Second Round of Negotiations

A few minutes later, people dragged two corpses over to the cargo grate.

The stench of blood spread through the air. From the dark hold came a faint, unsettling shriek, mingling with the sound of the corpses scraping across the planks. Fueled by imagination, the noises seemed to ferment into something slick and nauseating.

"I'll throw them in," Xia Lun said. "Stay back."

As though granted a pardon, the priest let go and hurried into the nearby crowd.

"Should we make a move now?" The old man did not leave immediately. He raised his one eye and asked in a low voice.

Xia Lun shook his head.

"Not yet."

After thinking for a moment, he glanced at the old man and explained, "The Monster is intelligent. If we can't kill it in one strike, it'll ignite the whale oil and take us down with it—remember, don't say anything careless later."

With that, Xia Lun grabbed the gunner by the shoulder and tossed the corpse down.

About a second later, the sound of something heavy hitting the ground rose from the darkness. The body had fallen into the lowest cargo hold, followed immediately by a sudden swell of scalp-crawling squirming and rustling.

Without changing expression, Xia Lun picked up the second corpse and threw it down as well.

Pulled by gravity, the corpse plunged headfirst. Yet before it hit the ground, a fleshy, bloody tentacle abruptly burst through its chest and thrust out!

"Xia Lun, keeping promise, worthy praise." One of the Monster's tentacles extended from the cargo grate. "I, repay."

At the sight of the tentacle reaching out from the grate, the crowd instinctively retreated two steps. Xia Lun, however, did not yield an inch.

"Treasure, vast treasure," the Monster shrieked. "Perilous Earth Island, White Bird Beach, within cliffs."

"Bring me more food, and you can receive more information!"

Xia Lun looked into the darkness beyond the cargo grate and said slowly, "This is a win-win deal."

"Yes, win-win." The Monster's tentacle swayed approvingly. "Destroy evil pirates, gain wealth. This is justice."

"What if we fed you the original crew instead?" Xia Lun suddenly asked.

The Monster's tentacle stopped moving at once. The next moment, its voice turned piercing. "Testing, no! Stupid! Humans, pitiful!"

Xia Lun lowered his eyelids slightly. Hearing the Monster's clumsy excuse, he immediately realized that this Monster, transformed from a human, had reacted far too strongly to the test.

That kind of excuse and concealment instead carried the air of someone trying too hard to hide the truth. Perhaps the Monster had been transformed from one of the original crew members.

A vague line of thought began to form in Xia Lun's mind.

Perhaps if he learned the Monster's original identity, he could find a good way to deal with this powerful creature.

"Don't worry. Our destination is the same. Everyone wants to go to Perilous Earth Island." Xia Lun smiled and changed the subject.

The Monster gave two dissatisfied shrieks, then withdrew into the dim hold. "Remember, tomorrow, still need two fresh bodies!"

The Monster's shrieks echoed across the deck, but a few seconds later, the ear-piercing sound dissipated together with the gradually calming sea breeze.

Several seagulls flew onto the mast, tilting their heads as they stared at the blood-soaked deck.

Now that the Monster had appeared and then retreated, terror rose among the crowd. Hearing Xia Lun claim that he could communicate with the Monster and seeing that he truly could were entirely different feelings.

In the former case, Xia Lun might still have been putting on an act or telling a tale. But the latter was undeniable proof that Xia Lun had not lied at all!

That Monster truly possessed intelligence. It could communicate!

At the edge of the crowd, the priest crossed his arms, worry written across his face. He could no longer understand where events were heading.

Would that man named Xia Lun truly fight a communicative Monster to the bitter end? Or had his declaration before the vote merely been a smokescreen meant to lull everyone else into complacency?

The thought left him inexplicably unsettled. He grasped his holy emblem and wanted to pray quietly, but at that very moment, the captive doctor suddenly entered the corner of his vision.

The doctor still wore his broken glasses. The whip-lashed wounds on his back had begun to fester slightly.

"Witch Priest, just like a Witch Priest, Xia Lun, Xia Lun..." the doctor muttered under his breath.

The priest's heart stirred. He walked over to the doctor. "What Witch Priest?"

As if abruptly awakened, the doctor jerked his head up, revealing a pair of cloudy, staring eyes behind his lenses.

"Ah, that was something I read in an ancient text." The doctor lowered his head, bent respectfully at the waist, and explained ingratiatingly, "That book said that Witch Priests were actually people who formed alliances with Monsters. They offered sacrifices to Monsters in exchange for peace in the coming year."

"So the key to a Witch Priest is sacrifice?" The priest smiled gently. "I don't mean anything by it. I'm just curious."

"No, no, no. The key isn't sacrifice, but alliance," the doctor said. Yet the next moment, he lowered his head. "Ah, I forgot too. Maybe sacrifice really is the key."

"Are the wounds on your back all right?" the priest took the opportunity to ask. "I still have some plantain ointment. It can treat infections."

"You really are a good person, a truly good person among pirates," the doctor praised. Then he suddenly froze. "Oh, right. My head isn't very clear right now. There's something I've never been able to figure out. Could you answer a question for me?"

The priest nodded as though it were only natural.

"I don't understand what Xia Lun means. Is he actually planning to surrender?" The doctor's eyes widened. "Or is he just playing along for now, taking the chance to eliminate dissidents?"

For some reason, a trace of vigilance rose in the priest's heart. After a moment of silence, he answered, "I can't make sense of it either. His position really is rather unclear—you used to be on the same ship. Shouldn't you know him well?"

"Xia Lun, before, wasn't like this..." the doctor muttered. His words became increasingly vague and fragmented. "Was he like this? Not like this... Is he acting? I don't know either..."

After muttering for a while, he suddenly gave two nervous little laughs. "Heh heh heh."

"You may need some calming herbs," the priest comforted him. "I can get you some."

The doctor blinked. His cloudy, staring eyes seemed to clear a little. "Before I lost my freedom, I was a ship's doctor too. Sedative herbs damage the nerves, just as barnacles damage a whale's flesh and blood... No, what was I trying to say?"

"Let's not talk about that for now." The priest interrupted gently. "By the way, what kind of person was Xia Lun before?"

The doctor furrowed his brow. "I can't remember very clearly. I only remember that he was a navigator. Usually quiet, and his mind didn't seem to work very well... Ah, my mind doesn't seem to work very well now either... I think I understand... Ha... ha..."

In a voice almost like a whisper, he murmured to himself, "So that's how it is..."

The more the priest listened, the stranger it seemed. Just as he was about to question the doctor further, Captain Geliide's voice suddenly rang out from afar.

"Stop standing around! Set course for Perilous Earth Island and make full sail!" she said. "Get back to whatever you should be doing—Priest, come here. We're holding a short meeting."