Chapter 33: Two Questions
Blood dripped from the tip of Dragon-Slaying Flash as Su Xiao held half a corpse in his hand—a pirate who had tried to ambush him.
"Cough, cough~"
The pirate captain, a headscarf tied around his head, leaned against the mast. One of his arms had been severed, and a slash wound spread from his chin down to his chest.
Su Xiao's strength was certainly not invincible on the Viking Sea, but dealing with this kind of second-rate—no, third-rate—pirate crew was effortless. He had barely needed to act.
As for first-rate pirate crews, they typically numbered over a thousand and included many pirates with supernatural abilities. Facing such a crew alone, a direct confrontation was unwise, especially at sea. Whether the Doom Number could withstand such an assault was highly questionable.
As for the three legendary pirate crews, each had over five thousand members, and their captains were all top-tier Sixth Rank combatants.
Moreover, these legendary pirate crews had captains with large-scale buff abilities, and their trusted subordinates were all Sixth Rank boss-level threats.
A legendary pirate crew consisted of one Sixth Rank major boss (the captain), several Sixth Rank minor bosses (the captain's trusted aides, such as the first mate, second mate, etc.), and numerous Sixth Rank elites, not to mention their elite cannon fodder.
For this reason, Su Xiao needed the Doom Number to grow into a five-masted ship. Only then would he have the capital to directly confront those three legendary pirate crews.
As the location for the third round of the Powerhouse Battle Royale, the Viking Sea's pirates were naturally not to be trifled with. Otherwise, the time limit to reach Losh Island wouldn't have been set at fifteen days.
Su Xiao flicked the blood off his long blade, sheathed it, and walked over to the pirate captain.
"I ask, you answer."
"You, go to hell, don't even think—"
"Kill him."
The moment Su Xiao spoke, Amu, wielding his ice warhammer, brought it down with a crash.
Boom!
Wood chips flew. The already severely wounded pirate captain went limp on the spot, dropping no treasure chest.
Su Xiao's gaze shifted to the next pirate. This one, with a mouthful of rotten teeth, knelt on the ground, his eyes darting around, clearly looking for a chance to escape.
"What's the nearest island in this sea area?"
"To, to the southeast. Ring Barren Island is over there. Only... the sea chart, I can read the sea chart."
Clearly, this pirate had a strong will to survive. In his panic, he nearly blurted out, "Only the captain can read the sea chart," but quickly changed his tune, falsely claiming he could read it too.
"Bring me the sea chart."
"It's already been burned by Little Fenk, but I remember all the squiggles and circles on it. Trust me, I can take you to Ring Barren Island!"
For a pirate's level of education, describing a map as "squiggles and circles" was actually quite impressive.
"Alright, thank you then."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, the kneeling pirate was overjoyed. In reality, this was a deliberate expression he put on to deceive Su Xiao.
"It's nothing, this... sir. Thank you for your recognition. I will offer you my loyalty. I am—"
"Kill them all."
Su Xiao stepped toward the captain's cabin. Baha swooped down from above and instantly killed the kneeling pirate on the deck.
Read the sea chart? Sir? Loyalty? A pirate's promises were not to be trusted.
Compared to the pirates of the Viking Sea, most pirate crews from the Pirate World were practically law-abiding citizens.
Burning, killing, looting, betraying for profit, cruel and savage—their average knowledge of numbers was below five, yet they were exceptionally cunning. That was what pirates were.
The sounds of slaughter soon subsided. The pirates on the ghost ship had been wiped out.
Inside the captain's cabin, Su Xiao studied the sea chart on the table. After a moment of examination, he concluded that he basically couldn't understand it.
If it were a standard royal sea chart, Su Xiao might not fully comprehend it, but he could at least roughly determine directions. However, this thing was drawn by pirates—a somewhat dirty piece of cloth that, judging by its appearance, had been inherited from several generations of pirates before them.
Besides this sea chart, Su Xiao also found a crude compass and a small pouch of dull yellow gold coins. These coins were about the size of a thumbnail, the gold not very pure, and the emblems on them numbered seven or eight different types.
These were gold coins from different kingdoms. Though the emblems differed, their weight and specifications were roughly the same, making them interchangeable. There were thirty-seven coins in total.
Judging by the number of coins, either their purchasing power was astonishing, or this pirate crew was dirt poor.
Taking these items, Su Xiao returned to the Doom Number and manipulated its sails to reverse the ship.
The sound of wood grinding and cracking echoed as the Doom Number crashed down onto the sea surface, settling to a certain draft depth before stabilizing.
Amu tied the ropes, and the Doom Number set sail, towing the ghost ship behind it. Though the ship looked old and worn, it was artificially aged—a testament to pirate ingenuity.
This ship could be sold. With this world's currency, things would be much more convenient.
Inside the Doom Number's captain's cabin, Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Baha, and Beini sat around the wooden table, looking at the sea chart.
"Meow?"
Beini tapped a circle on the sea chart with her paw, meaning: 'Based on this kitty's experience with matching games, this is Ring Barren Island.'
"Woof."
Bubu Wang disagreed. He felt that the big 'X' was Ring Barren Island.
"This thing is probably a family heirloom diaper."
Baha started talking nonsense again.
"Judging by the direction, it seems to be here."
Su Xiao pointed to the upper corner of the sea chart. He had acquired the language ability of this world, but unfortunately, there wasn't a single word on the sea chart—only markings.
After roughly determining the direction, the Doom Number sped up. It had to be said that while controlling this living ship carried risks, its living nature had its benefits: it could sail on its own.
It wasn't quite "auto-navigation," but sailing in a single direction was no problem.
At 9 PM that night, Beini, on watch at the bow, spotted something. Su Xiao's earlier guess was correct: the twisted circle on the sea chart was indeed Ring Barren Island.
On the pitch-black sea, a firelight appeared in the distance, like a lighthouse.
Seeing this firelight, Su Xiao realized that Ring Barren Island wasn't part of any kingdom's territory. It was already 9 PM; normal ships would have long since returned to port and wouldn't need such a guiding torch tower.
Only pirate ships dared to sail at night. They even hunted large sea creatures, so nighttime sailing was nothing to them.
Arriving at the shallow waters, Su Xiao saw a row of large ships. Illuminated by the guiding torch tower's flames, they all had black sails—pirate ships.
Dropping anchor, Su Xiao jumped onto the ice surface frozen by Amu and soon reached the sandy beach on the island. The beach was covered in messy footprints and many dirty wine bottles.
Ring Barren Island had arrived. It was a pirate island, mostly in its primitive state, overgrown with vegetation. At the island's front end, however, were rows of stone or wooden houses, about the size of a village, abnormally developed—at least by this world's standards.
Over seventy percent of these buildings were a combination of taverns, inns, restaurants, and brothels. The remaining houses sold either cold weapons, firearms, or ship-related goods.
Small but complete, Ring Barren Island, as a pirate island, presented a scene of chaos and freedom.
Because it had just rained, the roads between the houses were full of mud. Faint snoring could be heard from within the mud—drunken pirates who had no money and had been thrown out of the taverns.
A small number of pirates were indeed glamorous, possessing supernatural abilities. But over ninety percent of pirates lived day by day, never knowing if they'd see tomorrow. Even if they had just fought a bloody battle with other pirates and had their arms or legs cut off, as long as they had a bottle of rum, they could laugh heartily.
Walking along the muddy road, Su Xiao was about to pass a tavern when he stopped.
A man wearing a black-and-gold robe, a hood, and a lazy expression walked out of the tavern. Without even needing to sense it, Su Xiao knew this was a spellcaster—a spellcaster from Arcane Eternal Star.
"Uh... this is awkward."
The newcomer also saw Su Xiao. His expression was lazy, tinged with a hint of helplessness.
"How about we pretend we never saw each other?"
The go-with-the-flow spellcaster, Hugh, sighed. He held no hostility toward Law Destroyers. In fact, he quite agreed with their views: elemental balance must not be broken.
"Hugh, you..."
A female voice came. Dilyn, her ears full of earrings and her hair short, walked out of the tavern.
Following Hugh's gaze, Dilyn turned her head and saw Su Xiao, who was over ten meters away.
"Hugh, let's join forces and take him out."
As Dilyn spoke, golden elemental ripples surged behind her.
"I refuse."
"Why? What's wrong with you again!"
"Dilyn, answer me two questions, and I'll join forces with you."
Hugh yawned, looking like he was about to go back to sleep.
"Speak."
Dilyn was practically grinding her teeth.
"Question one: Before this, had I ever seen him? Question two: Do I have any grudge against him?"
"This..."
Dilyn was speechless. What Hugh said seemed perfectly reasonable.
PS: (Originally planned to update at 12 PM. Woke up at 5 AM and wanted to sleep a bit more. Then, one blink and one eye-open later, it was 5:15 AM. Smiled, relaxed, closed my eyes, and went back to sleep. Another blink, and it was 11 AM! Damn it!)