The Great Thief

Since this was a game, fixing a ship wasn’t as troublesome as it would be in real life. Elvis did some knocking around with his few apprentices for a few dozen minutes before the ship was fixed.

”This ship is so pretty!” Hachi Chan exclaimed as she pounced onto it and refused to leave.

It was no wonder why she liked the ship so much. Elvis was clearly a perfectionist – the ship was now a piece of art.

Lu Li’s biased opinion towards Elvis had been shook once again.

Although what he did was a heavy and dirty job, his appearance was tidy. He wasn’t greedy – he had perfected the broken ship to this extent, but only charged 130 gold. This was definitely only the cost price of the materials. He was skilled as well – Lu Li noticed that his apprentices showed great respect to him.

It was hard to imagine why such a well-mannered artisan would be a gambler who hid from his debts.

Was there a story hidden in the dark? Perhaps players from Lu Li’s previous life had misunderstood the quest.

With this confusion in mind, Lu Li paid the sum and left the dock.

He still needed Hachi Chan to heal him, so he agreed to take this curious little girl to save the princess in return for her service.

”Why isn’t it a prince that’s saving her?” Clearly, she had been reading too many fairytales.

”You should be the one captured by an evil dragon, waiting for the prince to come and save you,” Lu Li said in annoyance. When his sister was young, she often nagged him to tell her bedtime stories, so Lu Li was quite familiar with these.

”Never mind then. I honestly don’t understand why the dragons don’t eat the princesses, but instead lock them up in castles so someone can save them,” Hachi Chan said.

When they arrived at the meet up point, they found that Laugh Into the Heavens had already been waiting there.

”Seems like the single eyed pirate didn’t go to the toilet. You’ve got the telescope, right?” Lu Li asked after briefly introducing Hachi Chan.

”I got it.” Laugh Into the Heavens nodded and was enlightened by Lu Li’s words. ”So he’s a pirate – no wonder why he sold telescopes. If I report him to the general hall, would there be a bounty for him?”

”Pirates are bad people, right?” Hachi Chan said as she nodded her head quickly. ”Let the policemen catch him.”

”That’s enough of the silly talk,” Lu Li interrupted. ”He’s a character that sells products that pirates loot. Players can buy goods that the system doesn’t sell. Why would you report him when he provides so many benefits? Even if you reported him, pirates would send out others to sell the items. It won’t be easy to find them again next time.”

”Such a small ship. Can we sail in this?” Laugh Into the Heavens watched as Lu Li placed the ship into the waters. This wasn’t as bad as a raft, but it was better to set sail with a big ship like the pirates.

”Take this. Llet’s go.” Lu Li tossed a bottle at him and pushed the ship into the water.

He didn’t know how to paddle in real life, but since this was a game, he only had to look like he was paddling. The ship moved in the direction of the paddle and the sail.

Laugh Into the Heavens looked at what Lu Li had tossed to him and was at a loss. It was an Underwater Breathing Potion. What was the point of this item? Even if you went into the water, the monsters nearby would instantly shred you into pieces.

It seemed as if Hachi Chan rarely went sailing – she was very happy and jumped around a lot.

She wasn’t the least concerned about the chances of the ship being sunk.

”We’re not going too deep into the ocean. What could possibly happen? Use your telescope to find the island; I’ll look after the directions of the ship,” Lu Li instructed as he controlled the ship, trying not to steer too far away from the shore.

Although Lu Li was in a hurry to upgrade his ring, he had taken up a deal, so he had to search patiently.

The search ended after two hours of finding nothing.

”What are you two looking for?” No matter how interesting the quest sounded, it had lost its fun after two hours. Hachi Chan finally stopped jumping around.

”An island.” Lu Li hesitated for a bit then suggested that Laugh Into the Heavens t show the slip to Hachi Chan. After all, she was good at quest. Perhaps she could solve the situation.

Hachi Chan took the slip and looked at it for some time. It was rare to see so much concentration on her face. After some time, she pointed in a direction and said, ”Try there.”

Lu Li and Laugh Into the Heavens followed her request.

Laugh Into the Heavens wasn’t too sure about trusting Hachi Chan – this little girl didn’t seem reliable at all. However, Lu Li nodded his head and pulled the sails, steering the ship towards the direction that Hachi Chan had pointed in.

The surface of the sea was filled with mist, which greatly impacted their vision. Even the telescope wasn’t of much use.

However, this wasn’t a quest that could wait until the weather was better.

Dawn’s quests had always been like this. If the quest wasn’t triggered, the Gnome princess could stay there for months and nothing would happen to her. However, once the quest was accepted and you arrived too late, the gorilla may have already cooked the princess.

Although they didn’t find anything at first, after half-an-hour, Laugh Into the Heavens jumped in excitement with the telescope in his hands. He pointed in a direction along the surface of the sea like a madman.

”Look, over there!”

Lu Li and Hachi Chan turned in the direction that he pointed but they saw nothing.

Without the telescope, there was only so much that they could see. The ship sailed for a little longer and the black outline of an island began to appear on the horizon.

They were located about three to four thousand yards away from the shore and the air was thick with moisture. Lu Li had passed by this location before, but they didn’t venture out far enough to see the island. Laugh Into the Heavens also wasn’t paying much attention.

”This is all me,” Hachi Chan reminded after seeing that the two men were too busy being happy. They didn’t even bother to thank her.

”Yup, yup, yup, all you. I’ll buy you a lollipop when we get back,” Lu Li replied without much care in his voice.

He thought that this was unfair. He had analyzed the situation again and again with Laugh Into the Heavens, looked around together for more than two hours and found nothing. Then, this little girl — a little girl who was dumb – only took half-an-hour to find it.

Laugh Into the Heavens was truly grateful to Hachi Chan; he almost thought that he was going to fail the quest.

He complimented her in different ways and promised her great things to finally satisfy her. Laugh Into the Heavens then looked at Lu Li and asked, ”What now? Do we directly approach it?”

”Wait for a bit first. After we reach the shore, I’ll go and scout around. You can wait on the ship for a bit with Hachi Chan,” Lu Li said as he began to slowly steer the ship towards the island.

There were some reefs around the island, but fortunately, their ship was quite small. Otherwise, it would have been difficult for them to approach the island.