Xie Tianshu scanned the group of master’s students, his eyes narrowing as he asked coldly, “Where is Cai Yutong?”
“Not found yet,” replied Xie Jin.
“Not found yet, or have you hidden her away?”
Xie Tianshu’s tone was slightly severe. He had secretly gathered so many people, yet mistakes kept emerging. First, those folks from Laboratory 705 and Li Weiyi had vanished without a trace; now even a delicate woman like Cai Yutong could disappear.
Xie Tianshu worried that Xie Jin might not pass the test of beauty, and so deliberately let Cai Yutong go.
“Brother Shu, do you think I’m the type to disregard the big picture? Cai Yutong is really not in the cultivation area. If you don’t believe me, ask one of them,” said Xie Jin.
One of Professor Xu’s master’s students, named Sima Qin, wearing rimless glasses perched on his nose, looked scholarly. He was one of the three standing behind Xie Jin. Three days ago, under the coercion and persuasion of Xie Tianshu, Sima Qin had chosen to submit.
He said, “Not long ago, Doctor Qi came to the cultivation area. It was she who took away Doctor Cai.” Xie Tianshu’s expression calmed slightly as he sighed, “Ah Jin, beautiful women may be rare treasures, but compared with survival, they are nothing more than temporary playthings.
Send two people to the Graveyard Forest to search. Once we find her, she will be a resource for all of us to share.” Xie Jin’s face changed, and in the end he nodded.
Sima Qin looked at Chen Hong, who was interrogating Gao Huan, and reminded him, “What you’re asking won’t do any good! Everyone has a weakness. Gao Huan’s weakness is Liu Ying.
He has liked Liu Ying for three years; it was for her that he took the postgraduate exam, and later relied on connections to enter Professor Xu’s laboratory.” Liu Ying was one of the five cadets who had just been brought back from the cultivation area. Her skin was fair, her eyes bright, and her looks quite outstanding.
On board the scientific expedition ship, it was she who had asked Li Weiyi to help take a group photo.
“You two are classmates. You really sold yourself short,” Chen Hong laughed.
Sima Qin said, “The same goes for you; no one should laugh at another. Everyone has a dark side inside. Now, we finally have the chance to let it all out without fearing legal retribution.
Brother Shu, hand over Liu Ying to me for half an hour, and I guarantee that if you ask Gao Huan any questions, he will confess everything honestly.” Laughter broke out among the crowd. Kong Fan chuckled, “Half an hour?
The young man is really confident. But our new Captain Xie has already said that beautiful women are resources meant to be shared. How about adding me, Old Kong, into the mix?”
The laughter grew again. Since setting sail, everyone had been aboard the ship for almost two months—a time full of boredom, loneliness, and fatigue. Who wouldn’t long for some excitement?
Now, in this lawless place where no one was in charge, and with nobody knowing how long each of them would live, their courage naturally grew. With all the wicked and evil thoughts built up inside, how could they be easily restrained?
Throughout history, even victorious emperors could not avoid seizing the women of the defeated, so how could these people escape common indulgence? Ever since Kong Fan had obtained the Silver Thread Gloves and tasted the sweetness of extraordinary power, his mindset had gradually changed without him noticing.
Among those present, a sense of superiority typical of those in power looking upon their servants arose. Servants, after all, could be manipulated in any way. Gao Huan cursed, “Sima Qin, you’re truly a beast.
Liu Ying is my classmate—aren’t you also a classmate? I don’t know where Li Weiyi went. I really don’t know.”
Sometimes, whether one knows or not isn’t what matters. Liu Ying, in fact, was a favor promised by Xie Tianshu to Sima Qin. Using beautiful women to win over subordinates and to turn enemy personnel—this has always been common, nothing new at all.
Liu Ying had already burst into tears and ran into the Graveyard Forest. But with her hands tightly bound behind her back, she couldn’t run fast and was soon caught by Sima Qin, who dragged her into a nearby medical tent. Kong Fan laughed merrily and also followed into the tent.
Professor Xu lay on the ground, crying and pounding his head as he yelled, “You are all so barbaric! Have you no sense of morality or conscience? Release Liu Ying at once, and if you have any issues with old man me, come!
Sima Qin, with your corrupt character—even if your scholarly achievements are excellent, I won’t let you graduate…” Xie Jin added, “This old fellow talks too much. Throw him into the Soul Sea and feed him to those wandering souls—save the food on the ship.”
The two security team members looked from the medical tent to Professor Xu, whose legs had been broken and who kept headbutting the ground. They felt deep pity and guilt. Their consciences felt uneasy.
In just seven days, it seemed that it wasn’t only the environment that had changed but the inner nature of people as well, a change that was startling to behold. At that moment, the sound of camel bells rang out from the Graveyard Forest, a sound both ethereal and unreal.
Xie Jin’s eyes slitted with blood as he said in a low voice, “What? Has your conscience finally arisen and you want to go back to being good people? Some things, once started, leave no turning back.
Throw that old fellow down…”
“I say… I say… Li Weiyi went to the area near the nine-story Ship Tower. He was heading to the stern. He told me earlier, absolutely true!”
Gao Huan knelt on the ground, bowing his head repeatedly as tears rolled down, pleading, “Release Liu Ying, spare the professor, please! I beg you!”
“Bang! Bang! Bang…”
Soon his forehead was battered, bruised and bleeding. He naturally intended to deceive this band of wicked individuals into feeding the Ghost Bear Emperor, but at the same time, he was truly desperate, hoping that his entreaties might save Liu Ying and Professor Xu. Zhao Meng scolded, “If you reveal my junior brother’s whereabouts, you’ll have absolutely no value left!
If you kneel and beg, do you think they will turn away from wrongdoing and spare us? Naive and foolish... When a person bares his fangs, he is no longer human!”
Xie Tianshu looked at everything with cold calmness and said, “Don’t think I don’t know what’s happening at the stern. Xiao Huan, why are you so dishonest? You have disappointed me too much!”
His last sentence was almost as if he had shouted. With a wave of his hand, the two security team members threw Professor Xu, who had been being carried high in the air, straight into the Soul Sea.
With a splash, under the bronze ship, countless vicious souls howled excitedly, and the sounds of flesh and bone being torn apart could be heard. Professor Xu only let out a few shrill, miserable screams before falling silent forever. Gao Huan stopped kneeling and remained on his knees, completely dumbfounded.
The deck fell into an unusual silence. Everyone with their hands bound trembled; no one dared speak, many even curling up to avoid the gaze of Xie Tianshu and his men. Another female cadet, whose looks were comparable to Liu Ying’s, was even more anxious.
Her fingers gripped tightly as she fought back tears, trying hard not to cry.
“Lying comes with a price.”
Xie Tianshu slapped Gao Huan’s face repeatedly and said, “Next time you speak, think clearly before you open your mouth.” In the next moment, he bellowed, “Bring in two more!” Almost immediately, two more security team members, their expressions a mix of shy remorse and burning anticipation, entered the medical tent.
Human nature is always contradictory. The baseline is like the clothing on a woman—it is hard to strip it all off in one go, but once you start removing one piece at a time, how can you not get completely bare?
Chen Hong disdained Xie Tianshu’s methods of using beauty to lure and binding with sin, and said, “Rather than interrogating him, why not interrogate the First Mate? Brother Meng and I are as close as brothers and cannot bear the thought of what might come next.
I will lead a few people to first find those who have hidden themselves.” … Li Weiyi, holding the Yellow Dragon Sword, dashed through the Graveyard Forest as she struggled to escape those grasping at her hair. A white bone, as if defying death to be reborn, seemed capable of swallowing her blood.
It was terrifying and eerie. Even though Li Weiyi had cultivated extraordinary feats, she was no match for it. If it weren’t for the presence of the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish and the Yellow Dragon Sword, she would have met her end there.
Luckily, she had been lying in the ice coffin; it appeared she had not fully awakened yet. Besides, the range of the hair attack was only about five zhang. It was hard to imagine just how terrifying things would be if that “White Bone Spirit” ever broke free.
“Senior Brother really knows how to hide things. What’s the point of stashing the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish and the Yellow Dragon Sword in her grave pile? It nearly got us killed,” Li Weiyi recalled what her senior brother had said—that when she fell onto the bronze ship, it was like falling on her own grave mound.
Fortunately, that grave mound had cushioned her fall, preventing her from dying.
Damn fate!
Li Weiyi looked toward where the light from the Golden Crow Corpse emanated through the Nether Fog. She felt puzzled. Clearly, there was a guiding light, so how was it that some of the expedition team got lost in the Graveyard Forest?
Were there other mysteries and unknown dangers within the forest? About two hundred meters away from the Golden Crow Corpse, Li Weiyi stepped out of the Graveyard Forest near the ship’s railing. She raised her arm to look; her cut wrist had already scabbed over and was almost healed.
Nearby, a group of white-boned humans clad in armor and various weapons lay scattered in disarray not far away. According to Director Yang, that black spear, a zhang long, was the lightest, yet still took two people to lift. With no one around, Li Weiyi no longer hesitated.
Gripping the part of the black spear closest to the tip with one hand, she felt its weight but managed to hoist it up.
“One hand, stronger than the force of two people?”
Li Weiyi wondered in amazement, though she did not feel overly excited because she had just witnessed the terrifying might of the White Bone Spirit. Without the Yellow Dragon Sword, she could only fight it for a short time; and even with the Yellow Dragon Sword, she would only be forced to flee.
Suddenly, from the direction of the Golden Crow Corpse came the sound of light, brisk steps. Moments later, Qi Shanshan, dressed in a white doctor’s uniform, emerged quickly from the Nether Fog, her face marked by panic and vigilance.
“Li Weiyi…what are you doing here?”
Qi Shanshan looked around in disbelief. Nearly two months had passed, and this was the first time Li Weiyi saw her without high heels on—today she wore a pair of pink sneakers. Her gaze then shifted to the hazy, mirage-like Nine-Story Ship Tower, and doubts filled her heart.
Qi, as a doctor, clearly knew that the Ghost Bear Emperor was still alive. How dare she come so close alone? Li Weiyi replied, “Aren’t you afraid of the Ghost Bear Emperor, Doctor Qi?”
“It’s a disaster!”
Qi Shanshan’s expression turned grave as she advanced toward Li Weiyi. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a damp piece of medical cloth, and said, “Second Mate Xie Tianshu has allied with many people and launched a coup. Chaos has broken out on the bronze ship.
I had no choice but to escape here despite the danger. Didn’t you hear the sound of gunfire earlier?”
“Gunfire? They started early?”
Li Weiyi hadn’t heard any gunshots and guessed it might have happened when she was dragged into the ice coffin. Though she still harbored suspicions about Qi Shanshan, her senior brother’s situation was undoubtedly critical, and there was no time to ponder further.
“Swish!”
With a swift twist of her toes, hot, swirling energy surged through the veins in her legs, exploding with all her strength in an instant. The zhang-long black spear soared into the air, landing firmly in her grasp as its tip vibrated with a metallic sound.
Clutching the Yellow Dragon Sword in one hand and the spear in the other, Li Weiyi stood tall and resolute, ready to rush toward the bow of the ship. Qi Shanshan, now less than five steps away from Li Weiyi, saw the scene and her enchanting, bewitching face filled with shock.
“Your wound…it’s healed…did Yutong have you drink Golden Crow Blood?”
Apart from Golden Crow Blood, Qi Shanshan could think of no other possibility that would allow someone whose arm was nearly useless to recover in just a few days—and still possess terrifying strength. Li Weiyi had no time to explain.
“Come back!”
Qi Shanshan, not confident in taking down someone as powerful as Li Weiyi, and noticing the wariness in her eyes, suddenly had a new thought. Quietly, she put the medical cloth back into her pocket and withdrew her hand, speaking with concern in a low voice, “Weiyi, Shanshan understands your worries about senior brother, but they have guns.
No matter how strong you are, a bullet can still end your life. We must plan carefully. Before we act, at the very least we need to know the current situation and how many enemies there are.”
(End of Chapter)