Chapter 183
There are no good people in this den of brothels! Even if there are good people inside, with those two dragons fighting so fiercely, who would dare to go over and rescue them? Not to mention getting close, the ships are now urgently dodging backwards, fearing that they will be overturned by the waves stirred up by the dragons.
"What a shame for all that gold, silver, and jewelry! Won't it all sink to the bottom of the sea?" The battle was already decided. The Gold-Smelting Ship was being held back by warships. After clearing the grappling hooks, the player began working with the staff to clean up the battlefield and eliminate the few remaining killers who were holding out. "What should I do? I kind of want to go and salvage them... Ugh! These killers are so annoying! Can't they just surrender?"
"That is to say, their ship is broken apart, and they still don't surrender at this time. Are they planning to attack our ship?"
"What the hell is this? Are they looking down on us? Kill... Shit! What the hell is this?" The player who attacked from behind hit one of the killers with a stick. Because of excessive force, the stick broke, and a strange fragment fell from the killer: "Hey! These bastards are still wearing armor!"
"It's not armor, it's fragments! These two are not living people, they are puppets!"
"What?"
While other players were cooperating with the staff to tie up the surrendered killers, the remaining staff discovered during the fight that the killers who refused to surrender were not living people, but combat puppets driven by spirit stones.
Now the players were excited. Since they weren't living people, there was no need to worry about leaving any psychological trauma. They could just kill them like monsters! So, apart from those who helped clean up the battlefield, the other players all threw themselves into the monster-killing process: finally, I can get my hands dirty! Look how good I am!
With the help of players, the staff, who were almost exhausted from fighting, finally had a break. Seeing that there were too many players who wanted to kill monsters, the staff simply gradually withdrew from the battle circle and turned to cleaning up the mess. Seeing that Bei Qiao and several other players did not go to kill monsters, but instead came to help clean the deck, they were a little confused: "Aren't you going to kill monsters?" There was actually a fourth disaster who could resist not killing monsters.
“I went, but I couldn’t squeeze in.”
"On the contrary, I was squeezed out from the inside. I was so angry!"
"I don't want to squeeze."
"Oh, fine, whatever you want," the staff asked casually. They were so tired that their curiosity had faded. Now, they had only one thought in their minds: to finish their shift as soon as possible.
There were two puppet killers. To minimize interference, players used a kite-flying tactic to separate the two puppets, then surrounded and attacked them. Those who couldn't get in would clean the decks, constantly busy. Surrendered killers were tied like dumplings to pillars, while those who had been killed were piled on a large canvas, with their heads facing in one direction, making it easier to count them later.
This area was a major transportation hub, and normally, several ships would pass by. However, the appearance of the Gold-Smelting Ship was as conspicuous as its reputation, and many ships, upon seeing it from afar, hurriedly took a detour, each one eager to take off and flee the area. The captain noticed the ships rapidly retreating, but he paid them no mind and had no time to respond. If these ships approached without permission, he would have to consider whether they were taking advantage of the situation to rob.
Just as the player defeated one of the puppet killers and retrieved a spirit stone and a dragon scale of unknown use from its body, the black Western Dragon, having been repelled by the golden dragon, suddenly roared and flapped its wings, soaring upwards. As if receiving a signal, the other puppet killer, struggling to hold on, quickly broke free of the player's grasp and leaped into the sea, riding the waves towards the Western Dragon. The player gave chase, but only managed to capture one of its legs and failed to capture the remaining dragon scale.
"Oh, it ran away..." The player who was mopping the floor looked up and said: Hey, today was really exciting, the boat ticket was worth it!
The Western Dragon attempted to disengage from the fight, but the Golden Dragon pursued it relentlessly. After a fierce struggle, the Golden Dragon struck the Western Dragon in the abdomen with its tail. With a piercing cry, the Western Dragon flew backward dozens of meters, spewing a shower of gold, silver, and jewels from its mouth. The Puppet Killer, having just escaped the players' arrival, was unable to dodge and was struck by the torrential jewels. It crashed onto the sinking hull of the gilded ship and slid into the sea.
"It turns out the treasure is in the dragon's belly..." Watching those golden jewels slide into the sea along the cracked edge of the gilded ship, the players felt as painful as if they had lost money: quest rewards that cannot be picked up, oooh... it hurts to watch!
"So strong..." Bei Qiao's eyes swept across the gold, silver and jewelry, and fixed on the tattered puppet killer who was struggling to climb up the hull of the gilded ship: the aftermath of the battle between the two dragons did not tear it apart completely. What material is it made of? It's a pity that the distance is too far. If we can get some fragments and send them to the bank for identification, maybe we can find something interesting... Wait, there is a ready-made puppet killer on the ship!
With this thought in mind, Bei Qiao squeezed through the crowd of people watching the dragon fight and searched the deck. Puppet killers are very resilient. The player was able to remove another puppet killer's leg primarily by focusing their attacks on the joints. The puppet killer whose dragon scales had been gouged out was also taken down by the player due to multiple joint damage. Otherwise, with its remaining Spirit Stone energy, it could have easily fought for ten days or even half a month.
The spirit stones and dragon scales had already been taken away, and the remaining puppet shell, as no player would use it, was collected by the staff and would be exchanged for proportional quest rewards to be distributed to the players later. Bei Qiao searched while cleaning the deck, and finally found a finger of the puppet killer next to a broken wooden barrel.
The puppet killers had been wrapped tightly in night clothes, their hands completely black, and their faces covered with masks, revealing no facial features. Bei Qiao initially thought they were wearing black gloves, but when he picked up the black knuckles, he realized they weren't glove-like gloves, but the color of the puppet's own material.
"It's a bit springy. No wonder no one realized it was a puppet at first." Bei Qiao pinched his knuckles, pulled a piece of talisman paper from his sleeve, wrapped it around his knuckles, and tied it with a red string to the bottom of the fan as a pendant. This talisman paper had been given as a gift along with the boat ticket, and Bei Qiao didn't intend to keep it close to him until he understood the function of the puppet's material.
While Bei Qiao searched for the Puppet Killer fragments, the battle at sea was nearing its end. The Western Dragon pretended to attack the Golden Dragon, but in reality, it feinted, snatching up the Puppet Killer as it was about to slip into the sea and turning to flee. As a Western dragon, it was deeply obsessed with gold, silver, and treasure, but it couldn't abandon its Puppet Killer, as it relied on him to lure him over.
Is it cool to personally deceive a dragon? It's not that a Western dragon can't take on human form, it's just that they don't want to. In their aesthetic, humans are ugly, like hairless monkeys.
"Ah!" Damn army! You can't catch me!
"Wow! That's really impressive!" If the players weren't afraid that the other party would get angry and spit out a fuss, they would actually want to applaud. Although such blockbusters can be watched at other times, who would complain about having too much free viewing?
The Golden Dragon ignored the Western Dragon's bluff and continued to pursue it relentlessly. The warships that finally arrived also opened fire, and the two sides attacked, hitting the Western Dragon's wings at one point. Unfortunately, the Western Dragon's skin was thick and its flying speed was too fast. The warships were not moving in the direction of the wind, so they were not fast enough and eventually escaped.
After driving off the Western Dragon, the Golden Dragon dove into the water and fished out the two halves of the gilded ship's hull, which had nearly sunk to the bottom. He then hung them on hooks on either side of the warship. The hull had been soaked in seawater and battered by the two dragons, yet most of the rooms above were still intact. However, it was unknown how much of the contents remained, or how many people were still alive inside.
"It's partially broken, can it still be sold?" The soldier reclaimed his dragon soul and, donning soft armor, leaped onto the hull of the gold-embroidered ship. After seizing illegal vessels, the military would sell them through official institutions, earning a bit of legal income. Luxurious vessels like the Gold-embroidered Nest were highly sought after by the wealthy, and always fetched high prices. If it hadn't been severely damaged this time, perhaps it could have been used to add another warship to the army.
Speaking of side income, it's worth mentioning that the navy's side income is quite low. Those pirates are truly broke. Some even dare to rob people on bamboo rafts, only to quickly spend all the loot. The naval commanders rely on selling the pirates to the mines for extra income. Selling just the boats would definitely cost them their pants.
"Even if it's demolished, it has to be sold, otherwise it would be a waste of time. These wealthy gamblers are not going to make any money."
"Just listen to me. Take away the valuables first, and put the rest here. Just tow it back with the gold-selling ship. Someone will take care of it when the time comes." Helping gamblers return to their hometown and rest in peace may not necessarily make their family members who were badly cheated miss them, and their ancestral graves may not want to accommodate such an unfilial descendant.
The soldiers climbed up and down the hull of the ship, searching everywhere. There were many rooms on the ship, and the truly valuable items were all in the dragon's belly. Besides the gold, silver, and jewelry that the dragon had vomited out, the more valuable items on the ship were home decorations, such as the jeweled wall clocks and carpets on the floor.
There were no electronic gadgets in this otherworldly world. Even though the items in the house had been soaked in water, they could still be used after drying. However, the people inside the house were in a more miserable state. The soldiers searched every corner but found no living people. They did find a few puppets without combat functions and witnessed several crime scenes.
The den of brothels was indeed not a place to be taken lightly. Soldiers, having braved life and death on the battlefield, were practically utterly fearless, yet seeing the various deaths on board still made them break out in a cold sweat. The conditions in some rooms were akin to hell on earth, and the soldiers who opened the doors even thought they could hear screams.
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