Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong nodded.

Tang Estanba Catalina, the female pirate who shares her name with the legendary Earth pirate—how could he not know her? Precisely because of this, people once believed this female pirate was actually an Invoker, but to this day, no one has truly seen her real face.

This mystery was thus passed down from generation to generation, making her one of the most renowned figures in the community. Along with Dolifen’s Phantom Realm, Ghost Sea Area, and the Phantom Song of Giant Tree Hill, she was named one of Eteliria’s four unsolved mysteries.

Of course, nowadays these four unsolved mysteries had been reduced to three. The person who had solved one of the mysteries now sat here, shyly like a child.

The old captain also nodded, then went on to introduce another famous pirate force of the Cloud Sea—the Blood Shark Pirates, which was a major nuisance on the seas of Colin Ishurian. However, the upper nobles of the Kingdom mostly avoided discussing the origins of these pirates.

Certainly, the old man had no such reservations, speaking freely and even cursing the former king, which made Fang Hong realize that this group of pirates had started as privateer pirates. Over time, due to certain issues, they had fallen out with the Kingdom and established their own faction at sea.

”In this sea area, you’re bound to deal with the Blood Shark Pirates,” the old captain muttered, chewing on his tobacco leaves and answering indistinctly, ”But fortunately, they are nowhere near as formidable as the Pale Pirates. If you are well-prepared, these people mostly won’t be able to take advantage of you.”

Subsequently, he seemed reluctant to talk more about pirates—in fact, Fang Hong later realized, who among those making a living at sea was willing to discuss these bloodthirsty fellows? Who didn’t have a few friends or family members who had suffered at their hands?

The old man’s willingness to discuss these matters with him was indeed a special favor, a passing on of knowledge and values.

After changing the subject, the group told him many strange and unusual tales of the sea, some of which Fang Hong had heard, but most were beyond his knowledge.

It made him reflect—sometimes it is said that seeing is better than hearing a hundred times, and indeed it was so. You wouldn’t understand this world until you’d visit it yourself; solely based on descriptions from the community, your understanding would be but a tiny fraction of the whole.

This night proved fruitful for Fang Hong.

Perhaps knowing they would be leaving, influenced by Princess Briana’s instructions, the group opened up and shared a lot with him.

But the night gradually deepened, and the gathering eventually reached its end.

When the party ended and everyone was returning to their own tents, Fang Hong, somewhat sheepishly, caught up with Hilveld and said, ”Miss Hilveld, about what Mister Buster said earlier, don’t take it to heart...”

Buster was the old captain’s name. Hearing Fang Hong’s words, Hilveld smiled in the rain and blinked mischievously, ”Which words?”

”Just...”

”Did those words make Lord Captain uncomfortable?”

”No, it’s just...”

”Is it that Lord Captain already has someone else he likes?”

Upon hearing this, Fang Hong opened his mouth wide in surprise.

”Looks like I guessed right,” Hilveld smiled faintly, ”Don’t worry, I haven’t fallen for Lord Captain yet, but—”

”But?”

”But if you put in a bit more effort, Lord Captain might still have a chance.” She winked playfully, left behind a charming smile, and slowly walked into the curtain of rain.

Fang Hong was left standing alone in the rain, stunned. He turned his head and saw two young girls giggling nearby, just like two little sparrows.

”Gugu,” Tianlan even gestured at him, ”The pigeon has flown away, has Brother Ade been dumped?”

Gita was also squinting and smiling, but her face was flushed and she remained silent.

”Go to sleep early, you two little girls,” Fang Hong said unamusedly.

The two young girls giggled and ran off.

Unexpectedly, a tall Lion Person emerged from the tent, lifting the curtain and looking at him silently, patting his shoulder with a consoling expression, ”Don’t worry,” he said, squinting, ”Little guy, you still have a chance, don’t you?”

”Mr. Reed, why are you also joining them in their nonsense,” Fang Hong responded irritably, ”I’m not worried about that issue.”

”Oh, then what are you worried about?” Big Cat’s silver eyes conveyed a teasing tone, making Fang Hong feel somewhat guilty.

Yet in his heart, he didn’t know why, since it wasn’t really that way, but Miss Hilveld’s words still left him feeling somewhat lost and puzzled.

He involuntarily glanced at the back of his right hand—although it was a dark, metallic shell, reflecting a cold light in the rain, beyond that, there was nothing to be seen.

”What worries me is the situation on the road.”

”Oh?”

”I heard from Princess Briana about the terrain at the southern foot of the Green Dragon Mountain Range; I fear that the incessant rain could cause flash floods there, making our journey quite difficult.”

”That is indeed a problem,” the Lion People wiped his pipe and responded, ”but that’s what adventure is all about, young fella. It’s not a picnic, and it’s impossible to keep your boots clean. But don’t worry, the wind will tell us everything, how to avoid difficulties, and reach our destination.”

”How will the wind tell us everything?”

In his own tent, Fang Hong asked Miss Tata this question.

Their treatment on the ship was of a high standard, with each person having their private tent and hammock, but this didn’t mean the conditions were any better, the air was damp, as if making everything moist.

Clothes clung sticky to their bodies, and there was nowhere to change, as all other clothing was hardly any different. Everything felt as though it was soaked in water in this endless rainy season, suffocating.

As Fang Hong asked, he broke off a small piece of biscuit for Miss Fairy, who serenely took the biscuit with both hands, sniffed it, then set it aside.

Even Dragon Soul wouldn’t willingly eat moldy biscuits.

Seeing this, Fang Hong scratched his head: ”Can’t help it, most of the food has gone moldy with all this rotten weather after being on the ship for over a week; these biscuits are among the better preserved ones. Once we’re in town, I’ll definitely get some fresh food.”

Miss Tata looked up at him: ”Actually, I don’t need to eat, Mr. Knight.”

But Fang Hong shook his head: ”But you’ve gotten used to it, haven’t you? I like watching you eat.”

Miss Fairy paused slightly, silent, not objecting.

In this damp world, neither of them could sleep. Fang Hong hung in his hammock, like a cocooning inchworm, silently staring at the dark roof of the tent when he suddenly asked, ”Is there any news in the community?”

It turns out, once a person slacks off once, they tend to become lazier and lazier.

Since Fang Hong discovered that Miss Fairy could access information from the community and was much better at gathering and analyzing intelligence than he was, he handed over that task to her, and he himself was increasingly neglecting to browse the community for intelligence.

Actually, this was inevitable, which is why professional Invokers rarely logged into the community like ordinary Invokers and fans; they always felt there was not enough time.

In fact, these days Fang Hong often felt that there was not enough time, too many things needed to be done. If not for the need to eat and sleep, he would have been glad to spend all 24 hours learning and crafting.

Upon hearing his question, Miss Tata calmly responded, ”I have perceived some anomalies in the community recently, but I need to observe a bit longer to confirm.”

”Anomalies?”

”I feel that the ’topics’ on the community have noticeably decreased recently, but I’m not sure if it’s just my perception.”

”Decreased?”

Fang Hong was startled, quickly sitting upright and opened the community. Unlike Miss Fairy, who couldn’t be sure because she had relatively less time on the community, Fang Hong had been soaking in the community almost daily before coming to this world.

Upon checking, he understood where the problem lay.

The community had entered a controlled state.

He vaguely remembered, six years ago, he had experienced a similar situation on the community, which seemed to be due to the problem of Stowaways. Could it be the same this time? The thought nearly made Fang Hong’s hair stand on end.

It was then that he realized the trouble he had caused might be quite serious, but just when he was at his wits’ end, he suddenly noticed that there were replies in his mailbox.

Fang Hong instinctively withdrew his hand, but suddenly paused, his eyes slightly widening:

”So many replies?”

”Eh,” he had just clicked open, suddenly widening his eyes with a surprised expression: ”Miss Sicape!?”

...