C11 How Can You be so Despicable?

His gaze landed on the Ghost Ship at the center. It was completely dark, devoid of any lights.

A faint mist surrounded it, giving it the eerie appearance of a true Ghost Ship.

He remembered when he first awoke, he hadn't looked much different.

The new crew members, upon witnessing such a scene, went pale with fear.

"Captain, Captain. You're not losing it, are you?"

Luo Qian asked, his voice tinged with uncertainty as he swallowed hard.

His expression was truly terrifying.

Yunfei, who had just come in with a broom, shifted her gaze from the two men to the hundreds of warships outside.

She gasped in surprise, lost her footing, and stumbled over the broom she was carrying.

Zhang Hai, noticing someone had come in, turned to send her back.

After all, it was better for such a beautiful young lady not to witness any distressing scenes.

With a loud "duang," his face contorted in pain.

He looked at the broom that had hit his second senior brother and doubled over like a shrimp, breaking out in a cold sweat.

Without a second thought, he immediately returned his focus to the warship.

It was no joke. Pain might not be an illness, but it could be deadly.

Now he truly regretted hiring her. She had already ambushed him twice.

If this kept up, he wondered if he would even survive.

Luo Qian, seeing the ambush, twitched the corner of his mouth in a sympathetic grimace, refraining from making any snide remarks.

Nalan Yunfei was shivering with fear, her expression one of regret for her mistake.

"I'm so sorry, Captain. It wasn't intentional," she stammered.

Zhang Hai didn't dare to let his guard down again. He instructed them to rest while he took care of the rest.

Luo Qian was not at ease, considering the multitude of warships outside.

To snatch victory from the jaws of defeat would be the mark of a true expert.

But as the old saying goes, even experts can slip up. If Zhang Hai messed up, they would all go down with him.

Nalan Yunfei, not overthinking it, carefully picked up the "weapon" from the floor and ran. But as she reached the doorway, she tripped and fell flat on her face.

It seemed she had grown accustomed to such situations. With pursed lips and reddened eyes, she vanished from the Commander Room.

Meanwhile, the system's scan had finished.

A list of hostile targets materialized in Zhang Hai's mind.

"Captain, the system's scan reveals that the Ghost Ship is merely an illusion," reported the system.

"An illusion? Does that mean my Refinement Crystal is a lost cause?"

"Not at all, Captain. Though it's an illusion, it serves as an entrance to another space. The signal from the Nether Energy Module is emanating from there."

"So, you're saying we just need to charge in?"

He said this, but he wasn't convinced.

If it were that easy, other warships that had found this anomaly would have acted long ago.

"Indeed, Captain."

His confusion was palpable. This whole setup seemed far too convenient.

"Rubbish, you can't fool me. Others must have tried to approach it before. Don't tell me they couldn't get in."

"Correct, Captain. They couldn't. Without the specific password, the space remains inaccessible. However, this system can crack the password, which is tens of thousands of digits long, in mere minutes."

"Damn, are you some kind of supercomputer?"

He scoffed at the system and dismissed it from his mind.

The argument ahead had ceased. Every warship's cannons unleashed a barrage of Magic Bullets.

Zhang Hai knew his opportunity to strike it rich had arrived.

"Full speed ahead."

As long as they didn't focus on him.

With his ship's incredible velocity, the Magic Cannons stood no chance of hitting him.

The pirates, engrossed in their battle, were taken aback to see a warship slicing through the battlefield.

Confused at first, they quickly realized this newcomer was swooping in to snatch the loot.

Annoyance flared among them.

"Target that weakling. Blow him out of the water!"

The pirate forces swiftly redirected their cannons, unleashing a volley at the Phantom Warship.

To their astonishment, the ship's speed increased, making it impossible for them to get a bead on it.

"Morons! Ever heard of leading your target?"

But his admonition was clearly too little, too late.

The Barbarian Blood Level Warship vanished before their eyes as if it had never been there at all.

The pirates were left bewildered, their skirmish grinding to a halt.

A fresh bout of verbal sparring ensued, this time with a noticeable shift in their debate.

Zhang Hai's vision went dark, and suddenly, he found himself in an odd dimension.

There was no breeze, and the water was as still as glass.

A short distance away, a Ghost Ship of identical design was moored in silence.

Aboard this vessel stood a towering skeleton, three meters tall, gripping a knight's lance, standing sentinel.

"Captain, defeat that skeleton."

"Heh, you think I'm an idiot? That thing doesn't look easy to beat. I need to get out of here."

To his astonishment, he realized he was powerless, unable even to turn back.

"Captain, this is Dimension Space. Without the master's permission, we cannot leave."

"Damn it, why didn't you tell me sooner! You did this on purpose, didn't you?"

Naturally, the system denied any such intention.

The two ships faced each other, bow to bow.

Yet, Zhang Hai's Barbarian Blood Level Warship was somehow smaller in comparison.

The colossal skeleton's eyes glowed with a ghastly light.

Its gaze fixed on the warship before it as soon as it awoke.

The chilling voice echoed through the eerie space.

"Defeat me, and you may leave with your life."

"Heh, such melodrama. Why so chuunibyou?"

With no escape, Zhang Hai was cornered.

He snapped his fingers lightly.

On the warship's deck, circles of light sprang to life.

Skeletons and warriors materialized one by one.

The giant skeleton narrowed its eyes, seemingly intrigued.

It effortlessly hoisted its nearly three-meter-long metal lance.

"Go, take down that show-off for me."

Without hesitation, the troops launched their assault.

Zhang Hai, under the system's shocked gaze, aimed the Magic Cannon directly at the immense skeleton.

"Captain, must we stoop so low?"

"Low? Why not mention the skeleton's theatrics? I can't stand show-offs, especially those with a chuunibyou vibe."

The colossal skeleton could never have anticipated that, after slumbering for eons, it would be roused by such an unconventional challenger. The clanging of battle rang out as the skeletons launched their assault. Warriors weaved through the throng of skeletons, sporadically executing shield bashes against the massive skeleton's legs in an attempt to topple it. But their strategy was quite fanciful, to say the least.

The outcome was nothing like what they had envisioned. With a casual sweep of its long spear, the giant skeleton sent dozens of its assailants tumbling into the water. To the behemoth, these feeble attacks were barely more than a minor annoyance.

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