"What?"
The King of Slaughter tilted his head slightly, his dark red eyes sweeping over Yu Xiaogang. "Is there something on my face?"
"N-no."
Yu Xiaogang snapped back to his senses and forced down the turmoil in his heart, though a faint tremor still lingered in his voice. "It's just... you look somewhat familiar."
"Familiar?"
The King of Slaughter gave a low, raspy chuckle. "I've spent decades in Slaughter City. I've barely seen the sun in all that time, yet you're the first person to say I look familiar."
Decades?
Yu Xiaogang's heart lurched again.
No, that couldn't be right.
His Majesty was only in his forties. How could he have spent decades in Slaughter City?
But that face...
Tang Hao's appearance flashed through Yu Xiaogang's mind.
That weather-beaten, stubbled face, always carrying a hint of drunkenness.
Compared with the King of Slaughter before him, Tang Hao looked rougher and more worn, with a more defeated air.
But something deep down was the same.
That unruly pride of a man seemingly born to stand at the summit. That sharp presence he couldn't suppress even in silence.
"Why so quiet?"
The King of Slaughter's voice pulled him from his thoughts.
Yu Xiaogang looked up into those dark red eyes, and an absurd thought suddenly struck him.
In Sea City, the sea breeze carried a salty, fishy scent through the streets and alleys.
At the docks, a jet-black pirate ship was slowly coming ashore.
Zi Zhenzhu leaned against the railing with a blade of grass between her teeth, squinting at the bustling harbor in the distance.
A year had passed.
Ever since she had taken that terrifying bunch to Sea God Island, she hadn't dared go near these waters for an entire year.
"Boss, do you think those people are still