Resource Island

Compared to the dictatorial rule of several large islands, if Darren had not lied, Black Market Island's situation was actually more reasonable.

But this also showed that none of the three families possessed the power to overwhelm the other two, which was why they had formed a three-legged standoff.

"How is the relationship between the Three Great Families?" Hawkins asked.

Darren froze for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't know. We commoners rarely come into contact with people from the Three Great Families."

"Then how do they usually maintain control over the Black Market?" Mark asked, somewhat surprised.

Darren answered, "The Red-Clad Team manages the Black Market on a daily basis. They only obey the orders of the Three Great Families."

"If I wanted to post a bounty, where should I go?" Hawkins seemed to suddenly lose interest in the Three Great Families and changed the subject.

Darren immediately replied, "There are three places in the Black Market where bounties can be posted. First is Robuchi's Tea House, second is Lando's Rose Cottage, and third is Death Star Pavilion."

"Death Star Pavilion has no owner?" Hawkins asked with a frown.

Darren shook his head. "Those three places actually handle bounties of three different grades. Robuchi's Tea House handles Good Grade bounties. If you need something, sir, you can post a bounty at the Tea House. Lando's Rose Cottage handles Fierce Grade bounties. If you have an enemy or foe you want killed, you can post a bounty at Rose Cottage. As for Death Star Pavilion... I don't know much either, but I've heard that the commission must reach at least one thousand Gold Coins before you can post a bounty there. And Death Star Pavilion has no owner—not even any attendants. You only need to leave the commission and the task behind, and someone will naturally complete it."

"Then take us to Death Star Pavilion," Hawkins said with a slight smile after hearing this.

Darren's eyes widened as he warned, "Sir, Death Star Pavilion has very strict rules. Once you enter, you must leave behind a commission and a task. If you haven't brought enough money, it would be best not to enter."

"Thanks for the warning. Lead the way," Hawkins insisted.

Seeing that Hawkins was determined to visit Death Star Pavilion, Darren had no choice but to lead them there.

As they passed a bread stall, Hawkins suddenly became interested and stepped forward to ask, "How much is the bread?"

"One Copper Coin for three," the vendor answered with a smile.

Hawkins took out one Copper Coin and nodded. "Then give me three."

"Certainly."

The vendor immediately wrapped the bread in a broad leaf.

After completing the transaction, Hawkins divided the bread between Mark and Darren, then ate as they walked.

Before he could finish speaking, Hawkins smiled and said, "The bread tastes good. You should try some too."

"..."

Mark glanced at the bread, then finally took a bite. Surprised, he said, "This flavor..."

The vendor was clearly an assassin, yet the bread he sold was more delicious than any Mark had ever eaten before. He was a baker delayed by the assassin profession.

The three ate as they walked, arriving at Death Star Pavilion fifteen minutes later.

There were no buildings around Death Star Pavilion. Instead, it resembled an ancient tower hidden within the forest.

"Looks like Death Star Pavilion's business isn't very good." Mark tossed the leaf that had wrapped his bread onto the ground and looked at the pitch-black tower.

Hawkins looked at the tower and smiled. "That's normal. After all, these are thousand-Gold-Coin transactions. It would be strange if customers came every day."

One thousand Gold Coins was absolutely an enormous sum.

The Blackblade Pirates had a bounty on them, yet a single head was worth only ten Gold Coins. That was already enough to stir the hearts of many assassins holding Cursed Relics, let alone a bounty worth a thousand Gold Coins.

In this world, one Silver Coin was roughly equivalent to one hundred US dollars. Ten Silver Coins were one thousand dollars, one Gold Coin was ten thousand dollars, one hundred Gold Coins were one million dollars, and one thousand Gold Coins were equivalent to ten million US dollars on Earth.

Of course, those were not entirely accurate exchange rates. After all, many things had completely different prices in the two worlds.

But this alone showed just how expensive Death Star Pavilion's bounties were.

Even Lords would probably ache for a very, very long time after posting a single task.

A ship capable of diving underwater was priceless.

At present, no ship in the Seven Seas possessed diving capabilities. A ship capable of submerging would mean being able to run rampant without restraint. As long as its people did not go ashore, no one could do anything to it.

At sea, the greatest fear was being surrounded and hunted down. But if a ship could dive, it could simply submerge and escape when faced with a siege.

Thus, the moment the Black Knife submerged, many people had already set their sights on it.

The Water Ghost Seven Brothers were not blood brothers, but seven pirates exceptionally skilled in the water. There were more than seven of them, but under normal circumstances, the others were responsible for gathering intelligence and handling logistics, while only the Water Ghost Seven Brothers took action.

Their method of plunder was extremely simple. All seven would dive underwater at the same time and bore through the target ship's hull, then loot it after it sank.

"Found it, this way!"

The third brother of the Water Ghost Seven Brothers made a hand signal underwater, and the other six swiftly swam over.

Below them was a giant egg: the Black Knife, wrapped in countless tentacles.

The seven immediately dived down toward the Black Knife. They first tested it with thrown concealed weapons, and after confirming that the tentacles would not attack people, they finally landed upon them.

The eldest drew a dagger, crouched down, and stabbed hard at a tentacle, but he failed to pierce it at all.

"So hard. Harder than ironwood."

The eldest was slightly surprised. Then he looked toward the seventh brother and made a gesture.

As specialists in boring through ship hulls, they were best at using all kinds of tools to drill through a target's bottom. Even iron plates added beneath a ship would be useless against them.

Three men sat atop the drill bit, while the other four each gripped one of its handles. Then they began turning it like a millstone.

The drill was indeed effective. Its tip slowly pierced into the tentacle's flesh, but before the seven could celebrate, eyes abruptly opened one after another across the tentacles, their pupils all converging upon them.

The Water Ghost Seven Brothers stiffened. The eldest made a gesture. "Quiet. Don't move!"

But the next second, the fourth brother abruptly turned to flee. The tentacles instantly churned at incredible speed, and in the blink of an eye, all seven were swept into layer upon layer of tentacles...

"As expected, this ship won't be so easy to get."

Not far away, several men and women watched as the Water Ghost Seven Brothers were strangled and devoured by the tentacles. They all retreated, afraid of being caught in the aftermath.

Some people realized there was no point staying here. The breakthrough might lie with Hawkins and Mark, so they turned and quietly departed.

At this moment, Hawkins and Mark also came under attack.

Murder was forbidden in the Black Market?

That was merely a rule for the weak. As long as no one knew, then naturally no one had been killed.

But Hawkins did not even need to act against these attackers. Mark alone dispatched them with ease, and in less than half a minute, more than ten corpses lay on the ground.

"S-Sir, you killed people! Leave the Black Market quickly, or you'll definitely die!" Darren said in panic.

Mark looked toward Hawkins, who smiled. "I'm curious. Is protecting myself wrong too?"

"Of course protecting yourself isn't wrong, but the Red-Clad Team won't care about that," Darren explained.

"Then, sirs, I'll be leaving first." Darren froze, then realized that the two would not leave, so he hurriedly said this.

He immediately jogged away along the path they had come from and vanished from sight moments later.

"Captain, what do you want to do?" Mark asked curiously.

Hawkins looked at Mark and chuckled softly. "This island is rich in resources. I already discovered two iron mines and one gold mine just now, as well as quite a few rare resources, such as... a uranium mine!"

He had only discovered the underground uranium mine after accidentally detecting alpha rays.

At present, although technological products within Eternal Space could be brought out by continuously supplying Curse Power, the larger the object, the more Curse Power it consumed, and it could not move too far away from Hawkins.

Once the distance exceeded ten meters, the object would automatically return to Eternal Space.

Therefore, Hawkins could manufacture weapons such as sniper rifles within Eternal Space, but he could not use them in reality.

With iron mines, gold mines, and uranium mines, Hawkins could completely manufacture satellites, spacecraft, nuclear bombs, and other equipment within Eternal Space, allowing him to understand this world faster and more comprehensively.

"Captain, do you want to occupy Black Market Island?" Although Mark did not understand the purpose of uranium mines, he knew the significance of gold mines. His brows rose as he asked quietly.

Hawkins nodded. "Yes. I want to see whether I can send this entire island into Eternal Space and turn it into a resource island."

"Then what should we do?" Mark asked seriously.

To occupy an island when only four and a half of them could fight—if this had been in the past, Mark would definitely have thought the other person was insane. But it was Hawkins who had proposed the idea, and Mark felt that its chances of success were great.

Because Hawkins was strong enough!

"First, we need to figure out who the true owner of Black Market Island is," Hawkins said as he looked at Mark.

Mark froze. "Captain, the Three Great Families?"

"That's just a smokescreen. Three families that never show their faces? Heh, only fools would believe that." Hawkins smiled faintly.

Mark blushed slightly and asked, "Then who do you think is the hidden owner of Black Market Island, Captain?"

"If I'm not mistaken, the so-called Three Great Families are actually the owners of Yazhong Island, Blackwood Island, and Hard Biscuit Island," Hawkins answered.

Whether in military strength or overall power, those three islands completely crushed Black Market Island. How could they possibly tolerate such an unstable, evil, chaotic force at their side? Black Market Island had likely long since been absorbed by the three Lords.

In fact, quite a few clever people on Black Market Island had made the same guess, but they simply had no evidence.

Hawkins was only guessing as well, so what they needed to do next was verify that guess and determine who exactly held the true reins.

The three Lords were, plainly speaking, the bosses behind the scenes.

But Black Market Island certainly still had an administrator, and that was the enemy they needed to face this time.