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Chapter 101 Search

"You did a great job!"

Chalice did not show his worries.

He patted Luca on the shoulder and encouraged him, "I'm so sorry to encounter such an accident so soon after setting sail, but you did a great job, Luca!"

"I thought you were still a child who needed adult care, but you proved to me with your actions that you are a real man."

"Now, go and do some chores for the boatswain!"

"Collecting bodies and compiling a list of the dead—these are sad things you'll have to do yourself sooner or later, so consider this a learning experience in advance."

"Yes, Captain!"

Luca has visibly shed his youthful naiveté.

The greatest terror between life and death is what truly tests a person.

Without compromising one's character, no training can transform a person into a qualified soldier as effectively as the bloody battlefield.

Although Luca's expression was filled with sorrow and lingering fear.

However, his initial shyness and caution had largely disappeared with the sacrifice of his companions and the end of the Corpse Shark.

Chalice saw all of this.

Perhaps after a few more encounters like this, Luca will be able to become a qualified soldier.

By absorbing knowledge and experience in navigation, he can grow into a qualified crew member or even a captain.

However, what is rigid is easily broken.

Chalice knew very well that this kind of tempering was necessary, but he had to pay attention to the frequency and intensity.

He's just a nobody, so he'll do whatever he wants.

Live or die.

Without much capital or connections, Chillis had to be more ruthless, diligent, and resourceful than others to get started.

But Luca is the young master of the Corleone family.

Although the head of the Antonio family wholeheartedly agreed with Chárlis's "strict teacher produces outstanding students" approach, he couldn't truly treat Luca as his own student for rigorous training.

Buck, who secretly protects Luca, is also a tutor who supervises the teaching process.

Whatever you wish for comes true.

Buck's soft reminder rang out again.

"Captain Cherries, there might be a problem with the Corpse Shark's attack on the Homecoming."

Chalice walked to the ship's railing, away from the busy sailors, and asked, "What are you thinking?"

"The spiritual strength of these corpse sharks is basically not above the first level, which shows that they were made in a hurry and the strength of the refiner is not very strong."

"But the fact that such a large number of corpse sharks could be gathered suggests that it wasn't prepared on short notice."

"Has this been planned for a long time?"

Chalice said in a deep voice, "Is it targeting me?"

"Very likely————"

Buck guessed, "Corpse sharks are undead creatures."

"As far as I know, apart from certain special sea areas that can cause sea creatures to become undead, certain extraordinary individuals with special abilities can also do so."

"Oh? Which ones?"

Upon hearing information about other extraordinary sequences, Cherry immediately became interested.

"The Death sequence in the Doomsday Path involves authority over the realm of the undead—the Abyss sequence in the Chaos Path involves the ability to dive deep—"

"They could all be alchemists, after all, corpse sharks are undead creatures transformed from marine life. However, I noticed from my observation that the spirituality of this group of corpse sharks is clearly polluted."

"Therefore, the mastermind behind this is most likely an Extraordinary being from one of these two sequences who has fallen from grace."

"Tsk—this sounds troublesome—"

Chalice leaned against the ship's railing, enduring his weakness.

He put away his revolver, put on gloves, and pulled a folding knife strapped to his wrist from his sleeve.

Chalice waved, signaling the sailors who were struggling to move the remains of the corpse shark ahead to stop.

The Cutter's sharp, spiritual touch sliced ​​off a clump of grayish-white eyeball without hesitation.

Charys held the clump of gelatinous tissue, which had recently served as a carrier, in his gloved left hand.

"Pollution — Erosion —"

He waved his hand, signaling the sailors to get back to work.

"So that means—those cult lunatics must have attacked me in secret, but how did they find me?"

Chalice was very curious.

The ship's status in the "Exploration Log" became a daily necessity for him.

Not only physical states, but also spiritual states are subject to the statistics of the log.

If the Homecoming was being tracked by malicious cultists, then it should have noticed it.

Could it be that cult members hold a higher rank than logs?

Impossible—absolutely impossible!

This contradicts existing facts.

These corpse sharks are ferocious and brutal, but not very strong.

Despite the significant number of sailors who suffered casualties, the fact remains that the Corpse Shark did not kill all the crew of the Homecoming.

At most, the casualties were caused by being caught off guard.

Chalice reached a similar conclusion to Buck: the guy who created these corpse sharks and drove them to attack couldn't be too strong.

It is known that the level of this mysterious journal in Chalice's mind is definitely far higher than the third rank.

If the tracking mark is at a higher level than the log, then why would the killer hiding behind the scenes go to so much trouble and still fail to kill him?

If you have the ability, you can come to my door in the middle of the night.

He could just slap himself to death.

Don't say he's afraid of the official power on Maro Island.

Although Maro Island is more prosperous than Boi Mun Island, it is ultimately just a peripheral island in the Gran Islands, attached to the core island.

The governor is also a top-tier Tier 3 Extraordinary.

At most, the number of Tier 3 Extraordinary Beings is slightly more than that of the Gate Island.

Therefore, the possibility that the Homecoming ship was marked can be largely ruled out.

Of course, this reasoning couldn't be shared with Buck.

Chalice could only draw conclusions in private.

It's not a boat.

That's a person.

Yourself?

Luca?

It's highly likely that he was a sailor recruited on Maro Island.

Due to the uncertainty of the mission and the different habits of each captain, senior officers such as the chief mate and chief engineer generally do not change.

But sailors are undoubtedly "fast-moving consumer goods".

Most of them are recruited on a temporary basis before each mission.

After all, many captains are unsure when the next mission will depart and where it will go, and sailors have families to support; they can't just sit around waiting to die.

Captain, sailor.

It's like temporarily teaming up to do a task.

Because Cherries is willing to pay well and doesn't have any bad habits like beating or scolding, he can be called the "best employer".

Therefore, Chalis never has to wait to recruit; he can basically fill the positions by sending someone out and making a few announcements.

Not just Simon Island.

Maro Island, where he often runs transport, is no exception.

After a while...

The sailors were mostly familiar faces.

However, there are exceptions—

Following his train of thought, Chalice immediately focused his attention on the three unfamiliar sailors he had just started working with.

Despite carrying out a classified mission, the association had screened the sailors' backgrounds for him.

But unexpected things happened.

Chalice couldn't help but think about it.

He then told Buck, who was hiding nearby, the names of the three sailors.

"You think it's them?"

"Don't alert them yet, quietly search their belongings."

"I see."

Buck did not refuse Chalice's request.

While it's a favor to help, it's one's right not to.

However, his inaction during the battle with the Corpse Shark, despite being a Tier 3 Extraordinary, in a sense led to the deaths of many sailors on the Homecoming who could have survived.

Just because Chalice didn't express dissatisfaction doesn't mean the young captain had no complaints about him.