The Storm Begins to Abate (I)

Xia Lun did not answer at once, instead thinking rapidly.

In terms of absolute strength, he was actually at an absolute disadvantage.

He had only two bullets left, and he had exhausted the number of times he could safely use Heightened Focus. He had no ability to confront the monster head-on.

But the monster did not know that. In its eyes, he was still that terrifying marksman with overwhelming firepower, capable of blinding it in an instant.

In other words, he and the monster were now like a wolf and a scarecrow—both afraid of the other.

This was a classic one-round game of chicken under incomplete information—meaning he absolutely could not show weakness.

With that thought, Xia Lun sneered and said in a low voice, "I think you're just a trapped beast putting up a last struggle. You have no standing to negotiate."

"You... have enemies too." The monster screeched, its speech suddenly much smoother. "The mutineers on deck will not let you go. They will ambush you."

Without waiting for Xia Lun to speak, the monster continued screeching, "If you insist on being my enemy, then I'll set the whale oil in the cargo hold on fire. The sea is vast. If the ship catches fire, you're as good as dead."

"Besides, if you can work with a pirate captain even more cunning than a Human-Faced Rat, you can naturally try working with me." The monster's screech softened slightly. "And the people on Perilous Earth Island have nothing to do with you. To you, they are all strangers."

Xia Lun blinked, then lowered his eyelids slightly.

By now, he was fairly certain that this monster was not native—it had once been human.

Threats and inducements might sound simple, but saying the right things to the right people at the right time was an intricate skill that depended heavily on long experience in human society.

—If the monsters were naturally social and happened to possess a structure resembling human society, then more than one monster would have boarded the ship. Conversely, if they were naturally solitary, then they could not possibly have developed such social skills.

And there definitely were no Human-Faced Rats in the deep sea, while creatures living in the ocean certainly would not know how to start fires. So it was easy to infer that this monster had been transformed from a human.

And if it had once been human, then there was room for negotiation.

Finding common interests that could support cooperation between seemingly opposed sides had always been Xia Lun's specialty.

—After his rebirth, the first pot of gold he earned after leaving the orphanage had come from "resource coordination and integration"—in ordinary terms, working as a middleman who connected people.

"Of course." Xia Lun agreed immediately, then deliberately repeated himself for the captain, who could not understand the monster's words. "But it will take at least six days to reach Perilous Earth Island. What will you eat during that time?"

The monster fell silent for a moment, then screeched, "Human corpses. Fresh corpses!"

This monster transformed from a human ate people! Xia Lun's heart sank.

In an instant, it was as though a basin of icy water had been poured over his head, completely extinguishing any thought of compromising with the monster for mutual gain.

Xia Lun called himself a good man, and that was no empty claim—his actions and thinking might have been flexible, even somewhat slick, but he still had principles he would never compromise.

A monster that literally ate people could not be allowed to live. To him, that was an unquestionable bottom line.

But how to kill it, and when to kill it, required rational and meticulous consideration.

His killing intent flashed and vanished.

Xia Lun suppressed the hostility in his heart and replied calmly, "Quite an appetite—but there are too many dead and wounded on the ship now. There aren't many people left who can sail it."

"We cooperate. We will not harm you or her. Rest assured." The monster instantly understood Xia Lun's implication. "But you must provide me with enough food."

Xia Lun grabbed the first mate's corpse and threw it directly toward the monster.

Hearing the corpse hit the ground, the blinded monster immediately thrust a tentacle into the first mate's chest and began greedily sucking.

Fleshy tendrils churned within the first mate's chest cavity. In less than a few seconds, his broad, sturdy chest had shriveled. The monster withdrew its tentacle and screeched in satisfaction.

"Cooperate, smart man. I need two corpses every day. Fresh. Must be fresh. Feed me through the cargo grate every afternoon."

"Of course. We are allies—two fresh corpses every day." Xia Lun repeated with a smile, placing special emphasis on the word "allies." "But I have a condition too—I want the Wax Book on your back."

The monster froze for a moment, then roared furiously like a dragon whose reverse scale had been touched.

"No. Never!"

A moment later, it seemed to regain its senses and screeched deeply, as if trying to conceal something. "I don't know what you're talking about. I've never seen the Wax Book you mentioned. When we reach Perilous Earth Island, I'll give you wealth. Don't be too greedy, or I'll light the whale oil, and you and I will perish together."

Xia Lun's expression did not change. He still smiled, but the killing intent in his heart was already boiling.

To cure his illness and survive, he had to obtain the complete Prayerbook of the Drowned. But since the monster refused to give it up no matter what, there was nothing left to discuss.

Between him and the monster, there was no longer just righteous indignation. There was now a personal grudge at the level of life or death.

And on top of that, the monster had attacked him back on deck, making the hatred even deeper.

Though the killing intent in his heart grew firmer, Xia Lun's expression became increasingly genial. "A pirate's worthless life may not be worth much, but it's still a human life. You can't set the price too low."

"Rest assured, ally. Wealth means nothing to me." The monster swayed its tentacles, blood droplets slowly falling from them. It looked grotesque and horrifying. "Only cooperation brings mutual benefit. Come this way. Safe. Above your heads, and at the northern gangway, there are ambushes. I heard them."

Before its words had even faded, the monster's tentacles withdrew into the room. Then a series of wet, squelching sounds of flesh writhing came from outside—more than ten seconds later, the monster had gone far away.

Xia Lun picked up the four flintlock pistols on the ground and their matching premeasured powder charges. After loading them, he tucked them into his weapons belt, then turned back and said, "Let's go."

"You really plan to cooperate with that thing?" The captain glanced outside and demanded in a low voice. "Damn it, it eats people!"

"No matter what, we first have to get the ship near Perilous Earth Island. At least on that point, our goals are the same." Xia Lun shook his head.

The captain refused to yield. "And after we reach Perilous Earth Island? You're planning to let that monster attack defenseless residents?"

Hearing that question, Xia Lun could not help but regard the wicked pirate captain more highly.

"Set the whale oil on fire and burn it to death—but not now." Xia Lun said softly. "Only once we're near Perilous Earth Island will we have a chance to row ashore in a lifeboat. Otherwise, it will be nothing but a loss for both sides."