Sacred Stone Slab

Ling Chu came down from the captain's cabin, and her Skeleton Henchmen had already set up the grill.

Seeing the fish they were dragging up close, with its triangular flat head, fins like a shark's, and two bulging big eyes...

Relying on her limited biology knowledge, she recognized the fish as a guitarfish.

Guitarfish are close relatives of sharks, so catching one wasn't easy either.

"This fish is..."

"Caught by the Automatic Fishing Platform," Titch said.

The fishing platform had the blessing of the legendary Lucky Frozen Octopus Fishing Rod, so it never came up empty.

Big Gold Tooth used to be a cook on Titch's ship, and his cooking was said to be pretty good. With fish this big before, Ling Chu would just use the system to auto-dismantle it, but now Big Gold Tooth swung his knife a few times and neatly skinned and deboned the big fish.

"Captain, which part do you want to eat?" Big Gold Tooth asked cheerfully.

"The tail."

Having heard that fish tails are firmer and tastier, Ling Chu picked a piece of tail meat and handed it to him to grill. It was just in time since she didn't know what to eat for lunch, and this guitarfish had delivered itself right to her door.

Big Gold Tooth worked left and right in front of the grill, expertly slicing the guitarfish tail meat into thin pieces, flipping them back and forth as he grilled. It actually looked pretty convincing. Ling Chu gave him all the grilling seasonings from her Ring Space. Having a henchman who could grill fish meant she wouldn't have to do it herself from now on.

Before long, a perfectly grilled, golden and fragrant piece of fish was presented to Ling Chu.

Ling Chu had never eaten guitarfish in her life, so she took a bite full of anticipation, but the taste that hit her mouth made her frown deeply.

How the hell was it this bad? There was an indescribable smell of urine!

Ling Chu's brain quickly caught on—since this thing was a close relative of sharks, did it also pee through its skin?

Big Gold Tooth probably didn't handle this kind of fish often and hadn't done much marinating or deodorizing, so eating it was like tasting the raw, original flavor.

Sticking to the principle of not wasting food, Ling Chu forced herself to swallow the fish in her mouth, but she couldn't bring herself to take a second bite. She casually tossed it into her Ring Space.

The Tomahawk Steak she'd gotten from the System Blind Box before wasn't finished yet, so Ling Chu pulled one out and started gnawing on it. She also took out some figs, peaches, and a mango, handing them to Big Gold Tooth to make a fruit platter.

A dish that didn't require cooking skills couldn't possibly be a dud again, right?

Until she took the fruit platter Big Gold Tooth handed her and took a bite, the familiar smell of urine filled her mouth again.

Ling Chu looked at Big Gold Tooth with resentment: "Didn't you wash the knife?"

Big Gold Tooth rubbed his smooth skull and asked with a soul-searching question: "Huh? Why would I wash the knife? It just cut fish meat, so it's perfectly clean!"

Back on Titch's ship, it was all a bunch of rough guys. Sometimes when Big Gold Tooth cooked, sweat could even drip into the food. He used the same knife for cutting vegetables, meat, and fruit—there was never that much fuss.

Ling Chu closed her eyes. Forget it, forget it. From now on, she'd handle grilling fish and cooking herself.

As for this fruit platter... Ling Chu couldn't bear to throw it away. Fruit was still pretty rare, so she listed it on the Trading Post instead, priced at any one can, and even kindly added a note: "Fruit platter with a bit of shark urine smell, but the fruit is guaranteed fresh."

To her surprise, as soon as she put it up, someone snatched it instantly with a can of peas.

Ling Chu silently memorized that person's ID: "Clumsy Bear Who Can't Get Full." What a brave soul.

Although the Skeleton Henchmen didn't need to eat, they still sat around the grill with her, just for the lively atmosphere.

So Ling Chu took out a few cans of Rye Beer she'd gotten from some System Blind Box and gave them to drink.

The Skeleton Henchmen were overjoyed. Even though they couldn't really taste the alcohol, as Titch put it: "These drunks are happy just smelling the booze aroma."

Ling Chu didn't like drinking anyway, so it was just to cheer them up.

Everyone sat together, and inevitably, they started chatting.

Ling Chu suddenly remembered that when Titch saw Hemlock's bones, he'd mentioned that Lucas had interrogated Hemlock about something before killing him, and Hemlock would rather die than talk, which was why Lucas chopped off his head.

She'd wanted to ask Titch about it back then, but later forgot.

Now that it came to mind, she naturally had to ask.

Titch was a servant resurrected by her. Even if she told him to die, he couldn't refuse, so he naturally told her everything he knew.

"That thing is called the Sacred Stone Slab. I found it by chance in a cave on an island. I couldn't read the writing on the slab at the time and thought it was just some random notes left by someone passing through that island. But later I found out it was a Sacred Stone Slab passed down by the Elf race. When Lucas learned about it, he came to me asking for the coordinates of that island."

"I felt he wanted to go find that slab, so I didn't tell him. Hemlock also knew the coordinates of that island, and that's probably why he lost his head."

Hemlock heard this and immediately floated behind him to chime in: "I knew Lucas had his eye on that slab. I just wouldn't let him have it!"

Ling Chu grew a little curious: "What's the Sacred Stone Slab for?"

Titch looked at her in surprise: "You've never heard that legend?"

Ling Chu shook her head, so Titch had to explain: "Before the Elf race was wiped out, the last Elf King wrote the location of the Tree of Luga and the remaining treasures of the Elf royal family on the Sacred Stone Slab. Then he scattered the slabs all over the world, declaring that anyone who could find all the Sacred Stone Slabs and decipher the Elvish writing on them would find the Tree of Luga and the treasure."

"You haven't heard this legend, so naturally you don't know about the Tree of Luga either."

Titch paused and said, "Luga means 'pure thing' in the Elvish language. That tree is the sacred relic of the Elf race. They say eating one leaf from that tree can purify all sins and diseases from your body, granting immortality."

Eat one leaf and become immortal? Wasn't this just the Xuanzang tree?

"Then why didn't you want to find that slab? Don't you want the treasure?" Ling Chu asked.

Titch smiled helplessly: "Finding all the slabs isn't that easy. I don't think I have that kind of luck. I just like the feeling of being free and unrestrained on the sea. I don't want to chase some illusory treasure. Besides, if we got that slab, endless people and trouble would come knocking on our door."

Ling Chu was a bit surprised by his answer and couldn't help feeling that Titch had a lot of charisma as a captain back in the day. That clarity and courage to resist temptation were pretty rare.

No wonder so many henchmen were willing to follow him.

The Tree of Luga...

Ling Chu hadn't expected such a legend to exist in this world. These native NPCs had their own beliefs, faction struggles, and territorial divisions.

She couldn't help touching the Necklace Blessed by Mermaid around her neck. This world had mermaids and elves. She wondered what other alien races existed.

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