Chapter 53: Chapter 53

“Sorry about the simple conditions,” Huo Shaobai said, a rare look of embarrassment on his face. Usually, it was just a bunch of guys sitting on the floor to eat, but it felt a bit improper when hosting a guest.

Mu Ying didn’t mind at all. Before she’d bought any furniture, she’d eaten on the floor every day herself. At least they had a big low table here.

Even Shouban Shiyin made a rare appearance. Normally, when there were outsiders around—even if they couldn’t see him—he wouldn’t show up.

After coming out, Shouban Shiyin obediently perched on her shoulder. Mu Ying glanced at him and let him be.

Huo Shaobai felt a strange prickling on his back for some reason and didn’t dare look too closely at the girl across from him.

While they waited for the food, Lu You started recounting their experiences that day, with Huo Shaobai occasionally adding details.

It turned out they still hadn’t given up on the idea of establishing a safe zone outside. While the territory was secure, it couldn’t support itself—there was no place to grow crops.

Qingshan Town was gone, but it had left behind a large open area, perfect for building or farming.

Since the weather was clear today, they’d gone out to survey the area. Things went smoothly in the morning, but around noon, a meteor shower appeared in the sky—almost identical to the one on doomsday.

Although there were fewer meteors this time, as soon as they hit the ground, the things inside those glowing orbs appeared.

Sensing something was wrong, they decided to head back to the territory. They were already in the forest when they ran into a group of little green-skinned monsters, who attacked them on sight.

The monsters were surprisingly organized and agile, and even had an archer.

The captain fought through his injuries to kill the little leader, which finally made the rest lose their nerve and retreat.

The kill notification called these monsters “goblins.” Killing them gave much more experience than zombies, and they found quite a bit of money on the goblins’ bodies. They’d brought back some of the goblins’ gear too—armor and weapons—but everything was too small for them to use, so they planned to see if they could sell it.

There was something else odd: after picking up the goblins’ loot, their bodies didn’t disappear like zombies’ did.

“Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp—”

Suddenly, urgent sparrow calls sounded outside the window. Mu Ying’s ears twitched, and she excused herself before leaving the treehouse.

She’d just recovered enough mana to cast Animal Communication again.

“North? The big meadow?” Mu Ying listened to what the mother sparrow was telling her and immediately realized that a goblin had left the forest.

Animals weren’t as intelligent as humans, and their descriptions were different, but “north” meant out of the forest.

After human traces had vanished, rain had helped wild vegetables sprout and take over the land.

“Chirp—” The mother sparrow flapped her wings, shooed her bothersome chicks aside, and gently pecked the back of Mu Ying’s hand.

Mu Ying counted the pecks—twelve? There were twelve goblins?

But Huo Shaobai’s group had only run into a few.

Each meteor should have only contained one monster, so how had a dozen goblins gathered together?

Mu Ying suspected it had something to do with that piercing screech earlier—maybe it was some kind of signal they used to communicate.

Who knew if there were even more goblins on the way?

The more she thought about it, the more she felt the threat needed to be dealt with quickly. That clearing outside the forest was where she planned to put her plantation in the future.

Based on what she’d just learned, goblins were numerous and agile, making them tricky opponents. But Huo Shaobai’s group had been so badly injured mainly because the goblins were small and hid in the bushes, catching them off guard. In fact, the goblin leader Huo Shaobai killed was only level 2.

Level only represented part of combat ability, but if the leader was just level 2, the others must be even lower. As long as she was careful, it shouldn’t be a big problem.

After feeding the sparrows some millet soaked in the Spring of Recovery, Mu Ying went to visit a few other teams that had just returned.

Most had come back safely, with only a few encountering monsters. For those who did, injuries were the least of their worries—some teams had even lost members.

By now, everyone was at least somewhat familiar with their class abilities, and each team had developed some attack strategies.

Moving in groups made things much safer. The worst that happened fighting zombies was a few injuries—deaths had become rare.

But it seemed like everyone was running into goblins. Could this be a worldwide goblin invasion?

Mu Ying returned to her own treehouse and opened the forum. The place was exploding.

The atmosphere was completely different from the relaxed mood of the past two days. Posts speculating that zombies were no longer a threat and the apocalypse was almost over were still trending, but the comments underneath were now full of pessimism.

“Zombies really aren’t a threat anymore, but the apocalypse has only just begun.”

“You never know what else might fall from the sky.”

“Never thought I’d end up as a snack for some dog-headed freak. Is it because I ate too much dog meat? Whatever, I’m too tired to call for help…”

“Don’t give up hope, man upstairs!”

“I just want to know—are they going to roast me, boil me, or deep-fry me?”

“I was wrong—they’re not killing me before eating. They’re starting a fire. Are they going to roast me alive? I’m scared! Help! I’m at the north side of Linxi Camp, by the stone hill. These dog-headed things are loaded—someone come save me!”

“Warning: Don’t treat these monsters like zombies, or you’ll die a horrible death!”

“My spellcasting stat is too low—I can’t learn spells. If I can’t learn spells, I’m stuck at my level. If I’m stuck, I can’t get stronger. There’s no way out. Is my only option to wait for death? Stupid game—why isn’t there a reset button?”"

"After scouring the forums, even though many people didn’t know the names of the monsters they’d encountered, just from the descriptions it was clear: this time, more than one type of monster had descended.

And goblins hadn’t just appeared in their area.

What’s more, these monsters were generally smarter and stronger than zombies.

The old trick of luring monsters to the territory and then killing them was now completely useless.

Still, the camp remained safe. While some people had been attacked in the wild, no monsters had invaded the camp itself.

Mu Ying wanted to figure out the strength of these monsters, but there was still too little information on the forums.

After thinking it over, she headed to the general store.

“What? A monster manual?” Wu Yayaya stared wide-eyed. “This is a general store, not a bookstore!”

Mu Ying smiled. So there really was one. Normally, if Wu Yayaya didn’t have something, it wouldn’t bother to argue—after all, there’s no money to be made from talking, and it’s too lazy for that.

After spending so much time here, Mu Ying had more or less figured out the basic personalities and quirks of the territory’s “NPCs.”

The shopkeepers weren’t ordinary people. They even had things similar to the players’ handbooks and were all professionals of a certain level, though none above level 5. They didn’t spend time cultivating, instead focusing on running their shops, and they couldn’t leave the territory.

But among them, Grandpa Shaum, Wu Yayaya, and Tom—the son of the Seraph couple—were exceptions.

Tom was about the same age as Dong Xiaogang, and even had the same class.

The two became friends while learning archery skills together, and Dong Xiaogang had received a lot of help from Tom’s parents because of it.