Chapter 716: Section 503: Handling Prisoners of War
“Now, we can take them all out,” Cang Xu was quite satisfied with the outcome of his first time performing Divine Arts.
So, under the command of the Fishman youth, two Rubber Swallowers vomited out their captives one after another.
Ku Feng and Qing Xin both had their eyes tightly closed, their bodies limp, completely devoid of any will to resist.
“This is Divine Arts…” From this, Cang Xu could already surmise a trace of the vast might of the Mei Lan deity.
The Fishman youth did not relax. He issued another order, directing different models of Alchemy Puppets to take the two captives into the Deep Sea Monster Fish.
At the same time, he commanded the now free Rubber Swallowers to continue diving out of the cabin to capture the Fishmen from the Da Ji Tribe.
Ku Feng and Qing Xin were carried by the sword pavilion guardians, passed through the metallic corridors, and entered a chamber.
Inside the chamber, several Long-Horned Cages had already been set up.
The main material for these Alchemy Cages was the Spiral Long Horn of the Unihorn.
Earlier, the Fishman youth had arranged for Zhongyong to hurriedly manufacture them. Not long after entering the Ocean Nest, the Fishman youth had used these cages to imprison many Nagas brought in through Blood Sacrifice Transmission.
Large numbers of Spiral Spikes protruded from all over the Long-Horned Cages.
The spikes were slender, like long needles, piercing into the bodies of Qing Xin and Ku Feng.
Unlike the treatment of Naga captives before, the Spiral Spikes seemed much gentler. They caused minor injuries to both captives but were not serious, let alone lethal.
The Long-Horned Cages began to function, suppressing the Extraordinary Power of Qing Xin and Ku Feng.
Before, they were bound by a double seal.
Later, they were struck by the Concurrent Deception Skill. (This wasn’t just any Divine Arts; it consumed the Divine Level material Pearl Bubble!)
Now, the Long-Horned Cage served as the final supplement.
With multiple layers inflicted, not to mention escape, it was very difficult for Qing Xin and Ku Feng to even awaken.
The Fishman youth could be said to be as stable as Mount Tai.
Arranging for the captives had to be done with utmost care. After all, the Deep Sea Monster Fish was their only stronghold now.
Without a Golden Level powerhouse, the Gold Level demon energy ship was a rare asset that could somewhat contend against Holy Domain Level adversaries.
As for how to deal with Qing Xin and Ku Feng, the Fishman youth and Cang Xu had discussed it many times.
In the end, they reached a consensus and decided to treat them as captives.
This was the most secure approach.
The first consensus they reached was that they must make a move to help the two.
Because it would be difficult to yield results by simply converting their faith. If they were neglected, they could both likely die terribly at the hands of the Snow Pear Octopus.
The question was, how to help?
Without revealing their own existence, they would have to rely on methods like Deception and Disguise Skill, Alchemy Puppets, and so on.
The Fishman youth had considered helping Ku Feng and then altering his memory before sending him back. The advantage of this would be to make Ku Feng provide some support for Cang Xu.
But Cang Xu refused.
Cang Xu believed that even if Ku Feng were to help, it would be very limited. Because the ship ghost’s influence on him would completely surpass Cang Xu’s influence on Ku Feng.
Furthermore, having two Undead Lives successfully convert in a row would attract attention and suspicion. This would also lead to Cang Xu receiving more scrutiny, essentially putting him under the spotlight. Cang Xu was already on the edge of the storm; any further attention would be detrimental to his actions.
Thus, Ku Feng was destined to be captured and imprisoned.
“This may pose a certain hidden danger,” Cang Xu once pointed out, “If the ship ghost could implant a deadly backdoor on me, according to his character, he should have made similar arrangements on Ku Feng.”
“The evidence here is that the ship ghost and his gang can communicate in secret, discussing and sharing insights on fabricating memories, bypassing Zhou Zhang’s double seal.”
“The ability of the Undead Mages to do this is because the ship ghost set up backdoors on each person. These Undead became summonings of the ship ghost, akin to the Ghost Ship.”
Since Ku Feng was able to communicate secretly, it was almost certain he had a backdoor.
It’s just that the one who might have set up the backdoor is not only potentially the ship ghost but also possibly the patchwork doctor who turned Ku Feng into a zombie. The latter may have covertly informed the ship ghost about the backdoor.
Cang Xu, meticulous in his thoughts, stated directly, “Deception and Disguise Skill may not be able to eliminate this kind of soul connection.”
“Even if the Deception and Disguise Skill used Pearl Bubble, it can’t make someone fake their Faith.”
“Before, squad leader, you have already tried using Deception and Disguise Skill on Alchemy Puppets, attempting to sneak them by, disguising them as Mei Lan Believers, and sending them out. The result was the Alchemy Puppets being mercilessly killed by the Holy Domain Octopus.”
Only by fabricating memories and meddling with the soul is there a possibility to deceive the deities.
In this case, it could also be that Deception and Disguise Skill is ineffective against the Mei Lan deity, but it may work against other deities; this remains to be verified.
But a certain fact has already been demonstrated — in the realm of soul research, the study of the Undead is at the forefront of the world, making Deception and Disguise Skill seem insignificant by comparison.
The Fishman youth believed Cang Xu had a very valid point.
After much consideration, he still decided to capture Ku Feng.
“The secret connection between Ku Feng and the ship ghost lies in the soul perception between the summoned creature and its master,” it read. “The Deception and Disguise Skill still bears the possibility of deception. For now, it cannot be ruled out.”
“More importantly, even if the ship ghost senses that Ku Feng is not dead and is still lingering within the Ocean Nest without returning, he wouldn’t betray that fact. He would merely hide it in his heart, sensing something fishy about the Ocean Nest.”
“This poses a minor shadow on the situation.”
“From the ship ghost’s reaction, perhaps we could also take the opportunity to deduce whether the Deception and Disguise Skill could deceive a soul connection.”
“Such knowledge of the limits of the Deception and Disguise Skill would be instructive for our future use of it.”
Now was actually a very good opportunity.
The Fishman youth decided to seize this chance.
He successfully convinced Cang Xu.
Next came the plan for handling Qing Xin.
“Qing Xin is with the Purple Vine Chamber of Commerce, meaning she’s one of us,” the Fishman youth had a certain degree of intrinsic trust in Qing Xin.
Therefore, the youth inquired to Cang Xu whether Qing Xin could be trusted.
Cang Xu directly shared his collective experiences with Qing Xin and her performance throughout the process.
“In short, capturing her and treating her the same as Ku Feng is the right move,” Cang Xu also voiced his suggestion for handling the matter.
The Fishman youth found this strange upon hearing it, as Qing Xin had not revealed any information about being an enemy.
Cang Xu made a very reasonable point, “It is precisely because of this that we cannot easily trust her. Qing Xin has not shown any signs of being our comrade. Before she truly joins us, she must prove herself.”
“In a way, our methods are similar to those of the Undead Orthodoxy, so we can consider their approach.”
“On one hand, the Undead Orthodoxy disperses inheritances to expand the ranks of Undead Mages from the grassroots. On the other, they intensify assessments to control the influx of newcomers.”
“Focusing on the appraisal of the newcomers’ qualifications and talents is crucial, beyond which, they also assign missions, so that new Mages can demonstrate their loyalty to the Undead Orthodoxy in their tasks.”
“They definitely conduct background checks, which is also a method to assess loyalty.”
“I managed to infiltrate the ship ghosts’ ranks mainly by luck! Under normal circumstances, it would have taken me another two or three years to gain access to Middle-level Undead Inheritance.”
Regarding Qing Xin, Cang Xu candidly expressed, “I have no doubts about Qing Xin’s identity and preliminarily recognize her as our potential comrade.”
“But only after proving her loyalty can we gradually reveal our secrets to her.”
“Don’t let emotions cloud judgment. Feeling emotionally that she’s trustworthy doesn’t mean she is. That’s not right!”
“An exceptional organization must have strict and excellent regulations when absorbing new members.”
After hearing this, the Fishman youth deeply agreed.
Hence, in the end, he treated Qing Xin as a captive.
At this stage, the youth and Cang Xu were still unable to judge Qing Xin’s loyalty; naturally, they couldn’t expose secrets like the Deep Sea Monster Fish.
On the other hand, even if they could judge loyalty, it would be difficult for the Fishman youth to immediately gain Qing Xin’s allegiance. Zi Di was not at the Fishman youth’s side.
Without the ability to quickly pledge her loyalties, her strength was of no use to the Fishman youth.
What was more disheartening was that even if Qing Xin swore allegiance to the Fishman youth and devoted all her strength wholeheartedly, her power was insignificant in the current stage of the situation. With or without her, it would be all the same!
Qing Xin and Ku Feng were both detained in the Long-Horned Cage.
The Fishman youth and Cang Xu left the cabin and watched the metal door slide and close tightly.
The Fishman youth then placed two Sword Tower Guardians both inside and outside the cabin door.
These Alchemy Puppets, which they had obtained when they seized the Deep Sea Monster Fish along with the ship, could provide certain martial power and defensive support to the survivors in the cabin.
Next in turn were the Fishmen of the Da Ji Tribe.
The Fishman youth and Cang Xu returned to the landing bay as the first Fishman was ejected by the Rubber Swallower, crashing onto the metal floor.
The Fishman looked up to see Cang Xu, thinking he had come to the Netherworld, seeing the long-dead enemy of his annihilated clan.
But soon, the pain from crashing onto the metal floor reminded him of reality—he was not yet dead, and furthermore, Xu Jia was alive too!
The Fishman let out a furious roar and immediately charged toward Cang Xu.
But in the next moment, he was pressed to the ground by the Rubber Swallower.
In the Fishman’s view, it was a surge of water suppressing him.
The Fishman was furious and struggled desperately, his bloodshot eyes staring fiercely at Cang Xu. If looks could kill, Cang Xu would have been dead many times over.
Cang Xu, expressionless, cast Divine Power onto the Fishman.
As Divine Power was consumed, the Divine Art “Soul Link” was unleashed.
A pale blue radiance emerged from the depths of Cang Xu’s spirit, condensing into a slender chain mid-way, and shot into the Fishman’s body.
The flesh of the Fishman had no defense, leaving the chain to strike directly at the Fishman’s soul.