Free Web NovelChapter 34: Chapter 34: The Two-Masted Ship
Celula read the reply and pursed her lips. Then she immediately started throwing a tantrum. "Kevin... that’s just too much! If it were a few years ago, any guy who dared talk to me like that would have learned his lesson right away."
Monchhichi, who was standing nearby, heard what he asked and just laughed. "Asking us to go public just proves he can’t really force us either way. That’s actually a good thing."
She went first. She opened the global channel and typed a public request to Kevin: "I, Monchhichi, Survivor ID 10010, publicly request that Mr. Kevin accept me and my partner as his crew. I pledge absolute loyalty to Mr. Kevin. I will follow him for life and sail these scary waters together."
Celula was still stewing in her anger. When she saw Monchhichi hit send, it was too late to stop her. "Sis! Why did you say yes so fast? We should make him wait. Let him know we don’t need him."
Monchhichi shook her head and smiled, giving her a light pat on the head. "Come on, kid. Don’t get hung up on petty stuff. Right now, the only thing that matters is getting Kevin to set sail."
"If we don’t move now, we’re going to be stuck between the chasers behind us and those Eldritch entities ahead. I don’t think we’ll even make it through tonight."
Hearing that, Celula dropped her act. Her face fell. The fear of death hit her hard, and she finally got real. Then, copying Monchhichi, she went to the global channel and sent out her own public message to Kevin.
Kevin saw both girls post their messages and gave a satisfied nod. Verbal promises don’t mean much, and he couldn’t force them to keep their word. But once he reached Celula’s ship, he had a hundred percent chance of bringing them on board.
Next, Kevin traded a Glock 19 and ten bullets to Celula.
He also went through some weapons left behind by Eldritch skeletons a couple of days ago. He picked out a few curved swords, pikes, and iron rods that were still in decent shape, and sent them all over.
In return, Celula sent Kevin her exact location.
They cross-checked their compasses and sextants and quickly locked in their final course.
The deal was simple: Kevin had to sail at fourteen knots and catch up to Celula’s ship as fast as he could.
But the problem was, his single-masted boat could barely do twelve knots, even with a good tailwind.
Kevin frowned. "I need a way to get this boat to go faster."
He turned around and headed straight back to the helm.
Right then, Stephanie was huddled in the corner, looking totally wrecked. When she saw Kevin, she jumped up and held out her hands. "Why did you take so long? Can you cut these ropes? I really need to pee."
Kevin swung his knife and sliced through the ropes on her wrists and ankles in one go. Stephanie let out a sharp yelp. She checked her hands and feet, made sure they were fine, and instinctively rubbed the sore spots. She looked at him nervously. "Kevin..."
"Call me Captain," Kevin cut in.
Stephanie gave a soft "Oh." She lowered her voice. "I saw people posting in the global channel, saying they want to follow you... You thinking about taking them on?"
Kevin raised an eyebrow. "What’s that to you?"
Stephanie felt uneasy under his gaze. She looked away and whispered,
"I heard some Survivor ships already ran into each other.
Now that the Eldritch have come, there are no cops or army to keep order. Many Survivors turned into pirates and will rob honest ships.
I just wanted to warn you... watch out for people who mean trouble."
Kevin nodded. "Thanks. But you don’t get to decide who we let on this ship. Go back below."
Under Kevin’s sharp tone, Stephanie looked back at him every few steps as she left the bridge, not wanting to go.
As soon as she got back to the room, she saw Leo lying on his bunk, pale and unconscious.
Stephanie sighed. "I was blind to see why I even bothered with a loser like you.
Now Eldritch Entities are everywhere. The guy I should really be seducing is someone strong like Kevin."
She clenched her fists slightly, a confident look in her eyes.
Fortunately, it’s not too late yet. Kevin, you won’t get out of my hands.
Stephanie opened her system panel and messaged Keston directly:
"I’ll help you get my sister back. In return, you help me get Kevin." fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Soon, Keston’s reply popped up:
"Kevin is such an idiot to luck out by getting both of you sisters one after the other.
I was going to kill him. But since you’re helping me get Bella back, I promise to let him live."
Then, Keston sent a trade request out of nowhere, offering her half a coin.
[Witch’s Oath Coin (Heads): C-Tier Eldritch Artifact. The wearer forms a soul link with the Survivor holding the other side. You can track their life status and exact location at all times. Wearing it makes you lose ten hairs a day.]
The moment Stephanie picked up the coin, she felt Keston staring right at her from hundreds of miles away, standing on a ghost pirate ship.
The cold chill made her drop the coin right away.
Keston’s message came through again:
"Don’t drop the coin. For the next few days, you have to keep it on your person at all times.
In three days at most, I’ll catch up to your ship. When the time comes, I’ll kill anyone you want me to kill."
"Also, about your promise: make Bella reach out to me at least once a day. I want that to happen today."
Stephanie bent down and picked up the [Witch’s Oath Coin]. She felt Keston’s location again. She could even feel the huge surge of life force inside him, along with a deep, cold malice. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
That malice had no logic to it at all. It was just pure madness and destruction.
Kevin was already standing in front of the dashboard on the bridge, studying the route.
Good news was, by the plan, the path to catch up to Celula and Monchhichi was pretty much a tailwind.
Bad news was, even with a tailwind, this single-masted boat couldn’t reach the target waters by the set deadline.
Kevin started to worry.
Luna and Amelia both woke up at the exact same moment. From the balcony, they called out in soft voices. "Darling, are you up on the bridge?"
Kevin followed the sound to the window and looked down. Both girls were wearing tempting pajamas and bathrobes, staring right at him.
Behind them lay a large open space on the aft deck, piled high with clutter.
An idea hit him. His eyes lit up. "I’ve got it. Quick, get dressed. Come with me to the stern."
They looked startled at first, but quickly changed into their hiking clothes and followed him to the stern.
Kevin was already squatting on the deck, marking out lines along the wooden planks with a piece of chalk.
Amelia looked down at the lines crossing the deck. "Kevin, what are you doing?"
Kevin gave a knowing smile. "Just picking up our new crew."
"New crew?" Luna looked confused, but her eyes quickly widened in shock.
Kevin finished marking off the space. He placed both hands flat on the planks.
Right then, wooden beams and iron blocks started growing out from under his palms, piece by piece.
Luna and Amelia both caught on. "Kevin, are you... adding a second mast?"
Amelia frowned at first, but then her expression cleared.
Smart as she was, she got his plan immediately. For Survivors like them, the black fog behind was always the biggest threat to survival.
Even though this boat was way faster than the fog, they couldn’t afford to let their guard down.
Both women reached out to help Kevin straighten the mast, securing the pulleys and ropes to the stern posts.
As the sails went up, the deck shuddered. The water and coastline began to rush past faster.
Kevin nodded with satisfaction. "Good. That bumps the speed up by at least thirty percent."
He rubbed his eyes. "Amelia, go find Stephanie and make her clean the whole deck. Luna, I’ve plotted the course on the bridge. I need you to keep an eye on it."
"I need to reach the drop point by seven. Call me if anything changes."
He finished talking, stretched, and headed straight back to the captain’s quarters. Before bed, he hopped into bed with the drone tucked under his arm.
Just as he was drifting off, a soft scanning chime echoed in his mind.
[Scanning mechanical structure: Frame-rotor drone.]
[Scan progress: 0.01%... 0.02%...]
...
