Chapter 87: Trap
“Thump!”
Weber fell into the water.
Just now, he and his teammates had barely launched their first wave of attacks against the waterspout when they suddenly realized:
Their abilities, they couldn’t use them!
No matter how hard they focused, their abilities were being continuously drained by something!
It was as if someone had slit their throats and was bleeding them dry like chickens and ducks!
In less than a few minutes, Weber and the other ability users were weak and unsteady, completely unable to stand firmly on the deck, worse off than ordinary guards.
At this moment, the captain beside Weber shouted, “Retreat! The City Lord has ordered a retreat!”
“Reinforcements will be here! We’re going back to rescue the people! We’re retreating quickly!”
Reinforcements? There would be reinforcements?
That’s great…
Weber thought to himself.
He held onto the ship’s railing, trying to stand up for support, but the ship suddenly shook violently—
His body suddenly went weightless, falling straight into the sea!
In that instant, he instinctively shouted, “Captain! Save…!”
Before he could finish his words, his ankle was grabbed forcefully!
Suspended in the air, Weber trembled and opened his eyes, struggling to look back:
It was the usually silent captain.
The captain, who also couldn’t use his abilities, held onto the ship’s railing with one hand and grabbed Weber’s ankle with the other.
“Hold… on…” The captain’s face was turning purple as he tried to encourage Weber, “Just… pulling you…”
However, another large wave swept over!
The captain’s fingers left streaks of blood on the railing, and finally he couldn’t hold on any longer, falling into the sea with Weber!
Seawater stung his eyes.
Weber struggled, paddling his limbs with all his might, pulling on the captain, who had already exhausted his strength and was sinking steadily.
Swim up! Swim up! Back to the ship! Back to the shore!
Weber dragged the captain, struggling upwards, higher and higher.
But just at this moment, his hands and feet were bound by strands of transparent “water flow”!
This water flow, with a force he couldn’t resist at all, was pulling him down, further and further down…
Weber’s eyes widened in terror:
It was those lost souls!
Without weapons, without abilities, and with hardly any strength left, Weber desperately looked up, watching the sea surface get further and further away…
Just then, crackle, crackle, as if whips had lashed out at the lost souls!
The next second, two small figures swam rapidly towards Weber and the captain!
Were they… Seal Clan?
No, no, not…
These two small beasts, one grabbing Weber’s collar and the other pulling on the captain’s arm, dragged them upwards quickly!
In less than half a minute, Weber and the captain were thrown onto a small boat by these two beasts.
The two of them coughed violently, wiping away seawater in a state of disarray and relief, finally seeing the appearance of the two beasts clearly:
They were… a rabbit? A capybara?
At the same time, a small sapling rose from the sea, shaking its leaves at the two small beasts, gurgling as if saying something.
Weber choked on a few more mouthfuls of water and gasped, “Thank you! You are, if I remember correctly, you are from that pioneer’s side…”
“Roar roar! Roar roar!” The rabbit jumped up, waving its paws vigorously, probably trying to say, “Don’t rush to speak!”
And the capybara actually held up a wooden sign!
Several large characters were written on the wooden sign in black ink:
[We come to help, everyone can live!]
After Weber clearly saw the words, the capybara pointed him towards the guard ship approaching the small boat and then jumped back into the sea with the rabbit.
They must have gone to rescue other people who had fallen into the water.
Weber and the captain took a breath, leaning back against each other, exhausted.
After several minutes, Weber finally had the strength to speak again.
He lowered his head, nagging to the captain as usual, “Captain, those creatures, they were definitely from that pioneer’s side, right?”
“The ‘reinforcements’ the City Lord mentioned should have been referring to him.”
“What kind of person is he exactly…”
The captain closed his eyes wearily: “Don’t know.”
“But I feel… he wasn’t exaggerating.”
That’s right, everyone could live.
Weber grinned slightly: “Yeah, I think so too.”
After a few more seconds, Weber finally couldn’t help but say softly, “Captain…”
Captain: “Hmm?”
Weber: “That wooden sign just now, the pioneer wrote it, right?”
Captain: “Probably.”
Weber: “That writing… it’s really… a bit ugly…”
Captain: “Rescuers, is that how you evaluate them?”
Weber: “I was wrong, I was wrong, I won’t say it again.”
Captain: “No, it’s true… the young man looks quite handsome, why is his writing…”
Although the words weren’t finished, Weber couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter.
The captain endured for a few seconds and then chuckled.
The two men who had escaped death laughed almost hysterically on the drifting small boat.
They didn’t know that on the guard ship rushing to rescue them, the people on board were holding telescopes and excitedly announcing, “The captain and the others are fine! They’re fine! They can still laugh!”
Although they didn’t know what the two men were laughing at, the crew knew: being able to cry tears or laugh loudly after escaping danger was a good sign!
*
The small boat carrying Weber and the others wasn’t the only one being watched through telescopes.
On the tower of Sea Moon City, Clara’s telescope also swept across this small boat.
Although the distance was too far for Clara to see their actions clearly, let alone what the spirit beasts were gesturing, it was enough to see:
The spirit beasts from Chu Jiu’s side, cooperating with the Seal Clan, were pulling the fallen guards out of the water one after another.
Either pushing them onto the small boat or throwing them back onto the guard ship.
These young people should all survive this disaster and not lose their lives.
Chu Jiu and the others had done well.
However, Clara’s worried heart did not settle.
The telescope in her hand turned in another direction—towards the still expanding and rising waterspout.
That area had already turned almost completely black.
The waterspout at this time was entirely black, connecting the sky and the sea, like the black arm of a demon reaching out from the abyss of hell, using its claws to stain the surrounding sky and sea with ink.
Clara, who had lived by the sea for a long time, knew very well the power of a waterspout of this scale:
Wherever it passed, ships would be destroyed and people would die.
Faced with such a waterspout, human ships were like toys made of straw, utterly vulnerable.
And it wasn’t just the fleet and the crew.
If the waterspout continued to advance, the harbor and facilities on the shore, as well as the coconut trees planted along the coast, and the newly developed coconut oil pressing workshop that had been so difficult to establish…
None of it would be left.
Clara’s knuckles turned white as she clenched her hands.
She kept telling herself: at least the guard team could return to shore in time. At least the residents on the shore had already evacuated safely. At least everyone’s lives could be saved.
This was already the best possible outcome in a disaster.
The other losses, whether the harbor or the oil press, there would always be a chance to regroup and rebuild…
Just as Clara was trying not to dwell on negative emotions, the scene in the telescope almost made her cry out in alarm!
The black tornado that connected the sky and the sea, twisted and terrifying like the body of a demon, was pierced through in an instant by streaks of golden light!
Those several streaks of golden light, like tens of thousands of sharp swords, tore the inky black waterspout into countless openings!
In less than a few seconds, the tornado that had just been tightly twisted together and was still sucking in the surrounding seawater, causing huge whirlpools, exploded from the inside out!
It was as if the demon had been cut into pieces by heavenly light, or like a black tower being torn into dust from within—
As the tornado shattered, countless “lost souls” stained with black ink fell from it, splashing into piles of white foam on the sea surface, and finally sank heavily downwards.
Even from such a distance, Clara seemed to be able to hear the wailing of those lost souls.
Ten minutes later.
The dark clouds that had just been pressing down on the sea surface had quietly dispersed.
Sunlight once again sprinkled onto the sea.
The sea was still not calm—
The Seal Clan warriors were tirelessly searching for any remaining lost souls adrift.
But the waterspout that could have destroyed the harbor, those fiercely roaring and clinging lost souls, had vanished without a trace.
Clara, whose hands had been clenched for a long time, finally relaxed her grip little by little.
Having experienced many great storms, she felt slightly dizzy at this moment.
Was this… the crisis temporarily resolved?
How exactly was it done?
Was it Chu Jiu, and the ice-blue-eyed spirit beast beside him, who had done all this?
At the thought of this, Clara’s hands clenched again:
Where were they now?
No matter how powerful their abilities were, facing such a threat with mortal bodies, they couldn’t possibly be unharmed!
*
Under the sea.
The black cat landed back on the white sand, its head slightly lowered, its back rising and falling with its breath.
To be honest, Chu Jiu wasn’t sure what Lu Qingyan looked like when he was tired.
After all, from the moment he met this person, he had never shown the slightest bit of weariness or fragility.
Even the first time they met, when Lu Qingyan said he “had used too much ability killing demon beasts and needed to rest for a while,” he was calm and resolute, making people believe that “this person will definitely get better soon.”
It was as if the word “exhaustion” didn’t exist in this person’s world.
But Chu Jiu knew very well what Little Can or Big Can looked like when they were tired.
That time coming from the center of the earth, when they finally left the volcano, Big Can, who had struggled to support them all the way, ended up looking like Lu Qingyan did just a few minutes ago—Lu Qingyan had relied on his own strength to summon ten thousand golden lights and tear apart that waterspout.
What kind of consumption was that? What kind of burden would it create for him?
Chu Jiu felt a pang in his heart and half-knelt beside the black cat, reaching out to embrace its neck, coaxing it softly as he had coaxed Can before:
“The waterspout is gone, the Seals are ‘cleaning up the battlefield’.”
“You, you take a rest!”
“Do you want to change a little? Wouldn’t changing a little save you some energy?”
The black cat didn’t rub its face against him like Little Can did, but just purred softly:
“This area is temporarily safe.”
“But, the root hasn’t been eliminated, it will come back.”
There were too many lost souls. No matter how hard the Seal Clan tried to “purify” them, they couldn’t eradicate them completely.
Chu Jiu: !
The black cat turned to look at Chu Jiu: “We need to find the root, otherwise, in three days at the latest, one day at the earliest, the lost souls will be summoned again.”
The big cat’s voice grew softer and softer.
Even those ice-blue eyes were half-closed, as if they could barely stay open.
Chu Jiu: “I’ll find it! I can do it! You—”
The black cat interrupted him: “Chu Jiu, remember the underground mine?” “You had a guess back then.”
“That guess was correct.”
“According to that, you can find the truth…”
And only you can speak this truth without any scruples, without worrying about the bug race’s “monitoring.”
Chu Jiu didn’t have time to recall what his guess was back then, he could only nod repeatedly: “I’ll find it, I’ll find it! You, you stop talking! Change, come here and rest!”
The black cat didn’t respond to his words about “changing” or “coming here to rest,” still speaking slowly: “Don’t worry, you’re safe…”
I separated a part of my spiritual power to surround you. As long as I’m by your side, no demon beast can hurt you.
The big cat’s voice became increasingly muddled: “I… I just need to sleep for a while nearby… and I’ll be fine…”
“Remember, after finding the truth, don’t act rashly, don’t attack, wait for me to wake up…”
“When the lost souls revive… I will definitely… wake up…”
An inexplicable anger and grievance suddenly welled up in Chu Jiu’s heart: “Lu Qingyan! You stubborn big cat—”
“I order you, change now!”
“Come to my side, you sleep well, and I will protect you!”
The big cat’s eyelids struggled a few times, but ultimately failed and closed together.
At the same time, the cheek that he had refused to touch Chu Jiu with no matter what just now rested against Chu Jiu’s face.
Chu Jiu stroked the big cat’s furry face and whispered, “Sleep, big cat.”
As soon as the words fell, the big cat shrank into a small cat, instinctively curled into a ball, even trembling slightly.
Chu Jiu felt another pang of heartache.
He picked up Little Can—no, the cat that Lu Qingyan had transformed into—and placed it in his chest pocket.
That was Little Can’s favorite “nest.”
He imagined Lu Qingyan could also sleep very comfortably in there.
Chu Jiu felt the cat through his pocket, then simply sat down on the sand, beginning to recall his conversation with Lu Qingyan in the underground mine a long time ago.
Lu Qingyan had said, “Your guess was correct.”
What had he guessed?
…He remembered.
When they came out of the underground mine, he saw the giant grotesque bug finally turn into a puddle of mud, and the composition of this mud was very similar to the mud of the [Swamp Slime Monster]. Coupled with the fact that the grotesque bug could also spit out sticky mud, he had a guess:
This giant grotesque bug, could it have “absorbed” or “transformed” the original swamp slime monster, and then changed the swamp slime monster’s “spitting mud” into its own attack method? In other words, could those strange grotesque bugs gain the skills of other demon beasts by swallowing or absorbing them?
At that time, Lu Qingyan hadn’t said much, only very calmly said, “That’s possible.”
After that, this person never mentioned this topic again, so much so that Chu Jiu had almost forgotten about it.
But now it seemed…
Lu Qingyan had known all along that his guess was correct.
Chu Jiu bit his lip, thinking that since Lu Qingyan had only given a vague answer last time and never mentioned it again until now—
This meant that these current “lost soul sea monsters” had something in common with the grotesque bug that had caused trouble in the underground mine back then!
As long as he found this commonality and then analyzed it step by step, he could figure out the truth about the “lost soul sea monsters”!
Chu Jiu gently tapped his temples with his clenched fists, saying loudly in his mind: Focus! Calm down! You can find it!
He took out a wooden board from his backpack and looked back at the giant squid that A Li had sent to follow him. He said to it, “Come on, lend me some ink.”
The giant squid obediently squirted out a stream of ink.
Chu Jiu dipped a twig in the ink and began to scribble on the wooden board.
Hmm, this squid ink is really convenient to use, the writing is particularly clear! It even seems to make my handwriting look better!
He first wrote a “formula”:
[Grotesque Bug + Swamp Slime Monster = High-Level Grotesque Bug that can spray sticky mud]
Following this formula, he wrote below:
[A certain demon beast that can absorb the skills of other demon beasts + A demon beast with a certain skill = Lost souls that attack humans / Lost souls that gather into waterspouts]
He stared at the equation below for three seconds, shook his head, and changed “Lost souls that attack humans / Lost souls that gather into waterspouts” to “A demon beast that can manipulate human lost souls to attack.”
That’s right, he and Kakaba had confirmed that those “lost souls” were not originally demon beasts.
And precisely because they were not demon beasts, they could easily cross the “road signs” and come to the vicinity of Sea Moon City.
The real demon beast that created all this had not yet appeared.
Then, in all the illustrated monster cards he had seen, was there any demon beast that had even the slightest connection to the characteristic of “manipulating lost souls”?
Even a trivial connection?
Chu Jiu closed his eyes, “flipping through” the illustrated monster cards in his memory one by one.
After a long while, he opened his eyes.
His brows were already furrowed together.
He had not found any demon beast related to “manipulating lost souls” in his memory.
He scratched his head in frustration.
What was he thinking wrong? Or was his memory inaccurate?
Just then, a dull thud came from behind him.
Chu Jiu subconsciously turned around and saw the spirit beast babies and the Seals suspended in the sea, working together to split open a large wooden barrel, purifying the lost soul hidden inside into transparent wisps of smoke.
Hmm, another lost soul hiding in a wooden barrel…
They really liked wooden barrels, even though it was impossible for fishermen to come and fish at this time, they still had to hide in wooden barrels to disguise themselves…
Wooden barrels…
!
Wooden barrels!
I know!
I know how to fill in that equation now!
He jumped up from the sand and tapped the “giant squid” that was dozing beside him: “Hey, take me to see the General!”
*
“Barrel Worm?”
The Seal General looked puzzled when he heard the words Chu Jiu said.
[Barrel Worm: A deep brown, slippery soft-bodied creature. If you look closely, you will find that their abdominal area is covered with dense suckers.
They are named for their particular skill in finding human ships and attaching themselves to the barrels on them.
Depending on their size and division of labor, Barrel Worms are divided into two types: “Worker Worms” and “Queen Worms.”
Worker Worms are similar in size to Earth’s earthworms, while Queen Worms are similar in size to anacondas.
The Queen Worm hides on the seabed. After it senses the presence of a ship carrying barrels, the Worker Worms swarm out, crawl from the bottom of the ship to the deck, find the barrels, and then slowly wriggle along the outer wall of the barrels, eventually reaching the top.
At this point, their bodies secrete a strange digestive fluid that corrodes a tiny hole in the wooden barrel, and then they crawl into this hole, immersing their bodies in the wine.
They do not feed on the fine wine.
On the contrary, as the immersion time increases, their bodies will dissolve into the wine, imperceptible to the naked eye.
Careful and experienced sailors will routinely check the outside of the barrels for Barrel Worms.
Careless and inexperienced sailors will ignore this.
Once enough Barrel Worms have mixed into the wine, and the crew drinks this wine, they will be as if cursed, first throwing the barrels into the sea, and then jumping into the sea one after another.
At this time, the “Queen Worm,” which follows the ship, will swim out from the mud where it hides, drinking the wine in the barrels while eating the sailors who have fallen into the sea. In a sense, it is also a gourmand.
Fortunately, this terrifying demon beast sleeps for most of the year and only comes out to hunt during a certain season. Perhaps the results of its hunting in one season are enough for it to sleep for a year?]
After Chu Jiu finished describing the characteristics of this worm, the General pondered for a long time and said, “I seem to have heard the elders mention this kind of worm when I was young…”
“But we didn’t know that this worm also had a ‘queen’.”
“The elders probably only knew the ‘Queen Worm’ you mentioned, only knew that this worm would follow under human ships, waiting for an opportunity to devour crew members who accidentally fell into the water.”
“But no one ever thought that those ‘crew members’ didn’t fall into the water by accident, but were dragged down by the worms.”
“Our Seal Clan calls this ‘Queen Worm’ you mentioned the ‘Man-eating Worm’…”
“But since I’ve had memories, I’ve never seen this kind of worm with my own eyes.”
Chu Jiu hurriedly said, “Do you still remember if the elders said where the ‘Man-eating Worm’ used to stay?”
The General recalled for a moment, his eyes lighting up and his tail wagging: “Yes! It’s that area of the ‘Lost Soul Graveyard’!”
“I remember the elders talking about it, saying that that area seemed to be cursed. First, those ‘Man-eating Worms’ hid there and dug holes, and then ships sank there one after another!”
Chu Jiu exclaimed loudly, “That’s it!”
He didn’t bother to explain the relationship between the grotesque bug and the slime monster in detail, only telling the General:
There was another demon beast, a demon beast that could manipulate human lost souls, which had “devoured” the Queen Barrel Worm, or the “Man-eating Worm,” and gained its ability to find human ships, lure humans to jump into the sea, and control them as food.
After the two demon beasts “merged,” those manipulated lost souls were also “infected” by the Barrel Worm’s instinct to drill into barrels one after another—in other words, “drilling into barrels, then being salvaged by fishermen, and then causing the sudden death of a ship’s crew” was actually a byproduct of this instinct.
Regardless of whether the fishermen salvaged the barrels or not, the awakened lost souls would drill into them.
The Seal was extremely surprised. Through his [Aviator Goggles Hat], Chu Jiu could see his eyes wide open.
Surprised as he was, the Seal didn’t question Chu Jiu’s conclusion.
He just rested his chin on his hand and thought for a while, then said, “In that case, I will lead my warriors to dig three feet into the ‘Lost Soul Graveyard’ and find this Queen Worm and finish it off!”
Chu Jiu hurriedly shook his head: “No!”
“Lu Qingyan—the black spirit beast beside me said that this combined Queen Worm is definitely not something that can be easily killed!”
Even without Lu Qingyan’s reminder, Chu Jiu, having witnessed that “grotesque bug,” knew that this thing was extraordinary and must not be underestimated.
If they rashly rushed in to show off their heroism, it would only ruin things.
“If we fail to kill it with one blow, this Queen Worm might even summon a waterspout.”
“Therefore, the spirit beast said that we must wait until it wakes up before working together to eliminate the Queen Worm in one fell swoop!”
Actually, the big cat hadn’t said that much before falling asleep.
But Chu Jiu guessed that this was what the big cat meant.
The Seal General’s tail swayed a few times behind him.
Having witnessed the strength of that spirit beast, the General naturally wouldn’t act rashly at this time.
He said slowly, “In that case, we should at least make some preparations.”
“We can’t put all our hopes on that spirit beast.”
Chu Jiu nodded earnestly: “Yes, we need to prepare.”
“I’ve already figured out what to do!”
*
“You need a large amount of wine, and wooden barrels to hold it? And the more the better?” Clara asked in return.
“Yes.” Chu Jiu nodded.
The “fine wine” and wood in his backpack weren’t enough to make what he wanted, so he had to come to Clara.
“No matter how bad the wine is, sour or smelly doesn’t matter, as long as it has the smell of wine.”
“And the barrels too. It doesn’t matter if they’re almost rotten, as long as they can hold wine and have the scent of wine on them.”
Clara paused for a second: “This matter, is it related to ‘subduing the sea monsters’?”
Chu Jiu: “Yes.”
He was trying to figure out how to explain the situation in a few words when Clara had already summoned a messenger: “Immediately go find Baha and tell him that I will buy out all the wine and barrels in his shop and hand them over to Pioneer Chu Jiu for his use.”
Chu Jiu: !
City Lord Sister was as wise and decisive as ever!
Clara looked at Chu Jiu: “Is this enough?”
Chu Jiu knew that Baha was the biggest merchant in the city, and the amount of wine he could provide would definitely be astonishing. So he hurriedly nodded: “It’s enough.”
Clara: “Go! Don’t delay!”
Chu Jiu turned around and followed the messenger.
*
Sixteen hours later.
Two guard ships with sails raised, towing a giant “wine barrel” even larger than the ships, with the Seal Clan acting as navigators, headed towards the “Lost Soul Graveyard.”
This “wine barrel” was the preparation Chu Jiu had made.
He had dismantled all the barrels provided by Baha [taking the wine-scented wooden planks], reassembled them into a [giant wine barrel that could fit an entire house], and filled it with [sour and terrible wine], as well as some other “seasonings.”
This entire barrel of wine was naturally the bait to attract the Queen Worm.
And this wine barrel…
Chu Jiu hoped it would become the Queen Worm’s final resting place.
*
Arsa Star.
“Marshal! If you continue to stay in WT0906, your spiritual power consumption will drop below the critical value again!” Sun, the doctor in the optical brain, anxiously reminded Lu Qingyan.
For the past two days, Lu Qingyan had not taken off the real-time projection device, nor had he interrupted the projection.
In WT0906, the spiritual power he projected was temporarily in a “dormant” state, slowly repairing the consumption caused by shattering the waterspout.
This “dormancy,” although he couldn’t speak or act, allowed him to maintain hearing and know what was happening in WT0906.
It sounded like Chu Jiu was doing very well.
Even better than he had expected.
He could only give small hints, but Chu Jiu had already followed these small hints and set up a nearly perfect trap.
Next, as long as they dealt the final blow to the Queen Barrel Worm, they could completely end this “sea monster”—
And also strike at the bug race hiding in WT0906, manipulating all of this.
Lu Qingyan looked at the doctor on the optical brain screen, his expression calm: “Doctor Sun, has the condition of Colonel Tu and the others improved again?”
Doctor Sun could only answer truthfully, “Indeed.”
“Not only are their spiritual power wave curves becoming more regular, and the wounds on their spiritual bodies have basically healed, but even their physical vital signs are becoming more stable.”
“Especially in the last two days.”
“Monitoring results show that their brains are frequently processing information and are very active. It could even be said that… their brains are currently in a very healthy state of tension.”
Lu Qingyan: “That’s because they are doing what has already been integrated into their blood.”
Doctor Sun: “…?”
Lu Qingyan: “They are fighting, fighting to protect the people.”
Doctor Sun: “…!”
Lu Qingyan: “Doctor Sun, you should already understand what I mean.”
Doctor Sun bit his lip: “I understand.”
If his comrades were still on the battlefield, how could Marshal Lu not go?
Doctor Sun finally said, “Even so, I must remind you: your spiritual power can no longer perform any extra actions!”
“No matter what kind of battle it is, you must ‘kill with one blow’ and then immediately disconnect!”
Lu Qingyan: “…No need to worry.”
“My partners have already completed all the preparations.”
*
The outskirts of Sea Moon City.
The guard ship had sailed beyond the effective range of the “road signs.”
Within the road signs, there would only be lost souls, no other demon beasts.
But outside the road signs was different.
Strange-shaped demon beasts emerged from the sea one after another.
Fire-breathing ones, poison-spraying ones, stench-emitting ones, and ones that attacked with sound waves…
According to the previous arrangements, these kinds of demon beasts were all dealt with by the ability users.
The Seal Clan were fully responsible for navigation while also monitoring whether any more lost souls were awakened.
Chu Jiu had already told everyone the message the big cat had left before falling asleep: in one to three days, the lost souls would return.
Therefore, no one dared to be careless.
“Woooo la la woooo la la la la…” Another [High-Pitched Siren] sang loudly on the reef.
[High-Pitched Siren: Their singing is enough to make the ears of sailors bleed.
When encountering this kind of sea demon beast, please be sure to protect your ears and do not go mad because of the demonic sounds they emit!]
Weber, wearing the [Cotton Earplugs] made by Chu Jiu, used “Wind Blade” to knock down the [High-Pitched Siren].
“Whew…” Weber wiped the sweat from his forehead, “That was really terrifying…”
He had never heard such terrifying singing!
Fortunately, Lord Chu Jiu prepared earplugs for us in advance, otherwise I might have really jumped into the sea on my own!
He looked at Chu Jiu beside him, curiously asking, “Lord, I noticed you weren’t wearing earplugs…”
Chu Jiu smiled very friendly: “That? I don’t need them.”
Weber: “!”
“That, that amazing sound, doesn’t it make you uncomfortable?”
Chu Jiu answered very honestly, “Not really. I might be immune.”
Ever since he heard the Gray Bird sing “Our Two-Legged Friends,” the singing of any high-pitched siren or any uncomfortable demonic sound was simply not worth mentioning.
Chu Jiu didn’t even need earplugs to easily withstand it.
Weber, unaware of the inside story, looked at Chu Jiu with even more respect.
This young pioneer was truly no ordinary person!
Aside from his handwriting not being very good, he probably had no weaknesses at all!
Weber thought to himself.
*
With so many ability users around, Chu Jiu didn’t need to divide his attention to focus on the surrounding demon beasts.
He sat down on the deck, carefully brought out the little guy from his chest pocket and placed him in his palm, then brought the cup filled with honey water to the little guy’s lips.
The big cat kept sleeping and sleeping, showing no signs of waking up.
But constantly sleeping without drinking water wouldn’t do.
Chu Jiu could only use this method to moisten the big cat’s lips and feed it a little water.
It was the same now.
After carefully feeding half a cup of water, Chu Jiu was surprised to find that the cat’s eyes had opened!
However, Chu Jiu’s surprise lasted less than half a second.
Because he remembered what the big cat had said: when the lost souls revived, he would definitely wake up.
In other words, the lost souls were about to appear again.
Sure enough.
Before Chu Jiu could even speak to the awakened big cat, he heard A Li, the navigator at the very front, shout loudly, “Enemies appear! Seal Clan! Assemble!”
They had not yet sailed above the “Lost Soul Graveyard.”
If they threw the barrel down too early, they were afraid it wouldn’t lure the “Queen Worm” in.
Therefore, the guard ship could only continue forward.
At this point, the navigating Seal Clan members became the “guards” of the guard ship, purifying any lost souls that tried to attack the two ships.
Chu Jiu looked at the black cat in his palm.
The black cat opened its mouth, just about to “purr,” when Chu Jiu interrupted him:
“Lu Qingyan, listen to me.” “Your ability, the one that killed the grotesque bug and destroyed the waterspout, it takes a big toll to use, right? It’s like a super-powerful ultimate skill with a long cooldown, right?”
“Since that’s the case, you just stay put and don’t move.”
“The Seal Clan, the spirit beast babies, and the guard team on this ship will definitely get us safely to the ‘Lost Soul Graveyard’.”
“You just need to conserve your energy.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Rawr Rawr Rabbit and the others jumped over:
“Roar roar roar, Big Can, don’t worry!”
“Dang dang dang! Big Can, don’t worry, we can do it!”
“Glup glup glup, we’ll cooperate well, don’t worry, Big Can!”
The black cat looked at the spirit beast babies and nodded: “Mm, I believe you.”
Rawr Rawr Rabbit and the others cheered and went to support the Seal Clan.
At this time, the human ability users had quickly exchanged positions with the ordinary guards who had no abilities.
The ability users moved to the rear to provide support, steer, and control the sails, while the ordinary guards were responsible for containing the lost souls.
The black cat watched all this, and Chu Jiu said, “When I was ‘asleep,’ I could hear your guesses.”
“Your guess this time is also completely correct.”
“This trap will definitely be very useful.”
“You did very well.”
Chu Jiu’s heart skipped a beat from the praise, and his face started to burn.
He composed himself and quickly said, “Oh, oh, there’s one more thing.”
Black cat: “?”
Chu Jiu: “Can you lend me your spear?”
Black cat: “?!!!”
Chu Jiu: “It’s the spear you used to kill the grotesque bug last time—I remember you saying it was formed by condensing your ability, right? Can you bring it out beforehand?”
Black cat: “I suppose I could…”
Chu Jiu: “I need to modify the spear a little—I want to cover it with branches from the [Primal Tree].”
“I suspect that the ‘Queen Worm’ itself also needs to be purified.”
The black cat hesitated: “…You want to modify it?”
Chu Jiu: “Uh, that… is that not allowed?”
Black cat: “It’s not that it’s not allowed…”
Chu Jiu: “…Then?”
How strange, why did Lu Qingyan, who was always calm and resolute, suddenly seem a bit hesitant?
Black cat: “…”
“Wait a moment.”
As soon as the words fell, a dazzlingly cold spear appeared before Chu Jiu’s eyes.
Chu Jiu had previously made a [Special Can Spear] based on the shape of this spear for Little Can, so he was not unfamiliar with its form.
In less than half a minute, he completed the modification.
Alright! Now this spear, just like the Seal Clan’s spears, could also purify lost souls!
He exhaled, and the black cat said, “See? That was fast.”
Black cat: “…”
How strange, why did Lu Qingyan seem to be holding his breath, even his tail was stiff?
After half a minute, the black cat finally put away the spear.
He glanced at Chu Jiu, then shifted his gaze to the side, vaguely explaining, “Under normal circumstances, we don’t let others touch our exclusive weapons.”
Chu Jiu: “Oh, oh!”
“I see! That makes sense!”
“But this is a special situation—it’s a special situation, right?”
Black cat: “Yes.”
Chu Jiu smiled: “Then it should be okay?”
“Actually, the squirrels and the Seals also have similar rules, they can’t lend their weapons to others. But modifying weapons isn’t included in that.”
“You guys are the same, right?”
The cat didn’t answer.
Chu Jiu didn’t mind and continued to ask, “By the way, do you want to drink some more water?”
Black cat: “Yes.”
*
Above the “graveyard.”
With the seamless cooperation of the Seal Clan, the spirit beasts, and the guard team, the guard ship towed the giant barrel all the way to the “graveyard” without anyone dying or getting injured.
A Li stepped onto his Ten-Legged Fish and raised his spear: “We’re here! Below is the ‘Lost Soul Graveyard’!”
Chu Jiu gestured to the guard team: “Release it!”
The guard team responded by cutting the ropes and removing the raft, allowing the large, unfloatable barrel to slowly sink to the bottom of the sea.
The Seal Clan followed behind, monitoring the changes on the seabed.
Ten minutes passed.
Apart from a few more lost souls floating up from the sunken ships, there was no major movement on the seabed.
One of the Seals responsible for monitoring couldn’t help but get a little anxious, paddling all four of its paws in the water.
The A Lin beside him said softly, “Don’t worry.”
“Chu Jiu and his kitty both said this method will definitely work.”
So the Seal obediently hovered in the sea again.
Another ten minutes passed.
A full half hour later, the seabed suddenly shook violently!
The sand and gravel on the seabed flew like dust, schools of fish frantically surged and fled, and the sunken ships from hundreds of years ago instantly turned into wood chips!
The seabed, which had been brightly lit by the [Moonstone], suddenly became extremely turbid. Sand and wood chips obscured all visibility like a sandstorm!
At this time, the Seals, who had long been accustomed to only seeing vaguely, could instead judge the situation by the water’s ripples and slight changes in light and dark!
A giant worm whose shape could not be seen crawled out from the depths of the seabed! It burrowed into the wine barrel!
*
On the ship.
The black cat beside Chu Jiu had once again transformed into the big cat.
The big cat’s paws firmly pressed down on the silver spear that Chu Jiu had previously modified.
Chu Jiu looked at the big cat, feeling an unprecedented tension for some reason.
More tense than ever before.
His lips trembled slightly, wanting to say, “Lu Qingyan, be careful,” but he found that he didn’t even have the strength to speak the words.
Would his trap really work?
Would the poison he had mixed into the wine really have an effect?
What kind of worm was that, how big, how terrifying, could Lu Qingyan really kill it easily?
What if… what if his actions actually harmed Lu Qingyan?!
The big cat looked at Chu Jiu, whose face had turned pale, and for the first time?? pressed its face against his: “Don’t worry, nothing will happen.”
Chu Jiu: “…”
Big cat: “Believe me, whether the Queen Worm is ‘drunk’ or not, I can finish it with one blow.”
Chu Jiu: “…Okay.”
Big cat: “I’m going down.”
“You’re not allowed to go.”
“Little Can will come up, don’t worry.”
Chu Jiu: !
Little Can will come up, which means you’re going to…?
After the big cat finished speaking, it used its mouth to pick up the spear and leaped into the azure sea.
In that instant, Chu Jiu felt as if his heart had fallen with it.
He was even afraid to blink, wanting to hide and not watch anymore.
But he couldn’t.
He had to wait here, waiting for Little Can to come up.
*
The sea breeze wrapped around people, stuffy and suffocating.
Time passed slowly, making one feel breathless.
The clouds in the sky seemed to have stopped moving.
Until the Seals responsible for monitoring burst into unprecedented cheers.
Chu Jiu’s body trembled a few times.
Was it… successful?
If Lu Qingyan made a move, he would definitely succeed, right?!
At this moment, the originally unusually calm seawater suddenly began to shake violently! Even the two guard ships were constantly vibrating!
Several large waves suddenly rose on the sea!
Chu Jiu held onto the ship’s railing tightly, anxiously looking out into the waves:
Seawater! There was a huge black shadow!
As if afraid that his voice would be drowned out by the waves, Chu Jiu shouted hoarsely, “Little Can! Little Can is still in the water!”
Before his voice faded, Glup-Glup had already flown over!
Rawr Rawr Rabbit and Kakaba protected Chu Jiu on the left and right:
“Roar roar roar, it won’t be!”
“Dang dang dang, Chu Jiu, don’t worry! Chu Jiu, don’t cry!”
Even the Seal A Li rushed over: “Chu Jiu, don’t panic! Your kitty will definitely be okay!!”
Chu Jiu didn’t even notice if he was crying.
He anxiously looked at the sky, staring intently as Glup-Glup’s tentacles wrapped around the black shadow and quickly brought it to him.
It was Little Can!
It was Little Can who had fallen asleep!
It was just asleep.
Little Can was okay.
Chu Jiu hugged the little guy tightly to his chest, tears falling drop by drop.
After a long while, Chu Jiu finally heard Glup-Glup’s curious voice: “Glup glup glup, Little Can’s paw seems to be holding something?”
Huh?
Chu Jiu quickly laid Little Can on his lap, belly up, and opened its paw—
What… was this?
