The Captain Returns

An hour after the crew left, a small boat appeared on the sea, heading straight for the island where Fanxin was.

A tall man sat in the boat, drinking wine and eating meat. His muscles were solid, and bulging veins stood out all over his body like green snakes. He had a rugged face covered in stubble, but his head was bald.

A hideous scar ran from the left side of his forehead to the right side of his chin, looking like a terrifying centipede. His eyes were deeply sinister, giving off a chilling impression.

"Hey, have something to eat. You haven't eaten in days, have you?" After eating a hunk of meat until only a little bone remained, the man tossed it in front of a small beast sitting beside him, letting it lick the bone he had left.

The little beast was a pure white fox, like a heap of snow that had fallen in winter. It was tiny, only the size of the man's palm. An iron collar encircled its neck, covered in patterns and many strange, utterly incomprehensible characters whose meaning was unknown.

The little fox glanced at the bone before it with some disdain and ignored it.

Its disdain, however, enraged the man. He slapped the little fox and sent it flying. If a rope on the collar had not been attached to the boat, the little fox would have been knocked into the sea.

Although it did not fall into the sea, it hung over the gunwale, the collar choking its neck and leaving it unable to breathe. It struggled constantly, but it had no strength and could not climb back up. In the end, it had no choice but to give up struggling and endure the pain where it hung.

"Bastard, how dare you ignore me? Who do you think you are? Let me tell you, you're my pet. Remember your place, or I'll make you pay. Understand?" The man came to the gunwale, glared at the little fox, and shouted.

When the little fox still made no sound, the man grew even more displeased. He grabbed it and gave it a savage beating. His fists were huge and his strength tremendous. After beating the little fox, he left it half dead, blood trickling from the corners of its eyes and mouth.

"Did you hear me? Did you hear me?" Seeing that the little fox still made no sound, the man beat it savagely once again. Yet, to his exasperation, the little fox simply ignored him, letting his words go in one ear and out the other.

"Fine, fine. Just you wait. I'll have plenty of time to torment you later." The man stared at the little fox for a long while before finally giving up on beating it further, because he himself was tired. He was furious and gasping for breath.

He sat in the boat and steered it swiftly toward the island ahead.

When he reached the island, he undid the rope, grabbed the little fox, and got out of the boat. Then he began wandering around the island, looking this way and that, apparently searching for something.

"Huh? Where's my ship? Where's my pirate ship? Where did it go? Did that bastard Dick not bring the ship to the island I told him about?" The man searched almost the entire edge of the island, but he could not find his ship. He was furious.

"Damn Dick. Just wait till I get my hands on you," the man said viciously.

"Dick has already left. You're a captain without a crew now. How pitiful!" Just as the man was fuming, a discordant voice reached his ears. The speaker was none other than the little fox he was casually holding in his hand.

It now wore a humanlike expression, looking as though it were mocking the middle-aged man. This enraged him. He slammed the little fox hard against the ground and stepped forward to stomp on it several times. Still unsatisfied, he continued punching and kicking it, only stopping when he was out of breath.

"Will you say that again? I'm telling you, there's no way Dick would betray me," the man said coldly.

This man was none other than Clark, captain of the pirate crew that had anchored by the island not long ago. He was a vicious brute. Whoever dared mock him, even with an unintentional remark, he would beat mercilessly until their head was bloodied and they took back what they had said. If they refused, he would imprison them and keep beating them. Unless he accidentally beat them to death, he would go on tormenting them until they gave in.

But if they did give in, their life would also come to an end, because he would kill them.

"Hehe, you're only fooling yourself, Clark. Your crew had long since grown somewhat sick of your brutal nature, but they were worried you'd torment them. That's why they stayed with you. If they ever found a chance, they'd leave without hesitation," the little fox said. "This time, they finally found one, so they left."

"Lies! You're talking nonsense!" Clark was beside himself with rage when he heard this. He rushed forward, preparing to beat the little fox again.

This time, however, he failed. The little fox immediately leaped aside, then raced into the distance. When it reached the place where the boat was moored, it immediately swung its claws and destroyed it.

After destroying the boat, the little fox calmly faced Clark and said, "You don't have a boat anymore. Hehe, leaving this island is impossible now. Stay here on this island with me and spend the rest of your life here!"

"Damn fox, you're very arrogant. But don't forget, I hold your life in my hands. Do you want to die? If you don't, come here obediently, and perhaps I'll spare you," Clark said coldly.

"Hmph, it's just a physical body. If it's destroyed, I'll simply find another one. Although that will prevent me from using all my strength, it's still better than staying by your side and being tortured all day by a madman like you." The little fox chuckled and said, "Don't worry. I'll repay the pain you've inflicted on me tenfold, a hundredfold. Just you wait."

The little fox hated Clark with a passion. Years ago, it had been severely injured and unable to move, so Clark had captured it. Clark had locked a peculiar collar around its neck, and from that moment on, it had lost its freedom and spent its days doing things for him.

When it did things well, Clark beat it. When it failed to do them well, Clark still beat it. It endured endless pain every day. If not for the collar, it would have left long ago.

Over the years, it had endured the pain while studying the collar. After many years of tireless effort, it had finally learned the collar's secret.

So today, it had launched its counterattack against Clark, ready to give him a thorough lesson.