Chapter 138: The Professional Kidnapper Kobold

Alex was disposed of in secret; within the city, no one knew about it except for Jia Zhengjin and Wolf. In truth, no one cared either.

Jia Zhengjin could not bring himself to do the deed personally, which was why he had deliberately missed with the crossbow. His goal was merely to drive Alex toward those bizarre man-eating plants. He could act without hesitation in the heat of battle, but facing an unarmed man, he still felt a sense of internal resistance. As for giving Alex a weapon? That was out of the question; what if he accidentally let him escape? Thus, Jia Zhengjin chose the most reliable path: one that required no direct action and left him with no lingering guilt.

Wild beasts often approached the vicinity of the mines, especially when the fake dragon flew off to drink water or returned to the city to feed. They would seize those moments to strike. The kobold troops stationed there would engage these beasts, and naturally, some losses were inevitable, though they always managed to prevail and keep the mining operations undisturbed. Since this happened almost daily, replenishing the kobold numbers was a task Jia Zhengjin had to perform. Compared to the mines, the kobold squads patrolling the outskirts suffered even greater attrition.

Every single day, Jia Zhengjin had to visit the kobold den to recruit at least 300 to 500 new kobolds. Just this expense alone cost him at least 10 to 13 gold coins daily. Fortunately, having discovered a gold mine, he could trade the ore at the resource station to replenish his gold supply, making this expenditure sustainable.

Recruiting soldier bees was even more costly: one soldier bee required 200 units of raw meat, meaning 500 of them cost a full 100,000 units of meat. That translated to 100 gold coins a day. It was a painful expense, yet he had no choice but to keep recruiting them. If the Radiant City or the Xiongfeng Empire were to launch another attack, he would have no hope of defending the city without sufficient force. This was precisely why Jia Zhengjin sought to tame Tier 1 magical beasts; at least they could help preserve his precious soldier bees during combat. If possible, he hoped to capture even more powerful Tier 2 or Tier 3 magical beasts in the future.

The wild mining area produced roughly 30 gold ore, 10 silver ore, and vast quantities of copper and iron ore every day. Even though the gold and silver veins were quite large, the yields were low, primarily because the tools were too primitive. If he had steel picks, or even just common or fine-quality iron picks, the amount of gold and silver recovered would increase significantly. He knew the wear and tear was high, but to maintain his army, he had to keep digging.

Therefore, aside from the primary construction materials, Jia Zhengjin set aside as much as possible each day to forge tools and improve his tool-making level. He was now only a tiny bit of experience away from reaching Level 3, which would guarantee the production of common-quality items.

Most of the mineral resources were, of course, prioritized for upgrading the arrow towers. The current inner-city defense was already formidable. Even if a locust plague like the last one were to occur, the arrow towers alone could eliminate more than half of the swarm, greatly relieving the pressure on the city's garrison.

Another portion of the resources was used for various infrastructure projects for the villagers, such as more public warehouses, a waste recycling station, and small shops for the residents. As for whatever remained, it was all funneled into the construction of the new outer city wall.

Once his daily forging quota was met, Jia Zhengjin’s tool-making skill finally reached Level 3. From now on, the various iron tools he crafted would essentially be of common quality, allowing him to replace the inferior tools used by the miners. He decided to pause the arrow tower material allocation for a day to focus on tool production, at least until all the miners’ picks were upgraded to common quality. This would increase mining efficiency and lead to an even greater influx of materials.

Leading 500 kobold craftsmen, protected by a kobold army commanded by Zhuoma, Badi, Wolf, and Karl, Jia Zhengjin began constructing the outer wall within the planned perimeter using stockpiled stone bricks. The outer wall had already been started and was currently expanding in two teams toward the left and right.

Just as the work was in full swing, the kobold leader, who had been patrolling the outskirts of the forest, returned to the city with more captives. Seeing Jia Zhengjin, he immediately ran over.

"What's the situation?" Jia Zhengjin glanced at the dozen or so otherworldly humans the kobold troops had dumped at his feet, feeling a bit speechless. "Are you guys getting worse? Are you addicted to being bandits, sending people to me over and over again?"

The kobold leader just acted silly, mouth agape and tongue lolling out as if he were smiling.

Jia Zhengjin stepped down from the wall and took a closer look. There were twelve captives in total, all wearing black robes and hoods, looking mysterious. Two of the figures were clearly female, given their distinct, curvaceous silhouettes. Besides the twelve robed figures, the kobolds had also hauled back several heavy-looking trunks.

"Mmph! Mmph!" Perhaps because they finally saw a human, one of the robed figures, who likely feared being turned into kobold food, began to struggle violently. These kobolds were quite unscrupulous; they had tightly bound the captives' mouths with rope to keep them silent. Jia Zhengjin hurried over and untied the rope from the mouth of the most agitated captive.

"You audacious scoundrel! Do you have any idea who we are?!" the figure roared the moment their mouth was free.

"Mmph! Mmph!" Finding the voice too noisy, Jia Zhengjin promptly gagged the captive again. He then pointed his finger around before finally gesturing toward the two female figures.

He walked over, crouched down, and said to one of them, "I’ll untie your mouth, but stay quiet and don't scream! Just answer my questions, understand?" The woman nodded frantically.

Jia Zhengjin untied her, then asked, "Who are you people?"

"We are just travelers passing through..." The woman had a small beauty mark on her sensual lip, and her voice was quite pleasant.

Jia Zhengjin, however, remained unmoved; she looked to be at least forty—twice his age! Ignoring her, he glanced at the trunks the kobolds had brought back. "Travelers? What's in these boxes?"

"Nothing at all!" The woman looked nervous.

He didn't believe her for a second. Jia Zhengjin rose and walked over, reaching for a lid, only to find it locked. He turned back and asked, "Who has the key?"

The woman shook her head hurriedly, though her eyes darted nervously toward the other female captive. Jia Zhengjin caught the look, walked over, and began to search her.

"How dare you!! Do you know who she is?" the woman whose mouth had been freed shouted. "Show some respect!"

"Pfft!" Jia Zhengjin couldn't be bothered with her. He found the key on the other woman's belt, walked back, and unlocked one of the large trunks. The moment he opened it, a brilliant light forced him to squint. The trunk was filled to the brim with gems and gold coins!

"Whoa," Jia Zhengjin couldn't help but whistle. He looked at the kobold leader. "Extra meat for you tonight—eat until you're stuffed!"

"Awoo!" The kobold leader immediately tilted his head back and let out a joyful howl.