Spy Within a Spy

Seeing the increasingly dangerous expression on the squad captain's face, Zhou Yi's expression remained unchanged. He merely gave a bitter smile and said, "Earlier, we ran into Blue Star People who had wandered in by mistake. We only had time to send a carrier pigeon to the base before they attacked us."

"Our entire ship was reduced to just the four of us, and the base never replied that they had sent a new delegation."

Hearing Zhou Yi's explanation, the squad captain froze for a moment. He immediately called over a nearby lackey and ordered, "Go notify the people from the Withered Bones Pirates. Tell them to send someone over and see if they're with them."

The four of them, including Lu Su, showed no reaction to the squad captain's arrangement, but inwardly, they raised their guard to the utmost.

The moment they were exposed, they would summon their cards, kill their way out, and find another route.

Very soon, the lackey sent to find someone returned with a man.

Upon seeing the newcomer, a smile appeared on Zhou Yi's previously stern face. He immediately went over and gave him a bear hug. "The boss actually sent you guys?"

The newcomer recognized Zhou Yi and punched him in the chest. "Those Blue Star People messed you up that badly?"

Seeing that Zhou Yi knew the newcomer, Lu Su quietly breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought Zhou Yi's plan would end before it even began, but things had unexpectedly taken a turn for the better.

Seeing that the two knew each other, the squad captain also lowered his guard. "As long as they're Withered Bones men, it's fine. You can go."

Lu Su and the others followed the newcomer away from the docks.

Watching the five figures recede into the distance, the squad captain's eyes slowly narrowed. "You, go report what happened here to my lord."

"Captain, aren't they fine?" The lackey beside him scratched his head at those words.

The squad captain glared at him and said lazily, "Just go when I tell you to. Why so much nonsense?"

"Yes!"

What the squad captain did not tell the lackey was that, whether the Withered Bones men truly had a problem or not, he would not have said anything to their faces.

If there was no problem, then he would have offended the Withered Bones men for no reason.

If there was a problem, then with only a few insignificant people at the docks, how could they possibly stop murderers capable of slaughtering an entire ship?

On the way to the Withered Bones base, Zhou Yi let out a long breath and said, "Good thing it was you, Old Liu. Otherwise, we probably would've had no choice but to fight just now."

A smile appeared on the middle-aged man known as Old Liu's face. "All I can say is that we thought alike."

"By the way, did your squad recruit new members? He's way too young. Old Zhou, using child labor is illegal!"

As he spoke, Old Liu pointed at Lu Su.

Hearing that, Zhou Yi laughed helplessly and carefully explained Lu Su's origins to Old Liu.

After hearing Zhou Yi's explanation, Old Liu looked Lu Su up and down several times before patting Zhou Yi on the shoulder. "It hasn't been easy for you either."

Zhou Yi fell silent for a while at those words. Only after a long time did he say somewhat wistfully, "I probably have no hope of getting revenge in this life. It's good enough if I can help the Association train some newcomers."

Lu Su, walking behind them, could not help feeling somewhat confused. Fortunately, Xiang Yan quietly explained beside him, "The captain's parents died at the hands of the Flesh King's subordinates during the Demon's Nest riot a few years ago."

The Flesh King.

Lu Su remembered that the original owner's parents also seemed to have died in that Demon's Nest riot. Even now, the Coastline northeast of Shanghai City remained sealed off, with no one allowed to approach.

Someone had secretly photographed that Coastline. They said it was a Coastline, but in truth, it had become a dike made of flesh. Even the sea was no longer a sea, but an endless tide of flesh.

Before long, the group arrived at Withered Bones' base.

The moment they pushed open the door, the pirates inside all turned to look at Lu Su and the others.

The leader asked with some confusion, "Lewis, who are they?"

As he spoke, a conflicted expression appeared on his face.

But very soon, a humanoid ghost appeared beside him and blew a breath at him.

The next moment, the struggle on the leader's face vanished instantly. He burst into laughter. "I never expected you little brats to survive an attack by Blue Star People. When we get back, I'll definitely put in a good word for you with Boss Withered Bones."

Lu Su was no fool. He could naturally guess that the humanoid ghost was Old Liu's card. It seemed skilled in hypnosis or illusions, and Old Liu had likely relied on it to infiltrate the Withered Bones crew.

At Old Liu's quiet prompt, Zhou Yi and the others nodded and bowed. "Thank you, Boss Moji. We'll definitely perform well."

Then, the four of them naturally blended into the pirate group.

Soon, it was time for the pirate meeting.

A massive group of pirates followed behind Moji toward the meeting location.

Normally, a meeting like this would not require low-ranking pirates to attend at all.

However, the bosses of the various pirate crews did not dare risk going in person, so they could only send their subordinates' officers to attend.

But they feared that their officers would betray them, so naturally they sent informants to watch the officers.

Then, afraid that the informants would collude with the officers, they sent more informants to watch the informants.

And so the layers piled on, with more and more people involved.

Of course, Black Flag was excluded from this, since Black Flag was the organizer of this pirate meeting.

But this also gave Lu Su and the others an opportunity to sneak in.

Upon reaching the meeting location, Moji went up to take his seat on the raised platform, while ordinary pirates like Lu Su and the others could only watch eagerly from below.

Before long, the representatives of Rose and Night Owl also appeared at the meeting location.

It was obvious that the three pirate crews did not get along.

As for the reason, it was simple: the moment the representatives of Rose and Night Owl appeared, the three began trading insults.

However, all the chaos vanished when Black Flag's boss appeared.

A one-eyed man, bare-chested beneath a black trench coat, slowly strode onto the raised platform.

The representatives of the three pirate crews all lowered their proud heads and respectfully said, "Boss Moore."

This man was naturally Moore, the boss of Black Flag. He glanced at Moji with a faintly mocking smile before saying, "Begin."

The moment Zhou Yi saw Moore below the platform, his pupils suddenly contracted.

Silver grade?!

No, no, not yet. He was merely very close.

Zhou Yi calmly analyzed the oppressive aura Moore gave off with his Spiritual Power.

On the raised platform, silence fell after Moore arrived.

Moore propped up his chin with one hand while playing with his nails with the other. "What? Cat got your tongues?"

The representative of Rose swallowed, feeling the pressure radiating from Moore—several times stronger than that of his own boss. Steeling himself, he gritted his teeth and said, "Rose can agree to all the conditions Boss Moore proposed. But there is one more matter. I hope that Night Owl bastard can answer me here!"

"Why did my men see Blue Star People together with you!?"

Below the stands, Lu Su and the others' hearts jolted at the mention of Blue Star People. But they quickly realized the accusation was directed at Night Owl, and exchanged confused looks.

Huh?!

At that moment, all the pirates present erupted into an uproar.