After a series of business dealings, Lu PingAn's Redemption headed for the front lines.
If the trip to Mercury some days ago could still be called a journey, then what lay ahead might well be a true living hell.
"...So fishy."
This was neither an adjective nor said indoors. Simply standing on Redemption's deck and feeling the sea breeze brush against his skin, Lu PingAn could smell the heavy stench of blood within it.
"It smells fresh."
But perhaps there was no need to use one's nose.
"...So most creatures' blood here is red too."
When the ship sailed into a crimson sea, with masses of sea beast corpses floating upon it alongside scattered fragments of Fishmen and Long-Hand Tribe members, everyone knew they had entered a war zone.
Lu PingAn and his group frowned and instinctively grew tense. In contrast, the ordinary Long-Hand Tribe and Fishmen warriors remained calm.
Perhaps, to them, this was their real daily life.
The seemingly endless sea of blood lasted for over ten minutes before they passed through it. By then, Redemption had been stained with a layer of crimson, much like the fragments of ships floating across the sea.
And this was only the beginning.
The second wave, the third wave... By the time Lu PingAn could not even be bothered to count how many blood-soaked seas they had crossed, a sailor shouted from the side of the ship.
"There's a living one still floating there. Should we give him a finishing blow and put him out of his misery?"
Lu PingAn froze at that. Was that really so brutal?
"What race?"
"A Fishman. Probably not a Lost Fishman—an Eight-Clawed one."
"...Pull him up."
When he saw the "big fish" dragged aboard, Lu PingAn understood why the Fishman sailor had been so ruthless.