Chapter 57

"Captain, there's a fire on the sea ahead."

The twin-masted schooner Chaoyong had undergone a complete technical overhaul and was now a knockoff three-masted clipper ship produced by the Luo workshop. Its speed could at least match the Yangwei, which had its sails fully replaced with "True Magic Pattern Cloth," though this was only at cruising speed; the maximum speed was still incomparable. At this moment, the two pirate ships were sailing towards the open sea, having settled most of their business in Xiangjiang. Luo Zhengdao was eager to leave the goblin fleet's sphere of influence. As the saying goes, a wise man does not stand under a crumbling wall. He had no interest in being a target at the goblins' doorstep, especially after doing something that would earn their enmity. It was time to run.

Hearing the sailor's warning, Luo Zhengdao pulled out his monocular telescope and soon saw the small boat and the fire flickering in the mist. Recognizing the identity of the other party, he put his mind at ease and said, "No problem, those are goblin patrol boats. Don't engage them; pass through this area at full speed."

"Understood!"

In the old world, the dominant power, the White-Headed Eagle, prided itself on its "find and destroy" tactics. The success of this tactic lay in the fact that the side with battlefield initiative and air superiority could strike the enemy at will, almost as if they could take whatever they wanted, provided that the gap in strength was sufficiently large. Faced with this, the potential opponents of the White-Headed Eagle were all at their wits' end, and out of desperation, they focused on learning the survival skills of animals like groundhogs and pangolins, practicing the art of digging deep holes, and stuffing everything they could into these holes.

In the new world, where magic was rampant, divination and other mysterious tricks could effectively replace reconnaissance soldiers, aircraft, and satellites. As long as the seemingly formidable seers drew a circle on the map and marked the time, they could ensure that the enemy would be intercepted on schedule. As part of the unpredictable and mysterious changes, whether you could defeat the enemy was another matter, as the saying goes, "Man proposes, God disposes."

The twin-masted flat-bottomed armed sailing ship was a cheap patrol boat recently mass-produced by the goblin navy. Its primary purpose was to cut off the smuggling and escape routes between the mainland and the starry sea. Typically, when they appeared, it was not just one or two ships but a large formation of ten to twenty ships, ideal for a dragnet search.

"Report, sir! Two suspicious ships have been spotted to the northeast, currently traveling at about fourteen knots!"

On the lead armed sailing ship, the goblin lookout saw the wake left by the Yangwei and the Chaoyong, confirming the accuracy of the shamans' predictions. The goblin officer in charge bared his teeth in a grin and said viciously, "Signal, we've found our prey."

"Yes, sir!"

"Day—Day—Day—"

As several goblin rockets whistled into the sky, leaving a trail of burning, fluorescent red smoke exploded in the high altitude, this was the prearranged signal for enemy detection. Seeing the signal flares from afar, Mordo Blackwater impatiently pounded the command platform and shouted, "Full attack, don't give that bastard another chance to escape. You bastards have wasted too much of my time."

It was clear that the conflict between the goblin Mordo Blackwater and the bear goblin Zeti White Mountain was deep-seated. The key issue was that even if Mordo Blackwater's determination was strong enough to ignite a small universe, as his enemy, Luo Zhengdao had no obligation to cooperate.

The goblins' large-scale movements were obvious, and even a blind man could see that things were not looking good. Luo Zhengdao put down his telescope and gestured to his new first mate, Brandor Fiamme, saying, "Don't waste time; we need to break through at full speed."

The Yangwei, with its sails fully unfurled, moved so fast that the sailors on board felt their hearts race. Such high-speed navigation was dangerous; if they hit a reef or another ship, even a battleship-grade hull would shatter. The sailors on the Yangwei gritted their teeth and followed orders, raising the True Magic Pattern Cloth sails one by one. This was a matter of life and death! The Chaoyong, which had been following behind, also received the order, and the one-eyed captain, For Chopin, controlled the speed at its maximum limit. The two three-masted ships cut through the waves, following a curved route to avoid the goblin patrol boats ahead, heading for the open sea at full speed.

"Captain, those green skins haven't given up; they are still pursuing us."

In response to the boatswain's warning, Luo Zhengdao nodded and was about to speak when Vena Dubov approached and said, "The Chaoyong has signaled that their ship cannot withstand the high-speed travel and is starting to vibrate severely. They request to drop out of the formation."

A knockoff is a knockoff. The Chaoyong, a later-modified clipper ship, had a hull and keel that could not be replaced and could only be used as is. Running at high speed for a short time was fine, but maintaining the maximum speed for a long time could lead to the ship breaking apart, which was not a laughing matter.

Luo Zhengdao, knowing the situation, could no longer hold back. He raised his eyebrows and said, "No, tell For to hold on. Zola, reduce the speed to sixteen knots."

Zola Hegel, with an uncertain expression, said, "But we will be caught up. The goblins are not as fast as us, but they are not just pursuing us. If they take a shortcut and block us, it will be a big problem."

Hearing this, Luo Zhengdao turned and looked at the pursuing goblin fleet, saying, "How long will it take for them to catch up?"

"If we start to slow down now, in a day, at most two days, the goblins will intercept us."

At this moment, Luo Zhengdao lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said, "Hmm, Zola, is there any complex terrain nearby where we can lose the pursuers?"

Zola Hegel, with a mature face, squinted his eyes and said, "Yes, to the east is the Sahu Fishman Kingdom. They are a nest of pirates who will attack anyone who comes."

Luo Zhengdao, as if he had found a treasure, slapped his thigh and said, "Great, let's hide in the Sahu Fishman Kingdom! I hope they like their goblin neighbors."

..............................................................................................

A population of 7 billion could only squeeze onto a small rocky planet, and while the universe of the old world seemed boundless, for humans, it was only something to gaze at and fantasize about. Compared to the cramped living space on Earth, the territory of the new world was vast, to say the least. Ignoring the vast underground world with its cave systems, the land area of the main continent alone was roughly twice the size of all the land on Earth. Beyond the main continent, the Ether Sea, stretching into the endless void, was so vast that no one had ever discovered its boundaries.

Undoubtedly, such a vast and unimaginable main material world could exhaust the ambitions and lifespans of even the most ambitious rulers, who could only console themselves with the illusion of victory.

No matter which era or which intelligent race rose, they were, in fact, unable to control the entire new world. Perhaps it should be explained this way: any race that could dominate the main continent had the right to call itself the king of the world, even though this somewhat arrogant title was far from being deserved in reality.

Like humans and goblins, the Sahu Fishmen were one of the many intelligent races living in the new world. Even though their individual intelligence and civilization level were considered low by human standards, most Sahu Fishmen were only slightly better than human mental disabilities. Races like the Yalings and Elves, who considered themselves superior, would not lower themselves to deal with the Sahu Fishmen. Humans, on the other hand, cared only about practical benefits, and even though they looked down on the Sahu Fishmen, this did not prevent them from doing business with them. The contempt of outsiders did not affect the Sahu Fishmen's dominance in their remote territories, where they had absolute authority, and that was enough.

Suddenly, as the two sailing warships approached, the three Sahu Fishmen guarding the reef watchtower were in a panic. The largest of them, with a high-pitched voice, shouted, "Woo! Invasion... there are enemies invading!"

The initial chaos caused by the discovery of the enemy lasted for a few minutes, and the fishmen, as if waking from a dream, reminded each other, "Ah! Woo! Ring... the bell!"

"Clang, clang, clang, clang..."

The clear and long alarm bell, carried by the mana wind, drifted further and further, promptly delivering the news of the enemy invasion to the ears of the kingdom's highest ruler. These simple alarm messages could only serve as a doorbell; you couldn't expect a group of illiterates to play Morse code. It was already quite difficult to convey the general idea.

The Sahu Fishmen were currently in the transitional stage from a barbaric and ignorant tribal era to a civilized nation. They were making efforts to emulate other intelligent races and establish their own national system. However, this so-called Sahu Fishman Kingdom was more similar to a tribal alliance in many aspects. Even so, the combined national strength of the Sahu Fishmen far exceeded the simple sum of the independent tribes. Now, the crudely made and primitive crown and scepter had been passed down to the fourth-generation fishman king, Aquilu Fernando IV, who was both the highest ruler of this new nation and the strongest fishman warrior. Otherwise, he would not have been able to defeat his hundred or so brothers to ascend to the throne.

As the pirate ships Yangwei and Chaoyong successively passed through the warning line set up by the Sahu Fishmen on the reef, Luo Zhengdao's mood relaxed, and he said to his subordinates, "Look! Those green skins have indeed followed us."

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