"Different? Hmm... I don't think there's that much difference between humans and sea creatures." Huang Zheng said as he walked, "Look, except for you mermaids, most of the other sea creatures have a human form, not like fish or shrimps at all, but more like humans with some marine features. Even your mermaids, the upper body is almost the same as humans.
I personally have a point of view that the relationship between you sea creatures and humans is much closer than any other sea creatures. Like elves, dwarves, and orcs, you are all humanoids. I think maybe at some point in ancient times, humans and sea creatures had an evolutionary divergence, which led to our current differences. But after getting along with the sea creatures these days, I found that everyone's essence is still the same. "
"What is the essence?"
"Probably emotions. Love, hate, fear, sympathy, gratitude."
"So what?" Mencius asked puzzledly.
"That means we can understand each other. Right? You can't communicate this to an animal, like a fish. But we humanoids can understand each other's feelings." Huang Zheng shrugged. "If that's the case, why can't we live on the same island?"
Mencius was somewhat speechless. The other party's words made sense. All he could think of were some rules of the sea people. However, these ancient rules could hardly refute the reasoning of the human strongman in front of him.
The two walked up the hillside for less than ten minutes before they came to a large wooden house. Mencius looked inside from the window and it seemed that there were already quite a few people inside.
Huang Zheng pushed the door open, and Mencius saw his daughter at first sight.
"Trina!" He looked at her carefully and she didn't look hurt.
"Father." Trina nodded to her father without saying anything more. There were several other human men and women beside her. Mencius glanced around and found that except for a middle-aged man, everyone present put a lot of pressure on him.
Huang Zheng introduced Xiao Chen, Luo Ling, Mao Kai and Hertz to him. Except for Hertz who was present as a consultant, the others were all senior members of the China Tower Committee. Mensius was surprised by the large number of great magicians on the other side, and thought it was no wonder that his daughter was defeated so easily.
"I didn't expect the Tower of China to be so powerful." said Mencius.
Trina said: "There are far more masters in the Tower of China than just these. There are also several masters and many high-level masters who are not here."
After everyone sat down, Mencius asked, "Sir Xiao Chen, I have obtained the information you want. In addition, I have also prepared a considerable amount of gold. If I give this to you, can I take my daughter and her subordinates away?"
Xiao Chen said: "Of course, I keep my word, but Huang Zheng should have told you that some sea warriors have been hired by us. Maybe some sea warriors still want to recuperate here. They have never been our captives. If they don't want to go with you, that is their own choice."
"Okay." Mencius nodded in agreement. He didn't have time to care about so many things.
"Now, please tell me about the ghost ship." Xiao Chen said.
"The ghost ship is a terrifying legend that has been passed down among the sea people for thousands of years. However, for the sea people of most times, it is still a relatively distant thing, because the ghost ship does not appear every year. It may be only every ten years or even decades that we hear stories about it killing pirates and turning them into ghosts." Mencius said.
"But... in the last four or five years, the situation has changed." Mencius said, "In recent years, there have been cases of ghost ships attacking pirates every year. Starting from the past two years, not only pirates, but also our sea clan's warships have been attacked. This year alone, this happened three times, and one of our family's ships was also attacked. What everyone thought was a fantasy has suddenly become a serious problem."
"Do you know who the owner of the ghost ship is?" Luo Ling asked.
"We speculate that it should be a necromancer. We don't know the specific name, but someone saw her and escaped. It is said that she is a human woman with powerful magic. There was a great magician on the ship that other families lost before, but he was still defeated by her. So, everyone calls her the Queen of the Undead." Mencius said.
"So, now ghost ships have become a big problem threatening the sea people?"
Mencius nodded and said, "That is no longer a ghost ship, but a ghost fleet. The ships that were captured by the Ghost Queen before have become part of the fleet, and the dead sea creatures have become warriors on the ghost ship. In the past legends, ghost ships were operated by one ship, but now more than a dozen ships are operating together. Even the entire fleet of a small tribe has been destroyed by them. Now the tribes in the southern part of the Pearl Islands are very worried that their fleets going out to sea may become prey to ghost ships one day."
Xiao Chen suddenly asked: "Did you describe the appearance of a ghost ship in your past records? I mean, what kind of ship is it?"
"It is said that the ghost ship will turn into whatever ship it eats, and its appearance is not fixed. The appearance of the ship in each eyewitness record is slightly different," said Mencius.
"Interesting. I was wondering if the owner of the ghost ship would only plunder a new ship as his own when the old ship was about to collapse? Because some of the robbed ships are older and may have problems after a few years of use, while some are newer and can last for decades. The so-called ghost ship attacking pirates is nothing more than the ghost queen looking for a place to stay." Xiao Chen asked.
"This... We have never thought about it this way." Mencius thought for a moment, "But what you said is very likely, because the time the ship can be used is consistent. However, we still don't know why the Ghost Queen has changed her habits now and will continue to expand the size of her fleet and plunder everywhere. Is she going to go to war with our sea people?"
"Maybe... it's because the God of Nature is about to awaken?" Luo Ling guessed, "Adriana felt that she had to do something. Although what she could do was very limited, she was not prepared to sit and wait for death. This ghost fleet was the weapon she prepared."
"Who is Adriana? How is she related to the god of nature?" asked Mencius.
"We speculate that she is the Ghost Queen." Xiao Chen explained, "Her other identity is a saint from the Seven Towers era." (To be continued)