Luo Yu was speechless. Damn, how had he fished up a corpse?
"Burn it, quick. It might have some infectious disease."
Shui Wuyue's face darkened too. What the hell was going on with this little penguin... corpses didn't even bite bait, so how had he fished one up?
July looked innocent and immediately prepared to cremate the corpse.
"Wait." Shui Wuyue, who had been examining the corpse, suddenly frowned. "There are still fluctuations in his soul. He's not dead, he's still alive!"
"Ugh..." As soon as Shui Wuyue finished speaking, the man suddenly spat out a mouthful of seawater, as if he had regained a little consciousness.
Shui Wuyue stretched out a hand to stop Luo Yu, shielding him behind his back. "Be careful. The back of his hand..."
The man was dressed like an ordinary sailor, but a lamprey was tattooed on the back of his right hand.
At the sight of the mark, Shui Wuyue said solemnly, "That's the mark of the Wailing Pirate Crew. He's a pirate."
When Luo Yu heard that, he realized the little penguin had fished up a dangerous character!
"Then don't we still have to finish him off? July, burn him."
"Don't burn him!" Shui Wuyue stopped him again.
"At least don't burn his head. Let me see his face first. There might be a bounty on him, and we could collect it on Thousand Rock Island."
Luo Yu thought Shui Wuyue had a point. He really was too inexperienced.
Shui Wuyue had two pet beasts to support. One look at him was enough to tell he was short of money.
"The leader of the Wailing Pirate Crew was originally a viral organism researcher on the Azure Billows Continent and an executive at a biopharmaceutical company. Later, for some unknown reason, he stole an enormous amount of resources from his company and fled out to sea."
"By the time he appeared on the Alliance's radar again, he had already gathered a band of fugitives and become a pirate," Shui Wuyue explained to Luo Yu.
"A lot of this pirate crew's officers have bounties on them... I remember what they look like... If he's worth nothing, then burn him."
"Help..." The pirate July had fished up coughed weakly and was just about to beg for help when, in a flash, Shui Wuyue's other pet beast, an Upper-Tier Common Species Giant Strength Crab, clamped its enormous pincers around his neck like a guillotine.
It then flipped him over, revealing his face.
"Burn him. He's just a grunt," Shui Wuyue said.
"Wait... Wait!!" The pirate had regained a little more consciousness. When he realized he was about to die again, he hurriedly said, "I'm not a pirate!!"
"I'm... an Alliance investigator."
"I'm not one of Wailing's people. I'm... undercover."
Shui Wuyue and Luo Yu exchanged a glance. An Alliance investigator?
To capture these pirates, the Sea Tamer Alliance did indeed like to plant undercover agents in their organizations to gather intelligence.
"My cover was blown, and I nearly died. But... because I have a Life Talent and other means of staying alive, I played dead and escaped disaster..."
His desire to live was extremely strong.
"I've made a major discovery and need to report it to the Alliance as soon as possible. Please, help me and take me to a nearby island. Once we get there, I can prove my identity..."
"There'll be a reward..."
Since they had initially wanted to exchange him for a bounty, the man guessed this ship belonged to a legitimate fleet, so he decided to lay his cards on the table.
"Is that true...?" Luo Yu fell into thought. Had July fished up an undercover agent who had been thrown into the sea?
Why did it sound so much like science fiction?
But if he was an Alliance Beast Tamer, they really couldn't burn him.
"Xiao Wan, come out for a moment. There's work to do," Shui Wuyue called after giving it some thought.
Luo Yu had almost forgotten that Yu Wan was a psychic genius. She had mastered an extremely powerful form of psychic perception, rare even among psychic Beast Tamers. To determine whether this man was lying, she only needed to sense his mental fluctuations to get a fairly good idea.
"What's this...?" When Yu Wan came out, she was startled by the scene outside too. Where had this man come from?!
"Wuji." July put on an innocent expression and quietly tucked the fishing rod behind his back.
"Here's what happened..." Shui Wuyue gave her a brief explanation, and the corner of Yu Wan's mouth twitched.
Why did she have the feeling this inter-island shopping trip wouldn't be very peaceful? Shui Wuyue, Luo Yu, July-which of them was the root of all evil?
"I understand..."
Next, Yu Wan formed a psychic hand and grasped the man's head.
"Say it again. Who are you?"
"..."
A moment later.
"The lie detection is finished... I didn't sense any lies. There's a very high probability he really is an Alliance investigator." Yu Wan looked at Shui Wuyue and Luo Yu.
"It's not a high probability. I really am one..." The man gave a wry smile. "Besides, all my pet beasts are dead, and I'm in this state. I can't put up any resistance at all right now. I'm no threat. Take me to the nearest island and check with the Alliance fleet stationed there, and you can confirm my identity..."
"If I were a pirate, I wouldn't walk into a trap and go to an Alliance fleet..."
The man really had lost his pet beasts and was gravely injured all over. Otherwise, July couldn't have fished him out of the sea.
Once they had confirmed it, Shui Wuyue tossed him a bottle of medicine. "You survived even after your cover was blown. You're really lucky to be alive. What should we call you?"
"Thank you." The investigator managed a strained smile.
"My code name is 'Handsome.' You can call me that too. Thank you for pulling me out of the sea..."
After drinking the medicine, Investigator Handsome felt a little better and his vision cleared. Only then did he realize he was on a ghost ship!!
"Hiss..." Enduring the pain in his body, he looked at Shui Wuyue and froze.
"Wait, could you be Captain Shui Wuyue of Mirror Moon Island??"
"Furious Blue Mad Shark Shui Wuyue."
"You know me?" Shui Wuyue raised an eyebrow at him.
Investigator Handsome took a deep breath. "I do, of course I do. Wailing has been studying Mirror Moon Island's armed forces these past few days!!"
Shui Wuyue's expression changed. "What do you mean? Explain yourself."
"Didn't I just say I made a major discovery in the Wailing Pirate Crew? That discovery is that Wailing plans to attack Mirror Moon Island during the Tidal Corpse Transformation!" Handsome said.
"What did you say?" Yu Wan asked anxiously. "Is the information reliable??"
"Are you serious? How dare the mere Wailing Pirate Crew do that?" Shui Wuyue said gravely. Indeed, Mirror Moon Island didn't look strong-in fact, it looked very weak-but that was without counting its guardian deity!!
Without its guardian deity, Mirror Moon Island really wasn't much, but with it, what pirate group in the surrounding area dared underestimate the island?
Over the past few decades, pirates had hardly ever invaded Mirror Moon Island.
First, it really was poor, with little to loot. It was unlike Thousand Rock Island, which had several renewable elemental mines and was swimming in wealth.
Second, it was poor and had a guardian deity to fall back on, so attacking it was a thankless task.
The Wailing Pirate Crew wanted to take advantage of the Tidal Corpse Transformation to burn, kill, and plunder on Mirror Moon Island. Weren't they afraid the guardian deity would awaken?!
Investigator Handsome said, "Indeed, the Wailing Pirate Crew is very wary of Mirror Moon Island's guardian deity too. But has a treasure recently been unearthed on Mirror Moon Island?"
"The Wailing Pirate Crew's leader used to be a researcher specializing in zombies. He discovered that over the past few months, large numbers of zombie sea beasts have been strangely gathering in the direction of Mirror Moon Island. On the day of the Tidal Corpse Transformation, a very powerful Zombie Tide will definitely erupt."
"He guessed that this strange situation meant some treasure had appeared on Mirror Moon Island and attracted these zombie sea beasts."
"...These pirate crews would normally take advantage of the Tidal Corpse Transformation to pick an island and pull off a big job anyway. This time, the Wailing Pirate Crew chose Mirror Moon Island."
"After all, Mirror Moon Island will be under tremendous pressure from the corpse transformation this time. On top of that, there's an unknown treasure that can attract zombie sea beasts... It's worth the gamble."
"My identity was exposed because I was investigating the Wailing Pirate Crew's detailed plans. Fortunately, in their eyes, I should be a 'dead man' now. After all, my head and body had already been separated when I fell into the sea, and I was even swallowed by a sea beast..."
Luo Yu listened from the side. He had survived even that? As expected of a Beast Tamer with a Life Talent.
Of course, what mattered most now was what the man had said...
Had a treasure emerged on Mirror Moon Island?
As for a treasure, he didn't know, but Mirror Moon Island itself had also speculated about the changes in the zombies nearby, judging that they were attracted by the Ancient Grotto. After all, the strange signs had only appeared after the Ancient Grotto was unearthed.
"Don't underestimate Wailing. Although their leader is also only a King Level Beast Tamer, he has studied zombies and Zombie Tides extensively. Back on the Azure Billows Continent, he even led research into changing the movements of Zombie King Beasts through special signals. If..."
"If he's found a lot of Zombie King Beasts this time and lured them to the vicinity of Mirror Moon Island... Mirror Moon Island will face tremendous pressure."
"That's why I need to contact the Alliance and report this news as soon as possible. That way, the Alliance can send more people. Of course, you can't pin all your hopes on outside help... You also need to make ample preparations yourselves. After all, the Azure Billows Continent will also be hit during the Tidal Corpse Transformation, and with so many humans there, it will attract more zombies and suffer the greatest impact. Even if reinforcements come, there won't be many."
"Thank you for this information," Shui Wuyue said. "I thank you on behalf of Mirror Moon Island. Don't worry, we'll keep you safe from here on..."
The Tidal Corpse Transformation and the Wailing Pirate Crew posed a double crisis. If the guardian deity didn't emerge, it would probably be difficult for Mirror Moon Island's current armed forces to resist. If the Wailing Pirate Crew was determined to invade, it would surely take the guardian deity into account and strengthen the Zombie Tide... In short, it was a major crisis.
Luo Yu gazed at the sky from the side. Just what he had feared had come to pass. In the past, he would certainly have found a way to take refuge on another island in advance, but Director Yu Lei had treated him well... If he couldn't help, that would be one thing, but faced with the situation the Alliance investigator had described, Luo Yu actually had an idea.
Generally speaking, what gave the islands the most trouble wasn't how high the zombie sea beasts' levels were, but how many of them there were! And they were hard to kill! Zombies relied on corpse-sea tactics!
Mirror Moon Island already had a small population. Faced with an endless horde of low-level zombie sea beasts, even if the creatures lined up to be killed, they could still exhaust people to death.
A Senior Level Beast Tamer should have been dealing with Senior Level corpse beasts, but in reality, a thousand low-level zombies could occupy all of their attention. After all, a pet beast's stamina was limited, and zombies had to be killed by destroying their heads. Clearing them out was truly exhausting.
So what Mirror Moon Island lacked was a means of efficiently exterminating vast hordes of low-level zombies.
There's still time. I wonder how effective a monarch Water Devil Beast with the Antivirus Master Talent would be at clearing out hordes of zombies. After I get back, I can synthesize one and give it a try. If it works well, I'll put together an antivirus force and show the Zombie Tide what attribute suppression means! He absolutely couldn't let the Wailing Pirate Crew succeed. Who did they think they were, daring to covet July's evolution stone?!