Night falls.
The bonfire burns.
Gnawing on a roasted corn cob, the sailor sitting on a wooden stump glanced at the "castle" not far away and finally couldn't resist speaking.
"Boss..."
"Hmm." Sitting next to him, Captain Kaidesen wiped the dagger in his hand, responding perfunctorily to indicate he should get to the point.
After chopping trees all day, his muscles were sore and he didn't want to say an extra word.
The sailor didn't want to bother him either, so he hurriedly expressed his confusion.
"Is there really a place called Withered Wood Port here?"
What kind of question is that...
No Withered Wood Port? And the fortress nearby and the Baron and Imperial Soldiers they t during the day are fake?
Kedson smirked, too lazy to mock the boy for his silly question, yet surprisingly, this foolish question resonated among his foolish subordinates.
"You noticed it too?" A sailor with a bushy beard raised his head in surprise, quickly speaking to the young sailor holding the corn cob, "I realized it this afternoon... It's just too clean here!"
"Exactly!" Another freckled-faced sailor nodded in agreent, saying nervously, "I noticed it too... It's absurdly clean here! Not a shard of tile or a worn boot, no trace of human life left even by a fierce storm!"
Kedson's eyebrows twitched.
It was certainly unusual.
Even if the locals had evacuated to nearby hills in advance, they couldn't have taken everything, right?
Kaidesen tried to find an explanation for this strange phenonon, while First Mate Ai Wen next to him joined the conversation.
"Hiss... You're right, it does seem weird. I saw abandoned masts on the shore, but not like they were caused by this storm; more like they've been rotting for two months."
"Two months?" The bearded sailor froze, "Two months ago... was there also a storm?"
"In winter, this sea area is usually peaceful, not as stormy... Of course, the situation here is quite unique," Ai Wen paused, smiled bitterly, and said, "After all, I've never heard of a piece of land on the Vast Ocean."
The crowd suddenly erupted with murmurs, exchanging mutual gazes filled with doubt and fear.
"Speaking of which..."
An older sailor with deep wrinkles suddenly lowered his voice, swallowed hard, and continued.
"During the day, I seed to see so strange shadows in the woods... They look very human-like but don't have a human appearance, and their feet don't touch the ground, just floating there. I wanted to get a closer look, but they seed to notice and disappeared directly..."
"You an—the Undead?" A timid sailor imdiately shrank his neck, his eyes wide like copper bells.
"Undead my ass!"
Kedson sneered dismissively, glaring at the mischievous sailor with a curse.
"Stop the fear-mongering; with you being such a coward, if you'd really seen the Undead, you'd have wet your pants before nightfall!"
This bunch of old hands loves scaring the newcors.
After dealing with them for a long ti, Kedson had already understood their temperant. He didn't believe a single word from their mouths!
The sailor who was scolded embarrassedly laughed, rubbing the back of his head. The young sailors, initially frightened, couldn't help but laugh along.
The fearful atmosphere dissipated sowhat.
Yet, at this mont, the elderly sailor who hadn't spoken up until then cleared his throat suddenly, speaking in a hoarse low voice:
"It's not fair to say that, maybe Caster didn't see clearly and felt embarrassed to say, we can't just assu he's lying."
"Exactly! I, I just didn't see clearly..." said the sailor nad Caster hurriedly, taking up the defense.
The aged sailor glanced at him, then at Captain Kaidesen and all the sailors watching him, slowly continuing:
"Speaking of Undead, I did run into those guys... Of course, not here, nor in the woods back ho."
Everyone imdiately beca silent, collectively staring at the old sailor.
"Back then, I was young, not on this ship, but on another one. The captain was a carpenter from Rhode Kingdom, who oddly ended up steering a cargo ship."
"Anyway, his navigation skills were worse than our current boss... We were lost at sea with fierce waves, nearly becoming fish food. Suddenly, the sea fog cleared, and we saw a bustling port!"
"It was bright, with taverns and beautiful girls inviting us in for a rest... We were thrilled and imdiately docked to replenish supplies, resting for a night."
The old sailor paused deliberately, glancing around, as everyone held their breath.
"The next day we woke up... Hey, here's the fun part. The beauty the captain hugged had turned into a corpse! The entire port was full of shriveled corpses and broken houses, it was no port, it was a graveyard!"
The sailors gasped in horror.
The old sailor seized the chance and continued.
"We started vomiting... emptying out everything we ate the day before, and out ca things like rusty copper coins, chewed boots, and even... a bloody dagger. The guy who vomited the dagger didn't survive, but I was luckier, just ate a dead fish and had an upset stomach for a few days."
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