Chapter 404 - 325: Operation Forest Soup

Late at night, Shire stepped out of the Teleportation Gate's Stone Ring and surveyed his surroundings.

This was his first time setting foot in this area. Other goblins were busy working in an orderly fashion, and Broken Tooth tugged at his leather clothes as he walked over to Shire's side.

"How far are we from the Feathered Serpent Kingdom?" Shire asked.

Broken Tooth thought for a moment before answering with certainty, "Very close."

This was Broken Tooth's style; he currently only used simple descriptions like near, far, many, or few. However, Shire had more or less adapted to his subordinate's way of speaking. Broken Tooth's "very close" probably meant they were right on the border of the Feathered Serpent Kingdom.

"Did those goblins arrive this afternoon?" Shire gazed into the distance. The dense forest around them looked even darker under the moonlight. If not for the many torches they had lit, no one would have noticed that a group of goblins had appeared here.

Broken Tooth nodded, confirming he had seen the tattered group of goblins emerge from the forest that afternoon and enter the cluster of stone buildings. But the memory of their pathetic state brought a disdainful look to his face.

"And after that, did anything happen in the Kingdom?" Shire looked at his subordinate, quietly waiting for his answer. This answer would determine tonight's course of action. If the whole Kingdom had descended into chaos, it would mean the Feathered Serpent God definitely knew what had happened. But if the Goblin Kingdom remained unusually calm, it would prove the Feathered Serpent God still knew nothing.

This was a deduction Shire made based on goblin habits. As long as the leader of the tribe didn't know what was going on, the goblins under them would most likely choose to 'carry on as usual and pretend to know nothing'.

And if the Kingdom could lose 2,000 goblins at once without provoking the Feathered Serpent Evil God's wrath, there was only one possible answer: the Feathered Serpent had entered hibernation.

"Nothing." Broken Tooth answered immediately, without a second thought. That group of goblins had vanished without a trace, stirring not a single ripple. The entire area remained quiet, as if the thousands of goblins from before had never existed.

"Interesting." Shire's eyes lit up, and he rubbed his chin. "Tell everyone to pick up the pace. We need to use the cover of night to enter the Feathered Serpent Kingdom as quickly as possible."

He had deliberately chosen the pre-dawn hours. It was said that the sky is darkest just before dawn. By launching a surprise attack during this window, Shire planned to control all the goblins in their burrows while they were in their deepest sleep, thus preventing chaos on the battlefield to the greatest extent possible.

Once everything was under control, he would then focus on dealing with the Feathered Serpent God.

The Elephant Lord had previously made it clear that he would not participate in this battle with the Feathered Serpent God. However, Shire felt that his stance was softening. This was mainly because he had built a Greenhouse for the elephant herd, which they found very comfortable. He had also promised the Elephant Lord that he would build another pool for the herd and maintain a warm enough water temperature so the elephants wouldn't feel the biting cold.

But there was no more room in the underground Fortress, so the only option was the City of Ten Thousand Races.

Elephants are creatures that are highly dependent on water. This dependency manifests in two ways. First, in their consumption: an adult elephant needs to drink hundreds of liters of water every day, a demand that can double in the heat of summer. Now that it was winter, overly cold water could also irritate the elephants' trunks. Second, elephants love to soak in water. The water's buoyancy alleviates their enormous weight, and playing in the water is an important form of recreation etched into their memories.

If everything went according to plan here, Shire wanted to make another push to persuade the Elephant Lord to deal with the Feathered Serpent God by himself. With the Elephant Lord's powerful [Super Strong Life, Super Strong Mind], he should be able to easily take down the hibernating Feathered Serpent Evil God.

"The next phase of the operation is crucial." Shire looked toward the Teleportation Gate, where goblins were continuously teleporting in, in groups of five. They were all wearing warm clothing to ensure their combat effectiveness wouldn't be affected by the winter night.

However, they didn't have many of these clothes, not enough to equip every goblin in the tribe. Therefore, only 500 would be able to participate in this battle.

In contrast to Shire's forces, the goblins of the Feathered Serpent Kingdom were still dressed in single layers of cloth scraps; many were even just wearing leaves. At this time of night, they should be huddled together in their burrows, sleeping and sharing body heat. When Shire's forces charged in, the only thing those goblins would likely do is roll over and continue to huddle for warmth. No goblin would be foolish enough to rush out alone; the winter temperatures would teach them the meaning of self-preservation.

"Bai Mao," Shire saw several figures emerge from the Teleportation Stone Ring and immediately waved them over. "After we go in, you immediately follow with your people, the pots, and the ingredients. Ignore everything else and start making the soup right away."

Shire had named this operation "Operation Forest Soup." The most critical part of the entire operation was Bai Mao and the female goblins she led. They needed to finish preparing the Forest Soup as quickly as possible. Once all the captives drank a bowl of the hot, spicy, sweat-inducing "Forest Peppery Soup," any little thought of resistance they had would be extinguished. No goblin could resist the temptation of a bowl of Forest Soup on a cold winter morning.

Shire knew from his previous life that his army's "steamed bun offensive" often yielded unexpected results, sometimes proving more effective than guns and cannons. He planned to replicate it this time, using it directly on the goblins of the Feathered Serpent Kingdom.