Bisi Island

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

At first, they thought the smoke came from the islanders starting fires to cook, but as the ship drew closer, they realized something was wrong.

Only after they approached the island did they realize that this was not smoke from cooking at all. It was thick smoke from an entire village being burned down.

The Phantom slowly came to a stop. The moment it did, the three brothers rushed toward the burning village.

Seeing them like this, Locke quickly led Carmen and Yun Zhinnan after them.

However, when the three of them 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 anguished 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: one was a middle-aged man, and the other was a young woman.

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

Panda stood behind Big Bear, comforting him, but 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 walked behind Big Bear and patted his back.

"It was them. That Navy ship from before did this. It must have been them!" To Locke's surprise, Big Bear quieted down for a moment before crying out hysterically.

At Big Bear's words, Locke remembered. When they had been nearing this island, they had seen a Navy ship leaving from this direction. At the time, Locke had found it strange that the Navy ship had immediately detoured around their pirate ship after spotting them.

"Not good. Back to the ship, quickly." Realizing this, Locke suddenly understood.

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

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

Then, once Locke and the others boarded the island, they would capture or kill them, completely framing Locke and his crew for the crime.

Having thought of this, Locke hurriedly ran toward the Phantom.

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

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

At that moment, Locke could not simply jump out and deal with the Navy soldiers. He did not want them destroying his ship.

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

Annie controlled the puppet to nod, then flew toward the Phantom.

Yun Zhinnan had made the puppet Annie controlled at Locke's request. It was exquisitely small, only as large as one of Locke's palms. To make it easier for Annie to control, all four limbs and its head could move. Annie had been delighted for quite some time when she first received it.

For some reason, though, after Locke introduced everyone aboard the ship to Annie, little Annie still liked clinging to him. Locke had once asked why she liked him so much, and Annie answered that it was because Locke was handsome.

As for why Locke had sent Annie back to the ship, it was because the puppet she possessed was small and hard to notice. More importantly, Annie was the only one among them who could fly for extended periods, and she also had the strongest ability to protect herself.

"Pirates inside, listen up! You are surrounded. Lay down your weapons and surrender obediently. Do not make any pointless resistance." After seeing Annie return to the ship, Locke watched the Navy soldiers disembark. A man who looked like a Navy officer stepped out from among them, holding a snail resembling a loudspeaker and shouting.

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

Once Annie had returned to the ship, Locke no longer feared the Navy damaging it, so he led the others out.

"It was you bastards who destroyed the village! I'll kill you!" Big Bear, who had been in the village the entire 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 toward them, the officer immediately gave the order to open fire, and gunshots erupted everywhere.

Before Big Bear could charge into the Navy formation, he collapsed from being hit by too many bullets and changed back to his original form. However, his injuries did not appear too serious. He had only fallen because one of the bullets had hit his thigh. Seeing this, Locke, who had been stunned by Big Bear's sudden charge, finally reacted.

"Big Brother!" Panda, who had been following behind Big Bear, wanted to rush over as well, but Locke stopped him.

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

Carmen nodded. She stretched out one hand and grabbed toward Big Bear, then pulled back. Big Bear, who had been lying on the ground, was dragged 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 scene and had even forgotten to shoot. The officer reminded them again, and only then did the Navy soldiers react.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The gunfire rang out again, but at that moment, Carmen extended her other hand. The bullets that had just left 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 earlier gunfire, Second Bear, who had been in the village, appeared as well. Seeing him, Locke quickly ordered.

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