“Originally everything was sailing smoothly, but suddenly a strange disaster struck the ship.”
“The Hog’s Kiss broke into two, but fortunately this island was nearby, thus almost all of us escaped to the shore.”
“Finding that the captain was missing, the first mate took command……”
Mu Ban’s narration was detailed.
What he said was not much different from what Zhen Jin had heard from Huang Zao and Cang Xu.
The survivors gathered on the beach, all of them wanted to leave and none of them wanted to remain on this island.
The most important issue swinging in front of everyone was food.
As a result, the first mate dispatched Lan Zao, Huang Zao, and the others in the exploration team to explore and find resources, with the best result being they found a steady water and meat source.
Cang Xu had volunteered to join the exploration team at his own accord.
However, the exploration team everyone put their hopes in mysteriously disappeared.
Those left on the beach became even more frightened of this dangerous and mysterious island, leaving this place became a more urgent matter.
The ship had ruptured into two and everyone knew to leave this island, they had to build a new one.
Trees were not scarce, even the desert had a rainforest near it.
However, lumbering, processing the wood, and building the ship was a huge task. The people grew more tired, used up more of their strength, and consumed even more of their food.
From the ship wreckage, the people found floating casks and did their best to search everyone for resources. Even the corpses of humans were not let off.
However, without a steady external food source, even if they had a considerable food reserve, it could not sustain continuous consumption.
As time passed, the large unit found the days harder to bear.
The first mate had no choice but to ration food which irritated everyone.
Food shortages, a bleak outlook, and hard work every day made the people voice their discontent, have a fickle mood, and made it hard to maintain stability.
A ship that could travel to continents and resist the attacks of the ocean’s fishmen naturally had impressive fighting strength.
The sailors were united and complied with most orders.
Thus, although internal friction grew by the day, things were still mostly stable.
But food reserves soon declined to a critical level, forced by the situation, the first mate attempted to establish a second exploration team.
Some considered the general situation and bravely stepped forth to join the second exploration group. However most did not think they could face the dangerous jungle. Why would they leave the large unit when they had something to eat every day?
The first mate understood this could not continue. Since most people were unwilling to go, he was forced to proclaim that they were to draw lots.
The outcome of the lots caused an uproar amongst the people.
The reason was relatively few sailors got picked, the vast majority of the winners were passengers.
The people suspected the first mate had secretly rigged the lots and deliberately discriminated against them. The people requested a redrawing.
The first mate was very hesitant. Because the sailors did not want to explore the dangerous rainforest. The sailors also supported the first mate the most, thus the passengers and sailors opposed each other.
The internal conflict then changed; an emergency had ignited the entire deadlock.
“The other day I was sleeping on the beach exhausted. Late into the night, I suddenly heard a woman shriek somewhere around me.”
“At first I thought someone had been killed in the jungle. But soon after, more movement came from over there, I heard a man bellowing and cursing, along with the sounds of fighting.”
“As I got up from my straw bed, a frightened sailor informed me to take a weapon, and left to support the first mate. The sailor told me that a passenger had ambushed the first mate’s tent with bad intentions.”
“Although I was not a sailor, because of our working relationship, I had been sleeping with the ship’s fourth craftsman. Where I was sleeping was near the incident.
Of course, the fourth craftsman and others picked up their swords and charged towards the first mate’s tent. I was also following behind with a crossbow.”
“When I neared the tent, I found there was already fighting there.”
“A party of attacking passengers had surrounded the first mate’s tent. We wanted to get through but were beat back twice.”
“Luckily on the third time, the fourth craftsman called his foolish son over. We all called the orphan the fourth craftsman took in an idiot. He was a giant-human hybrid. He was three meters tall, had incredible strength, and could uproot a tree. The idiot listened to the fourth craftsman and used a tree trunk to sweep away the passengers, utterly defeating them.”
“Just when we thought we were victorious, Zong Ge stopped us.”
“He was a half beastman and was the leader of the rebellion. He was wearing a thick steel armor that resisted the oaf’s sweeping tree. He then stepped onto the tree, ran across it and jumped at the oaf. He then used his fist to punch the blockhead to the ground, the blockhead’s reckless counter attacks were all neutralized by Zong Ge, in the end he begged Zong Ge for forgiveness.”
“By defeating the oaf, Zong Ge had defeated us. He tied the first mate up and explained the entire story to everyone.”
“According to him, the first mate had been secretly stockpiling food for personal usage. During that night, he also decided to fancy a female passenger. He used knockout medication to capture the female passenger and had her brought to his tent, however Zong Ge had found out and ended up fighting a fierce battle.”
“We followed Zong Ge into the first mate’s tent, and sure enough, we found food reserves that did not belong to the public stores.”
“The female passenger called Qiao Shan also woke up and confirmed Zong Ge’s words.”
“After I realized the truth, I decided to stand on Zong Ge’s side. The majority also did the same as I. Many of the sailors were also wavering.”
“Under the definitive evidence, the first mate could only admit his crimes. In spite of the sailors’ opposition, Zong Ge forcibly put the first mate to death and by relying on his strong combat power, he became the camp’s leader.”
Upon hearing this, Zhen Jin nodded: “Although Zong Ge is a half beastman, his conduct is that of a hero’s. What is his relationship with Qiao Shan?”
Mu Ban shook his head: “The two of them are not acquainted. Like your Lordship, I originally thought that since Zong Ge stepped forward to help a stranger, he would be a more qualified and outstanding leader.”
“We began to suffer raids.”
“Almost every night, someone would tragically die.”
“We examined the corpses, their mortal wounds seemed to have been caused by a beast.”
“But everything near the camp had been disposed of. The camp was on a beach and one could see everything in a single glance. Where was the beast coming from?”
“Zong Ge personally led a team to stand watch all night, at first no one died. But soon after, someone lost their life in broad daylight.”
“Zong Ge wasn’t made of iron, he could not stand watch without sleep or rest. The others organized another team to keep watch, but they too could not block the slaughter from continuing.”
“All of us were afraid and the camp was anxious.”
“Numerous rumors rose. One of them said that Zong Ge was the true assassin. He was a brutal and untamable half beastman that enjoyed human flesh. If he did not eat human flesh., he would go mad. If he became mad, he would eat more human flesh. Those that mysteriously died in camp, whose wounds seemed to have been torn at by beasts, was actually done by Zong Ge. Because he was half beastman!”
“At first, I and the majority of the people were unconvinced by this rumor. Until one day, someone saw a corpse floating in the sea.”
“There was an extreme food shortage, thus the person who found the corpse was pleasantly surprised because he saw the corpse had intact clothes and other possible resources on its body.”
“The finder risked his life to swim a long distance in order to retrieve the corpse.”
“The floating corpse was the captain. The wound on his body was that of a piercing kind, it was very clear that a spear type weapon had caused it.”
“The captain was assassinated!”
“Thus, the disaster that had befallen the boat was also a manmade conspiracy.”
“The finding of the captain's corpse caused a commotion. The third mate, the captain’s son, wailed on the captain’s body and publicly declared that he must find the captain’s murderer and take revenge for his father.”
“All of us were angry, we were all guessing at who the culprit was, why would they murder the captain, why would they destroy the ship?”
“Based on the captain's mortal wound, we began to guess who had such spear type weapons.”
“No one was more suspicious than Zong Ge.”
“It was because not only did he have formidable steel armor, but the most noticeable thing he had on him was a pair of short spears on his back. Even when dealing with the oaf, he did not use those spears. Without a doubt, with those spears in his hands, he definitely had considerable battle strength.”
“The captain had iron level strength, Zong Ge was his equal.”
“The sailors had all united at Xi Suo’s side, however everyone knew Zong Ge’s strength.”
“The attacks continued and began to occur even more, almost every day someone would die.”
“On the food side, although the food the first mate had pilfered had padded the public stores, it was also consumed, thus Zong Ge was forced to attempt to establish an exploration team.”
“That time, many crew members voluntarily joined, and the team quickly formed.
“The same day the exploration team set off; the fourth craftsman covertly came to me. He informed me of Xi Suo’s scheme.”
“Xi Suo knew for the time being, he could not openly confront Zong Ge, thus he left with the sailors to make a boat on his own.”
“I knew the fourth craftsman was a master shipbuilder, thus I decided to join them.”
“Not long after the exploration team set out, Zong Ge found that Xi Suo, Hei Juan, and I were missing. Realizing that he had been swindled, he immediately led a team to pursue and attack us.”
“We fled the entire journey and just as we were about to be overtaken, the world suddenly changed! The environment was no longer a forest, but a rainforest.”
“A mysterious force had sent us here, soon after we found this camp.”
“This camp is very strange, the wooden house sat on top of the ground with no foundation, it was as if some giant had pulled it from the ground.”
“Xi Suo was very happy, he believed that this was a miracle from the gods that both delivered us from a savage enemy and bestowed upon us a temporary camp.”
“We renovated the camp and garrisoned ourselves here. Because I and the fourth craftsman were very happy——the wood in this forest was better material for making a new ship.”
“Afterwards, we split into two groups. Xi Suo, the fourth craftsman, and a few others went out to do lumbering. We continued to build up the camp here. But we did not expect the bat monkeys would attack, we are fortunate that your Lordship saved us!”
“Having such a hero appear on the scene was surely arranged by the gods! We will leave this fiendish place under your leadership!”
As Mu Ban spoke of this, his tone became fanatical.
Notes
The classic murder mystery is now on the table. With the captain confirmed dead, one is led to believe that the ship sank because of undisclosed motives. Remember, every single living character has come from that beach where half of the Hog’s Kiss ran aground, with two exceptions. Those two exceptions are Zi Di and Zhen Jin.