In an instant, Wang Tai's heart sank.
Though he was unlikely to actually die here, he probably could not avoid getting hurt.
Who knew whether wounds inflicted by this eerie entity carried poison or had special properties?
He hurriedly rolled through the seawater.
He wanted to put some distance between himself and the boy.
But there were Mulberry Stalks everywhere beneath the surface.
It was like lying on a pile of sugarcane scattered haphazardly across the ground, so slippery he could not get his footing.
The eerie entity drew close, then closer!
At that critical moment.
A figure jumped off the ship and gave him a hard yank from behind.
He pulled him out of his previous position.
Feeling flat ground beneath his feet, Wang Tai had no time to rejoice before the boy lunged at him again.
He was right in front of him.
Wang Tai instinctively raised his gun and aimed at the boy's head.
"Shoot the coconut in his arms!"
The person behind him shouted.
Wang Tai froze. Before he could think about why, a black gust hit his face, and he instinctively pulled the trigger.
Bang-
The gunshot jolted everyone's spirits.
The boy looked around in astonishment, frozen in midair at an angle that defied the laws of physics.
Countless bubbles rose from his body like boiling water, giving off a foul stench.
Then he slowly melted, flowing onto the ground before vanishing completely.
Only a green coconut with a bullet hole fell from midair and rolled a couple of times across the ground.
Neither the people aboard nor the two below spoke for a long time.
"Brother Qin, th-thank you!"
Wang Tai had recognized the voice just now. Qin Mao was the one who had jumped off the ship to save him.
"Of course. All that matters is you're okay. You saved me before too, Brother Wang!"
Qin Mao put on no airs and waved it off casually.
Wang Tai clasped his hand and patted his shoulder.
Then he mustered all his strength and bellowed up at the Hope.
"Get the hell out here, all of you! Who the fuck dumped these Mulberry Stalks here?!"
After all the storms Wang Tai had weathered, a bag of Mulberry Stalks had nearly finished him off on this tiny Stone Ape Island!
At that moment, his hatred for whoever had dropped those Mulberry Stalks far exceeded even his hatred for the eerie entity!
Qin Mao rubbed his nose guiltily.
He had only been testing a little to see whether Wang Tai had any other trump cards.
He had saved him in the end anyway, hadn't he?
The story had ended well.
Aboard the ship, everyone exchanged looks.
They had been so busy fleeing for their lives that almost everyone had been carrying Mulberry Stalks.
Who knew which clumsy idiot had lost his grip and dropped them beside the ship?
They had barely been able to fend for themselves, let alone pay attention to anyone else.
Only Zhang Qing stood at the rail, uncertainly searching his memories for a long time. His eyes kept darting toward Qin Mao.
"I think I vaguely remember seeing First Mate Qin drop a bag of Mulberry Stalks? No, it was too chaotic. The more I think about it, the less certain I am."
Never mind that he was still unsure.
Even if he had been certain, he would not have chosen to expose him at this juncture.
Couldn't he see how close those two were, with their arms around each other's shoulders?
Zhang Qing had survived so long in the apocalypse entirely because he knew how to read a room!
Man proposed, heaven disposed. Naturally, Qin Mao had noticed Zhang Qing's strange looks.
He had already planned to deny everything.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Qing did not expose him.
When no one stepped forward to confess, Wang Tai angrily kicked the submerged Mulberry Stalks several times.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
He spent a good ten minutes ranting at that nonexistent "bastard" aboard the ship.
Qin Mao chimed in, "Yeah, exactly... you're absolutely right... no damn manners at all..."
Inside, he thought, What are you muttering about?
Unsure whether Stone Ape Island held any other eerie entities and unwilling to gamble, Wang Tai calmed down and prepared to sail away.
As they left, Wang Tai pointed at the large coconut with the bullet hole beside the ship.
"Brother Qin, bring that Curio Material aboard."
Shrewd as Qin Mao was, he knew something was up as soon as he heard that.
If it were anything good, would he let him take it?
Qin Mao looked utterly sincere. "No, no, that won't do. You're the one who fired the gun, Brother. Of course you should collect the spoils."
"Oh, come on, brother. No need to stand on ceremony with me!"
Wang Tai punched him lightly and explained:
"Curios all carry some degree of danger. Ordinary people might get contaminated, parasitized, or affected if they touch them, but Sequence Transcendents won't."
"This is good stuff! We can take it back and find someone to forge a Curio later, or trade it with another fleet for supplies!"
Qin Mao knew there was no clever way around this hurdle. He could only grit his teeth and go.
He carefully walked over to the coconut, picked up two Mulberry Stalks, and angled them together to lift it between them.
Sensing a living person's presence, the coconut suddenly opened a large mouth on one side.
It revealed vicious teeth, its mouth opening and closing unconsciously.
Once he confirmed that the coconut posed no other danger, Qin Mao slowly made his way aboard with it held between the sticks.
Wang Tai said, "Brother, you really do treasure your life."
Qin Mao said, "Brother, I call this being cautious."
The survivors carried the Mulberry Stalks into the hold for storage, and the Hope slowly sailed away from Stone Ape Island, drifting aimlessly across the sea.
Perhaps one day, when supplies ran low, they would find another island to scavenge.
With good luck, they would find food. With bad luck, a few people would die.
With even worse luck, everyone aboard would perish, every trace of their existence erased from the sea.
That afternoon, while the sun blazed overhead, Mulberry Stalk soup was put on to boil aboard the Hope.
The satisfaction brought by starch put everyone in high spirits.
Just as the meal reached its liveliest point.
A scrawny man was brought up, tightly bound.
He knelt before Wang Tai.
Wang Tai hurled a dagger hard into the deck and unleashed a torrent of abuse.
"Three people! We lost three whole fucking people this time! You stupid pigs!"
"How many times have I told you not to wander off or talk once you're on an island? What the hell did you lure that eerie thing over for?!"
The man cried out in terror.
"Boss, it wasn't me! I didn't! I was gathering Mulberry Stalks the whole time. I never went anywhere! I didn't say anything either!"
"Hah! It wasn't you?"
"You think no one saw you sneak off?"
The man still stubbornly refused to admit it.
But this was the apocalypse. Wang Tai had no use for gathering evidence and holding trials.
Expressionless, he picked up some wire, screwdrivers, and similar things and walked over.
Soon, screams mingled with the bubbling of the pot.
Blood spread across the deck. Everyone kept their heads down, not daring to breathe loudly.
The man's breathing was faint, but he kept protesting his innocence.
"Boss, I didn't..."
"Boss, it really wasn't me... I'm loyal to you!"
That pitiful appearance, that honest face.
Nine out of ten people would probably have thought he had been wronged.
Of course, that was if, when he was first brought up, he had not exchanged brief, rapid glances with several nearby survivors, and Qin Mao had not happened to be at just the right angle to catch them with his keen eyes.
Otherwise, even Qin Mao might have believed his performance.
After giving it a little thought, he guessed that the group led by Zhu Yu had planned to use the eerie entity to kill someone.
They had deliberately lured over that coconut-selling eerie entity, knowing Wang Tai would inevitably fight it...
Unfortunately for them, it had not worked.
Wang Tai intended to establish his authority.
In front of everyone, he personally tortured the man little by little until he was barely alive.
Only then did he sit down before the large pot as though nothing had happened and ladle himself a bowl of Mulberry Stalk soup, boiled until thick and sticky.
"First Mate Qin, go finish things up!"
He blew on the scalding soup.
Then he slurped all the way around the rim of the bowl and spoke casually.
Before you continue