In the darkness, Yang Zicang’s figure appeared in the small cabin room left behind by Aqiang.

He pushed open the sliding door and stepped outside.

“Ah, has President Buchen arrived? “

As soon as he neared the hatches, the voices of Kim Taehuel and another guard of the Weiting Travel erchant Guild reached his ears.

&mdash；Along with some distant clamor in the background.

These few people actually hadn’t run away. Yang Zicang nodded with slight satisfaction, exchanged pleasantries, and strode out, “It’s so late, aren’t you all resting? “

“Rest? Where’s the time for that… “

The roar of a cannon blast rang out from the distant sea surface. Yang Zicang froze, feeling the entire small boat tremble slightly. Several screams rang out, but there was no sound of water.

“Wait… ” He strode out in astonishment, and several charred craters scarred the large deck.

The large deck!

Not far away… the ancient mast, once used to hoist sails, lay lonely and broken, having snapped in half. Some decayed rigging clung like a spiderweb to the fallen, dark, thick wooden pole.

• ｛May Valkyrie is watching my life experiences.｝

A thick, cloying stench of blood mixed with gunpowder and damp mist permeated the air.

He was indeed still on the small boat.

But… this boat, left to him by the deceased Aqiang in the Fog Sea, was not floating on the water.

Rather, it now rested upon a true, ancient giant sail vessel!

“Wait, this place… “

Boom! Another cannonball came hurtling out of the distant darkness! With a dull thud, the planks on the deck of the ancient, weathered ship exploded outward.

Kim Tae-cheol, his whole body blackened by smoke and fire, crawled up from a cloud of billowing smoke. With only the whites of his eyes and his bared teeth visible in his wretched state, he hastily pulled Chairman Buchen, President Yang Zicang, further away from the small boat perched on this large, dark ship.

“Chairman, you’ve finally arrived. Great! “

Yang Zicang stepped onto the damp, wooden deck.

“What’s going on here? “

Another glowing iron ball arced down from the sky in a parabola. Just as it was about to hit the deck, Yang Zicang raised a hand.

｛Trajectory Dispatch!｝

Whoosh~The cannonball swerved, shot out past the ship’s railing, and plunged into the vast, misty sea beyond.

“Boss—ptooey—Chairman, you’re here! Remember me? I’m Karl. “

Beside the small boat, a European man who was clearly maintaining a force field spoke with some difficulty. He looked exhaustion, as if he had been fighting for a long time.

In the middle of the chaotic, wrecked scene, figures of two guards from the “Weiting Travel Merchant Association ” could be seen rolling on the deck. There were even several corpses.

“Chairman, we found a ship, but the other half is already under the control of those bastards. “

Kim Tae-cheol pointed toward the distant darkness. Far away, the silhouette of another shadow could be seen.

“A wrecked ship? “

-｛The distributor Loki Tata Mingqi is watching my life experience.｝

“Exactly. The other half is something that occasionally appears in the Misty Sea. Never thought we’d run into this half! “

Once again, those iron balls imbued with deathly aura pierced through the thick fog, precisely aiming at the position where the two stood and the only still-intact small vessel’s steam boiler behind them!

“Ah! ” Karl strainedly clapped his hands together to expand his force field!

“Seeking death! “

Yang Zicang instantly locked onto the incoming cannonball. He barely had any time to fully grasp the situation here. The circle on his chest materialized, and a quadrilateral shot out in a flash, rewriting the trajectory of the iron ball with its invisible force.

｛Trajectory Dispatch, lattice position, ten-thousand-rank!｝

Bang! Hum~!

This time, just as it was about to bolt out twenty meters, the cannonball suddenly accelerated violently, igniting itself into a blurry, ashen inferno as it shot towards the phantom silhouette of a large ship a hundred meters away.

Boom! A thunderous roar erupted over there.

-｛Distributor Loki. Tata Mingqi remarks “Atmosphere Group “｝

-｛Distributor February. Di’an is now observing my current experiences.｝

“What… ” some distant voices emanated from the sea fog, “Aren’t all those cannons… supposed to be… on our side? “

“Damn it… What ability did that half-bastard use? “

Yang Zicang struggled to listen to their voices.

Kim Tae-cheol watched in awe; even knowing his president’s ability was related to controlling posture, seeing it again in this moment of life and death was still shocking.

Then he blurted out, “President… what about your Holy Carpet? “

“President. ” Two other people ran up to him.

“I don’t need that. ” Yang Zicang’s gaze pierced through the thick fog, firmly locked onto the direction of the cannon fire.

Just as his words fell,

Swoosh!

A thick grappling hook, complete with fishhooks and barbs, tore through the fog, striking with immense force. With a sharp clang, it hooked tightly onto the old ship’s railing! Then, several more thuds rang out as more hooks flew in!

At the same time, a strange, cold laugh echoed from the direction of the fog:

“Ha! Finally caught up, huh, you lot over there! If you hand this half of the ship over nicely to our boss Lucas tonight, we’ll give you a clean death—toss your bodies over to feed whatever’s in the deep trench below! “

As his words ended, a blurry figure appeared, stepping nimbly across the freshly stretched ropes between the two ships.

“After all those cannon shots, only a few of you died. “

On the ship, Kim Tae-cheol and the others watched. In the sea mist, the figure coming along the rope was thin and swift.

“Boss, be careful! There’s a guy called Bart. “

“This guy moves damn fast. “

Ignoring the blood flowing from his arm, Kim Tae-cheol immediately surged forward to intercept while instinctively pressing his hands together, ready to pull up his force-field barrier.

Bart swooped in along the rope, bracing himself mid-air to land.

Yang Zicang stood his ground, casually sweeping his right hand across his waist. He pulled out a spare iron spike and sent several shots humming through the air in arcane trajectories.

The moment the spikes left his hand, their speed skyrocketed!

Two iron nails curved around Bart’s frontal thrust trajectory, heading for the vital points of his left and right shoulder blades, while the third shot straight toward Bart’s right ankle—his supporting foot’s side as he landed on the distant ship’s gunwale.

“Damn it.“

A phantom silhouette burst forth from that figure as it lunged forward, a faint ring of light flickering in its eyes, transforming into a high-speed diagonal charge leaving fading afterimages in its wake.

Yang Zicang leaped backward, pressing his palm downward onto the fragmented deck boards shattered by the explosion, targeting the sharp wood splinters of various sizes with a sudden shove!

In that instant, as the opponent swept in with two icy daggers crossing toward him,

“Explosive Wind Fist!“

A blast of air burst from the old wooden plank beneath the force of his palm strike.

Over a dozen sharp wood chips, iron shavings, and even a spent bullet erupted from the deck like a landmine explosion, spraying upward!

-｛Loki Tata Mingqi｝(Distributor) is “｛cheering｝“.**｝

They transformed into a deadly storm of fragments hurtling toward Bart’s incoming trajectory, catching him in a cage of death!

“What the?!” A flicker of fear surfaced in Bart’s eyes!

The iron nails and explosive spray from those shards not only jeopardized his footholds but also disrupted his gliding path he’d selected earlier!

“Then this is all that can be done now!“

As Bart got almost within close range, his form began to shake with numerous illusion amplifications, phantoms expanding radially among the scene: most soaring fades caught attacks turning void in its stead.

Patter! Patter!

Two dull thuds of muscles tearing sound.

Although wounded, Bart, powered by his Blood-line Circuit, still managed to twist his upper body out of the way at the last second, dodging a fatal strike. But when two time-amplified wooden blocks shot towards his left and right shoulder blades simultaneously, he could only narrowly avoid vital spots, bracing his arms to take the hit directly.

｛Because I am the Great Quadrilateral, my attacks can be amplified fourfold!｝

An orange flash split the air!

“Ah!“

The wooden block, which had suddenly burst into intense brightness as Bart approached, pierced straight through his right shoulder. A guttural shriek of agony tore from his throat, and his dagger-wielding hand instantly went limp, the blade clattering to the ground.

“Hurry, Chief, don’t let him get away!“

“His speed ability is the trickiest one.“

“When it comes to raw speed, I won’t lose.“

At least not yet. Yang Zicang, feeling how hard it was to influence his opponent’s body posture, lunged forward. The two equally swift figures clashed repeatedly in the blink of an eye.

With a suddenthump, Bart crashed flat onto the ground amidst his high-speed dash.

More shouts echoed down from the rope bridge enshrouded in the sea fog.

“Tae-cheol! Break the rope!” Yang Zicang bellowed. He took a single step and bolted toward the ship’s railing, his speed exploding to an even greater peak.

“Manager, take this!” As one figure charged at Bart, they lobbed an axe spinning through the air.

With a roar, Kim Tae-cheol lunged nearly full-length, snatching the heavy, bloodstained crimson fire axe by its handle.

Meanwhile, President Buchen in their eyes was already leaping onto the mooring hawser. As his feet found purchase on the iron chain, he began stamping on it with brutal force, causing the entire line to shivers violently.

｛Trajectory Dispatch｝

WHAM!

The entire rope begins to shudder violently!

This force travels rapidly along the rope, making the enemies still climbing or preparing to charge across this path scream in terror within the mist, shaking the chain link unstably!

“Damn it! “

“Who’s that? Some kind of tightrope-walking ability? “

Those lying on the rope and swaying along with it shout out!

Yang Zicang, in the darkness, wildly sways left and right on this rope, yet with astonishing balancing skills, he walks on the swinging rope like a tumbler toy!

“Ah! You bastards… ” Two figures fall into the sea.

“EAT THIS! ” Kim Tae-cheol, fueled by his momentum and wrath having been suppressed under siege for half a month, the fire-axe glints a metallic dark red light as it comes crashing down!

｛I invest 100000N in Kim Tae-cheol!｝

In an instant, the axe flares up with an orange phantom shadow.

CRUNCH!

{Ay, that’s a sting. }

Struck by the axe and with its structural integrity compromised by Yang Zicang’s shaking, the tow hook groans andGRINDSbefore snapping apart with a boom!

“Curse you—! “

In the fog catches a few startled cries!

“There’s an expert up there… ” faint shouts emanate from the other side of the ship out on their hea…

……

A quiet rinsing room dimly lit by a weak crimson safety lamp.

Jean Conrad uses specialized tongs with bulbous heads to lift up the sour developed film roll from the water tank where a few scattered photo remains float, retrieving the slide, hued dark caramel and waterlogged.

The man’s gaze was locked onto the film, where a dimly developing silhouette of a low hunched-over figure and a standing form was barely visible amidst the stark chiaroscuro…