A sailboat floated quietly on the Sea, its sails fully unfurled on the mast, allowing it to sail with the wind, but not a single person could be seen on the deck.
"Strange."
Danitz leaned against the ship's side, watching the sailboat get closer and closer: "Even if the people on board are still sleeping, it's impossible for there to be no Sailor."
"Unless everyone on the ship is dead." Barrel, who was gnawing on a pork sausage, said without thinking.
Danitz first glanced at Barrel, then looked at Lex: "What do you think?"
Lex, holding the Golden Scepter, nodded: "I think Barrel has a point."
"Otherwise, how do you explain there being no one on the deck?"
On the deck of the Golden Dream, pirates gathered together, observing the strange sailboat drifting in from the Sea. At this moment, Edwina walked over, and the pirates quickly made way for her.
"Captain."
Danitz pushed Barrel and Lex aside, came to Iceberg Admiral's side, and pointed at the sailboat on the Sea: "That ship is very abnormal. I suspect everyone on it is dead."
Barrel was chewing on a pork sausage and, hearing this, angrily pointed at himself. Unfortunately, his mouth was full of food, so he couldn't protest audibly or tell the Captain that this was his guess.
Edwina observed the approaching ship and then said: "We'll know once we go up and look."
A moment later, several small boats were lowered onto the Sea and rowed towards the strange ship.
Lex, Danitz, Jodeson, along with seven or eight pirates, came to the ship's side and boarded the deck from the gangway.
The deck was very clean, with nothing suspicious, so everyone naturally turned their attention to the dark entrance of the cabin.
Lex tucked the Golden Scepter behind his waist, replacing it with Blood Praise in his hand. Led by Jodeson, they entered the cabin.
The moment they stepped into the cabin, a nauseating smell drifted out from the dim passage. Caught off guard, several pirates inhaled it and immediately rushed out of the cabin, vomiting all their breakfast.
"This is… a mix of decay, blood, and excrement, which creates such a foul smell." Lex immediately pulled up his collar to cover his mouth and nose. Even so, his stomach churned.
"Can you please not be so detailed?"
Danitz complained from the front, holding up the lantern in his hand. They soon saw two corpses.
The two corpses seemed to be Sailors from the ship. Their bodies were entangled; one had plunged a straight sword into the other's stomach, while the other had slit the first's throat with a dagger.
"Mutual slaughter?" Jodeson said in a low voice, "I suggest we search separately to avoid being affected by unknown forces and ending up like them."
Danitz, for once, agreed with Jodeson's suggestion and actively pushed open a wooden door beside him.
They thus split up and searched.
Lex kicked open the Captain's Cabin door and saw a corpse sitting in a chair. There was a hole in the top of this corpse's head, caused by the deceased shooting himself by putting a rifle into his mouth.
"Suicide?"
Lex frowned, finding it very eerie. Everyone on the ship seemed to be dead, either by suicide or mutual fighting.
This reminded him of the Alfalfa back then. The scene on this sailboat now was remarkably similar to the chaos that erupted on the Alfalfa due to the presence of an Instigator.
"Is there an Instigator on board?"
Just then, Lex saw the Captain's corpse's abdomen suddenly swell, and in the blink of an eye, it became like a pregnant woman in her tenth month.
Lex's eyes changed slightly, but he calmly retreated without panic, raising Blood Praise and sending bullet after bullet into the Captain's corpse, into that bulging belly.
Bang!
The Captain's belly exploded violently, splattering flesh and blood like a blooming flower. Various things sprayed all over the floor, and even the walls and ceiling were covered with chunks of flesh or rotten intestines.
From the Captain's ruptured belly, something covered in a bloody liquid drilled out. It flowed across the floor like a 'carpet.'
This carpet of flesh and blood suddenly sprang up, quickly forming a beautiful and eerie woman, clearly of South Continent descent.
She had straight black hair, pale skin, and amber eyes with an exotic charm.
The flesh and blood, the liquids, transformed into a dark red 'long dress,' concealing her alluring figure that would make one's Bloodline surge.
Lex gasped.
She was Kardashian, that Ancient Evil from the underground temple in Damir Port. She was still alive, and even the Puppet demigod on Yedgar Island couldn't kill her.
She was haunting him again!
Lex didn't hesitate. With a wave of his hand, a fireball flew out. Before the fireball even hit Kardashian, a second fireball was already forming in his hand.
Kardashian had just taken shape and hadn't had time to react when the first fireball exploded with a roar. Crimson light illuminated the Captain's Cabin, and scorching heat swept all around.
Then the second fireball hit her chest. The exploding flames first tore her blood-flesh dress, then charred the breast-like mounds beneath.
The third and fourth fireballs flew in quick succession, giving Kardashian no time to breathe, continuing to create flames and explosions.
In a flash, Kardashian had endured four consecutive fireball bombardments. The entire Captain's Cabin was ablaze, with four waves of fire repeatedly washing over Kardashian, the flames charring her dress and cracking her skin.
Only then did Kardashian roll out of the flames. Lex wanted to pursue, but suddenly felt a chill down his back.
Behind him, the unnamed Captain silently appeared. This Captain's skin was now grayish-white, his body semi-transparent, his eyes deeply sunken, and his mouth agape and distorted, with few teeth remaining.
It grabbed Lex, preventing him from continuing the pursuit.
But the next moment, fire erupted from the Captain's body. Although it wasn't the Light of Fire, flames created by spirituality could still harm this type of low-level wraith.
Just as Lex was distracted, Kardashian raised a hand and pointed. A lump of flesh suddenly flew from her chest. The lump rapidly expanded in mid-air in the room and then violently exploded.
Boom!
Drop after drop of blood, speck after speck of minced meat, flew and splattered across the room. It was as if a rain of flesh and blood poured down in the room, enveloping Lex.
Lex covered his head and rolled sideways, dodging most of it. Then he crossed his hands above his head and waved, and a large expanse of flames appeared out of thin air, converging above his head to form a curtain of fire.
The blood and minced meat fell into the curtain of fire and were instantly incinerated.
However, those that landed on the floor, walls, and furniture splattered, creating bloody holes, and the floor showed signs of decay, rapidly spreading.
Due to the violent rolling, the Golden Scepter, which Lex had tucked behind his waist, fell to the ground, catching Kardashian's attention.
The woman, who had been expressionless even when her chest was charred by flames, now trembled violently upon seeing the Feathered Serpent scepter made of gold, and bright Light shot from her amber eyes.
She suddenly transformed into a carpet of flesh and blood, and with a whoosh, she rolled up the scepter.