Chapter 36: Black Sea King
A young boy afflicted with Red Crow Syndrome stood beside a wooden table. He was severely malnourished, standing only tall enough to reveal half his chest and head from beside the table.
This boy wasn't just underdeveloped; his life force was withering. A single glance at him told Su Xiao that something was parasitizing his body, most likely a supernatural creature.
"Where is Terror Island?"
As soon as Su Xiao spoke these words, the pirates within a few meters fell silent.
"That's just a legend, sir. Terror Island doesn't exist."
"Then let me ask another question. I'm very interested in the legends of sea deities."
"Well, that would be... Shishirile? Or the Death Bell Ship? And..."
The boy was quite talkative and listed a bunch of sea deity legends. After a moment, he swallowed hard.
Su Xiao tossed a cup of gold coins to the boy. The boy quickly ran to the bar counter, and after a while, he returned with a handful of grayish-black silver coins and a large bottle of wine clutched in his arms.
"Sir, this is the change."
The boy placed the handful of silver coins on the table, then bit open the bottle's cork and gulped down the strong liquor. He wasn't a drinker; he was using the alcohol to alleviate his pain.
"Burp~"
The boy, his face slightly flushed, let out a burp and sat down on a wooden stump across from Su Xiao.
"You mentioned earlier, the evil god after sunset?"
"Mm, the twilight's afterglow, the night's sovereign, the origin of des... des, cough, cough..."
The boy started dry coughing. He felt a dryness in his throat. At first, it wasn't too intense, but after a few coughs, it felt like knives were cutting his throat.
"Why... why is everyone looking at me?"
Coming to his senses, the boy looked around. Aside from the sleeping pirates, the others had all stood up and were trying to get as far away from him as possible.
"Get back!"
"The Red Crow is about to bloom. Go, hurry!"
The pirates scrambled to escape the tavern.
With a crackling sound, a piece of the boy's cheek split open, and a blood vessel slowly extended outward, triggering a chain reaction.
"Has it... been three years already? No... that's wrong, there should be six months left. Why is the Red Crow acting up? It shouldn't."
The boy's expression was panicked. He looked around; only Su Xiao remained calmly seated across from him, while everyone else was fleeing.
Seeing this, the boy stood up, and his body bloomed open like a flower. This was the Red Crow Syndrome.
After a moment, all the pirates in the tavern had fled, and the boy turned into a pile of black ash. From within the ash, a crow with dark red feathers shook its wings and flew towards the tavern's entrance.
Zzzt～
The Realm Severing Thread wrapped around the dark red crow, yanking it back.
A crystal layer coated Su Xiao's hand as he grabbed the dark red crow and crushed it directly.
Blood dripped from Su Xiao's hand, but unfortunately, this blood crow didn't carry the aura of an Ancient God.
"Twilight's afterglow, the night's sovereign."
Su Xiao muttered to himself. He felt this sea creature legend was the closest to an Ancient God, especially the part the boy hadn't fully said: 'the origin of despair.'
"You, you, you damned bastard! You killed the Red Crow! The Black Sea King, Agati, is coming! The Black Sea King leaves no survivors!"
The bartender shouted in a trembling voice. He couldn't escape; even if he did, he'd be dragged back.
Caw, caw, caw...
The cawing of crows came from above, through the roof. Hearing this, the bartender behind the counter placed his valuables on it, then tilted his head back and slammed it against the counter, knocking himself unconscious.
One by one, blood crows flew into the tavern and landed around Su Xiao.
"Is it you? The one who killed my seed?"
A voice, indistinguishable as male or female, came from one of the blood crows. It stood on the wooden table in front of Su Xiao, its pitch-black eyes fixed on him.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I paid for information, but only got half of it."
"I see... But killing my seed can't just be forgotten."
"I'm right here waiting for you. Come if you dare."
"..."
The master of the blood crow fell silent. After a moment, the crow let out a laugh.
"Would you like to come aboard my ship?"
"No interest."
"Then forget it. Today's incident never happened."
The blood crows around Su Xiao scattered. The first to suffer was the bartender.
As one of the three strongest pirates on the sea, the Black Sea King, Agati, couldn't afford to lose face. But through the blood crow, he judged that Su Xiao was not someone to be trifled with.
So he made a verbal agreement with Su Xiao to pretend nothing had happened. After that, the Black Sea King, Agati, began silencing witnesses, eliminating the bartender, the only eyewitness.
This way, no one would reveal the incident. As for the pirates who had fled, they were smart enough to disappear when things went wrong. That was the way of survival at sea.
In the Black Sea King, Agati's view, the death of one blood crow was a trivial matter. Making an enemy of a powerful stranger over such a small issue was unwise; the cost and gain were completely mismatched.
One could say the Black Sea King, Agati, embodied the ruthlessness and cunning of a pirate to the extreme.
"What did you do earlier? My seed hadn't matured yet, but it bloomed."
A blood crow flew back and landed on the wooden table, representing the Black Sea King.
"I was asking about some sea legends."
"Legends about me at sea?"
"..."
"Hmph, and here I thought you were investigating me."
The Black Sea King snorted coldly, trying to cover up the awkward atmosphere.
"Twilight's afterglow, the night's sovereign..."
Before Su Xiao could finish, the blood crow on the table interjected: "The origin of despair, the master of all things."
"That's right, that's the deity legend."
"You're seeking death. That's not a legend."
The Black Sea King's voice dropped significantly.
"Even better."
"You madman... Do you know what you're searching for?"
"Just a deity."
Su Xiao tossed a Soul Crystal Fragment into his mouth and chewed slowly.
"Just?!"
The Black Sea King manipulated the blood crow to look Su Xiao up and down, then finally shook its head.
"I don't know if you're fearless because you're ignorant, or strong enough to slay a god. But how about we continue cooperating?"
"No interest."
Su Xiao refused decisively. The Doom Number hadn't grown yet, and the bargaining chips between them were unequal.
"Caw caw caw, go find Feld. He's on this island, in the thatched hut to the south. Feld is a fanatic of that thing. That thing has many fanatics. Consider this a favor; repay me later."
"Fine."
"See you at sea, if you don't die at that thing's hands."
The blood crow flew away. From the Black Sea King's few words, Su Xiao confirmed many things.
There were indeed Ancient Gods in this world, and they were relatively high-profile. This was why Su Xiao had found clues so quickly. Earlier, he had worried that if the Ancient God was a homebody like the Moon God, and without a main quest to provide leads, finding it would be very troublesome.
Clearly, the Ancient God in this world was different from the Moon God. Judging by the Black Sea King's tone, he had clearly seen that Ancient God.
With this information, Su Xiao, along with Bubu Wang and Baha, left the tavern and headed straight for the southern side of the island.
The island was overgrown with weeds and tropical trees. After traveling for over ten minutes, Su Xiao vaguely saw a thatched hut in the darkness ahead.