When Zhang Lisheng was talking to the skinny man, all of the prisoners had already escaped from the cage and naturally gathered around a middle-aged burly man with a square nose and wide mouth.
"That's our captain, Anduki, one of the best navigators in the Venis City's Bailile Trading Company." When the skinny man saw that his companions had escaped, he pointed at the middle-aged burly man not far away and said to Zhang Lisheng in a slightly strange tone.
"I don't care if he's a navigator or a captain. The most important thing now is to escape. Tell them to stop standing there foolishly and follow my footsteps." The young man curled his lips and turned around to walk quietly into the jungle.
In Zhang Lisheng's heart, the mainlanders behind him should have already died in the sea when they encountered a shipwreck. Since they were saved by the Wizard Li tribe that he created, the lives of these people naturally no longer belonged to them but to him. It was only natural for him to use them as a stepping stone to obtain the nautical chart of the Hellfire sea region.
If it was not for the fact that he was worried that the long-standing hatred between the mainlanders and the Hellfire tribesmen might make these people choose to die rather than submit, and that the damaged nautical chart he seized was less than one-tenth of the entire Hellfire sea region, he would have long used cruel means to torture these guys to repair the nautical chart.
Now that he had chosen to 'cast a long line to catch a big fish', these stepping stones would be very useful before he achieved his goal. All of the young men considerately slowed down their footsteps so that the mainlanders could see their blurred figures clearly in the dark jungle so that they could walk steadily and safely.
Unfortunately, even though his footsteps had slowed down again and again, the prisoners who had escaped with great difficulty still had many accidents in the jungle. They were either sprained on their ankles by tree roots or fell and broke their arms. The number of injured continued to increase and in the end, the entire team came to a standstill.
At this time, a fat woman timidly suggested, "Let's light a torch, Sirs! No! If we don't light a torch, we won't be able to walk out of this jungle at all!"
"Light a torch? Do you want to become the target of the Hellfire tribesmen?" Even though Zhang Lisheng, who was walking at the front, had already thought of asking these fugitives to light their torches and walk properly, he, who was walking at the front, stopped and turned around to object deliberately.
Right now, his position in the team was very special. The instant he opened his mouth, everyone became silent. After a while, Anduki said, "In the eyes of those Hellfire people, we're just cattle and sheep waiting to be slaughtered. We're locked in the livestock pen with no one guarding us at all. Not to mention that it's already late at night and they're already asleep so nobody will notice us.
How about this, we light a torch in the forest, and when we get out of the forest and see the moonlight, we will immediately extinguish it. "
As he spoke, this middle-aged captain who seemed to be extremely experienced in camping on this island groped for dried branches in the forest. Not long after, he miraculously relied on drilling wood to light up a few torches.
When the torches lit up in the dark forest, it immediately made the hearts of the fugitives inexplicably warm. Their extremely nervous mood seemed to have eased a lot as well. Only Zhang Lisheng pretended to whisper to the skinny man who was the only one who could follow him, "We're running for our lives. We can live if we hold on, but if we can't, we can only die.
Now that there's actually a Sage in our team, he's risking everyone's life just to save those who can't hold on anymore. I'm starting to regret saving all of you. "
"Captain Anduki's character is always like this. It's too late for you to regret it now," The skinny man became silent for a while before replying softly, "The torches have already been lit. Let's hurry up and continue our journey."
"Hurry up? Are we rushing to a dead end …" Zhang Lisheng pretended to curse under his breath and turned around to continue to walk towards the beach.
With the light, the speed of the team's advancement became much faster. The fugitives did not know that the reason why they did not encounter any danger along the way was because there were tens of thousands of indigenous warriors riding on giant spiders quietly guarding the surroundings, causing the ferocious beasts and poisonous insects to not dare to approach them. Finally, they managed to walk out of the jungle before dawn and looked at the distant sea that was rippling under the moonlight.
"We're saved! We're saved …" At that instant when they saw the sea, many people in the team either clenched their fists or bit their lips in excitement as they shouted in a low voice.
At this time, Anduki and the skinny man, on the other hand, were staring at the huge wooden ships that were more than 100 meters long docked in the natural harbor in the sea with their mouths agape. "Impossible! Impossible! It's impossible for those Hellfire tribesmen to build such a good ship!
T-They must have looted the fleet of some giant trading company at sea … "
"Captain Anduki, we don't have to care whether those big ships are built by the dwarves themselves or robbed. In any case, it's impossible for us to steal that kind of ship.
Come with me, there's a deserted harbor over there and there are a few abandoned old ships there. Let's hurry over there, "Zhang Lisheng whispered by the side.
After the young man's reminder, the fugitives finally realized that their journey of terror was far from over. Now was not the time to celebrate their victory and indulge in flights of fancy. For this reason, they hurriedly followed behind Zhang Lisheng and continued their escape journey by sticking close to the jungle.
After another long journey, when many people could no longer hold on and were being supported by their companions, a lonely harbor built on a deserted beach suddenly entered the eyes of the mainlanders.
When they saw that the destination was already in front of them, their exhausted bodies suddenly squeezed out a lot of potential. Very soon, the fugitives began to trot cautiously and sneakily to the harbor.
When they saw that the old wooden house in the harbor was indeed no longer inhabited, they could not help but breathe a sigh of relief at the same time. Anduki immediately ordered loudly, "Young Master Annete and Miss Helena, you two follow Mr. Hanino and Madam Esara to wait by the beach.
The rest of you, women, go to the house to see if there's anything useful. Silk threads, ironware, wooden barrels, and so on.
Men, follow me to the ship. We have to pick a ship to set off immediately. I think everyone is the same as me and would rather die at sea than be locked in a livestock pen and end up in the Hellfire people's stomachs. Hurry, hurry, hurry … "It seemed that the moment he got close to the ship, he had the decisiveness and wisdom that a leader should have.
The moment the captain gave his order, the mainlanders began to move. More than ten ragged women who survived hurriedly ran into the wooden house next to the harbor and rummaged around. Not long after, they found a lot of junk.
The men, on the other hand, ran to the beach and directly grabbed the ropes hanging from the old ships that were docked by the shore. Using their hands and feet, they climbed up to the deck and looked around to pick a suitable ship.
There were only Zhang Lisheng, the skinny man, the young man who had once praised the young man's strength and his old teacher, the tall woman whose words were quite bewitching when they were in the stone prison, and the unkempt young girl by her side on the coast. All of them seemed to have nothing to do.
"Who are those two little fellas and that very smart old man by their side and that old woman who has always been very talkative? Why do they seem to have a special status?" Zhang Lisheng curiously pointed at the young man and woman who were trying to wash their hair and faces with seawater not far away and asked.
"You mean Young Master Annete and Miss Helena? They're the direct descendants of the Bailile Family so of course, they have a special status," The skinny man replied. "The one accompanying Young Master Annete is his tutor, Mr. Hanino, while the one accompanying Miss Helena is her education butler, Madam Esara.
Let me give you a piece of advice, young man. Don't call them 'little fellas', 'old man', or 'old woman' in the future. Also, my name is Hanoo, not skinny. "
"When you were locked in the stone prison, you didn't mind me calling you that at all," Zhang Lisheng curled his lips and sat on the beach. Looking at the vast sea in the distance, he said faintly, "You've already changed your attitude before you've even escaped to the ship? Well, it doesn't matter now. I've already gotten over everything anyway, so let's just let it be."
"You've gotten over it?" Upon hearing this, Hanoo suddenly laughed inexplicably. "How old are you? How dare you say that you've gotten over it already?"
"This has nothing to do with age," Zhang Lisheng became silent for a while before replying in a whisper. "Think about it, I gave up a comfortable wooden bed, a delicious breakfast, and a dangerous but stable life to rescue a group of shipwreck victims, steal a wooden ship that's destined to have no supplies, and cross the vast ocean to rush to the so-called 'civilized world'. What else is this if not getting over it?"
Hanoo was stunned and looked at the young man at his feet carefully. After a moment of silence, he said, "I can't believe that you've actually thought so much despite looking superficial and simple and hesitant in doing things."
"Hanoo, I've thought about it for a whole 12 days before deciding to take the risk to save all of you. What else can I not think through?" Zhang Lisheng chuckled in a low voice. "Let's not talk about me. Let's talk about you instead. You look like an old sailor and you're very smart, so why don't you help to pick the ship? Don't tell me that you're also a big shot?"
"I'm not a big shot. I'm just a small navigator.
My only responsibility on the ship is to provide the captain with the information of the sea ahead and summarize all the available routes for the captain to choose from. Other than that, I don't have to do anything else, "Hanoo, who was saying that he was not a big shot, suddenly had a proud expression on his face. In the end, he added," But my position is only second to the captain. "
Upon hearing his words, Zhang Lisheng's heart jolted as a sense of ecstasy rose in his heart. Lowering his head to look at the gravel on the ground, he could not help but say in a strange voice, "It sounds like your work is amazing, Hanoo. In that case, you must be very familiar with this sea area. You can even be said to be a living 'nautical chart'."
"Since you've already thought through everything, there's nothing for me to hide from you anymore. If it's the various cities along the coast of the Kattaman City State, or even the many routes that are as far as the Kingdom of Gum, Indona, in the south, and the Kingdom of Fine Iron, Venadi, in the north, I can indeed be said to be very familiar with the vast sea area, but the Hellfire sea area …"
"You're not familiar with the Hellfire sea area?" Zhang Lisheng interrupted the skinny man's words with a deep tone.
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