A Standoff Between Life and Death (I)

This guy was practically a legendary king of survival!

The moment Xia Lun changed his mind, the bald female captain suddenly narrowed her eyes slightly and spoke first.

Her tone was teasing. "Damn it, you scared the hell out of me. I thought you were an assassin sent by the first mate."

Though she seemed to be joking, a glint of metal flashed into Xia Lun's peripheral vision.

—He suddenly realized that she was still holding a flintlock pistol, poised to fire.

That flintlock was aimed at him from the shadows.

Xia Lun's heart tightened, but his expression remained relaxed.

"I just killed the first mate's brother." Xia Lun silently pressed down the hammer of his revolver and spoke as if casually. "I thought a warrior who dared fight a sea monster head-on would disdain underhanded tricks."

Hearing Xia Lun's words, the captain's tense expression eased slightly. Her lips curled, but she still did not lower the flintlock hidden in the shadows.

"What underhanded tricks?" Her tone was calm.

Xia Lun slowly lowered his gaze and stared directly into her bloodshot eyes.

"Obviously the flintlock in your hand. There's no point playing dumb now."

Without waiting for her reply, he continued, his tone gradually hardening. "Listen, Monster has fallen into the hold, and the first mate on deck has already brought the situation under control. In five minutes at most, he'll come down with his lackeys to kill both of us!"

"Right now, we're in the same boat. If you keep wasting time, neither of us will make it out alive."

The captain's expression shifted uncertainly. Her eyes darted about as though she were considering Xia Lun's words.

As her brow furrowed, the hideous thumb-thick scar running from the right side of her jaw to her left ear seemed to come alive, making her look even more vicious.

After a moment, she shifted her eyes and fixed Xia Lun with a hard stare. Then she brought the flintlock out from her side and lowered the raised barrel.

"I hope you'll forgive me. I was only trying to protect myself," the captain said.

"I need to use your guns." Xia Lun's voice suddenly sank. "We only have one chance to ambush them. I need as much firepower as possible."

The captain nodded slightly and laughed, revealing a mouthful of yellowed, rotten teeth.

Her finger twitched on the trigger as she turned the pistol and offered its grip to Xia Lun. "Heh, you've got guts. Here, take it."

"Thanks."

Xia Lun took the flintlock, briefly checked whether the powder was damp, and after confirming there was no problem, placed it on the floor to the right of the door.

The next moment, he turned his head and said, "But I mean I need all of your guns."

The captain froze for a moment, then sneered. "You've got quite an appetite. But let me warn you, know when to stop."

"In your condition, you can barely hold a gun steady." Xia Lun's gentle voice turned cold as well. "If I can't beat them, we both die. We're one unit now."

He paused briefly, then said, "Besides, I shoot far better than you. You saw me throw that flying axe, and my marksmanship is several levels above that."

The captain said nothing. She stared coldly into Xia Lun's eyes, while Xia Lun refused to yield an inch.

After a long while, the captain slowly looked away and drew out a second flintlock from beneath her cloak.

"Fine, since you're so confident..." In the end, she compromised.

"Just hide." Xia Lun cut her off, took the second flintlock, and said, "Leave the rest to me."

After a quick inspection, he placed the second flintlock beside the first.

Xia Lun was not normally so aggressive. On the contrary, he was quite smooth and tactful in daily life.

As the saying went, specific problems required specific analysis, and different kinds of people required different approaches.

But as a reincarnator who had lived two lives, he naturally had experience dealing with desperadoes.

Politeness and respect might be necessary when dealing with ordinary people, but when dealing with blade-licking desperadoes like pirates, one had to maintain enough aggression without completely provoking them.

Yet one could not appear overly excited or hostile either, because trying too hard was a classic sign of bluffing, and a bluff seen through was even worse than plain weakness.

As a leader who had clawed her way out from among a large group of scum, the captain was undoubtedly far more cunning and cold-blooded than ordinary people, while her morals were surely far lower than normal.

Therefore, when dealing with her, Xia Lun would never show unprompted kindness, because among desperadoes, kindness was a sign of weakness.

After arranging the basic firepower, Xia Lun pushed open the door and returned to the corridor.

The corridor was still dark and damp. Boots made creaking, warping sounds against the floorboards.

At that moment, footsteps from the deck above gradually became clearer, accompanied by the first mate's incessant muttering. His words seeped through the deck into the hold, sounding like the whispers of a man about to drown.

If nothing unexpected happened, the first mate and his trusted men were already approaching the ladder and preparing to enter the hold. Only their fear of Monster kept them hesitating for now.

—But no matter what, they could appear at any moment.

There was not much time left!

Xia Lun took a deep breath and looked at the corpse at the fork beside the ladder.

The corpse still stared blankly at the ceiling. In the damp vapor, its eyeballs had already grown somewhat cloudy.

And in the darkness of the hold, the wet smacking sounds of flesh shifting as Monster limped came and went...

Xia Lun hurried over to the corpse, grabbed the strap over its shoulder, and dragged it backward, quickly hauling it into the room.

"Da Lun is dead. No wonder he didn't respond to what I said..." The bald female captain muttered when she saw the corpse. "Damn it, I should've realized earlier..."

Xia Lun ignored her. Supporting the corpse beneath its arms, he propped it upright, then leaned it against the wall directly opposite the wooden door.

"You can move the table to the doorway and use it as cover. The first mate... is very good with throwing axes," the captain reminded him.

Xia Lun turned and glanced at the table.

It was made of pine. Two daggers were embedded in the nautical chart spread across its surface like nails. Beside the chart sat a half-empty bottle of liquor, half a dried-out orange, a sextant, and a telescope.

He looked up and discovered a huge crack in the ceiling directly above the table, wide enough for a small person to jump through.

Xia Lun thought for a moment, then shook his head. "You can hide under the table. I'm going to let them come inside before I engage them. Act when you see an opportunity."

As he spoke, he pulled a dagger from the corpse's weapon belt and handed it to the captain.

The captain accepted the dagger and grinned. "So what now?"

"Wait." Xia Lun returned to the door, raised his revolver, and answered succinctly.

Second by second, time passed. The rain drumming above gradually weakened, but the voices outside grew more and more clamorous.

Inside the dark hold, Xia Lun pressed himself against the wall, aiming around the corner with his gun. His gaze remained fixed on the ladder more than ten meters away.

Waiting brought anxiety and unease. The cloying, sour stench of whale oil filling the air also became increasingly unbearable as time slipped by.

The captain nervously licked her cracked lips, and her breathing gradually quickened.

Whenever they raided a ship, the most unsettling moment was always just before the conflict erupted.

That feeling, as if a bowstring were tightening or a fuse were about to burn down, always made her deeply uncomfortable.

But once the conflict truly began, she could instead calm down and focus on commanding and fighting.

Xia Lun, meanwhile, focused on his breathing. He used meditation to feel the flow of air through his nostrils, easing the growing irritation within him.

Would they come?

Was it possible they would not descend through this ladder?

What if Monster suddenly appeared?

Chaotic thoughts rose and fell, but Xia Lun did not judge them. He merely stared quietly at the ladder ten meters away.

His breaths gradually lengthened, and Xia Lun's attention became ever more focused. At that moment, he seemed to enter that state of Heightened Focus once more.

Bang!

The next instant, someone violently shoved open the hatch above the ladder.

A bright beam of light suddenly tore through the darkness, illuminating the area near the ladder. Then came the dull sound of boots striking the floor, along with the faint squelching noises of liquid being crushed beneath them.

A burly Black giant with ape-like arms and a wasp waist entered the hold first, holding up a glass lantern.

It was the first mate!

Xia Lun's fingers instinctively brushed against the trigger.