Bisi Island

Before long, Locke and the others could see the island in the distance, with wisps of smoke rising from it.

At first, Locke and the others thought the smoke came from the islanders lighting fires to cook. Only as their ship drew closer did they realize something was wrong with it.

Once they approached the island completely, they understood that this was not smoke from cooking fires at all. It was thick smoke caused by an entire village being burned down.

The Phantom soon slowed to a stop. The moment it stopped, the three brothers rushed toward the burning village.

Seeing the state they were in, Locke hurriedly followed with Carmen and Yun Zhinnan.

However, once Locke and the other two reached the village entrance, they slowed down. Most of the houses inside had already collapsed, and corpses lay scattered across the ground.

Locke and the others continued forward. With every step, Locke's mood worsened, because he had not seen a single survivor along the way.

"Master! Ruhua..." Just as Locke was about to search the village for survivors, Big Bear's grief-stricken cry suddenly rang out ahead.

"What happened?" Locke and the others hurried over.

When they arrived, they found Big Bear kneeling there before two corpses: a middle-aged man and a young woman.

Hearing Big Bear's cry, Locke understood at once. The young woman had to be the girl he loved, while the man was likely the master who had taught him blacksmithing—and the young woman's father.

Panda stood behind Big Bear, consoling him. Second Bear was nowhere to be seen; he had probably run off to the clinic.

"The dead cannot come back to life. Please accept our condolences," Locke said as he walked behind Big Bear and patted his back.

"It was them. That Navy ship from before did this. It had to be them!" To Locke's surprise, Big Bear first calmed down somewhat, then shouted hysterically.

When Big Bear said that, Locke remembered. When they had been nearing the island, they had seen a Navy ship leaving this direction. Locke had found it strange at the time that the ship had taken a detour as soon as it saw their pirate ship.

"This is bad. Get back to the ship, now." The moment Locke thought of that, he understood.

The people aboard that Navy ship must have disguised themselves as pirates and attacked the village, killing everyone in it to cover up what they had done. That way, they could simply pin the crime on any pirate crew they wanted.

But as they were leaving, they had suddenly spotted Locke's pirate ship sailing toward the village they had just massacred, so they had deliberately let Locke and the others pass.

Then, once Locke and the others went ashore, they would capture or kill them, completely framing Locke and the others for the crime.

Locke had realized this as well, so he hurried toward the Phantom.

However, as he neared the dock, Locke saw that the Navy ship from earlier had indeed arrived at the island and had already taken control of their ship.

Left with no choice, Locke first found a place to hide and waited to see what the Navy would do.

At this point, Locke could not simply jump out and deal with the Navy soldiers. He did not want them to destroy his ship.

"Annie, go back to the ship and see whether those Navy soldiers have damaged it. If they have, put them all to sleep," Locke said to the little puppet that had been sitting on his shoulder.

Annie made the puppet nod, then flew toward the Phantom.

Yun Zhinnan had made the puppet Annie controlled at Locke's request. It was exquisitely small, only the size of Locke's palm. To make it easier for Annie to control, its limbs and head could all move. Annie had been delighted for quite a while when she first received it.

For some reason, though, even after Locke introduced everyone aboard the ship to Annie, little Annie still liked clinging to him. Locke had even asked her why she liked him so much, and Annie had replied that it was because Locke was good-looking.

As for why Locke had sent Annie back to the ship now, it was because the puppet she possessed was small and hard to notice. Moreover, Annie was the only one among them capable of flying for an extended period, and her ability to protect herself was also the strongest.

"Pirates inside, listen up! You are surrounded. Put down your weapons and surrender obediently. Do not make any pointless resistance!" After Annie returned to the ship, Locke saw all the Navy soldiers disembark. A man who looked like a Navy officer stepped forward from among them, shouting through a snail-shaped loudspeaker in his hand.

"Damn it." Locke felt as though his group had been underestimated.

After Annie returned to the ship, Locke no longer feared that the Navy would destroy it, so he led the others out of hiding.

"You bastards destroyed the village! I'll kill you!" Big Bear, who had been in the village all this time, rushed past Locke and the others toward the Navy.

Roar!

As he charged, he transformed. A black bear over three meters long appeared before the Navy soldiers.

"Fire!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Seeing the black bear charging at them, the officer immediately gave the order. Gunfire erupted everywhere.

Before Big Bear could reach the Navy formation, he was struck by too many bullets and collapsed, reverting to his original form. However, his injuries did not seem too serious. He had fallen only because his thigh had been hit. Seeing this, Locke, who had been stunned by Big Bear's sudden charge, finally came back to his senses.

"Big Brother!" Panda, the fourth brother who had been following behind Big Bear, saw this and wanted to rush over too, but Locke stopped him.

"Carmen, pull Big Bear back," Locke said to Carmen beside him.

Carmen nodded. She stretched out one hand, grabbed toward Big Bear, then pulled back. Big Bear, who had been lying on the ground, was dragged back toward Locke and the others by an invisible hand.

"Keep firing! What are you standing around for?" The soldiers had been stunned by the bizarre sight and had even forgotten to shoot. Only after the officer reminded them again did they snap out of it.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunfire rang out again, but at that moment, Carmen extended her other hand. The bullets that had just flown from the guns all stopped in midair.

The sight was nothing short of spectacular.

"Second Bear, hurry and check on your big brother." Drawn by the gunfire, Second Bear, who had been in the village, appeared as well. Seeing him, Locke hurriedly gave the order.

"Big Brother? Big Brother, what happened to you?" At first, Second Bear did not understand what had happened to his brother. But when he came over and saw Big Bear covered in blood, he immediately panicked.