Two Alliances

From Xia Lun's surprise gunshot to the first mate's gang being wiped out, the entire process, even counting the standoff, had taken less than thirty seconds.

Close-quarters combat had always been dangerous and brutal. Victory, defeat, life, and death were often decided in an instant. Any tiny mistake, any momentary hesitation or distraction, could bring about an irreversible and devastating defeat.

The rhythm of this kind of battle was brief yet violent, like sparkling water saturated with the scent of blood.

Still, Xia Lun had won in the end.

He drew his revolver from his weapons belt and pushed the last two bullets into the cylinder.

"Click." The cylinder snapped back into place.

Only then did Xia Lun let out a long breath.

He turned to look at the captain lying on the ground and found that her shoulder blade had merely been pierced. Her life was not in danger.

"It's just a flesh wound." The captain panted as she slowly sat up, grinning. "What about you? That shot didn't hit you, did it?"

Xia Lun did not smile. His eyelids lowered as he murmured, "Did you see the gray mist spilling out of the corpses just now?"

The female captain froze for a moment, then frowned slightly. "What gray mist?"

Xia Lun did not answer. He simply watched her in silence.

A moment later, the captain's smile turned cold. She sneered. "What, you want to silence me now that you've dealt with the first mate? Fine, do it. No need to make excuses. I admit defeat—when I called for help earlier, I really didn't mean well."

Xia Lun silently withdrew his gaze.

The people in the scenario really could not see the gray mist erupting from the corpses.

"I did see gray mist." Xia Lun spoke truthfully. "Rest and tend to your wounds first. I need to think this through."

With that, he quickly checked his gains.

Countless messages swept past the corner of his vision like spilled mercury.

[Specialization detected. Specialization confirmed: Cold Weapon Use—Short Sword (Basic).]

[Cold Weapon Use—Swords (Basic) (Progress 50% → 62%): You have received basic training in cold-weapon combat and understand the importance of controlling distance and maintaining blade alignment. You also know how to properly grip and wield sword-type weapons.]

[You are far stronger than a complete beginner, but that is all—given time, you may be able to wield sword-type weapons proficiently.]

[Specialization progress!]

[After a difficult battle, your understanding of Firearms Use has deepened.]

[Firearms Use (Mastery): 22% → 26%]

Xia Lun blinked. After thinking back for a moment, he roughly arranged the specialization ranks that had appeared so far.

Novice—Basic—Proficient—Mastery.

There might be higher specialization ranks beyond that, but he had yet to encounter them, so he might as well pretend they did not exist for now.

In Xia Lun's understanding, specializations represented his mastery of related techniques.

Using ordinary games as an analogy, specializations represented operating skill; traits could be compared to attributes; and skills were roughly equivalent to mechanics.

In most games, attributes and skills might matter more, but the game "Investigator" was almost equivalent to reality. Without armor, everyone was a glass cannon: frail outside, devastating within.

Once struck effectively, the minimum result was severe injury, if not outright incapacitation. Thus, the importance of execution had been magnified without limit.

Xia Lun continued reading.

[Trait information unlocked.]

[Trait "Mass Murderer" (Locked) (7/100): Corpses cover the ground, and blood flows like a river! You kill without blinking, making it easier for you to inspire fear and submission in others when carrying out intimidation or deterrence actions. Furthermore, after obtaining this trait, you can deal physical damage to spiritual ghosts and monsters. Over time, this trait can also slightly increase your mental resilience.]

The first mate's group, along with the first mate's younger brother, made exactly seven people. This trait should therefore be unlocked through killing.

Killing a lot of people could actually count as a trait? Xia Lun was rather speechless.

As he pondered that, he looked at the final line of information.

[Hint: You possess a large number of Memory Points and can unlock masteries or learn traits and skills in your dreams.]

[Through killing, you have obtained a large number of redeemable traits and masteries.]

Would there even be a chance to sleep in such a high-intensity, high-pressure environment? Xia Lun could not help grumbling inwardly.

Meanwhile, the female captain had fallen into an uneasy state.

Ever since earlier, that terrifying prisoner who had taken down the first mate's gang in mere seconds had suddenly seemed to suffer some kind of mental episode. First, he had spouted a bunch of inexplicable nonsense, then he had begun staring at empty air...

If he had merely been crazy, that would have been fine. The problem was that his combat strength was terrifyingly high!

Setting aside his absurd feats of tangling with the Monster and blinding it, his horrifying performance against multiple enemies just now had already left her shaken.

After years of privateering, it was not as though she had never seen experts in combat. But someone like him, who devised tactics swiftly and decisively, then executed them with such precise thoroughness—she had truly never seen anyone like that.

From a certain perspective, she had even glimpsed a kind of fluid aesthetic in that series of violent killings...

—In short, this man was so fierce that he was starting to seem inhuman.

But the problem now was that he did not seem mentally stable...

Feigning calmness, she slowly took out a pipe and flint from her coat pocket. She placed the stem of the pipe to her lips and blew out the ash with a puff. Only then did she realize that she was trembling slightly from fear.

She had always considered herself brave, even reckless, but now she could not even hold her pipe steady.

A moment later, her eyes shifted—perhaps this was also her chance to make a comeback.

With that thought, she took the initiative. "Hey, brother, want a smoke? The good stuff, damn fine. Scarlet Lantern Island tobacco, specially supplied to the Governor's Office."

Without waiting for a response, she continued, "Don't take hallucinations too seriously. After drifting at sea for too long, seeing and hearing things is perfectly normal.

"I often see nonexistent spirits coming to claim my life, but it's all fake—not that I'm making things up, but mental pressure is more destructive than a hundred cannons."

Xia Lun blinked, seeming to wake from a dream as he shook his head. "No need. I quit smoking a long time ago."

"My name is Geliide. Before I went to sea, I worked as a mercenary for a while. Before that, I was a merchant. And you?" The captain showed a mouthful of tobacco-stained yellow teeth, smiling sincerely.

She had already planned out the next part of the script. As long as he asked further about her past, she could begin selling him a sob story, mixing truth and lies as she told him about being falsely accused and exiled.

Based on her years of life experience, humans were emotional creatures. People often confused sympathy with affection. Once she won his goodwill, she could try to make use of it.

"Me? Just call me Xia Lun." Xia Lun paused before revealing a faintly amused smile. "Carpenter is a craft that requires long-term study."

He paused, then continued, "Geliide, there's no need to test me either. I'm a good person and generally do not take the initiative to hurt others. You're safe right now."

"Hiss—"

In shock, the female captain inhaled sharply through her pipe. Two streams of thick smoke immediately spurted from her nostrils, veiling her constricted pupils like a curtain.

Rather speechlessly, she looked at the blood all over the floor and the mutilated corpses.

Could a good person start slaughtering people the moment he arrived, then stand expressionlessly amid a pile of corpses?

That was a little too absurd.

And why was this man not following the script?

She did not want to lose control of the conversation, so she forced herself to continue. "Then they..."

"I killed them in self-defense—they wanted to kill me. I couldn't exactly stand there and let them capture me, could I?" Xia Lun gave her a deep look, then interrupted without the slightest courtesy.

For some reason, the female captain felt as though all her intentions had been completely seen through.

She could not help frowning slightly.

Xia Lun continued in a deep voice, "Listen. The Monster is nearby, and time is short. So I'll only say this once."

"As a captain, you are highly incompetent. The first mate was able to gather enough support for a mutiny right under your nose, which means you lost control of the ship long ago.

"Now you're seriously wounded. Even if you return to the deck, your position will be extremely dangerous."

The captain remained silent.

Though his words were harsh, they were indeed true. Her attempt to win him over just now had also been because she wanted to rely on his strength to protect herself.

"But, Geliide, I can help you. Right now, I'm the only one who can help you." Xia Lun raised his head, his tone suddenly softening. "I can help you regain control of the ship."

The captain's heart suddenly raced, but after a moment, she suppressed the greed in her heart.

"What do you want?" She licked her dry lips and narrowed her eyes slightly.

"I killed the first mate, and the first mate had already gained preliminary control of the situation. So if I return to the deck alone, I could easily become everyone's public enemy as long as any of the first mate's remaining followers stir things up."

Xia Lun spread his hands and spoke with considerable frankness.

"You need my strength, and I need your legitimacy. I want to use your identity to justify killing the first mate—the first mate was a traitor, and I was the one who executed the traitor."

The captain took another puff from her pipe and gave Xia Lun a long look. "You're being a little too... honest. Fuck, I used to think you were the sort who never spoke a single word of truth."

In truth, she still thought so, but it never hurt to say a few hypocritical pleasantries to smooth things over.

"Since we've decided to cooperate, of course I'll tell you everything I know." Xia Lun smiled pleasantly, his tone sincere. "There's a lot of room for cooperation between us."

—As someone who had lived through two entire lifetimes, Xia Lun naturally would not take a pirate leader's words seriously, so he too said a couple of diplomatic pleasantries.

Such pleasantries sounded heartfelt, but in essence, they were no different from things like "Nice weather today" or "Have you eaten?"—they contained no information at all.

The person saying them forgot them as soon as they were spoken; the person hearing them never took them seriously in the first place.

But Xia Lun had always understood one thing: regardless of what either of them truly thought, he and the captain could now be considered to have formed a certain, if fragile, alliance.

How that alliance ended would not depend on what pretty words they said, but on the choices each of them made.

"Can you still move?" As he spoke, he extended a hand.

The captain hesitated for a moment, then took Xia Lun's hand and barely managed to stand.

"I'm pretty damn lucky. The bullets and blades all hit my left shoulder blade." She said, "The bone's fine. They all just went through flesh."

"Then we'll leave through the gap above the table. I have a grappling hook." As Xia Lun spoke, he took a rope hook from his weapons belt. "That way, we can avoid encountering the Monster."

"Squelch."

A nearly imperceptible disturbance suddenly came from beside them. Xia Lun instinctively turned his head, and his scalp went numb.

A tentacle extended through the doorway like a probe, with a pirate's head impaled on its end.

As if sensing something, the pirate's head slowly raised beneath the tentacle's support. Countless swaying black tendrils squeezed out from its shattered eye sockets, while bright red flesh dripped slowly like melting wax.

The Monster was right outside the door!

The captain's pupils shrank sharply. She took a fierce puff from her pipe. "Well, shit. Looks like we really have to turn our guts inside out now."

The next moment, the head impaled on the tentacle opened its mouth and made a rasping "Ugh, ugh, ugh" sound. Yet this time, Xia Lun somehow understood its words.

"Xia Lun. Peace. Truce. It is not too late for you to return from the wrong path."

This Monster could actually speak!? Xia Lun was stunned.

Wait, why could he understand the Monster?

As thoughts flashed through his mind, Xia Lun suddenly recalled the prompt from when he entered the game.

—Temporary Language Comprehension!

Language comprehension did not merely refer to human speech. It also included what the Monster said!

So the "normal route" of this scenario should have been to stay among the prisoners, survive the first round of slaughter, then use the language ability to monopolize communication with the sea monster.

After monopolizing communication with the Monster, players would be able to protect themselves even while surrounded by pirates. And as long as they maintained the balance of power between the Monster and the pirates, surviving six days would not be difficult at all.

That also explained the game's difficulty. After all, during the game's open beta, unprepared players still had a survival rate as high as 70%.

Ironically, Xia Lun had first attacked the Monster head-on, then mercilessly slaughtered the pirates, causing the two opposing sides to enter another strange balance.

But why did the Monster not attack the captured crew members?

Could this be the game's protection mechanism?

All kinds of thoughts raced through Xia Lun's mind while the Monster controlled the corpse and repeated itself.

"Xia Lun. Peace. Truce. It is not too late for you to return from the wrong path."

"Fine. Let's talk first." Xia Lun narrowed his eyes slightly and forcibly drove away his scattered thoughts.

"You... understand... my... words?!" The Monster's voice became excited, and the pirate head impaled on its tentacle burst apart.

The captain was utterly shocked. She said in disbelief, "You can understand the Monster? Wait, this Monster can communicate?"

Xia Lun gave the captain an almost imperceptible shake of his head, and she immediately understood.

The Monster could understand human speech, and in this sort of negotiation, interruptions were taboo. Once differing positions were exposed through an interruption, it would become easy for the other side to target and divide them.

The Monster might not possess intelligence of that level, but being more cautious could never hurt.

"You strong. I strong. Conflict of life and death, none." The Monster discarded the shattered pirate head and hissed, "Carry me to Perilous Earth Island. You live."