The sacking of the pirate stronghold was slower than expected.

These pirates burned, killed, looted, and stole a lot of things.

Again, if we can count on these pirates to have some skills in organizing supplies, then we can still rely on them.

The food and cloth were placed together, and many of them had already become moldy. The shells had long been damp, and it was estimated that they might not explode even if they were burned directly.

There are also more coins in sacks, rusty weapons, etc.

The remaining pirates on the island were tied up, locked in a small cabin, and gagged, so they could only make whining sounds.

They were lucky because Lu Ban didn't have time to open their memories yet.

The sailors were sorting out the property on the island, and watching them carry the things onto the ship, it was unclear who the real pirate was.

“Is this also considered a treasure?”

Captain Nagamasa muttered to himself.

Compared to adventuring in the open sea and exploring unknown islands, it seems that robbing pirates is indeed a faster way to make money.

Of course, under normal circumstances, their ships can at best deal with the pirates without losing out, relying on their tough skin and strong bodies to resist. If they encounter several pirate ships, they will probably find it difficult to cope with them.

If it weren't for Xia and the others, it definitely wouldn't be that easy to make money.

Magic is a wonderful thing.

Captain Changzheng thought about it and gave a few more instructions.

"Be gentle, these are antiques, search every corner, don't leave anything behind."

As he spoke, he looked at the beach in the distance and saw his good friend A Xiang leaning over to look for something.

On the side, Baobao and Lu Ban were following the scholar.

"What are you looking for?"

Lu Ban asked curiously.

"I heard there's a strange fiddler crab on the islands in this area of ​​the sea, so I wanted to see if there's any here."

Bending over, Axiang said, looking carefully at the beach.

At first glance, the beach before the tide rises looks ordinary, but if you look closely, you can see some tiny holes, as if some bugs had drilled in and dug out the sand.

A Xiang used his hands to dig out a ball of sand, carefully brushed away the impurities, and saw something moving in the palm of his hand.

A crab, only the size of a fingernail, crawled out from the moist sand and tried to escape from Axiang's palm.

He hurriedly caught it with his other hand, and kept crossing his two hands until all the sand fell off, leaving only the small crab. Ah Xiang observed it carefully, trying to remember all the details of this creature.

"See, because it lives on the beach, it needs the ability to move through the gravel more than it needs to swim, so the pincers are larger, and the two legs at the end have gradually degenerated into claws, which allows them to stay in place better in the tide."

A Xiang said excitedly that after the observation was over, he put the little crab back on the beach. The crab crawled flexibly on the beach and soon found a piece of soft sand. It quickly sank into it and used its two claws to quickly bury itself in the sand.

Quite cute.

Lu Ban saw that Baobao also followed suit and grabbed a handful of sand.

In the blink of an eye, something began to move in the sand.

However, the thing squirmed more and more violently, and eventually extended several tentacles.

Soon, an octopus-like creature emerged from Leopard's palm. It had octopus tentacles and a soft head, but the lower body had eight legs and claws like a crab. Its two huge eyes on its head showed a look of wisdom.

The creature kept squirming and twitching its tentacles, which made people's scalps tingle.

But it moved slowly on Leopard's hand, and the scene of those tentacles entwined around the girl's fair wrist was really heavy.

"What did you do?"

Lu Ban glanced at A Xiang, who was still looking for other crabs for comparison and didn't notice this place, and asked Bao Bao.

"Just a little boost."

Bao Bao and the creature stared at each other, and she let it climb on her smooth arms. But when the creature's tentacles tried to reach into her sleeves, Bao Bao grabbed the creature with her other hand and crushed it mercilessly.

puff--

The dark green juice splashed onto the beach and was quickly washed away by the tide.

"Creating a creature is a rather boring thing most of the time, because if you want them to survive in this world, you have to take good care of them and help them solve many problems."

Baobao loosened her hands and threw the monster's corpse into the sea. Her hands were still clean and spotless.

"It's like you humans raising cats. You think cats are cute and can keep you company, but most of you forget that they are also living creatures that need to eat, drink, defecate and urinate. You need to take care of them. When you wake up at night because of the smell of cat feces, even the cutest creatures seem so evil."

"You seem to understand a lot."

Lu Ban didn’t know that Baobao had once kept a cat.

“So a lot of the time, we just create some creatures at random, without worrying about what happens afterwards. Of course, for me, it mainly depends on whether the process is interesting or not.”

Leopard took off his shoes and socks, and stepped on the beach with his white and tender bare feet, leaving behind small footprints.

Those fiddler crabs buried deep under the gravel may never know in their entire lives that they were once stepped on by an incarnation of the Old Ones.

The cold sea water submerged Baobao's toes. She lifted the hem of her hakama slightly to prevent getting wet, and walked towards a slightly deeper place like a child, lifting her feet slightly and stepping on the clear water.

"You coming too?"

Baobao extended an invitation to Lu Ban.

In the sunlight, she did look somewhat familiar.

"I'm not a child."

Lu Ban rejected Bao Bao's proposal.

"You make me sound like a child."

Leopard looked slightly dissatisfied.

"How old are you?"

Lu Ban asked back.

"Six months?"

Leopard tilted his head and said uncertainly.

“That’s pretty young indeed.”

Lu Ban thought about it and concluded that this calculation should be the time when her incarnation would appear.

If we relate the time of memory and knowledge to it, I'm afraid even Leopard won't be able to say that number.

"Aren't you going to move the money?"

Ignoring Leopard who was playing in the water, Lu Ban looked at A Xiang again.

This man was completely different from those sailors. Compared to gold, silver and other treasures, it seemed that these wonderful creatures were his treasures.

"I'm not interested in that."

Ah Xiang said this. He was using a brush to record the ecological conditions of the fiddler crabs. He raised his head and continued speaking after the last stroke was made.

"Our activities have brought about many changes to the world, and many creatures are no longer seen. But I believe that there may still be some creatures on the isolated islands in the ocean that have not been disturbed by our activities, and they may even remain the same as they were long ago."

He gazed at the sparkling sea. The sun gradually set in the west, casting a golden glow. Girls in white clothes and red hakama were playing in the water, making him feel a moment of peace and tranquility.

"I have always been curious about how humans came about and how organisms evolved into what they are today. I want to understand this ocean and the meaning of this world. There must be a reason why we have become what we are now. My research topic is about evolution."

When Axiang talked about his strengths, he became more talkative.

"Like these crabs, they are different from other crabs because of the different environments. In the end, only the species that adapt to the environment survived and continued to evolve to their current appearance. So what about humans? Why do humans look like what they do now?"

He did not ask Lu Ban, but looked up at the sky, as if asking a great being who was quietly watching this place from an infinite height.

A Xiang may not know the answers to these questions. Perhaps the girl playing in the water can answer them all. Of course, after knowing the answers to all these, A Xiang may no longer be able to maintain his human form.

Just when Axiang wanted to say something else, he heard a call from the dock.

"Hey, Xiang, we found a treasure map!"

Captain Nagamasa waved his arms and said excitedly.