“Since we won, then next...”
As he was speaking, footsteps came from the stairs behind them, indicating that a third person had successfully arrived.
Xia De and Princess were greatly surprised, and the evil spirits and the captain were even more so.
Everyone and every monster, who had been hostile to each other, now looked towards the staircase.
The first to see the person was Princess, who was closest to the staircase, and her eyes widened instantly.
The third Ring術士 to break in here had already removed his mask, just like Xia De and Princess, and they actually recognized that face.
It was Darkness, who had played cards with Xia De in the tavern that afternoon and cheated using despicable means.
Although he didn't know how he managed to get here, the left half of his body seemed to be covered by wriggling Darkness and shadows.
The man's complexion was very poor, and there were traces of blood on the normal half of his body.
Princess was about to ask him to help, but unexpectedly, the middle-aged man only glanced at the situation here before immediately retreating.
The receding footsteps indicated that Darkness had actually fled.
“The last time three people from a group reached here was 1500 years ago.”
The captain’s hoarse, low voice made Xia De realize that the danger had not yet passed.
Amidst the restless whisper of the evil spirits, he turned and took Princess's hand, gave her a reassuring look, and then walked to the table together.
Xia De sat down in an empty chair at one end of the long table, directly opposite the extremely ugly captain.
Princess stood behind Xia De, resting her hand on the back of his chair, bathed in the golden light emanating from him.
Xia De would handle the next gamble; she truly didn't have the mental energy to sit at the same table with the sailors and the captain unscathed.
The wooden table in front of them looked old; its legs were covered in mud, and the tabletop, laden with various delicacies, was a mix of black and brown.
Although the wood had not yet rotted and looked sturdy, one could immediately smell decay upon approaching it.
The smell made Xia De even hungrier, and for a moment, it even made him wonder if the wood tasted good.
No one stopped him from sitting down; having won the duel, he had earned the right to sit.
“I want to leave here.”
Xia De said, clasping his hands on the table, avoiding the captain's face.
“Gamble a game with me; if you win, you leave; if you lose, you stay here forever.”
The captain pressed his hands on the table, and the whisper of the surrounding evil spirits grew denser.
The skull chandelier overhead swayed, and eerie laughter echoed from an unknown source.
“Sitting here forever” likely meant boarding the ship; if Xia De lost, he too would become part of this ship.
“Wait, I also want to take my companion with me; we came here together.”
He pointed behind him again.
“Then let her gamble with me too.”
“I'll gamble for her with you; we can bet a bit bigger.”
Xia De said again; in front of him was a golden basin with milky white fish soup.
Although he didn't know why these foods had no smell, just looking at them, he could hardly resist.
His stomach rumbled continuously from hunger; he even felt his intestines and stomach writhing in dissatisfaction.
Although the food in front of him had no taste, seeing it inevitably reminded him of the high-end restaurant he and Louisa had gone to with their own ingredients last time, and the taste of delicious fish soup.
“Facing this situation, you actually still want to take someone with you?”
The captain, wearing a tricorn hat, laughed heartily, and the strange sailor evil spirits around the table also began to roar with laughter.
Their laughter caused the ship to vibrate; the captain, the evil spirits, and the ship were one entity, everyone was a part of the relic.
“Alright, since you want to bet bigger, why not bet even bigger.
If you win, I’ll let everyone on your ship leave.”
Amidst the irritating laughter, the captain spoke, but Xia De immediately shook his head.
The bigger the bet, the smaller his chance of winning.
Although he sympathized with the others caught in this incident, he didn't want to prevent himself and Princess from leaving because of it.
He would naturally help others when he could, but this time it wasn't like rolling dice where the probability was likely around 10; it was like rolling dice where the probability was likely less than five.
“No, I only bet on myself and my companion behind me.”
Xia De emphasized.
“That’s not up to you.”
He unbuttoned his jacket, but what was revealed was not a scarred body, but a thin body like a mummy.
The surface of the mummy was covered in fish scales, and on the shriveled gray chest, there was a black Mermaid tattoo the size of a forearm.
The Mermaid on the tattoo originally had its eyes closed, but the moment after, its eyes suddenly opened.
Its once beautiful face became sinister, and then, the Mermaid detached from the captain's scale-covered body, leaped onto the table, and then abruptly disappeared.
“Three rounds of betting; if you win two, I’ll let everyone leave.
If you don’t bet, then let the woman behind you gamble her freedom with me.
First round, you guess, in which plate is that Mermaid hidden?”
The captain, with his chest exposed, pointed to the table:
“First round, if you win, I will give you a way to relieve your hunger.
If you guess wrong, you eat what you guessed.”
The restless evil spirits were roaring with laughter, and the chilling wind made Xia De, who was trembling from extreme hunger, feel even more uncomfortable.
Princess’s hand rested on his shoulder at this moment.
He looked up, and her emerald green eyes met his.
Once, the Black-haired maid Tifa Servett also looked at Xia De like this, and it must be admitted that Miss Tifa was the best-built person Xia De had met in this world.
Princess said nothing, but her gaze reassured Xia De considerably; this time, he wasn't alone.
He knew that nothing he said could refuse the captain's malicious increase of the bet, so he turned his head to look at the captain, whose face had fish-like features, across the table.
Golden streaks of light, like sparks, drifted around with his movements:
“I’ll gamble with you, but you must swear to your God that once I win two rounds, you will let everyone on the cruise ship leave.”
“No problem, I swear to my lord, the lord of the scarlet spiral, if you win, all of you can leave!”
“Alright then.”
Xia De’s eyes were fixed on the table, and he asked in his mind:
“Where is it?”
“The trace of the element is very obvious, in the silver basin on the left, under those white breads.”
“It’s under the white bread.”
Xia De said.
“You guessed wrong.”
The captain laughed, and the voice in his mind reminded him again:
“It has moved; it is now under that plate of roasted meat.”
“Under the roasted...”
“Only one chance, you lost the first round!”
As he spoke, with a wave of his hand, the flat Mermaid tattoo flew directly out of the roasted meat and reattached itself to the captain's chest.