All going to die?
Qin Mao was startled, his thoughts racing.
Before he could think through what those words meant, someone gagged the woman.
"What nonsense are you spouting!"
Zhang Qing's lips trembled for a long moment before he decided not to bother arguing with the madwoman.
He fawningly took out a match to light Wang Tai's cigarette, then turned and barked.
"Stop spreading lies to stir people up! How can you face the boss? Can you ever repay his kindness?"
But not all four were unyielding. The other two men began frantically begging for mercy.
"Boss Wang, I was wrong! I'll never run away again! Please let me off this once!"
The four people on the ground each reacted differently.
Qin Mao squeezed a little farther forward.
With a peculiar look in his eyes, he watched the farce, wanting to see how it would end.
Wang Tai ignored them. He slowly finished his cigarette, coughed a few times, then stared at the butt, shaking his head with a sigh.
"Ah! Stuck out at sea all day, every cigarette I smoke is one less left!"
Then his gaze swept over the four, his tone strange.
"I give you food and drink, cabins to sleep in, and protection from those foul things. Is this how you repay me?"
"None of you have forgotten the rules we set before, have you? Everyone swore an oath and voted back then. It passed unanimously."
Wang Tai widened his fierce eyes and swept a vicious gaze over the crowd.
"Or does someone dare make a fool of me?!"
Before the four could answer, Zhang Qing shouted first.
"We haven't forgotten!"
"Boss, anyone who leaves the fleet-dies!"
That single word, "dies," froze the atmosphere.
Only the sound of heads striking the deck continued.
Qin Mao looked at Wang Tai and sniffed curiously.
He could keenly sense that, although the man's tone and gestures were furious, there was an incongruous excitement in his expression.
It was as though... the anger was only a facade, while deep down, he was eager for someone to run away.
How strange.
"Everyone, all of us aboard the Hope swore to share hardship and good fortune alike. This is what happens to anyone who dares leave the fleet!"
Wang Tai gave his subordinate a look.
One of his lackeys immediately stepped forward, holding a large, bloodstained saber.
He was just about to do it himself when he caught sight of Qin Mao standing silently in the crowd.
"You there, young Qin!"
He revealed a mouthful of yellow teeth.
Smiling, he beckoned Qin Mao over.
Qin Mao stepped out of the crowd.
Like a college student who had spent an hour and a half on his phone in an elective class without even bringing his textbook, only to be suddenly called on by the teacher, he nervously approached Wang Tai, unsure what the man had in mind.
"Ahem! Since we have a newcomer joining us today, let me make this clear once more! Aboard the Hope, people may join, but they may not leave. If you want to go... the ship has to sink first!"
"Or-you have to die!"
With that, he lifted the saber and personally placed it in Qin Mao's hands.
"Young Qin, you'll carry out this execution!" he declared emphatically.
Who? Me?
Qin Mao's face immediately darkened.
If I'd known, I wouldn't have come out to watch.
He looked at the saber, then at the four unfortunate souls kneeling there.
He sighed.
"What? Going soft?"
Seeing his hesitation, Wang Tai burst out laughing.
"Young Qin, whether before the apocalypse or after it, a soft heart won't get you far!"
"A newcomer naturally has to follow local customs and learn the rules! Or... are you planning to leave the Hope too?"
The casually spoken words carried a heavy threat.
There was a subtle lure in his words, as though he was merely waiting for Qin Mao to say "leave" before cutting him to pieces as well.
Qin Mao sighed inwardly.
Just follow my heart-and back down.
"Boss Wang, of course I'll do as you say!"
Having made up his mind, he stopped agonizing over it.
Gritting his teeth, Qin Mao stepped forward with the saber and offered an apology.
"Amitabha. Heaven wants you dead; the fault is not mine!"
He went around behind the four.
The saber swiftly sliced across their carotid arteries.
It was late at night, and he did not want blood splattered all over him. There clearly wasn't a washing machine aboard this ship.
All four fell onto the deck.
After a brief, violent struggle, they gradually stopped breathing.
Only their four pairs of wide-open eyes remained fixed on Qin Mao, silently conveying the words: "You'll be next!"
Qin Mao feigned fear as he handed the saber back.
He received an expectant look from Wang Tai.
"Good, good! I have high hopes for you!"
Wang Tai brushed nonexistent dust off his palms, his indifferent gaze making it seem as though he had merely swatted four mosquitoes.
He reached toward his waist as though performing a magic trick.
And pulled out a gun.
This time, standing so close, Qin Mao saw it clearly!
It was an ancient single-barreled Flintlock covered in green patina-
Its stock was walnut, its brass barrel somewhat dull. A shark-tooth-shaped flint served as its firing mechanism, and three silver skull marks adorned the barrel. The whole weapon gave off a mysterious air.
Could this be the gun Zhang Qing mentioned, the one ranked three thousandth on the Curio Ranking?
Under Qin Mao's puzzled gaze and everyone else's frightened eyes,
Wang Tai approached the four bodies and practicedly aimed the muzzle at them.
The next moment, four eerie lights flashed from the bodies and vanished into the Flintlock.
Then he tucked the gun away against his chest.
Qin Mao's pupils contracted.
For one brief instant, he thought he saw... the skull marks on the barrel increase from three to seven!
In a flash, things he had not quite understood before became clear.
So this was what he meant by ammunition...
"Young Qin, you're sure you can fix the ship, right? If you lie to me, I'll be very angry!"
Wang Tai draped an arm around his shoulders and asked with a sinister smile.
"I... I can."
Qin Mao's mouth felt a little dry, his thoughts racing wildly.
Human lives = bullets?
Then being a Shipwright was no guarantee of safety at all!
What do I do? What do I do? What if he turns me into a bullet after I finish fixing the ship tomorrow?
No, wait, I haven't even gotten the Kill Points to repair it yet! Without Kill Points, I can't even use the system!
Wang Tai did not concern himself with any of that.
"As long as you can fix it. We'll be counting on you tomorrow!"
Laughing, he returned to the Captain's Quarters.
"Break it up! Everyone, break it up! Two of you stay on watch. The rest, go back to sleep!"
Zhang Qing also shouted, dispersing the onlookers.
Just then, with a ding, the system notification arrived right on cue.
[Ding-you killed an ordinary human. Gained 500 Kill Points.] [Ding-you killed an ordinary human. Gained 500 Kill Points.] [Ding-you killed...] ...
The same notification sounded four times in a row. Five hundred per person, for a total of 2,000 Kill Points.
Kill Points earned from killing people...
Qin Mao sighed inwardly.
Killing living creatures yielded Kill Points, so of course humans would also... It wasn't that this had never occurred to him. He had simply been avoiding thinking in that direction.
Unlike fighting back against ill-intentioned survivors before, killing innocent people was nothing to praise.
At that moment, the beginnings of a bold, insane plan gradually took shape in his mind.
There were too many rules aboard the Hope.
Restrictions at every turn, deaths at the slightest provocation, his fate held in someone else's hands.
He had a feeling.
If he stayed any longer, he would die too.
Just like those four people.
The feeling came with such intensity that he could not ignore it.
It made him want to flee despite himself, to escape this ship with its shackles at every turn!
He felt that even dying in the jaws of an eerie creature, dying on the unfettered sea, would be better than slowly waiting for death here!
He wanted... freedom!
"Captain Wang Tai!"
Qin Mao raised his voice and spoke calmly to Boss Wang, who had already walked three meters away.
His voice was steady and strong, his gaze full of confidence.
Not a trace remained of his earlier subordinate demeanor.
"Oh?"
Wang Tai turned and raised his eyebrows with interest.
He did not know what had happened in those brief moments.
The bearing of the man before him had undergone a complete transformation.
"Allow me to introduce myself again: Qin Mao, transcendent, Sequence-[Apocalypse Shipwright]!"
Borrow a grand banner to cloak myself in power.
Since the title of 'Shipwright' wasn't grand enough, wasn't intimidating enough,
Then add 'transcendent' to it!
A transcendent Shipwright couldn't possibly still be disposable fodder to load as ammunition whenever he pleased, right?!
Before you continue