Chapter 174: Seizing the Ship

Wu Chang let the two into the room, and at the same time did not avoid Xiang Jianxing and the Negotiation Master, letting them tag along to listen in.

He had to put some pressure on the two of them; they couldn't keep slacking off just because they had joined earlier and were connected.

Look at them — given the same mission prompt, Xiang Jianxing and the Negotiation Master hadn't made any progress in two days, but the moment this person made a move, he wrapped it up in a single night.

He had to give them a sense of crisis; a hidden faction doesn't keep idle people around.

Wu Chang sat on the sofa in the living room, the Four Vajras scattered around the room handling security, while Xiang Jianxing and the Negotiation Master stood behind Wu Chang, acting as guards while freeloading on the intelligence.

Shadow and the other player stood across from Wu Chang, separated by the coffee table.

When the two players had met at the doorway earlier, they should have established who was stronger; now one of them voluntarily stepped back half a pace, not daring to steal Shadow's spotlight, letting Shadow speak first.

Shadow spoke with great confidence: "Mr. Li, the ritualist and the werewolf you were looking for — I've already tracked them both down."

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow; the mission he had given Shadow was to find just one of them, yet Shadow had actually identified both.

Both a sneaky, underhanded sixth-man, and both completing missions at maximum rating — he saw his own style reflected in Shadow.

Shadow placed two photographs on the coffee table and pushed them in front of Wu Chang.

"The ritualist registered on board under the name Scott, a Gao Mu and Midi Country mixed-blood, identity is the Archbishop dispatched by the Xinyuzhou Sect to Midi Country to preach, living in the second-to-last cabin on the fourth floor."

The Scott in the photograph was taken when he was explaining prayers to his followers on the fourth-floor deck; he had distinctly mixed-race features, outstanding looks, wore thin-framed metal glasses, and looked gentle and refined, like a student who hadn't yet left the ivory tower.

Shadow added: "When I was investigating him, I came across a piece of intelligence worth noting — Park Changmin lives in the third-to-last cabin on the fourth floor. The very last cabin has an occupant, but the person inside never comes out. I tried to sneak in, but the room is guarded by a mysterious esoteric formation I can't bypass."

Wu Chang nodded and noted this intelligence down.

The Tranquil Sect's preparations were indeed thorough — beyond the ritualist, there was actually an expert as well.

After finishing with the ritualist, Shadow continued:

"The werewolf isn't actually a real monster; his true form is human too. He registered on board under the name Evans, identity is a military officer from Midi Country stationed in Gao Mu Country, living on the fifth floor of the cabins."

"Besides me, people from the Xinyuzhou Sect are also investigating him. I overheard Xinyuzhou Sect people chatting — they call Evans 'Blood Wolf,' and their words carried a great deal of wariness."

Wu Chang nodded in satisfaction. See, this is what you call professional — this is professional.

Investigating intelligence isn't just about investigating the target; even the other factions' members connected to the target must be investigated as well.

Though this was probably just an excuse — Shadow likely already knew Blood Wolf beforehand — at least the man had the right attitude.

Wu Chang smiled and said: "Very good. I appreciate capable people like you the most."

"Faction Trial Mission complete. Completion rating: Perfect. Li Zaishi is very satisfied with you. If your faction wins after the instance ends, you will receive an additional reward."

"Li Zaishi has issued you a recruitment. Do you choose to join Li Zaishi's faction?"

Facing the instance settlement that floated up before his eyes, Shadow chose to accept without hesitation.

He bowed slightly and said: "A capable boss and capable employees attract each other. It's an honor to work under Mr. Li."

The player behind Shadow was a woman with a head of red, big-wave long hair; her figure looked petite, but her body was tight and full, possessing astonishing explosive power — a strength-specialized player.

The woman's codename was Great White Shark. The reason Wu Chang had chosen her, beyond her solid stat conditions, was also because she possessed a special talent — Captain.

As long as it was a ship, or something that could be judged as a ship, Great White Shark could ignore piloting requirements and use her talent to directly control it.

Although Great White Shark was Wu Chang's internally designated member, to take care of Shadow's feelings, he still symbolically prepared a mission for her.

Investigate whether the Star Leap's captain Jiang Junxi and first mate Li Yuanzhi had been in contact with people of unknown origin.

The "people of unknown origin" here very obviously referred to players.

Great White Shark's talent was Captain — fellow professionals are natural rivals. Having her investigate the Star Leap's captain was simply a perfect fit.

Great White Shark, copying Shadow's format, also began reporting her investigation results.

Whether looking at it from the resentment of the Sea Song, or from the Star Leap's performance, on every ship carrying an offering, although the captain showed great respect toward the Xinyuzhou Sect's accompanying personnel, he did not obey them blindly, but rather maintained a kind of mutual independence.

After investigation, the captain and core crew on board were indeed in contact with players — a separate faction, not a vassal of the Xinyuzhou Sect.

When the call came from the deep sea last night, captain Jiang Junxi was in the middle of meeting with three players. Great White Shark didn't have Shadow's kind of stealth ability and couldn't take clear photos without them noticing, but the three people present were all memorized by her and could be easily found.

Beyond this, Great White Shark, just like Shadow, also conveniently uncovered a heavyweight piece of extra intelligence.

Namely, that captain Jiang Junxi and first mate Li Yuanzhi, including several core crew members Wu Chang had pointed out, were all Navy.

Gao Mu Country had a tradition of military service, but what Great White Shark meant was not that they had served in the Navy — she meant they were active-duty Navy!

The moment this sentence came out, everyone in the room turned their gaze to Great White Shark.

Official active-duty Navy participating in a conspiracy organization's sacrificial rite, and appearing as a collaborator with the Xinyuzhou Sect — this was a bit too fantastical.

Even Wu Chang, who maintained a cold, domineering-CEO persona, couldn't help but frown and ask: "How did you find out?"

Great White Shark said lightly, "Because my skill lit up."

Great White Shark's Captain talent actually had a prefix — the talent's full name was Pirate Captain.

Beyond being able to command all types of ships, Pirate Captain also generated natural hostility toward all official military personnel, especially the Navy.

When facing official faction military forces, Great White Shark's damage would increase by 15%, and damage she received would increase by 10; if the opponent was Navy, the effect would double.

When Great White Shark approached the captain and his group, her skill reacted.

Everyone fell silent — this reason was simply too sufficient.

After hearing this, Wu Chang couldn't help but look at Great White Shark a few more times. This kind of deep-level intelligence, unless one put in great effort to deliberately investigate, was very hard to discover; discovering it at the start was almost impossible.

Damn, struck gold.

After he issued the recruitment to Great White Shark, the number of players in his faction reached four.

Facing four subordinates, the first task Wu Chang gave was to have them follow Great White Shark and find the three players connected to the captain.

Observe the three targets' characteristics in advance and formulate corresponding countermeasures.

Today was the third day entering the Shipwreck Belt; the passengers should also have discovered that the Shipwreck Belt was an even larger ghost-wall.

According to their usual act, at this time the captain and crew should make their move — and he, too, should make his move against these crew members.

Great White Shark led the others out the front door, and within less than two minutes, Li Yubin came looking for him through the back door.

She had no one else with her; she had come alone.

Wu Chang waved his hand, signaling the secretary to take the Four Vajras out first, leaving only the two of them in the room.

Li Yubin got straight to the point, speaking without ceremony:

"Li Zaishi, now it's just the two of us, no need to keep pretending. I know you too well — you would never so much as glance at anything that brings no profit. Neither taking the initiative to investigate the Sea Song, nor sending people to guard the passengers on board, is your style. What is your real objective?" Wu Chang frowned, studying Li Yubin: "You know me well?"

Li Yubin said with a mocking tone: "Of course. The underground Emperor of Gao Mu Nation — I've read every piece of news about you at least three times."

Wu Chang said in an awkward tone: "You…"

"You couldn't possibly have a crush on me, could you."

The moment those words left his mouth, Li Yubin, who had been drinking water, nearly sprayed it out.

Watching Li Yubin cough, Wu Chang cast a spell at light speed, swiftly handing over a "good person card."

"I know you're a good person, and I really admire what you do, but I'm sorry — I already have someone I like. We can still be friends, though. If denying it would make you feel better, I can play along and pretend I was the one who misunderstood."

Li Yubin pulled out a tissue to wipe the water from the corner of her mouth, saying in disbelief: "Are you insane? How could I possibly like you?"

Wu Chang smiled faintly. "Since you insist, then I must have gotten it wrong."

"Sibi—" Li Yubin stared at Wu Chang in irritation, feeling as though she had walked right into a trap.

Wu Chang shifted the topic with an airy nonchalance: "You came alone to find me today — surely not just to tell me you've been secretly following me and collecting my personal information."

!

Li Yubin was about to lose her mind. She was clearly someone who marked the dark side of society and struck hard with intelligence gathering — so how did it come out of Wu Chang's mouth sounding like some creepy stalker trailing a celebrity?

The conversation had already been steered off course by Wu Chang, and she couldn't find her way back for the moment, so she could only go along with his topic and said:

"I came to ask you — what do you make of what's happening on the Star Leap?"

Looking at the irritated Li Yubin before him, the corner of Wu Chang's mouth lifted slightly. Putting on this whole show wasn't purely to tease Li Yubin — it was also to throw her off balance, mess with her mindset, and seize the initiative in the conversation.

"I believe this is a long-planned operation."

Li Yubin: "Mm."

"They're targeting me. They want to make a move on me."

Li Yubin: "Mm — mm? Why?"

Wu Chang continued: "Because everything is just too convenient. My private cruise liner docked at the port happened to be damaged by the staff, and the port just happened to have a Star Leap about to set sail, and the person in charge of the harbor hall just happened to arrange for me to board this ship, and this ship just happened to run into an accident."

"If even one link in that chain weren't so convenient, I wouldn't be on this ship. And everyone on this entire ship combined isn't worth a fraction of a fraction of my wealth — so it's obvious they're coming for me."

Li Yubin opened her mouth slightly. Although her gut told her Wu Chang was talking nonsense, somehow it did sound a little reasonable.

After answering the question, Wu Chang asked Li Yubin in return: "What do you make of this conspiracy against me?"

Li Yubin had already lost the initiative in the conversation, and now she was hearing a version of the conspiracy she hadn't expected — for the moment, she was completely thrown off.

"I think we may have stumbled into an even more mysterious conspiracy."

To make Wu Chang believe this conspiracy wasn't aimed at him, Li Yubin took out a tablet and showed him the intelligence she had gathered.

"Two years ago, a friend of mine disappeared while traveling aboard the Sea Song on the way to Midi Nation. At the request of my friend's younger sister, I investigated the Sea Song incident, and as the search deepened, I became increasingly convinced that nothing about it was simple."

"Every so often, ships vanish in these waters — the people are neither seen alive nor found dead. The upper echelons of Gao Mu Nation turn a blind eye to it, and every single incident has the Yuzhoujiao Sect's involvement. Don't you find that suspicious?"

"To find out what's happening in these waters, I've been monitoring the Yuzhoujiao Sect's movements. When I noticed them holding another similar activity, I found a way to get on board to witness and document their crimes."

This time it was Wu Chang's turn to be speechless. He began to suspect that the woman before him truly believed that having a powerful father meant no one would dare kill her.

Li Yubin said: "But my plan hit a snag. I had originally assumed that the Yuzhoujiao Sect had jammed the ship's signal, hijacked and transferred all the passengers, and then let the ship sail to a specific spot to sink."

"So I was carrying a device to disable the signal jamming, and I had a friend set up a livestream outside. The moment the Yuzhoujiao Sect made their move, I would disable the jamming right away and broadcast their crimes to the world through the livestream."

Wu Chang leaned back, crossed one leg over the other, laced his fingers together, and said lightly: "Now you've discovered that what's been stopping these disappearing ships from sending out signals isn't a signal jammer — it's something else entirely."

Li Yubin sighed: "I still underestimated the Yuzhoujiao Sect. The entire ship has already fallen under their control. If this continues, the Star Leap will become the next Sea Song. To stop them, we have to cooperate and help each other."

"As long as you help me uncover the Yuzhoujiao Sect's conspiracy and help me expose what they've done to the world, I can cooperate with you on everything else."

Wu Chang's brow lifted — this was exactly what he wanted to hear. The objective of Li Yubin's faction had been drawn out of her.

As long as he concealed part of the Yuzhoujiao Sect's conspiracy, Li Yubin's faction's final settlement score definitely wouldn't be higher than his.

Wu Chang nodded and said: "No problem. My request is simple too. I don't trust anyone on this ship except you and the few people around me, so I want to take control of this ship myself."

"When I make my move, you and your people must help me hold off the Yuzhoujiao Sect."

Li Yubin hesitated at this. "I think what happened to you might really just be a coincidence."

Wu Chang shook his head and said decisively: "I suffer more than twenty ambushes and assassination attempts a year. No one understands assassination better than I do. I can feel it — this is a conspiracy against me."

Seeing Wu Chang's insistence, Li Yubin, wanting to keep this ally, could only agree: "I can help you, but you have to promise me you'll keep the casualties to a minimum when you act."

Wu Chang agreed reluctantly: "For your sake, then."

As he was leaving, he asked: "Why didn't you bring those people from before?"

Mentioning the players, Li Yubin's expression turned complicated, and she said quietly:

"These people who suddenly appeared — even though they don't seem to be acting strangely, I always feel like they're hiding something. Same on your end — don't trust these strangers too much."

Wu Chang shrugged and silently mourned the players of Li Yubin's faction for a few seconds.

Time flew by. By evening, the Star Leap encountered a second ghost ship.

From the ship's name, people quickly recalled it was a cruise liner that had vanished twelve years ago.

Because too much time had passed, the resentment aboard had completely dissipated. Going up would yield nothing and might instead invite attacks from Ritual Masters and Blood Wolves, so this time Wu Chang did not board it.

The Star Leap sailed in a straight line through the ship graveyard for three days, yet the surroundings remained utterly empty, with no sign of leaving these waters.

Combined with encountering legendary ghost ships twice in a row, even the dullest passengers realized they were trapped here — and that what awaited them was very likely the same fate as the passengers of those two ghost ships.

An indescribable panic began to spread among the passengers.

At night, the call from the deep sea still drew passengers to throw themselves into the ocean in their dreams. This time, in just the first half of the night, over a hundred passengers were affected.

At four in the morning, just as more and more passengers were being affected by the deep-sea call and about to enter a sleepwalking state, a deafening blast of the horn woke everyone from their slumber.

Roused by the crew's shouts in the corridors, people stumbled out in their pajamas and coats, gathering on the large deck on the third level of the cruise ship.

At the very front of the deck, Captain Kang Junseok and First Mate Li Yuanzhi stood with weapons in hand, while several core members spread out around them, encircling the passengers.

With the help of believers like Park Changmin from the Xinyuzhou Sect, Kang Junseok and the others quickly took control of the situation. All the passengers sat cross-legged on the spot, looking up at the armed Kang Junseok at the front.

Just as Wu Chang had anticipated, Jiang Junxi and Park Changmin and the others could barely hold back any longer, itching to come out and cause trouble.

He gave Xiang Jianxing and the others a look—they too had to get moving, to begin seizing the ship.

(End of chapter)