"Captain, you should actually be thanking me. I took care of Iron Tower for you."
"???"
"Because I heard him say he came aboard your ship to uncover some secret of yours. He wasn't truly loyal to you."
Shi Ming toyed with the gun in his hand, speaking as if they were just having a casual chat.
"What secret is that?"
Hearing Shi Ming's words, the captain's face went pale. The vicious glint in his eyes intensified, like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on.
He let out a roar, his voice surging with rage.
The other exploration team members behind him had already wisely scattered to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. They knew the captain's combat strength all too well and believed he could easily dispose of this arrogant slave before them.
'A perfect chance!'
BANG!
Shi Ming fired again, but the captain, now on guard, easily dodged it.
"Shi Ming, if I were you, I'd find a place to hide on this island. At least that way, you could live a few more hours and spend the last moments of your life alone."
"But now, death will be a luxury you can't afford!"
With a furious roar, the nautical suit on the captain's upper body tore to shreds, leaving only a tight black tank top clinging to his muscles. Black markings appeared on his rough skin—this was a manifestation of his Awakening skill. Having bathed in the blood of a Deep Sea Black Shark, he could unleash the power and speed of a shark for a short time!
WHOOSH!
Like a black arrow, the captain appeared beside Shi Ming in the blink of an eye, throwing a straight punch.
Shi Ming had seen this move before. Matching the captain's speed, he abruptly retreated several meters, dodging the blow.
The Black Tortoise bloodline hadn't granted him any super-speed skills. His incredible velocity was purely the result of the massive physical enhancement from his powerful Awakening.
This was an S-class Awakening!
Not only did it grant powerful skills, but it also brought about a qualitative evolution of the body! And unparalleled potential!
"You're an Awakened, too?"
The captain, stunned by Shi Ming's speed, sized him up.
"Doesn't matter if you are or not, you're going to die! All of you spies! Did you come to my ship for my uncle's secret? I've already killed so many of your kind! But I never would have thought that Iron Tower... that he would be disloyal to me too!"
The captain continued to press his attack with divine speed.
Shi Ming, however, fought defensively, as if a cat toying with a mouse.
This was his first fight against another Awakened since his own Awakening. He wanted to see the difference between S-class and D-class in all aspects.
"To think my drifting ship has been infiltrated to this extent... Including that spy from six months ago, that makes three!!! Even an Awakened like you managed to sneak onto my ship, and as a lowly slave, no less!!!"
"Forget it. After this battle, all crew members will die!"
"All of them!!!"
The captain roared, completely disregarding the ordinary exploration team members who were watching from a distance, waiting for an opening.
The poor team members. They had been wondering if they could find a chance to help their captain, but his heartless words sent a chill through their hearts.
Some even considered a quiet retreat, but when they actually thought about it, they had no idea where to retreat to. Back to the ship?
'Nowhere to run!'
In a matter of seconds, the two had already exchanged several blows.
Unlike his battle with Iron Tower, which was a clash of blades, the fight with the captain was a contest of speed. And Shi Ming was also getting a better sense of their respective strengths.
He decided to test his S-class skill: Black Tortoise Shield.
'Hm? An opening?'
The captain's thick brows knitted together. A vicious smile played on his lips, his dark muscles rippling like a Deep Sea Black Shark in the ocean depths, about to devour its prey.
'You Awakened are still too young. We've only been fighting for a short time, and you're already showing a fatal opening?'
He aimed for Shi Ming's opening, concentrating more than half of his body's Awakening Power into his fist!
'Got you!'
BANG!
Where their bodies collided, the sound of striking metal rang out.
"Black Tortoise Shield!"
When it came to combat technique and intelligence, Shi Ming was on a completely different level than the captain.
He had, after all, received rigorous training!
He had just intentionally feigned an opening to bait the captain, to make him strike with all his might. And at the perfect moment, his S-class Awakening skill had activated!
The Black Tortoise Shield could grant immunity to all damage for three seconds, achieving an invincible state, and reflect 50% of the damage back to the attacker!
'Even Newton said that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It's perfectly reasonable, and very scientific!'
CRACK!
Under the force of the impact, the bones in the captain's hand shattered. The intense pain shot through his nerves, making his eyes bulge with rage. His hysterical screams were morbidly satisfying to the exploration team members, who were too scared to leave but also too scared to stay.
"You! You actually… What… What kind of skill is this?"
Shi Ming didn't answer. He aimed the gun at the captain's forehead and, with a hand as steady as steel, pulled the trigger.
'In a battle between experts, every second counts.'
BANG!
Unfortunately, for the third time, the bullet missed its mark.
'Not a good day for shooting.'
???
No, it didn't miss. It hit the captain right in the forehead and even passed through.
'Did his forehead absorb the bullet?'
'That's not right!'
Shi Ming suddenly felt that the captain before him seemed unreal, as if he had become some kind of afterimage.
'Is this an Awakening skill, too?'
And the captain in front of him suddenly burst out laughing.
"HAHAHAHA, Shi Ming!"
"After all these years knocking around the Endless Ocean, how could I not have a trump card or two?! You young Awakened are still far too inexperienced!"
"Now that you've forced me to use my trump card, you don't stand a chance."
The captain used his left hand to pull something out from under his black tank top.
It was a control terminal, smaller than a cell phone.
"Your Awakening skill is impressive, I'll give you that, but look at this! The chip control terminal for the drifting ship! Didn't expect this, did you? I carry this thing on me at all times!"
"I don't care why you came to my ship, and I don't care how strong you are. The moment I use this, you will die instantly!"
"Go on, attack me! And then die in frustration, HAHAHAHA!"
???
Seeing that the gun was useless against the captain, Shi Ming had already switched his weapon to a sabre.
He activated his Arm of Power, channeling ten times his normal strength into the sabre, and slashed toward the captain's body and the so-called "chip control terminal" in his hand.
The sabre passed through the captain's ferocious face as if through thin air, meeting no resistance.
'It really is an afterimage.'
'What kind of trump card is this?'
The captain completely ignored Shi Ming's attack, not even bothering to dodge. With the bones in his right hand shattered, he could only use his left hand to clumsily operate the terminal—the machine that could control the chips implanted in the brains of all his crew and slaves.
Every terminal for the Celestial Net Chips had a clear hierarchy. The one in the captain's hand could control everyone on his ship.
"Number 361… Number 362…"
"There you are. Slave number 363."
"A slave, an Awakened… you actually dared to take the risk of coming aboard my drifting ship? I don't care who's backing you. Now, die in despair, HAHAHAHA!"
The captain madly hammered the [Execute] button on Shi Ming's page on the terminal.