The storm came faster than anyone expected. Worried about the Quidah, Black Prince Sam didn't stay on the Jackdaw any longer. As soon as he boarded the small boat, raindrops began to fall from the sky. At the same time, the sea started to churn.
Thick bolts of lightning flashed across the gloomy sky, and thunder rumbled. It was as if doomsday had arrived.
Although the distance between the two ships was less than 30 meters, Black Prince Sam's small boat had to row for more than ten minutes, bobbing up and down on the waves. It took him a lot of effort to get close to the Quidah. One of the pirates was even swept away by the waves behind him while he was climbing.
The pirates on the Quidah were powerless to do anything. All they could do was watch as their companion disappeared into the waves.
It was impossible to get off the boat to save someone in this terrible weather.
On the other hand, Zhang Heng didn't return to the captain's cabin. He stood at the bow of the Jackdaw while Billy commanded the crew to prepare for the storm.
Zhang Heng furrowed his brows. He was different from Black Sam. The latter might have thought that the weather was too sudden, but not only did Zhang Heng learn how to operate the sails from Rothko, the old pirate had also taught him how to judge the wind and forecast the weather.
Even though he wasn't as accurate as Rothko when it came to predicting the weather, he was still able to predict changes in the weather within a short period of time. The storm had come too suddenly and without any warning. Just a quarter of an hour ago, the sky was still clear and cloudless. According to Rothko's experience, the sea would be calm until at least tonight.
However, in just over ten minutes, the weather in this sea changed drastically. Zhang Heng had only encountered such a situation once before, when the carrack appeared. However, the wind and waves weren't as strong as this time. Now, the sea seemed to be completely enraged, and huge waves slammed against the side of the ship one after another.
Zhang Heng grabbed the rope with one hand to stabilize himself, and with the other, he took out the copper binoculars he carried with him. He first looked at Black Prince Sam. The Quidah was bustling with activity, but there was nothing to do for now. So, Zhang Heng shifted his gaze to the distance.
However, to his surprise, he did not see the ghost ship from more than a hundred years ago on the sea this time. On the contrary, after a while, the seemingly terrible storm began to slowly weaken. The waves became smaller and smaller, and the raindrops became sparse. Five minutes later, the sun shone through the clouds again. The sea returned to calmness, and the dark clouds that shrouded the sky before disappeared.
The whole thing happened in less than 20 minutes. Even Annie, who was usually insensitive, found it unbelievable. When the rain stopped, she flicked the raindrops off her hair and said, "What is this? A prank?"
Zhang Heng was a little puzzled, but to be cautious, he went to the warehouse immediately and checked the two boxes of silverware again. In the end, he didn't find anything unusual. When he picked up the ring and necklace in the drawer, he also didn't get a system notification that he had obtained an item.
Was it a coincidence?
Zhang Heng couldn't be sure. He felt like he had missed out something about the carrack, but he had no other clues. All he could do was wait for Vincent to translate the three notebooks and see if he could get more information from them.
To most people, this sudden storm was just a small interlude in a long voyage. Soon, the pirates on the ship shifted their attention to other things, such as who always sneaked into the kitchen to steal bread at night, and where they were going to have fun after they got ashore.
The Jackdaw was getting closer and closer to Nassau. Zhang Heng, however, had no idea that a storm was waiting for him on shore.
Carina's secondhand trading center was very popular on the island. Pirates kept coming in and out of the door, and Carina had a bold personality that didn't match her gender. She accepted everything that came in her secondhand trading center, and as long as it wasn't worthless, she was willing to pay for it. This earned her a lot of praise from the pirates.
At the same time, Captain Malone bid farewell to his happy days in the brothel and became busy again. The Gentle Breeze began to shuttle between Nassau and the colony's ports, exchanging the loot that Carina secretly bought from the pirates on the island for bags of gold coins. Most of the income was used to subsidize the secondhand trading center, and since Carina asked for a high price, the profits weren't ideal. It was far from what her father Fagan made when he was still on the island.
Regardless, they finally started to make a profit. At least, they wouldn't be sitting around doing nothing while the Jackdaw was out at sea.
However, the good times didn't last long. Not long after, the news of Carina using the secondhand trading center to trade with the pirate captains was leaked. Almost overnight, the news spread across the entire island.
Soon after, the news of her father being detained by the colony broke out. This incident happened a few months ago, and it wasn't a secret among the black market merchants. Some of the well-informed people on the island had heard about it. Today, however, the news started to spread like wildfire, and the malicious intent behind it was clear to see.
The captains who traded with Carina couldn't sit still any longer. They just wanted to earn some extra money, and they didn't want to be tied to Carina's sinking ship. They insisted that it wasn't their men who leaked the information, and they even suspected that Carina was the one who leaked the information. After all, if they were to fall out with the black-market alliance because of this, Carina would be the one to benefit from it.
Carina had no choice but to pay them a visit and try her best to convince them that the black-market alliance wouldn't carry out the sanctions stated in the statement. This was equivalent to pushing them to her side. Unfortunately, it was little to no avail. Only two of the captains said that they would only continue trading if Carina could solve the problem of the leak.
"There's no way to solve this problem. We've done a good job here. I've arranged for our men to guard the warehouse. Even the sailors on the ship don't know what we're transporting every time. So, it's impossible for us to be the one who leaked the information. Instead, it's the pirates. They have too many people and too many mouths. As the saying goes, don't expect a group of pirates to keep any secrets, especially when they're drunk."
Carina shook her head. "Most of the pirates under them don't know that they've sold the goods to us. Only a group of trusted men are doing this, and the rest only care about getting the money. The black-market alliance might have caught wind of it, but they shouldn't be investigating so quickly."
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