Snake

"What's going on?" Perkin asked, sensing that something was wrong.

"Now's not the time to talk about that. We need to get out of here quickly. The longer we stay, the more danger we'll be in." York, the jungle survival expert, sounded anxious.

Perkin hesitated, but he still trusted the professionals. He waved to the captain. "Set sail. We're leaving right now."

The captain was reluctant, but he still had to obey Perkin's orders, so he ran to the helm and shouted instructions.

"Raise the anchor! Hoist the sails..."

York quickly ran to the bow and took up the position with the best view, peering out over the water.

Seeing how tense York was, Liu Zhi and the others grew serious too. After a moment's thought, Liu Zhi ran back to the cabin and strapped all his luggage onto his back.

After all, apart from the Fine-Thorn Sword he'd just obtained, all he had was a backpack and a newly bought sailor's cutlass.

Besides food and maps, the backpack mostly contained things useful for surviving in the wild. There wasn't much, but it was all carefully selected, and it covered most situations they might encounter. Even someone with no wilderness survival experience could live a few extra days with a backpack like this.

Seeing Liu Zhi like that, the mercenary leader looked exasperated. "Do you really have to go that overboard?"

The moment he finished speaking, a loud thud came from beneath the boat, as if something had slammed hard into its hull.

York's face changed at the sound. "Hoist the sails! Get us out of here as fast as you can!"

By now, everyone else could tell that something was wrong. They rushed to the sails to try to control them.

But they were mercenaries, not sailors. Even if they grabbed the ropes, they didn't know what to do with them, and only slowed the boat down.

The Black man even yanked the sail to the right with all his strength, making the boat spin in place.

Liu Zhi ran over to him. "Give me the rope. I'll handle it."

The burly Black man ignored Liu Zhi and shoved him aside.

Liu Zhi stumbled, almost falling to the ground. The Black man even raised his fist at Liu Zhi, as if taunting him.

Liu Zhi gave the Black man a look and immediately judged that his Strength was at least 4.5. In terms of raw power, he was far stronger than Liu Zhi.

Just then, the female knife-thrower appeared behind Liu Zhi. "Wuji's a good guy. He just doesn't like people looking down on his strength. What you did made him think you were belittling him."

Liu Zhi was speechless. Being strong didn't mean you could do whatever you wanted. Controlling the sails took skill. With the Black man recklessly yanking them around, the captain and his family couldn't control the boat at all. If this kept up, they'd capsize even before anything happened to the hull.

Seeing that Liu Zhi still intended to go and grab the rope, the female knife-thrower stopped him. "Don't go over there. If you do, he'll start a fight on the boat."

After hearing that, Liu Zhi understood. They were standing by their own, not by what was right. But if this continued, the boat was bound to capsize. And if there really was something beneath the water, no one aboard would escape.

Just then, the musketeer called out from nearby. "Wuji, pull harder!"

As he shouted, he flexed his muscles. The sight only got the Black man Wuji more excited, and he pulled hard on the rope.

The captain was nearly out of his mind. His two sons together weren't even half as strong as Wuji. The two of them were dragged forward by Wuji as they held the rope, and they couldn't control him at all.

Wuji had no idea what was going on. He was a Black man and couldn't understand the local Xise language. All he could understand was the sound of his own name, along with a few gestures from his teammates.

Watching the musketeer's gestures, Wuji knew he had to put even more strength into it.

His muscles bulged as he lowered his center of gravity and hauled the sail back with all his might. The situation immediately went wrong. The boat spun around in place and turned completely around, changing course from heading upstream to drifting downstream.

York, standing at the bow, was nearly thrown overboard. Seeing what was happening, he shouted, "What are you doing? Have you all gone mad? We're trying to escape the Titan Python's territory, not head back to our deaths!"

The mercenary team now understood what their Black brother had done. The female knife-thrower quickly talked Wuji down, while the others hurriedly scrambled to help.

Normally, Liu Zhi would have just stood by and watched. But they were all in the same boat now, and if it capsized, they wouldn't even get the chance to flee. As soon as Wuji let go of the rope, Liu Zhi rushed over, grabbed it, and shouted,

"Follow my directions! Turn around first, then move forward."

Liu Zhi was a Transcendent Sailor. He wasn't as strong as the Black man, but the moment he got hold of the rope, he instinctively knew what to do.

Instead of yanking hard on the rope like the Black man, he controlled the tension as the Chief Sailor had, adjusting the boat's direction.

Under Liu Zhi's direction and with the captain's two sons helping to steer, the boat turned around on the river once more.

This time, though, the turn was much smoother than the Black man's. Even the most arrogant among them could see how skilled Liu Zhi was at this.

They had just managed to turn the bow around, and everyone was breathing a sigh of relief, ready to raise the sails and leave, when another heavy collision sounded from beneath the boat.

This time, the impact from below was so loud that Liu Zhi, standing on deck, even heard the keel crack.

"Hold on to the sails! We're speeding up!"

Liu Zhi gripped the rope tightly and activated his Transcendent ability, Strong Wind, blowing the sails open. The boat immediately picked up speed, surging forward almost a hundred meters in an instant.

The people aboard hadn't reacted in time and were nearly thrown overboard, but fortunately Liu Zhi had shouted for them to grab hold of something nearby.

After rushing forward more than a hundred meters, the boat slowed down. The noise from beneath the hull also died away, and they heard no more impacts.

Just as everyone let out a sigh of relief, thinking things might finally go more smoothly, a shadow fell over them all.

A giant snake was rising from beneath the water. Even the part of its body that had emerged and reared up was nearly ten meters tall. It stared down at everyone aboard with a pair of eyes as big as carriage lamps.