Chapter 118 One More Thing

It was 11:30 AM.

On the beach on the east side of Cannibal Island, fifty fully armed pirates were neatly divided into two columns, standing like a well-trained army.

In the middle of the two rows of columns was an open space about ten meters wide.

In the open space, there were three people. Two standing, one kneeling…

They were: the pirate captain Swade Howard Gray, the first mate Max Gray, and… the famous director, former pirate, James Francis Haimelong.

At this moment, four cameras, operated by four professional cameramen, were aimed at the three people from different angles.

"Tch… in the end, we can only record…" Graybeard stood there with a displeased expression, muttering to himself.

"If we want to broadcast live, we have to turn off the signal jamming device…" Max replied, "Now that our 'treasure' has been exposed, we must not let the outside world discover what is happening here… at least, not before we complete the transfer of our inventory…"

"Hmph… if you ask me… we should just rush into the island and take back the treasure… they only have a few people, a few guns… can they even hold it?" Graybeard said.

"They can't hold it, but the base's defense system can," Max said. "With that Gai Mao's ability, it's as easy as turning his hand to rewrite the system there. We'll become turtles in a jar as soon as we go in…" He sighed, "Besides, they're already monitoring the entire island. It's impossible for us to do any 'surprise attacks'."

"Are we just going to swallow this?" Graybeard said, "Are we really going to trade according to what that 'Carbon' said?"

"I'm afraid… that's all we can do…" Max said in a deep voice, "Actually… considering all the factors… his proposal isn't necessarily a bad one."

…………

Here's a brief explanation. The content of the deal proposed by Feng Bujue was: Graybeard could kill Haimelong, however he wanted, but he had to let go of the others on the Dolphin and the survivors on the island. And Jue-Ge would guarantee that he would "protect" Graybeard's "treasure" until the latter moved it away.

As for the specific operation method of this deal, Jue-Ge had already arranged it…

The two sides agreed that before 12:00 PM, Graybeard's side would recall all the pirates from the island and complete his "revenge ceremony."

At exactly 12:00 PM, the eighteen staff members on the island and Glamir, **, Bu Bo, Gai Mao… a total of twenty-two people, would return to the cruise ship.

Feng Bujue… would continue to stay in the pirate base.

After confirming that all remote communication equipment on the cruise ship (including what the passengers brought with them) had been destroyed, the pirates would dissolve the metal slurry on the stern and let the Dolphin sail away from Cannibal Island.

After that, both sides would sit tight and wait for two hours…

This time was not enough for the Dolphin to travel to any land or island, but it was enough for it to escape the pirates' pursuit.

That… was enough.

After those two hours passed, Feng Bujue would, as promised, disarm the base's defense system and welcome the pirates' arrival…

If this deal went smoothly, everyone on the Dolphin except Haimelong and Stephen Carbon (Feng Bujue) could be rescued, and the pirates would have enough time to transfer their "treasure." Because the Dolphin had lost its remote communication ability, it would be at least seven or eight hours before the ship docked and reported to the police… By that time, the pirates would have moved everything they could move (anti-gravity catapult technology is very common in this universe, and moving heavy objects is not a problem for the humans here).

From the result, this deal made Graybeard lose a mine, a large ransom, and four subordinates (he didn't really care about this). Fortunately, he could still take away a large amount of inventory and avoid further losses.

Most importantly… he completed his revenge.

On the other hand, most of the crew and the crew of the Dolphin could escape from danger and save their lives.

Overall, this was indeed a result that both sides could accept.

However… there was still a doubt that Max couldn't understand. That was—why did Stephen Carbon go to such lengths?

Obviously, this writer played the most crucial role in the whole incident. It was because he was willing to stay on the island, guarding the surveillance, and using the destruction of the inventory in the base as a bargaining chip… to supervise the pirates' actions, that the smooth progress of the entire transaction could be guaranteed.

He was like the protagonist Harry in *Armageddon* (directed by Michael Bay, released in 1998), willingly staying alone on the asteroid to go down with the "apocalypse."

Although Mr. Carbon would not be dramatically killed by a nuclear bomb, there was no doubt that his final fate was likely to be torn to pieces by Graybeard…

Max just couldn't understand why a person who claimed not to care about the lives of the hostages would make such a selfless act of saving people? Was he acting? But what was he acting? Was he playing the villain as a hero? Or playing the hero as a villain?

…………

"Hmph… so be it." Graybeard spat. "Life has its gains and losses. Today, my great revenge is avenged. I don't care about anything else."

"Heh…" Haimelong, kneeling on the beach, had a calm expression on his face. He smiled and said, "Your life is really sad, Swade…" He raised his head and glanced at Graybeard, "After you kill me, what will be left in your life…?"

"Ha! Seeing that your life is coming to an end, you're starting to get sentimental too?" Graybeard sneered. "James, I don't need you to worry about my life. When I went to sea at seventeen, I knew I wouldn't have a good end… I can tell you now that I will still drift at sea for the rest of my life, spend my time in wine, women, and wealth, and finally die a violent death… But in any case, I still have a son I'm proud of."

"Is that so… is that what you think…" Haimelong glanced at Max, "Forgive me for being blunt… you should blame and feel guilty for what he has become today, not proud. Your pride is a reflection of your stupidity and selfishness." Due to his injuries, his voice was lifeless, but the words he spoke… were still sonorous and powerful. "You have turned a genius who might have been remembered in history into someone like you… You have made his ending as tragic as yours…"

"Shut up!" Graybeard waved his right arm, and a piece of human flesh appeared on his iron hook.

Even with the flesh on his cheek scraped off, Haimelong only grunted. It seemed… he was already numb to the pain.

"On the verge of death… you still want to sow discord between us father and son? You despicable bastard…" Graybeard said, taking half a step back and drawing the saber from his waist.

It was a very gorgeous pirate scimitar. The hilt was wavy and bent to the end of the handle, connecting to form a curved handguard. The golden handle was decorated with bright rubies, and the sharp blade emitted a bright light in the sun after it was unsheathed.

"Everyone… everyone watching this video, listen to me…" Graybeard raised his scimitar with his left hand and said loudly to the camera lens, "This execution… has nothing to do with politics, justice, right and wrong, good and evil…" He paused, "Perhaps most of you think… this man kneeling on the ground is a good man, an upright man. He's a great director, a good father, a good husband… Heh… hahaha…" He laughed loudly, followed by a roar, "It doesn't matter!"

The shining scimitar was raised higher and higher, and Graybeard's figure limped to the side and behind Haimelong: "My pirate colleagues, as long as you can understand what I'm saying… today… I, Captain Graybeard, in the name of revenge, will kill the Caribbean Great White Shark!"

Whoosh—

The next second, the hand went up and the knife came down, and blood splattered five steps away.

Graybeard had been single for ten years, and his right hand was a hook, so his left arm strength didn't need to be described. This knife was clean and neat, and the head fell to the ground.

Because the knife was fast, the blood at Haimelong's neck spurted out all at once, and the scene was quite spectacular…

The two cameramen responsible for the front shot (both crew members of the ship, forcibly captured to film the execution) were so frightened that they fell to the ground, their faces pale.

"Haha… hahahaha…" Then, Graybeard laughed, laughing to the sky.

This laughter symbolized a release, a liberation… as if all his humiliation and hatred had vanished with the laughter.

There are countless stories describing revenge, but… the end of revenge is often destruction, not rebirth.

When the laughter stopped, only the person involved knew what was left.

…………

It was 11:45 AM, in the pirate base.

"Have you made up your mind? Stephen." Glamir was the last one to go out (the other twenty-one people had gathered and were waiting in the ravine outside). He looked at Feng Bujue, who was staying in the base, and asked with a solemn expression.

"Of course," Feng Bujue said. "Don't worry, although this plan is risky, it's not difficult to implement." He shrugged, "Besides… only in this way can everyone leave safely."

"Okay…" Glamir nodded and gave him a deep look. "Good luck."

"Heh… see you later," Feng Bujue replied.

As soon as the words fell, Glamir had turned around and walked out of the base.

A moment later, the team of twenty-two people set off towards the beach…

And Jue-Ge, who stayed in the base, leisurely walked to a table and put the props on the table into a backpack one by one.

"Very good… they left me all the props in my inventory before they left, and they even gave me a bag. That's really righteous." He muttered to himself, "Judging from the surveillance… there's some Juese ore (in this universe, Juese ore is similar to coal mines, and many people can recognize it. Jue-Ge had just asked someone how to recognize it) nearby. I can take some time to dig a piece down later… that way, there's only one last item left in the challenge…"