"Um... what are you talking about? What kind of slaves? Miss Catherine, please forgive us, we have never heard of a dungeon you mentioned. Does our ship even have a dungeon?"
When Parker heard Catherine's questioning, he knew something was wrong and then pretended not to know anything about the prison, hoping to escape responsibility.
"Stop pretending!! I've already been there and seen it for myself. There are at least a hundred people being held captive under that ship. You dare say you know nothing about this? Do you even believe yourself?"
Catherine's tone rose as she spoke, and she gave him a cold glance before saying...
"We're innocent, Miss Catherine! Please investigate! Captain Lucas ordered us to do this. If we hadn't, he would have killed us. We lied to you because we were afraid this would worsen your opinion of us. Please forgive us!"
"Please, Miss Catherine, have mercy on us. This is all Captain Lucas's order; how could we, his men, dare disobey him?"
Seeing that he could no longer deceive Catherine, Parker resorted to a sob story, kneeling down first and begging her for mercy in a humble tone.
Seeing what he did, the others realized what was happening and knelt down, begging for mercy.
"Hmph, I'll settle this score with you later. Now, all of you, get up! Listen carefully to the questions I'm about to ask. No mistakes allowed, and absolutely no deception, or else... you'll be joining your captain in the underworld!!"
Seeing their behavior, Catherine's anger subsided, but she still reprimanded them with a very cold expression.
"Yes, yes, please give your orders, and I will certainly not dare to deceive you."
Parker and his pirate crew rose again and stood before Catherine, fawning over her.
"First, send a few people to release those who are imprisoned. Remember, don't use violence against them."
Catherine's expression softened slightly, and she said.
"Yes, quickly release them from the dungeon as Miss Catherine instructed. Don't yell at them, or don't blame me for being ruthless..."
After receiving Catherine's instructions, Parker turned to his companions and, taking advantage of their power, gave them orders.
"Okay, let's go!"
Several pirates were pushed out and given orders to head towards the dungeon.
"Honestly, when Captain Lucas was alive, he used his position to bully us. Now that the captain is dead, he's still the same. What a despicable opportunist! Bah!!"
As the two entered the passageway to the bottom of the ship's dungeon, one of the pirates looked around and, seeing no one else, began to complain to his companion.
"Shh!! Keep your voice down, don't let that old Parker hear us, or we'll be in big trouble. Just keep this to yourself, don't tell him."
After hearing his complaint, his companion quickly looked around and then whispered some advice to him.
"Hey, we know exactly what you're saying. We live on the edge every day, yet we can't compete with that old devil Parker's few flattering words to the captain. Nobody can stand that."
But because he was the captain's favorite, no one dared to offend him. No one knew what Captain Lucas and Miss Catherine were thinking, that they valued Parker so highly.
After saying that, the man sighed again and continued, his words revealing his dissatisfaction with Parker's behavior, but also a hint of envy.
"We don't understand this either. Let's stop worrying about it and release all those slaves as soon as possible. We don't want to leave a bad impression on Miss Catherine, or we'll have a hard time in the future!"
"Yes, you're right. Let's hurry up and complete Miss Catherine's orders!"
As they talked, the two slowly walked into the depths of the dungeon, to the cells where the slaves were imprisoned. They took out a bunch of keys from their pockets, preparing to unlock the locks.
"..."
When the slaves saw them approaching, they hurriedly retreated to the corner tower, their eyes filled with fear as they watched, not daring to utter a sound for fear of being heard and tortured.
"What are you looking at? Get your asses out here right now! You're free now, come with us!"
The first pirate, seeing how afraid they were of him and cowering in a corner, dared not come out, became angry and shouted at them loudly.
"Shh!! Keep it down, are you out of your mind? Have you forgotten what Miss Catherine just told us?"
Seeing his companion treating the prisoners so roughly, another pirate quickly spoke up to warn him.
"Okay, okay, hey, you guys, come out with us now. Don't worry, you're free now. Don't worry about what we'll do to you. Come out now, we're under orders from Miss Catherine to release you."
The pirate waved his hand impatiently and then looked at the slaves huddled in the corner of the cage and shouted.
"Well, this guy's attitude is a bit rude, but what he said is true. We have no reason to lie to you, so hurry up and pack your things and come out with us."
His companions, seeing that he hadn't changed much, rolled their eyes at him and gently advised the slaves.
"Sir, are you telling the truth? You really intend to let us go?"
Finally, after the two men patiently explained, one of the middle-aged men, who was highly respected among them, timidly stepped forward and asked them again to confirm.
"It's true. Just now, Captain Lucas was defeated and killed by Lord Luo Chen. I believe you've all heard about the commotion caused by their battle."
Now his companion, Miss Catherine, has sent the two of us to release all of you. So you are truly free. Don't waste any more time, hurry up and come with us. Miss Catherine might change her mind if she gets impatient."
The more mild-mannered pirate brought up the battle between Luo Chen and his companion again, explaining that their fight had caused severe damage to the ship, something these people present had likely witnessed.
This would make his words even more credible, so that the group would quickly understand and return with him to report to Catherine.
"... We understand. Please wait a moment while I explain to them and return with you two to report back."
The man thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth and made up his mind. He then bowed respectfully to them and said...
"Hmm... Go on, go on, hurry up, don't take up too much of our time..."
Without a second thought, the pirate waved him away, telling him to hurry back and explain things to those people. Although his attitude wasn't as gentle as before, it didn't frighten the man locked in the cell.
After receiving the approval, he nodded and walked toward his companions.