Chapter 136 The Changing Tide

Many years ago, Erdini was also a pirate captain.

He was cold, taciturn, cruel and merciless; he murdered, looted, and committed all kinds of evil.

The pirate ship he commanded, the "Ice Axe," was also one of the "eleven," and was well-known on the chaotic sea.

But now, Erdini has become Blackbeard's first mate, and he is the latter's most loyal subordinate... without exception. His warship from back then has also long been placed in a glass bottle, quietly sleeping on the shelf in the captain's room of the Queen Anne's Revenge.

What exactly happened during this period will not be elaborated on here.

Even if I used very serious, even tragic, wording, coupled with an epic plot to tell you how Erdini succumbed to Blackbeard's power and kingly aura... it would be useless.

Because... no matter what, you will eventually think that there is some kind of ulterior transaction behind this.

So, I decided to give up this meaningless and certainly futile attempt... to accommodate you readers whose minds are already hopelessly dirty and are not ashamed of it.

Let's continue with the story...

Just as Blackbeard was talking to Mad-Eye in the dungeon, three players had already returned to the deck.

Not long ago, Feng Bujue had reached a consensus with Blackbeard in the captain's room.

In short – cooperation.

Blackbeard would cooperate with the players as much as possible to complete the task without harming his own interests, and the players would also give Blackbeard some help to the best of their ability.

This is obviously a win-win agreement...

At least so far, the tasks that the players have received have not shown any conflict with Blackbeard. Since they were originally going to act together with the pirates, it is only natural to contribute a little effort.

"Hoh~ It seems that the water in this script is very deep..." At this time, Feng Bujue and Snow had just finished listening to Honghu's narrative, and Jue Ge touched his chin and muttered, "According to what you said, that mysterious person 'Ken'... actually discovered our identities earlier than Blackbeard, and his position and purpose are very suspicious..."

"I said... you're pretending again, aren't you..." Hearing this, Snow glanced at Jue Ge and said in a strange tone, "If there is that kind of special NPC on the ship, you should be able to detect it, shouldn't you?"

Although Snow didn't say it explicitly, this sentence was enough to show... that he had already deduced the fact that Jue Ge could "see through data" to a certain extent through his various studies of Feng Bujue.

"I can detect it." Feng Bujue didn't expose this, but replied in a weak tone, "The problem is... basically all the NPCs on this ship are the kind of 'special NPCs' you mentioned. In my opinion... none of them are simple people; if there is one, or even a few, particularly strong guys who deliberately hide their strength and mix among this group of people... then even I will find it difficult to distinguish them."

"Hmm..." Snow couldn't find any flaws in these words, so he could only respond, "Okay... I have to admit... the NPCs in this script are indeed a bit perverted in strength. The strength of some of the mobs is even comparable to some of the script Bosses I've encountered before."

Before he could finish speaking, Feng Bujue and Honghu both turned their heads and looked at each other, and then Jue Ge chose to shrug and spread his hands.

Honghu cleared his throat and said to Snow, "Snow, I don't know if I should say this..." He paused and said, "Your character should have been leveled up quickly in a very short period of time, right?"

"Yeah." Snow didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with saying this, he frankly said, "I created this character on December 1st. From the beginning... I turned on double experience cards and hired the order studio's leveling team to run dungeons with me, and I planned and used every day of the game time well. Fortunately, I also caught up with the launch of the new version, with various activities and experience rewards, so... in just over twenty days, I rushed to level forty."

"Alas... that's the problem..." Honghu sighed, adjusted his glasses, and said, "In Thriller Paradise, level is not particularly important... a leveling method like yours will lead to a series of negative chain reactions... First of all, your Technique Value is definitely insufficient, so you can't buy equipment and skills in the Surprise Box; secondly, even if you can spend money to buy expensive items in the auction house, or rely on the leveled players in the script to get you equipment, you still have to face the problem of 'insufficient specialization level' and inability to meet the usage conditions of the items..."

Before he could finish speaking, Snow interrupted, "Ah... Brother Honghu, these... I know." He smiled awkwardly, "Heh... it's just that I seem to know it a little late."

Snow pursed his lips and continued, "The day before yesterday morning, I reached level forty, and then I started solo queuing... because the studio only takes leveling up to level forty." He paused and then said, "And my feeling after solo queuing these two days is—in terms of combat, the surrounding casual players are one or two levels stronger than me, let alone professional players; fortunately... I can be considered a brainy player, and I can still play a role in the team. As for the specialization problem you mentioned... at this stage, I think I can only spend some time slowly honing it."

Speaking of this, he changed the subject: "But... when I said that the NPCs in this script are ridiculously strong, I didn't judge it from the perspective of my own weakness. I think... the combat power of the mobs in this script is already far higher than the average level of ordinary player teams, that's why I said that."

"Is that so..." Jue Ge, who was looking around, interjected at this moment, "Why do I think it's okay?"

"Me too..." Honghu wanted to agree with Jue Ge's words, but suddenly swallowed the idea back, "Wait... on second thought, Snow is right..." He looked back at Feng Bujue, "Actually, our opinions are not objective enough."

"Hehe... in other words, we are 'too strong' now, right?" Jue Ge immediately put on that annoying look again and said a line that sounded very arrogant, but was also a fact.

Unfortunately, his good mood of complacency... did not last long.

In just two seconds, a sudden change occurred on the sea!

Bang—

Only to hear... a sound of breaking water, suddenly exploded.

Along with this loud noise, a figure shot out from under the sea, flying straight into the air, and then... he crashed towards the deck of the Queen Anne's Revenge.

At this time, the Queen Anne's Revenge was in a semi-anchored state... because Erdini had not returned to the ship, Blackbeard ordered the sailors to furl the sails and stop the ship in this sea area to wait after the battle.

However, no one expected that the captain's order to stop the ship this time was contrary to Erdini's own wishes...