Chen Mang didn’t say much about it, just took the Soaring Dragon Assault Rifle handed over by Biaozi and pressed it lightly against the goblin merchant’s head, gently pulling the trigger.
The crisp gunshot immediately echoed in the depths of the Doomsday Abyss.
The goblin merchant, draped in a golden cloak, fell into a pool of blood, and the bag behind him, which had been tightly closed, slowly opened. Several items emitting white light appeared, exuding a deadly allure like a veiled beauty.
A severely injured goblin, who had been unconscious, suddenly awoke. Though unable to move, he glared at Chen Mang with a vicious expression: "Human, I didn’t expect you to be so cunning, setting a trap in the depths of the Doomsday Abyss!"
"I thought traveling at six thousand meters underground was safe enough, but I was deceived!"
"The goblin merchant eventually died at your hands!"
"So be it, so be it!"
"I will remember this failure for the rest of my life. Tell me your name, human. You will be my greatest enemy in this lifetime! I will return!"
Chen Mang raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes. A monster with intelligence capable of communication and speaking Mandarin? This was a rare creature.
He knew many monsters had basic intelligence, such as the Corpse King in the Corpse Tide, which could form an encirclement to attack trains, and the Cannibal Spider, but generally, they were driven by hunting instinct. This was his first encounter with a goblin .
He immediately became interested.
Rolling up his sleeves, he picked up the goblin, carried him into the train cabin, and prepared to interrogate him alone.
This goblin was only about a meter tall, with a slender build, making it not too difficult for Chen Mang to carry him.
Inside the train cabin.
Chen Mang sat at the control panel, looking at the wounded goblin in front of him, whose exposed skin was green, with hair covering his body, and eyes drawn to his sturdy feet resembling potatoes.
The clothes he wore looked like a child’s outfit made of burlap.
"Cunning human, what do you want?!"
The goblin seemed somewhat panicked, roaring viciously: "Kill me quickly, the great goblins never fear death. Only the weak and stupid humans fear death."
The goblin licked his lips: "You are different from other foolish humans, you are a cunning human, otherwise, you couldn’t have captured the great me."
"Are you... complimenting me?"
Chen Mang leaned back in his chair with interest, arms crossed, studying the small goblin in front of him. He had a vague sense of what was happening from the goblin’s words.
The goblin snorted coldly: "Praising the enemy is praising oneself, cunning human, don’t you even understand this principle?"
Chen Mang nodded indifferently, then softly said: "Tell me, why do you possess the ability to resurrect?"
"You... how do you know?" The goblin stammered with a face full of shock and disbelief: "How... how did you know this information?"
"I am the prophet of humans, able to visualize thoughts in others’ minds."
"No wonder, no wonder you were waiting for me in the unfrequented Doomsday Abyss, so this was all planned by you. Did you even calculate this?"
The small goblin seemed to have recalled something, muttering in a daze: "Once, the goblin race also had a prophet. After the Doomsday arrived, he died instantly."
"Frightened to death."
"I lived a little longer, dying the year after the Doomsday arrived."
"When I regained consciousness, I found myself here. My former tribesmen had become sluggish, like mindless zombies, but we had acquired the ability to resurrect infinitely, to revitalize after sleeping in a dark space for a period post-death."
"I tried to communicate with my tribesmen, but they ignored me."
"Their souls had been devoured by demons."
"Different voices spoke in my mind each time, directing me to escort wealthy goblins to various locations."
"Every mission location differed; this time it was ’Mohe Hill’. I frequently failed at first, but after creating the goblin train, failures ceased—yet this time I fell into your hands."
"I will return for revenge. Next time, my plan will be even grander!"
Chen Mang did not respond, silently absorbing the information given by the goblin.
Clearly, despite possessing intelligence, the goblin seemed not particularly bright; perhaps from another celestial body where the goblin civilization had been eradicated after experiencing Doomsday, manifesting on this planet as goblin monsters.
Some error appears to have occurred, awakening this particular goblin’s previous memories unlike those whose mindlessness led to complete monstrosity.
"Do you receive any rewards for completing escort missions?"
"Then why are you adamant about completing the mission?"
The goblin hesitated slightly, his mind faltering and only reacting after a moment: "Because I want to prove the greatness of the goblin race anew, even if I remain as its sole survivor, I must let the foolish humans know that goblins living underground are the most magnificent!"
"Goblins are undoubtedly great. I mean... since you live underground, you’re surely adept at mining, right?"
The goblin snorted coldly, raising his chest proudly: "We goblins proclaim ourselves the underground kings, naturally skilled at mining; we are the hardest-working and most unified race!"
Chen Mang looked intently at the goblin: "Do you know other goblins’ coordinates? I mean, could you gather them all so that instead of being monsters, they could mine for my train?"
"You mean submit to you?"
Danger flashed in the goblin’s eyes as he articulated: "The great goblins will never..."
"I will help you reboot the Goblin Civilization; you’ll be the new King of Goblins."
Stunned as if struck by a heavy blow, the goblin stayed frozen on the spot, eyes full of confusion and a glimmer of barely detectable hope gazing at Chen Mang, before suddenly shaking his head with a smile long afterward.
"Cunning human, you people are always so adept at bargaining."
"The goblin race already only has me left; not even I am a genuine goblin anymore. I’m like a ghost dwelling within this body, retaining only fragments of memories before death. The goblin race is utterly extinct."
"Moreover, you humans can’t even safeguard yourselves presently, how could you help goblins restore civilization?"
"I’m different from them."
"I’m a cunning human; they are foolish humans."
The goblin looked squarely at Chen Mang, before rasping moments later: "Cunning human, you truly are cunning. I’ll concede you’ve somewhat persuaded me. Although my tribesmen are now utterly zombie-like, I must uphold their rights."
"If submitting to you, could you guarantee their working hours won’t exceed 18 per day?"
"Could you assure 8 days of annual rest? Every race member must cease work for a celebration during the first 8 days each year."
"Could you ensure a filling meal and water each day?"
"If there’s a future opportunity for civilization restoration, would you genuinely support me as the King of Goblins?"
Chen Mang grinned broadly, helping the fallen goblin up, brushing off the dust from his shoulder: "Let me first aid your injuries, while you grab something to eat, we can talk while eating."
"Out of curiosity, what’s your grand plan for next time?"
"Next time, eight thousand meters underground."
With a soft sigh, Chen Mang said: "You truly are the smartest of your goblin race, follow me."