Charles's Flatbread

Su Ming first steered the White Triangle out of the storm's danger zone and to the more navigable semicircle with calmer waves, then adjusted it to the optimal angle to face the waves. The speed quickly increased to 28 knots, but the ship's swaying was much less than before.

Su Ming checked the logbook and found that the agreed rendezvous point with the Mist Veil was on a deserted island near the equator, Earthworm Island. However, the current sea conditions did not allow for a straight course, so Su Ming planned a zigzag route to avoid the waves and instructed Heilou on it.

After finishing the shipping work, Su Ming went to check on Beianqi's condition. The girl was still unconscious, but her vital signs were okay.

Su Ming gave her an IV drip of adenosine triphosphate and electrolyte balance fluid, as well as some sedative medications recommended by the doctor.

Giving an injection while the machine is shaking is a challenge, but with the improvement of his Magic Power and mental strength, Su Ming's ability to detect movement has increased significantly.

The doctor in the online consultation also mentioned a urinary catheter, but Zijin had already solved that problem with magic from another world.

Then he went to inspect the prisoners and found that the warehouse where the prisoners had been held was completely empty. All the bodies were piled up in one place, and Saenieka, with a miserable look on his face, was diligently Deboning from them.

If doing this could earn experience points, he could probably reach High Rank by now.

The rest of the space was filled with all sorts of random junk. Su Ming inspected each cabin and found them all piled high. Judging from the quantity, Zijin had clearly not only emptied the transport ship but also returned to Snail Island to ransack it.

Thinking about the enormous workload that would follow, Su Ming felt a headache coming on.

All the captured documents were specially placed in Zijin's library. Su Ming decided to start with this part, as information is always the most important thing.

****

For the entire day, Su Ming was sorting and organizing the captured documents. Most of them were technical books, some were experimental logs about zombie sea monsters, and a small portion were various orders and instructions.

There's still a large portion of the text he doesn't recognize, so he can only wait for Zijin to make a judgment, since the other world isn't just a common language.

He pulled out the parts he suspected were problematic, spread them out on the workbench, and began reading them one by one.

For lunch, Su Ming simply cooked some soup, soaked the pancakes that Beianqi had made earlier, and ate them with sausage. He was much more serious about dinner, cooking rice, stir-frying three dishes, and also pan-frying two steaks.

Zijin up as promised, put on her nightgown, and went into the workroom.

"The ship is much more stable now," she exclaimed. "Have you organized all the documents?"

"I've done a preliminary analysis, and I've read half of the most suspicious part."

"Then wouldn't you be able to finish reading it in just one more day?"

"Why don't we two finish reading them tonight?" Su Ming asked.

The documents on the long table were in disarray, so Zijin simply pieced together a new dining table and placed the prepared dishes on it.

Su Ming brought over the tableware, and they sat down to eat together.

Noticing that Su Ming was in a bad mood, Zijin tilted her head and looked at him. "What's wrong?"

Su Ming ate for a while before looking up and replying, "Sorry, I was just thinking about last night's battle."

"Oh?" Zijin, somewhat puzzled. "You performed quite well last night. Naga warriors are very strong."

"What if I perform worse?" Su Ming asked.

At that time, Beianqi and Zijin were fighting a life-or-death battle with Yexiya. If Su Ming couldn't handle those Naga warriors on his own,

No one was available to provide assistance.

"You will die, Beianqi will die too," Zijin replied. "Because of the White Bone Mark, I will be severely injured. I should be able to take down Yexiya, and then those mages on the orc transport ship will get the better of me."

"In other words, if any one of us fails to complete the mission, the battle will collapse."

Zijin looked at Su Ming, "But we did it! We won this skirmish, and that's something to be happy about!"

Thinking about Su Ming's daily life on Earth, which never included such life-or-death situations, she realized the difference in their perceptions.

He then offered words of comfort, saying, "We've basically completed the first phase of our preparations. Now, all we need to do is cautiously stay away from conflict and hold out until we return to Earth. We won't encounter these things again."

Su Ming shook his head, "Not this one." He suddenly reversed his grip on the steak knife and swiftly stabbed at Zijin.

The girl flicked the knife away, "Let me finish eating!" she said hastily.

Su Ming's movements were concise yet subtly sharp; the Magic Power stacked on his blade was extremely solid, and if the fight continued, the scholar was not confident of protecting the food.

Su Ming made no further move. He held the knife upright and began to cut the steak again. "Zijin, I'm adapting to these things faster than I thought."

"You've improved very quickly." Zijin was a little confused and started eating again. "But it's a deal, finish eating before you fight!"

"You're not going to fight even after you've finished eating? My injuries haven't healed yet," Su Ming said. "If I really smashed the meat on your plate, you wouldn't let me off easily."

"You know that so well!" the girl snorted. "It's because your steak was cooked so delicious tonight, I don't want to eat any more of Beianqi's pancakes."

"To be fair, her pancakes are quite fragrant."

After finishing her steak, Zijin looked up and asked, "So, what are you thinking about?"

"Last night, when I killed the enemy, I had a very strong sense of déjà vu, as if I had actually experienced that kind of battle," Su Ming said, frowning. "It's strange; I'm wondering why this is happening."

"I remember you told me about virtual training on Earth—it's called a game, right? Could it be something like this?" Su Ming shook his head. "I'm a shooting game enthusiast, I don't like hack-and-slash games."

Never played it before?

"No, that's not it."

"That's it. You humans on Earth are really strange," Zijin sighed. "The more peaceful the world is, the more..."

The more you play fighting and killing games every day...

Su Ming wanted to argue, but found herself speechless.

****

After the meal, the skeleton servants cleared away the tableware, and Zijin dismissed the table.

The two returned to the long table, looked at the large pile of documents, and sighed in unison.

Su Ming pushed the larger pile towards the girl, saying, "These are for you."

You really take good care of me.

"The capable should do more work."

Zijin first organized the documents in chronological order, and then began reading them.

The organization that breeds the sea monsters is officially called the Truth Cult of the Plundering Clock, and its followers like to refer to themselves as the Clock Hand and Minute Hand. The plan began four months ago when the sea monster base was created and put into operation to disrupt maritime trade Western Continent.

Everything was going perfectly until the White Triangle appeared and began slaughtering the sea monsters with incredible efficiency.

Upon receiving this information, Yexiya acted swiftly. She feared exposing her identity by acting directly, which is why she hijacked the Five Fangs.

They also hired pirates to form an ambush.

However, the large ship, White Triangle, had a peculiar ability to operate in shallow waters, which caused the ambush at Clear Spring Reef to fail. Those involved in the planning even wrote words like "incomprehensible" and "not a fault of war" in their reports.

Many shocking things are revealed in the documents. Yexiya was active in the relevant waters from the very beginning of the sea monster incident. In fact, more than half of the ships that were supposedly attacked by the sea monster were directly harmed by the Plundering Clock. The Truth Cult also used ships to transport away the most valuable cargo.

The most vicious creatures are always humans, not monsters.

Then there was a traitor among the high-ranking members of the Federation, codenamed "Hairspring." According to the letters, Hairspring provided information about the White Triangle's activity range and plans, and attempted to manipulate the Federation to interfere with the White Triangle's attack on Water Chestnut Island.

Clearly, this Hairspring is at an extremely high level within the Federation!

Speaking of spies, Su Ming also found a communications record. "The orc spy we left on the island was named Anrelo. The Plundering Clock's plan was to evacuate the personnel from Snail Island, destroy the port and buildings, so that we wouldn't notice anything amiss from the outside."

"And then?" Zijin asked.

"Let me see. Here's a detailed operational plan. After the personnel on Snail Island evacuate, they will leave behind powerful bombs. Anrelo will mislead the pirates searching the island, allowing them to bring the bombs back and destroy the White Bone Fortress. If the plan fails, the Saint Rank figures will launch a direct surprise attack." Su Ming read the document. "Saint Rank figures, plural?"

Zijin took the document. "It is indeed a plural form; there is more than one Saint Rank."

Su Ming reviewed the situation in his mind, "That means the orcs concealed the number of Saint Rank experts. The one who fought the Star Rain at Water Chestnut North Port wasn't Yexiya, but someone else impersonating Yexiya!"

Zijin also figured out the details, "This Fox Race spy has been causing trouble, trying to delay the White Triangle's progress so that this fake Yexiya has time to arrive and ambush us together with the real Yexiya who is recuperating here!"

She patted her chest, a little shaken, "Luckily, we acted quickly!"

"The Federation actually withheld such crucial intelligence from us." Su Ming narrowed his eyes. "Do they want us to come here and die?"

And Charles, he's great too!

"Yeah, that bastard." Zijin had already sentenced him to death in her mind. "He swore to us that Yexiya was the only Saint Rank among the Orcs!"

Su Ming recalled the scene and suddenly remembered something. "Damn it, Bingzi!" He slammed his hand on the table.

Charles emphasized "on the surface" and "half-dead" in his words, and as he said this, he put down the half-bread he was holding—meaning the half-bread represented the seriously injured Yexiya. He then asked for another whole bread, deliberately placing it next to the half-bread, saying, "Except for a very few."

This implies that there is another powerful figure at the peak of their strength!

Zijin realized what had happened and sighed, holding her forehead in her hands, "I completely misunderstood!"

"Next time I see him, I'll stuff twenty pancakes in my mouth!" Su Ming said resentfully, "Anyway, his mouth is just for show!"

It took the scholar a while to calm herself down. "I'll make sure he's bankrupt before I'm satisfied!"

"Every cloud has a silver lining," Su Ming comforted her. "If we had understood Charles's hints correctly, we certainly wouldn't have ended up like this. In hindsight, this was actually our only chance to kill Yexiya and destroy the sea monster's base."

So, in this matter, Su Ming and Zijin were simply unlucky, while Yexiya was extremely unlucky.

"Alright then." Zijin put down the documents in her hand. "What about the technical data on zombies?"

"I left it in the library; I didn't bring it here."

"Weren't we looking for the origins of Arabic numerals?" Zijin asked curiously, having her servant fetch some from the library.

"There's a huge pile on the other side of the table. 'Well, that's a lot!' she thought, looking at it with a hint of despair."

Su Ming laughed happily, "This is your area of expertise, keep it up!"

"I want to practice sparring with you again, what should I do?" The Titled Scholar rubbed his knuckles.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind fighting with a girl wearing a slip dress and no bra," Su Ming replied.

"Do you think a dragon would be used to wearing those?" Zijin replied. "Does your Earth have any styles that aren't so restrictive?"

"Miao Xin has already picked out the most comfortable style for you." Su Ming sighed inwardly, realizing that the scholar was completely treating him like a best friend.

Upon hearing Miao Xin, Su Ming decided to switch his attention and take a look.

It was nighttime on Earth as well. Miao Xin, controlling Little Spiky Head, carried four oversized travel bags in the cold wind and jumped through a window into an empty room. The ground thudded as she put the bags down.

"What are all these?" Su Ming asked.

"[Money, huh?]" Miao Xin replied. "[There's still a lot left, I'll keep moving.]" She manipulated the Little Spiky Head, preparing to jump out the window again.

"No, no, wait!" Su Ming said urgently. He noticed there were already eight bags in the room. "What did you do?"

Did they dig for gold?

"The people on the visit list," Miao Xin replied.

The plan originated from Miao Mu's suggestion two days prior. "If money can solve the problem, there's no need to take risks," he stated, providing a list, "First, achieve financial freedom."

"Did you go to everyone on the list?" Su Ming asked.

[That's the first one, he's a section chief from some company, I think.] Miao Xin said.

Su Ming felt he needed to revise his perception: [Is no one home at the target's house?]

[Yes, I've tied it on.]

What is the evacuation plan?

"These bags are waterproof; we plan to leave by water," Miao Xin replied.

Su Ming looked at the twelve large bags on the ground and sighed, "[That's why you shouldn't have taken so many! Having too much paper money is useless.]"

There are limits to bank deposits; any amount exceeding that limit must have a legitimate source.

He forced Miao Xin to take only four. However, before leaving, he made Miao Xin return to the scene one last time.

He found the victim's phone and asked for the password to unlock it.

The Little Spiky Head now has the ability to change his voice; he just needs to alter the structure of his pronunciation. Su Ming dialed the phone, "Hello, 110."

"Huh? There's a home invasion robbery here! Come quick, save them!"

He then took photos of the scene, posted them on his WeChat Moments and Weibo under his real name, and tearfully complained that he had been robbed of all his belongings before finally throwing his phone on the ground.

Su Ming patted the pale-faced person on the shoulder, "You're welcome."

He thought about it and felt he needed to continue misleading the investigation. For example, obvious acts of revenge would inevitably steer investigators toward the victim's social relationships.

[Stab him a few times in vital spots, half-dead—] Su Ming continued making his plans, but suddenly realized something was wrong, [No, no, don't do that.]

This is Earth, not another world; Su Ming was momentarily confused.

He steadied himself. Miao Xin was a vengeful spirit; it wouldn't be worth it to make her bleed over something so trivial!

"Let's go," Su Ming said again.

[Um.]