A week later.
The Black Knife continued sailing toward the Vesipus Strait.
The Black Knife should originally have reached the Vesipus Strait three days ago, but Hawkins had just become a Curse Caster, so they had been delayed by two days.
Hawkins had used those days mainly to study the various abilities of a Curse Caster. In particular, he had conducted comprehensive tests on Curseguard.
Curseguard was exceedingly wondrous.
He had specifically asked Mark to attack him from every possible angle, yet no matter the direction, his Curse Power responded perfectly and defended against the attacks.
It could be said that aside from certain special attacks, most physical attacks could be easily defended against as long as one had sufficient Curse Power.
Mark's one hundred points of Curse Power were enough to defend against most attacks, while Hawkins possessed three hundred and thirty thousand points of Curse Power. Even an attack on the level of a Meteor Hammer was a mere piece of cake to him.
Julian was worth mentioning. After personally witnessing Mark wielding a massive cleaver and wildly hacking at Hawkins, only for Hawkins to emerge completely unscathed, he had fallen utterly silent.
Now, he hung from the mast, listless and wilted, no longer possessing the former arrogance and tyranny he had shown some time ago.
In truth, Julian had become completely quiet after Joyce was killed by Mark. Back then, he had still harbored fantasies, believing Jabus would send even stronger experts after them, so his eyes had remained wild and unyielding. But now, his gaze was utterly muddied, without the slightest glimmer of hope.
The Black Knife rode the wind and cleaved through the waves. On the deck, Hawkins was eating meat.
The so-called doubled consumption of vitality was, to put it plainly, accelerated metabolism or faster cellular aging. Thus, most of the time, he had to keep eating to store more physical energy and cope with his sharply accelerated metabolism.
"Captain, two ships are fighting ahead. I can smell blood!" Mark leaped down from the crow's nest, grabbed a rope, and swiftly descended to the deck. Looking out at the distant sea, he spoke to Hawkins.
Hawkins spat out a fish bone, and Curse Power immediately poured from between his brows, extending to the two ships Mark had mentioned in the blink of an eye.
The two ships were close together, colliding from time to time.
Several men and women were fighting fiercely aboard them. Through his Curse Power scan, Hawkins could clearly sense that two of the women wore Cursed Relics, while one of the men also possessed a Cursed Relic.
"One Fine-grade Relic, two Dangerous-grade Cursed Relics!"
Hawkins swiftly withdrew his Curse Power, then looked at Mark and said, "I'll go take a look first!"
In an instant, a faint white radiance flowed across the superconductors on his skin. A magnetic field spread around his body, and then he leaped off the ship, running swiftly across the sea as he charged toward the two vessels.
Jennie hid behind Qiao Si, nervously watching the man standing motionlessly across from them.
He was her cousin, Qiao Lak.
No one understood better than Jennie just how ruthless and vicious Qiao Lak was. From childhood to adulthood, half of her nightmares had been inseparable from Qiao Lak.
"My dear cousin, although my father has gone mad, I... Qiao Lak will inherit Vitalia Island. You should know that I have the ability to set things right, so let's go back," Qiao Lak said gently as he tried to persuade Jennie.
Though his tone was gentle, his gaze kept sweeping over Jennie's chest, greed and possessiveness nearly overflowing from his eye sockets.
Jennie shrank behind Qiao Si like a frightened fawn, wholly afraid to speak. Instead, Qiao Si gave a cold laugh, glared at Qiao Lak, and gritted her teeth. "Qiao Lak, Lord Jabus isn't dead yet, and you dare lay a hand on Miss Jennie? Aren't you afraid Lord Jabus will recover?"
Jabus had gone mad, but who could guarantee that he would never recover?
Having his thoughts exposed, Qiao Lak's face changed at once. He said coldly, "Qiao Si, I greatly admire your loyalty. But don't forget, the object of your loyalty used to be my father, and now... you should be loyal to me."
"Sorry, Lord Jabus ordered me to obey Miss Jennie," Qiao Si replied, shaking her head.
Qiao Lak glared at Qiao Si, his expression gradually turning savage. He roared, "You stinking bitch, you're courting death! No one needs to hold back. Kill her!"
Women?
Vitalia Island was hardly lacking in women, and Qiao Lak himself hardly lacked women either.
What he valued was Jennie's resilience—her ability to endure one nightmare after another without suffering a mental breakdown.
Jennie was very important to him, but even more important was the Cursed Relic she possessed. That was the true top priority. Without that Cursed Relic, much of their intelligence would lose its timeliness.
Sending Rook and the others to carry out the plan likewise required Jennie's ability.
And when Hawkins had been preparing to become a Curse Caster, Jabus had already been lurking in the Dream Realm, waiting for Hawkins to walk into his trap.
Scheme upon scheme had been built almost entirely upon Jennie's ability.
Once Jennie's ability was lost, Jabus's control over the Pras Sea would be greatly weakened.
That was why Qiao Lak had sought out Jennie immediately after escaping Vitalia Island. Her intelligence was simply too important, especially now that Jabus's condition was unknown. He needed Jennie's existence all the more.
Several dead warriors swiftly attacked, immediately engaging Qiao Si in fierce combat.
The situation was extremely unfavorable for Qiao Si and Jennie. Most of Qiao Si's combat techniques were suited only for land and were difficult to use aboard a ship.
The main problem was that her destructive power was too great. It would be easy for her to blast straight through the deck.
In contrast, the dead warriors under Qiao Lak used short, curved blades, and poison had been smeared over their tips. So long as Qiao Si revealed an opening, a single strike could very well end the battle.
It could be said that Qiao Si was under immense pressure and could not afford a single mistake.
As the saying went, long defense was bound to fail. After several exchanges, one of the dead warriors accidentally cut Qiao Si's arm, and the wound immediately turned black.
"Qiao Si, you've already been poisoned by the venom of the Hundred-Ring Snake. In a few minutes, I'll toss your corpse into the sea. I trust the fish will soon feast to their fill on you," Qiao Lak said with a malicious smile.
The Hundred-Ring Snake was the most venomous snake on Vitalia Island, and it was also called a ring snake.
When a Hundred-Ring Snake was first born, it possessed only a single black ring on its forehead. As it shed its skin and grew, more black rings gradually appeared across its body. Only a ring snake with a full hundred black rings could be called a Hundred-Ring Snake, and its venom would have reached its peak.
Qiao Si's face was pale, but she stubbornly glared at Qiao Lak. Qiao Lak, however, revealed a smug smile, looked past Qiao Si at Jennie, and frivolously said, "My dear cousin, it seems your only support is about to die."
"Miss, hold on tight. Next, I..." Qiao Si stared at Qiao Lak, preparing to sacrifice herself and activate the greatsword's ability for one final gamble.
But before she could finish speaking, a sharp pain erupted from her waist. She turned back toward Jennie in disbelief.
Jennie held a small dagger. When she saw Qiao Si turn around, she immediately scurried around her in fright and jogged over to Qiao Lak's side. Stammering, she said, "C-Cousin, actually, e-everything was Q-Qiao Si acting on her own. It has nothing to do with me."
"Hahaha! My dear cousin, you made the right choice." Qiao Lak laughed triumphantly, one hand gently settling on Jennie's shoulder.
Qiao Si felt dizzy and disoriented. Half-kneeling on the deck, she was at a loss.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Suddenly, applause rang out.
Qiao Lak was instantly startled. He immediately turned around and saw a man standing at the bow, though he had no idea when the man had appeared.
"Ahhh!!!"
The next second, Jennie's piercing scream rang out beside Qiao Lak's ear.
His expression changed at once. He slapped Jennie across the face and barked, "Shut up!"
"B-But he... he... he's the Son of Pirates!!!!" Jennie covered her face as she backed away in terror.
In an instant, the entire ship fell utterly silent.
"The Son of Pirates!"
Qiao Lak pressed his lips together and lightly gritted his teeth.
He suspected Hawkins had come to wipe them out root and branch. After all, he was Jabus's eldest son and the heir to Vitalia Island.
He had previously suspected that Jabus's madness had something to do with Hawkins. In fact, before Jabus went mad, he had entered the Dream Realm intending to use its peculiar nature to kill Hawkins.
The exact outcome was unknown.
But Hawkins now stood here perfectly unharmed, while Jabus had fallen into madness and vanished without a trace.
Hawkins ignored Qiao Lak and Jennie, who were facing a mighty enemy as if at the edge of an abyss. From the bow, he slowly walked along the side of the ship to Qiao Si. He crouched on the rail and lowered his head to look at her.
By then, Qiao Si's breathing had become extremely rapid, and the blood vessels on her neck had faintly darkened.
"How did it feel to be betrayed by the person you needed to protect?" Hawkins asked.
The scene before him stirred memories long buried beneath dust.
The stab Jennie had delivered was not meant to kill Qiao Si. It was only meant to draw a clear line between them.
He, too, had once endured a similar betrayal. A woman he had rescued stabbed him in the small of his back, and afterward he was thrown into a deep pool teeming with mutated crocodiles. It could be said that he had escaped death by the skin of his teeth.
That year, he had been nine hundred and fifty-two years old, in the prime of his life.
Qiao Si's eyes showed no ripples. Panting weakly, she said, "Son of Pirates... are you here to laugh at me? I admit that I'm too weak, all right? If you're going to kill me, then hurry up and do it!"
"That's right. Because you weren't strong enough, you couldn't protect the person you wanted to protect. You forced her to betray you, even to draw a clear line in order to preserve herself." Hawkins's expression was complicated. Back then, he too had not been strong enough to give those people a sense of security, which was why betrayal had happened.
At that moment, Qiao Si held no resentment and no anger. All that remained was dissatisfaction with her own weakness.
That was something Hawkins himself had failed to achieve in the past. After being betrayed, his heart had been filled with rage. After escaping alive, he had waited for an opportunity, then ultimately uprooted that den completely.
He still remembered the image of the woman who had betrayed him kneeling on the ground and begging for mercy. At the time, he had coldly raised his gun and pulled the trigger without the slightest hesitation.
Later still, after Earth had been devoured by the sun, after he had lost his body.
During his days drifting through the universe, he had often reflected on everything he had once done. This was one matter he regretted more deeply. Although what he had done then seemed immensely satisfying, he had actually betrayed his own original intention as well.
He had fought because he wanted to save those people. No matter what the process had been, the result was that he had personally killed them.
Didn't that prove their betrayal had been right?