Holy Spirit Calendar Year 2690, July 17.
The former noble castle, a manor entirely carved from the rock, inside the Black Sail command room.
Celeste was extremely dissatisfied with Liszt’s antics from a few days ago, especially with the flippant tone he used for such an important matter.
She was nearly infuriated to death by Liszt.
But Liszt also made his stance clear: If they were truly going to do business with Crocodile Island, he would immediately kill Celeste to prevent future troubles. So, his not killing her meant that he really loved her.
Even the most popular urban novelists wouldn’t dare to easily use such a frustrating setup.
Liszt also said that when they returned to Heaven Port at the end of the year, he would invite Celeste to the annual Dream Burger Festival.
Celeste only thought that something must have happened to Liszt during his trip to Aran, as he seemed completely changed.
Wolman was sitting in front of the radio, listening to the latest news transmitted from Fen.
This Black Big was a founding shareholder of Black Sail, and someone Celeste deemed necessary to win over. In private, they had discussed some cooperation, such as next year, when the fully rising new district of Heaven Port would see Wolman promoting some preferential policies for investors from Lostra. In return, Celeste would solidify Wolman’s position within Black Sail.
Their adversarial stance against Aran and their various appeals were consistent.
"The four o’clock sun of Heaven Port is truly impressive."
Wolman was speechless. The highest art of war is to achieve political or economic objectives without combat. Liszt had accomplished this.
Although he had only appropriated all the outpost bases outside Drifting City—fifteen in total—in the Silver Moon City and Drifting City railway planning map, and Crocodile Island had actually released all those points.
But this was a significant step. It was Crocodile Island’s gesture of sincerity, given to Liszt to deceive Uborio, and thus allowing Drifting City to fall without a fight in subsequent actions.
Originally, the Chiliarch enforcing the escort of Su Yizhana to Black Rock City, along with the Resistance Army elites, had now become the Princess’s personal guards, without reporting the exposure to Santilla of Kelor Highlands. Santilla might have just thought some accident happened.
Su Yizhana was now secretly present within the Black Sail fortress.
Wolman couldn’t impose a house arrest on the Princess. Fortunately, Her Highness was a sensible person, not given to wandering. She had stayed within the fortress this entire time.
Magnus, the Living Dead, was indeed a remarkable person. He had not been persuaded by Liszt’s entreaties. Liszt had talked himself hoarse that day, and still Magnus declared he would rather die than give in.
Luckily, Su Yizhana had somewhat fallen for it. Liszt boasted about how he had pacified the issue with Mulong with a great flair.
Recently, Su Yizhana had come to the Black Sail command room, hoping to understand the war reports.
She just wanted the war to end quickly—she didn’t care how it ended. She didn’t care about the throne, and whoever wanted to control Mulong could do so, as long as life returned to what it was before Aran’s invasion.
"The four o’clock sun...what does that mean?"
The Black Sail’s code left Su Yizhana, with her stunning face, dumbfounded. Her crystal-blue eyelashes blinked, her eyes widening.
Seeing this, one of the guards, a pirate, was entranced to the point that he thought if he could gain the Princess’s favor, he would gladly go to the kitchen to get a knife and kill Liszt himself!
But after having this thought, he felt deeply ashamed—how could he, such a lowly person, entertain disrespectful thoughts toward such a beautiful fairy?
Su Yizhana’s beauty was so breathtaking it was almost painful.
The pirate inexplicably slapped himself, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.
Celeste’s tactical black face indicated that from the beginning of the year until now, she had somewhat gotten used to this group of "high-end people."
"In any case, with Lao Da joining the battle, the situation immediately reversed. Now the enemy detection chain at the front of Drifting City has been completely recovered, and Crocodile Island’s main forces have retreated, withdrawing entirely to Silver Moon City."
Wolman naturally couldn’t tell the Princess about Liszt’s antics. Her jade-like fragility had already been aggravated by Aran. Better not let her overthink it.
Su Yizhana didn’t understand much about warfare, but for so long, she had only heard the negative war reports of Aran’s continuous advances. This was the first time such a reversal occurred!
Her eyes sparkled, her delight obvious.
Not only the guard pirates but all the male pirates in the room also gave themselves slaps, snapping out of their fantasies, feeling they couldn’t measure up.
The crackling sounds caused Celeste and Wolman to don tactical black faces again—the East Sea Desperados’ qualities were crass yet with a touch of decency.
Celeste didn’t think this was good news.
It simply meant that Crocodile Island was a formidable adversary—they were feeding the tiger with their flesh. Its ability and boldness were befitting of the Army Generals, truly a cunning hero.
No matter the outcome of the Magnus affair.
Would Black Sail now head to Steel Jawed Island?
Celeste found some amusement in this. The higher-ups’ suggestion was for Black Sail to delay until the end of the year. If the task was excessively completed, her role as East Sea Commissioner would see her requests to the higher-ups become more reasonable, and her status would rise accordingly.
"Overall, the situation is clear. You don’t need to overthink it. Don’t fall ill—we can’t last without your governance. We need to chase out all the vermin. Once this is over and Black Rock City is recaptured, we’ll march straight to the Royal Capital and execute all the traitors."
Wolman could empathize with Su Yizhana.
Given that the things on the stage at Great Wetland were now similarly abhorrent.
Su Yizhana nodded, feeling greatly comforted.
"Is there no news from Rein? Even if he were hospitalized, it wouldn’t take this long. There are only two possibilities: either something unexpected happened or... it’s like Haywood’s situation, and we have to order a manhunt."
Fen’s voice came from the audio device.
With the enemy detection chain of Drifting City fully recovered, Uborio now treated Black Sail reverently, given how fierce their initial foray was.
The puppet government has the Aran Heavenly Army, sweeping all before them, but I have the East Sea ghost soldiers, to whom all yield in passage.
The requests put forward by Wolman were met to the best of their ability.
"He couldn’t have defected—the checkpoints at Drifting City are tightly guarded. I sent people to inquire—not even a Highland Wolfman has come or gone. He can only be in the city, having encountered something. I will send people to search again."
Wolman was also baffled. Rein seemed foolish but was quite a fearless person. Cowardice was out of the question—he had experienced countless life-or-death battles. Just what the hell happened to him? Could he have been taken by Furry Control to become a Star Crossbowman?
"Sorry, Mika is definitely dead. He’s been out of contact for almost a month. Kelor Highlands hasn’t seen him either."
Su Yizhana felt a bit guilty. She blamed herself for not reacting properly at the time and mindlessly agreeing to his knighthood pledge.
"Don’t blame yourself. That doctor was a disgusting person; his death is a blessing."
Celeste had learned to console.
"If it were like that... how could he change so much?"
To Su Yizhana, Mika’s appearance that day was purely heroic, his courage commendable. He proved his loyalty without needing strong martial prowess.
"There’s no saving him..."
Celeste covered her forehead.
Magnus, the Living Dead, riding the black horse Zhao Yue, galloped across the boundless vast plain, with the towering black rock peak already at the end of his sight.
In less than an hour, he could reach Black Rock City. Follow current novᴇls on ɴovelfire.net
The desert wind and dust hung heavily, and a heart set on murder blazed into the gates of death.