Chapter 1 The Confrontation

It was 7:20 AM, inside the surveillance cabin of the Dolphin.

"Well, well... look who it is." Graybeard limped into the cabin, heading straight for Haven't-Lost-Ears.

The cabin was already a mess. Thanks to the efforts of several assistant directors and staff, all the surveillance screens in the cabin had been smashed before the pirates invaded.

"Long time no see," Haven't-Lost-Ears said calmly, sitting in a chair and looking at Graybeard. "Schwader."

"Heh... same to you, James," Graybeard replied with a smile.

Their eyes met, and they both chuckled, but though their mouths were making sounds of laughter, there was no mirth in their eyes.

"Heh... hahaha... hahahaha!" Haven't-Lost-Ears' laughter grew louder and louder.

Graybeard was not to be outdone, his gravelly voice laughing even louder than the other man.

For a moment, the crew members, staff, and pirates (who had taken control of the entire ship five minutes earlier and gathered everyone into the largest cabin), as well as Captain Joseph, O'Bama, Gu, Lohan, Rose-Child the Second, Ba-Waste-It… all looked confused.

"Hah!"

Suddenly, Graybeard's laughter stopped abruptly. In the same second, he roared and punched Haven't-Lost-Ears in the face.

Haven't-Lost-Ears, now a prisoner, had no room to fight back. He could only take the blow.

"Ptooey..." Haven't-Lost-Ears showed no fear after being punched. He calmly spat a mouthful of blood on the ground and raised his head. "Your way of greeting an old friend is certainly enthusiastic."

"Hmph... just as long as you know it's a 'greeting'..." Graybeard sneered. "The real 'main course' hasn't been served yet."

"Whatever. You punch like a girl," Haven't-Lost-Ears retorted provocatively.

"You..." Graybeard's eyes widened, and he raised his fist again.

But two seconds later, he lowered his fist and sneered. "Heh... trying to anger me? I won't fall for it." He waved the hook on his right hand. "Did you think... you could get away with it that easily?" He turned his face and scanned the cabin, then continued, "Do you know... what this man is doing right now?" He paused for a moment. "Heh... he's trying to provoke me into abusing him. He wants to use that to make you think... I'm a violent madman... in order to reduce my credibility."

"Aren't you?" Haven't-Lost-Ears interjected coldly.

"Ha! I'm nowhere near as bad as you," Graybeard replied.

As he spoke, Graybeard took two steps back, opened his arms, and raised his voice. "Everyone! Allow me to introduce... this man who once dominated the seas, a man who was invincible... James Francis Haven't-Lost-Ears, also known as—the 'Caribbean Killer Shark'."

As soon as these words came out, the surrounding pirates turned pale (as industry insiders, they had all heard of this name), while the passengers of the Dolphin looked blank.

"In terms of seniority, he is undoubtedly my senior," Graybeard continued. "The year I went to sea at the age of seventeen, he was already a well-known young talent."

"Is it appropriate to use the word 'young talent' to describe a pirate?" No one else spoke, but Haven't-Lost-Ears spoke himself.

"Shut up! You bastard!" Graybeard shouted furiously and stomped on Haven't-Lost-Ears' foot with his prosthetic leg.

"Ah!" The latter's foot broke on the spot, and he couldn't help but scream and fall to the ground.

"Actually... his real name isn't 'Haven't-Lost-Ears', but 'Cameron'." Graybeard ignored Haven't-Lost-Ears' screams and continued, "Until one day... he successfully escaped from the hands of 'Ear-Cutter Roger' once. From then on, he was called Captain 'Haven't-Lost-Ears' by the people." He sneered. "Anyone in our line of work knows... that no one whom Drug Lord Roger wants to kill ever survives, and everyone who dies at Roger's hands has their ears cut off.

"Over the years, there has only been one exception, and he... is the 'Haven't-Lost-Ears' in front of you!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the passengers of the Dolphin looked at Haven't-Lost-Ears with an expression of "unclear but feeling impressive."

"He's more brutal than a pirate, more vicious than a drug lord. His nickname, 'Caribbean Killer Shark', is a depiction of him 'eating people without spitting out their bones'." Graybeard continued, "But who would have thought... that such a person would successfully wash his hands clean after so many years, erase the first thirty years of his life, and transform himself into a director."

"Hoo... I didn't expect... you'd still be alive..." At this moment, Haven't-Lost-Ears struggled to get up from the ground and sat down again. "When I saw you on the deck just now, I thought I was seeing a ghost..."

"Ha! How could I die?" Graybeard laughed hypocritically. "I've kept this life just waiting for today... waiting for this day to take my revenge on you." He began to pace around Haven't-Lost-Ears. "I still remember the fight ten years ago... You boarded my ship, killed all my crew members, cut off my left leg, chopped off my right hand, and threw my wife into the sea..." He stopped here, his expression becoming extremely ferocious. "And you f***ing shot my parrot!"

Graybeard then walked behind Haven't-Lost-Ears, staring at his enemy fiercely. "Oh... God, I miss my parrot so much, more than that nagging old woman..." When he said this, he paused deliberately and said to Max a few meters away, "Sorry, kid."

"I understand," Max replied quickly, without interrupting his dad any further.

"Anyway... I miss Sloan (the parrot's name), I miss my crew, and I miss my hands and feet even more..." Graybeard walked back in front of Haven't-Lost-Ears. "You... took all of this away! And today, I'm going to make you pay back double!"

Haven't-Lost-Ears, covered in sweat from the pain, still didn't give up his arrogance. He met the other man's tyrannical gaze and said in a deep voice, "Hmph... I'm also a little curious, Schwader... how did you survive back then?"

"Ha! Hahahaha..." Graybeard laughed wildly. "This is God's will!" He walked proudly towards Max. "You'd never have dreamed... that my son... is a prodigy!" He put his hand on Max's shoulder. "Ten years ago, when you were slaughtering the ship, he was two years old and hid in a kitchen cabinet to escape." He pointed to his face with the hook. "After you left, Max immediately called for help and dragged a medicine chest that weighed more than him... and helped me stop the bleeding." The pride on his face was overflowing. "Haven't-Lost-Ears... letting me lie on the deck and slowly wait for death was the biggest mistake you've ever made!"

"So... that's how it is..." Haven't-Lost-Ears said with his eyes lowered. "However, this can't be said to be my 'miscalculation' or 'mistake'..." His eyes shifted to Max. "How many children in the entire human race can do that much at the age of two..."

"Hmph..." Graybeard ignored his words and continued, "Haven't-Lost-Ears, did you think... that by changing your appearance, you could get rid of the past and live the life of the so-called upper class from now on?" He suddenly roared, "Did you think you wouldn't have to pay the price for what you did in the past!"

"Kill me if you want to, why bother talking so much?" Haven't-Lost-Ears replied, "For someone like you... the only way to ruin me is with violence." He turned his head and glanced at the others in the cabin. "Once we leave this cabin, no one will believe what you've said. Even if everyone on this ship comes to testify for you, even if I myself hold a press conference and say, 'I used to be a bloodthirsty pirate'... no one will believe it." He sneered. "I can completely foresee... that after my death, I will definitely be described by the media as a 'victim' or even a 'hero'; people will play the works I directed on a large scale to commemorate me, they will praise my achievements during my lifetime... maybe they will even give me a Nobel Peace Prize or something... Heh... and you, what are you? Schwader? All you have is a ship full of... rude, stupid drug dealers like you! You can only be drug dealers and pirates for the rest of your lives, because that's all you're fit to do. You are feared when you're alive, and despised and forgotten after you die. This is the fate of people like you..." He turned to look at Max. "Kid, if you really are a prodigy, you should know that everything I'm saying is right. I advise you to leave your idiot father as soon as possible, find a normal family, read more books, and maybe you can..."

*Poof—*

Graybeard punched Haven't-Lost-Ears hard in the abdomen, interrupting his words.

"You bastard, you're still so arrogant even when you're about to die..." Graybeard muttered, "You wait... after I clean up the island, I'll use your equipment to broadcast your execution to the world live."

"Ugh..." Haven't-Lost-Ears gasped for air, raised his head, and sneered, "Hmph... we'll see... I want to see who cleans up who..."

…………

It was 8:00 AM, in the central area of Cannibal Island.

At this time, Feng Bujue, who knew nothing about what was happening on the Dolphin, was squatting by a stream, rinsing his mouth.

In the past hour, he had completed two side quests.

They were: [Capture a Queensland hairy-nosed wombat alive with your bare hands] and [Eat a whole taro raw].

Therefore, the corresponding challenges "Hunt a Queensland hairy-nosed wombat" and "Find and eat a tuber" were also completed.

It must be said that these side quests were quite difficult. Although the Queensland hairy-nosed wombat (an extinct herbivore that was originally distributed in Queensland, Australia, and other places. Due to habitat destruction and human hunting, the Queensland hairy-nosed wombat became extinct around 1900) was a herbivore, its weight of about fifty pounds, its strong body, and its sharp claws all made hunting it difficult.

With his normal human physical fitness, and limited by the two conditions of "bare hands" and "capture alive," Brother Jue used all his strength to barely catch one. When the system prompt that the mission was completed sounded, all his strength was also used up. Fortunately, the challenge was "dead or alive," so Brother Jue simply let the little wombat go.

As for the "eat a taro raw" quest, it was quite convenient... because the place where Brother Jue caught the bear happened to be next to several taro plants (Queensland hairy-nosed wombats dig up plant roots for food and like to forage near the entrances of burrows).

So, after dealing with the "capture alive" quest, he took out his military shovel, dug up a taro plant, and directly started the "eat raw" quest.

Because raw taro is slightly toxic, and raw taro juice can easily cause skin allergies, this quest was also quite difficult. Even if we put aside these factors, let's just talk about the volume and weight... "a whole taro" also included several huge leaves; long and narrow petioles; rough, hard tuber skin; and a substantial tuber itself.

Any of these things were difficult to swallow raw, and it was really both filling and disgusting to eat all these miscellaneous things clean, and it was also a torture to the mouth.

Of course... Brother Jue survived.

However, he still needed to rinse his mouth and wash his hands to clean off the taro juice (it would feel dry and itchy if left on the skin) before he could set off again.

"Gala gala gala... ptooey!" Brother Jue rinsed his mouth and took a long breath. "Hoo... good, there are still three challenges left, and the second main quest is almost done." He rubbed his hands in the water. "I should be able to finish the remaining three before sunset today. Hmph... after that, it's just a matter of survival... easy peasy."

At this time, Feng Bujue would never have imagined... that in the past hour while he was doing the quest, many pirates had landed on Cannibal Island and were searching for the "fish that slipped through the net" on the island.

Moreover, there were two pirates coming to the forest behind him at this moment...

*Swish—rustle—*

Finally, when the two approached to a distance of about ten meters, the sound of their movements entered Brother Jue's ears.

"Hmm?" Brother Jue, who was always vigilant, naturally noticed the movement behind him. "This sound... is human!"

Feng Bujue's first reaction was... that an opponent was trying to sneak attack him.

"Although I have a gun on me, I can't guarantee that others don't..." At this moment, Brother Jue's mind flashed. "Since Lohan can bring a gun as a prop, then others can undoubtedly do the same... hmm... I can't be careless..." Thinking of this, he made a decisive decision and ran away.

The terrain by the stream was relatively open, and it was obviously unfavorable to be in the light while the enemy was in the dark, so the first thing Brother Jue did was to rush into the forest directly in front of him.

Who knew... if he hadn't run, it wouldn't have mattered, but as soon as he ran... they started shooting.

*Tutututu—*

Bullets followed closely behind Brother Jue's steps on the ground, splashing up shards of mottled mud and rock.

The moment the gunshots rang out, Feng Bujue's mind was already instinctively complaining: "Damn it, that's an AK! Judging by the sound, it's dual-wielded! Is it a terrorist coming? It must be a terrorist!"