Chapter 15 That Which Must Be Done

Never mind that the title skill [Must Dodge (Trying My Best Type)]'s effect was slightly lousy; strictly speaking, it was still a "law of causality skill," and its activation didn't involve any external energy or obvious special effects. After the Viking fell, at least among the NPCs present, no one could see the problem.

Thus, the players successfully fooled them…

At this point, they had completed two of the three side quests they had received. The remaining quest, [Help Blackbeard Find His Old Crew on Jumo Island], undoubtedly had to wait until they landed on the island.

…………

It was dusk when the boxing match was not yet over.

After the fight, the setting sun was about to disappear.

However, when sailing at sea, there was no such thing as "sleeping at night."

The Sea of Chaos was like a fickle mistress; whether day or night, you had to be vigilant and ready to deal with her various moods, or you would pay a painful price.

Therefore, even as night fell, the pirates only slightly slowed their speed; other than that, things were basically the same as during the day.

And so… the Queen Anne's Revenge continued to move forward in the night.

The calm night and gentle waves made it difficult to feel the passage of time.

But the experienced sailors all felt the surging undercurrents from this tranquility…

…………

As the night deepened, the visibility on the sea became even better than in the evening.

At some point, a blood moon had risen high in the night sky, reflecting the black ocean into a crimson red.

Feng Bujue and Honghu had both seen this celestial phenomenon before, and they knew… it meant they were not far from their destination.

"Guys! I can already see the shadow of the island!" Soon, a shout came from the crow's nest, verifying their thoughts.

The lookout was no longer the same person as in the daytime, after all… those in this position could hardly rest, so they had to find several people to take shifts.

The current lookout's shout was also very loud, and he obviously possessed some special ability related to "sound," as his shout could penetrate the entire ship, allowing everyone on board to hear it.

Squeak—

Ten seconds after the shout, the door to the captain's cabin opened.

Blackbeard walked out with his invisible pressure, heading toward the helm with a solemn face.

As he passed by an officer, he took the telescope from the other party's hand with a very natural movement.

"Lower the sails, slow down." Then, Blackbeard gave a new order in a voice that the sailors on deck could hear.

Before his voice faded, the pirates were busily working in an orderly manner amidst the commands.

Feng Bujue and the other two, as "guests," didn't have to participate in these tasks—after all, they didn't know how to operate such a large, multi-masted sailing ship.

So, the three, with nothing to do, simply gathered at the bow, using their extraordinary eyesight to look into the distance with their naked eyes.

"Indeed… the terrain has changed a lot." Honghu was, after all, a player who played archer; an S-grade marksmanship specialization gave him vision that was even more useful than a telescope at times, and he could already see the trees on the island.

"Heh… after our last 'tour,' it's only natural that it's unrecognizable." Feng Bujue replied, quite pleased with himself.

Snow originally wanted to retort, "Are you guys monsters? How can taking a stroll change the terrain?" but he thought about the fate of the Brown Algae… and chose to swallow the words back, instead saying, "Can I understand that your previous 'experience' here will be of little use in this script?"

"It should be." Honghu replied, "Jumo Island is originally a 'place of exile,' a place similar to a 'prison.' But before we left last time, the chief designer of this island, or rather, the 'prison warden,' had already received his lunchbox… Given this premise, and the fact that an unknown number of years have passed in the main universe, it's really hard for us to judge what the situation is on the island now."

"I can be sure of one thing, though." Unexpectedly, Brother Jue added something quite surprising at this time.

"Oh?" Honghu asked doubtfully, "Could it be that you've been here again since that team nightmare scenario?"

"No, I haven't." Feng Bujue replied, "It's just…" He raised a hand and pointed to the blood moon in the sky without looking back, "That… you should have seen it quite a few times, right?"

"You mean… the blood moon?" Honghu continued.

"That's right." Brother Jue nodded.

"Hmm…" Honghu murmured thoughtfully, "Indeed… I've seen blood moons in many scripts, and those scripts seem to have all taken place in the main universe." He paused, looking at Brother Jue, "I've long suspected that there's some connection between them, but I've never had the chance to solve this mystery…"

Saying this, he looked at Feng Bujue with a questioning look.

Seeing this, Brother Jue smiled slightly, shrugged, and replied, "Actually, it's not much of a mystery. The truth is… wherever a blood moon appears, it means that the forces of the Phantasmal Demon Church are active in that area."

"Oh!" Honghu, upon hearing those four words, revealed a look of sudden realization, "So it's the Phantasmal Demon Church! Hi… so the blood moon is…" He didn't continue, but rather, propped his chin up and moved his eyes quickly…

It seemed that the key information Feng Bujue had given him had helped Honghu solve a series of problems, and he needed some time to piece together many fragmented clues in his mind.

Brother Jue and Snow were both smart people; they knew what Honghu's reaction meant, so neither of them disturbed him, but rather, waited quietly.

About three minutes later, Honghu smiled awkwardly and spoke again, "Sorry… my brain is a little slow."

"It's okay." Feng Bujue immediately added a compliment that was very characteristic of him, "In this day and age, having a 'brain' is already a rare thing; it's meaningless to be too demanding about the speed."

The moment these words entered his ears, Honghu narrowed his eyes in a familiar way and glanced sideways at Brother Jue, "You know… every contact with you is a good opportunity to examine how much I've grown."

"Heh… that faint irritability and impulse, and the state of mind that suppresses it, reminds you that you're more mature than before, right?" Feng Bujue summarized quite accurately.

"Why don't we talk about the Phantasmal Demon Church?" Honghu didn't plan to continue the topic with the other party.

"Sure." Feng Bujue said, "I can roughly be considered one of the top three figures in this organization, so feel free to ask me anything you don't understand, and I'll selectively answer you based on my mood and the value of the information."

"[Beep—]" The next second, a censored sound came from Honghu's mouth, apparently indicating that an emotional outburst had produced some inappropriate exclamatory particles.

"What's wrong? Is that church very powerful?" Snow, unaware of the inside story, saw Honghu's loss of composure and asked curiously.

"The Phantasmal Demon Church is a secret society in the main universe created by three 'world-class elites' whose strength is second only to the Four Pillar Gods; the number of its believers, specific goals, overall combat strength, and so on are all unknown…" Honghu explained, "According to the information released by the authorities, as well as some player summaries and speculations on the forums… those three leaders should be Samodir, Tariom, and Soulreaver."

"Soulreaver has already been killed." Feng Bujue interjected appropriately from the side.

"And then you took over, right?" Honghu turned his head to look at Brother Jue and replied.

"No." Feng Bujue spread his hands, "I got involved before he was killed, uh… it was during the S2 preliminaries… intervened through Samodir's connections; but… the preliminaries didn't have public recordings at that time, so not many people know about this."

"How many hidden identities do you actually have… and how many high-level beings in the main universe do you have connections with… speaking of which… you can even mobilize the Fighting Demon… what's going on?" Honghu adjusted his glasses and asked a series of questions that were close to complaining—he also knew that people wouldn't easily reveal such information.

However, Feng Bujue was an unpredictable person.

At this moment, Brother Jue actually responded in a very relaxed tone, "If you ask me that…" He paused for half a second, and continued, "To put it bluntly… all the high-level forces in the main universe now, except for the 'Fighting Demon' and 'Blackbeard,' are basically my little [beep]s."