Sorry, the "Shopkeeper Lu" in the previous chapter should be "Shopkeeper Shen", the typo has been corrected.
When the screams ceased, the woman opened her eyes. Before her, the scene was dyed through with blood. A serving maid who had attended her was split into two pieces, dead as dead could be. Behind the corpse, a narrow, deep gash marred the bulkhead, from which one could see the split bow of the ship and even more bloodstains and mutilated remains.
The color on the woman's face had yet to return, but her posture remained upright, unaffected by the several lives that had just vanished before her eyes. At that moment, the lean man's falcon-like, piercing gaze stabbed toward her:
"A bet is a bet, but if you lose, you should lose with understanding. Shopkeeper Shen, why don't you tell me why you thought those good-for-nothings couldn't get the job done?"
The woman did not reply immediately, appearing to muse over the words. After a moment, she spoke: "Whether your subordinates are useless or not, Shen Wan is not clear. The reason I dared to place the bet was actually judged from your side, Daoist Brother Hun Liao."
Her tone ran counter to the merchant-like slickness she had been trained in for years. Unsurprisingly, the ill-tempered fellow in the master's seat let his smile fade, his gaze turning chillingly cold.
Behind Shen Wan, the guard who had been extremely nervous was on the verge of suffocating. If it were possible, this poor fellow probably would have rushed up to cover her mouth, but it was already meaningless. The woman slightly adjusted her breathing, maintaining the stability of her tone:
The image of that dragon-serpent monster bore a ninety-percent resemblance to the fish-dragon, a specialty of the Sky Rift, and it