The sea around Green Billow Star was vast and boundless.

In preparation for the Pirate Conference, some pirate groups had set out as early as a month in advance, or even three or four months ahead of time, following the guidance of the crystal balls and making their way in a certain direction.

Across the enormous expanse of ocean, pirate ships could be seen one after another.

And aboard each pirate ship were Blue Sea people, one after another.

Cheng Qisheng could not only see the various roles these Blue Sea residents were playing aboard the pirate ships, but also the detailed accounts they kept of the pirates’ assets.

Yes, these Blue Sea residents had even drawn up complete inventories for the pirate ships they had “parasitized.”

What supplies were aboard each pirate ship, where they were stored, how many crystals there were, how many item cards they had, and what each of those item cards did—all of it was recorded with meticulous clarity in the Blue Sea people’s ledgers.

They had learned these accounting habits from the puppeteer Ma Ruolin.

She was a Velvet Star native. Before the apocalypse struck Velvet Star, Ma Ruolin had worked as an accountant at a company.

This allowed her to calculate the accounts for “selling” Blue Sea residents both quickly and accurately, without ever making a mistake when it came time to divide up the proceeds.

After Ma Ruolin took over the sl*ve trader Qi Wen’s ship, batches of Blue Sea residents would constantly come to her, drawn by her reputation.

Some of them, after being “sold,” simply put down roots aboard their buyers’ ships and never left.

Others would come back after being “sold,” only to be “sold” a second time, then a third.

—Usually, this happened because something had occurred aboard the ship, or because the “buyer” wanted to do something to the Blue Sea residents they had purchased. Or perhaps the “buyers” did not possess the Kansidang Key, leaving the residents unable to keep up the act. In that case, they would simply turn on the buyers and kill them.

Every time Ma Ruolin received Blue Sea residents who had killed their “buyers” and returned to be “sold” again, she couldn’t help feeling like some kind of unscrupulous trafficker herself.

But regardless of how she felt about it, Ma Ruolin’s accounts remained impeccably clear.

She had a cheerful personality, and whenever she chatted with everyone, she would always say her catchphrase:

“Accounts are something you have to keep up with every day. That way, you won’t be tearing your hair out when the end of the month comes around.”

To the Blue Sea people, this catchphrase automatically became:

“Loot is something you have to keep track of every day. That way, you won’t be tearing your hair out when it’s time to haul in the net.”

A few months ago, the Blue Sea residents still had to maintain their cover with utmost care.

But as more and more of their own people joined the crews, they gradually had the time and energy to investigate the resources aboard these pirate ships.

Now, on the surface, a large number of pirate groups were still operating as usual.

In reality, the great Blue Sea Creator God had already received the master ledger.

At present, there were a total of 3,983 pirate groups that had been “occupied” by Blue Sea residents over the past five months.

Although the circumstances and crew sizes varied from pirate group to pirate group, meaning that not every pirate ship had been completely filled with Blue Sea residents, even the Blue Sea residents with the smallest number of infiltrators had successfully figured out exactly how many resources and crystals were aboard their respective pirate ships.

At this moment, Cheng Qisheng stared at the record of 4.72 million crystals in the master ledger and felt as though her eyes were about to turn into crystals themselves.

Green Billow Star! What a great place!!!

Staring at that number, Cheng Qisheng felt as though there were two little people arguing inside her head.

Little Man 1: There are 4.72 million! Why not haul in the net right now? Let’s get our hands on all the crystals we can first!

Little Man 2: Yeah! Yeah!

Cheng Qisheng took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

She casually picked a grape from the agricultural zone and, while eating it, reminded herself:

“Floating farmland. Think about the floating farmland…”

4.72 million crystals was certainly a lot, but supposedly, the floating farmland that stretched across more than half of the Kansidang territory was worth far more than those 4.72 million crystals.

Besides, if even ordinary large pirate groups were this wealthy, then Kansidang itself would naturally have even more resources and crystals.

Stay calm, Cheng Qisheng.

You already have the Replica Mask, worth 500 million crystals. Surely you can resist the temptation of a measly 4.72 million crystals.

What’s more, robbing pirates wasn’t the Blue Sea’s only way of obtaining crystals.

3,983 pirate groups might sound like a lot, but in reality, all the Blue Sea people who had infiltrated them numbered only a few million in total.

There had been 190 million Blue Sea people who left the Safe City altogether.

And they had obtained quite a lot of things, too.

Of course, with such a huge population, there were naturally residents who managed to acquire plenty of resources.

And naturally, there were also residents who weren’t quite so lucky.

…

“So where exactly are the pirates?”

Ma Yuetian stood on the top deck, squinting into the distance for a long time. Ahead of him, there was nothing but sea.

Forget pirates—there wasn’t even a single local ship in sight.

Back when Ma Yuetian and Zhu Feifan’s ship had been destroyed by a sea monster, the two of them had borrowed money from the Rush Rush Rush crystal hunting squad to buy a narrow little boat, along with a huge pile of supplies and materials.

They had sworn that they would use all kinds of resources from Green Billow Star to forcibly transform this little boat into a large ship.

Then, on Green Billow Star, they would launch their own ship-based agricultural enterprise.

Several months had passed. The two of them had diligently “fished” every day, and throughout the entire reconstruction process, they had strictly followed the Precautions for Ship Reconstruction issued by the Central AI before they left the city.

First, they laid out a large floating platform on the spot. Then they secured the hull in separate sections, widened and expanded the ship’s sides, and built houses or cabins upward from the main deck…

They had followed every single step with absolute rigor, even double-checking with each other to make sure neither of them had overlooked anything.

In the end, they completed the entire reconstruction using socks, broken door panels, rotten nails, torn fishing nets, half a piece of foam, damaged circuit boards, sealed plastic buckets, metal scraps from cans, used syringes, ruined tires, an oversized refrigerator that was half-broken, plastic bags, and drink straws—all of which they had “fished” up.

The narrow, ordinary little boat had successfully been transformed by the two of them into something that was no longer ordinary.

Anyone who saw it would absolutely never be able to say, “That’s an ordinary ship.”

Because from a distance, it now looked like a giant pile of floating garbage.

Its battered hull, covered in “patches” everywhere, looked like a sheet of plastic that had been gnawed on by a sea monster. The broken material flapped wildly outward over the “windows” with every gust of wind.

The walls were a patchwork of this and that, with tire rubber used to seal the gaps around the doors against the wind. For insulation, they mostly used discarded cardboard boxes. In some places, they simply didn’t have enough cardboard, so the two of them had actually stuffed a small sea monster of just the right width into the wall cavity.

The only place on the entire ship that could be considered clean and tidy was the top deck.

That was because it was the only place where they had spread out a large piece of sea monster hide, a full three meters long when unfolded. It was surprisingly comfortable to sit on.

At this point, someone might wonder:

Why hadn’t they put such a good piece of sea monster hide inside one of the rooms? Why put it on the upper deck instead?

Because the sea monster hide was poisonous.

Only when it was left on the upper deck and constantly exposed to the sea breeze would it not poison people. Once it was placed inside an enclosed space, it would take less than five minutes for someone to start hallucinating.

Of course, since the hide was poisonous, the meat was poisonous too.

So after the two of them killed that rather large sea monster, they got nothing from it except this piece of hide.

Thinking about this, Ma Yuetian was overcome with sorrow.

Unwilling to give up, she spun around on the spot in a full 360-degree circle, like an owl.

Nothing!

Still nothing!

Ever since they parted ways with the Rush Rush Rush back then, their Destiny Unordinary had not encountered a single other ship.

Ma Yuetian now understood perfectly why the locals they had met aboard the Rush Rush Rush had been so excited when they saw all the supplies on the ship.

Who was it that said Green Billow Star was overflowing with resources?!!

Ma Yuetian and Zhu Feifan were practically eating three days out of every five by now, and the most outrageous part was that they could barely fish up any materials such as wood or discarded door panels!

Which meant that the two of them, without any electrical equipment, couldn’t even start a fire to cook!

At first, Ma Yuetian had hoped they would be able to fish up more everyday necessities.

They couldn’t.

Later, Ma Yuetian started hoping that maybe they could at least encounter some more sea monsters. Even if they didn’t have crystals, they could still eat sea monster meat.

But over the course of several months, the two of them had encountered only two large sea monsters, and both had been poisonous, crystal-less varieties that couldn’t be eaten. They had barely seen any medium-sized sea monsters at all. As for small ones, there were some, but either they couldn’t be eaten, or they were so tiny that there wasn’t even enough meat for a single meal.

Now, Ma Yuetian had completely snapped.

All she wanted was to see a pirate ship.

Then she would charge aboard and rob the robbers.

But there was nothing!!!!

Where were all those supposedly numerous pirates on Green Billow Star?!

Oh, Great God!

How on earth had the locals survived here?!

—Knock knock.

The sound of someone tapping on a bottle came from below. Since they no longer had any materials to make a door, Ma Yuetian had hung up a broken bottle and was treating it as a doorbell.

She crawled across the sea monster hide and poked her head over the edge to look down.

Even a garbage ship had its advantages. For example, since their Destiny Unordinary was cobbled together from pieces everywhere, there were inevitably gaps where the sections didn’t quite connect. This gave the ship surprisingly good visibility.

For instance, right now, Ma Yuetian could look through one of the little gaps and lock eyes with her teammate Zhu Feifan below.

Very convenient.

Zhu Feifan was also half lying on the “floor” made of plastic bottles, speaking weakly.

“Sis Tian, I really can’t hold out anymore. I haven’t managed to fish up a single fish in three days. Do you think it’s possible that I awakened a supernatural ability called Bad Luck?”

Ma Yuetian had already awakened a supernatural ability, one related to water.

So if either of the two really had Bad Luck, it was definitely Zhu Feifan.

Ma Yuetian said, “Don’t think of yourself that way. You have to believe that this is a test from our great God.”

“We’re this unlucky right now so that we’re saving it all up to welcome even greater luck!”

Mentioning the great God did indeed perk Zhu Feifan up a little.

If it were simply a matter of being unlucky, then yes, it was pretty depressing.

But if all of this was a test from their God, he instantly felt like he could keep going.

“Oh, Great God! Thank you for your trials!”

Zhu Feifan no longer felt miserable or discouraged. He even took the initiative to ask for a greater challenge.

“Please forgive me for complaining just now. Your devout believer is ready to face even more trials!”

Cheng Qisheng, who had just shifted her attention to the two of them: “…”

Don’t say things like that.

Who was testing you?!

She looked at Ma Yuetian again, and sure enough, she too had the expression of someone thinking, A little hunger is nothing. I can go another three or five days without food.

The great Blue Sea Creator God couldn’t help but rub her forehead.

They were already this hungry, yet they were still forcing themselves to endure.

It was only because they were Old Eighths with such sturdy constitutions. If they were Velvet Star natives or Dazzling Star natives, they would have been done for after three days without food.

Cheng Qisheng decided to try using her bird’s-eye view to find an area with plenty of prey for them.

But after scanning the surrounding area, she couldn’t find any particularly active sea monsters, even from above.

In fact, from the surface of the sea, there weren’t even any schools of fish passing by.

This situation was clearly abnormal.

But right now, the most important thing was to save the two starving Old Eighths.

Forget it. She’d find them some reinforcements instead.

Cheng Qisheng sensed for the nearest believers to the two of them. Even if they came flying, it would take at least a month for them to arrive.

The great Blue Sea Creator God fell silent.

She began trying to remember whether there had ever been a case of an Old Eighth going a month and three days without food and still surviving.

While Cheng Qisheng was still frowning and pondering what to do, the two people in question had already bounced back to life, happily energetic once more.

“Come on, come on, let’s keep fishing!!”

“I’ll use my ability to produce some more water for us to drink. If we get hungry, we’ll just drink water.”

“Or we could break open the sea monster bones we’ve collected and eat the marrow inside. We can grind the bones into powder, too. It’ll give us some calcium!”

The two of them immediately got to work, dragging out a huge pile of white bones.

They were all leftovers from the small sea monsters they’d eaten.

What? Why had they kept the bones after eating the meat?

Well, wasn’t it because the two of them couldn’t fish up anything useful?

Clean, varied in shape, and capable of being used as oars, windbreaks, or even beds, the bones were actually some of the higher-quality items in their storage.

Even if they had no immediate use for them, hanging them up still looked better than hanging up a pile of flattened plastic bottles, right?

Ma Yuetian picked out a piece of bone about the size of her palm.

“Let’s eat this one today.”

Then she picked out a small-leg-sized, grotesquely shaped sea monster skull.

“Tomorrow, we’ll eat this.”

Zhu Feifan picked up a fang that was as long as a human arm and still had barbs along it.

It had been left behind by the sea monster that had destroyed their first ship.

“Can we eat the tooth?”

Ma Yuetian thought about it.

“Probably not?”

“Besides, let’s save this one for last. You forgot? We couldn’t beat it. Keeping this tooth around will remind us of the lesson we learned and help us never forget our original goal.”

Zhu Feifan felt that made perfect sense.

Right.

Green Billow Star was enormous, but what if they encountered that sea monster again someday?

That was the first time in Zhu Feifan’s life, as someone with a fear of blood, that he had directly fought a living creature to the death.

The sensation of the creature’s green blood splattering across his face, the tremendous force with which it struggled, and the pain of its scales scraping across his arm were all sensations Zhu Feifan had never experienced before.

Every night, he would relive that battle in his mind.

Uncontrollably, he would picture the round, chubby face of that more-than-ten-meter-long sea monster that looked like it would be absolutely delicious; the thick, healthy shell on its back, like a sea turtle’s; its long, sharp claws; and those forelimbs that looked like they would make a wonderful stew…

The more Zhu Feifan thought about it, the hungrier he became, until he was practically delirious with hunger. For some reason, that green blood became especially vivid in his mind.

Cheng Qisheng had just issued a divine oracle summoning the nearest residents to come to their rescue. When she looked down, she saw the kid staring blankly ahead, clearly on the verge of passing out from hunger.

The great Blue Sea Creator God: “…”

She hurriedly bestowed a blessing on him.

Normally, blessings were useful. But for some reason, after Cheng Qisheng bestowed her blessing this time, Zhu Feifan visibly became even more dazed.

Ma Yuetian was startled and quickly caught him.

“What happened? What happened?”

Zhu Feifan struggled to squeeze out a word.

“Dizzy…”

“From hunger?” Ma Yuetian asked incredulously. “You’ve only been hungry for three days and you’re already done for? How about—how about you take a couple bites of that sea monster hide? If you get poisoned and start hallucinating, I’ll drag you back to the temple and get a priest!”

“N-no…” Zhu Feifan’s speech was already beginning to slur. “I-it’s… dizzy… from bl-blood…”

“I-I… got… dizzy from blood… Our God blessed me… Thank you, Great God.”

Cheng Qisheng: “…”

As expected of an Old Eighth. Even though he could barely articulate the other words because of his slurred speech, he had still insisted on pronouncing the four words “Thank you, Great God” loud and clear.

Ma Yuetian instinctively looked around in every direction, holding Zhu Feifan as she fell into confusion.

First of all:

“Thank you, Great God!”

Then: “You’re dizzy from blood? Where’s there any blood here? We haven’t even seen a living thing in three days!”

Zhu Feifan looked like he was about to cry. “I… imagined that sea monster’s blood… It smells so good… ‘slurp’.”

Ma Yuetian: “…”

Cheng Qisheng: “…”

The great Blue Sea Creator God decided to urge the residents coming to their rescue to hurry up as much as possible.

This was the first time she had ever seen an Old Eighth get so hungry that he went stupid.

<< _ >>

The post Safe City Ch.102.1 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

Davins’ mind was in complete turmoil when he suddenly heard the people chatting casually change the subject.

“What are we going to do with those people behind us?”

“Same as before.”

“I didn’t expect them to come right to us on their own. Now there’ll be more vacancies among the sailors. Ruolin should be able to send us quite a few more people, right?”

Alarm bells immediately rang in Davins’ mind.

What did that mean? What did they mean by ‘more vacancies’? And what did they mean by ‘send us quite a few more people’?

He thought of the Call-Singer that had been haunting the ship lately. He thought of the pirates who had disappeared one after another at night. He thought of how, whenever they encountered sea monsters, someone would always ‘accidentally’ fall overboard.

These people had also been bought by the captain because the number of crew members in the pirate crew had decreased.

Could it be… could there have never been any Call-Singer at all…?

No. He had to shout it out. He had to expose their conspiracy!

Davins opened his mouth, only to discover in horror that he couldn’t make a sound at all.

Only then did he remember. Right. There were clearly four of them, so why hadn’t the other three made the slightest sound this entire time?

Davins tried to turn his head, only to discover that he couldn’t move. He could only look out of the corner of his eye, just in time to see a pirate standing beside him, staring blankly ahead with vacant eyes.

Just as Davins was about to despair, he saw a tall figure patrolling the deck.

It was East!

East had been rescued by the captain, and he was utterly loyal to him. Even his name had been given to him by the captain.

Lord East had practically become the second-in-command of the ship. Even the first mate did not enjoy as much of the captain’s trust as he did.

Davins blinked frantically, desperately trying to make some kind of sound to attract East’s attention.

After all his effort, his hand finally gave a slight wave.

East, who was patrolling the deck, seemed to notice the movement and strode over.

Yes! Yes!

Lord East! I’m right here!

Davins was practically crying tears of joy.

Just as he had hoped, Lord East came over and stopped in front of him.

The two met each other’s eyes in the dim night.

“What happened? Did your anesthesia wear off? Why can he still move?” Lord East, the mute, spoke.

The excitement on Davins’s face instantly turned into confusion, despair, and disbelief.

They… they were in on it together?

Keshan slowly walked over. She looked Davins up and down and said,

“Maybe he has a higher tolerance for the anesthesia. But he can only move a little. He probably can’t speak.”

Those were the last words Davins ever heard in his life.

The next second, pain struck his chest.

Just as in the original plan, several people silently died during the night, all in the name of the Call-Singer.

Only, the people who died were not the ones he had planned to kill.

The next morning, when the pirate captain awoke, he once again received news that several crew members had gone missing.

Kalin irritably scratched his head.

“How many Call-Singer are there in these waters, anyway? Damn it! Those disobedient bastards—I told them they weren’t allowed to go out at night, didn’t I?!”

“Get in touch with that sl*ve trader from last time. The merchandise he had was better—good quality and obedient, too.”

—

Across the vast expanse of the sea, a sl*ve ship approached a fleet of pirate ships.

The guards aboard the pirate ship took a careful look.

“It’s the sl*ve trader Qi Wen.”

The other guards, who had been on alert, relaxed somewhat.

The sl*ve trader Qi Wen was fairly well-known on Green Billow Star. He had been in the sl*ve-trading business for ten years, and their pirate crew had done business with Qi Wen before.

Aboard the sl*ve ship, Ma Ruolin saw that the pirate ship showed no intention of attacking and began channeling her power into the puppet on the ground.

The puppet looked completely ordinary, except for a black mole on the tip of its nose.

A moment later, as the Puppet Master’s ability took effect, the puppet slowly grew human facial features. The sl*ve trader Qi Wen appeared before the Blue Sea people.

Ma Ruolin spoke, and Qi Wen spoke as well.

“This time, who among you wants to be sold?”

“Me, me, me, me!!”

“Sell me! Sell me!!”

“I’ve been waiting in line for ages!!!”

“Pick me! Pick me! I’m really good at pretending to be mute!”

The Blue Sea people immediately responded with great enthusiasm.

The puppet Qi Wen said with a smile,

“Their pirate crew is pretty big. They might need more people. Wait for good news from me.”

It slowly walked out, limping as it went and occasionally wiping the sweat from its forehead, just like the real Qi Wen, who had already been left at the bottom of the sea.

The pirates aboard the pirate crew watched as the sl*ve trader Qi Wen took a small boat by himself and came alone to their ship.

“Honored sirs… do you need any sailors? I have a batch of strong, capable men who have been thoroughly brainwashed by me.”

“I even gave them mute medicine. I guarantee they’ll be obedient~”

—

During this period, Cheng Qisheng could only watch with indescribable feelings as large numbers of Blue Sea residents infiltrated various major pirate crews under the identities of “sailors|guards who had been bought.”

The great Creator God of Blue Sea had to admit that she was impressed.

Blue Sea really was full of talented people.

Wiping out all the pirate crews and replacing them themselves might alert Kansidang and cause them to shut the “gate.”

So, from the very beginning, the divine oracle Cheng Qisheng gave was: do not wipe out all the pirate crews. Just make the Kansidang forces believe that some pirate crews had been eliminated, while some new forces had appeared in their place.

As it turned out, Blue Sea really was full of talented people.

Since they couldn’t kill all the pirate captains and take their places, the Blue Sea residents had a sudden flash of inspiration.

Why not leave the pirate captains alone and kill their underlings, then take their places instead?

That way, to the other pirates outside, the pirate crew would still be the same pirate crew, and its leader wouldn’t have changed either.

There was an idiom for this: the dove occupying the magpie’s nest.

Here, though, it was more like Old Eighth occupying the pirate crew.

The Blue Sea residents who boarded first would secretly kill some of the pirates. Once the pirate crew’s numbers dwindled and they needed reinforcements, the mechanical-type Puppet Master, Ma Ruolin, would make her entrance.

She would “sell” large numbers of Blue Sea people to these pirate crews.

The “price” paid for the Blue Sea people was still split fifty-fifty between the two sides.

Once aboard, the Blue Sea residents would seize every opportunity to keep reducing the pirate crew’s numbers, forcing them to recruit even more people.

And so, the number of Blue Sea residents aboard the pirate crews grew larger and larger, and they became more widely distributed. Then, whenever a pirate crew set its sights on a “fat sheep,” they would interfere and cause trouble.

By now, the Blue Sea residents were no longer satisfied with merely being guards or sailors.

On a pirate ship, the captain naturally held the highest position. To avoid alerting Kansidang, that position was best left untouched.

But the first mate, who ranked second, the second mate, who ranked third, and even the position of chief strategist were all positions the Blue Sea residents wanted.

As a result, Cheng Qisheng was astonished to discover that many Blue Sea residents had now begun learning the language of Green Billow Star.

All just so they wouldn’t have to pretend to be mute and could become members of the pirate crews’ upper ranks.

They were as serious as could be, and as hardworking as could be.

Many of them worked even harder than they had when they were students, and their progress was astonishingly fast. Some even went out of their way to rescue Green Billow Star natives just to create a good language environment for themselves and learn faster.

Cheng Qisheng: “…”

Old Eighth really was taking this whole battle thing seriously.

In any case, lately, many pirate captains probably felt that their luck had been pretty good.

Not only had they avoided any major dangers, but even when they encountered other pirate crews, no bloody conflicts over plunder had broken out.

That was because there were large numbers of Blue Sea people aboard both sides’ ships.

At a glance, everyone would see that the other side also had their own people, so naturally, a full-blown battle over plunder couldn’t break out.

Of course, occasionally, some Blue Sea residents would deliberately egg two pirate ships into fighting each other, after which they would attack the native pirates aboard the opposing ships.

That way, once a pirate crew had lost manpower in the battle, its captain would naturally need to buy more people from a sl*ve trader.

There were also Blue Sea residents who would deliberately lie in wait for pirate crews to start fighting over plunder, then secretly sneak into the losing side and deliberately join the winning side as “prisoners.”

Since the Blue Sea people were all sturdy and strong, with plenty of strength in their hands, they could basically be promoted to guards very quickly.

Even if they encountered people who wanted to treat them as “food,” at worst, they would simply stop pretending and take down the entire ship themselves.

Cheng Qisheng watched in utter amazement.

At this rate, all the pirate crews on Green Billow Star might as well be called Blue Sea crews.

Several months later.

—Black Adam Pirates—

The captain of the Black Adam Pirates was named Adam.

He owned more than a dozen pirate ships, and for fifty-three-year-old Captain Adam, this was the greatest achievement of his life.

“Things have been pretty peaceful lately.”

Captain Adam stood in the captain’s cabin above, looking down over the deck below.

The Blue Sea first mate beside him replied, “Yes, Captain. That’s a good thing.”

Captain Adam shook his head. “But it’s too quiet. That actually makes me feel uneasy, like there’s something wrong somewhere.”

The Blue Sea strategist immediately said, “Perhaps we’ve simply sailed into a sufficiently peaceful stretch of sea.”

Captain Adam still felt that something was off.

“Don’t you think we’ve caught too few fat sheep lately?”

“There have been a few fewer, Captain. Why don’t we take the initiative today and go looking for some fat sheep?” the Blue Sea second mate suggested.

Captain Adam thought for a moment. “Forget it. Let’s wait and see for now.”

He walked down the stairs. The Blue Sea guards he passed immediately stood at attention and stepped aside to clear a path for him.

Captain Adam looked with satisfaction at his sturdy guards.

Hmm! Not bad at all!

It was a shame they hadn’t run into any other pirate ships lately. Otherwise, if they could simply go up and plunder them, these guards he had paid a hefty price for would surely bring him the greatest possible returns.

Captain Adam took a few more steps and saw several Blue Sea sailors cleaning the deck.

They were working with great enthusiasm, looking extremely diligent.

Captain Adam was deeply convinced that his decision to promote these captured sl*ves to sailors had been absolutely correct.

Look at them! Weren’t they working for him now, overflowing with gratitude?

Captain Adam walked around to the other side. The Blue Sea carpenter aboard the ship was repairing the hull, while a Blue Sea mechanic was performing routine maintenance on the machinery.

The Blue Sea chief engineer kept his eyes on them, and when he saw the captain approaching, he immediately flashed a smile.

Captain Adam was fairly gentle toward technical personnel. After all, people with such skills weren’t something one could simply acquire whenever one wanted.

He was simply lucky enough to have captured such obedient and well-behaved technical experts.

“Don’t mind me. You carry on with your work.”

He continued on to the kitchen, where a Blue Sea chef was bustling around with several Blue Sea assistants.

“Captain, you’re here? Are you hungry? The meal isn’t ready yet. Would you like me to get you a bowl of soup first?”

Captain Adam shook his head. He was quite pleased to see the chef he had picked up during a rainstorm working so diligently, and replied with reserved composure,

“No need. I’m just taking a look around.”

Captain Adam then went to the infirmary, where the Blue Sea ship’s doctor, who liked to wear white, came over to greet him.

“Captain, are you feeling unwell?”

Captain Adam looked around the neatly organized infirmary, which had even recently acquired an operating room, and was in an excellent mood.

This doctor he had snatched from another pirate ship was truly excellent. The other crew members all said that having a ship’s doctor made things much more convenient whenever they had a headache, a fever, or some other minor ailment.

“No, I’m just taking a stroll. You carry on.”

The more Captain Adam looked around, the better he felt.

He was deeply convinced that under his capable leadership, his Black Adam Pirates were growing stronger every day.

Ah!

Since he had already toured so many places today, he might as well go check on the fat sheep too.

Captain Adam entered the sl*ve quarters, and the Blue Sea warden guarding the door came over with a smile to open it for him.

He walked in and looked them over one by one. The Blue Sea “fat sheep,” who had just received word and hurried all the way from their comfortable lounge to squat down in the sl*ve quarters, all put on standard pleading expressions as well.

“Captain, please let me go!”

“I’m willing to work like a beast for you!”

“I can do anything!!”

Listening to the fat sheep’s pleas, Captain Adam felt a surge of smug satisfaction.

Sure, he hadn’t encountered many fat sheep lately, but weren’t there still plenty of them right here?

He looked down at them from above, savoring the feeling of being in a position of absolute superiority. Only after he had enjoyed himself enough did he turn and leave.

Captain Adam carefully went over everything in his mind. After making a full round of the ship, he found that everything was perfectly normal. There wasn’t a single thing that seemed out of place.

Even after Captain Adam finished his tour and stepped onto the deck, the affiliated pirate ships following behind his vessel had pirates waving excitedly at him as well.

The Blue Sea pirates among the affiliated crews waved enthusiastically.

“Captain!!”

“Greetings, Captain!!!”

Captain Adam smiled and waved back at his subordinates.

Afterward, he returned to the captain’s cabin, where the Blue Sea guard standing outside immediately opened the door for him.

Captain Adam opened a drawer and checked the communication crystal ball and the Kansidang key sitting safely inside. Only then did he close the drawer with satisfaction and lie back down on his bed.

Before falling asleep, Captain Adam once again recalled the various sights aboard his ship, then closed his eyes in complete satisfaction.

It seemed he had simply been overthinking things.

His Black Adam Pirates were absolutely thriving.

The Pirate Conference was only a month away.

Captain Adam thought with full confidence that he would definitely bring these reliable subordinates of his along and show them off proudly to the other pirate crews.

<< _ >>

The post Safe City Ch.101.3 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

Having witnessed his companion being carried away by the giant bird, the other mercenary on the cliff panicked and fell hard onto the ground. He kicked his legs, pulled out his pistol, and fired at the flying giant bird with a series of sharp “bangs.”

Every one of his movements was completed at a ridiculously slow speed, far beyond anything an ordinary person could comprehend. Even the amount of time the mercenary’s body remained suspended in the air as he fell backward, as well as the speed at which the bullets spun through the air after leaving the barrel, was much slower than normal.

The entire scene looked as though someone had forcibly set the playback speed to 0.5x, making it both absurd and comical.

By comparison, the mercenaries below the cliff reacted with lightning speed. While the mercenary at the top was still falling backward, they had already drawn pistols, submachine guns, AKs, and other weapons, aiming at the monster bird’s wings and opening fire.

Unfortunately, their efforts could not save their companion, because their bullets were completely unable to enter the island.

Below the cliff, the bullets traveled at perfectly normal speeds. However, when they flew diagonally toward the edge of the cliff and were about to enter the airspace directly above the island, it was as though they had slammed into a thick wall of gelatin—their speed suddenly dropped. An invisible barrier tightly wrapped itself around the bullets. Under the tremendous resistance, the mass of bullets spun wildly for a while before finally remaining suspended in midair and slowly coming to a stop.

Of all the bullets, only those fired by the mercenary on the cliff could fly straight upward without obstruction. But the bullets traveled very slowly. When, carrying the hopes of everyone below, they finally struck the similarly slow-moving giant bird at an upward angle, they were like a few drops of drizzle landing on the bird’s wings—light and feeble, without stirring up the slightest disturbance.

The bird’s flight path was completely unaffected. Its talons tightened around the slowly struggling mercenary, and with a few beats of its wings, it unhurriedly disappeared into the jungle behind the cliff.

Seeing this, Everly was basically certain that time flowed more slowly on the Island of the Fountain of Youth than it did in the real world.

This was not good news for Everly.

For example, suppose the ratio between the flow of time on the island and that of the outside world was 1:2. By the time two minutes had passed in the outside world and Venus had moved for two minutes, the people on the island would have only moved forward for one minute. Clearly, this would severely limit the amount of time they had to explore the island.

The island was vast, and it was home to dangerous creatures like giant birds as well as all manner of bizarre plants. Even without setting foot on the island, simply looking at it from the outskirts was enough for Everly to imagine how many difficulties and dangers they would encounter along the way. If time flowed even more slowly there than in the outside world, then in an extreme case, wouldn’t they end up having barely walked a short distance across the island while the transit of Venus outside was already almost over?

Clearly, Grant and the others outside the island had thought of this as well, because before long, Everly saw him order the mercenaries to climb onto the island using the ropes.

The team had just lost a man, so the mercenary leader seemed rather reluctant. He exchanged a few heated words with Grant, and no one knew what Grant said to him, but before long, the entire team began to move.

The mercenaries deemed the most expendable went first.

One after another, they climbed up the ropes at remarkable speed. As soon as they reached the top, they immediately raised their weapons and kept watch in every direction, providing cover for their comrades climbing up behind them.

Fortunately, no more giant birds appeared during the climb. All the mercenaries successfully made it to the top of the cliff, followed by the shaman, Grant, and the witch Savannie.

Everly carefully counted them. There were twenty-seven people in Grant’s group, and not a single one had been left behind. Every one of them had made it onto the island.

She waited patiently until the very last half-visible head disappeared into the trees at the edge of the cliff. Only then did she begin swimming toward the island.

When she reached the ropes, Everly climbed into the inflatable boat. As she changed clothes, she turned her head toward Kesuye and said, “I’m going up now. Will you wait here for me? If…”

Everly wanted to say that if she didn’t come back in time, he shouldn’t wait for her. He could just find some stretch of ocean and go enjoy his life as a fish. But then she thought better of it. Saying something like that would practically be asking for trouble. In horror movies, the people most likely to meet a tragic end were the ones who carelessly tempted fate by making ominous declarations!

So she warily swallowed the words before they could leave her mouth and instead reached out to pat Kesuye on the head.

“Just wait here for me. I’ll come back,” she said.

Kesuye believed her without a doubt.

He nudged his forehead against Everly’s palm, then held her hand and rubbed his cheek against it. His every movement was filled with reluctance and attachment, while his big, watery eyes were so damp they looked ready to rain.

“I’ll wait for you… Come back quickly. I’ll be lonely.”

Everly couldn’t help laughing.

This carefree big whale spent his days with nothing to do but chase spotted dolphins around and b*lly them. Who would have thought someone like him could get lonely too…? In that case, she’d better put in some extra effort, or those spotted dolphins were going to have a rough time.

…

After changing clothes, Everly slung her backpack over her shoulders and grabbed the rope tightly with both hands. She kicked against the wet, slippery cliff face with both feet, and before long, she successfully climbed to the top and set foot on the island.

By then, there was no one left near the edge of the cliff. The only things remaining were two ropes, tied forlornly around the thick stem of a sturdy fern-like plant. Looking closely, she could still see traces of footprints in the muddy ground, disappearing into the dense forest far inside the plain.

Everly didn’t immediately follow them.

For one thing, the flow of time inside and outside the island was different. She had spent another five minutes outside the island, which meant that, converted to island time, Grant’s group might have been walking for less than two minutes. Following them recklessly could result in her being discovered.

For another, there was something else she needed to confirm.

Worried that a giant bird might ambush her, Everly walked over to a strange plant with twisted, curling leaves. She used her knife to cut off one of its enormous leaves and strapped it to her back as camouflage. Keeping a vigilant eye on her surroundings, she leaned out over the edge of the cliff.

Below, Kesuye was holding Everly’s phone and obediently waiting in the water.

Everly tried speaking to him, only to discover that she couldn’t hear what Kesuye was saying, and Kesuye couldn’t hear her instructions either. She guessed that the force preventing bullets from outside the island from entering also affected the transmission of sound.

So she raised a hand and, as they had agreed beforehand, gave Kesuye the signal to begin.

Kesuye received the signal and immediately tapped the timer button on the phone. When one minute had passed, he raised his head and waved his arm vigorously at Everly.

Everly nodded and mouthed a “thank you” to Kesuye before ducking her head back down and hiding beneath a nearby plant.

Just now, when Kesuye had started the countdown outside the island, Everly had simultaneously activated the timer function on her watch at the top of the cliff, using it to measure the passage of time on the island.

The results showed that while one minute passed in the outside world, only twenty-one seconds passed on the island. The ratio between time inside and outside was approximately 1:3.

In other words, Everly had only about two hours to explore.

Once that time was up, the transit of Venus would end, and the island might sink straight back beneath the sea. It might not—but no one was willing to bet their life on it.

If she didn’t want to get trapped here, Everly had better pick up the pace.

She had originally intended to let Grant and the others get farther ahead, but she hadn’t expected time to be this tight. At this point, being discovered by Grant didn’t seem quite so frightening anymore. At least it was better than failing to find the Fountain of Youth and returning empty-handed.

With that thought, Everly stopped waiting. She pulled out the chameleon skull and gripped it in one hand, kept her weapon firmly in the other, slung her backpack over her shoulders, and slipped into the dense forest.

According to Orff’s poem, to find the Fountain of Youth, she first needed to locate a cave and then “follow a flat and pitch-black straight road.”

At first, Everly guessed that the cave might be somewhere along the cliffs. But Grant’s boat had circled the entire island. If they had encountered a cave along the way, there was no reason they wouldn’t have gone inside. Since they had ultimately chosen to climb onto the island, that meant there were no caves along the cliffs.

In that case, the cave might be located on Pudding Mountain in the center of the island, meaning she would have to cross the forest to reach it. This possibility actually lined up with Alexander the Great’s experience of searching for the Fountain of Youth.

Of course, all of this was just Everly’s speculation. She had no way of knowing whether she was right.

This was where the benefits of watching plenty of horror movies came into play. Judging by his character, there was a good chance Grant was the villain of a horror movie series. And major villains rarely took unnecessary detours when acting alone. It was only when they encountered the protagonists that they would suddenly develop strange ailments, such as excessive talking, brain damage, or getting carried away with their own cleverness. So Everly decided to simply follow him.

As it turned out, this was an exceedingly wise decision.

The forest was strange.

The temperature on the island was extremely high, close to 30°C, and the air was saturated with heavy moisture. Every step Everly took sank deep into the ground, squeezing out dark black humus with an unpleasant “squelch.”

Everly considered herself fairly well-traveled and knowledgeable, yet she didn’t recognize a single one of the plants growing on this island.

Most of them were ferns. They grew extraordinarily tall, blocking out the sky and sun. Their long leaves resembled green feathers, while the tender shoots at their tips curled inward into fist-sized spirals. Some plants even had small brown bumps growing on the undersides of their leaves. If touched accidentally, these bumps would erupt like miniature volcanoes, spraying out enormous clouds of choking spores.

After witnessing one of those eruptions herself, Everly became especially cautious whenever she passed one of those plants.

The forest was also home to all sorts of strange animals and insects.

Near the edge of the island, they weren’t particularly common, and most of them were relatively small. As Everly walked, she would occasionally see nearby plants rustling violently, or catch a fleeting shadow darting between the leaves.

As she ventured deeper into the forest, however, the creatures stirring within it gradually became more numerous.

She saw brown cockroaches as large as slippers take flight between the plants; enormous insects resembling millipedes coiled around the roots of ferns—their plump bodies were as thick as thighs, with countless pairs of slender legs protruding from beneath their thick carapaces, making a constant rustling sound as they crawled over the leaves; a group of small dinosaurs no larger than turkeys running beneath the cover of fern fronds; and several completely flat trilobites slowly writhing in a puddle.

Dinosaurs and trilobites were simply too famous. Even though Everly knew little about other organisms, the moment she saw the familiar forms of these two creatures, she recognized them at a glance.

The Creator who had made this island seemed to have a strange collecting habit. They had gathered all sorts of creatures that had appeared on Earth since its birth and thrown them together onto this hot, humid island.

Moss, ferns, seed plants, giant insects, prehistoric amphibians, dinosaurs…

Though they had been born in entirely different geological eras and evolved in vastly different natural environments, these creatures somehow lived together on the island in a bizarre yet thriving ecosystem, even forming a unique food chain.

The lush moss and ferns served as food for all the herbivores. The small trilobites in the puddles were preyed upon by slipper-sized cockroaches. Then, when a gigantic dragonfly with a wingspan approaching one meter appeared, the arrogant giant cockroach was captured in an instant. Amid the “click-clack” of its pincer-like mouthparts chewing, the cockroach was reduced to shredded scraps of food…

“Bang! Bang-bang!”

As Everly walked, a burst of rapid gunfire suddenly came from the jungle ahead. Sensing that something was wrong, she tightened her grip on the skull in her hand and proceeded forward even more cautiously.

A few minutes later, following the footprints to the source of the gunfire, Everly saw the first human corpse of her journey—a mercenary lying in the mud, his neck bent backward, his body twisted into a grotesque position.

Beside the mercenary’s corpse lay a dead giant lizard. It was still frozen in the position it had been in while biting the mercenary, its jaws open and its white teeth deeply embedded in the man’s neck. Bullet holes covered its thick, scaly hide, and blood was still seeping from the wounds.

Clearly, the lizard had attacked the mercenary moments ago and bitten him to death.

<< TOC >>

The post Rules Ch.346 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

Over the next few days, perhaps because they were too far apart, Everly and Grant remained at peace with each other, and no one came looking for trouble with Everly.

Still, since she was putting on an act, Everly made sure to play her role as an environmental volunteer to the fullest. Every day, she would pretend to observe dolphins on the deck, occasionally scoop up some seawater for samples, write in her journal, record some videos, and so on.

Late at night, she would meet with Kesuye and learn from him about what was happening aboard Grant’s ship.

Most of it was useless junk information, but every now and then, there would be something worthwhile.

For example, on the morning of December 9, Kesuye overheard the Thorn Witch and the shaman aboard the ship getting into an argument.

The shaman wanted to teach that “insolent little girl” a lesson, so he picked up some hair she had shed and wrapped it around a voodoo doll, intending to curse the witch and make her suffer.

But the result was the exact opposite of what he intended. The Thorn Witch was the type who grew stronger the more she suffered. Pain not only failed to make her submit; it instead brought out her vicious side. She and the shaman got into a fierce fight, and the shaman suffered a regrettable defeat. After being thoroughly beaten into submission, he no longer dared challenge the witch.

From this, Everly learned that the shaman in Grant’s group most likely followed Voodoo.

Voodoo shamans often forge their bodies into vessels capable of containing spiritual power, then release that power through methods such as voodoo dolls, concocting herbal medicines, and communicating with or summoning spirits, using it to attack their enemies.

When dealing with a Voodoo shaman, there are two rules you must always remember—

Horror Movie Survival Rule #7: Be wary of any food or drinks that have left your sight, and Horror Movie Survival Rule #18: Make sure to properly dispose of anything that has fallen from your body, such as hair, flakes of skin, and blood.

Because before casting a spell, Voodoo practitioners often need to obtain a part of your body, or get you to drink a potion containing a part of their own body.

Besides the information about the shaman, Kesuye also eavesdropped on Grant and the Thorn Witch during their private conversation before bed.

According to the information he had gathered, the Thorn Witch was named Savannie, and she and Grant were lovers.

The witch had known for a long time that Grant was constantly changing bodies, and she didn’t mind it at all. In fact, she was even more sympathetic toward her boyfriend because of it. Savannie had accompanied Grant to the island this time specifically to obtain the Fountain of Youth and achieve immortality with her boyfriend.

However, the only people aboard the ship who knew about the Fountain of Youth were Grant, Savannie, and the shaman. As for the mercenaries, Grant had told them that the mission was an expedition to explore ruins and search for treasure. The mercenaries knew nothing about the Fountain of Youth; they had come solely for the generous pay.

Everly suspected that once they reached the Fountain of Youth, Grant would very likely kill the mercenaries after they had outlived their usefulness.

“…After Grant and the witch finished talking, they started fighting. The two of them were making all sorts of noises in bed, like they were in a lot of pain.” Kesuye added innocently.

Everly: “…”

That wasn’t called fighting. That was the great harmony of human life.

Everly felt that once they returned, she might have to make Kesuye complete one of those educational apps covering everything from elementary school through high school. Otherwise, being so ignorant, he was bound to get b*llied whenever he went out.

In any case, thanks to Kesuye’s eavesdropping, Everly had gotten a great deal of information about Grant’s group ahead of time. Grant and his people didn’t even know that Everly, a potential competitor, existed.

Time flew by day after day. Amid the tense waiting on both sides, December 11 finally arrived.

According to the local Bahamian news broadcast, the transit of Venus would begin at 8:19 a.m. and end at 2:49 p.m. in the Bahamas, lasting approximately 6.5 hours.

Everly had prepared well in advance. She filled her stomach, put on her diving suit, and packed firearms and other equipment into a waterproof backpack, which she slung over her back.

At 8:00 a.m., she jumped into the sea and, guided by Kesuye, swam northward beneath the surface until she reached a spot several hundred meters from Grant’s ship. There, she quietly hid underwater by creating pockets of air.

As the minutes ticked by, 8:19 a.m. finally arrived. Everly brought her face close to the surface and looked up at the sky. Through the shimmering ripples of the water, she saw a small black dot slowly appear along the edge of the sun.

That black dot was Venus.

It had moved between the Earth and the sun. Because of its relatively small size, it could only block part of the sunlight, causing it to appear as a black dot slowly moving from one side of the sun to the other.

“Rumble… rumble-rumble…”

At the same time, a low-frequency sound wave traveled through the seawater and reached Everly’s ears.

The ocean was trembling.

In the seawater, the schools of fish that had been swimming slowly suddenly scattered in all directions as though they had gone mad, their silvery scales reflecting countless tiny points of light beneath the water.

Then, enormous amounts of swirling silt rose from the seafloor, spreading from the deep sea into the shallower waters within moments. Countless bubbles and fragments of shattered reef were mixed into the sediment, obscuring her vision in a murky haze.

Looking down from above, the entire sea was shrouded in a thick gray-black cloud of silt, becoming a dark abyss whose bottom could not be seen.

Then Everly saw the light.

A ghostly green glow appeared from far, far down at the very end of the abyss. At first, it was faint, like a fresh sprout just emerging from a branch, like a star embedded in the night sky. As time passed, the light grew brighter and more dazzling, while the source of the light rose higher and higher.

It was like a strange-colored sun rising from the bottom of the sea, burning, rumbling, and roaring as it slowly ascended from the dark seafloor, causing the ocean to shake with unprecedented violence.

Surrounded by seawater, Everly felt as though she had been tossed into a running washing machine, helplessly tumbling along with the waves. Even with Kesuye helping to keep her steady, she was still shaken so badly that she became dizzy and nauseous.

She had no idea how much time had passed when, with a tremendous “CRASH!”, an enormous island suddenly broke through the surface of the sea and emerged into the open air.

With that as the dividing line, the trembling that had continued through the ocean for so long finally came to an end, and the brilliant green light vanished as well. Only the clouds of silt that had been stirred up remained suspended in the seawater, rising and settling again as marine creatures swam through them.

Everly cautiously poked half her head out of the water.

It was actually somewhat risky to do this, but she felt that at a time like this, no one was likely to have the attention to spare for anything else.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the island.

It was an enormous circular island.

The island was almost as large as a medium-sized town. Along its edges, there were none of the sandy beaches or rocky slopes commonly found on ordinary islands. Instead, the entire perimeter was lined with steep cliffs. The gray-black cliffs stood roughly two stories high, their faces almost perpendicular to the surface of the sea.

The cliffs were covered in a thick layer of silt. Green-blue seaweed grew densely through the mud, interspersed with corals and seashells of various colors, all dripping streams of water down the cliff face.

Beyond the cliffs, farther inland, there seemed to be a vast plain. Because of her angle from the water, Everly couldn’t make out exactly what was on the plain. She could only see large numbers of strange blue-green plants growing there with utterly unnatural abandon.

The island had been submerged beneath the sea all this time, so there shouldn’t have been any terrestrial plants growing on it at all. Yet there they were, flourishing wildly and bursting with vitality, making the island look like a vast green maze.

The outer plain occupied roughly three-quarters of the island’s radius. The remaining quarter was the central region, where there was a curved mountain.

The mountain was remarkably regular in shape, resembling an upside-down pudding. The “pudding” was likewise covered in dense vegetation. It was too far away for Everly to make out what species they were, but she could tell that the plants had astonishingly large leaves, some of them twisted into strange curls.

“It’s getting foggy…”

As she stared blankly at the sight, Kesuye’s voice suddenly sounded beside her. Prompted by him, Everly looked around, and sure enough, as the island rose from the sea, thick fog began to appear around the island and over the surrounding surface of the ocean.

The fog was extremely strange. At first glance, it was as thick as milk, and Everly couldn’t even see the surface of the sea more than two meters away through it. Yet when she looked toward the Island of the Fountain of Youth or at the sun directly overhead, her vision was completely unaffected.

It was as though that island had become the sun of the human world, constantly radiating an irresistible attraction, drawing moths to a flame, one after another, urging them to throw themselves forward and give everything they had in exchange for immortality…

“Grant and the others are getting closer,” Kesuye said again.

Everly looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a gray-black boat appear in front of the cliffs on the right side of the island. Judging by its appearance, it was the speedboat being used by Grant’s group.

The speedboat traveled along the island’s edge for a while, presumably looking for a place where they could land. But the entire perimeter of the island was made up of cliffs, with no low-lying sections at all. Before long, their pointless search came to an end. Instead, a small inflatable boat was lowered from the speedboat’s deck.

Several well-trained mercenaries were aboard the inflatable boat.

They rowed it to the foot of the cliffs and stopped. Then, two of the mercenaries strapped ropes to their backs and took climbing axes and other tools. After feeling their way along the cliff for a while, they grabbed hold of protrusions such as coral reefs and began slowly and laboriously climbing upward.

The cliff face was wet and slippery, with a steep incline. The protrusions clinging to the rock sometimes couldn’t support a person’s weight, causing both the person and the handhold to fall together. Even with the other mercenaries providing support from below, the two men still took nearly ten minutes to successfully climb to the top of the cliff.

After reaching the top, according to the usual procedure, the two mercenaries should have searched for a large tree or rock at the cliff’s edge, secured the end of their ropes, and then thrown the other ends down so their teammates below could climb up along them.

However, whether they had simply exhausted themselves or for some other reason, the two began moving at an absurdly slow pace as soon as they reached the top. They spent several minutes kneeling on the ground, panting and resting, before finally getting to their feet at a snail’s pace. Then, step by step, at a speed that made anyone watching grow anxious, they slowly made their way toward the inner side of the cliff.

The two were gone for nearly another ten minutes.

During that time, the people below shouted to them and called over the radio, but received no response.

Roused by the shouting, Grant and the other two, who had been waiting inside the cabin, finally appeared and stepped onto the deck. Together with the other mercenaries, they looked up at the empty top of the cliff, their expressions grave as they watched for any sign of what was happening.

As the seconds ticked by, the people below gradually lost patience. They assumed that the two mercenaries had met with an accident and were preparing to send another team up to investigate when, suddenly, two ropes were thrown down from the cliff above.

Then, two heads slowly poked out over the edge of the cliff, one on the left and one on the right. Their mouths opened and closed slowly as they said something to the people below.

Everly didn’t know how the mercenaries below responded. Her attention had been completely captured by the enormous bird that appeared behind the two men.

Judging by its proportions, the giant bird had a wingspan of nearly five meters, and the outline of its head looked remarkably similar to that of the pterosaurs displayed in museums. However, its wings weren’t bat-like membranes; its body was also covered in thick feathers. If not for the structure of its head, it really would have been nothing more than an absurdly gigantic bird.

It flew out from the island, slowly beating its enormous wings as its center of gravity sank and its legs stretched diagonally downward. It swooped toward the two people on the cliff.

To be fair, the bird was flying very slowly. From the moment it appeared in the sky to the moment it seized the mercenary below, nearly ten seconds passed. Its speed was practically comparable to that of a fluttering butterfly.

Naturally, the mercenaries below the cliff also spotted the bird. They shouted loudly to warn their teammates at the top, their voices carrying far enough that even Everly could hear them.

Under normal circumstances, faced with an attack from a giant bird of this level, any well-trained mercenary should have had plenty of time to dodge. Yet the two people at the top of the cliff acted as though their bodies had been frozen in place. No matter how loudly their teammates shouted warnings from below, they remained sitting there in a daze, kneeling motionless on the ground. Only their heads slowly turned upward at an angle.

And so, amid everyone’s desperate cries, the giant bird eventually reached the mercenaries. It seized the unlucky man on the left with its pincer-like talons, then beat its wings and took off from the ground.

“No——!!!”

An angry shout erupted from the mercenaries below the cliff. Far away in the seawater, Everly watched everything happening there with a frown, a thoughtful look on her face.

<< TOC >>

The post Rules Ch.345 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

“Hmm…”

After hearing this, Forensic Examiner Sun thought through everything from the beginning again, then considered his apprentice’s reaction and realized that her reasoning really did make sense.

Who would’ve thought? Aside from drawing portraits and working with trace evidence, Jiang Xia was actually this good at solving cases too?

There was just something strangely unsettling about the way she talked about it.

Maybe it was because he hadn’t solved a case himself in so many years that he couldn’t keep up with her train of thought anymore.

Shaking his head, Forensic Examiner Sun looked at her youthful face, then at his own wrinkled hands, and couldn’t help feeling rather emotional.

Comparing yourself to others really could drive you crazy.

While judging the amount of force needed to bend the corpse’s joints, Forensic Examiner Sun asked again, “Then what makes you think it was someone the victim knew?”

“Generally speaking, when people talk to strangers, they maintain a certain degree of caution. They wouldn’t normally stand this close, face-to-face. Of course, that’s not absolute. There are exceptions.”

Jiang Xia pointed at the watch on the victim’s wrist.

“But when a stranger premeditates a murder, it’s usually for robbery. Yet the victim was wearing something as valuable as this watch, and the killer didn’t take it. That doesn’t fit the pattern of murder for profit. It looks much more like revenge. Considering how they were positioned, it was probably a grudge that the victim didn’t think was a big deal, but that the suspect hated him for to the point of obsession. That kind of situation generally only happens between people who know each other.”

“Tsk—”

Forensic Examiner Sun drew a quiet breath.

That line of reasoning was really fast.

A young mind really was something else.

“So if that’s the case, once we identify this man, we should basically be able to narrow down the suspect, right?”

After assessing the difficulty, Forensic Examiner Sun was considerably more optimistic. Seeing that most of the crowd had dispersed, he said to Yang Lihua, “Xiao Yang, go get the thermometer for taking rectal temperature.”

Well, Jiang Xia didn’t need Forensic Examiner Sun to say anything else. She immediately got up and left.

She had no desire to subject her eyes and nose to any more torture.

By this time, Photographer Zhao had finished readjusting his camera. He walked over to the corpse, preparing to take close-up photographs of the wound.

Now that the crowd was gone, Trace Examiner Li also perked up. He began searching the chaotic ground bit by bit, trying to find some useful traces.

Meanwhile, Captain Tan had finally managed to get rid of the reporters. Frowning, he walked over and asked, “Old Sun, have you confirmed the victim’s condition?”

“Male. He has no identification documents on him, so we can’t determine his identity for now. Judging by his appearance, he’s probably a little over twenty-five years old and about one meter seventy-eight tall. He suffered multiple blows to the head from a metal blunt weapon, resulting in a depressed fracture of the parietal bone that penetrated the cranial cavity. He died from a brainstem hemorrhage.”

As he spoke, Forensic Examiner Sun glanced at the thermometer again. “The time of death should be between twenty-four and forty hours ago, so roughly one to two days.”

“Really?”

Tan Bingyi glanced over the corpse and its surroundings, immediately confirming that this was not the primary crime scene. He asked somewhat skeptically, “Don’t get the time of death wrong again.”

Damn you. Believe it or don’t!

Forensic Examiner Sun really wanted to curse at him, but remembering his previous misjudgments, he swallowed his irritation and said, “I’ve checked rigor mortis, livor mortis, and body temperature. All three point to the same conclusion. I can’t be wrong!”

“All right, then.”

Tan Bingyi reluctantly relaxed.

“Anything else?”

“There is.”

That was about all the basic examination that could be done here. Once he was finished, Forensic Examiner Sun instructed Yang Lihua to help him pull the victim’s pants back up. When they were done, Sun stood up and took two steps back before saying, “Jiang Xia thinks it looks like a premeditated murder committed by someone the victim knew.”

“Premeditated murder by someone the victim knew?”

Tan Bingyi frowned slightly and turned to Jiang Xia. “Tell me your reasoning.”

Jiang Xia had no choice but to come over and explain her reasoning again.

After listening, Tan Bingyi pondered for a moment before saying, “The reasoning is sound. The three most common motives for murder are indeed financial gain, romantic entanglements, and revenge. The fact that the body was moved means the killer had sufficient time. If robbery was the motive, there’d be no reason to leave the victim’s watch behind, so we can rule out murder for money.”

“The case for revenge is quite strong, but we can’t rule out a crime of passion either. After all, it’s fairly common for men to commit murder because of romantic disputes.”

Jiang Xia had thought of that too, but she had simply categorized it under revenge—resentment born from romantic conflict, after all.

Now that Captain Tan had pointed it out, she didn’t argue and simply said, “You’re right, Captain Tan. I didn’t consider everything.”

“It’s fine.”

She was young, after all, and hadn’t had much experience with romantic relationships. It was understandable that she hadn’t thought of it. Besides, the category of “someone the victim knew who held a grudge against him” also encompassed crimes of passion, so it wouldn’t be overlooked during the investigation.

Still, Tan Bingyi couldn’t help regretting that he hadn’t listened to Chen Dong’s suggestion back then and had turned away such a promising young talent. Now, even if he wanted to transfer her over, he couldn’t.

He sighed inwardly and asked again, “Any other leads?”

“Old Li says this isn’t the primary crime scene. He suspects the killer was preparing to dump the body here last night, but may have been startled by some kind of disturbance and fled, leaving the body behind.”

Forensic Examiner Sun glanced at Trace Examiner Li in the distance. “He suspects the killer may still be somewhere nearby.”

That was quite possible, too.

Jiang Xia stroked her chin.

After all, anyone who regularly commits murder knows that killing someone is easy; getting rid of the body is the hard part.

A body that large isn’t something you can just hide anywhere. Not only is it difficult to find a place to conceal it, but it will also start to stink after a while, so it has to be dealt with quickly.

And in terms of typical behavior, most people would either dump the body somewhere far away or bury it nearby, and each method has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Take dumping it far away, for example. If the body is taken somewhere remote and isn’t discovered, then naturally the killer is less likely to be traced.

But dumping a body isn’t easy either. A corpse is simply too conspicuous. If someone is spotted carrying one around, it’s all over. The killer would inevitably be extremely tense, and the slightest disturbance might scare them into abandoning the body and fleeing.

But this case…

“I don’t think it quite adds up.”

Jiang Xia frowned slightly as she thought it over. “Judging from the method of killing, the murderer clearly thought things through carefully before committing the crime. So they must have considered how to dispose of the body afterward.”

“If the murderer ultimately chose to dump the body somewhere far away, they must have considered the possibility of encountering someone. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have gone out to dump it at night. Since they’d already gone this far, why didn’t they prepare a cart or use a tricycle to conceal the body? If they couldn’t do that, they could at least have disfigured the victim’s face. Otherwise, as long as an outsider found the body before the face had completely decomposed, it would still be easy to identify him and trace the killer.”

“And yet this corpse’s face is almost completely intact, and it was left right here… This is a residential area in the middle of the city. People were bound to discover it first thing in the morning. Isn’t that practically asking to be caught?”

As she spoke, Jiang Xia suddenly realized that she was arguing against herself.

Wait. According to her own analysis, the murderer should have been extremely calm and meticulous. So why would they leave the body here? Something didn’t add up.

“Huh?”

Tan Bingyi fell into thought.

Just moments ago, he’d thought this case was fairly straightforward. But after hearing Jiang Xia’s analysis, he suddenly realized that something really was off.

After thinking for two seconds, Tan Bingyi immediately understood.

No, wait. Jiang Xia had gotten him thinking along the wrong lines. When had an ordinary murderer ever been this meticulous and decisive?

This wasn’t some specially trained agent from decades ago!

“Hold on, hold on, Jiang Xia. You’re giving the killer too much credit.”

Tan Bingyi quickly thought back to the foolish criminals he’d dealt with over the past few years and adjusted his thinking.

“Premeditation and execution are two different things. If this is the killer’s first time committing a crime, how could they possibly be so psychologically prepared? Making all kinds of mistakes is actually what’s normal.”

As he spoke, Tan Bingyi glanced at Jiang Xia, but in the end, he swallowed the words that had risen to his lips.

‘You sure know an awful lot about killing people and disposing of bodies, huh?’

Still, Captain Tan had to admit that his explanation was quite plausible.

“That’s true.”

Jiang Xia temporarily stopped dwelling on her own theory and focused on the key point. “The most important thing right now is to identify the victim first, then see whether we can find any traces of whatever was used to transport the body.”

If there had been a vehicle or other means of transportation, the suspect might not be from the immediate vicinity.

“Exactly. We’ve already had Old Chen and the others look into the victim’s identity. They’re asking around nearby.”

Tan Bingyi glanced back at the victim’s clothing, unable to suppress a trace of worry.

This location, combined with how well-dressed the victim was… Please, don’t let him be some government official. Otherwise, the pressure to solve the case would be even greater.

In the midst of the silence, Trace Examiner Li, who was searching for traces, suddenly straightened up.

“Zhao Zhengwu, are you done taking those photos? Hurry over when you are. I found traces of whatever was used to transport the body!”

Jiang Xia immediately turned her head.

‘There were traces of a transport tool?’

Trace Examiner Li really was pretty capable. With the ground in such a mess, he’d actually managed to find something useful.

Of course, that also meant the area they needed to investigate had just become much larger.

Photographer Zhao was still taking pictures of the wound. Hearing someone call for him, he replied without even looking up, “Give me a second. I’ll be right there.”

Jiang Xia, meanwhile, headed toward Trace Examiner Li.

She had only made it halfway there when Huang Xueling came running over, panting heavily. Seeing that everyone was already there, her face filled with frustration.

‘I’m late!’

It couldn’t really be blamed on her, though. Her home was nearby, but as a trace-evidence apprentice, she wasn’t considered particularly useful, so the city bureau had notified her last, making her the last one to arrive as well.

She ran over to Trace Examiner Li and came to an abrupt stop. After bending over to take a couple of heavy breaths, she straightened up and said loudly, “Captain Tan, the local officers over there asked me to tell you that the onlookers said none of them recognized the victim.”

That result wasn’t surprising at all.

Jiang Xia volunteered, “Looks like we’re going to have to conduct a large-scale search. I’d better draw a portrait first. It might come in handy.”

Tan Bingyi nodded. “Go ahead.”

Jiang Xia borrowed a small folding stool.

She had already examined the victim’s face, so there was no need to draw a conventional sketch. She could directly engrave a wax plate instead.

There was no table here, but fortunately, when Jiang Xia had customized her equipment case, she’d taken the need to engrave plates in harsh environments into consideration. She had changed the handle on top to a folding design that could be laid flat. With an iron plate placed over it and the mimeograph at the bottom, it made a perfectly sized miniature table.

She began engraving rapidly.

A short distance away, Huang Xueling carefully examined the tire tracks on the ground several times before saying uncertainly, “A tread with a wavy pattern. The width is the standard twenty-eight-inch tire. It looks like one made by the Tongtai Rubber Factory. Is this a Forever-brand bicycle?”

Trace Examiner Li’s specialty was examining footprints, so identifying tire brands was outside his area of expertise. He looked at his apprentice in surprise and said, “That’s possible. Make a note of it, then compare it with Forever bicycle tires when we get back.”

Huang Xueling nodded excitedly. “Okay.”

Who would’ve thought that all the things she’d learned would actually come in handy!

Trace Examiner Li resumed following the tire tracks in search of footprints. Huang Xueling followed him, trying to learn from him, but she was quickly defeated by the sheer number of footprints covering the ground. She didn’t dare disturb her master, but she didn’t want to stand around doing nothing either, so she simply ran over to Jiang Xia and helped her instead.

Not long afterward, someone brought over a flatbed handcart. Yang Lihua and a local officer worked together to lift the body onto it, covered it with a piece of cloth, and transported it to the funeral home.

More than half an hour later, Jiang Xia placed a stack of completely dried portraits into Captain Tan’s hands.

“I’ll send someone to confirm the victim’s identity first.”

Tan Bingyi flipped through them, then said to Jiang Xia, “We’ve pretty much finished examining the scene. Once you’re done here, head back early. Oh, right—if you find any new leads, come back and report them immediately.”

Jiang Xia nodded. “Got it, Captain Tan.”

Now that she’d finished her own work, Jiang Xia finally had time to go over and see what Trace Examiner Li was doing.

However, after carefully examining the traces Trace Examiner Li had found, Jiang Xia realized that there probably wasn’t much she could contribute in this area.

Far too many onlookers had come by, leaving footprints everywhere. Even the tire tracks had been trampled over in several places. If the tire tracks hadn’t been noticeably deeper in some sections than others, it would have been difficult to determine that they had actually been made by whatever was used to transport the body.

Based on the tire tracks and the body’s location, pretty much all the suspicious footprints that could be found had already been identified.

Jiang Xia walked around the area once more, but in the end, she stopped beside the tire tracks again, stroking her chin as an idea suddenly occurred to her.

The photographs taken for documentation were still too small. For physical evidence like this, it would be better to preserve a more obvious physical impression.

Once she’d decided, Jiang Xia immediately got to work. After thinking for a moment, she ran out and borrowed some plaster and water. She mixed them in the proper proportions and poured plaster casts of several intact sections of the tire tracks.

After photographing the final half-print suspected to belong to the killer, Photographer Zhao called out to Jiang Xia, who was carefully removing the plaster cast.

“Jiang Xia, stop messing around with that plaster. We’re heading back!”

“Okay, I’m coming!”

Carrying the plaster casts, Jiang Xia returned to the bureau with the others.

The atmosphere at the bureau was extremely tense.

Even with the office door closed, Section Chief Duan’s furious voice could still be heard from inside.

“This was a body dump in the middle of the city! Tan Bingyi, do you think the city leaders won’t hear about something this big? My phone hasn’t stopped ringing since this morning!”

“And the reporters! Do you think that in another seven or eight hours, every resident in the city won’t know that someone was found dead in an alley less than a kilometer from the municipal government?”

“Everyone’s eyes are on us right now. You have to solve this case, and you have to solve it quickly!”

“I’ll give you half a month. If you can’t solve it by then, the two of us might as well take off these uniforms and go back to our hometowns to farm!”

Outside the office, Jiang Xia couldn’t help sighing.

Sure enough, being this close to the municipal government had attracted the attention of the higher-ups. Now the pressure to solve the case was even greater.

At this point, Jiang Xia could only hope that they would identify the victim as soon as possible. Without knowing who the victim was, there was practically no way to solve the case.

But the more desperately she hoped for an identification, the longer it seemed to take. Jiang Xia waited from morning until afternoon without receiving the slightest bit of confirmed information.

It wasn’t until around ten the next morning that she suddenly heard an exclamation from the First Squad’s office.

“We found him! The victim’s identity has been confirmed! He’s a technician at the Machinery Factory. His name is Zhou Jingyun, and he’s a section-level cadre!”

The Machinery Factory?

Wasn’t that on the western side of the city?

No wonder it had taken so long to confirm his identity with a place that far away.

Hearing the commotion, Jiang Xia poked her head out, a question forming in her mind.

Come to think of it, the Machinery Factory wasn’t exactly close to the city center. What had the victim been doing all the way over here?

<< _ >>

The post Criminal Master System Ch.31.2 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

“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?

<< _ >>

The post Safe City Ch.101.2 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

The giant sea monster was, of course, still alive.

Sea monsters were extremely difficult to kill, and different sea monsters had different vital weaknesses.

Under normal circumstances, most animals in nature would die if their heads were cut off, but the sea monsters on Green Billow Star were very different.

Over the past while, the Blue Sea residents who had ventured out to explore had suffered repeated failures.

Many times, they had already churned a sea monster’s head into pulp and chopped its heart into mince, yet those monsters could still drag their mangled bodies into the depths and successfully escape.

Thus, the Blue Sea people had an epiphany.

Unless they blasted a giant sea monster to pieces with a Holy Bomb, no one could know which part of its body had to be severed before it would truly die.

And so, the Sea-Locking Chains came into being.

Just like the Dragon-Locking Nets designed specifically to deal with Skywing Dragons, the Sea-Locking Chains were specially made for sea monsters. Equipped with long spikes and heavy hammers, their greatest purpose was to prevent a sea monster from escaping when it could no longer win the fight.

But honestly, this was the first time the Sea-Locking Chains had ever encountered an opponent this enormous.

In the end, it took more than two hundred Sea-Locking Chains and nearly an entire night to finally make the giant sea monster completely unable to break free.

But their efforts would be rewarded!!

The Gourmet-type ability user arrived atop the giant sea monster and, after examining it with his ability, reached a conclusion.

“Not poisonous. It’s edible.”

The many Blue Sea residents looked at the giant sea monster, which stood more than three hundred meters tall just by height alone:

——Hahahahahahahaha!!!

More than three thousand ships had come for this operation. Of them, 70% were one- or two-person ships, 25% were medium-sized ships carrying anywhere from dozens to more than two hundred people, while the remaining 5% were large ships, with an average of eight hundred to 1,200 people per ship.

In other words, there were roughly 300,000 people taking part in the operation.

This giant sea monster had a massive body and countless tentacles. By a rough estimate, even if everyone ate it every day, there would be enough to feed 300,000 people for an entire year.

A whole year!!!

Just think of how many points that could save!

And how many resources it could save back home?!

Even if they didn’t eat it themselves, they could take it home and sell it. The points they got in exchange would be enough to buy plenty of good things.

The hardworking Blue Sea masters were instantly fired up.

Thank you, our God, for bestowing us with such a blessing!

The exhaustion from a whole night of intense fighting vanished in an instant.

The hardworking Blue Sea masters weren’t afraid of hardship or fatigue. They put on their masks and gloves and began cutting here and slicing there, trying to find the weakness that would finally kill the sea monster.

But to the group of pirates who had barged in, it looked as though they were cutting up the sea monster while it was still alive.

Cutting up… a sea monster while it was still alive?!!!

The entire pirate crew had still been laughing uproariously just moments ago, but the instant they saw this scene, they fell completely silent.

They watched as the ship they had chased all night continued sailing forward as if nothing had happened, naturally merging into the other ships.

From the distance came the lively shouts of people calling out to one another.

“Over here! Catch this piece of tentacle!”

“Shouldn’t the heart be somewhere around here?”

“Is it dead? It’s not dead yet?!”

These people… sounded as though they were having an ordinary casual conversation, their tones relaxed, yet every sentence was saturated with a chilling air of bloodshed.

To them, killing such a terrifying giant sea monster was as easy as killing a seabird.

At this point, even the dumbest pirate knew they had bitten off more than they could chew.

“Leave… now…”

The pirate captain lowered his voice, practically forcing the command out of his throat in a whisper.

The ship turned and slammed into the sea monster barrier.

The pirates: “…”

Of course. They should have guessed. They hadn’t been able to see this scene before they charged inside.

“Don’t panic… Don’t lose your heads…”

The pirate strategist managed to remain relatively composed.

“There are so many ships here. They’re all different sizes and don’t even look alike. They may not all know one another.”

The first mate also calmed down. “I understand. You mean we can pretend we’re one of their own.”

“The sea monster barrier here was obviously created by that monster they’ve chained up. We can blend in here, and once those people kill the monster and the barrier disappears, we can escape.”

“No.”

The strategist said, “We can’t immediately flee the moment the barrier disappears. Wouldn’t that be practically announcing to them that we’re not one of their own?”

“We should keep moving slowly, act as naturally as possible, and gradually separate ourselves from the other ships.”

The pirates had come up with a pretty good plan.

But how could the Blue Sea people possibly lower their guard before the battle was completely over?

Above them, more than a dozen clerics hovered in midair, staring intently at the scene below.

When the pirate ship had first entered, the clerics really hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

But now, it had been inside for more than three minutes.

Why hadn’t anyone come rushing out, eagerly charging toward the giant sea monster?

They had already arrived late and missed the actual battle. If they didn’t hurry over now, wouldn’t they have come all this way for nothing?

Just look at the Blue Sea ship that had charged in ahead of them. It had practically come in with sparks flying and lightning flashing, shooting straight toward the giant sea monster.

The next second, dozens of Blue Sea residents had leaped out of it and immediately started scrambling upward, without wasting even a second.

Now that was what normal Blue Sea residents were supposed to look like.

One of the clerics stared at the eerily quiet pirate ship and sent a flag signal.

“See? Just like this. They haven’t noticed us…”

The pirate captain was still quietly reassuring himself when he suddenly noticed that the people bustling about on the ships beside them had all turned to look in their direction.

No—not just the ships beside them.

All around them, everything suddenly became quiet except for the sound of the wind.

The noisy yet relaxed and casual chatter from before had, at some point, completely stopped.

The pirates looked around in every direction, and suddenly their hearts clenched.

The ships ahead, the ships behind, and even many of the people who had been busily working away on the giant sea monster all suddenly stopped what they were doing and turned their heads toward them.

—

“These pirates are actually pretty wealthy.”

Pan Tuan rummaged out a chest filled with crystals. A rough estimate put the number at at least 500.

Not bad, not bad.

She heard that the giant sea monster had finally died, and that they had also found a Tier 4 crystal inside its brain.

Naturally, that crystal would also be offered to our God.

Grinning from ear to ear, Pan Tuan stored the chest in the “Offerings to Our God” section, then began knocking on the floors and walls of the cabins belonging to the pirate crew’s higher-ups one by one. To her delight, she found a small black stone hidden beneath the floorboards under the captain’s bed.

“A Kansidang Key?!”

This pirate crew actually had the qualifications to enter the Pirate Assembly?

Pan Tuan was overjoyed.

According to the newly established “Kansidang Key Acquisition Process,” as long as a resident had participated in the battle, once they found a key, the right to use that key belonged to that resident.

In other words, she could either use it herself or sell it to another resident.

If this had been the old Pan Tuan, she definitely would have thought it safer to play it safe.

Her combat strength had been steadily increasing, but she still hadn’t reached 75. Breaking into the Pirate Assembly was simply too risky.

But now, as Pan Tuan held the Kansidang Key in her hand, her eyes were filled with determination.

She went to the ship belonging to the clerics and registered that she had found a Kansidang Key.

The cleric nodded and recorded it without showing any intention of asking Pan Tuan what she planned to do with it.

This was also one of Blue Sea’s distinctive traits.

As long as you were an adult, and the rules were clearly laid out, they would respect whatever decision you made.

Although the cleric didn’t ask about the Kansidang Key, she noticed that Pan Tuan was injured.

“Your injuries aren’t serious, but if you leave them untreated for too long, they could cause lasting complications. Treatment Room 31. You’re number 09, so go inside and wait in line.”

The cleric took out a numbered tag and quickly tied it around Pan Tuan’s arm.

Pan Tuan nodded. She didn’t even ask about payment or anything like that, and simply walked straight inside.

Blue Sea’s various systems for surviving the apocalypse were gradually being perfected.

For battles involving tens of thousands of residents, the final spoils of war—the giant sea monster—would have 15% set aside under the temple’s name to serve as medical expenses for residents injured in the battle.

If there wasn’t enough, the temple would cover the difference.

If there was more than enough, the surplus would simply be treated as a donation to the temple.

Ever since joining Blue Sea, Pan Tuan had spent every day either fighting or on her way to a battle, so she’d gradually grown accustomed to regulations like this.

Moreover, when the temple treated its residents, it had always spared no expense.

As long as it could save someone, no matter how expensive the medicine was, they would use it on the resident.

Once, Pan Tuan had been so badly injured that she’d even started writing her last letter, only for the temple to drag her back from the brink.

And because she’d been injured during a Safe City war, she hadn’t had to pay even a single point for her treatment. On top of her originally allocated share of the spoils, she had also received an additional 5% injured-combatant subsidy.

Pan Tuan now understood especially well why the Blue Sea people were always so fearless and heroic in battle.

She was the same way now. She wasn’t afraid of getting hurt at all. To put it bluntly, even if she were to die in battle right now, she could close her eyes in peace knowing that she had nothing to worry about.

Because she could be one hundred percent certain that the compensation for her death in battle would reach her family.

Of course, Pan Tuan wasn’t actually planning to die in battle.

She lowered her head and looked at the Kansidang Key in her hand, unable to suppress a little chuckle.

It was simply that, with all of Blue Sea there to have her back, she had become much bolder than before—and her ambitions had grown as well.

——

Yuan Moshu was sitting on a bench inside, waiting for his number to be called.

Jinfan Gang had also been injured, with a deep gash across his side that looked particularly serious.

Yuan Moshu’s face went pale when he saw it. On Green Billow Star, a wound like that could easily become infected and prove fatal if it wasn’t treated properly.

But Jinfan Gang didn’t take it seriously at all. He merely chuckled and said that a little treatment would take care of it.

Then he dragged Yuan Moshu over with him and even got a number for Yuan Moshu, who had cracked his head open.

Blue Sea… actually had specialized medical ships.

Jinfan Gang went off to receive treatment, while Yuan Moshu sat alone on a chair, looking completely dazed.

He had been in such a daze the entire way that it wasn’t until Jinfan Gang had left that he finally realized he hadn’t even asked how much material or how many crystals it would take to treat an injury like his!

Seeing Pan Tuan sitting beside him, Yuan Moshu hesitated again and again before finally asking,

“Um, hello. I wanted to ask, in my case, where I hit my head and they said I’d need a CT scan, how much would I have to pay?”

Pan Tuan looked at how uncomfortable he seemed.

“You’re from Green Billow Star?”

“Yes, yes…”

“Did you pass the faith test?”

Yuan Moshu quickly answered, “I did. When I boarded the ship just now, I touched the crystal ball, and it lit up.”

Pan Tuan understood. So he was a new believer who had only just joined Blue Sea and hadn’t figured out how things worked yet.

She smiled and replied, “Then don’t worry. You’re a believer of our God, which means you’re a Blue Sea resident. Injuries sustained in battle are treated completely free of charge.”

Yuan Moshu became even more uneasy.

“But… I wasn’t injured in battle. The ship kept rocking, and I lost my balance and hit my head.”

“It’s the same thing.”

Pan Tuan patted him on the shoulder.

“The ship was rocking because of the sea monster, so the fact that you lost your balance and hit your head can still be counted as part of this battle.”

Yuan Moshu was stunned. “It can be counted that way?”

“But I didn’t contribute anything at all…”

He genuinely felt guilty.

Especially after becoming a believer of the divine being and experiencing that overwhelming warmth, Yuan Moshu couldn’t help wanting to do something for Blue Sea, and for the God they worshiped.

And yet he hadn’t done anything at all. He hadn’t fought the sea monsters, hadn’t fought the pirates, and had even knocked himself unconscious, meaning he was going to waste Blue Sea’s medical resources.

Looking at the ashamed Yuan Moshu, Pan Tuan felt as though she were seeing her former self when she had just joined Blue Sea.

People who had survived the apocalypse often developed this kind of mindset: if you’re useless right now, that means you’ll always be useless.

Because in the apocalypse, there were no circumstances that allowed people to take their time and grow.

But Blue Sea did.

She said, “You only just joined Blue Sea. Even if you wanted to make some contribution, it’s not like you’ve had the chance yet.”

Pan Tuan remembered what her former captain had once said to comfort her:

“For now, you only need to do one thing: eat well, drink your fill, get your body healthy, and exercise as much as you can. After that, there will be plenty of battles waiting for you.”

“Even if you’re not very strong and can’t fight, if you’ve got a good head on your shoulders, you can try taking the civil service exams or become a researcher. If you have technical skills, you can apply for positions in the various technical departments.”

“If you don’t have technical skills or combat ability, you can still become a construction worker, build walls, carry bricks, or work in a factory. You can be a cleaner, a caregiver… In short, as long as you’re willing to work, you’ll always find a way to contribute to our God.”

Yuan Moshu listened with longing, and even the pain in the back of his head seemed to have eased.

“Does Blue Sea really have that many jobs?”

Pan Tuan nodded firmly. “Actually, there are even more. I just only know about these.”

In reality, it was her former captain who had only known about these positions.

After joining Blue Sea, Pan Tuan had fallen in love with fighting. She spent most of her time out there adventuring and only occasionally returned home, so she wasn’t particularly familiar with all the different jobs available in Blue Sea either.

But she knew that Blue Sea’s territory had expanded again, so naturally there would be more and more jobs as well.

“In Blue Sea, as long as you’re willing to work, you’ll definitely never starve.”

Yuan Moshu immediately nodded frantically.

“I am! I’m willing to work!”

Oh, our God.

Could he really go to such a wonderful place?

If he didn’t still have to continue serving as bait, Yuan Moshu wished he could grow a pair of wings right now and fly straight to the Blue Sea Safe City she had described to take a good look for himself.

“Such a wonderful place—even if I could only earn three hundred points a month and live the most basic life possible, it would still be far better than the life I’m living now!”

<< _ >>

The post Safe City Ch.101.1 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

Since she had decided to keep a low profile, Everly did nothing unnecessary for the rest of her time and settled down peacefully on North Eleuthera Island.

Not only Everly herself, but also the temporarily disfigured Kesuye obediently lay low in the waters surrounding the island, no longer going after Grant and causing him trouble.

He was even reluctant to show his face in front of Everly, because he thought he was too ugly.

Fortunately, the healing suppression caused by the thorns was not permanent. As time passed, the force preventing the wounds from healing gradually weakened. After resting properly for three days, most of Kesuye’s injuries had healed, and he finally dared to meet Everly again.

Since Kesuye wasn’t wandering around causing trouble and no one reported any ships being attacked or crew members going missing, the rumors about a killer whale around the island soon died down without anything coming of them.

Before long, December 5 arrived.

That afternoon, Everly made one final trip to stock up on supplies on the island, then drove her yacht away from the island. Late that night, she anchored the yacht in an empty stretch of sea far from any signs of human habitation.

She stood on the deck, waiting for a long time as the night breeze blew around her. Finally, the clouds cleared, and a crescent moon appeared in the sky.

The time had come.

Everly knelt on the deck and unfolded an ancient parchment covered with a map and various witchcraft sigils, laying it flat on the deck.

She then took a white crystal tied to a strand of golden-red hair from her bag. Holding the end of the strand in one hand, she suspended the crystal cluster above the parchment with its tip pointing downward.

This pendulum divination tool had been made by a Star Chart Witch. During her sophomore year of college, Everly had helped Natalie investigate the mystery behind a client’s disappearance. As payment, Natalie had given her this tool, which could point the way toward an island.

Following the instructions for its use, Everly began reciting a complex Latin incantation beneath the moon.

“‘The pulse of the stars flows here, the soaring moonlight carries forth the seed. From north to south, from east to west, with pure crystal as my guidepost, please guide me, Pavuka Oris Ananino, Pavuka Oris Ananino…’”

As the final words of the incantation fell, the crescent moon in the sky suddenly cast a brilliant beam of moonlight downward.

The silvery-white light fell precisely onto the white crystal and was absorbed by it. The crystal, which had originally been hazy and milky like mist, instantly became crystal clear like glass.

Even though there was no wind, it began swinging rapidly in a certain direction as though someone had plucked it.

Seeing this, Everly quickly moved her hand in that direction until the tip of the crystal cluster could touch the parchment map.

And the crystal did not disappoint. Its tip lightly tapped a certain coordinate on the map.

Everly marked the spot with her pen.

She had barely finished marking it when a dark cloud drifted across the sky. The crescent moon gradually disappeared, and the golden-red strand of hair suspending the crystal gave a soft “snap” and broke in the middle. With nothing supporting it, the white crystal toppled onto the parchment and shattered into a pile of fragments.

Everly took the map back into the cabin and found a modern map enlarged to the same scale. After spending quite some time measuring it with a ruler, she finally located the coordinates indicated by the crystal:

27.3°N, 78.9°W.

Limited by the accuracy of the parchment map, this was already the most precise result possible. Around 30° north latitude, even an area covering just 0.1 degrees of latitude and longitude encompasses more than 100 square kilometers, roughly the size of a medium-sized American town, including its surrounding suburbs—or, to put it more visually, the area could contain more than 14,000 standard soccer fields.

Fortunately, the coordinates were out at sea, where visibility was wide open. If an island suddenly surfaced somewhere in the area, it would be extremely conspicuous. With Kesuye and Lamia’s blessings to help her, finding the emerging island quickly was not entirely impossible.

Once she had confirmed the coordinates, Everly tidied everything up and went to sleep first. The next day, she officially set out, driving the yacht toward the new coordinates.

The coordinates were northeast of the Bahamas and not particularly far from Everly’s current position. The yacht traveled at full speed across the sea for about four hours before successfully reaching the edge of the designated area.

There were no islands in these waters, nor was it located along any major shipping route. It was extremely remote. Everly hadn’t encountered a single ship on the way here.

A few kilometers from the designated coordinates, she dropped anchor and stopped the yacht.

Everly had no intention of going in to explore just yet.

Today was December 6, and there were still several days until the 11th. There wouldn’t be anything to see if she went in now. If Grant Megan had already arrived, an early encounter between them might even bring unnecessary danger.

Besides, Everly didn’t need to enter the area to find out what was happening there. She still had Kesuye!

Kesuye was bored. Extremely bored. He desperately wanted to take part in Everly’s adventures and do something interesting. So when Everly set out to find the island of the Fountain of Youth, Kesuye followed her once again, and there was no talking him out of it.

Everly figured having an extra pair of hands would be useful, so she didn’t refuse him.

She assigned the merman-form Kesuye a reconnaissance mission, explaining all the requirements and precautions. Kesuye listened attentively, gave a crisp response, then flicked his tail and dove into the sea. Before long, he had disappeared without a trace.

While he was away, Everly busied herself setting things out on the deck—an underwater camera, laptop, sample bottles, a low-temperature storage box, a tracker… Once everything was arranged, she also found an oversized T-shirt bearing the logo of the famous American environmental organization the Sierra Club and pulled it on.

Everly had purchased or specially ordered all of these items through various channels while staying on North Eleuthera Island.

The area around the coordinates was simply too remote. If she did nothing but leave her boat anchored there, being discovered by Grant would easily arouse suspicion.

If she disguised herself as an environmental volunteer and claimed to be staying there to collect seawater samples, observe marine life, and so on, her presence would seem much more reasonable.

For this purpose, Everly even used the affinity aura she possessed to lure over a few Atlantic spotted dolphins from nearby to serve as her “observation subjects.”

So when Kesuye diligently swam through the entire coordinate area and returned after finishing his reconnaissance, the first thing he saw was a group of black-and-white chubby-headed fish excitedly playing around the yacht.

“Wuu…”

Seeing those eyesores, Kesuye instinctively wanted to transform and drive them away as a whale. But soon, he remembered what Everly had told him before he left. She had said that she needed to conceal her identity, so she would bring some dolphins over to the area…

His transformation abruptly halted, and even his cheerfully swishing tail drooped listlessly. With his eyelids lowered, Kesuye swam toward the yacht in a gloomy, dejected mood.

“You’re back. How did it go? Did you see Grant’s ship?”

Kesuye shook his head.

His hearing was exceptionally keen. Even while submerged several meters underwater, he could clearly hear sounds coming from the surface hundreds of meters away. It was thanks to this hearing that he had originally been able to detect Grant’s whereabouts.

Just now, Kesuye had thoroughly combed through the entire stretch of sea indicated by the coordinates, as though plowing a field. He hadn’t heard anything at all—not the roar of an engine, nor human voices or footsteps.

Everly asked again, “What about the seabed? Did you find anything?”

Kesuye shook his head again.

“As expected, there’s no way to exploit a loophole…” Everly was slightly disappointed.

She had originally wanted to see if she could find a loophole and locate the island hidden beneath the sea before the transit of Venus, allowing her to explore it in advance and familiarize herself with the terrain and routes. But now, she didn’t know whether the island was simply hidden too well or whether it wouldn’t appear before the appointed time. Either way, Kesuye had searched the seabed and come up empty-handed.

That meant she could only wait until the day of the transit of Venus before going ashore.

After asking everything she wanted to know, Everly leaned forward and handed Kesuye the smoked-meat sandwich she had specially prepared as a reward for him. As she withdrew her hand, she casually plucked a fragment of antler coral caught in his hair.

As she handed it over, she asked offhandedly, “What’s wrong? You seem a little down. Are you tired?”

Kesuye took the sandwich, and his mood immediately improved considerably. When he felt the movement atop his head, he instinctively stretched out his neck and rubbed the top of his head firmly against Everly’s palm.

After rubbing against her hand, the gloom in his heart vanished in an instant, like air escaping from a punctured balloon.

Whatever. They were just some stupid, chubby fellows, after all…

Kesuye brought the sandwich to his mouth and savored it carefully. His large eyes narrowed contentedly, while the ear fins on either side of his head trembled like little fans. His tail, hidden beneath the seawater, swished uncontrollably back and forth, smacking against the underside of the boat with a series of “slap, slap” sounds.

“Geez, do you really like smoked meat that much?” Everly rested her chin in her hand and watched him for a while before she couldn’t help laughing.

Kesuye was difficult to understand sometimes, yet at other times, he was as simple as a blank sheet of paper, with everything about him visible at a glance. What an adorable giant whale. Sometimes she really wanted to give him a good pinch just to see him stare at her in bewilderment, completely at a loss for what to do…

……

Everly spent three days anchored at the edge of the area while disguised as an environmentalist.

On the fourth day, December 9, Grant Megan’s ship finally appeared at the coordinates.

It was a modified high-speed speedboat. The hull had been painted a discreet dark gray, and a high-powered propulsion system had been installed at the stern. As the speedboat raced forward, it left a long white wake trailing behind it across the sea.

Long before the speedboat appeared, Kesuye, who had been patrolling the surrounding waters, had already detected its presence.

His swimming speed was faster than the speedboat’s, so he came over ahead of it to warn Everly. This allowed her to avoid Grant’s route and move to another location to continue playing the part of an environmental volunteer.

As for Kesuye, after delivering the information, he slipped back into the sea and continued following Grant’s ship, taking the opportunity to eavesdrop on the conversations aboard.

That night, once everything had grown quiet, he swished his tail and swam back to Everly, sharing everything he had overheard throughout the day.

“I counted. There are twenty-seven people on the ship altogether.” Kesuye clung to the side of the boat and spoke earnestly. “Besides Grant and the witch, there’s one shaman and twenty-four mercenaries.”

“You mean, aside from the Thorn Witch, the only other psychic they have is a shaman?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“How could that be…?”

At first, Everly was puzzled. Searching for the Fountain of Youth was obviously something steeped in supernatural elements, so why hadn’t Grant brought more psychics along to help? But soon, she remembered the “killer whale” incident that had occurred near North Eleuthera Island.

Just as she had suspected, Grant had indeed initially gathered a group of bizarre psychics to accompany him. But they had all been eaten by the “killer whale,” Kesuye.

Psychics weren’t cabbages growing in a field that could simply be harvested whenever you wanted. After losing so many helpers at once, even Grant would probably have had a hard time finding suitable replacements in such a short period of time.

Mercenaries, on the other hand, were different. As long as you could afford their fees, you could hire as many as you wanted.

That was probably why his current team had such an unusual composition.

Looking at it that way, Kesuye’s previous attack had practically been a major contribution!

“Where is Grant’s ship anchored now?”

“Here.” Kesuye handed over the tracker.

The tracker’s screen displayed a string of coordinates—the exact location Kesuye had measured while hiding beneath Grant’s ship:

27.314°N, 78.903°W.

Everly figured that Grant was so resourceful that the coordinates for the island in his possession might be even more precise than hers. She wrote down the coordinates with her pen, then reached out and affectionately ruffled Kesuye’s hair.

“Thank you. You really helped me out this time.”

“Mm.” Kesuye blushed and ducked into the water, happily blowing out a string of bubbles.

<< TOC >>

The post Rules Ch.344 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

“Kesuye, what happened to you?!”

Everly stared at the merman before her in shock.

Just one day ago, he had been an exceptionally beautiful merman, with fair skin, delicate features, and an innocent, guileless air that came from never having seen much of the world. If someone had taken him to a film set, he might even have landed a role as a beautiful “vase”.

But after just one day apart, the merman had been reduced to a battle-damaged version that was only about 70% intact.

A large purple-blue bump had swollen up on his forehead, the corner of his mouth was split and crusted with dried blood, and his body was covered in injuries of all sizes. Even his smooth, supple tail had not escaped unscathed, with numerous deep scratches gaping across its surface.

This was extremely unusual, because Kesuye had an extraordinarily strong regenerative ability. Ordinary injuries usually healed in no time at all.

“The witch… beat me up.” Kesuye lowered his head, looking utterly dejected. “I found Grant… out at sea. I wanted to help Everly… eat him, but the witch was too strong…”

“You ran into Grant? You attacked him? So it really was you—the killer whale the fishermen saw during the day, right?”

Everly had already suspected that the killer whale reported by the fishermen was Kesuye. For one thing, both the killer whale and Kesuye had the appearance of an orca, and even their sizes were about the same. For another, like many wild animals, Kesuye was territorial.

This was a habit they had only discovered recently.

While their boat was tangled in a fishing net and they had stopped to inspect it, Everly had encountered a pod of dolphins.

Thanks to Lamia’s blessing, she had a strong affinity with marine life. When the dolphins saw Everly, they began calling excitedly and swam over to the yacht, circling around it. Every now and then, they leaped out of the water, mischievously showing Everly their streamlined bodies.

“Woooo—!”

Just then, a deep whale call came from beneath the sea.

Everly looked toward the seabed and discovered that Kesuye had somehow reverted to his giant whale form. He swam over to the pod of dolphins, his enormous body forming a stark contrast with the small dolphins. With a sweep of his tail, he kicked up a huge splash that sent the entire pod flying.

“Eek, eek!”

The dolphins were sent tumbling in all directions. By the time they finally managed to steady themselves, Kesuye had already made a circuit around them and was charging his chubby body straight toward them.

“Click, click!”

Terrified by the completely merciless giant, the dolphins scattered and fled, swimming far away and never daring to approach Everly’s boat again.

As for Kesuye, after chasing the dolphins away, he contentedly rolled over and floated leisurely with the waves for a while. It was only when some seabirds mistook him for carrion and landed on him that he suddenly flipped over, opened his mouth in a threatening display, and scared the birds into squawking frantically.

After checking the control panel, Everly went out onto the deck and curiously asked Kesuye why he had done that.

The giant whale let out a soft “whimper,” then transformed back into his merman form on the spot. Clinging to the side of the boat with both hands, he told Everly with an utterly innocent expression that he simply didn’t like those dolphins.

“I don’t like them. I don’t want them around here. They’re kind of an eyesore.”

It was the first time Kesuye had so bluntly expressed such a negative emotion.

Everly realized from this that although Kesuye had a humanoid form, he had retained a wild side and possessed a strong sense of territory. He didn’t like having other large marine creatures around him.

If that was the case, then if there really were another killer whale around the island, it should have been driven away by Kesuye. There was little chance it could have remained in the vicinity.

The facts proved Everly’s guess correct: the killer whale the fishermen had seen was Kesuye.

According to his account, that afternoon, he had been swimming in the nearby waters in his merman form, looking at the coral, when he suddenly heard a familiar voice coming from the surface of the sea.

Kesuye had an excellent memory. Not long ago, he had just recalled his encounters with Grant Megan from the time when he was still an embryo, so when he heard that voice, he recognized its owner almost immediately.

“I knew Everly had been looking for him. I wanted to help you, so I charged into him.”

The initial attack went extremely smoothly.

Grant’s ship was completely unprepared. Kesuye rammed it so hard that it rocked violently from side to side, nearly capsizing. Even when the mercenaries aboard fired into the sea, the resistance of the water meant that, at most, they could only graze the giant whale’s skin. Against his powerful regenerative ability, it was nothing.

Kesuye took several bullets head-on, then seized an opportunity to leap out of the sea and eat the mercenaries.

After the mercenaries were killed, several psychics came rushing out of the cabin.

“They hit me with strange objects and said things I couldn’t understand. It was a little noisy and a little painful. My chest suddenly went numb, and I couldn’t breathe… I didn’t like it, so I ate them too.” With an utterly innocent expression on his face, Kesuye calmly uttered words that were chilling to think about.

Everly: “…”

She didn’t even want to think about whether there might have been any innocent people among them. In that situation, it was kill or be killed, so there was no point dwelling on it. But was Kesuye’s appetite perhaps a little too good? How could he eat every random thing he came across…

One psychic after another was taken out by Kesuye, and the number of people aboard the ship dwindled steadily. In the end, the only person left protecting Grant was the black-haired, curly-haired girl who had appeared in Alice Town.

The yacht rocked and tossed in the waves, yet the girl stood steadily on the deck as though she were walking on solid ground.

Facing the enormous creature in the sea radiating fierce killing intent, she showed not the slightest trace of fear. She simply stood there in silence, her pitch-black eyes looking down coldly at Kesuye in the water.

“‘Blackthorn bears witness to the ancient oath; beneath the laurel lie buried the bones and blood of witches. Awaken, Thorn Wasteland—may these thorns pierce the throats of my enemies!’”

A cryptic, tongue-twisting Latin incantation rang out. The girl raised her hand and used the thorn-shaped necklace around her neck to pierce her fingertip.

Bright red blood dripped from her fingertip onto the deck. In an instant, it transformed into red threads resembling a spiderweb and rapidly spread outward.

Like veins, the threads burrowed deep into the metal hull, pulsing rhythmically. Wherever they passed, the enormous yacht groaned and twisted out of shape. Dense metal thorns sprouted outward from the flat deck, while the cabin broke apart and transformed into coils upon coils of thorn-covered vines. They wrapped around Grant and the girl, forming a gigantic metallic cocoon that completely sealed the two of them inside.

The most astonishing transformation, however, occurred in the sea. When the bloody threads seeped into the water, all the surface seawater within a radius of more than ten meters around the drop of blood changed shape as well, transforming into transparent thorny vines that roared and surged toward Kesuye in the water.

It was the first time Kesuye had encountered an enemy so powerful.

The thorns surrounding the two were both the sharpest spears and the strongest shields. No matter how he attacked, he could not break through them. Instead, he ended up covered in injuries himself.

Even more terrifyingly, the thorns possessed the ability to drain blood and suppress healing. Unless Kesuye destroyed them all in a single attack, no matter how many he broke, they could regrow by absorbing his blood—and could even become tougher than before.

As for Kesuye, the thorns’ healing suppression prevented his wounds from recovering normally. For the first time in a long while, he ended up covered in injuries, with more and more blood flowing from his body.

As the battle continued, he heard the witch chanting another spell and preparing to launch a new attack. Kesuye immediately decided not to stay any longer. He plunged into the deep sea and, using the ocean as cover, escaped the battlefield.

“So that girl was a witch? No wonder…”

Everly had found it strange before that a young, beautiful girl would be by Grant’s side—come on, he was the villain of a horror movie! Based on the patterns Everly had summed up after watching countless movies, horror-movie villains simply weren’t allowed to have girlfriends. And even if they did, the girlfriend had to die early, with her tragic death providing the villain with a reason to take revenge on society and destroy the world.

Yet, somehow, a girl had appeared at Grant’s side, and the two of them even seemed quite close.

If the girl was a witch, then everything made sense.

Either Grant had deceived her in order to exploit her abilities and entered into a relationship with her, or Grant and the girl simply shared the same twisted nature and were a villainous couple to begin with. Similar setups had appeared in other horror movies, such as Dance with the Devil and The Rental, where the villains were a couple. There was also The Skeleton Key, mentioned earlier, in which the villains were a pair of Black witch spouses.

Whether the girl had been deceived or had willingly joined him, the situation wasn’t particularly good for Everly, because that witch was far too powerful.

Even Kesuye had been beaten black and blue by her. If Everly went there herself, she probably wouldn’t even know how she died.

And she had been thinking about sabotaging things? Just how overconfident had she been before… Thinking about how she had actually considered stopping Grant from landing on the island, Everly couldn’t help breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Thank you so much for today. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have known there was such a powerful witch on the other side… How are your injuries? Do you need some medicine?” Everly leaned closer to inspect the swollen bump on Kesuye’s forehead and asked with concern.

Kesuye slowly widened his eyes.

In the reflection of Everly’s pupils, he saw his own magnified reflection.

Weak-looking, ugly, battered and ragged, not handsome at all… He had actually been standing in front of her looking like this for so long!

A powerful wave of embarrassment washed over Kesuye. His face flushed bright red, and with a splash, he sank into the seawater and never resurfaced.

Everly: “?”

After waiting for a long while without seeing Kesuye return, Everly went back into the cabin with a head full of question marks.

Later, after making inquiries through various channels, she spent some money to buy a piece of information from Natalie, the Curse Witch: the witch accompanying Grant was very likely a Thorn Witch.

“Witches of this type can control thorns, and they have no obvious weakness in either attack or defense. Furthermore, because thorns are often associated with spikes, pain, and similar concepts, Thorn Witches possess another trait: they can draw strength from suffering. Whether physical or mental, the more pain a Thorn Witch experiences, the stronger she becomes.”

Natalie advised Everly not to confront the Thorn Witch, because in a certain sense, Thorn Witches were naturally born for battle.

Everly took the advice very seriously.

She obediently abandoned her plan to cause trouble for Grant. In fact, she couldn’t even find out where Grant was, so she couldn’t cause him trouble even if she wanted to. She decided to simply stay by herself and keep a low profile. If necessary, once the island surfaced, she could wait nearby for a while and let Grant and his group go up first.

She had the chameleon skull, so as long as she kept her distance, hiding her tracks shouldn’t be a problem.

<< TOC >>

The post Rules Ch.343 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

Dawn was just beginning to break.

The entire city was still asleep, but Old Li, a sanitation worker, was already awake. After eating a little multigrain mantou, he wheeled the human-powered tricycle out from beneath the shed at home and headed for the road he needed to clean.

He pedaled slowly forward.

The entire street was deathly quiet, with not a single person in sight. He could see all the way to the end of it at a glance.

Old Li yawned. After pedaling another seven or eight meters, his already bleary eyes suddenly caught sight of something black and white lying on the ground.

Trash wouldn’t look like that. Given its size and length, it was clearly a person!

Old Li shook his head helplessly.

Which family’s husband had gone drinking last night and failed to come home, only to lie down here and sleep through the night?

And no one from his family had even come looking for him.

Luckily, it was warm now. If this had been winter, the man might have been dead already!

Old Li put a little more strength into his pedaling. He wanted to reach the man quickly, wake him up, and send him home before he could make a fool of himself lying around here.

A few dozen seconds later, Old Li reached him. He braked, climbed down slowly, and prepared to go over and wake the man.

A foul smell suddenly wafted toward him.

It wasn’t the smell of vomit that commonly came from drunk people. Instead, it was a strange odor that seemed vaguely familiar, as though he’d smelled it a long time ago, but couldn’t remember where.

Just what had this guy been doing?

Feeling increasingly uneasy, Old Li walked over to the man’s side and patted him as he said, “Hey! Young man, don’t sleep here. Wake up and go home!”

There was no response.

Old Li felt that something was wrong.

Why did the man’s body feel so cold?

With a bad feeling in his gut, he quickly put some force into turning the man’s upper body over. The shoulder, along with the head, turned with it, revealing a bloodied hole the size of a baby’s fist in his temple. His unclosed eyes were staring fixedly at Old Li.

“Good heavens!”

Old Li’s face went pale with shock. He hurriedly backed away, stumbled, and fell to the ground.

But he didn’t dare stop for even a moment. He scrambled to his feet and ran outside, shouting at the top of his lungs as he went.

“Someone’s dead!”

“Someone’s been murdered!”

……

…

The shrill cries completely shattered the silence.

＊

‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’

The dormitory building.

The urgent pounding on the door made Jiang Xia’s eyes snap open. She sat up in one swift motion, still groggy, slipped her feet into her shoes, and pushed open the bedroom door as she headed outside. As she walked, she glanced at the clock in the living room.

It was only six o’clock. Why was someone knocking on her door at this hour?

She called out loudly, “Who is it? Why are you knocking this early?”

“It’s your Uncle Wang!”

The person outside replied irritably, “Your work unit called. They said there’s been a death, and they want you to grab your things and hurry to the east alley on Changxing Road to help out!”

Someone’s dead?!

Jiang Xia instantly woke up. “Thanks for coming over to tell me, Uncle Wang. Could you call them back for me? I’ll head over right away!”

No wonder Uncle Wang had come pounding on the door so early in the morning. Apparently, her work unit had called the building’s front desk directly. Anyone who’d been woken up by that would have a bad temper.

Jiang Xia hurried back to her bedroom, changed clothes, then rushed into the bathroom to wash up. Her mother, Zhou Mei, who had also been awakened, came out with her clothes hastily thrown on.

“Slow down. I’ll quickly make you some noodles. Eat before you go.”

“Don’t bother. I’m afraid I’ll eat them and then throw everything up when I get there.”

Jiang Xia splashed cold water onto her face and urged her mother to go back. “Mom, you should go back to sleep!”

“Then, Xiao Xia, take two peach crisps with you.”

Jiang Ying, who had also woken up, clung to the bed rail and poked her head out. “These can help prevent low blood sugar—that thing where everything suddenly goes black. If you get hungry, they’ll tide you over, too.”

“I don’t think I need—”

“Just take them!”

Zhou Mei quickly took two peach crisps from the box, wrapped them in paper, and stuffed them into Jiang Xia’s bag without giving her a chance to refuse.

Since they were already in there, Jiang Xia didn’t take them back out. She slung her shoulder bag over herself, picked up the toolbox she’d brought home yesterday for testing, hurried downstairs, and cycled toward Changxing Road.

Changxing Road was a newly constructed road, fairly close to the relocated municipal government offices, with only two traffic-light intersections between them. There were also several newspaper offices nearby. As soon as word got out that a dead body had been found in the alley, reporters showed up almost immediately.

By the time Jiang Xia reached the alley, crowds of onlookers had already gathered all around it. From a distance, all those dark heads looked like a swarm of ants.

“Police investigation! Everyone, make way!”

Carrying her toolbox, Jiang Xia pushed through the crowd and finally managed to squeeze inside.

A cordon had already been put up at the innermost part of the crowd. The local police officers from the nearby station stood along the cordon, constantly stopping people from trying to cross it.

Jiang Xia looked ahead.

Forensic Examiner Sun was already there, conducting the autopsy. Trace Examiner Li was leaning against a wall, one hand pressed to his forehead as he stared at the chaotic footprints on the ground. He looked as though he would very much like to lie down beside the person on the ground.

Even Photographer Zhao who was usually rather lazy, was here. He was currently adjusting his camera with an unusually serious expression.

When Trace Examiner Li saw Jiang Xia arrive, he hurriedly waved to her. “Jiang Xia, you made it?”

“Yeah.”

Jiang Xia lifted the cordon and walked over to Trace Examiner Li. She had intended to pay attention to the traces on the ground, but when she looked down, she nearly couldn’t find anywhere to put her feet.

Great. Friendly fire is at full capacity again this time.

Jiang Xia carefully made her way over to Trace Examiner Li and asked, “What’s the situation?”

“There are no signs of a struggle around here, and no blood either. This isn’t the primary crime scene. The body was probably dumped here.”

After saying this, Trace Examiner Li wore an utterly helpless expression. “But that’s all we’ve got. Those people have absolutely no awareness of preserving a crime scene. The moment they heard someone had died, they all rushed over to gawk. They practically had their faces pressed against the body. It took the officers from the local station a huge effort to drive them back and put up the cordon.”

Now that was a familiar recipe, with a familiar taste.

Jiang Xia sighed helplessly.

“Then I’ll go over and take a look at the victim first.”

Trace Examiner Li hesitated. “Uh… are you sure you can go over there like that?”

Jiang Xia waved a hand. “It’s fine. I’ve seen two bodies at school before. If I feel like I’m going to throw up, I’ll get out of there right away.”

If she was going to draw the victim’s portrait, then even if she didn’t look now, she’d have to look later. It was better to get it over with early and give herself time to recover, rather than trying to draw while vomiting.

Jiang Xia took out a mask and put it on, then carefully approached the body and gave it a broad visual inspection.

It was the body of a man who appeared to be around twenty-five or twenty-six years old. He was very young. He wore a white shirt on top and a well-tailored pair of black trousers below, both made of dacron.

He was dressed like a government cadre. If he wasn’t one, then he certainly came from a family with either very good circumstances or a very good income.

After taking in the overall picture, Jiang Xia finally began examining the dead man’s face closely.

His face was grayish-white and slightly swollen. There was a faint trace of blood in his nostrils. Most strikingly, his eyes were still open, his pupils dilated and unfocused as they stared blankly at the sky.

There was a fatal wound above his left forehead, about four or five centimeters in diameter, caved inward. Aside from the dried blood, gray-white fragments of bone could be seen, along with highly suspicious solid substances that were yellow and grayish-pink.

This should be the fatal wound.

A wave of nausea rose in Jiang Xia’s throat.

To be fair, a corpse in this condition was already relatively easy on the eyes. After all, it hadn’t started decomposing yet, and it wasn’t some Hulk-like corpse pulled out of the water.

But a dead person was still a dead person. Humans instinctively recoiled from the bodies of their own kind after death, and Jiang Xia was right beside the corpse now. Her enhanced vision made it even easier for her to distinguish the signs of death, pushing the uncanny valley effect to the extreme. Combined with her sense of smell and the subtle sensations her skin could normally never detect… the feeling was simply indescribable.

Jiang Xia averted her gaze, took a deep breath, and forcibly suppressed her discomfort.

Good. She hadn’t thrown up this time either.

“Make way, make way!”

A familiar voice came through the buzzing crowd. Jiang Xia turned her head, and sure enough, it was Yang Lihua.

He squeezed his way through the crowd with all his might, with Captain Tan and Wang Leihu following behind him.

Yang Lihua hurried over to Forensic Examiner Sun and apologized. “Sorry, Master. I’m late.”

Forensic Examiner Sun waved a hand. “It’s fine. I didn’t arrive much earlier than you. I just finished examining the wounds.”

Captain Tan didn’t come over to ask about the situation first.

Instead, he made a circuit inside the cordon. Looking at the densely packed crowds on both ends, he immediately got a headache and turned on the local officers.

“Seriously, what are you people doing? You’ve all arrived, so how did you still let this many people crowd around?”

The deputy station chief was somewhat indignant. “Captain Tan, we did put up a cordon!”

“What good is it when it’s only a few steps away from the crowd?”

Tan Bingyi’s voice was extremely stern as he waved his arms forcefully. “Get these people out of here! Seal off this entire road! No outsiders are allowed in!”

“Oh, oh, oh.”

The deputy station chief hurriedly ordered the local officers to drive the onlookers away.

“Captain Tan’s word really carries weight.”

Forensic Examiner Sun had already begun pressing down on the corpse. Starting from the chest, he gradually worked his way downward, saying as he pressed, “Having all these people around is making the examination much harder.”

“There are reporters, too.”

Jiang Xia turned her head to look at Captain Tan again. He was currently negotiating with the reporters, seemingly trying to persuade them not to report on the case, but judging by the looks of things, it wasn’t going very well.

“We’re going to be under a lot of pressure with this case.”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

Forensic Examiner Sun nodded toward the direction of the municipal government offices. “It’s this close. The higher-ups are bound to hear about it, and that means we’ll definitely be under a lot of pressure.”

He lifted the victim’s clothing and examined the lividity underneath, then said to Yang Lihua, who had crouched down beside Jiang Xia, “Come over and take a look at this dark purplish-red color. This is livor mortis. It fades slightly when pressed, which means the time of death was probably between twenty-four and forty-eight hours ago.”

“Oh, oh. Got it, Master.”

Yang Lihua was grimacing as well. He endured his discomfort, lowered his head, examined it carefully, and committed the information to memory.

While teaching his apprentice, Forensic Examiner Sun raised the corpse’s arm again. Carefully avoiding the watch on the victim’s wrist, he tried bending the arm. As he did so, he asked Jiang Xia curiously, “Hey, Jiang Xia, you’ve got quite a strong stomach. You’re standing right beside a dead body and you haven’t even thrown up. Since you’ve been looking at it for so long, have you figured anything out?”

Jiang Xia was examining the wound. She stroked her chin and said, “I think this was a premeditated murder committed by someone the victim knew.”

“Huh?”

Forensic Examiner Sun’s mind stalled for a moment.

He had thought Jiang Xia would answer with something related to forensic knowledge. He hadn’t expected this at all.

But why did it feel like she’d skipped over a whole bunch of steps in between?

He mulled over her words, trying to make sense of them, but couldn’t figure it out at all. In the end, he simply asked, “How so?”

“Look. The victim only has this one fatal injury to the head.”

Jiang Xia pointed at the wound. “Judging by its appearance, the wound is about five centimeters in diameter. It’s depressed, with irregular edges. From the shape of the wound, I’d say it was caused by a blunt instrument, something like a hammer or a sledgehammer. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Forensic Examiner Sun could naturally see that as well. He nodded in agreement. “No.”

Who said Forensic Examiner Sun wasn’t capable? His fundamentals were still solid.

Thinking this, Jiang Xia continued, “And it’s a frontal wound. Isn’t that obvious?”

Wait, how many steps did you just skip this time?

Forensic Examiner Sun stared at Jiang Xia, completely bewildered.

The two looked each other in the eye. Seeing the sheer innocence in each other’s eyes, Jiang Xia fell silent.

She sighed inwardly, turned around, faced Yang Lihua directly, and called out, “Xiao Yang!”

Yang Lihua raised his head. “What?”

Jiang Xia said nothing. She lowered her right hand into a fist, then suddenly swung it rapidly toward Yang Lihua’s forehead.

Yang Lihua’s mind went blank. He immediately leaned his upper body backward to dodge, the force of the movement so great that his whole body tipped backward. He hurriedly planted both hands on the ground to support himself, narrowly avoiding landing flat on the ground.

“Jiang Xia, why did you hit me?”

“Master Sun, you saw that.”

Jiang Xia’s fist stopped firmly in midair. She withdrew her hand and turned to Forensic Examiner Sun. “See? When we’re facing each other, if I make any kind of attacking motion, the other person can see it clearly and react in time to dodge.”

“But the victim suffered a frontal injury, which means he and the attacker were facing each other and talking. In that situation, the victim would have been able to clearly see what was in my hand and what I was doing.”

“Once he realized I had a blunt weapon in my hand, he’d instinctively be on his guard. The moment I moved, he’d naturally lean back to dodge. There’s a good chance the first blow would miss, giving him an opportunity to run away. So the weapon would have to be concealed first, followed by a sudden attack.”

“And the weapon definitely couldn’t have been hidden behind the waist, because the movement of drawing it would be too obvious. So the best option would be to hide it inside the sleeve, using the hand to support the hammerhead.”

As she spoke, Jiang Xia let her hand hang down and demonstrated a loose grip. “With the arm hanging naturally like this, the weapon can be concealed by the clothing. When it’s needed, you simply relax and tighten your grip. The hammer will quickly slide down under its own weight, allowing you to catch the handle and launch an attack immediately.”

“But getting the timing right wouldn’t be easy. It would be difficult to do on impulse. The killer would have had to practice it several times. So whether you consider the advance practice or the preparation of hiding the weapon inside the sleeve, this was clearly a premeditated crime.”

<< _ >>

The post Criminal Master System Ch.31.1 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.