Another encounter with Transcendents

Qin Mao realized that he lacked ways to fight.

He had no techniques or set moves. When danger struck, he could only flail wildly like an ordinary person, kicking and biting.

He did not have a sharp close-combat weapon, either.

If he had had a sharp knife just now, the fight would have ended faster.

Should he upgrade his hammer into a knife?

He hesitated briefly, then gave up on the idea.

Compared to blades and swords, he felt he still preferred the impact of a hammer striking flesh.

Aside from being too light and unable to damage eerie entities, this Ram's Horn Hammer was quite nice to play around with.

Besides, his Sequence was [Free Person]. Freedom, by definition, meant doing whatever he wanted, following his heart a little, and remaining unfettered.

As he was thinking about this, three large ships sailed out of the darkness.

The large ships gradually approached the Eerie Coconut.

Qin Mao grew wary.

He had been at sea for less than half a month, all told. Having witnessed Su Miaomiao's ruthless heartlessness and Wang Tai's sinister resolve, he was deeply guarded against other survivors.

The dark forest rule-who knew whether the next person he encountered... would be human or a monster!

A beam of light shone from the bow of one of the ships, pointing straight at the Eerie Coconut. It swept around twice, then settled on Qin Mao.

In the bright light, what the people opposite saw was a young man standing straight.

Short black hair fell over his brow. His gaze was sharp, and his well-defined fingers shielded his forehead, revealing the somewhat handsome lower half of his face.

Qin Mao squinted toward them, but their flashlight was too bright. Looking into the light, he could not make out what they looked like at all.

Soon, someone spoke. It was a teenage boy's voice.

"Little Ye, didn't I tell you there was a boat up ahead? Remember to give me that half bottle of Little Godmother Chili Sauce you bet!"

"Fine, fine. Even a blind cat finds a dead mouse sometimes!"

The voice speaking now belonged to a woman, sweet and sounding gentle and pretty.

Only then did the man lower his head to speak to Qin Mao.

"Friend, is this your only boat? How long have you been at sea? Is your captain around? Want to trade supplies?"

A whole string of questions, but the voice sounded a little familiar to Qin Mao...

Before he could work out how to answer, the third ship at the back caught up.

"Hey, my friends, you two, eh, like rabbits..."

"Hehe, Brother Yan, your ship's damaged. Take it slow!"

Hearing those words with their heavy Uyghur flavor, Qin Mao froze.

Could it be...?

Soon, the leader of the third ship noticed the Eerie Coconut beside them, too.

"Brother Yang, didn't you say you found a boat? With that tall coconut tree, it's clearly an island. Are you pulling my leg?"

The boy surnamed Yang, who had spoken first, had no choice but to sweep his flashlight over the Eerie Coconut.

"Look for yourself. Is it a boat or an island?"

Only then did the young man surnamed Yan on the third ship murmur in understanding. Then he looked at Qin Mao and scratched his head in confusion.

"Huh? My friend... has your face spent time in my head before?"

Slightly embarrassed yet excited, Qin Mao raised his hand in greeting. "Brother Yan, it's me! Qin Mao! I stayed on your ship for a few days before."

Although he could not see their faces clearly, that authentic Nang Language let Qin Mao recognize the newcomer at once.

These three ships were none other than the fleet he had sailed with when he first fled out to sea.

The young man named Yan Qi was the leader of the ship he had previously traveled on, and one of its Sequence Transcendents.

Once you heard that uniquely flavored Nang Language, you could never forget it.

Seeing that he was someone familiar who had stayed aboard, the people opposite immediately grew warmer.

Still, they did not rashly invite Qin Mao aboard. Instead, they first asked about his experiences over the past week.

In the dead of night, they could not be certain whether Qin Mao was human or an eerie entity in disguise.

The two sides began talking across their boats?

"What? You drifted at sea clinging to a tree and ran into a pirate ship?"

"What? Its captain was a dictatorial madman?"

"What? Infighting broke out, the ship exploded, and you stole a little boat beforehand to escape?"

"What?! You even awakened the [Apocalypse Shipwright] Sequence?"

They exclaimed in surprise over and over, marveling at Qin Mao's thrilling, half-true account.

They also confirmed beyond doubt that Qin Mao was human.

After all, eerie entities generally had no real brains and acted only on instinct.

Yang Fan said with feeling, "You really are lucky to be alive. What are your plans now?"

Ye Xuanyin said, "You need people working together to handle a boat and its sails, too. Do you need us to spare you a few people? Or would you like to join our fleet?"

Yan Qi said, "My friend, join us! We can look out for each other. We have three Sequence Transcendents!"

Qin Mao readily agreed, deciding to join the fleet.

"I want to join you and return to the fleet!"

After their brief conversation, he felt that these three probably were not bad at heart. They were all young, too, which made getting along easier.

Humans were social creatures, after all.

Besides, Su Miaomiao was aboard Yan Qi's ship, and he wanted her to pay blood for blood.

And...

Fine, he admitted it. After drifting at sea for a day, the moment he suddenly heard human speech, his mood had lifted for no apparent reason. Perhaps this was a biological instinct etched into his genes.

Maybe they could be trusted? Qin Mao hypnotized himself with that thought.

The three learned about Qin Mao's situation. Knowing he had not eaten all day, they tossed down two bottles of water, a packet of instant noodles, a packet of expired snow rice crackers, and a Kissing Bar.

Qin Mao had grown afraid of hunger. This was his only food, so he dared not eat much, eating only three small packets of snow rice crackers to fill his stomach.

They really had only just sailed out from land.

There was not so much as a scrap of these modern foods aboard the Hope, which had been sailing for a year.

The risk of eerie entities appearing increased greatly at night. With the darkness as well, the three did not linger on deck.

They each went back inside, planning to get properly acquainted with Qin Mao after dawn.

That night, two men and a woman gathered in the Captain's Quarters of the middle ship, muttering over an ordinary notebook.

"That guy was definitely lying!"

"Little Ye, check how much of what he said was true!"

Ye Xuanyin nodded, picked up a pen, and scribbled in the notebook.

After thinking for a long while, she said sweetly, "Half!"

"Well, well. Half and half. Not many honest words out of his mouth!"

"There's more!" the sweet female voice continued.

"He just killed someone, guaranteed! He's definitely had blood on his hands within the last three days!"

Yan Qi took out a crystal ball and shook his head as well. "That friend outside made the Yinling Orb react real strong just now. He's got at least dozens of lives on his back!"

Yang Fan coughed and said calmly, "There's something else neither of you noticed. His boat is an Anomalous Object!"

"An Anomalous Object Vehicle?!"

Ye Xuanyin and Yan Qi looked up in surprise.

"What on earth has that guy been through in just one week? He's even got an Anomalous Object Vehicle!"

"We came over to investigate after sensing the explosion. Don't tell me he blew up someone else's entire fleet just to steal that boat?"

"Brutal! Absolutely brutal!"

Yang Fan tapped the table. "He's dangerous. Out there, I was just keeping him placated for now. So let's vote. This guy... do we keep him or not?"

Silence fell over the room.

A long while passed.

Ye Xuanyin raised her small hand. "I vote to keep him."

"He's no good anyway. We might as well set a trap. If he shows any intention of harming us, we'll kill him first and take that Anomalous Object Vehicle!"

"Gagaga..."

The girl laughed sweetly, her two little canine teeth gleaming.

The two men shifted their iron chairs, both moving farther away from her.

The girl immediately grew displeased and snapped, "What? What! Stop acting like saints. Can you honestly say neither of you wants his boat?!"

Yang Fan gave a light cough.

"Even if he's a bad person, I think we should still put people first. There's no need to go so far as killing."

Ye Xuanyin said, "Huh?"

Yang Fan said, "...Keeping him prisoner to repair our ships is an option, too."

Hearing that, the other two fell silent for a long moment, then both gave him a thumbs-up.

"As expected of Captain Yang. Always thinking ahead!"

Next, Yan Qi raised his hand as well. "I also agree to let that friend stay."

"He said he's a Shipwright. My ship would really like to be his friend!"

"Ah, at least until he's fixed my ship."

Having stated their positions, the two turned their gazes to Yang Fan in unison.

Although they joked around without much restraint when chatting, everyone had been convinced and in agreement over the past half month that this outwardly frail-looking boy should be the fleet's captain.

He was the youngest, but his decisions and suggestions carried great weight in the fleet.