You Will Never Be Able to Leave

"So we were all bait."

Back in his cabin, Liu Zhi did not hurriedly check whether any of his goods had been stolen during his absence, as the original Sandru would have.

He sat in his hammock, recalling what the sailor had said when he came down.

No wonder this ship had not returned with the Xise Silver Fleet during monsoon season, instead putting out to sea alone at a time like this.

It seemed Sandru's body had truly been abandoned. Otherwise, how could he have failed to learn even this much? Even if they had used the Black Sails Pirates being wiped out as bait to lure them out, some higher-ups surely knew what was going on. After all, weren't the other cabins rented by small merchants who might not even be able to save their own lives?

After thinking it over, Liu Zhi could not help sighing. "I'm really scraping the bottom here. Good thing we'll be back in Xise soon. Once I sell off this useless stuff, I can use the money to develop properly."

"I'm afraid your plan cannot be carried out." At that moment, Liu Zhi's cabin door suddenly opened, and a middle-aged man who looked like a noble entered under the captain's escort.

Smelling the strange odor in Liu Zhi's cabin, the middle-aged man merely frowned. He said nothing and simply looked at Liu Zhi.

"I'm here to inform you that this ship will be changing course and returning to port, heading for Tortuga."

After saying that, the middle-aged man left with the captain, leaving one of his men behind.

"Explain it to him."

Only after the middle-aged man had left did the subordinate who had been left behind raise his head and look at Liu Zhi.

The moment Liu Zhi saw that look, he understood what kind of temperament this man had. He said directly, "I am a noble. My surname is Ailanci."

The man was momentarily choked. "Fine, being a noble is impressive. If you're so impressive, go complain to the Silver Fleet's commander yourself. Let me tell you, this change of course was the commander's decision. I'm only here to inform you that this ship is no longer going to Seville."

The middle-aged man had already mentioned this. The subordinate repeating it would accomplish nothing except make the merchants aboard even angrier.

Liu Zhi did not quite understand why the middle-aged man had arranged this, but unlike the other merchants, he did not cry and make a fuss. Nor did he intend to bribe the subordinate. He merely listened calmly, as though the cargo filling this cabin did not belong to him.

Instead, the subordinate grew more irritated the longer he talked. In the end, he slammed a hand heavily against the cabin door and pointed at Liu Zhi. "Are you even listening?"

"Yes. But you keep going on and on about how hard the navy is cracking down on pirates, and how being unable to return to Seville is an accident. What use is any of that? Can you change the decision made above?"

Liu Zhi's words choked him up again. He pointed at Liu Zhi but could not say a word for a long time.

"Fine. If there's nothing else, please leave. Until we reach Tortuga Port, I believe this cabin still belongs to me."

A flash of anger crossed the subordinate's eyes, but he ultimately suppressed it and pointed at Liu Zhi. "You've got some nerve. Just you wait."

With that, he prepared to leave. Just as he was about to step out the door, he suddenly turned around.

Liu Zhi noticed his eyes roll upward until only the whites showed. In a strange tone, he said, "You will never be able to leave. This is your destiny. Destiny is preventing you from leaving this place."

Liu Zhi froze for a moment, then understood. With a flick of his hand, he took out the golden pendant from Atahualpa and let it spin up and down on his fingertip.

"Are you talking about this? Do you believe I can toss it into the sea whenever I want?"

"No, you will not. This is your destiny. No one can escape destiny's influence."

"If it were really as you say, some useless piece of trash like you wouldn't be the one telling me this. Honestly, I don't believe a word you say." Unmoved by the threat, Liu Zhi clenched the golden pendant tightly, seeming ready to throw it away.

At that point, the possessed man finally softened. In that strange tone, he said, "There is everything you desire."

"Do you know what I want?" Liu Zhi said disdainfully. He could see that when threats failed, the man had turned to temptation. But Liu Zhi had nothing he wanted. This world was not his world, and there was nothing in it that he desired.

"Wealth, power, authority..." The man listed a string of things, but Liu Zhi seemed not to hear a single word and did not even raise his head.

The more he spoke, the more anxious he became. Veins began bulging one by one around his eyes, a sign that the possessed body was slipping out of control.

Seeing that the possession was about to end, he finally roared, "Golden City!"

Liu Zhi's heart jolted, as though something deep inside him had been awakened. He raised his head and made a strange sound.

"What did you say? Say that again."

"The Golden City—the Golden City of Kukulkan sleeps in that place. As long as you find it, everything will be yours..."

Before he could finish, the power of possession began to fade. He swayed and braced himself against the doorframe, then looked at Liu Zhi and asked in confusion, "What just happened?"

Liu Zhi rolled his eyes at him. "If you get seasick, don't come out to sea. Go throw up somewhere else. Don't puke in my cabin."

Thinking he really was seasick, the man hurriedly left Liu Zhi's cabin. Yet as he departed, his eyes were filled with confusion.

Only after he had left did Liu Zhi lie back down in his hammock. He toyed with the golden pendant in one hand while carefully sifting through the memories belonging to Sandru, the necromancer.

"So that's how it is. It seems three consecutive failures really drove him desperate. That fellow Sandru had heard the legend of the cursed Golden City from somewhere and set his sights on it. I wonder how their graduation exam is graded. Would finding this Golden City benefit him more?"

As he spoke, Liu Zhi sat up and carefully examined the golden pendant before his eyes.

"But it makes no difference to me. I still have no idea what exactly is going on, and I don't know what kind of world that fellow Sandru came from. Magic? Technology? Or a game?"

"For now, I can only take things one step at a time. I hope that fellow Sandru made the right choice in coming here. The Golden City must contain something that can help him complete his graduation exam. Before that, let me study this cheat ability that I don't even know belongs to me or to Sandru."

"Come out! Attributes panel."