The sea breeze blew the sails, allowing the merchant ship to sail on the sea at an extremely fast speed with the help of the wind.
The young captain stood at the bow with a few strands of his long hair outside the ship-shaped captain's hat fluttering in the wind, appearing to be in high spirits. He felt as if he was living in the best dream and still could not believe that this good luck had come to him.
It was only until the employer standing next to him began to speak that he finally snapped back to reality. "Captain Fitch, change the route and sail west at full speed. Drop the anchor and stop the ship at noon. We'll wait for a few 'guests' to board the ship in the sea before continuing to go to Susi City according to the original plan."
"P-Change the route …" It was a taboo to change the route without encountering any special circumstances during the voyage, especially when the captain was a newbie. Upon hearing the employer saying such words so casually, Fitch's eyes widened in shock. "Sir, t-it's very easy to get lost!"
"Use your brain, Captain. Use the nautical instrument to remember the direction and time. After picking up the 'guests', we'll return using the same route and continue the voyage. It'll take at most one day, so how can we possibly get lost?" Zhang Lisheng turned his head to the lousy captain who had always been at the bottom of the Nautical College and said with a faint smile.
The captain was the captain of the ship in the voyage. Even if it was the employer's request, the captain could still reject it in person as long as it was unreasonable.
However, with Fitch's qualifications and knowledge, how could he possibly have such boldness? He opened his mouth and whispered, "You're right, B-But why do we have to do this …"
"It's not that I want to do this, but it's the Bailile Family and the Tantorn Family who want me to do this. Perhaps they want me to help them bring some 'personal goods'.
In short, Captain Fitch, you'll have a promising future if you do as I say. If you don't, I'm afraid today will be the most glorious day of your life. I'll go back to the cabin to rest now. It's up to you how you choose, "Zhang Lisheng said and turned to walk to the largest cabin on the deck.
Each city-state in the Kattaman City State had a unified tax law that imposed heavy taxes on slave trade and tobacco trade. For this reason, it was not a new thing for large trading companies with power and influence to secretly carry out smuggling trade to earn huge profits.
Even though the young man's words were full of loopholes, just that tiny possibility alone, in addition to the two names Bailile and Tantu, was enough to make Fitch choose to submit.
"Sir, I'll do as you say right away. I'll do it right away …" Looking at his employer's figure disappearing behind the wooden door of the cabin, the young captain snapped back to reality and shouted. After that, he turned his face to the sailors and yelled, "Send a signal to the other two ships and let them follow us to the west.
Adjust the sails and head west at full speed! "
Upon hearing Filch's shout in the spacious cabin, a strange smile crept upon Zhang Lisheng's face unwittingly. After turning around and locking the cabin door, he strolled to a round sofa by the window and sat down. Looking out of the window thoughtfully, he quietly waited for the passage of time.
By the time the sun slowly rose in the sky and finally climbed to the top of his head, the young man could clearly feel that the ship began to slow down and finally stopped in the vast sea. Then, the 'plop' sound of the huge sea anchor at the stern resonated in his ears.
After a while, a series of knocking sounds resonated from outside the cabin. Then, he heard Filch asking loudly outside the door, "Sir, we've already stopped the ship. D-Do you want to have lunch? I'll ask the sailors to send it to you."
"You've done well, Filch! You've done well!" Now that the time had come, Zhang Lisheng stood up and took off his clothes as he replied, "There's no need to send me lunch. I'm not hungry yet. You and the sailors can eat first.
Just wait patiently. I think our 'guests' will arrive in a few hours at the earliest and two to three days at the latest. "
"We'll have to wait for two to three days? S-Sir, we're only preparing for a coastal voyage. Do we have enough food to wait for two to three days?" When the young captain heard that the employer's words were different again, he was stunned for a while before asking in a stutter.
"I've personally prepared the goods and food." After Zhang Lisheng transformed with the wyrmdragon's power naked, he sensed the abundant water vapor around his body that began to condense into clouds. "Just the dried meat and hard bread alone are enough to fill nearly 300 wooden boxes. I've even prepared some simple fishing gear, so do you think we need to worry about food?"
"Of course, you don't have to worry if you're already prepared." Upon hearing the employer's rhetorical question, Filch, who had just breathed a sigh of relief outside the door, suddenly saw a thick layer of fog rising from the sea. At once, he could not help but shout out loud, "This is bad, sir! The sea is foggy, and it's a heavy fog! W-What should we do?"
"It's very simple. Stay where you are and wait for the fog to disperse. That's right, light up the torches on the ship. Be careful not to let the 'guests' come and crash into our ship." Zhang Lisheng, whose mouth and nose had become protruding, his ears had turned into antlers, his body was covered with countless green scales, and his palms were as dry as an eagle's as he sneered coldly.
Just like this, the three ships stayed in the thick fog for three whole days. The fog did not disperse abnormally and the people on the ship began to become restless.
At noon on the fourth day, the sun shone through the thick fog on the large merchant ship. Filch raised his head and looked at the fog that his eyes could not penetrate at all. Looking around the deck, he said to the second mate beside him, "Apulila has already been here for four days and three nights, but this thick fog has yet to disperse. I feel that something is wrong. Have you ever heard of a sea fog that lasts for such a long time?"
"Never, sir!" The short second mate sighed and replied, "It's winter now, so by right, it's impossible for there to be fog on the sea.
Why don't you talk to the boss again? Let's try to navigate first and see if we can sail out of this fog before we continue to anchor and wait? In such a fog, no matter how big our ship is, it's impossible for us to be seen … "
"It's no use. I've already said this before, but our employer said that the agreed place is here, so we can only wait here. If we're worried that the 'guests' won't be able to see us, we'll light up more torches." Filch shook his head and sighed, interrupting Apulila's words.
"T-This is really …" The second mate was stunned for a while before suddenly whispering, "This is really unreasonable, sir! Look, Mr. Lisheng has been staying in the cabin for four whole days and only asked someone to send us dried meat and bread late at night. Not only that, his orders are also so inexplicable.
Our original plan was to sail along the coastline to the neighboring city-state, but now, we've been parked in the sea for hundreds of hours. Even though it's still relatively safe offshore, there's still a small possibility of encountering sea monsters, especially the recent uproar of the Hellfire hijacking that allowed the boss to luckily obtain these three ships … "
"Stop it, Apulila! It's not good to talk nonsense at sea … Sigh!
Mr. Lisheng is our employer and the VIP of the Bailile and Tantorn Family. Even though this matter is very strange, it's still better for us to follow his orders unless it's a last resort.
Now that we have enough food and the sea is calm, it's not a big deal to wait a little longer … "The captain interrupted Apulila's words again. Right at this moment, he suddenly heard a sailor's shout resonating from the watchtower." Captain, something seems to be approaching us from the sea … Oh my God!
T-That thing's speed is really too fast! It's definitely not a ship! Watch out! Everyone, watch out! There's a sea monster swimming towards us … "
Upon hearing the watchman's hoarse shout, the people on the deck immediately panicked.
Filch's body froze. Then, he abandoned the second mate and strode towards the ship's side in bewilderment. His footsteps staggered and he almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, he managed to grab hold of the ship's side. Even though his hand was bleeding, he still tried his best to look outside regardless. Just as he was feeling nervous, he suddenly heard the watchman shouting again, "It's a ship! It looks like it's a ship! Even though it has no sail, it's still very fast!
Everyone, don't panic! It looks like the 'guest' that we've been waiting for has arrived! "
"Who's the one on duty on the watchtower today?" The young captain's face turned grave right away as he roared. "Do you know that I can whip you ten times for the disturbance caused by your nonsense?"
"I-I'm sorry, Captain. T-That ship is just too strange. It's low, doesn't have a mast, and doesn't have a sail, but it's moving very fast on the sea …" The sailor who was standing on the lookout heard the captain's words and forgot his responsibility. He hurriedly climbed down the watchtower and explained.
"It's low, has no mast or sail, but it's moving very fast on the sea? How can there be such a ship in this world? I think you're, you're …" Upon hearing the sailor's explanation, Filch raised his voice in anger and reprimanded him even more furiously.
However, as he was speaking, his heart jolted as he vaguely remembered where he had heard such a description before. "Low hull, no mast or sail, but it's moving very fast? I-Isn't this the rumored fire-fire …"
When the young captain was stuttering 'fire-fire' non-stop, he was suddenly horrified to see a huge spider covered in long purple hair carrying a short ugly midget over the ship's side to stand beside him. This caused him to shudder and finally shouted a complete sentence, "The Hellfire tribesmen are here! They've boarded the ship! Fight! Prepare! Prepare to fight …"
In the midst of Filch's hoarse roar, the thick fog on the sea slowly dissipated. The sailors on the deck, who were so stiff that they could not move, watched as more and more barbarian warriors riding on giant spiders surged up the ship. Only a few of them responded to the captain's words and dashed to the bottom of the ship to get their weapons.
Unfortunately, these brave mainlanders did not even have the chance to approach the wooden door leading to the bottom of the stairs before they were pierced by the spears of the ferocious Hellfire tribesmen, taking their lives.
Blood spurted out from the gigantic penetrated wounds on their bodies, causing the other sailors to completely lose their will to resist. Most of them slumped to the ground, their legs turning soft. Only Fitch and a few others were still barely standing.
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