“You!”
“You!!!”
At that moment, Zhou Hang felt endless humiliation.
He did not dare say or do anything, afraid that Zheng Hao would fire another shell at any second. He stood stiffly behind Hang Ping, eyes bloodshot, fury and shame choking his chest.
“Zheng Hao!!! Thirty years on the east bank of the river, thirty years on the west bank! Don’t bully a young man because he’s poor!”
He shouted that famous line, panting heavily afterward, yet he did nothing at all.
Hang Ping, her face dark, slowly dropped to her knees.
“Young Master of the Zheng Family… I know… I know it was wrong for us to conduct business behind the Zheng Family’s back… How about this… The 500 kilograms of [Blue Fish Meat] our Zhou Family brought this time will serve as compensation. What do you think?”
She looked up at Zheng Hao humbly. The corner of Zheng Hao’s lips curled slightly before he finally relented.
“Fine. But tonight, I want you to deliver all 1,500 kilograms of your [Blue Fish Meat] to the Zheng Family. Otherwise…”
“You! How do you know we have 1,500 kilograms?!”
“Heh. Just answer me. Will you deliver it or not?”
“We’ll deliver… we’ll deliver!!!”
Hang Ping clenched her fists tightly. Did she dare say no? Humiliation spread through her body, yet she did not dare move a single step.
“Heh…”
Zheng Hao looked teasingly at the crowd he had suppressed and laughed.
What turtle man? What unwavering devotion?
Damn it!
Wasn’t being the villain far more satisfying?
Those 1,500 kilograms of [Blue Fish Meat] were the foundation for Zhou Hang’s rise in the [Shanhai Region]. And now he had forcibly seized them. Did Zhou Hang dare object?
[Ding! Congratulations! You have successfully confiscated the protagonist Zhou Hang’s starting capital, greatly slowing his early development!]
[You have seized seven strands of Heavenly Dao Destiny Luck from the protagonist!]
[Ding! Congratulations! You have successfully suppressed the Liu Family, weakened the protagonist’s allied family, and hindered the relationship development between the protagonist and the female lead!]
[You have seized three strands of Heavenly Dao Destiny Luck from the protagonist!]
[Your SSS-grade Talent “Dice of Fate” awakening probability +10%. Current awakening probability: 54%.]
“Heh… I knew it…”
Zheng Hao narrowed his eyes, the smile at his lips widening further.
So what if the protagonist couldn’t be killed? Before he matured, he was nothing more than a machine for harvesting.
“Zhou Hang! Liu Ruyan! Listen carefully! Be together however you like! It has nothing to do with me! We’ll meet again at the [First Sea Assembly]! Second Aunt, let’s go!”
Turning away, Zheng Hao did not even bother to glance at the two of them, leaving them huddled miserably in a corner of the deck.
Rumbling sounds echoed as more than a dozen battle-ready Ship Maidens, like dark storm clouds, slowly withdrew from the Liu Family waters.
Outside the Liu Family’s sea territory, over a dozen Ship Maidens had already surrounded the area. Find the original chapter at g.com.
When the [Fire Cloud] sailed out, a dark blue, ice-spiked small ship bearing the Yang Family’s sail slowly intercepted them.
It was a small fast ship similar to the [Purple-Green Sword Ship]. Standing atop it was a young man with shoulder-length hair, his gaze strange as he looked at Zheng Hao.
“Zheng Hao? You were the one who led the attack on the Liu Family just now?”
The young man was astonished.
After all, Zheng Hao’s reputation as a shameless lapdog in [Shanhai Academy] was widely known. Bombarding the Liu Family? Was that really something he could do?
“Heh. Yang Fan, this is between the Zheng Family and the Liu Family. It’s not your Yang Family’s place to interfere.”
Zheng Hao put on a displeased expression. He had never liked Yang Fan.
The Yang Family was a major Navigator family in the [Shanhai Region], uninterested in worldly affairs, focusing solely on cultivating outstanding Ship Maidens and Navigators. But precisely because of this setting, during a speed competition, they had taken notice of Zhou Hang’s potential and extended an olive branch to him, becoming yet another pillar of support in his rise.
In other words, they were also an essential factor in Zhou Hang’s ascent.
“Tsk tsk… After just a few days apart, Young Master Zheng’s temper has grown.”
“Fine, fine. I’ve long disliked that turtle-man version of you anyway. As long as you didn’t wipe out the Liu Family today, I don’t care.”
“[Smoke Ships] are the feature Ship Maidens of the [Shanhai Region]. Just leave a few alive.”
Waving his hand, Yang Fan’s ship slowly retreated, though his strange gaze remained fixed on Zheng Hao.
Truly, after three days apart, one must look at someone with new eyes.
“Second Aunt, we’re leaving!”
Unwilling to linger, Zheng Hao gave the order. The [Fire Cloud] gradually sailed into the distance.
…..
Splash. Splash.
From afar, several [Medium Ships] bearing the [Enforcement Team] insignia approached slowly.
On one ship stood a middle-aged man, looking toward the Liu Family with a complicated expression.
“Luckily… luckily… If a full battle had broken out, we wouldn’t have been able to suppress the Zheng Family…”
“Yang Fan, did you find out why they acted?”
“Did any Ship Maiden kill anyone?”
The middle-aged man looked at Yang Fan, who shrugged.
“Two Ship Maidens were blown open. One… probably won’t ever be able to transform into a Ship Maiden again. The other will likely need to be sent to the [Ship Repair Tower].”
“That’s manageable… Zheng Yunlong may be domineering, but he wouldn’t let his child act completely recklessly… I suspect… the Liu Family must have done something disgraceful. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be in such a humiliating state.”
“Captain Du, what do you plan to do?”
Yang Fan gestured toward the middle-aged man, who smiled helplessly.
“What else can we do? It’s not a major incident. We’ll go through the motions and ask the Zheng Family about it.”
“If Zheng Yunlong truly wants to act, what can we do? Without reinforcements from above, who in the entire [Shanhai Region] has more firepower than the Zheng Family?”
“True enough.”
“This Liu Family brought it upon themselves. Daring to suck the Zheng Family’s blood? They must have grown tired of living.”
After the Yang Family fleet and the [Enforcement Team] fleet briefly coordinated, they glanced at the chaos within the Liu Family waters and dispersed without even asking further questions.
No matter how severely damaged a hull is, as long as the main structural outline remains, a Ship Maiden can still revert to human form and survive. With luck, if one finds a [Ship Repair Master], she can even be restored to life.
Therefore…
In this world, human lives are more valuable than ships.
As long as Zheng Hao had not killed anyone today, even if he had blasted every [Smoke Ship] apart, the matter was still negotiable.
The incident was neither small nor truly large.
Splash. Splash.
After all the fleets departed, Liu Piaoxu sat on the deck of the [Cargo Ship], her former charm completely gone. Like a withered flower, she sat there in self-pity, unmoving.
Splash. Splash.
Several surrounding [Smoke Ships] gathered closer, and complaints began to rise.
“Patriarch! My child’s monthly maintenance fee hasn’t been paid yet!”
“Patriarch… are we still delivering this shipment?”
“Patriarch… what are we going to do in the future?”
The pressure piled on from all sides. Liu Piaoxu’s face was dark, but she could not utter a single word.
“Mom…”
“You…”
Liu Ruyan had never seen her mother so desolate. She stepped forward, wanting to help her up.
But—
A sharp slap rang out as Liu Piaoxu struck Liu Ruyan to the ground.
“It’s all your fault! I told you to keep him hooked! Keep him hooked! Why did you lose your temper with him?! Why were you flirting around behind his back?! Don’t you know all of this was given by the Zheng Family?!”
She glared viciously at Liu Ruyan, venting all her pent-up frustration onto her daughter.
“Mom… But didn’t you tell me to—”
“Couldn’t you at least throw him some sweetness yourself?!”
Sobbing softly, Liu Ruyan lay on the deck, unable to say another word.
From the side, Zhou Hang saw this scene and his eyes lit up. He immediately stepped forward to help Liu Ruyan.
“Patriarch Liu… This matter… actually can’t be blamed on Ruyan. That Zheng Hao, he—”
He was about to smear dirt on Zheng Hao when Liu Piaoxu’s face darkened even further.
“And you!!! If it weren’t for you, would our Liu Family be in this mess?! Get out!!! Get out of the Liu Family!!!”
Her trembling finger pointed at Zhou Hang. He froze, his face turning black. After pursing his lips, he clasped his fists and said, “Patriarch Liu, Zhou Hang… takes his leave!!!”
Descending the rope ladder from the deck, Zhou Hang and Hang Ping fled the Liu Family waters as if escaping disaster.
Cold sea winds lashed across the surface.
Zhou Hang stared at the departing [Fire Cloud], fists clenched tight.
“Zheng Hao! Today’s humiliation, I, Zhou Hang, will repay a hundredfold one day!!!”