Black Market Bounty

"Eh, where's Son of Pirates?"

Just as the middle-aged man prepared to take aim, he realized Hawkins was no longer on the Black Knife. He hurriedly searched the surroundings, but found no trace of Hawkins.

"Damn it, hiding again like those bastards!"

The middle-aged man expelled the compressed air from his mouth and cursed frantically in his heart.

After every three attacks, he had to rest for ten minutes. Otherwise, his mouth would burst from overcompressing the air.

It was precisely because of that three-minute interval that he had lost his chance to kill Mark and the others. And now, because he had been distracted, Hawkins had vanished too.

No, that wasn't right!

He had clearly kept Hawkins locked on the entire time. When exactly had he disappeared?

He frowned and thought, yet he could not figure out when he had lost focus or when he had lost his target.

At that moment, behind the middle-aged man, Hawkins climbed onto the roof like a nimble cat. He slowly drew a knife from the Sea Chart and silently approached his target.

Under normal circumstances, items inside Eternal Space could not be brought out. But just as Asmodeus could leave Eternal Space, as long as Hawkins was willing to pay Curse Power, he could take them out too. The moment he cut off the supply of Curse Power, however, the item would automatically return to Eternal Space.

He had seen far too many people with invisibility abilities in the past.

Whether it was optical invisibility or blending into objects, as long as the other party attacked, he could lock onto their position.

It was not difficult. With a little calculation of angles and speed, he could make a basic judgment.

Hawkins stopped behind the middle-aged man and raised his knife. In an instant, the man sensed danger and rolled away fiercely, dodging Hawkins's slash. But before he could turn around, the second slash had already come.

This time, the middle-aged man failed to avoid the attack. Hawkins raised his hand and brought down the blade, severing both his legs. Blood gushed out, and he naturally could no longer maintain his invisibility.

"Spare me, my lord! Spare me!"

The middle-aged man revealed himself, his whole face twisted together in agony as he cried out.

As an assassin, he had always launched sneak attacks from afar, taking down his targets unexpectedly. Thus, his tolerance for pain was extremely low. In a head-on fight, he might not even be able to beat a child like Arthur.

Hawkins withdrew his Curse Power, and the knife in his hand instantly turned into countless points of light and flew back into his body. He crouched down, looked at the middle-aged man whose face was covered in snot and tears, and smiled with narrowed eyes. "Can you tell me who exactly sent you to cause us trouble?"

In the past, he had always been the one taking others' lives. Watching the survivors panic and lose their heads, he had sneered inwardly at their cowardice.

But when it happened to him, he discovered just how terrifying it was to know that one's life could be taken away at any time. Hawkins merely stood before him, yet his entire body trembled. His mind kept screaming at him to beg for mercy, to kneel, to survive no matter what.

Hawkins casually picked off a wood chip and poked at the middle-aged man's wound with it, smiling. "Then hurry up and talk."

"Ahh... yes, yes. Someone put a bounty on the lives of everyone aboard the Black Knife in the Black Market. One head can be exchanged for ten gold coins!" The middle-aged man said through spasms, sweat covering his head.

Black Market?

Hawkins thought carefully. There really was such a place.

The Black Market was an isolated island located between Yazhong Island, Blackwood Island, and Hard Biscuit Island. It only opened at certain times.

Hawkins had gone to the Black Market to fence goods in the past, but he did not know much about its core business.

At the end of the day, although Hawkins bore the title Son of Pirates, he was merely a pirate who could not be brought out into the open.

The Black Market's true customers were nobles and people with special identities, such as assassins who possessed Cursed Relics, merchants secretly funding resistance armies, and so on.

Under the threat of death, the middle-aged man did not dare conceal anything and truthfully recounted the situation at the Black Market.

After listening, Hawkins stroked his chin and muttered, "So you accepted the Black Market's bounty, which is why you came looking for trouble with me?"

"Yes, yes. I'll abandon the mission as soon as I get back. My lord, spare me. We have no grudge against each other." The middle-aged man nodded frantically.

Holding the wood chip, Hawkins lowered his head and drew on the blood flowing from the middle-aged man. As he drew, he said indifferently, "Your strength is so weak, and I didn't expect your memory to be so bad either. You'd be better off going home to grow sweet potatoes than being an assassin. You killed three of my people, and now you say we have no grudge? Or should I cooperate with you and pretend I have amnesia?"

The middle-aged man's face reddened. Realizing that Hawkins would absolutely not spare him, his eyes instantly turned bloodshot as he grabbed his blowgun.

But just as he was about to fire an air cannon, he discovered Hawkins was no longer in front of him. Then his body abruptly stiffened, and his eyes shifted backward.

Hawkins crouched behind him and said calmly, "Your courage is commendable, but as an assassin, I can only give you zero points. Goodbye!"

The Sea Chart opened before him, and a knife stabbed out from it. The middle-aged man's chest was pierced through. His whole body convulsed violently, his face twisting into a knot. Tears, snot, and saliva mixed with sweat and flowed into his clothes, while the stench of urine beneath his crotch was unbearable.

In the end, the middle-aged man still died, suffocating when blood flooded back into his lungs.

That was undoubtedly an exceptionally painful way to die.

Although he had not wanted to die, Hawkins had deliberately stabbed him in the chest so that he would die in the greatest agony. Otherwise, Hawkins could have stabbed a vital point and killed him instantly, sparing him such suffering.

The problem was that Hawkins had no desire to show mercy to someone who would not even spare children.

After killing the middle-aged man, he held the blowgun in one hand and dragged the corpse with the other as he jumped downstairs, slowly walking toward Mark and the others' hiding place.

Inside the storage room, Mark suddenly looked at Jennie and asked, "If you fall asleep, can you lock onto the killer's location?"

"Y-yes. As long as I fall asleep, I'll definitely dream of Qiao Si and the killer who murdered Qiao Si." Jennie froze, then quickly nodded.

Mark clenched his fist and continued, "Then if I forcibly knock you out, will you dream?"

"Ah, are you going to hit me?" Jennie's beautiful face paled.

Mark looked at Jennie seriously and asked, "Don't you want to avenge Qiao Si?"

Aww, that sweetness is killing me!

Looking at Jennie's delicate face, Mark suddenly felt as though his heart had skipped a beat.

He had actually seen quite a few women. There had even been a period after becoming a Curse Caster when he had behaved particularly wildly, but none of those women had ever made his heart flutter.

Yet at this moment, it fluttered.

To be honest, even he did not know why. But when Jennie had lifted her head to look at him just now, he had felt as if lightning had struck straight through his heart.

"Damn it, I can't bring myself to do it. What now?"

Mark raised his hand. He had originally intended to knock Jennie unconscious with one punch, but when he saw her with her eyes closed and tears still clinging to the corners of them, he realized he could not strike hard.

At that moment, the storage room door was pushed open. Mark immediately turned around, ready to attack, only to see Hawkins walk in.

"What are you doing?" Hawkins glanced at Jennie, who had her head raised and eyes closed, then at Mark, who had his fist raised, somewhat puzzled.

Mark froze, then stammered, "C-captain, wh-why are you back?"

"You were hoping I wouldn't make it back?" Hawkins asked.

Mark hurriedly shook his head and smiled ingratiatingly. "Actually, we were all very worried about you, Captain. And... where's that little girl?"

"Ai Miye is fine. But you lot were actually forced by an assassin to hide in a damned place like this. Embarrassing." Hawkins looked around the storage room and teased them.

The moment Hawkins entered the storage room, he proactively shut off his sense of smell. Otherwise, he would definitely have fled three houses away.

"Captain, if it were only me, I definitely wouldn't be afraid of an assassin. But I had to take care of them, so there was really no wa... wa..." Mark hurriedly defended himself, but before he could finish, Hawkins turned sideways, dragged the assassin's corpse in behind him, and tossed it into the room. The bloody smell made the already foul-smelling storage room even more unbearable.

But Mark's attention was now entirely fixed on the assassin's corpse. He looked up in surprise and asked, "Captain, you found that assassin?"

"If I hadn't found him, how would I know he was an assassin?" Hawkins replied irritably.

After saying that, he turned and left. Mark hurriedly helped up the groaning Arthur and said to the others, "All right, come out. It's safe now."

"Captain, who sent this assassin? Didn't Jabus already go mad?" Mark followed Hawkins and asked.

As they walked, Hawkins recounted the Black Market situation to Mark. Mark was left speechless after hearing it, unable to stop himself from muttering inwardly that Hawkins really had many enemies. How many outrageously wicked things had he done to attract so much trouble?

Of course, Mark definitely did not dare say that in front of Hawkins. After all, he still wanted to live.

After returning to the Black Knife, Hawkins had Mark collect the bodies of Qiao Si and the other two, then had the supplies gathered on the deck.

"Captain, are you planning to abandon the Black Knife? But that really is a wise choice. As long as we abandon the Black Knife, those assassins definitely won't be able to find us so easily." Mark carried a chest of gold coins onto the deck, set it down, wiped away his sweat, and spoke to Hawkins.

Hawkins glanced at Mark and smiled. "Excessive hormone secretion makes people unconsciously talk more, love showing off, and love drawing attention. Let me guess. Who have you taken a fancy to?"

"W-wait, Captain, leave me some dignity." Mark secretly glanced at Jennie, who was sitting on a wine barrel, and hurriedly pleaded.

Hawkins said with amusement, "Then hurry up and get to work."

"I'm going, I'm going!" Mark hurriedly jogged toward the storage room.

Hawkins smiled, then opened the Sea Chart and stored the supplies that had been moved over inside Eternal Space.