Chapter 22: The Second Kill – The Pitiful Little Goblin

Hearing the panicked shouts of survivors outside, Qiao Jia felt a wave of helplessness—her trip to Giantwood City would have to be postponed once again. She and the system had been speculating whether some new breed of zombie had appeared, but it turned out not to be zombies at all.

The composition of apocalyptic monsters in this world was remarkably complex.

As she walked to the wooden bridge, Qiao Jia and the system caught sight of the creatures outside. The system immediately recognized what they were.

“Host, those are goblins.”

The system’s voice was filled with disdain; such creatures were nothing but trouble. Annoying, hard to get rid of, and with a reproductive capacity as prolific as a rash.

The system swiftly transmitted information about goblins to Qiao Jia. The moment she saw the data, a thought popped into her head: these creatures were practically made for survivors to practice on and earn crystal cores.

Goblins were communal monsters—cunning and vicious, but most individuals were rather weak. This meant that even survivors with mediocre physical strength could kill them. Kill goblins, earn crystal cores; earn cores, spend at her shop; they spend, she profits—in other words, the goblins were delivering crystal cores directly to her.

The only thing to worry about was the goblins’ black-hearted cunning. A lone goblin wasn’t a problem, but a horde of them was another story.

“Do they drop crystal cores?” Qiao Jia asked.

“Though they're not quite the same as zombie cores, they can still be exchanged for points.”

“That’s good, then.”

Qiao Jia calmly approached the town gate. Outside, a large crowd of goblins had gathered. Among them, eight were carrying a ramshackle palanquin cobbled together from scraps of wood. On the palanquin sat a pale green goblin with an air of arrogance, wearing a plastic crown—origin unknown—set with obviously cheap artificial “gems.”

“State your business?” Qiao Jia looked at the goblins, her tone unruffled.

“The Great Gulu has taken a fancy to your town! Hurry up and remove the town’s barrier, offer it up, and kneel to welcome the Great Gulu!” shrilled a goblin at the front of the palanquin, speaking to Qiao Jia with the utmost self-importance, his expression the very picture of entitlement.

“…”

Qiao Jia was speechless, and so were the survivors watching nearby. Without even being able to break the barrier, what were they posturing for?

Ignoring the goblin’s demands, Qiao Jia began searching for her butcher knife.

“Damn,” she suddenly remembered, “I left the butcher knife on the handcart in the blind box shop, and that cart was sold to the male lead and female supporting character for five thousand crystal cores.”

What a loss—she’d let them make off with a good butcher knife.

“Mayor, use mine!”
“Boss, take a look at this one!”
“Landlady, mine’s the best for you!”
“Out of the way, mine is most suitable for the landlord!”

The survivors clamored to lend their weapons. Qiao Jia glanced around and picked a hefty iron spear. She weighed it in her left hand—good, it would do.

Taking the spear, Qiao Jia turned toward the goblins and, without warning, struck!

The spear in her hand became a javelin, flashing like a blade as she skewered the so-called “Great Gulu” on his palanquin, pinning him to a tree a hundred meters away across the highway!

“Aaaahhh—!!”

The goblins froze for a split second, then erupted into shrill, frantic screams, scattering in utter chaos.

“Hahaha! I thought they’d be tough—this is too much!”

“To think such trash dared provoke the mayor! Do they even know who our mayor is?”

The survivors burst into raucous laughter, nearly doubling over at the sight of the goblins’ pathetic retreat.

Qiao Jia shot them a sidelong glance and spoke calmly, “Don’t laugh—you may not be able to handle them yourselves.”

“Eh?” The laughter cut off abruptly. Those little green-skinned, big-headed creatures barely reached their waists—what could be so difficult?

“Don’t underestimate them,” Qiao Jia warned, taking into account that some of these people were her townsfolk. “I am me, you are you. Underestimating those creatures will cost you.”

“What… What kind of cost?” a burly man asked tentatively.

Qiao Jia sized him up, her face unreadable, but her words made everyone blanch. “Do you know what it means to be turned into a rag doll?”

The man instantly crossed his arms over his rear and gasped. How terrifying!

“That’s exactly how terrifying,” Qiao Jia said coolly. With a flick of her hand, the spear that had been firmly embedded in the tree wrenched free and flew back to her. She returned it to its owner and turned to leave.

Goblins couldn’t get into the town—she was only responsible for their safety inside the walls.

She needed to restock and head to Giantwood City with the system to drum up new business.

“Mayor, here’s our parking rent for the month!”

Just as Qiao Jia was about to leave, two survivors hurried over and handed her the hard-earned rent for their parking spots. It was true that pitching a tent could save crystal cores, but sleeping in a vehicle was safer—less chance of theft, and there was peace of mind in having a secure nest, even if it was just a car. That sense of safety was worth more than any number of crystal cores.

“Alright,” Qiao Jia accepted the crystal cores—she now had 2,500 points again. After deducting the thousand spent by Shen Tong and her group on medical blind boxes, she still had 1,500 left to use for restocking and selling at Giantwood City.

She calculated her purchases: fifty low-durability weapon blind boxes, fifty water and drink blind boxes—the promotion was still on. As for food blind boxes, twenty-five would do. Weapon blind boxes—just five. The rest she would use to buy medical blind boxes, seventy in total.

Back in the lord’s cottage—now uninhabited—she reclaimed the space for work and storage. The little house was tidied more neatly than ever, even cleaner than after its last upgrade.

The system was off at the mall, stocking up on meat; it would take a while. Seizing the moment, Qiao Jia let her mind wander in the cottage.

The closer one got to Giantwood City, the higher the density and strength of monsters, and the greater the variety. Zombies, shamblers, goblins… Who knew what other monsters would appear next? Many survivors simply weren’t strong enough to keep up, left only to be bullied.

She needed to find a way to raise their strength quickly.

But it wasn’t so easy to improve the survivors’ abilities—unless, like Shen Tong and her group, they had special auras, or unless Qiao Jia herself gave them an edge.

In the end, it all came down to one thing: making money.

Sooner or later, she would have to introduce special blind boxes: ability blind boxes, magic blind boxes, cultivation blind boxes…