaluo. He let out a beast-like roar, raised his sword sharply, his eyes bloodshot, but he didn't know who to charge at for revenge!
Pfft!
A sharp blade pierced through General Babaluo's heart from behind, and warm blood spurted out!
Babaluo turned his head with difficulty, and what he saw reflected in his pupils was the cold face of his most trusted captain of the guard!
"This dog's politics, this bunch of filthy scum!" he thought bitterly, then collapsed to the ground, falling silent.
****
Princess Janet calmly sat down on the bench, her icy gaze level with that of King Nilunke, who was standing.
"Indeed," she said calmly. "The traitors who sowed discord among us and sought to sabotage our cooperation have been executed." She looked at the goblin king with scrutiny. "So, King Nilunke, can you make a decision now?"
King Nilunke stared at the gradually cooling corpse of Babaluo on the ground, his clenched fingers turning white from excessive force.
There was no turning back, no other choice! He had no choice but to risk a full-scale attack, trying to inflict unbearable damage on the dragon! This would completely enrage the dragon, forcing the war back to the pre-ordained script.
The goblins, relying on their homeland defenses, are rapidly depleting the dragon's manpower!
This requires an additional large amount of valuable strategic resources, as well as, incidentally, the lives of the goblin soldiers who control them!
King Nilunke practically spat out the words, "The supplies you provide must be increased by another 30%!"
Janet's fingers clenched silently as she cursed inwardly that damned Babaluo, who had caused them to pay such a heavy price.
"At most 20%." Janet's expression remained calm, but her tone left no room for argument. "Correspondingly, the collateral you provide must also increase proportionally!"
"Yes!" King Nilunke nearly ground his teeth to powder. "We'll mobilize the troops now and launch a cross-border attack at midnight tonight!"
****
Inside the Dragon Court Command Center.
With Katharine taking over full command of the front lines, Su Ming, who had been extremely busy, immediately felt much more relaxed.
Currently, the number of giant dragons at the White River Bend Forest Area Training Base has reached the planned scale of 500. Meanwhile, the Dragon Guard deployed along the East of the Ridge border have been replenished to the same number and are on high alert.
Zijin also returned to Dragon Valley from Silver Moon Forest. However, she did not come to the command center, but stayed in the Central Court to handle some backlogged administrative affairs.
At this moment, she and Su Ming are having a video call.
"How's the genetic phenotype profiling analysis you did on Katharine and the others?" Zijin asked, her quill pen flying across her hand.
"The phenotypic description failed," Su Ming replied helplessly. "The data support is insufficient."
Upon hearing this, Zijin's lips curled up slightly. "Oh? The technology that your science and technology department is so proud of can actually fail?"
This was also within her area of understanding. The scholar counted on her slender fingers, quickly doing some mental calculations. "Wait a minute, in principle there shouldn't be a problem—could it be that the computing power provided by the ' Electricity-Swallowing Beast ' isn't enough?"
"The computing power is sufficient," Su Ming shook his head and explained, "The problem lies with the biological samples themselves— Yise and Little Tuanzi, they are half-siblings."
"Huh?" Zijin thought she had misheard, "Half-siblings?"
"No," Su Ming corrected, "They have the same father, but different biological mothers."
Zijin gently patted her forehead. "So, Katharine is actually Yise's stepmother."
She finally understood the nature of this relationship.
"Yes," Su Ming sighed.
This unexpected situation meant that Yise's genetic sample lacked the genetic information from her biological mother as a control, making it impossible to effectively isolate the paternal genetic information and leading to the failure of the typographic analysis.
"But this analysis wasn't entirely fruitless," Su Ming added. "From the limited information we can currently deduce, we can definitively conclude that this mysterious biological father is not King Xialike."
There is a lot of publicly available information about King Xialike. Combined with the genetic map of otherworldly humans that Stacy collected during this period, the large model can still determine that the possibility of Xialike being the child's biological father is less than 5%.
"I privately inquired with Jielusi indirectly, and she knew absolutely nothing about it," Su Ming continued.
"In other words," Zijin pondered, "Yise herself might not even know her true background?"
"It seems so." Su Ming sighed. "This time we dug up someone's privacy. Although—it's quite interesting to gossip about."
"I'll be coming to the front lines tomorrow," Zijin said to Su Ming. "Katharine and I need to have a serious, open, and honest talk."
Su Ming nodded in agreement. "You just need to tell Princess Samanya about the 'swapping the dog for a cat' incident back then." He paused slightly, thinking for a moment. "As for the question of the child's father—"
I'll talk to her about this.
Although this matter is her privacy, Katharine has clearly been deliberately concealing it.
Without the aid of genetic technology, there would be no way to determine this.
Su Ming was certain there was something wrong with this.
"----Okay," Zijin agreed.
****
The two chatted idly while dealing with their respective piles of tasks. In the afternoon, Zijin finally let out a long sigh of relief, stretched her slightly stiff back from sitting for so long, and loosened her arms. "Finally, I'm almost done."
Miao Xin initiated contact, and the technical team on Earth created a patch for DCSWorId. Su Ming immediately started the backend and released a hot update.
"Fixed the bug where the Faerie Dragon's magic attack power was too strong?" Su Ming glanced at the update log, then turned to Zijin, "Hey! I had Miao Xin specifically ask you about the Faerie Dragon's basic data!" he questioned.
The former Faerie Dragon immediately laughed happily, with a hint of smugness, "That's right, of course I submitted the data according to my own standards!"
"----" Su Ming was speechless for a moment. With the Saint Rank as the standard, it was no wonder that in the current simulation battle system, all the dragons treated the Faerie Dragon as a super boss to target.
Zijin also had a computer. She opened the program, checked the specific update announcement, and found that many of the Faerie Dragon's key stats had been significantly weakened.
"Tch." She curled her lip, unconvinced. "So what if the data was lowered? In actual combat, the Faerie Dragon is still the strongest!"
"Why don't you go in and try it out?" Su Ming suggested, a hint of amusement in his voice. "And experience firsthand the effects of data leveling?"
Upon hearing this, Zijin was indeed tempted and immediately began logging into the simulation battle system. "Let me see the instructions—controller, 3D glasses—" She followed the instructions and began to put on the immersive device.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, Zijin turned to Su Ming, "This simulation system is designed with a mechanism where a giant dragon is paired with a human 'observer' to fight together, right?"
"Yes," Su Ming replied, only to see that Miss Long was already looking at him with a sly and expectant smile on her face. "Then, Mr. Observer, shall we team up and play a game?"
Su Ming and decided that relaxing a bit wouldn't be a bad idea.
The two quickly registered new accounts, linked them as a team, and then selected a battle mode to join.
This is a stronghold attack and defense mode, where some dragons and observers act as defenders, while others play the role of attackers.
Zijin confidently chose the defensive side, where the current situation was clearly disadvantageous. The moment her attack point spawned in the virtual battlefield, her vision was immediately filled with several blazing dragon breaths!
Su Ming, with his extensive gaming experience and extremely fast reflexes, immediately controlled his character to perform tactical rolls and dodges, even throwing out the smoke gadgets provided by the system to create a field of vision obscuring his view.
He turned around and found that Zijin was actually controlling her Faerie Dragon character, bypassing the smoke and directly clashing head-on with the attackers on the other side!
"Hey! Find cover first!" Su Ming shouted hurriedly.
"Once we kill them all, we won't need cover anymore!" Zijin replied confidently. Controlling her Faerie Dragon character, she unleashed a series of dazzling rainbow dragon breaths, thanks to its still formidable Magic Power power even after being weakened, causing the health bar of an enemy Blue Dragon character to plummet and bring it to the brink of death.
"Hey you! He's one of us!" came an angry shout from the other side.
Zijin's eyes widened, and she quickly withdrew her hand. However, the wounded Blue Dragon revealed a smug smile and suddenly retaliated with a full-force freezing breath!
Zijin hurriedly maneuvered her character to dodge, but ended up exposing herself to the firepower of another group of enemies on her flank.
The screen was instantly filled with blinding red light and hit effects!
Immediately afterwards, a prominent "Severe Injury" notification popped up in the center of the screen, and her Faerie Dragon character lost the ability to fight and collapsed to the ground!
At the same time, a real-time evaluation of the battle popped up: a bright red "E-".
"These shameless bastards!" Zijin was so angry she almost smashed her 3D glasses.
Su Ming, standing to the side, couldn't help but burst into laughter, "Haha, you've finally met your match!"
Unwilling to admit defeat, Zijin immediately clicked "restart".
She quickly sensed the difference. But unlike her previous impressions, these dragon enemies were now truly exceptionally cunning. The reckless, headstrong fighting style of the past was gone; they knew how to feint attacks...
They employ a flanking, maneuvering formation, and once they make a move, they inevitably call upon allies to create a local advantage.
They can even pull off various brilliant little teamworks. The basic strategy is for the main attacking dragon to draw fire while the supporting attacking dragons seize the opportunity to ambush. Most of the time, if they sense that the situation is slightly unfavorable, they will retreat immediately and never linger in battle.
This slippery tactic almost gave Zijin the illusion that she was fighting a group of goblins dressed as dragons.
"The training seems to be quite effective," Su Ming commented. "The system here is that for every death, you have to run five laps around the training field in reality. A successful assist or kill can offset one to three laps, depending on the situation. Now the dragons have become quite adept at minimizing their laps."
Simulation and reality are different after all. These dragon players, who had been immersed in the game for some time, were obviously more familiar with the rules, so much so that Zijin only managed a 6-6 score after one round.
She switched to another battlefield, this time where both sides had commanders.
The battlefield landscape has also changed. In addition to small-scale tactical coordination, larger-scale coordinated attacks have begun to emerge under the command of commanders, and tactical discipline has been emphasized more on the battlefield.
Zijin controlled the Faerie Dragon, following the commander's instructions, and together with Su Ming and her teammates, participated in ranged suppression and coordinated with their attacks.
However, her character seemed to be surrounded by a mocking aura, becoming the primary target of enemy fire throughout the battle. This was partly due to the Faerie Dragon's inherently strong offense but weak defense, and partly because Faerie Dragon purple skin was very eye-catching on the battlefield, especially given her "strongest boss" reputation from the previous version, which made all enemies habitually prioritize her as their first target.
Even with her remarkable abilities, Zijin couldn't escape becoming the target of everyone's criticism!
The scholar had a sour face the whole time, clearly indicating a terrible gaming experience!
The round ended quickly, with Zijin achieving a score of 8:10. Her evaluation score rose significantly, reaching an A-level contribution.
Data shows that she attracted far more attacks than the players who were in the front row.
Su Ming suppressed a laugh, "Not bad, significant progress!"
"Another round?" Zijin was not giving up and extended the invitation again, her eyes burning with the fighting spirit to win back the game.
Su Ming looked up and glanced at the screen on another monitor on the table. As night fell, on the goblin army's position at the East of the Ridge front, countless figures, like busy ants, were frantically carrying various supplies under the cover of trees, clearly making final preparations for a large-scale operation.
"I can't," Su Ming said regretfully. "I have big work to do tonight!"