Chapter 1 The Beginning

Let's move the time forward ten minutes.

Location: On the *Bell and Goblet*.

Although this pirate ship had sent out all its elite forces, leaving the internal defense extremely weak, it was still very stable due to the presence of the highly prestigious Armand. Most of the pirates left behind were old, weak, sick, or disabled, but they were all united in heart, at least on the surface, showing no panic or worry. There were no lights on board, no one was making loud noises, and the order was well-maintained. They even had liquor and gauze ready for bandaging wounds.

It is worth mentioning that Long-Legged Robben, who was promoted by Fang Senyan himself, was also among those left behind.

On the surface, Robben's being left behind seemed to be a casual decision by Armand, the purpose of which was to leave a mid-level pirate to facilitate the management and transmission of his orders. But everyone knew that Armand was worried about Fang Senyan, the boatswain, so of course he had to separate Robben, who had been promoted by Fang Senyan, from him, lest the two of them join forces to cause trouble when they were out of his sight—especially under the lure of possible huge wealth.

However, the old fox Robben did not show any abnormality to Armand's arrangement. For this guy who had been struggling among the Caribbean pirates for decades, five words could describe him: "The one who gives milk is the mother." Whoever could give him greater benefits would be the object of his loyalty.

The distant flames dyed the night sky red, and from time to time, there were shrill screams. Robben took out a delicate gold-inlaid pocket watch from his arms (Note: Pocket watches were not produced until the end of the 17th century; just think of this thing as soul equipment), looked at it, nodded, and then glanced enviously at the port of Tortuga on the shore before walking towards the lower cabins. Two burly pirates stood outside Fang Senyan's cabin, leaning against the nearby pillars, boredly picking their nails, picking their noses, counting flies, and scratching their toes. After seeing this, Robben immediately coughed, put on a stern face, and shouted loudly:

"Look at what you're doing! The great Captain Armand ordered you to protect Mr. Crewe well. How dare you two fools be distracted?"

The two pirates immediately jumped up as if they had been stabbed with a knife. Looking at Robben's dead face, as stiff as a playing card, they could only smile apologetically and take out dozens of shillings to stuff into Robben's hands, begging him to show mercy. At first, Robben naturally refused sternly, but after most of the money in the two pirates' purses fell into his hands, he snorted and waved them away, then pushed open the cabin door and walked in. The two pirates naturally cursed wildly in their stomachs, sending greetings to all the women in Robben's family in their minds.

As soon as the door opened, Fatty Crewe, who didn't know what he was doing, suddenly jumped up, his face looking rather pale. He looked like an unlucky guy who had been caught in the act of stealing. He smiled dryly at Robben, and suddenly asked nervously:

"Mr. Robben, have they returned in triumph?"

Robben felt that Fatty Crewe's expression was quite strange, but he just assumed that this guy was a little concerned, so he didn't take it to heart and bowed slightly, saying:

"Respected Mr. Crewe, the boatswain entrusted me with something before he left. That is, if he has not returned a full hour and a half after his departure, then I will hand this letter to you. Please pay attention to the time. I have fulfilled my promise and delivered this letter to you on time."

Crewe was obviously not expecting this, and couldn't help but say in astonishment:

"A letter?"

Robben nodded and said very solemnly:

"You can rest assured that when I received the letter, I swore in the name of my father's soul that I would never peek at it and would definitely deliver it to you on time. So, no one knows the contents of the letter except for the boatswain."

In this world, because of the existence of various supernatural events and magic, swearing is not as rampant and unconstrained as in the real world, but is a rather solemn act. And swearing in the name of one's father's soul is one of the most serious oaths—of course, the main reason Robben was willing to do this was that Fang Senyan had given him a reward of ten pounds in advance.

Crewe took the letter from Robben with doubt and couldn't wait to tear open the envelope and read it. After the first glance, cold sweat was already dripping from Crewe's forehead, because the opening of the letter clearly read: "Dear Explosives Expert Mr. Crewe!"

Dear Explosives Expert Mr. Crewe:

Please forgive me for addressing you this way until now. In fact, from the moment we first met, I had a relatively clear deduction about your identity and expertise.

First of all, you are a person who lacks threat in both close combat and ranged attacks, but you were able to participate in your organization's important operation to blow up Tortuga Castle, which shows that you should have a very important tactical position in this plan! In terms of the initial difficulty of the space we are currently in, there are not many non-combat positions that can be called "important" in the team. Combining the particularity of the Nightmare Space, it is nothing more than the all-pervasive reconnaissance achieved by high perception, the extensive network obtained by high charm, the team's strong gain effect brought by high intelligence or high spirit, and of course, the core demolition operation.

Among these positions, your perception is obviously not high, otherwise, you would not have failed to choose the correct escape route, and were chased to the brink of desperation by those guards. Your charm is even so low that you have to rely on my prestige to borrow money from the pirates—then you may have the remaining two items.

However, the reactions of the other team members betrayed you—if you were the kind of person who could bring a strong gain effect to the team, then they would definitely take various methods to find you, instead of appearing so indifferent to your life and death as they do now.

After eliminating the other possibilities, the remaining one, no matter how unbelievable, must be the correct answer. Of course, if I only had the above information, then I would not be sure to put the great title of explosives expert on your head. However, I noticed a small thing, that is, after the battle with the invincible fleet, you actually made a not low personal contribution, and also received at least two ancient gold pounds in rewards.

Following this clue, I investigated and found that your contribution was actually obtained through cooperation with the gunners in the bottom cabin! The gunner very frankly told his boatswain that when the respected Mr. Crewe was loading gunpowder next to him, he could miraculously make the cannon he controlled shoot farther and with greater power! In this way, respected Mr. Crewe, the last strong puzzle in my reasoning was filled in.

If the title of explosives expert is put on your head, it can naturally explain why you resolutely refuse to return to the team and would rather stay on the ship even if it means compromising yourself—based on your special combat style, then returning to the team is mostly a marginal state of just making up the numbers, and it is better to stay on this pirate ship to be more convenient and comfortable—for you, you can use my reputation as a cover to do many things on the ship.

For example, borrowing a lot of money from pirates and then blaming it on me,

Or...using the ample time on the ship to create a large number of mental power bombs and secretly bury them in various parts of the ship.

Oh! Dear Cousin Crewe, please don't get excited, be careful that the low and narrow cabin roof will cause damage to your head. Since I dare to draw such a conclusion, I naturally have sufficient evidence.

Unlike you, my perception has reached a full fourteen points. Under my deliberate attention, I can still barely determine the approximate range of things that threaten my life. After a careful search, I finally found a small piece of bomb stuck under your stool. I must admit that this kind of bomb made of mental power is indeed very hidden, and can be called a work of art. It is even harder to imagine that it, which can be kneaded like chewing gum at will, has such amazing power. Of course, according to my observation, the cycle of making it is also quite long, and you should only be able to make one every twenty-four hours or so.

ps: Fang Senyan's perception is not as high as Armand's, but because he already has a preconceived notion of danger in his mind, he deliberately went to find bombs to discover them, while Armand cannot. This is like having mice in the house. Even if you are nearsighted, you can still find the mouse holes with deliberate effort, but the pilot who comes to your house to play may not be able to find the mouse holes.

After understanding all your painstaking arrangements, I can also roughly speculate on your plan. Without a doubt, your vision is quite vicious and precise. When all the pirates—including my vision—are focused on the rich port of Tortuga and the legendary castles with mountains of wealth, you have placed your breakthrough point on the *Bell and Goblet* pirate ship.

According to the distribution area of your bombs, you have positioned your goal in Armand's captain's cabin—think about the plot in *Pirates of the Caribbean 4*. Blackbeard's captain's cabin even displays a whole dozen rum bottles with black magic, and even legendary ships such as the *Black Pearl* are collected in wine bottles! Of course, Armand cannot be compared with Blackbeard, but, but! He is, after all, one of the future seven pirate lords! The wealth in his captain's cabin must also be described with huge sums!

All you lack is an opportunity—an opportunity for the *Bell and Goblet* to be completely empty.

At that time, you can detonate the bombs placed in the bottom cabin, create a huge chaos, and take the opportunity to blow open the door of the captain's cabin, plunder everything you want, and then escape along the route where you have pre-buried the bombs. Anyone who chases you will be blown into the air by the huge explosions that follow, and then struggle painfully to die.

Coincidentally, I am also eliminating the powerful figures on this pirate ship, such as the former boatswain Caron, Elvin, and others. These guys with great strength will also become stumbling blocks to your plan. So, while secretly rejoicing in your heart, you are also determined to stay on the ship and wait for a better opportunity—here I must admit that I have indeed taken advantage of this mentality to get a lot of benefits from you—may the merciful God bless you.