Chapter 722: Chapter 11: Gods, Monsters, and Scholars (Conclusion) Chapter 722: Chapter 11: Gods, Monsters, and Scholars (Conclusion) Chapter Eleven: Demons and Scholars (End)
Having finished cursing, Saint Watson turned and left the captain’s cabin,
“Mr. Saint Watson, you have been awarded the order of the Holy Queen; you should feel a sense of responsibility and honor for it.”

Andre’s words remained stiff and formal.

“If the Lord doesn’t care, neither do I.”

Saint Watson slammed the door heavily.

…

The air was thick with the smell of blood, and a bloodstained skeleton lay sprawled over the ship’s wheel.

Although they barely escaped the black rainstorm, remnants of the highly corrosive Disaster Water were still present everywhere on the ship. Enduring six minutes of the black deluge, the Dragon Flag ship, retrofitted from the seven-thousand-ton “Edgar,” was covered in scars.

“Governor Qian, the brothers can’t hold on any longer, we should retreat. As long as the green hills last, there will be wood to burn. From what I see, we might have encountered the Black Tea Tide,” Xu Longsi croaked.

Qian Yongzhao’s eyes were red with fury, yet he hesitated to give the order to retreat. The formation of the Allied Fleet was already scattered and disorganized. The government’s newly trained sailors had just undergone drastic changes. If he were to order a retreat now, it might only lead to further chaos. If the Red Flag’s main force took advantage of the situation and attacked, the entire Allied Fleet could be at risk of annihilation!

In the past, various supernatural legends circulated throughout the South Seas, among which “Heavenly Mother Crossing the Sea” was mysterious and the Black Tea Tide the most dangerous. It was said to leave no survivors. To this day, beyond the name of the Black Tea Tide, South Seas sailors knew nothing about it. With today’s strange events, both divine and eerie, Qian Yongzhao couldn’t help but wonder, could it be that fate has decreed our end?

“Governor Qian! Governor Qian!”

Zhufen hopped up and down, shouting, “Waves! Waves!”

Before he could finish, a towering wave slammed into the Edgar, tilting the deck. As the sea surged to the sky, several sailors’ heads inexplicably rose into the air, along with several masts, all chopped off in one stroke.

Xu Longsi grabbed onto a rope to steady himself, only to see blood spraying before his eyes, followed by excruciating pain. Instinctively touching his chest, he found it wet, soft, and empty, except for a few tattered pieces of cloth.

The blood-stained Dragon Son Great Spear pierced through Xu Longsi, made a turn in mid-air, and sliced through the ship’s canvas. With a flapping noise, the wind-filled canvas fell with a rustle, revealing Li Yan’s silhouette on deck.

Xu Longsi stared at the man before him, familiar yet strange, and spat out shards of his organs: “You, Mrs. Shi, I…”

Li Yan didn’t even glance at him, walked straight by, and fixed his gaze on Qian Yongzhao, where the black ripples in his eyes slowly calmed.

“So, you’re Tianbao?”

Qian Yongzhao looked grim.

Li Yan nodded, and the Dragon Son Great Spear suddenly flew up, first piercing through his opponent’s chest, then through the Governor’s cape; blood spread from the center of the spear, soaking the surrounding area. The spear’s tip stuck half a foot deep into the wooden deck. Qian Yongzhao died in a half-kneeling, half-standing pose, head tilted back, eyes locked on Li Yan, his expression neither happy nor sad.

The moment the great spear crushed Qian Yongzhao’s heart, Li Yan felt a sudden pull in his chest, as if something icy had burrowed into his own heart, but it was only for a fleeting moment.

“You have killed the commander of the Allied Forces, Qian Yongzhao.”

“Your mandatory Yan Fu event progress has significantly advanced.”

“Esteemed Walker of Yan Fu, take note: Qian Yongzhao was beloved by the sea god Yama Duo, and your actions have attracted Yama Duo’s attention. Yama Duo is the patron deity of the South Seas, so please take utmost care for your safety.”

Li Yan took a breath of cold air and, out of the corner of his eye, saw Zhufen desperately trying to fit his body into a barrel, with only his backside sticking out.

Li Yan narrowed his eyes, initially planning to finish off Zhufen, but with the appearance of the troublesome Yama Duo, he changed his mind.

“General Zhu, to die like this would be a rather disgraceful end, wouldn’t it?”

Quivering like chaff, Zhufen took a while to crawl out of the barrel. Yishi certainly could both pick up and put down pride; he fell to his knees with a thud: “Have mercy, Tianbao Dragon Head, have mercy. Please remember the times we fought side by side against the Red Haired Devils, spare my wretched life. My connection with Mrs. Shi goes back many years. I truly had no choice; it was the coercion of the government…”
Crying with snot and tears, he looked up only to realize Li Yan was already gone, leaving a distant voice floating back: “I’ll leave your head on your shoulders for now; I’ll be back for you.”

The waves rolled and churned as Li Yan strode over them. Along the way, he sank several more Ironclad Warships. Seeing the fleet fleeing before him, Li Yan thought to himself that perhaps he had been overly cautious.

…

“Ruchika! Tidy up. We’re heading back to Guangzhou. Ruchika?”

Saint Watson somehow found a top hat to place onto his head, concealing his bald crown.

“S-sir.”

The boy stepped out gingerly from a corner, his head covered with a wooden carrying case, carefully stepping over the decaying skeletons of sailors on the ground. “Be careful, something happened here just now…”

“Pack your bags, we’re leaving this place, you little bastard.”

What Saint Watson didn’t notice was that a lingering drop of Disaster Water slid down from the mast and hit him right on the shoulder.

Sizzle~
“Damn!”

Saint Watson screamed as if someone had grabbed him by the crotch, and he hurriedly tore off his mushy suit, but his shoulder was still badly corroded.

Drip-drop~
The Disaster Water dripped slowly down the edge of the mast, and in no time, it had corroded a hole the size of a bowl into the tough oak deck.

“Sir, are you alright, sir?”

Ruchika also started to scream, and he opened his suitcase, which to his surprise, was filled with pink flesh, vials and glass containers of all colors embedded within the flesh.

“Medical alcohol, where are the bandages.”

Ruchika rummaged through.

As the initial severe pain subsided, Saint Watson came back to his senses and began to pay attention to the Disaster Water on the ground that had injured him. He squatted in front of the hole, silent for a long time, looking just like a farmer inspecting his seedlings.

“Ruchika, hand me the pH reagent.”

“Oh yes, sir.”

Ruchika took out a dropper from the suitcase and handed it to Saint Watson, who dropped a colorless liquid into the hole. In no time, the Disaster Water in the hole began to boil, and soon after, several creatures with tentacles the size of fingernails crawled out of the hole, but they stumbled and fell after a few steps, twitching for a while before they congealed into grayish-white protein clumps.

“Aha~ Praise myself.”

Saint Watson simply snatched the suitcase from Ruchika and started sorting through it on his own.

Suddenly, Ruchika inadvertently saw the raging waves and dark clouds once again approaching their side, and for a moment, his breath seemed to freeze.

Thud.

Someone lightly landed on the stern deck, right in front of Ruchika.

While Saint Watson was still immersed in his research behind him, Ruchika swallowed hard, drew a dagger from his waist, and aimed it at Li Yan.

Li Yan glanced at Saint Watson sitting on the ground, waves of darkness swirling in his eyes for a long time, but he showed no reaction.

“Excuse me,” Li Yan said, “where is the captain’s cabin?”

“I won’t tell you.”

Ruchika said firmly.

“Turn left, the first door with the golden parrot emblem on it, that’s the one.”

Saint Watson casually replied.

“Thanks.”

Ruchika was dumbfounded, but he didn’t have the courage to stop the Chinese man reeking of blood from heading to the captain’s cabin, only covering his face: “Sir, that’s despicable! He’s an assassin, he’s going to kill Captain Andre.”

“So what? Ruchika, what’s so special about a dead man? We’re just hitching a ride on his ship for our journey, Hesting has paid the bill. I saved your life, if you had rushed up just now, you might end up worse off than a squashed rotten tomato.”

“But you betrayed Captain Andre, he took care of us all the way, and you sold him out. He’s a good man.”

“To the intellectually deficient, even an executioner might appear as a good man because he doesn’t spit everywhere. Andre is just that ‘courteous’ executioner. And you’re that intellectually deficient person. Look at you, a devout believer in the spirit of knighthood, an Indian Shudra? You’re as disgusting as a mishmash of bitter gourd and chickpeas.”

“Sir, if you detest your surroundings so much, why don’t you try to change them? I think you are running away. You don’t have the courage to face reality.”

“Provocation doesn’t work on me, I’ll tell you, years from now, portraits of me will hang in classrooms, inscribed with: ‘Odes to courage are mere wishful thinking by humans, only I and the truth endure eternally.’
“Sir, the immortal God would never stand by and watch someone die.”

“Alright, kid,” Saint Watson stood up irritably, “I’ve decided to go save that Andre, but not because of what you said, but because the man just now is important to my research.”

He walked a few steps and then turned back: “And by the way, God is a lousy person, you’d better not expect much from him.”