Chapter 332: Merman's Elixir of Immortality

The ship was shaking, and Xia De squinted his eyes at the captain on the other side of the table:

"You are cheating; after I announced the answer, you moved the position of the tattoo."

"No, I am just utilizing the rules; this did not violate the rules I stated."

The pirate ship captain, whose ugly face could almost scare an adult into fainting, pointed to those white breads:

"Now, eat them, and we will continue to the second round. If you don't eat, I will assume that you and your companion want to stay on the ship; she will become my master's food, and you will be with us forever. Don't worry, the food is not poisonous; I don't want to poison you, that would be too boring!"

The evil spirit pirates roared with laughter, and the guy near that plate of white bread even enthusiastically pushed the plate in front of Xia De.

The fluffy white bread looked exceptionally tempting, but in this humid cabin covered in human bones and jewelry, with fungal mats and dirty blood all over the walls, one could think of how this thing was not normal food.

Xia De took a deep breath. Gambling with this kind of guy, he should have thought the other party would cheat. Since that was the case, he wouldn't follow the so-called rules afterward either. Eat this bread, then see the second round of gambling. If the other party cheated in the second round, Xia De would have to flip the table. Of course, if there were other ways, he would try his best to avoid doing so; losing divinity meant the disappearance of divine afterglow, and this loss was too huge:

"What is this food?"

Xia De asked. He thought the other party wouldn't say, but he didn't expect the captain to give the answer:

"This is desire—the desire to eat, the desire for wealth, the desire to live. This ship captures souls, digests flesh and blood, and extracts desire; this is our food. I think you will like it."

Saying this, his narrow eyes squinted:

"Of course, I will give you a chance. If you are willing to abandon your companion behind you and hand her over to me, this round won't count, and we will gamble in another way."

Xia De lowered his head for a while, then reached out to grab the bread, subconsciously swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

【I cannot tell you what this is, but if it is truly so-called pure desire, even in the current state of divine afterglow, your spirit will still be affected. The feeling of hunger at this moment will become even more intense.】

"How intense?"

【It won't make you collapse, but it's close.】

The "captain" was watching Xia De, and Xia De knew what he was hoping for. But since Xia De had already made up his mind to take the girl behind him away together, he would absolutely not go back on his word.

"Xia De..."

The girl behind him wanted to snatch that piece of bread, but Xia De grabbed that hand, shaking his head in refusal:

"You promised to treat me to food, not me treating you."

He said, and then tore off a little bit of the bread, which was enough for him to eat for two breakfasts, and ate it.

Although he couldn't smell the taste, the taste was real white bread. The texture was very fluffy, and even by the standards of his hometown, this was quite a good delicacy.

"When we get out, remember to tell me who you really are. Although I have already guessed it, I hope you admit it yourself."

He held his stomach, which was aching from hunger, and said to Miss Difa behind him who wanted to stop him. The latter looked pale and wanted to say something, but was stopped by Xia De. He stared into Miss Difa's eyes, afraid that the other party would do something stupid:

"Now what you need to do is stand behind me and watch me gamble with this captain. When I can't hold on anymore, I will tell you."

Miss Difa bit her lower lip with her teeth.

"What are we gambling on in the second round?"

The bread made purely of desire brought Xia De more spirit, even making him have the illusion that he could get a spirit rune like "bread" in the next moment. But at the same time, the frantically surging hunger had already made him unable to help but want to bite off his lower lip.

In two lifetimes, he had lived for more than twenty years, but he had never missed the days when food could fill his stomach so much, and had never felt that those ordinary foods in daily life were so precious.

Having experienced this adventure, he at least fully understood the preciousness of food.

"Second round?"

The skull lamps hanging above were swaying violently, and the sickly green light and shadows flashed alternately on Xia De's face.

The captain squinted his eyes and thought for a while, then reached out his right hand and put it into his own mouth. His hand stretched his throat, and after the elbow, his entire forearm entered his mouth.

He rummaged around in his stomach for a long time before taking out a small pure gold box.

Although it was a "small box," it was larger than his mouth, so when it passed through his mouth, it directly stretched the lower half of his head to more than twice its size.

The box, covered in disgusting white-green mucus, was casually thrown onto the table by him. Its design was extremely exquisite, like a jewelry box used by noble women. The box was locked by an old-fashioned small copper lock, and runes were engraved on the lock head, not knowing whether it was for sealing or anti-theft.

This wasn't over. After taking out the first box from his stomach, he immediately used the exact same method to take out two other identical boxes from his stomach and threw them onto the table.

After doing all this, he even wiped his mouth quite gentlemanly with a white handkerchief from the pocket hanging with medals on the outside, like a gentleman who had just finished a meal and was wiping his mouth:

"It's strange, you don't seem to find my actions strange at all. Aren't you curious about what I really am?"

The captain asked Xia De. Xia De held his stomach with one hand and said unceremoniously:

"If you took them out from below, I would probably find it strange. Stop talking nonsense; what are we gambling on this time?"

"Three boxes, two empty, one containing a bottle of Merman's Elixir of Immortality, which can keep one forever young. This is a treasure I obtained at sea before this ship was blessed by my master. Now tell me, where is the magic potion? If you guess right, the magic potion is yours; if you guess wrong, pick a dish and continue eating. This is the second round; if you lose, this dish can count as your initiation meal."

The evil spirits roared with laughter again, and Xia De felt that the girl behind him couldn't stand steadily because her hair brushed against his head.

"Forever young..."

"Yes, this is an ancient magic potion, very precious in any era."

The nine rings on the captain's fingers reflected the terrifying green light above:

"Swear in the name of my master, the bet will not be fake."

Xia De nodded and looked at the three boxes. This time it was a magic potion, not the strange tattoo just now, so "she" couldn't tell Xia De the answer either.

"Can you let me observe it up close?"

"Of course you can."

So the pirate who had just dueled with Xia De brought the three boxes over and placed them on the table in front of Xia De.

Xia De placed one hand on the table and looked at the captain:

"You didn't say I couldn't open the box to confirm just now, so I'll open the box to take a look before giving the answer; that doesn't count as violating the rules."

This was the inspiration Xia De got from the other party using rules to cheat.

The middle-aged pirate captain, who didn't know what he really was on the other end of the wooden table, laughed:

"It does indeed comply with the rules, but do you think I didn't think of that? If you aren't afraid of the curse on the box that is enough to harm the soul, you can try."

Xia De raised his hand and placed it on the middle box. The golden radiance on the cracked skin of his palm slightly illuminated the metal box underneath. Xia De looked up and said:

"It seems it's ineffective against me."

If the box was coated with poison that would kill upon touch, Xia De would be worried.

"You absolutely cannot open that lock; this is a lock made by a supernatural being from an era longer ago than the one I lived in, and it is also a treasure I plundered before this ship was bathed in divine grace."

The captain said again.

Xia De, who was so hungry he was seeing stars, and also had incomparably vast spirit in his body, stretched out his right index finger and tapped the lock.

Click~

The spell 【Key of the Gate】, although it sounded like its function was only "unlocking," was actually an extremely precious spell, because even a "maze" could be regarded as a kind of lock. Of course, in specific use, it was also limited by Xia De's own amount of spirit, his understanding of the lock, and the level of the ring sorcerer.

Under the current situation, this lock was no different from a tied noodle of Toby meat sauce noodles.

Xia De didn't wait for the captain to express other opinions and directly flipped open the box lid; the first one was empty. So he used the same method to open the one on his left hand side. In the small pure gold box, a flat glass bottle lay quietly, and inside the bottle was a magic potion with dreamy purple liquid.

Of course, to prevent the third box from having something, Xia De also opened the third box, and it was empty inside.

"My answer is, the magic potion is here."

Xia De said, reaching out to take the magic potion and stuffing it into his pocket. Although the other party's gambling duel was full of malice, at least they weren't despicable enough to poison the bottle. He didn't expect Xia De to be able to open the box so easily:

"I won the second round; what are we gambling on in the third round?"

Xia De spoke very quickly, not giving the other party a chance to refute.

"Good, I count the second round as your win."

The captain squinted his eyes and looked at Xia De, his mouth curling slightly, and then said.

He rested his right hand on the table and then waved his hand at the surrounding evil spirit sailors. Sheets of green light flew from them into the captain's hand, and then a full deck of cards appeared in the captain's hand:

"We'll play the card game of your era; if I remember correctly, you call it Luo De Pai (Note)."

The back was exactly the pattern of the Luo De Pai card back, and then he twisted the deck to separate the overlapping cards inside so Xia De could see the card faces. Each card came from the power of the evil spirits, so each card face was the true appearance of those monsters that were enough to drive people crazy.

Fifty-four cards, fifty-four different card faces. Xia De tried to find the card belonging to the captain among them, but the other party only showed it slightly and didn't give Xia De a chance to look carefully at all.

Xia De reached into his pocket and also took out his own deck.

He reached out and handed it to the evil spirit sailor sitting closest to him. The other party's right hand was an iron hook, and other than that, the entire lower body was like an octopus, constantly secreting disgusting mucus. Most of the black stains on the corner of the table came from this thing.

"Check it."

Xia De said.

"No need."

The captain said, reaching out to slap the deck of cards in his hand onto the table, and then pulled it gently, letting it be spread out evenly, presenting an arc shape in front of him.

He looked up at Xia De:

"As long as it's not discovered that you are cheating, it's not cheating. Let's play simply; each person draws nine cards from the deck, without opening the cards, perform three-three combinations. Choose the order of opening the cards yourself; nine cards mean three groups opened in sequence, and the one who wins more wins." ===== CHAPTER 333 =====