Pirates

Bzzzt.

The sound of unstable current crackled overhead.

Following that, several dim emergency lights flickered on along the restaurant walls and ceiling.

The emergency lights weren't bright, barely managing to dispel some of the darkness.

The moment the light returned, most people's eyes instinctively focused on the direction where the scream had come from.

Near the inner wall of the restaurant, beside a table against the wall.

A well-dressed middle-aged man sat slumped in a chair in an extremely unnatural posture, his head lolling forward until it nearly touched his chest.

Thick, dark red blood was gushing from a wound on his head, flowing along his hair and cheeks, soaking his collar before dripping onto the dark carpet by his feet, spreading into an ominous pool of red.

The moment they saw the corpse, the crowd erupted into a fresh wave of chaos and clamor.

Yue Shi held his wine glass, his gaze calmly sweeping over the deceased.

From the time the lights went out to when the emergency lights came on, it had been a minute at most.

Before the lights went out, this man had been dining and laughing with his companions, which meant his death occurred during that brief period of darkness.

The issue was that the deceased was not alone.

Two men and one woman had been dining with him, and the shock, terror, and confusion on their faces right now were incredibly real, seemingly impossible to fake.

Although it was dark when the power failed, it wasn't so pitch-black that one couldn't see their hand in front of their face. Moreover, the companions were very close to the victim. No matter how fast the killer was, it should have been difficult to avoid notice entirely, especially with such a brutal method of killing via a massive head injury.

Yet now, the three companions looked completely bewildered, as if they hadn't noticed the killer at all.

“How could this happen? What should we do?” A young man with glasses among the three asked with a trembling voice, instinctively seeking help from a more composed companion beside him.

The composed companion's face was also extremely grim, but he managed to maintain his reason. He stared intently at the corpse, then looked warily at the chaotic crowd around them, lowering his voice. “Wait.”

“An entertainment ship like this must have security. Wait for them to handle it. We aren't the killers; we just need to watch from the side. Don't panic. In a situation like this, running around blindly only makes you more suspicious...”

He was calm, but others were not.

“Someone actually died. Let's get out of here. This is bad luck.”

“Let me out! I don't want to stay here; it's not safe!”

“To think I'd run into something like this while coming here for fun. I'm never coming back.”

More guests—especially those further from the victim's table who hadn't smelled the blood earlier—wanted to leave as soon as they saw the grisly scene.

They hurried toward the exit, the staircase leading to the lobby below.

The restaurant became even more chaotic as tables and chairs were knocked over in the rush.

However, the force operating an entertainment industry in these waters naturally possessed the means to maintain order.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three deafening gunshots suddenly rang out above the staircase.

The bullets hit the ceiling, sending a shower of dust down.

The guests who had just reached the stairs were scared out of their wits, immediately scrambling back and diving into any available seat.

Immediately after, a team of fully armed security personnel rushed up from the stairs, weapons drawn and movements professional.

Leading them was a tall, ruddy-faced middle-aged man with a gun in his hand and a blade at his waist. His sharp eyes instantly took control of the situation.

“Captain Colt, thank goodness you're here.”

The waiter who had been desperately apologizing earlier rushed out from a corner like he had seen a savior, his voice carrying a hint of a sob.

Colt's eyes were like lightning as they swept across the chaotic restaurant, eventually settling on the prominent corpse in the distance.

“What happened?”

“Weren't we told it was just a circuit issue? Why is there suddenly a dead body?”

He gestured for two of his men to immediately inspect the corpse while he listened to the waiter's report.

At the same time, he signaled his other team members to spread out quickly, forming a semi-circle to subtly control the movement of every guest in the restaurant.

After hearing the waiter's report, Colt's gaze slowly scanned everyone present.

“Ladies and gentlemen, since a life has been lost here, for the sake of finding the killer and for everyone's safety, I'm afraid I must ask you to wait here for a moment and cooperate with the investigation.”

“I imagine no one wants to stay on the same ship as such a brutal murderer, right?”

His words were firm, but they were on his territory and he held the weapons. Most guests, no matter how reluctant, could only fall silent, suppressing their resentment and remaining in place with uneasy composure.

Just then, one of the two security guards inspecting the corpse stood up, his face extremely pale. He turned and said, “Captain, there's something wrong with this guy!”

Colt's eyes sharpened. “You lot, guard the stairs. No one enters or leaves without my command.”

“If anyone tries to force their way through, detain them as a suspect immediately.”

After giving the orders, he strode toward the corpse, pulling a high-powered flashlight from his belt.

The harsh white beam illuminated the victim's head, exposing the horrific wound.

The sound of collective gasps filled the air.

A large hole had been carved right into the man's skull cap!

The edges of the wound weren't neat like they would be from a sharp blade; it looked more like it had been hammered open by some kind of blunt instrument.

Even more terrifyingly, the hole was empty.

The brain tissue was gone.

“This...”

Even for someone like Colt, who was used to bloody scenes, his brow furrowed tightly.

“The victim's skull looks like it was chiseled open by something to take the brain tissue. This is bizarre.”

“It's almost impossible for an ordinary person to do this without making a massive sound, especially in the relatively quiet environment we just had.”

Yue Shi also saw the wound on the corpse's head. To be able to silently pry open a skull and remove the brain in such a short time... the killer was likely not an ordinary person.

A transcendent? Or some kind of non-human creature?

The sea was truly interesting.

Colt had clearly realized this as well.

He stared into the empty cranial cavity, his face grim.

A murder like this on an entertainment ship was terrible for business.

“Everyone, stay—” Colt was about to give another order to maintain order and calm the crowd.

Right then.

“Screech!”

A sharp hiss suddenly rang out from the dark corner of the restaurant.

Immediately after, a small, pitch-black figure tore through the air like a cannonball, lunging toward Colt's back with a foul, fishy stench.

“Watch out!” a sharp-eyed security guard shrieked.

Colt's reaction was incredibly fast. Without even turning around, he lunged forward and to the side based on the sound of the wind and intuition alone, shouting, “Everyone, get back!”

The long blade at his waist unsheathed, carving a brilliant arc under the emergency lights as it slashed diagonally at the black shadow.

Clang!

The sound of metal clashing rang in everyone's ears, and a shower of sparks erupted where the blade met the shadow.

Only then did the nearby people finally see the shadow's true form.

It was a monster that looked remarkably like a human infant!

It was entirely pitch black, its skin smooth and covered in mucus that reflected an unsettling, oily sheen.

Its limbs were short and thick but exceptionally sturdy, ending in sharp claws.

Most horrifyingly, its head had no eyes or nose—only a massive, bloody, petal-shaped mouth. As it opened and closed, it revealed rows upon rows of sharp teeth, thick saliva, and blurred fragments that looked suspiciously like brain tissue.

“How ugly,” Yue Shi muttered under his breath.

By now, Colt was locked in combat with the monster.

The monster's strength wasn't overwhelming; several times it tried to pounce and bite, only to be knocked back by Colt's blade.

However, it was incredibly fast, possessed high defense, and its movements were bizarre and unpredictable—sometimes darting along the ground, other times springing into the air.

That slimy, black skin was very tough. Colt's heavy strikes only managed to knock it away, leaving shallow scratches on its surface without causing a fatal wound.

“This could go on for a while,” a guest who knew a bit about combat said with a worried expression.

“Don't worry, he's not the only security guard here,” another person tried to console him, though their voice lacked conviction.

Although the other security guards were nervously aiming their guns, the monster was tangled too closely with Colt. With their figures constantly overlapping, they didn't dare fire for fear of hitting their captain or the guests.

“Actually, rather than the fight, I'm more concerned about where this monster came from.”

“How could something like this be on a maritime entertainment ship? It couldn't have appeared out of thin air, right?”

A calm voice rang out. It was the composed companion from the victim's table. His face was still pale, but his eyes were fixed on the corner where the monster had first emerged.

This realization struck the crowd, and a deeper chill crawled up their spines.

Did this monster have others of its kind?

Were there more monsters hiding in the shadows?

Some terrified guests had already made up their minds never to set foot on this ship again.

Among the guests, some were not ordinary people but possessed supernatural powers. However, like Yue Shi, they were just watching the spectacle and had no intention of helping.

In the center, Colt's eyes grew sharper as the battle dragged on.

He seemed to have grasped some of the monster's attack patterns. After a clever side-step, his blade light suddenly became ethereal and treacherous, lungeing upward from a cunning angle toward the monster's relatively fragile abdomen.

The timing, angle, and power of this strike were perfect. It looked as though he was about to disembowel the creature.

At that critical moment.

Whoosh!

A tentacle covered in suckers and mucus shot out without warning from behind a large decorative potted plant on the other side of the restaurant.

The tentacle was so fast it was a mere blur as it lashed out at Colt's blade.

With a muffled thud, the long blade was knocked aside by immense force.

Colt's arm went numb, his momentum broken.

Seizing the opportunity, the monster let out a sharp hiss and stopped attacking Colt. Instead, it scrambled toward the crowd on all fours with incredible speed.

The crowd erupted in screams and pushed against each other to clear a path.

The monster ignored the guests, crawling straight toward the potted plant.

There was someone behind the plant.

Under the horrified gazes of everyone present, the monster climbed up the person's leg, scurrying nimbly up his body until it settled on his raised arm. It rubbed against him like a pet before settling down quietly.

The restaurant fell into a deathly silence.

The man holding the monster slowly stepped out from behind the plant and lifted his head.

Under the dim light, his cheeks and eye sockets were deeply sunken, leaving only a layer of skin clinging to his bones—a sickly, skeletal appearance.

However, his eyes were unnaturally bright and excited. He wore a stiff, exaggerated smile that sent shivers down everyone's spine.

“My baby was hungry. I wanted to find it something to eat, but I didn't expect a few little accidents. Please don't mind us.”

As he spoke, his gaze drifted lightly over the brainless corpse nearby, then scanned the terrified, pale-faced guests. His smile grew even wider.

“My apologies for frightening you all.” The man tilted his head slightly, his tone sounding genuinely apologetic.

With that, he began to unbutton his coat with his free hand, his movements calm and unhurried.

The surrounding security personnel were already on high alert, their muzzles locked onto him. Captain Colt's blade was held horizontally in front of him, every muscle in his body tense.

The man finished unbuttoning and casually pulled his coat open, revealing a lean, gaunt chest.

Everyone's eyes focused on his chest.

There, on the skin of his chest, was a terrifying Ghost Face tattoo.

Bluish-black lines outlined hideous features, with a ghost's mouth stretching to its ears, filled with sharp, interlocking fangs.

The ghost face seemed to writhe slightly under the emergency lights as if it had a life of its own. Its mouth opened and closed silently, as if it couldn't wait to tear free from the skin and devour everything in sight.

“Hah, what arrogance!”

“I don't care what kind of freak you are, you dare run wild here?!”

“Wait...”

Captain Colt barked out a laugh of rage, but when his cold gaze landed on the Ghost Face tattoo on the man's chest, his anger and killing intent suddenly froze.

Then, his pupils constricted sharply, and the hand gripping his sword hilt began to tremble.

“The... the Ghost Face Pirates?”

Among the security personnel, a younger guard stared intently at the Ghost Face tattoo, the color draining from his face as his lips quivered.

With a clatter, the gun in his hand fell to the floor—he couldn't even hold his weapon anymore. Then, as if his courage had completely shattered, he turned and scrambled away.

Captain Colt didn't shout or stop his subordinate's desertion.

His own face had turned extremely grim, his eyes heavy as he seemed to be rapidly weighing his options.

Beside Yue Shi, the pickpocket who had been watching the spectacle now had a face whiter than a corpse.

“To think I'd run into the Ghost Face Pirates here?”

“It's over, it's all over. I have to get out of here, the further the better!”

His voice was hushed, but Yue Shi heard it perfectly.

Yue Shi turned his head and glanced at the thief, asking curiously, “The Ghost Face Pirates? Are they very powerful?”

The pickpocket blinked. “You don't even know that?”

“How about this? Give me my money back, and I'll tell you everything I know.”

Yue Shi casually handed him a handful of gold coins.

The pickpocket reached out and took them immediately. With a single glance, he saw that the returned gold coins were far more than what he had lost.