Chapter 101.2: Good Quality Merchandise
“Basic points may be enough to live on, but what is our goal?!”
Tina looked toward the others on the ship.
The other Dazzling Star natives, who likewise had white hair and pale eyes, immediately raised their left arms.
“Give everything we have for the Divine Kingdom!”
Tina nodded. “That’s right.”
She was draped in a black robe, which made her silvery-white hair stand out even more.
Tina slowly turned around and raised her head, feeling the sunlight shining down on her.
“We were originally meant to slowly die on our home planet!”
“It was our God who brought us light amid the endless darkness of our home planet!”
“It was our God who sent divine messengers to save your lives and mine on that freezing winter night.”
“It was our God who led us across the long river of time to this land abundant in resources.”
Tina suddenly spread her arms wide, her face filled with fervor.
“Of all the legends of gods in this world, every one but our God is nothing more than a false idol of clay!”
The other Dazzling Star natives aboard the ship wholeheartedly agreed and shouted after her:
“Of all the legends of gods in this world, every one but our God is nothing more than a false idol of clay!”
Tina closed her eyes slightly, feeling the faint sting of the scorching sunlight against her skin, and a satisfied smile curved her lips.
Then she suddenly opened her eyes, her pale pupils turning toward the pirate ship sailing toward them.
They were pirates who had violated the newly added clause in the Sacred Code: [Cannibalism Is Forbidden].
And at the bow of that ship stood a four-faced black bull idol, enshrined there for worship.
Tina lowered her hands back onto her robe. A faint smile remained on her fair face, but it looked somewhat stiff, as though it had been imitated rather than naturally formed.
Not every Dazzling Star native who joined Blue Sea had family members they could trust.
Tina had been rescued from a Snow Pirate gang hideout on Dazzling Star. Born with supernatural abilities, she had been abducted by the Snow Pirates as a child and subjected to more than a decade of brainwashing.
It had taken the temple a very long time to make her appear normal on the surface.
At least after becoming a believer, Tina no longer woke up from nightmares every day.
Although she was twenty-one, she sometimes seemed to have the mental age of someone not even sixteen. After careful consideration, however, the temple’s counselors still approved her permit to leave the city.
She needed some normal interactions with friends and members of her own race, even if those relationships had to be pieced together from scratch.
Tina, a Tier 3 ability user, was now the captain of this ship.
At the same time, she was also a devout believer in the great Creator God of Blue Sea.
Though Cheng Qisheng, who was watching from nearby, felt that she might be a little too devout.
Tina silently watched the pirate ship approach, staring fixedly at the idol.
“Heretic.”
“You deserve to die.”
Her hand shifted slightly beneath her robe.
Under the sunlight, a cold glint from her longsword fell upon the four-faced idol.
—
A fleet of more than a dozen pirate ships sailed slowly across the waters of Green Billow Star.
Pirate captain Kalin held a crystal ball in his hand.
“Gat? You there?”
“Lorin? You there?”
“Bloody Moray Eel, you there?”
He called out to five people in succession, but not a single one answered.
The guest sitting opposite him sneered.
“Stop calling. They’re definitely all dead.”
“Recently, a bizarre pirate-hunting group has appeared on Green Billow Star. They specifically target pirate crews that worship gods. I think they’re called… the Friends Pirate Crew.”
Kalin’s eyelid twitched. “The Friends Pirate Crew? What kind of bizarre name is that?”
“That’s why I called them a bizarre pirate crew. I figure they’ve inhaled too much toxic miasma and gone a little crazy. But their strength is still pretty impressive.”
“A few days ago, Sun Zhenzi fled to the waters where a giant sea monster was lurking to escape pursuit. In the end, the Friends Pirate Crew killed both Sun Zhenzi and the giant sea monster.”
Kalin was dumbfounded. “They’re that powerful?”
“Of course. You don’t believe my sources? A lot of pirates have been scared out of their wits lately. Even the Holy Sun Cult and the Sea God Cult were frightened into disbanding.”
Pirates followed religions too. Whether the little pirates below genuinely believed or were merely pretending didn’t matter. The main reason the powerful pirates who organized these cults did so was to use religion as an excuse to recruit people and allies.
Usually, the first rule of their doctrines was that members were forbidden from killing one another.
Once they hung the idol of their worshiped god at the bow of their ship, any pirates belonging to the same sect would recognize one another and tactfully steer clear.
But now there was a pirate crew specifically hunting down religious groups. Truly, the world was full of strange things.
Were there any normal people left on Green Billow Star?
Kalin silently turned around and ordered the subordinate who had been quietly pouring them water,
“Go smash the Four-Faced Bull God’s idol.”
The subordinate nodded. Without even bothering to tie a rope around himself, he climbed straight to the bow. Bracing himself against the hull and relying solely on his arm strength to hold on, he brought a hammer down on the idol.
The guest scratched the black mole on the tip of his nose and leaned over curiously to take a look.
“Your subordinate is pretty impressive. He looks like he can really fight, and he’s quick and capable too. How did you train him?”
Kalin looked smug.
“Found him.”
The guest was astonished. “Found him? Where did you find someone with skills like that?”
“The ship he was traveling on was destroyed by a sea monster. I found him floating on a piece of broken wood.”
Kalin was quite proud of his own judgment.
“Normally, when you run into such a prime specimen, you’d send him straight to the kitchen. But just look at all those muscles… And he’d been mentally shaken by the sea monster, so his reactions were slow. He was obedient enough, and he was mute too.”
He pointed at his throat and raised his eyebrows at the guest.
“An underling like this—capable, loyal, and incapable of leaking secrets—of course I was going to keep him.”
The guest looked envious, but then asked warily,
“Aren’t you afraid he was sent by another pirate as a spy?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. He can fight even better than Su’er. Which pirate could possibly send such a powerful spy onto my ship?”
Su’er was originally the strongest fighter in this pirate crew and Kalin’s most capable subordinate.
However, after this new recruit who couldn’t speak and was obedient enough arrived, he had evidently been replaced in the position almost immediately.
The guest was even more envious.
“Where did you find him? I want to see if I can find one too.”
“Hahahahaha! You don’t have luck like mine. Someone this talented is impossible to find unless fate brings them to you.”
The guest said, “Actually, what you said gave me an idea. Mutes really are more desirable, huh? Maybe I should consider making the sl*ves I have unable to speak and see if they’ll sell better.”
Kalin laughed. “That’s exactly why I came looking for you. How many sl*ves do you still have? Do you have any obedient ones? Sell me a few.”
The guest was surprised. “You’re short on sl*ves?”
“Sigh.”
At the mention of this, Kalin sighed in frustration.
“There should be a [Call-Singer] in these waters.”
A Call-Singer was a type of sea monster that could remember the names it heard during the night, imitate the voices of people familiar to its prey, call out their names, lure them out, and then kill and eat them.
Kalin complained, “Every night, people start disappearing from my ship. Thirty sailors have gone missing by now. The sl*ves are disobedient, and they’re weak too. Someone has to do the work, right?”
“So that’s why I came looking for you. Pick out some sl*ves who have already been properly trained, can work, and are obedient enough, and sell them to me.”
The guest immediately patted his chest.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got plenty of good stock on hand. And I have some mute medicine too. Since you like them unable to speak, I’ll give them the medicine and send them over.”
Kalin was delighted. “You really are a good friend!”
That very evening, the guest returned to Kalin’s pirate crew in a small boat.
The people he brought over were indeed all sturdy, tall, and obedient-looking, not saying a word.
The guest patted one of them on his solid chest.
“How about them? Good enough? They’ve all got first-rate temperaments too. I gave every one of them the mute medicine. They’re qualified to serve as your sailors, right?”
Kalin nodded repeatedly, not saying a word about the fact that he’d only made a deal with another sl*ve trader the previous month.
“More than good enough. This is exactly why I like doing business with you. You really do have good stock.”
The guest was clearly quite pleased. He scratched the black mole on the tip of his nose.
“Good. Then pay me for the goods. You can use these people without worry. If you need more, just contact me.”
After seeing the guest off, Kalin turned around and looked at the thirty new sailors, all of whom had honest-looking faces.
After thinking for a moment, he summoned the first mate and told him to assign the newcomers some work. He also quietly instructed him,
“Don’t give them access to any important areas yet. Have a dozen or so people keep an eye on them and see if anything seems suspicious.”
The first mate nodded repeatedly and took the newcomers below to work.
Three days later, the first mate brought up the matter.
“Captain, these really were good-quality recruits this time. They’re all extremely obedient. They don’t have much fighting ability, but they’re physically strong. With proper training, they might even make decent guards. We definitely got a good deal this time. It’s just… these people may have been drugged. They seem a little stupid. Even when the other sailors bully them, they don’t fight back.”
Hearing this, Kalin was actually even more relieved.
“Idiots are better. Idiots are the easiest to use.”
It seemed that this time, he had really gotten himself a bargain.
While Kalin was delighted, however, the other sailors aboard the pirate ship were anything but happy.
The older sailors weren’t as tall and imposing as the newcomers, and it was obvious that they weren’t as highly valued by the captain either. And what good people could you expect from a pirate crew? Resentment quickly took root in their hearts, and they deliberately dumped all the heavy and exhausting work on the newcomers.
The newcomers, however, didn’t know how to resist. Whatever they were told to do, they did. For a while, this only made the sailors even more emboldened.
That was until more and more sailors began disappearing. Only then did the remaining sailors lose all interest in b*llying the newcomers.
At night, they started staying behind closed doors, securing them with makeshift locks. No matter how badly they needed to relieve themselves during the night, they’d rather wet their pants than step outside, lest they encounter a Call-Singer and be lured out and eaten.
But while the sailors were living under such intense tension, they received another piece of news: the captain had decided that several of the newcomers had excellent combat potential and planned to promote them to guards.
A deep sense of resentment immediately welled up in the sailors’ hearts.
Why them?
They had clearly been here first. They had served the captain loyally and done so much for him, yet they were still inferior to a few newcomers who hadn’t even been here for long.
“Why don’t we… secretly get rid of them?”
Inside the sailors’ quarters, several sailors whispered among themselves.
“How? The captain treats them like treasures now. He paid supplies for them, so they’re worth a lot more than we are. If we kill them and the captain finds out, we’re all dead!”
A sailor named Davins spoke with a dark expression. He had originally been the most trusted of the sailors and the one most likely to be promoted to guard. But after the newcomers arrived, the captain had immediately forgotten all about him.
For Davins to have risen to become the leader among the old sailors, he naturally had some ability.
He spoke slowly.
“Can’t we just make sure nobody finds the bodies?”
“Isn’t there a Call-Singer causing trouble lately?”
Davin’s eyes flashed with vicious intent.
“So many people have already disappeared. A few newcomers going missing would be perfectly normal, wouldn’t it? As long as there are no bodies, who would know we did it?”
“You mean… we pretend to be a Call-Singer and lure them outside… But what if they don’t listen?”
“They will. They’re idiots. They don’t know how to think for themselves. As long as we give them some work just before dark that’s impossible to finish before nightfall, they’ll obediently keep working until nighttime. I’ve seen them working outside at night several times.”
“Everyone’s afraid of the Call-Singer now. There isn’t a soul on the deck at night, which makes things much easier for us. We can even quietly cut off some meat for a midnight snack.”
Davins made up his mind and immediately began making arrangements.
That evening, he and several sailors deliberately assigned several of the newcomers some heavy work. As expected, the mute newcomers didn’t suspect a thing. They simply nodded obediently and went off to work.
That night, Davins and three sailors approached the deck with weapons in hand, moving as quietly as possible.
Hardly anyone ever came to this part of the ship. It was also very close to the surface of the sea, making it an especially convenient place to kill someone and dump the body.
Sure enough, when they reached the deck, they saw the newcomers still bent over their work beneath the dim, shifting light.
Heh. What idiots. They really did whatever they were told.
If Davins hadn’t been a sailor who’d had his chance at promotion stolen from him, but had instead been the captain or first mate, he thought he would have liked using people like these too.
Davins made a hand signal and slowly led the three sailors closer.
The wind was howling, carrying faint rustling sounds that resembled human whispers.
At first, Davins thought it was merely the wind playing tricks on his ears. But as he drew closer, he was astonished to realize that he could actually understand those whispers.
“How much supplies did you sell?”
“You can tell at a glance that I’m strong. They sold me for two boxes of instant noodles.”
“Then I’m not worth as much as you. I only sold for four strings of dried fish.”
“Hahaha, you’re not the cheapest. Geshan isn’t very tall, so she was only sold for one string of dried fish. Actually, if you judge by ability, she should have been the most expensive among us.”
“Stop praising me. You’re making me embarrassed.”
Davins’s heart was pounding wildly. What was going on?
Weren’t these people mute? Weren’t they idiots?
Why could they still talk?
Could the captain’s guest be a fraud?
What kind of scheme were they plotting?
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