Free Web NovelChapter 376: Chapter 369: "Decryption Expert" Ah Jian
"Master, are we heading to the Earth Core next?"
The Three-Eyed Golden Crow flew down from the ship’s mast.
It retracted all of its light.
As it spoke, it deliberately glanced at Ah Jian, who was perched on Shi Ming’s shoulder. It then casually lifted its head, as if to show off. ’Look, I provided our master with such a great treasure clue, while you just eat and sleep all day.’
’When it comes to value, I am clearly a cut above.’
Ah Jian noticed the Three-Eyed Golden Crow’s provocation and unleashed a sliver of Spiritual Power.
The Three-Eyed Golden Crow was thrown backward, falling into the sea before flapping its way back up.
"We’ll go to the Earth Core later. First, we’re going to Black Gold to meet their Commander. I don’t know what Xivier has run into to be in such a hurry. I suspect she has some important information."
"Hmph. Master, she’s always making a big deal out of nothing," Ah Jian said.
Of course, it had no fond impressions of Black Gold.
It still held a grudge for what that King-level Wandering Ship had done before it was even born—sealing it, suppressing it, and nearly casting it into an eternal slumber.
Revenge could be foregone.
But it wouldn’t hurt to whisper a few complaints in his ear.
’Could it be news about the Nirvana?’
Shi Ming wondered.
The Sea of Boiling was currently awaiting reconstruction, but it had a promising future. The only thing that could make Xivier so guarded even on the communicator was likely this matter.
Soon, all would be revealed.
At that moment, the Grand Fortune had already sailed past Mount Everest and was approaching the Red Sea.
WHOOSH!
A wave over twenty stories high suddenly surged. An exaggeratedly dense killing intent brewed beneath it. In an instant, hard fish scales shot out with a force no less than the Demon Sword from the Black Society’s underwater, charged-up Eightfold Wall attack.
An A-rank sea beast, the Illusory Scale Fish Dragon!
’How dare it?’
Shi Ming didn’t move.
He merely glanced at it.
A faint, almost imperceptible kun-like cry was heard.
The sixty-meter-high wave immediately receded on its own. The falling water crashed against the ship’s hull, and the scales that had already shot out were retracted.
The Illusory Scale Fish Dragon ceased all its malicious intent. As docile as a tamed kitten, it swam over from the tide, trailing a rainbow behind it.
Its scales were quite beautiful, shimmering with iridescent light.
It voluntarily stopped in front of the rather astonished Ah Jian and Three-Eyed Golden Crow and ended its own life. Becoming food was its subsequent fate, and also its own choice in that moment.
This was a utilization technique of the Ten Thousand Forms Sanctuary.
...
...
...
Beyond the Red Sea lay the Sea of Yellow Sand. The pardoned ship, the Pharaoh, now answered to Black Gold. It actively patrolled and guarded this sea region, its previous aggression completely withdrawn.
Ptolemy was also smart; he had voluntarily submitted to Black Gold.
This allowed him to avoid retaliation from old rivals like the Golden Bodhi and the Nile River. The few Admiral-class Ships in Africa had been at each other’s throats for decades, their conflicts long past the point of reconciliation. Finding a new master meant taking orders, but it also meant gaining a powerful backer.
He wouldn’t be kicked while he was down.
Meanwhile, in the Sea of Silence, Black Gold had already departed on its expedition. However, the trade routes and thirty years of maritime infrastructure they had established in the area remained.
"Bro, you hear? Black Gold is on a southern expedition, and they ain’t coming back!"
"For real?"
"Of course, it’s real! This old man’s legs might be slow, but my connections are sharp. Without a King-level Wandering Ship guarding the place, the trading business in this sea region is probably done for!"
"What’re you afraid of, Old Shark? Just follow them."
"These old bones can’t take the trouble anymore. I’ll use my last few years to travel a bit. Let the young folks handle the business."
"Heh, so you’re retiring!"
"I guess so. A man’s not a beast of burden. How can you work until you’re sixty or seventy?"
The old captain of the Shark smoked a synthetic cigarette, exhaling a swirling ring of smoke. He gazed into the distance at the true center of the Sea of Silence, where ships once flowed like a river but was now completely empty. He felt both serene and wistful.
Without anyone noticing, the entire landscape of Africa had changed.
A cool breeze rustled.
The Grand Fortune sailed through the Sea of Silence, past Ah Jian’s former birthplace, and continued south.
The high temperatures of the Sea of Boiling had completely subsided. It was November, and the temperature at sea was not very high, hovering around twenty to thirty degrees Celsius. A significant difference between day and night temperatures also appeared, a strange phenomenon never seen before, which greatly amazed the people who had lived in Africa their whole lives.
The climate was more pleasant than ever, which greatly increased the pace and enthusiasm for developing new seas.
"Hot weather, we work hard! Mild weather, we work harder! No heat, we work ourselves to death!"
Everything was thriving!
The location of the Three-Eyed Golden Crow’s nest had been occupied by Black Gold, but it had no complaints. Its only home was wherever its master was. As they neared Black Gold, Shi Ming chose not to use a ferry. He continued to pilot the Grand Fortune, sailing through a developed sea region bustling with ships until he was about three nautical miles from the King-level ship.
In theory, all wandering ships were forbidden from passing within thirty nautical miles of a King-level Wandering Ship.
But the Grand Fortune was an exception.
Xivier was already waiting there.
...
"Commander,"
"Black Gold now occupies the safest region of the Endless Ocean. What matter could be so urgent? Is it a terrifying sea beast left behind, or did you make a new discovery while studying the Abyss Lord’s flesh?"
In the Grand Fortune’s reception hall, Shi Ming asked, getting straight to the point.
Xivier glanced around.
"My wandering ship is very secure. Not even aliens could spy on us," he said in a deliberately joking tone.
Hearing this, Xivier didn’t beat around the bush either.
"I received an instant message from the Grand Commander."
’An instant message?’
Shi Ming put down his teacup.
Even sending a message across the Endless Ocean required a delay of at least an hour without using a channel like "Let There Be Light." An instant message from who knows how many light-years away in space?
The difficulty was far beyond imagination.
"Fifteen years ago, three months after Black Gold received aid from the Nirvana, the Nirvana arrived at Black Gold’s location. The Grand Commander left Africa with it and her whereabouts have been unknown ever since. However, the Nirvana’s captain left behind a bracelet that allows them to contact each other. This bracelet can be used for seven instant communications, with each message not exceeding 60 characters."
"What did she say?"
Xivier handed him a slip of paper.
Shi Ming took it and frowned.
The content was meaningless. If the communication could truly only be used seven times, it wasn’t worth wasting one precious transmission on this, unless... there was a hidden message.
"Ah Jian, analyze this."
"Yes, Master."
Its "hundred-core processor" covertly activated. Its powerful Spiritual Power analyzed every character on the slip of paper, searching through Ah Jian’s eons of experience for comparable past messages.
A moment later.
"Master, this note is written in Latin and contains 53 characters."
"French and Latin share the same roots. If you select the syllables whose pronunciations have completely diverged, and then rearrange them, it’s possible to form a new message. It reads as exactly three terms."
"Opportunity, Xirang, rogue ship."
