Chapter 21: A Dilemma
After leaving Duanmu Ling’s room, Qi Xiao took a shortcut to the deck Jiang Luori had mentioned.
Boop—
Qi Xiao stopped in his tracks. What was that sound?
Boop boop—
Boop boop boop—
Qi Xiao followed the sound to a corner and saw a pure white creature perched on a wooden barrel. The creature was round and completely transparent, just like a bubble.
A bubble with facial features. At this moment, the creature’s mouth was opening and closing, making a “boop boop” sound.
Qi Xiao was a bit stunned.
An illusion?
He reached out and touched the creature. It let out a “boop” and leaned its entire body against his hand. The creature was cold and slippery to the touch, but not disgusting.
Qi Xiao was reminded of the jelly from his past life.
Ah, my boyish heart is melting. This sea had all sorts of strange creatures, like the sea monster fish, so it wasn’t surprising to find such a cute one, right? Thinking this, Qi Xiao took a biscuit from his bag and placed it in front of the creature.
“Sorry, I have something urgent to attend to right now. I’ll come back to see you later.” With that, Qi Xiao patted the creature and hurried away.
“Boop—”
After Qi Xiao left, the creature leaped into the sea and vanished without a trace.
When Qi Xiao arrived at the deck, he saw that many people had already gathered.
He pushed through the crowd and leaned over the railing to look down. He saw several black shadows swimming slowly in the sea beside the ship. The shadows were shaped like fish, but it was impossible for fish to be that large, so he wasn’t sure what they were.
The black shadows were constantly ramming into the hull of the ship. The magnificent main warship was even being rocked by them, a testament to their immense strength.
“The main warship is already shaking like this,” Shen Linye said to Qi Xiao. “How can the other smaller boats withstand such an impact? Setting aside whether they’ll sink, I’m afraid the ships will be damaged.”
“Did anyone go down to investigate just now?” Qi Xiao asked.
The atmosphere suddenly fell silent.
“Bring it up for General Qi to see,” Shen Linye said.
Several men carried up a stretcher, on which lay a person covered by a white cloth. It looked like a corpse.
Qi Xiao pulled back the white cloth. It was indeed a corpse, but it was only the upper half! There was a large hole at the waist, dripping with blood, with intestines and other organs hanging out, on the verge of falling. The thick smell of blood made many people cover their noses and mouths, some even feeling the urge to vomit.
“The small boat was completely destroyed,” Shen Linye said. “We only managed to retrieve this much.”
The rest of the remains were in the monster’s stomach.
“In the process of retrieving the body, we managed to get a glimpse of the black shadows. They are a type of very large fish.”
Qi Xiao was reminded of the remains of the sea monster fish that he and Fu Yunzhi had found not far away.
Just then, Fu Yunzhi also arrived. Seeing him, Qi Xiao nonchalantly covered the body with the white cloth again.
After understanding the situation, Fu Yunzhi asked Shen Linye, “Can you describe the fish in detail?”
“The fish is dark gray all over, with a white belly and a hard, sharp dorsal fin,” Shen Linye said. “When it attacks, it spreads its two fins and swings its tail.”
Someone added, “And its mouth is really big! When it opens its bloody maw, you can see rows and rows of serrated teeth. It’s terrifying!”
With a boom, the ship rocked again. Fu Yunzhi subconsciously grabbed Qi Xiao’s arm.
“According to your description, if I remember correctly, it should be…” Fu Yunzhi frowned, seemingly pondering and deliberating.
“It should be what?”
“Master Fu, don’t keep us in suspense!”
After careful consideration, Fu Yunzhi finally said, “It should be a shark! Or rather, a sandfish. This type of fish has terrifying attack power and can sense the smell of blood from ten miles away to hunt its prey. It is the king that looks down on all life in the sea.”
Qi Xiao frowned. In that case, it was the smell of blood on the ships that had attracted these sharks, right? No wonder they were ramming the hulls like mad. With such a strong smell of blood, it would be strange if they didn’t go crazy!
Fu Yunzhi was also frustrated. This fish was not common, and not many people even knew about it. He himself had only stumbled upon it in a medical book. He never expected to encounter it in this sea. If these fish continued to pursue them relentlessly, how could the people on board go to the uninhabited island to resupply? More seriously, if the hulls were damaged, the consequences would be unimaginable.
“Yunzhi, what if we have the archers shoot these fish dead?” Qi Xiao asked.
“Then the blood from the dead sharks will attract even more sharks,” Fu Yunzhi said. “And sharks are not that easy to kill.”
Shen Linye agreed. “I tried that just now. With the distance and the buffering of the seawater, the arrows can’t even pierce the sharks’ skin. And even if a fish is hit, it only slows down a bit and can still continue to attack our ships.”
“First, have people burn medicinal herbs,” Qi Xiao said. “Burn as many as we have to reduce the smell of blood as much as possible. If we have no other choice, we either use gunpowder or go down and fight them head-on.”
The gunpowder was originally reserved for the pirates on the island, a trump card for Langxuan. But if they fought head-on, how many lives would be lost? These were all last resorts, but there was no better way.
“If we have to choose,” Fu Yunzhi said, “I think gunpowder is better. If we run out of gunpowder, we can have Langxuan send more. But if lives are lost, they are truly gone.”
“Yes,” Qi Xiao analyzed, “but using gunpowder is not a foolproof plan. Although it’s good, the explosion could also damage our own ships.”
No matter what they did, it was a desperate gamble with huge risks.
“Dammit,” one of the Jianghu men spat. “I thought we just had to kill those pirates. I didn’t expect these damn sharks to get in the way.”
The smell of medicinal herbs wafted over as servants began to burn them along the ship’s edge. The smell was originally light and pleasant, but with so much being burned, the freshness turned into a choking, bitter scent.
Some people also left the deck to prepare the gunpowder. After counting it, according to Jiang Luori’s feedback, Langxuan had enough gunpowder to blow up all the ships!
Fu Yunzhi couldn’t help but say, “I’m really starting to suspect, could this be a trick by the pirates? After all, they are more familiar with this sea than we are.”
“We can’t rule out that possibility,” Qi Xiao said. With that, he took off his outer robe.
“What are you doing?” Fu Yunzhi asked warily.
“I’m going down to test those sharks,” Qi Xiao said.
“Are you crazy!”
“It’s fine.” Qi Xiao began to take off his boots.
Fu Yunzhi grabbed his arm tightly. “Qi Xiao! I forbid it! Don’t go down! Don’t go down!”
“It’s fine,” Qi Xiao said. “I’m not planning to fight them head-on. I’m just going down to gauge their attack power.”
Although Qi Xiao had quickly covered the corpse, Fu Yunzhi had still seen it—the body with only an upper half, its expression twisted in pain…
Fu Yunzhi’s voice was strained. “Qi Xiao, don’t go down!”
Qi Xiao’s heart softened. But before he could say “I won’t go down,” Jiang Luori ran up to them. “General Qi, bad news! There are thirty pirate ships twenty miles away, and they are heading towards us at high speed.”
Fu Yunzhi and Qi Xiao were stunned.
“This series of events, the sea monster fish, the sharks—it’s all the pirates’ plan!” Fu Yunzhi said fiercely. “Otherwise, how could the timing be so perfect? The moment we are attacked by the sharks, they can’t wait to attack us.”
Qi Xiao sighed. “All’s fair in war. We underestimated them.”
If he had known they were such cunning rebels, and not just random pirates, Qi Xiao would never have brought so few men.
“So the first battle was just an appetizer,” Fu Yunzhi snorted, “an appetizer to make us let down our guard.”
Before, Qi Xiao and Fu Yunzhi had still been puzzled as to why the pirates were so easy to defeat. Shen Linye had even rowed to the enemy ships several times to inspect them, fearing some trick. It turned out the pirates hadn’t put any effort into the first battle at all.
“Although the situation is against us,” Jiang Luori interjected, “at least their numbers are the same as ours. If we fight, we still have a chance of winning.”
Qi Xiao stood on the lookout tower and shouted with a powerful voice, “The situation is against us! We have vicious fish behind us and the enemy in front! The pirates don’t dare to face us head-on, so they’re using these despicable tricks to try and scare us! Tell me, are you scared?!”
“Hell no! Am I afraid of a few fish?”
“We can’t fall for the pirates’ trick!”
“The pirates are just a bunch of cowards!” Qi Xiao shouted. “Brothers, prepare for battle!”
“Kill all the pirates!”
“Kill all the pirates!”
The rousing cries spread from the main warship to the large ships beside it. The sound of victory passed from one ship to another, and for a moment, the entire sea was filled with the voices of the Langxuan warriors.
The pirate ships drew closer. The Qi family army threw grappling hooks onto the enemy ships and supported them with arrows. The Jianghu people, with their excellent lightness skill, ran across the ropes and attacked the enemy ships.
In short, Langxuan’s strategy was very simple and brutal: close the distance between the two sides’ ships and kill as many as possible.
Fu Yunzhi and Qi Xiao stood on the high lookout tower. They saw that although the two sides were evenly matched, the sharks were constantly attacking and circling Langxuan’s ships.
Sacrifice was inevitable in war. Those who lost their footing and fell into the sea were immediately swarmed and devoured by the sharks, not even a bone left behind. It was a terrifying sight.
“General!”
Jiang Luori also climbed up to the lookout tower.
“What happened again?” Qi Xiao asked.
The word “again” was said through gritted teeth. Qi Xiao felt that every time Jiang Luori came to find him, it was never good news.
“General,” Jiang Luori said, “according to my observations, the equipment on three of the ships, besides the main warship, has been destroyed. There are holes in the hulls, and seawater is slowly seeping in.”
Qi Xiao rubbed his aching temples.
Told you so.
This kid only reports bad news, never good.
“Qi Xiao,” Fu Yunzhi said, “I have a very, very risky plan.”
“Abandon the ships?” Qi Xiao asked.
Fu Yunzhi’s eyes widened. It seemed the two of them were thinking the same thing. Qi Xiao grinned. This must be what they call being in perfect sync.
Since their own ships were damaged, their only choice was to abandon them and forcefully seize the enemy’s.
“But if this plan fails, we’re really done for,” Fu Yunzhi reminded him.
“No pain, no gain. Can it get any worse than this?” Qi Xiao said. “But… Yunzhi, do you trust me?”
“I trust you,” Fu Yunzhi said firmly. “I want to be with you, on this ship together.”
Fu Yunzhi didn’t want it to be like last time, when Qi Xiao was surrounded by the enemy for over three months, while he could only wait and worry in the imperial city.
The two of them looked at the pirate ships again, their eyes filled with determination.
