Found You at Last

"Whoa, kid, your tongue gets nastier by the day!" Once the visitors were gone, Lu Feng—who had been enjoying the spectacle in front of the television in the lounge next door to the office—swallowed the last bite of a skewer, wiped the mutton fat from his mouth, and clicked his tongue in wonder. "If I were that dickhead general, I'd probably bring my boys to hack you into pieces right this second." "Wouldn't that be just perfect?" Ji Jue pulled up a chair and sat down, laying two skewers of mutton on the grill. He accepted a beer and chugged two large gulps. One truly took on the color of one's company; once a strict teetotaler, he had been subjected to the drinking culture of Beishan District so many times that he was actually used to it by now. Hearing Lu Feng's remark, he teased, "You scared?" "Terrified. Terrified they won't bring enough men, okay?" Stripped to the waist, Lu Feng was drenched in sweat as he ate and drank before the grill. He scratched the jumble of tattoos across his arm, completely indifferent. What a joke. Back in the Mid-Continent, he had done so much dirty work and handled so many funerals that he was sick of it, slaughtering petty warlords, tribal rulers, and imperial elites until he almost threw up. Now that he had guns, cannons, and armored vehicles, was he supposed to fear some random batch of maritime nobodies? He had been bored out of his mind in Xinquan these past few days. Merely snatching stun batons from junkers could no longer satisfy his growing spiritual and cultural cravings. Just when he was worried the campus lacked enough violence, someone had delivered themselves right to his doorstep to serve as a warm-up. He couldn't be happier. You had to hand it to him, Second Brother always had the most schemes. He never disappointed when it came to crime and villainy! With just a few sharp words from that mouth of his, the aggro had been maxed out. Even if that general wanted to chicken out, he would have no choice but to come now. Lu Feng grinned. "I'll reshuffle the sentries tonight and have the boys get our gear ready to give them a little surprise." "No rush. We can rest tonight." Ji Jue remained calm as he flipped the mutton. Ever since receiving the blessings of Crucible Blood and Unquenched Fuel, even his barbecue skills had improved; every skewer came out tender, juicy, and overflowing with aroma. "You sure?" Lu Feng asked skeptically. "I wasn't before, but now I am." Brushing on oil, Ji Jue gave a soft, regretful sigh. "If I were them, I definitely wouldn't take home something I randomly picked up outside..." Amidst the sizzling pops of dripping fat, flames flared up, illuminating a pair of pitch-black eyes. Devoid of warmth. "Who knows what kind of seasoning was sprinkled into it, right?" *** After leaving Xinquan, the beat-up truck sped into the distance. From beginning to end, an utter silence hung within the cab. No one spoke; Gold Tooth Baldwin and Feng Ming hardly dared to breathe, holding their breath in case a single slip of the tongue got them hung outside the vehicle and dragged along the road. In the passenger seat, Tu Sihai silently rested his hand on the case atop his knees, tapping his fingers aimlessly as if lost in thought. Now that his warm, genial smile had faded, a familiar cruelty and malice surfaced on his face. After tearing off the fake beard and wiping away a layer of grease paint, his skin turned considerably paler. Taking out his contact lenses, he shook his head, revealing a mop of curly hair. Tu Sihai was indeed his name, but a person could have many names, just as they could have many identities. He was truly the manager of the Longdao Chamber of Commerce, but the chamber was merely a front used by the Blood Cleansing Fleet to fence stolen goods, pay bribes, and launder money. To maintain his cover, he had preserved his identity as an ordinary mortal and had never undergone a Higher Calling. Yet his status within the fleet was subordinate only to the top few leaders, granting him a seat at the fleet's high-level councils. Lost in thought, Tu Sihai suddenly froze. "Stop the car—" Gold Tooth, at the wheel, blinked in surprise before hastily slamming on the brakes. Then he watched as Tu Sihai stepped out with the case, removed the skulls, and discarded the case in the wilderness without the slightest hesitation. After taking out the skulls, Tu Sihai handed them to Gold Tooth. "Examine them carefully. See if there are any issues." Only after Gold Tooth repeatedly confirmed that they were merely several skulls retaining traces of spiritus did Tu Sihai relax slightly. He retrieved another case fitted with a spiritus seal by an artisan from the vehicle and packed the skulls inside. In truth, to be safe, he should have thrown away the skulls as well, but he lacked the authority to do so. As Xinquan's reply and parting gift, they had to be brought before the General. Even if the General flew into a fury and punished him for it, there would always be a chance to shift the blame. But if he took matters into his own hands, even if the General said nothing on the spot, it might well become a death warrant the moment the General grew displeased in the future. Serving as someone's lapdog always came with such inconveniences. Dignity and freedom could not be found within Tianyuan, and they certainly could not be found beyond it. Tu Sihai silently puffed on a cigar, glancing back once more toward the lights of Xinquan, which were already fading in the distance. Soon, they set off again. Speeding all the way to the coastline, they abandoned the truck, doused it in gasoline, hauled a speedboat from an adjacent sea cave, and vanished into the dense maritime fog. *** Two hours later, out on the high seas beyond the Federation's borders, a rust-streaked, large fishing vessel caught a distant light signal. A lookout lowered his rifle and waved behind him. Through the sea mist, the speedboat glided alongside, and the group quickly climbed aboard via the gangway ladder. Treading across rotting fishing nets that had sat unused on the deck for years, they hurried into the cabin below. Brightly lit, the air was steeped in the stench of alcohol and pounded by thumping music. It was a full-blown feast. Although the food was ordinary, there was plenty of it, the booze flowed without limit, and anyone willing to fight and kill received a cut of the plunder—even for pirates, such treatment was leagues better than what many armies throughout the Thousand Islands offered. Even though they carried their heads on their belts and deadly turf wars broke out every few days, countless men still flocked to join. As the vanguard sent to Haizhou, they were about to sink their teeth into the first choice cut of meat. Everyone was burning with impatience, indulging in wild, drunken abandon. On a makeshift stage, a songstress of unknown origin sang with a trembling voice, only to be dragged down by a drunken pirate and hauled backstage amid raucous laughter. Her screams were drowned out by the pounding drums and blaring music. Tu Sihai swept a cold, expressionless gaze across the room, and for an instant, the atmosphere chilled. Uninterested in paying mind to these cannon fodder, he strode straight toward the very front. "Number Four is back?" At the head table, a burly, thoroughly drunk brute inhaled deeply from a plate, his eyes glazed. Exhaling a long breath, he saw Tu Sihai return in haste with a dark expression. He immediately grinned and waved warmly, calling out in Thousand Islands dialect, "Fresh shipment from this afternoon, pure as it gets! Have some, have some! Stop wearing such a sour face, you're scaring the whelps." The men nearby tactfully cleared a seat. Tu Sihai sat down and slapped the case onto the table. "Colonel, did you send men to Xinquan?" "The whelps let off the leash run wherever there's meat, like rabid dogs. Who can keep them in line?" The Colonel shook his head carelessly. Noticing the look on Tu's face, he came to an understanding. "Did those bastards cause you trouble?" "Trouble might be an understatement. They botched everything, that's certain." Tu Sihai gave a cold chuckle. Snatching a credit card, he expertly cut the powder, recounting everything he had seen and heard without exaggeration. Then he pointed at the case. "The gifts are all here. You'd better figure out how to explain this to the General." The Colonel's face darkened by degrees. Gradually, even the music died down. The entire gathering fell dead silent, save for the weeping, groans, and wails drifting from backstage. The Colonel snatched a dining knife and hurled it backward without even turning his head. In a flash, the vanished knife returned, tainted with a streak of blood. Scarlet gore swirled along the blade, dripping onto the tip of the Colonel's tongue. He licked it, his eyes turning bloodshot. The entire world seemed to fall quiet, leaving only the low thrum of the ship's engines. "Very good. He's got guts. Fucking balls of steel." The Colonel bared his teeth, crunching the metal knife between his teeth. With a loud crack, he swallowed the fragments into his belly and exhaled a breath of scorching heat. A vicious fury surfaced in his bloodshot eyes. "A mere artisan dares to speak to Father like that—I'll hang his whole family from the bow of his ship." "Don't be reckless," Tu Sihai cautioned. "That might be exactly what they want. They've probably set a trap, waiting for you to walk right into it." "Who said we have to go in person?" The Colonel chuckled. Having burned, killed, and plundered on the high seas for so many years, anyone who lost their head so easily had died long ago. How could a survivor like him fail to see what was going on? "Is he only blocking our path? There are fleets of all sizes across the sea, packs of hyenas so starved they lose their minds at the sight of meat. Let them test the waters first. "And those settlements—didn't they complain that our prices were too high? "Send men tomorrow to tell them our prices are doubling. As long as that bastard Ji breathes, no one gets peace! I want to see just how long his head can stay on his neck!" Once the Colonel finished speaking, Tu Sihai finally caught his breath. After a low groan, he sighed and gestured toward the case on the table. "What about these things?" A sudden sound of splintering distortion erupted. Amidst a surge of bloody light, the three skulls dissolved into ash, incinerated in an instant. Tu Sihai breathed a sigh of relief. "Wine! Where's the wine?!" The Colonel drained the hard liquor on the table, grinning as he roared, "Damn it, are you all dead or something? Make some fucking noise! Keep singing!" Instantly, the revelry resumed, the atmosphere surging even higher than before. After eating and drinking his fill, Tu Sihai turned and headed back to his cabin to sleep. Looking over the chaotic mess of the party, he turned back to instruct the sentries to double the night watch and remain on high alert. Only after visiting the bridge to verify that their course remained safe and their coordinates concealed did he groggily return to his cabin and fall asleep with his clothes on. Yet for some reason, he woke with a start in the middle of the night. A nightmare. In his dream, he felt as if he had plunged into hell. Flames raged everywhere, and amid agonized wails, charred, withered arms reached out from the fire, clawing and dragging at him. They dragged him down into the deepest depths of hell, burning and tormenting him, until he was devoured clean by countless mouths filled with rancor and venom! He opened his eyes, gasping violently for breath. After using the latrine and downing a glass of water, he returned to bed and closed his eyes, hoping to rest again. But suddenly, he snapped them open once more— Something felt wrong! Yet when he climbed up to the porthole and peered out, all he could see was the dense sea fog blanketing the waters, concealing everything from prying eyes. Under the interference of geomagnetic fields and alchemical devices, not even satellites could pin down their location. Across the surrounding waters, searchlights swept through the fog as usual, watching with keen vigilance. With double the sentries, and monitoring devices submerged in the waters around the disguised fishing vessel, security was airtight. Patrols could be seen pacing the deck from time to time; under the Colonel's ruthless military discipline, absolutely no one dared to slack off. Tu Sihai picked up the walkie-talkie. "Hey. Report status." Before long, the familiar Thousand Islands dialect came through from the radar control room: "No abnormalities. All clear." At once, Tu Sihai exhaled, laughing at himself. Scaring himself over nothing. Yet that nagging sense of wrongness persisted, like a flea slipping into his collar—an itch that made him scratch in frustration, yet no matter how hard he searched, he could find no trace of it. Until he finally realized what was amiss... Quiet! It was so quiet. In an instant, his hair stood on end. Since when had this rabble of pirates become an elite, disciplined army operating in total silence? Not only were there no whispered conversations or idle chatter, but not a single curse or commotion could be heard from the deck. There was only the faint, distant hum of the engine room. What the hell was going on?! Patrolling pirates kept passing by on the deck outside, yet their formerly scattered footfalls had somehow fallen into synchronized step. Far from pleasing to the eye, their rigid, stiff postures were deeply unnerving. Like walking corpses. Like marionettes... The more lifelike it appeared, the more horrifying it felt! As he stood frozen, his vision suddenly went dark. A silhouette appeared abruptly outside the window, casting a shadow over his face. Silently creeping through the dead of night, it drew near, pressing flat against the glass to peer inside. Staring right at him. The dull, rigid face twitched violently as thick blood oozed from its mouth, nose, and eyes, snaking freely across its cheeks. Slowly, the lips peeled back into a grin. *Found you at last!*