Chapter 15: Holding the Gun

Xie Tianshu scanned the master's students, his eyes narrowing, and asked coldly, "Where is Cai Yutong?"

"We haven't found her yet," Xie Jin replied.

"You haven't found her, or have you hidden her?" Xie Tianshu's tone was slightly stern.

He had secretly gathered so many people, yet mistakes kept happening. First, the few people from Lab 705 and Li Weiyi vanished without a trace, and now even a frail woman like Cai Yutong could disappear.

Xie Tianshu worried that Xie Jin might succumb to temptation and deliberately let Cai Yutong go.

"Shu Ge, am I the kind of person who disregards the bigger picture? Cai Yutong really isn't in the cultivation area. If you don't believe me, ask them," Xie Jin said.

One of Professor Xu's master's students, Sima Tan, wore rimless glasses, appeared refined, and was one of the three standing behind Xie Jin.

Three days prior, under Xie Tianshu's threats and inducements, he chose to surrender.

He said, "Doctor Qi came to the cultivation area not long ago. She was the one who took Dr. Cai."

Xie Tianshu's expression softened slightly. He sighed, "A Jin, beautiful women are indeed a scarce resource, but compared to survival, they are at most a temporary plaything. Send two people to search in the tomb forest. Once she's found, she will be a shared resource for all of us."

Xie Jin's expression changed, but he ultimately nodded.

Sima Tan looked at Chen Hong, who was interrogating Gao Huan, and advised, "Asking like that is useless! Everyone has a weakness, and Gao Huan's weakness is Liu Ying. He has liked Liu Ying for three years, and he took the postgraduate entrance exam for her, later using connections to get into Professor Xu's lab."

Liu Ying was one of the five trainees recently brought back from the cultivation area. She had very fair skin, bright eyes, and was strikingly beautiful. On the scientific research vessel, she was the one who asked Li Weiyi to help take a group photo.

"You're classmates, yet you're selling her out completely," Chen Hong chuckled.

Sima Tan said, "The feeling is mutual. No one should laugh at anyone else. Everyone has a dark side, and now we finally have the chance to unleash it without fearing legal consequences. Shu Ge, give me Liu Ying for half an hour, and I guarantee Gao Huan will honestly answer any question you ask."

Loud laughter immediately erupted around them.

Kong Fan laughed, "Half an hour, young people are certainly confident. But our new Captain Xie said that beautiful women are a shared resource. Why don't you add old Kong in there?"

Laughter once again filled the air.

Since their departure, everyone had been on the ship for nearly two months, filled with boredom, loneliness, and fatigue.

Who wouldn't want to find some excitement?

Now that they had arrived in this lawless place where no one was in charge, and with no one knowing how long they would live, their courage naturally grew.

How could the evil within them be suppressed?

Throughout history, some emperors, after becoming victors, could not resist taking the women of the defeated. How could this group be an exception? How could they rise above such vulgarity?

Ever since Kong Fan acquired the silver-threaded gloves and tasted the sweetness of extraordinary power, his mindset had subtly changed. Looking at the people present, he developed a superior attitude, like an overlord viewing his servants.

Servants, after all, could be toyed with however one pleased.

Gao Huan cursed, "Sima Tan, you truly are a beast! Liu Ying is my classmate, isn't she yours too? I don't know where Li Weiyi went, I really don't know."

Knowing or not knowing, sometimes it didn't really matter.

Liu Ying herself was a benefit Xie Tianshu had promised to Sima Tan.

Using beautiful women to win over subordinates and turn hostile personnel had been done since ancient times; it was nothing new.

Liu Ying was already crying in fear and ran towards the tomb forest.

But her hands were tightly bound behind her back, so she couldn't run fast. She was quickly caught by Sima Tan and dragged towards the medical tent not far away.

Kong Fan chuckled and followed them into the medical tent.

Professor Xu lay on the ground, crying and banging his head, shouting, "You are too barbaric! Do you have any morals or conscience? Let Liu Ying go! Whatever you want, come at me, an old man! Sima Tan, with your depraved character, no matter how good your academic performance is, I will never let you graduate..."

Xie Jin said, "This old man talks too much. Throw him into the Sea of Souls to feed the spirits, so we don't waste the ship's food."

Two security team members looked at the medical tent from which cries, pleas, and the sounds of tearing clothes continuously emanated. They then looked at Professor Xu, who had broken legs and was still banging his head against the ground, feeling immense pity and guilt.

Their consciences troubled them. In just seven days, it seemed not only the social environment had changed!

The changes within people's hearts were even more shocking.

Xie Jin said in a deep voice, "What? Have you found your conscience and want to be good people again? Some things, once started, there's no turning back. Throw that old man down..."

"I'll talk... I'll talk... Li Weiyi went towards the Nine-Tiered Deck Tower, he's going to the stern. He told me before, it's absolutely true!"

Gao Huan knelt on the ground, kowtowing and pleading tearfully, "Let Liu Ying go, let the professor go, I beg you! I'm begging you!"

"Thump! Thump! Thump..."

His forehead quickly became bruised and bloody from the repeated impacts.

He naturally had the idea of tricking these wicked people into feeding the Ghost Bear Emperor, but at the same time, he truly felt helpless and genuinely hoped his pleas could save Liu Ying and Professor Xu.

Zhao Meng reprimanded, "If you reveal my junior brother's whereabouts, you'll be completely worthless! Do you think if you kneel and beg, they'll turn good and let us go? Naive, foolish... Once a person shows their fangs, they're no longer human!"

Xie Tianshu watched all this indifferently and calmly. He said, "Don't think I don't know what's happening at the stern, Xiaohuan, why are you so dishonest? You've truly disappointed me!"

The last sentence was almost a roar.

He waved his hand.

Two security team members directly threw Professor Xu, who was being held suspended in the air, into the Sea of Souls.

As a "thump" of splashing water echoed, excited howls of countless fierce spirits and the sound of tearing flesh rose from beneath the bronze vessel.

Professor Xu only let out a few piercing screams before falling completely silent.

Gao Huan stopped kowtowing and remained prostrate there, completely stunned and numb.

In the medical tent not far away, the sounds were no longer chaotic and intense; they had settled into a different, more rhythmic pace.

The deck, however, was exceptionally quiet.

Everyone with bound hands was sorrowful and timid, no one dared to make a sound, even curling up their bodies to avoid the gaze of Xie Tianshu and his men.

Another female trainee, whose looks were comparable to Liu Ying's, was terrified, gripping her fingers tightly. She wanted to cry but could only suppress it.

"Lying comes with a price,"

Xie Tianshu slapped Gao Huan's face loudly, saying, "Next time you speak, think clearly before you open your mouth."

The next instant,

He shouted, "Two more go in!"

Immediately, two security team members, with expressions both shy and ashamed yet eagerly expectant, entered the medical tent.

Human nature is always contradictory.

Bottom lines are like clothes on a woman's body; it's hard to take them all off at once, but if you start taking them off one by one, how can you not end up completely naked?

Chen Hong, disapproving of Xie Tianshu's methods of "ensnaring with beauty" and "binding with sin," said, "Interrogating him is less effective than interrogating the first mate. Meng Ge and I are like brothers; I can't bear to watch the cruel scenes that will follow. I'll take my men and first find those who are hiding."

Li Weiyi fled through the tomb forest, holding the Yellow Dragon Sword, finally shaking off those strands of hair.

A skeleton, seemingly about to rise from the dead, was capable of devouring his blood.

Terrifying and bizarre.

Even though Li Weiyi had cultivated extraordinary abilities, he was no match for her. If not for the Dao Ancestor's Tai Chi Fish and the Yellow Dragon Sword, he would surely have died there.

Fortunately, she had been lying in an ice coffin and seemed not to have fully awakened yet, and her hair attacks only had a range of five zhang.

It was terrifying to imagine what would happen if this "Bone Spirit" truly got out.

"Senior Brother really knows how to hide things. Why would he unnecessarily hide the Dao Ancestor's Tai Chi Fish and the Yellow Dragon Sword in her grave? I almost got killed."

Li Weiyi recalled his senior brother saying that when he fell onto the bronze vessel, he landed on her grave. Luckily, her grave provided a buffer, preventing him from falling to his death.

What a cursed fate!

Li Weiyi looked towards the light emanating from the Golden Crow carcass in the nether mist, somewhat confused. Why did research team members still get lost in the tomb forest when there was clearly a guiding light? Were there other mysteries and unknowns in the tomb forest?

About two hundred meters from the Golden Crow carcass, Li Weiyi emerged from the tomb forest and appeared at the gunwale. He raised his arm and saw that his cut wrist had already scabbed over, almost healed.

The group of armored skeletal humans and various types of weapons lay scattered quietly not far away.

According to Director Yang, the meter-long black spear was the lightest, but it still required two people to barely lift it.

With no one around, Li Weiyi had no more reservations. He grabbed the black spear near its tip with one hand.

It felt quite heavy in his hand, but he still lifted it.

"One hand, much stronger than two people?" Although Li Weiyi was surprised, he wasn't overly excited, as he had just witnessed the power of the "Bone Spirit."

Without the Yellow Dragon Sword, he could only contend with her for a brief moment.

Even with the Yellow Dragon Sword, he could only flee in disarray.

Suddenly,

Light footsteps came from the direction of the Golden Crow carcass.

A moment later, Qi Shanshan, dressed in a white doctor's uniform, hurried out of the nether mist, her expression a mix of panic and vigilance.

"Li Weiyi... what are you doing here?"

Qi Shanshan looked around, finding it incredible.

It had been almost two months, and this was the first time Li Weiyi had seen Qi Shanshan not wearing high heels, but pink sneakers instead. His gaze then went to the Nine-Tiered Deck Tower, which appeared blurred like a mirage, and his mind filled with doubts: Doctor Qi clearly knew the Ghost Bear Emperor was still alive, so how dared she come here alone?

Li Weiyi said, "Doctor Qi, aren't you afraid of the Ghost Bear Emperor?"

"Something big has happened!"

Qi Shanshan had a serious expression. As she walked towards Li Weiyi, she reached into her pocket, gripping a damp medical cotton wipe inside, and said, "Second Mate Xie Tianshu has teamed up with many people and launched a coup. The bronze ship is now in chaos. I had no choice but to risk danger and flee here. Didn't you hear the gunshots just now?"

"Gunshots? They acted early?"

Li Weiyi hadn't heard any gunshots and guessed it might have happened when he was dragged into the ice coffin. Although he still remained suspicious of Qi Shanshan, his senior brother's situation was certainly critical, leaving no time for further consideration.

"Whoosh!"

He hooked with his toes, and a scorching current surged wildly through the meridians in his legs, all his strength erupting in an instant.

The meter-long black spear flew up, landing steadily in his hand, its tip vibrating with a "clink."

With the Yellow Dragon Sword in one hand and the spear in the other, Li Weiyi stood tall and resolute, ready to head straight to the bow.

Qi Shanshan, who had already approached within five steps of Li Weiyi, saw this scene, and her charming face filled with shock: "Your injuries have healed... Did Yutong give you Golden Crow blood to drink?"

Besides Golden Crow blood, Qi Shanshan couldn't think of any other possibility that could heal someone whose arm was almost crippled within a few days, and with such terrifying power.

Li Weiyi had no time to explain to her.

"Come back!"

Qi Shanshan was not confident she could take down Li Weiyi, who had become so strong. Moreover, seeing the clear vigilance in his eyes, a new idea immediately formed in her mind.

She quietly put the medical cotton wipe back, withdrew her hand from her pocket, and whispered with feigned concern, "Weiyi, Sister Shanshan understands your worry for your senior brother, but they have guns. No matter how strong you are, a single bullet can still take your life. We need to plan carefully. Before we act, we must at least understand the current situation and their numbers."