Chapter 18 Two Sides

Leaving aside the progress of the card game that Feng Bujue and Snow were heading to as teammates, let's take a look at Honghu's situation.

Unlike Snow, Honghu was very familiar with Brother Jue... Therefore, when he confirmed that Feng Bujue was preparing to explore "above deck," he decisively entered the lower cabins.

This was a kind of trust, a trust similar to that between "opponents."

Honghu believed that Feng Bujue could definitely handle all the related events on the deck without needing his help at all... Therefore, he left that area to maximize the team's efficiency.

"The difficulty of this script does seem to be relatively low..." After wandering around below deck for more than ten minutes, Honghu also figured out some of the tricks. "Except for the armory, storage rooms, and other places that are guarded, you can basically enter and exit other places at will; moreover, these pirates are all dressed with such 'individuality' that, judging from their appearance... the three of us 'players' don't stand out at all; under these conditions... there's a lot of room to fish in troubled waters."

While Honghu was thinking, his reconnaissance never stopped; his first step was to investigate the internal structure and basic map of the ship so that he could implement subsequent actions.

However, just as he was passing by the side door of the "bar" for the second time, a familiar voice suddenly rang in his ears.

"This... bespectacled brother..."

It was a man's voice, and it didn't sound particularly distinctive, but Honghu knew that he had definitely heard this voice before, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it.

"Are you... calling me?" Honghu turned his head, sizing up the other person as he asked.

At this moment, the speaker's figure appeared in Honghu's sight.

This person was wearing a horizontally striped undershirt and coarse cloth pants that were rolled up to the knees. Judging by his appearance, he was probably in his thirties... with a face full of pockmarks; although he was not old, he was hunchbacked like an old man and had to rely on a cane to walk.

"Heh... there's no one else here, right?" The hunchbacked man smiled and replied.

"Then... is there something you need?" Honghu responded cautiously.

Because he had already noticed a trace of abnormality from the slightly awkward title of "bespectacled brother" and began to suspect... that the other party was an NPC who was much stronger than he appeared.

"I..." the hunchbacked man replied unhurriedly, "I just came to say hello. By the way... to remind you..." He paused for half a second before continuing, "'The three of you' sneaking onto the ship, Blackbeard already knows."

As soon as these words came out, Honghu was shocked, but he tried his best to maintain his composure and asked in a calm tone, "What are you talking about? I don't understand."

"You don't have to play dumb with me..." the hunchbacked man continued, "Since I can tell you the number of people you have and the fact that you sneaked onto the ship, then it means that I know far more than you think; of course, you can also think that I 'saw something' or 'heard something' and then ran here to trick you... that's your freedom too. But I will still make it clear what I should tell you..."

At this point, he was slightly silent for two seconds, looked around, and then lowered his voice and said to Honghu with a solemn expression: "At this stage, as far as I know, there are two other people on this ship who know your identities... besides me—one is the captain, Blackbeard, and the other is Laurent, the guard at the entrance of the third storage room..."

"Hold on." Hearing this, Honghu immediately interrupted the other party and asked, "The Laurent you mentioned, could he be the fat man sleeping in the hammock outside the storage room?"

He was obviously testing him with these words.

"Hmph..." In the next second, the hunchbacked man sneered, "Do you really think... he's sleeping?"

These words changed Honghu's expression.

The hunchbacked man keenly caught his change in expression and then said, "If you want to survive here, you and your two companions must recognize one thing, and that is—there are absolutely no 'weaklings' on Blackbeard's ship.

Any one of these hundred or so people, even if they are just 'fodder,' must have some kind of special skill.

Think about it carefully... would a character like Blackbeard let a fat man who only dozes off guard an important storage room? Think about it the other way around... how dare someone who is ordered by Blackbeard to guard the storage room sleep on the job?"

Honghu was speechless, and he couldn't help but feel ashamed of his carelessness.

"Alright, I've said all I need to say." The hunchbacked man said, "You can figure out what to do next. I hope... all three of you can reach Jumo Island alive."

With that, he prepared to turn around and leave, leaning on his cane.

"Wait..." Seeing this, Honghu hurriedly replied, "Who are you? Why are you helping us?"

Now that things have come to this, there was no need for him to continue pretending to be stupid, and he directly threw out two very important questions.

"You don't need to know my identity and purpose for the time being." The hunchbacked man didn't stop turning around, but replied softly in a voice that the other party could barely hear, "As for my name..." He hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Just call me 'Ken'."

…………

At the same time, above deck, in the captain's cabin.

Blackbeard was sitting in a chair... sleeping.

Saying he was "sleeping" wasn't quite accurate, because he never really "fell asleep."

Strictly speaking, Blackbeard should be "cultivating his mind with his eyes closed while dreaming."

This was a very subtle and unusual state that ordinary humans could definitely not experience.

In this state, Blackbeard was even more awake than when he was "awake"; he could both listen to "Laurent's" report in a virtual dream and be fully aware of the slightest disturbance around his body.

This... was Blackbeard's "sleep."

Some people thought this was an excellent "ability," but in his own opinion, it was one of the many "curses" he bore.

"Hoo..."

Suddenly, in a completely unannounced moment, Blackbeard breathed a long sigh and... opened his eyes.

"Not only were they able to sneak onto my ship without leaving a trace, but they also appeared in impossible places..." After waking up, he began to mutter to himself in his rough voice, "Heh... I seem to smell the scent of 'travelers from another world'..."