Bone Pit

After upgrading the Eyepatch, she could read more detailed skill information.

[Acidic Spit: The Sulfur Giant Lizard spat out a large amount of corrosive acid venom through the pouches beside its cheeks.]

[Sweep: The Sulfur Giant Lizard used its powerful tail to send nearby enemies flying.]

[Pounce: It lunged at its enemies at incredible speed, using its claws and fangs to strike their vital points.]

Looking at the ugly Giant Lizard, which was at least five meters long, Ling Chu had only one thought: I can't beat it.

She instinctively tightened her grip on the Oak Longbow, even wondering whether her wooden arrows could pierce its thick, sturdy scales.

The Sulfur Giant Lizard was sleeping soundly. It casually rolled over, revealing the treasure it had been clutching—a glowing sphere.

Ling Chu recognized it at a glance. That glowing orb was the Island Core.

Based on her previous experience, the creature guarding an Island Core was usually the strongest creature on the island. From the Giant Lizard's arrogant sleeping posture alone, it was clear that it had no natural enemies on this island.

The Giant Lizard seemed to have just finished eating and was sleeping deeply. Ling Chu had no intention of disturbing it and silently turned to leave.

Under normal circumstances, she couldn't beat it at all, much less now, while she was saddled with that unlucky debuff.

Ling Chu planned to bypass the Giant Lizard for now and finish exploring the entire island first.

She had three days to stay on the island, so she had plenty of time. Once the unlucky effect wore off tomorrow, combined with the new dagger custom-made by National Server Little Luban and the paralysis potion she had ordered from Lingering Wind and Fading Moon, she should have a chance of fighting the Giant Lizard.

Ling Chu took a wide detour and continued deeper into the island. Suddenly, she received a system notification.

[Player Brave the World accepted your bounty. The other party has obtained your exact coordinates.]

At that moment, in the waters more than a hundred kilometers from Ling Chu.

An adult Golden Lion was curled up on the deck, a powerful hunger churning in its stomach and keeping it from sleeping.

The man was steering the boat. At the small sailboat's maximum speed, he could reach Ling Chu's location in six or seven hours.

Thinking of the three additional bounties placed on Ling Chu, the system's three hundred Sea Shells, and the supplies Ling Chu herself possessed—enough to put her at the top of the Wealth Ranking—the man knew that if he successfully killed her, he would be set for life.

Take a gamble, and a bicycle could become a motorcycle.

The lion's low growl annoyed the man. He pulled the Whip from his waist and struck the lion without mercy.

"What are you growling for? You're so damn noisy."

"If you want a full meal, you have to work first."

"Did you hear me?"

The imposing Golden Lion cowered like a chicken before the man. It didn't even dare dodge and took the blow head-on.

The man cursed as he took a piece of not-so-fresh fish from the ship's hold and threw it onto the deck.

That lion really ate a lot every day, and it demanded meat at every meal. If it weren't for its high combat power, he never would have raised such a money-losing beast.

The Golden Lion's eyes lit up at the sight of the food. It pounced over, opened its mouth, snatched up the fish, and swallowed it whole, then licked its lips, still unsatisfied.

Ling Chu hadn't expected anyone to actually accept her bounty.

She opened the Justice Points Ranking and searched. Sure enough, she found a player named Brave the World in tenth place.

He had the dual professions of Beast Tamer and Pirate Hunter.

She switched to the bounty ranking, but there was no option to accept a bounty. So, accepting a bounty and obtaining the target's coordinates must be an exclusive skill of the Pirate Hunter profession?

Regardless of how he had managed it, he was ultimately coming for her.

She didn't know how strong he was, but with her current bad luck, fighting wasn't ideal. She was genuinely afraid she might end up tripping over her own feet in the middle of a fight.

Her ship was still docked by the shore. If the other party came and lay in wait near her ship, her situation would become even more passive. Ling Chu decided to return to the ship first.

As she pondered this, Ling Chu failed to watch her step and suddenly fell through empty space.

After a brief fall into weightlessness, she fortunately reacted quickly. The moment she landed, she rolled to cushion the impact. Aside from scraping her elbow and making it ache a little, she wasn't injured.

"Damn it, who was so rotten as to dig such a huge pit?"

She could accept being bitten by a scorpion or stepping in dog shit, but falling into a pit was taking things a little too far, wasn't it?

Ling Chu dusted herself off and stood up, intending to curse whoever was responsible. Suddenly, she felt something hard beneath her foot. Looking down, she saw that she was standing on a human skull.

Wait, a skull?

"Captain, are you all right?"

A skeleton's head appeared over the edge of the deep pit.

"I'm fine."

The moment Ling Chu finished speaking, Titch jumped straight down.

The pit was more than two meters deep!

Oh, she had forgotten. Skeletons weren't afraid of breaking bones.

"Oh my god, why are there so many skeletons here? How terrifying!"

After jumping down, Titch was also startled by the horrifying scene at the bottom of the pit.

Ling Chu was speechless.

Bro, how about looking in a mirror? You're a skeleton too. What are you so afraid of?

Half of the skull was embedded in the gray soil. Ling Chu took out the Iron Shovel she carried and dug downward. More and more bones emerged, and some rotten hemp rope remained around the hand and foot bones.

It seemed that these skeletons had been bound while alive, thrown into the pit, and buried alive.

"Ah..."

Ling Chu suddenly heard Titch cry out.

He was holding a rusty metal prosthetic hook, the Ghost Fire in his eye sockets trembling excitedly.

"T-this prosthetic iron hook belonged to Bob!"

Ling Chu looked baffled. "Who was Bob?"

"This rusty scimitar belonged to Gale. One of the fingers on his left hand was broken, so these hand bones must be his!... And this Big Gold Tooth belonged to Joseph! I could never mistake it. They were all my crew!"

Titch was so agitated that he knelt on one knee in the gray soil, his finger bones touching the companions who had also become skeletons. His voice gradually grew sorrowful and wistful. "They're really all dead..."

"Help me dig."

Ling Chu had no time to grieve with him. She took another shovel from her Ring and tossed it to Titch.

Titch obeyed every order from Ling Chu without question. Besides, he didn't want his crew to remain lying in this desolate land.

The two of them dug away with grunts and soon unearthed the first mostly intact skeleton.

Ling Chu activated Bone Revival!

A pale blue glow drifted from her fingertips and flew toward the dirt-covered skeleton. It was like a butterfly landing on a withered flower. As the butterfly beat its wings, the petals came alive once more.

Ghost Fire burst to life in the skeleton's eye sockets, and it staggered to its feet.

The moment Bob opened his eyes, he saw the prosthetic iron hook on his left hand being held by Titch.

"Captain!" It stared at Titch in shock and uncertainty. "How did you turn into this ghostly state?"

Ling Chu found it baffling. With nothing left but a skeleton, how had Bob recognized at a glance that this was his Captain Titch?