The screen went black. Jon was dead.
It seemed that the smart choice was not necessarily the right choice.
Though Hawkins regretted Jon's death, it lasted only an instant. After all, everyone had to bear the corresponding risks and responsibilities for their own choices.
What concerned him more was where the paper figures had come from.
Those paper figures had clearly come for him. The fact that they could so easily slice open Jon's throat revealed two things: first, they possessed terrifying cutting power; second, they did not fear water, not even bloody water.
He just did not know whether those paper figures feared fire.
Hawkins decided to further modify this body.
Because air resistance was greater than bodily resistance, even with Electricity-Generating Cells, he still could not directly discharge electricity.
But now he had a new idea: adding part of a silicon-based lifeform's structure to his body.
In his previous universe, he had studied the bodily structures of many silicon-based lifeforms. One-third of them possessed the ability to control electric currents, and there were many excellent structures he could use as references.
Over the next three days, he continued eating enormous amounts, drawing the elements he needed from food.
Because his optimized stomach possessed formidable digestive capabilities, he could eat in one day what an ordinary person ate in a month. Fortunately, the Pras Sea had never been overfished, so its abundant fish resources were enough to fill his stomach.
At night, Hawkins stood bare-chested by the ship's rail. Devilish muscles covered his back, crisscrossed by numerous black lines that formed a circle filled with intricate patterns.
Those black lines were actually superconductors. They allowed him to control electric currents more effectively and even gave him the ability to manipulate magnetic and electric fields.
He stretched his right hand toward the sea. A black dot sat in the center of his palm. Electricity burst from the tips of his five fingers and gathered at the black dot, then a Ball Lightning shot from his palm and plunged directly into the seawater.
"Success!"
Hawkins smiled faintly, then extended his fully recovered left hand as well.
He aimed both hands at the sea. The next moment, electricity continuously surged from his fingers, and an endless stream of Ball Lightning wildly bombarded the ocean, like two Vulcan cannons firing at once.
About half an hour later, all the electricity in his storage cells had been exhausted, and the bombardment stopped.
His body contained both Electricity-Generating Cells and storage cells. The Electricity-Generating Cells consumed physical energy to generate power, while the storage cells continuously absorbed the static electricity naturally produced by his body as well as solar energy, with extremely low consumption.
Moreover, these hairs could serve as solar panels, and each contained a special "core" capable of modifying other organisms and even reading memories.
After exhausting his stored power, Hawkins sat in a deck chair. His hairs writhed like snakes, capturing bacteria from the air.
The human eye could only see objects measuring 0.1 millimeters or larger. Anything smaller required tools such as magnifying glasses and microscopes.
Hawkins's eyes had been modified. One point of the six-pointed star possessed the function of a microscope. Viruses and bacteria that ordinary people could not directly observe with the naked eye were visible to him whenever he wished.
Though his modified body already possessed considerable power, he did not like putting all his eggs in one basket.
If the paper figures feared neither fire nor electricity, then he could only transfer his consciousness, and bacteria were highly suitable carriers.
Smack!
Suddenly, a Bat landed on the blade tip at the prow. Then a large number of Bats flew over and all settled on the Black Knife's sails.
Hawkins looked at the Bat on the prow. The Bat stared at him and said coldly, "Found you, Son of Pirates!"
"Not paper figures?"
Hawkins was slightly surprised inwardly, but none of it showed on his face. Looking at the Bat ahead, he asked, "Is this the power of the Family Curse?"
"Hmph, lowly pirate, you will never understand the nobility of nobles! Tomorrow, your head will hang in Jon Harbor, spat upon by ten thousand people!" the Bat snapped furiously.
The Family Curse was a secret that every noble and noble attendant had to guard unto death.
Hawkins asking that question meant he had learned something from Jordas, and that was precisely what all nobles could not tolerate.
All the Bats opened their crimson eyes and locked onto him. They bared sharp fangs, spread their wings, then beat them once and dove down, swiftly attacking Hawkins.
Hawkins remained seated in the deck chair. The instant the Bats drew near, his right hand fell upon the Black Knife at his side. A flash of blade light swept past, and every approaching Bat was cut in two.
His brain entered Overclock State, his nerves had been replaced with superconductive silicon-based material, and thirty different muscle fibers formed new muscle groups. Combined, these conditions meant Hawkins had no fear of attacks from ordinary creatures.
A great number of Bats still stubbornly launched their attacks. Hawkins raised his blade and brought it down, and countless Bats that had lost their wings but had not yet died fell onto the deck.
Julian stood atop the prow, his gaze gradually turning grave. In his eyes, Hawkins was no longer an ordinary pirate.
An ordinary pirate could never possess such power. Over a hundred Bats had attacked at once and lost their wings at once. This was absolutely not power a mortal should possess.
"As expected, Son of Pirates possesses a Cursed Relic!"
After reaching that conclusion, Julian decided to meet up with Joyce first, then find a way to deal with Hawkins.
But just as he spread his wings, a streak of lightning struck them. He crashed directly onto the deck, the pain nearly making him pass out.
Hawkins rose from the deck chair and smiled. "The Black Knife is not a place where you can come and go as you please. So this is your true body after all, isn't it?"
He walked over, gripped the Bat Julian had become by the neck, and lifted him directly into the air.
The Mind Virus was injected instantly, but it soon vanished without explanation. Clearly, some force had directly annihilated it, but that force was of a type Hawkins could not observe.
All living things relied on various organs to perceive the world. Eyes saw color, noses sensed scents, and ears heard vibrations.
But the world did not contain only scents, colors, and vibrations. It held far more besides, yet without the corresponding organs, humans could not see the other side of the world.
Some animals were color-blind, while some could see only infrared light. In their eyes, the world took on another form entirely.
Therefore, what the world looked like depended on the organs a creature possessed. If humans grew organs capable of seeing time, then the world would become a four-dimensional existence in human eyes.
Hawkins could not see the truth of this world because he lacked the corresponding organs to observe it. Just like the unknown power within the Bat, he could neither observe nor understand it, and naturally could not master it.
"Lowly pirate, you will die. You will die miserably. You have grasped power you should never have grasped, and that power will bring you a calamity that reaches the heavens!!!" Julian recovered from the pain, stared fixedly at Hawkins, and spoke through gritted teeth.
Hawkins looked at Julian and smiled, completely unconcerned by his threat.
He was more curious whether Julian was a Bat or a human. Julian looked entirely like a Bat, yet his behavior was no different from a human's.
"Let me see what exactly is hidden inside that little head of yours."
Hawkins's hairs stood upright one by one. If Julian's eyes could see nanometer-scale objects, he would have discovered that the tips of Hawkins's hairs were rotating. Then fine metal needles only one nanometer wide extended from their centers.
Those fine needles pierced Julian's cervical vertebrae and quickly connected to his nerve endings.
If the Mind Virus was a software intrusion, then what Hawkins used now was a hardware intrusion, forcibly deciphering the information within Julian's brain.
As the information in Julian's brain was successfully read, Hawkins's eyes grew brighter and brighter...