"What the hell?"
Ye Feng turned his head in confusion towards the source of the sound, spotting a stout, garishly dressed, dark-skinned middle-aged woman with a crooked mouth.
She was running down the hillside towards Ye Feng and the others. The terrain was rugged, or rather, there was no path at all, causing the woman to run out of breath. Sweat had melted her makeup, making her look rather peculiar.
"What are you looking at? I'm talking to you!"
"A bunch of dead explorers, are you… are you all deaf?!"
"Hurry up and help… help me… My name is Lin Qiuyue, and I'm from the Arbitration Group of the Explorer's Guild! Believe it or not, I can demote you all to the most ordinary explorers with a single word!"
The middle-aged woman stopped, out of breath, hands on her hips, and roared at Ye Feng and the others in exasperation.
"Damn it! Still staring!"
"A bunch of scumbags, born without mothers, I'll beat you to death!"
Seeing that Ye Feng and the others hadn't moved, Lin Qiuyue's eyes widened, and she let out a strange cry. With newfound strength, she rushed towards Ye Feng and swung a slap at him.
"What the hell!"
Ye Feng kicked out directly, sending Lin Qiuyue tumbling backward and rolling down the hillside.
*Bang, bang! ~Ah~*
*Bang~ Plop~ Ah~*
Lin Qiuyue rolled, hitting rocks, getting tangled in thorns, and then emerging, letting out screams.
"Ah!~"
Suddenly, Lin Qiuyue let out a pig-like scream as she was bitten on the waist by a large mouth, a mix of earthy yellow and gray-green, and dragged rapidly down the mountain.
As they passed through a patch of bushes and grass, a few more of Lin Qiuyue's shrill screams and strange "croaking" sounds were heard, and then silence.
"Where did this freak come from?"
Ye Feng scanned his surroundings, finding no companions for Lin Qiuyue, and was perplexed.
"Did that fat woman just get dragged away and eaten by a monster?"
"That monster looked so strange, its color blended with the surroundings and it could change, like it was invisible. I almost didn't recognize it!"
At this moment, Xiao Xiao's voice chimed in.
"It's a Mimic Stone Frog!"
Yarak added, "An amphibious monster that's very good at concealing itself and can even change its form. It's quite dangerous!"
"However, this type of monster has a certain level of intelligence and strong perception. It will actively avoid creatures stronger than itself!"
"After it made its kill just now, it clearly ran in the opposite direction of us!"
Yarak quickly explained to Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao.
"I see~!"
Xiao Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yuan Ling, is that… the Arbitration Group of the Explorer's Guild, very powerful?"
Ye Feng turned to Yuan Ling and asked.
"The Arbitration Group of the Explorer's Guild is responsible for judging disputes that arise in tasks at the Explorer's Guild… they hold a very high position within the guild…"
"That woman just now might have been from the local Explorer's Guild… but judging by her demeanor, she was probably just someone with connections… most likely she was part of a group that went out, acted on a whim, and got lost…"
"Even in this apocalypse, there are no shortage of hothouse flowers!"
Before Yuan Ling could answer, Xiao Lu chimed in, unfazed.
"Flower… flower?"
…
The next day,
As the sun just began to rise,
"Yuan Ling, you're up so early?"
Ye Feng, accustomed to waking up early, stepped out of his tent and was surprised to see Yuan Ling standing on the hillside, gazing into the distance.
"Ye Feng, are you sure you want to go to the Goblin Kingdom?"
"If you regret it now, there's still time!"
Yuan Ling turned her head and looked at Ye Feng with a serious expression.
"Yes!"
Ye Feng glanced at the arcane pointer on his wrist and nodded decisively.
While searching for the Lamp of Creation sounded interesting, he didn't want to search just for the sake of searching. He wanted to do things that interested him, not be a tool for some system or person to find the Lamp of Creation!
The astonishing treasure that could only be found by combining the Spark Record and the Soul Collector's Secret Manual was something Ye Feng was very interested in. Even if it wasn't in the direction pointed by the arcane pointer, he wanted to go and see.
"Speaking of which, where exactly is this… Goblin Kingdom?"
He paused, and Ye Feng spoke again, "Although we haven't been traveling very fast, we've covered quite a distance!"
"Hoo~"
Yuan Ling let out a soft sigh and turned to face forward, "It's right there!"
"There?"
"Specifically, where?"
Ye Feng followed Yuan Ling's gaze and saw a vast, continuous expanse of mountains and an endless primeval forest. He looked at Yuan Ling with confusion.
"That endless primeval forest mountain range is the Goblin Kingdom!"
Yuan Ling sighed softly and said slowly.
"Wh… what?"
Ye Feng was stunned.
He had heard of the Goblin Kingdom before and thought it was just an area with more goblins and a bit more powerful… He never expected it to be this boundless primeval forest…
"Um… Yuan Ling, that… that entire area isn't all goblins, is it?"
Ye Feng was a bit frustrated. If such a vast area were filled with goblins, it would take him years to clear them all…
"The terrain in that area is complex and the environment is harsh. While it's not swarming with goblins everywhere, the number of goblins is definitely very, very large!"
"What's even more dangerous is that the caves there are extensive, and goblins can emerge from any ordinary cave entrance…"
"Because of this, it has become a forbidden zone for explorers, and almost no one dares to venture here!"
Yuan Ling quickly explained to Ye Feng.
"Ye Feng… the explorers in the Explorer's Guild hall earlier were right. The goblins here are likely not the same as the goblins you've encountered before!"
"Or rather, the difference is enormous, like night and day!"
She paused, and Yuan Ling spoke again.
"Different goblins?"
Ye Feng frowned. "I encountered a Goblin Shaman before, it seemed to be a third-tier goblin. There were also some first and second-tier goblins. What's the situation with the goblins here?"
"The lowest level goblins are called common goblins, and they are the ones explorers encounter the most!"
"'When you kill a goblin on the road, you are an explorer' is a saying that refers to this type of goblin!"
"Above common goblins are tier 1-3 goblins. Starting from tier 3, some goblins begin to undergo a qualitative change in their combat power, and they are called Goblin Shamans!"
"Above Goblin Shamans are Goblin Paladins and Goblin Priest Guards, and above them are Goblin Priests, and the legendary Goblin High Priest!"
As she spoke, Yuan Ling looked again at the boundless primeval forest ahead.
The entire primeval forest exuded a strange aura, and even the sunlight seemed to dim upon hitting it…
…