Ambush

Yang Yi told Su Na about the Tinder Wool Sweater and the island.

She also agreed that they should go take a look.

After all, islands had more abundant resources. If they came across one, they should not pass it up unless it was too dangerous.

Those dangers included both unknown creatures on the island and other players with ill intentions.

"If there are any unusual life-forms on the island, I want a few as specimens!" Su Na made her request.

That might have been her real reason for agreeing to visit the island.

Two days later, Yang Yi had reached the waters near the island.

There was indeed an island here, about five kilometers in diameter, which he could view on the Sea Chart.

In fact, Yang Yi could go there whenever he wanted.

But before going, he had to deal with the potential danger!

After observing for the past two days, he had figured out what Hu Wei was doing.

He was fishing, using bait to lure other players onto the island.

And there seemed to be some extremely dangerous creature or trap on the island that caused players who landed there to die quickly.

After the players died, Hu Wei would come over to claim and dismantle their ownerless ships, obtaining large quantities of supplies.

It was an immoral but highly profitable practice, though not without risks.

No one knew what sort of players would come.

If he ran into a tough opponent, such as Yang Yi with his Peering skill, his scheme could easily backfire, costing him even his life!

Hu Wei would never have dreamed that a pair of eyes could ignore distance and the Fog of War to watch his every move.

Through his observations, Yang Yi had gathered a great deal of information.

Before approaching a player's ship, Hu Wei would observe it through a telescope. Only after confirming that no one was aboard would he slowly approach and fire a token cannon shot. Once he further confirmed that no one was aboard, he would attempt to board.

He would not fire his cannon directly at the other ship's hull, possibly because damage to the hull would affect the returns from dismantling it.

Over these three days, Hu Wei had dismantled two ships this way.

Yang Yi had watched the entire process and told Su Na what he planned to do.

"I think there must be some dangerous creature on this island!" Su Na declared with certainty.

"Was that what I was talking about? Were you even listening?" Yang Yi scratched his head. "I mean we should turn his scheme against him and ambush him instead!"

"He'll never expect someone to be lying in wait specifically for him! We'll lift the boarding restrictions, and when he finds he can come aboard, he'll think we're dead!

"Then we'll hide below deck. As soon as he comes in, we'll kill him!"

"But what if he doesn't come in?"

"There's no way he won't! If it were me, I'd go in too!

"Besides, once he's aboard, can he outrun a bullet?"

Yang Yi was full of confidence.

He had dismantled a ship before and knew the procedure for claiming one.

Not only did the ship's owner have to be dead, but he also had to occupy the ship for a while.

It should take about ten minutes, after which a system notification would appear, allowing him to dismantle the ship.

However, dismantling a ship would not recover all the items aboard. Equipment and items on the ship had to be looted and collected manually.

Yang Yi judged that Hu Wei would not overlook any corner of the ship, including the interior!

If it were Yang Yi himself, he would also loot the place thoroughly, and he would do it very quickly!

Su Na nodded, indicating that she had no objections.

And so the plan was settled.

To be safe, Yang Yi had Su Na make three more bottles of the pink potion with restorative effects, giving them exactly two bottles each, just in case.

Early tomorrow morning, he planned to head to the island, then hide below deck and play dead to give Hu Wei a surprise.

The next day, Yang Yi took the helm and sailed toward the island.

The journey went smoothly, with no danger along the way.

This was Yang Yi's first time seeing the island with his own eyes. It looked perfectly ordinary, its shore made of solid dark-brown rock, worn smooth and fine by the seawater.

Some barnacles clung to the rocks, and many crabs lived in the cracks between them.

The island was covered in dense forest, and there was no telling what lay within.

Yang Yi found no signs of a struggle along the shore, not even any bloodstains.

That meant the victims had not been killed by the shore. The scene of their deaths should be farther inland, or something had dragged them deep into the forest.

Either way, Yang Yi had no intention of going ashore.

He checked the Crystal Ball. The image inside showed that the other man was on his way here, still several dozen nautical miles from the island.

Although he was still far away, Yang Yi called Su Na over, hid below deck with her, and opened up boarding access to the ship.

Inside the Nightmare Star, a corridor turned to the left from the entrance.

At the end of the corridor, a flight of stairs led down to the bottom of the hold.

It was dimly lit, with light coming in only through the small windows on either side, and the space was dark and damp.

The Witch Laboratory was also here, in a separate room.

The two took their positions as planned.

Su Na hid in the shadows at the bottom of the hold, holding the Pirate Longbow and watching the entrance intently.

A simple quiver on her back held more than thirty arrows, all with steel heads sharper than those of simple wooden arrows.

After Su Na had demonstrated her astonishing archery skills, Yang Yi had given her better arrows.

Every arrow was coated in the bodily fluids of the Cystic Spiny Puffer, making even a bleeding scratch lethal!

Yang Yi stood at the end of the corridor, above the stairs, less than four meters from the door.

He would attack first. If the Flintlock failed to fire, that would be Su Na's cue to shoot!

They would make sure the man had no time to react and ended up well and truly dead!

Meanwhile, Hu Wei finally approached the island.

He took out his telescope and began observing.

Just as expected, he spotted the Nightmare Star!

"A special ship!"

Hu Wei jumped for joy.

Little did he know that Yang Yi, holding the Crystal Ball, saw every one of his actions.

Hu Wei waited where he was for a full hour. Only after confirming that no one was in sight did he slowly approach and fire a token cannon shot.

His aim was terrible, and he had no intention of hitting it. The cannonball landed ahead of the Nightmare Star, throwing up a huge splash.

This was his usual routine. Yang Yi had already watched it once in the images.

Another fifteen minutes passed.

Only after finding that there was no movement aboard did Hu Wei sail over at full speed.

"He's coming. He'll be aboard in ten minutes at most!"

Yang Yi warned Su Na, put the Crystal Ball into the Greedy Stomach, and held his breath as he watched the hatch intently, waiting for his prey to take the bait.

It was Su Na's first time lying in ambush to kill someone, and she was a little nervous.

But she had excellent mental fortitude and felt no fear.

Before long, the sound of a grappling hook striking the ship came, followed by the sound of a wooden boarding plank being laid down.

The prey had taken the bait.

Yang Yi had already raised his gun and aimed at the hatch.

The light was dim inside. By the time the man saw him clearly, he would probably already have been shot!

Time ticked by, second by second.

To make the act convincing, Yang Yi had left the fishing rod and net lying carelessly on deck.

The man was probably gleefully picking them up right now, unaware that Yang Yi had granted him permission to collect them...

Yang Yi had moved the enormous insect head below deck so the man would not spend too much time on deck.

His ultimate goal was to lure him inside as quickly as possible. That was the safest strategy.

If the time approached nine minutes, Yang Yi and Su Na would have to take the initiative and attack!

Fortunately, movement came at the hatch in less than five minutes.

Click. The hatch opened!

Hu Wei strode in, his face glowing with delight, the barnacle fishing rod and red fishing net slung across his back, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.

He was still marveling at his enormous haul when, in the next second, a gunshot erupted to his left.

Bang!

Shot in the abdomen, Hu Wei collapsed to the floor, clutching his wound tightly.

Only then did he notice someone standing to his left, holding a Flintlock, a trace of gunsmoke still rising from its muzzle.

"You... how are you...?" Hu Wei could not believe his eyes.

"I've been waiting here for you for quite a while!" Yang Yi said with a smile.

He had not aimed at the man's head, partly for fear of missing and partly because he still had questions to ask him.