Chương 142: Extracting Residual Value from Captives

Five days later, the first departure column was fully organized. 100 heavy-armored goblins, leading 900 goblin recruits and 500 human serfs willing to migrate with them, entered the Magic Forest accompanied by 200 animal-drawn flatbed carts and a vast array of shoulder poles and handbarrows. A day after this force withdrew, a second column followed right behind them, transporting grain toward the Alliance with the exact same unit configuration.

Withdrawal operations of this scale were occurring almost daily, as massive contingents of personnel left Poloya loaded with provisions, heading straight into the Monster Forest. Li Qinwu estimated that 5, 000 people would be evacuated within half a month. The remaining population would temporarily stay in Poloya to sustain development, construct more transport vehicles, spawn more goblins, and purchase more draft livestock.

They would train 1, 000 troops and dispatch 1, 000 people, repeating the cycle until the city's food stockpiles were completely depleted. After the third wave of a thousand travelers set off, Li Qinwu, who had been buried underground all this time, dug himself out of the dirt. Thanks to the Blessing of the Earth Goddess, his recovery rate was absurdly rapid. The severe burn wounds covering his body had already formed thick scabs, which looked as though they would slough off before long, leaving him fully restored.

Still, his current appearance was terrifying: scabs from the burn trauma covered him head to toe, mixed with soil into a blackened, crusted mess. His body hair had been scorched off completely, giving him a bizarre, ghastly look capable of scaring a child witless on sight. Li Qinwu himself didn't give a damn. He felt he had perhaps been assimilated into goblin culture to the point where physical aesthetics held little weight to him.

In a society run by monsters, beauty and ugliness were by no means priority factors in determining a person's charisma; strength and power reigned supreme above all else. And he possessed both in absolute abundance! Standing well over two meters tall now, his arm span was extraordinarily long and thick. Even beneath the layer of dark scabs, the bulging muscles across his frame looked as formidable as if nine dragons were etched onto his torso!

"Guards!" Li Qinwu bellowed toward the exterior. Miss Hannah and Kanda quickly stepped inside. The two used feather dusters to brush away the dirt clinging to his skin, then wrapped a long silk curtain around his body. Finding the silk soft and gentle enough not to irritate his raw wounds, Li Qinwu nodded in satisfaction. Escorted by the two, he emerged from the basement and arrived at the main hall on the first floor of the Governor's Mansion, taking his seat directly upon the former governor's throne.

The Governor's Mansion hall was exceptionally grand. A plush red carpet extended from Li Qinwu's throne all the way to the main entrance, flanked on both sides by statues of past heroes and oil paintings depicting monumental historic events. Leaning back into the cushioned seat, Li Qinwu took in the palace-like hall, recalled his crude wooden hut back at the Alliance, and let out a wistful sigh. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"There's still a long and heavy road ahead for our development!" He turned to Kanda beside him and instructed, "Bring the prisoner up." Kanda voiced his assent and exited the hall. A moment later, several soldiers dragged in a powerfully built tiger-beastman: Coso. Even bound heavily in iron chains, he was still thrashing wildly, nearly overwhelming the four soldiers attempting to pin him down. Like a true wild tiger, the beastman refused to submit.

But the moment he was shoved into the hall and caught sight of Li Qinwu sitting atop the governor's throne, his struggles ceased instantly, his sharp feline eyes fixing squarely upon Li Qinwu. Li Qinwu asked nonchalantly, "My soldiers tell me you're the heir to the chieftain of some tribe in the Beastman Kingdom?" Miss Hannah translated Li Qinwu's words to Coso. Coso stared at Li Qinwu for a good while before blurting out a string of harsh gibberish in the beastman tongue.

Miss Hannah translated, "He says he is the eldest son of the Blood Tiger Clan Chieftain. During a struggle for leadership against his brothers, he was poisoned, defeated, captured by his younger brother, and sold off to the human realm as a slave along with his personal guards." Li Qinwu fell into silent thought for a moment before giving a low nod.

"Take him down. Lock him up in an iron cage, and send him back to the Alliance with the next departure wave." The soldiers immediately dragged Coso outward. Coso was completely baffled—wait, you dragged me all the way here just to ask a single question? He instantly began roaring and bellowing, shouting something about challenging Li Qinwu to a duel, but Li Qinwu paid him no mind whatsoever. He intended to keep this tiger-beastman alive and well fed back home. Was this guy not essentially an exiled prince?

This was a perfect legitimate channel to meddle in the internal affairs of the Beastman Kingdom down the line! He still remembered the crazed Earl Carly; the second underground floor of his manor contained a sandbox map detailing the world, where the region south of the Monster Forest was depicted as beastman territory. Over the years, the beastmen had continuously sought to expand northward, though their progress remained sluggish due to internal and external conflicts.

Now that Li Qinwu controlled the central region of the Monster Forest, his rapid future expansion would inevitably bring their borders together. Keeping the Coso card in hand to play in the future might yield miraculous strategic results. After the tiger-beastman Coso was hauled away, another figure was brought forward—the old mage who had guarded the Mage Tower. This elderly mage was named Fendis, an active professor within the Mage Guild. His primary duty in Poloya had been recording magic tide data.

The nature of the work was akin to staffing a remote weather station—a low-value assignment reserved for those who had offended higher-ups and gotten banished to the periphery. Anyone with real talent or connections was leading their own research teams elsewhere; who would voluntarily come to watch a weather station?

"Don't push me! You damned goblins! Barbaric creatures!" Fendis was cursing furiously as he was pushed forward. Upon seeing Li Qinwu, he glared at him with venomous hatred. The magic tide observation apparatus had been lost under his watch—that thing was stupidly valuable! Originally, after guarding Poloya for three years, he would have been able to return to the Guild to launch new research projects. But now? Ha!

Ignoring Fendis's murderous gaze, Li Qinwu crossed his legs nonchalantly and asked, "Old man, don't look at me with those eyes. Truth be told, wasn't it your side that launched an attack on the Alliance first, forcing us to retaliate? If you want to blame someone, blame your Professor Julie. Who told her to team up with the Hero Leon and launch a treacherous night assault on the Alliance?" Fendis let out a cold snort.

"Sharp-tongued goblin! An exceedingly rare anomaly of your species... I'd love nothing more than to crack open your skull and study how your brain is wired. But right now, what do you plan to do with me?" Li Qinwu let out a bone-chilling chuckle, scanning Fendis up and down as if evaluating a piece of merchandise, making Fendis feel profoundly uncomfortable.

"Professor Fendis, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what to do with you either. Your only apparent value to me seems to be chopping off your head to flag-sacrifice our victory, considering our two factions are enemies. However, since you're a professor after all, you ought to be worth something. Why don't you help me brainstorm how to extract your full value? Think fast, though—once your head rolls off, there's no sewing it back on."