The eerie Hope

The Hope Fleet, [Yaximu].

A young woman in filthy clothes that did little to hide her sexy figure was crying her heart out on deck.

"Boo-hoo! Qin Mao, how could you die!"

"You promised we'd stay alive together, and that you'd help me find both our families..."

The woman's tearful sobbing moved every survivor around her.

Several men approached to comfort her, each harboring ulterior thoughts.

Raising a hand to wipe away tears that didn't exist, Su Miaomiao felt a flicker of smug satisfaction.

This performance had established her as a devoted companion and earned her free food from some of those offering comfort.

What a haul!

Oh, Qin Mao, you really were a good man. Even dead, you're still bringing me so many benefits!

Quiet murmurs rose from the surrounding crowd.

"Did you hear? That Su woman's companion went out gathering supplies and never came back..."

"That huge monster probably ate him!"

"Heh, doesn't that mean she's got nobody to rely on? This is when she needs a man to support her, right? Tonight, I'm going to..."

"Like hell you are! Take a look in the mirror! Haven't you noticed that slut's already hooked up with that pretty boy Zhou Hao? Go ahead, if you're not scared of his bodyguard beating you up..."

"Fucking hell, still being a rich man's dog in the apocalypse. That bodyguard's got something wrong with his head!"

Elsewhere, Qin Mao was having a miserable time.

Relying on his memory, he picked a direction and paddled ahead, thinking about how to survive at sea as he went.

After drifting like this for several hours, he suddenly spotted something on the water as the sky grew dim.

Only when he drew closer did he realize it was a middle-aged man clinging to a plank.

"Help... help!"

The man had spent too long in the sea and was already dehydrated and delirious.

"Uncle Zhang?!"

Qin Mao recognized him immediately. Back on the Yaximu, when he and Su Miaomiao had run out of food and were almost starving to death, this man had given him a bag of bread and a bottle of expired milk.

Without another word, he hauled the man into the canoe.

The little canoe was cramped with two adults aboard.

Qin Mao sighed inwardly. If this had been some ordinary stranger, he wouldn't have bothered.

But this was his benefactor.

Uncle Zhang fell unconscious as soon as he was aboard, and Qin Mao continued chasing the fleet with him.

Grrr-

After drifting for so long, exhaustion and hunger had left his mouth parched, and his constantly taut nerves felt like a string about to snap.

Soon, darkness fell completely, and a green moon cast its eerie, bleak emerald glow over the sea.

A thick fog rose over the water.

After an unknown stretch of time, a huge, murky yellow eye suddenly appeared deep in the mist, gradually approaching the canoe amid the swishing of waves.

Qin Mao lowered himself, lying flat in the canoe and holding his breath, terrified of drawing this unknown beast's attention.

Closer, closer.

Closer still.

His whole body went rigid, his heart pounding.

Then an excited voice rang out at entirely the wrong moment.

"Hey! Boss, look what I found! Ammunition!"

Qin Mao slowly raised his head and met the eyes of a tall, skinny young man on the large ship before him.

It was a ship.

The supposed yellow beast's eye in the fog was actually a lantern in the young man's hand.

Beside the young man stood a scruffy, middle-aged man in a brown jacket, smoking a hand-rolled cigarette. He looked down at Qin Mao and exhaled a long stream of smoke.

"What's your name? Where're you from?"

"Qin Mao. From Bashu. I got separated from my companions on the island."

The middle-aged man in the leather jacket thought for a moment, grunted, then waved a broad hand.

"Come aboard!"

A crowd immediately swarmed over. Without asking whether Qin Mao was willing, they used a derrick to haul the canoe over and secure it to the ship's side.

Then they pulled the two men aboard.

Qin Mao took a quick look around and discovered it was a three-masted wooden sailing ship.

Its hull was just over twenty meters long, and the deck was in tatters.

Most striking was the gash in its starboard side, over two meters wide, cutting deep into the hull in a triangular shape.

It looked as though some enormous tentacle had savagely scraped away a chunk of flesh, leaving it liable to capsize and flood at any moment.

The people securing his canoe had deliberately avoided that huge opening.

The middle-aged man in the leather jacket kicked the edge of the breach, cursing.

"Zhang Qing, if you make another fucking sham repair, I'll fucking wreck you too!"

"Boss Wang, last time was an accident. I'll definitely fix it this time!"

The young man struggled to put on a smile, but his body betrayed him with a shudder.

Then, to divert the middle-aged man's attention,

he stepped forward and patted Uncle Zhang's face.

"Boss, this half-dead one's barely usable too!"

The young man called out happily.

"Good. Not a bad bit of luck. Kill them both!"

Only then did the middle-aged man's expression ease a little.

"Wait, what?!"

Qin Mao had only just boarded and hadn't even had time to catch his breath.

Then he saw the young man draw a dagger from behind his back and plunge it into Uncle Zhang's chest without hesitation.

"No!" Qin Mao's eyes nearly split with rage. He had never imagined that rescuing Uncle Zhang out of kindness would only get him killed sooner.

The middle-aged man in the leather jacket remained unmoved by Qin Mao's cry.

He simply walked coldly over to the corpse.

He took something from inside his jacket and waved it quickly.

It happened too fast, and with the man's back turned to Qin Mao in the darkness, he couldn't make it out at all.

"Hee-hee, there's one more, Boss!"

Qin Mao tried to jump overboard and escape, but seven or eight raggedly dressed men pinned him firmly to the ground.

Zhang Qing strolled over with the dagger.

Qin Mao turned his head and struggled with all his strength to get up, but couldn't.

Thoughts raced wildly through his mind.

He tried to find that single chance of survival.

Ammunition...

Killing...

A ship...

Saving people...

Then Zhang Qing's dagger pressed against his neck, opening a small cut.

A flash of inspiration struck Qin Mao, and he suddenly shouted.

"Wait! You can't kill me!"

"Huh? Aren't you something!"

Zhang Qing sneered, stood up, and kicked Qin Mao several times. Then, his expression turning vicious, he drew the dagger again and drove it down toward his back.

"I'm a shipwright! I can repair your ship!"

Qin Mao shouted the words out at top speed.

As his words fell, the middle-aged man in the leather jacket spun around and bellowed, "Wait!"

Sweat broke out on Zhang Qing's forehead as he forcibly stopped the dagger.

It had almost gone in.

"Let him go!"

Qin Mao had barely risen from the ground before he drove a vicious uppercut into Zhang Qing's chin.

"Ow! You dare hit me? I'm one of Boss Wang's men!"

Qin Mao ignored him, kicked him to the ground, and rained punches down on him.

Only when he had beaten him until he was tired and spent,

and staggered to his feet did he see a ring of people around him.

The middle-aged man in the leather jacket emerged from the crowd.

Up close, Qin Mao could see his weathered face and sallow complexion. His clothes were barely better than anyone else's, yet he carried the authority of a man in command.

"That breach. Can you really fix it?"

"Yes!"

Qin Mao answered between heavy breaths.

"Oh? You're not fooling me, are you?"

"I'm a shipwright. If I'm fooling you, then it was my master's wife who taught me!"

Qin Mao spoke with absolute conviction, leaving himself no room to retreat.

The most pressing thing... is to stay alive first!

Hearing how confident the young man sounded, the middle-aged man in the leather jacket paused slightly.

"That man who just died. What was he to you?" he asked casually.

Qin Mao lowered his eyes slightly and shook his head. "Someone I came across drifting at sea. No connection!"

"I see..."

The middle-aged man in the leather jacket grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth,

and after his flickering gaze swept between Qin Mao and Uncle Zhang's corpse three times, he gave Qin Mao a hard pat on the shoulder.

"In that case, thanks in advance for your hard work!"

"My name's Wang Tai. I'm this ship's captain."

"Qin, welcome aboard the Hope!"

Seeing that Qin Mao really had joined the fleet and even become its shipwright,

Zhang Qing stood to one side with his mouth hanging open in shock, his face full of resentment and frustration.

Come on, man! If you were a shipwright, why didn't you say so sooner?!

Our captain's been tearing his hair out over the hull getting worse by the day!

He hung his head dejectedly, knowing he had taken that beating for nothing.

Amid this harmony, Qin Mao returned Wang Tai's smile with a grateful one.

But as he turned away, he caught a glimpse of Uncle Zhang's corpse out of the corner of his eye, and his gaze, hidden in shadow, abruptly turned cold.

Hatred and murderous intent flashed through his eyes, then vanished as he buried them deep within this cold night.