Zhang Heng was forced to retreat back to the galley. As he attempted to dodge the attack, the dagger inadvertently slashed his left arm. Though it was just a flesh wound, Zhang Heng knew that he had to do something quickly before it before the pirate killed him. Another three steps back, and he would come up to a wall. As for the plump guy, he sat where he was, absolutely overcome by fear. It seemed as if he had lost his mind.
In a life and death situation such as this, a gushing river of thoughts raced through Zhang Heng’s mind. However, he soon regained his calm. After all, he had just gone through a vicious war in Finland. Right now, he had the Shadow Moment in his pocket, but it only had one usage left. Zhang Heng did not use it at the beginning of his quest. There was still a long journey ahead of him.
Suddenly, Zhang Heng remembered the time when he went bear hunting with Simone in Sweden. He then spotted a chopping board with a small knife that was used to peel potatoes. Unfortunately, the pirate noticed Zhang Heng eyeballing the weapon.
The very second Zhang Heng was about to move over to grab the knife, the pirate quickly charged at him with his dagger, causing him to move in the opposite direction where he managed to dodge the attack. Immediately, the pirate reacted and changed his course as well.
He aimed his dagger directly at Zhang Heng’s chest, but to his surprise, Zhang Heng managed to evade him once again. Instead of hitting its target, the dagger landed on a piece of smoked meat that hung behind him!
This time, the pirate ran out of patience. An extreme frustration boiled within him as Zhang heng avoided his attack over and over again. He had enough of it. With rage clouding his mind, he pushed aside the smoked meat in an attempt to go for Zhang Heng again.
However, he was greeted with a harpoon this time.
Zhang Heng had long awaited this golden opportunity. Though the both of them had only gotten on the ship recently, Zhang Heng had taken time to explore the galley and look for a good spot to hide his items. Hence, he knew the place better than the pirate. When he was forced to retreat to the galley, the thought of using the harpoon to attack the pirate already lingered in his mind. He simply needed to figure out how to lure the pirate to where the spear was.
Simone once told him that a smarter way to hunt bigger prey was to make them believe that they were the hunters in this hunting game. When the time was right, Zhang Heng would not hesitate to use his weapon to kill his prey.
In that split second, the harpoon penetrated the pirate’s neck. The strike was so blindingly fast that the pirate had no time to respond to it. He was killed on the spot instantly. The ‘bear’ had finally been skewered by the hunter’s snare.
With a grunt, Zhang Heng retrieved the harpoon. The pirate took a few steps backward as he staggered and fell. Then he stopped breathing.
Zhang Heng slumped to the ground after he killed the pirate. At the same time, the plump guy who was paralyzed with fear snapped out of his stunned state by the loud noise from the galley. It was then that he found out that the situation turned out very differently than what he’d expected.
“You… won?”
“You do realize that you are still sitting there asking me useless questions, right? The answer is yes. I killed him.”
The plump guy realized that he had just behaved like a coward. When Zhang Heng desperately needed his assistance, he was no better than a petrified dummy.
“I’m really sorry. I was terrified just now. Earlier, I wanted to open the door to see what the racket was outside, but I didn’t expect some pirate to come charging at me. I thought today would be the day I die. Oh right, my name is Marvin. I’m the son of a farm owner in a colony. I’m planning to go back to help my dad in the fields. I think I met you on the ship earlier. You are the Asian traveler, right? Your name is Zhang… Zhang…”
“Marvin, I don’t think this is a good time for a chat. Pirates have now overrun this ship. We will be in deep shit if they find their dead brother here!”
Inevitably, this had turned out far from the desired scenario. Being all alone, Zhang Heng was hardly powerful enough to turn the situation around. Initially, he only wanted to hide his stuff and prepare to surrender. He did not expect that he would encounter a pirate the moment he stepped out the door. To make matters worse, he was left with no other option but to eliminate a pirate.
Leaving the pirate to kill the plump man in cold blood would only encourage the pirate to go after him in a worse way. However, killing the pirate had just stuck a giant bullseye on Zhang Heng’s back. Now, he was in grave danger.
“Huh? What…. what should I do now? I did not kill him… I… I did nothing to him! I just sat there and kept still.”
Zhang Heng was clearly unhappy with what he just heard. He had not expected that the first thing Marvin would do was to exclude himself from the incident. Though Zhang Heng’s primary intention was not to rescue him, it was still a fact that Marvin got to live to see tomorrow thanks to him.
Before Zhang Heng could say anything, however, he heard the sound of footsteps from afar. Half a minute later, two men appeared in the galley. One of them clutched a gun while the other held a British cutlass. Judging from their ragged looks, they were definitely not the ship’s crew.
“I found another two alive! Be good ya’ll! Your captain is dead! Everything on this ship belongs to us now! Ain’t no point playing the hero in front of us!” barked one of the pirates while brandishing his weapon.
Immediately, Marvin nodded his head like a madman. The extras on his body jiggled nonstop as he bobbed around nervously. Sweat dripped off his face like a leaky tap.
“What the hell is going on?!” asked the pirate with the cutlass.
At that, he quickly made a round of the galley and found nothing suspicious. Suddenly, he spotted a giant barrel behind them. The pirate shoved Marvin away and opened the barrel.
All they found was a pile of smoked fish.
“Are you done yet? We are going to miss the celebration if you stay here any longer! Speaking of which, where is Victor? I saw him come this way earlier,” asked the other pirate.
“Honestly, I don’t wish to see him at all. He’s a raving lunatic! Whenever we board a ship, he’ll turn the whole place into his killing field for sure! If it was not for his bravery, he would have been kicked off the ship a bloody long time ago. Let’s go! Time to go gather on the deck!” replied the pirate while sliding his cutlass back into its sheath.
As Zhang Heng and Marvin were escorted to the deck, they saw the other survivors. Amongst the group were the last seven sailors. All of them were shell shocked, dreading the unknown that fate would bestow upon them.