Chapter 225: Chapter 229: Seeking the Blood Compass
The steel warship lay silently moored at the port of Plunder, its flag representing the Mist Fleet billowing in the wind beneath the sunlight. The emblem on the flag was a cluster of ice crystals, sharp as knives, with a fracture down the middle—the ice symbolized Frost, and the crack represented the self-exiled “rebels.”
After the notorious pirate captain and his followers had disembarked, no one else left the warship. The Sea Mist was like a silent iceberg, peacefully stationary. Its towering and majestic hull and prow blocked all curious gazes from the dock, while a contingent of City-State Guards rushed from a nearby garrison to seal off the access to the pier, preventing unrelated personnel from approaching.
Only after the intervention of the sheriff did the onlookers gathered near the wharf finally begin to disperse gradually.
First Mate Aiden stood on the bridge of the Sea Mist, silently watching the activity on the dock.
He hadn’t gone ashore with Tyrion—when the captain left the warship, he, the First Mate, retained the captain’s authority on board to prevent any chaos.
“Those City-State Guards seem really twitchy,” a sailor muttered nearby, “as if they’re scared we’ll plunder the moment we land—I thought the Plunder City-State’s guards would be a bit tougher than the scarecrows of the Chill Sea.”
Aiden, without turning his head, responded, “If they didn’t maintain order, you would complain that Plunder’s guards didn’t even have the courage to cordon off the streets—would you face their steam tanks if it came to it?”
“…I wouldn’t, I don’t want to be hauled back on deck in a bucket again,” the sailor quickly shook his head, then looked up in the direction the steam walkers had left, “The captain went with them… Is everything okay? That tall woman seemed like trouble. I don’t think the captain could take her…”
“We’re not here to fight; we’re here by invitation, understand?” Aiden finally couldn’t help but give the sailor a sideways glance, “You, and all of you, need to adjust your attitude. Have you forgotten the captain’s teachings? We are now the Mist Maritime Investment Company—piracy isn’t sustainable, isn’t doing business a faster way to make money?”
“So, when do we plunder?”
Aiden thought for a moment, the sunlight reflecting off his shiny forehead, “Of course, when the other side isn’t willing to do business…”
The Undead sailors nodded, acknowledging the First Mate’s wisdom. Then it was quiet for a few seconds, when a sailor, half of whose head was caved in, couldn’t help but look towards the City-State, mumbling, “Can we go ashore to have a look? Plunder, I heard that this city…”
“Don’t even think about it,” Aiden cut off his subordinate directly, “Captain’s orders, no one is to leave the Sea Mist without permission—you lot of oddballs would definitely frighten people. Plunder is not like the North; few here have seen talking corpses.”
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“So the captain only chose a few who looked most alive to go ashore, right?” the sailor with the caved-in head complained resentfully, then raised his hand to touch his head, “I think I look alright; if I cover this up with half a shell and wear a hat…”
“Shut up. Without the captain’s orders, no one is allowed ashore!” Aiden glowered at the sailor who wouldn’t stop talking, “If you really have nothing to do, go below and check on those unlucky fellows who were stuck on the deck earlier. If they’re alive, have them report…”
A soft clicking sound suddenly came from nearby, interrupting Aiden’s orders.
Everyone on the bridge heard the faint clicking, and their gazes involuntarily turned towards the direction of the sound, with the first sailor who had spoken quickly identifying the source.
Next to the captain’s seat, a bizarre machine composed of numerous gears, rods, and compass needles sat—quiet now, yet its few needles still trembled slightly, as if they had been abruptly activated moments before.
“Did this thing just move?” A sailor closest to the device approached the intricate and complex machine warily, eyes fixed on its now-still compass needles.
Aiden also walked over, his gaze falling on the small hemispherical bowl at the center of the machine—inside, a bit of dried blood remained, a remnant of Captain Tyrion’s last use of the device.
The bald First Mate’s brows furrowed slightly.
As the captain’s most trusted subordinate, Aiden was quite familiar with the device.
Anomaly 203, the Compass, a complex, brass contraption of unknown principle, once part of the Frost Queen’s collection, now owned by Captain Tyrion.
This device, in the ranked list of “anomalies,” was considered to have a more “beneficial effect.” Its central bowl could hold blood and, after absorbing fresh blood, its series of compass needles would indicate the direction of the user’s “blood relatives.” The indication was linked to the closeness of kinship, distance, and the user’s intent.
Compared to most anomalies, which harbored direct malevolence and could be deadly if mishandled, the Compass was relatively safe to “keep”—it required no special sealing conditions. However, once activated, the device would reveal its perilous nature.
First, once infused with fresh blood, the user would constantly be lured by the Compass to continue supplying blood, and those with weak minds might bleed themselves to death in an unending sacrifice. Second, although the Compass could indeed help the user locate “blood relatives,” it often brought “misfortune” along the way, continually steering events for the worse as user and relative drew near.
Only Aiden knew that Anomaly 203 had once guided a father to his long-lost son, only for an unfortunate accident to result in the two killing each other upon meeting.
However, these negative effects didn’t matter much to Captain Tyrion—his will was strong enough to resist the Compass’s “blood donation lure.” As for the tendency of misfortune when a relative approached…
First, the captain and Miss Lucresia would never meet while Anomaly 203 was in effect. Second, the relationship between father and son Abunomal was anything but “fond and filial.”
Even the Compass could hardly conjure up a more “doomed and dark” family reunion than that of two Cursed Warships firing upon each other upon encounter.
In the past half-century, Captain Tyrion often treated the blood-seeking compass as some kind of “warning device,” using it to determine whether the Homeloss had returned to the real world.
Aiden and the sailors crowded around the abnormal device 203, with several pairs of eyes fixated on the brass device surrounded by a few ancient compasses with intricate patterns.
The gears and pointers had completely quieted down.
“… Maybe it just wanted to move a bit,” a sailor with a hole in his forehead cautiously spoke, seemingly trying to lighten the mood, “After all, this thing usually doesn’t budge…”
Aiden glared at the sailor, “If you can’t joke, don’t.”
“Or… shall we wipe off the remaining blood in the center?” another mummy-like withered sailor suggested, “Otherwise, it feels like this thing is about to ‘wake’ up any moment.”
“No,” Aiden shook his head, “The captain has ordered that the blood at the center of the compass must not be wiped off manually; we must wait seventy-two hours for the compass to absorb it on its own.”
“… What happens if we wipe it off early?”
“No one knows. It’s already hard enough just to summarize the ‘abnormal device’s’ correct usage, who would be so full to test various wrong operations,” Aiden said casually, “Why don’t you give it a try? Consider it a contribution to human civilization.”
“No, no, no, it was just a thought.”
Aiden snorted coldly.
“Click-click—”
Just then, the blood-seeking compass suddenly made that faint mechanical noise again, the conversation between the first mate and the sailors was abruptly interrupted, and Aiden immediately looked at the device. He saw its gears starting to tremble, and several compass pointers on the edge jerked violently. Then, all the pointers suddenly pointed towards Plunder… around.
The blood-seeking compass quieted down once more, this time it seemed truly motionless.
All of its pointers had avoided Plunder.
Aiden and the sailors looked at each other.
“… I said this thing just wanted to move…”
“Shut up,” Aiden interrupted the sailor, but his eyes remained firmly on the abnormal device 203, while recalling the scene he had just observed in his mind.
All of the pointers had turned to some random direction beyond Plunder, but he was certain that at some moment just before, there definitely was a brief instant when the compass’s pointers pointed in the same direction—towards the Plunder City-State!
It was such a fleeting moment that it could make someone doubt if it was just a coincidence during the chaotic spinning of several pointers, but to Aiden, it was as if the compass’s “eyes” had just spotted their target and then shifted their gaze in terror.
And now, with all of abnormal device 203’s pointers aimed near the sea around Plunder, it appeared more to Aiden like an attempt to “conceal by making a show.”
He suddenly recalled something the captain had once said to him—
Abnormal device 203 occasionally exhibits “living traits”; it doesn’t always operate mechanically.
This thing, it can feel fear.
“Something’s not right… there’s a problem with this City-State!” Aiden suddenly realized, “We need to inform the captain about the situation here.”
“But hasn’t the captain ordered us not to go ashore?”
“Send a message first,” Aiden spoke quickly, turning to a sailor, “Go, bring Polly over here!”
The sailor ran off swiftly, and before long, he returned to the bridge—a huge parrot with spangled tail feathers perched on his shoulder, sharpening its beak on the exposed skull of the sailor’s nape.
“Polly, we need you to send a message,” Aiden called out loudly.
The parrot immediately stopped its harassment of the sailor and lifted its head, looking at the first mate, “Polly, can send a message.”
“Go to the City-State cathedral, look for the captain’s scent, tell him—the blood-seeking compass points to Plunder, the City-State is unsafe!”