Seated among the passengers on the lower deck, Mo Guilan frowned.
Ever since the bald man had appeared at the cabin entrance, she’d felt something was off.
After studying martial arts under Huang Feihong for several years, she had developed a keen sense for reading people.
The bald man’s face had been vicious, and there had been a faint scent of blood about him.
It was the aura of someone who had killed before.
A murderer boarding a passenger ship…
The more she thought about it, the tighter her brows knitted together.
Suddenly, she stood up.
“Excuse me, please.”
After politely asking a nearby passenger to make way, she hurried out onto the deck.
“AAAH!”
A scream suddenly echoed through the ship.
Mo Guilan’s expression changed instantly.
She rushed up the stairs to the second deck.
The stairway led directly to the door of the control room.
Stopping outside, she cautiously looked inside.
Several crew members lay motionless on the floor.
Nearby were a number of fierce-looking men…
Only now, the savagery on their faces had been replaced by despair and lingering regret.
The tattooed bald man was among them.
A bloody hole pierced through his throat, fresh blood still flowing from the wound.
Beside his corpse stood the strangely dressed man she’d met earlier.
He was crouched beside another body, apparently preparing to hoist it over his shoulder.
Hearing movement behind him, the man turned around.
Their eyes met.
Mo Guilan’s face instantly turned pale.
It was him!
The mysterious man who had asked her for directions at the dock.
Seeing who had arrived, Lucian raised an eyebrow slightly.
So it’s her…
He set the corpse back down, stood upright, and quietly looked at her.
“Y-You…”
“D-Don’t come any closer!”
Mo Guilan backed away in terror.
Lucian remained completely expressionless.
As he watched her retreat, he couldn’t help feeling that she looked strangely familiar.
“I’m warning you!”
“I know martial arts!”
“Stay back!”
She continued retreating while trying to sound brave.
“I haven’t even moved…”
“…Stop backing up.
Watch your—”
“Ahhh!”
Before he could finish his warning, her foot landed on empty air.
Unable to see the staircase behind her, she slipped.
Lucian watched without moving as Mo Guilan tumbled all the way from the second deck to the first.
Then he calmly turned around.
Bent over once more…
He resumed disposing of the bodies.
Ten minutes later…
Every corpse had been thrown into the sea.
After that, he thoroughly scrubbed every trace of blood from the control room floor with a mop.
Only then did he shift his attention toward the unconscious woman lying on the lower deck.
Jumping down from the second floor, he picked her up effortlessly.
He carried her back to the control room, laid her on one of the beds, and began studying the various controls surrounding the helm.
After all…
Both the crew and the hijackers were dead.
There was no one left to sail the ship.
Which meant…
He would have to do it himself.
Another half hour passed.
By then, Lucian had already figured out every function of the vessel.
It wasn’t particularly complicated.
In many ways, it resembled the ships he had commanded during the events of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.
“Mmm…”
A soft groan came from behind him.
Hearing it, Lucian turned toward the bed.
Mo Guilan slowly opened her eyes.
She instinctively pressed a hand against her aching head before looking around.
The moment she saw Lucian…
Fear filled her face once again.
“If you scream again,” Lucian said as he walked over and sat in a chair beside the bed, “I don’t mind going through the trouble of throwing you into the sea.”
A faint smile curved beneath the shadow of his hood.
Mo Guilan immediately clamped both hands over her mouth.
Because of the hood, she couldn’t see his entire face.
Only his thin, well-shaped lips…
And that calm, captivating smile.
Despite the smile, she had no doubt whatsoever.
If she screamed…
He would truly throw her overboard.
“That’s better.”
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding between us.”
“The people you saw me kill were hijackers.”
“They seized this ship and murdered all of its crew before I discovered them.”
“I had no choice but to punish them.”
“Afterward, I was simply disposing of the bodies.”
“That’s the scene you happened to witness.”
“So…”
“Do you understand now?”
Mo Guilan blinked repeatedly before nodding vigorously.
She understood.
“Good.”
“Then tell me…”
“What’s your name?”
“My…
my name is Mo Guilan.”
She lowered her hands, answering nervously.
“Mo Guilan…”
Lucian thought for a moment.
“That name sounds familiar.”
“Where are you from?”
“I’m…”
“I’m from Foshan.”
The moment he heard that answer, something clicked in his memory.
It can’t be…
Surely not that much of a coincidence…
“Do you know Huang Feihong?”
“Huh?”
“You know Feihong?”
Mo Guilan abruptly sat upright on the bed, shouting in surprise.
Lucian slowly rose from his chair and gazed out across the endless sea.
Have I…
Crossed into the world of Huang Feihong instead?
Behind him, Mo Guilan quietly climbed out of bed.
Whoosh!
Her right hand shot forward like a knife, striking toward the back of Lucian’s neck.
Without even turning around…
It was as if he had eyes on the back of his head.
Just before her hand could land, he calmly stepped forward.
Then he spoke without a trace of emotion.
“If you ever try something like that again…”
“You really will die.”
Mo Guilan froze where she stood.
She didn’t dare move another inch.