Chapter 418 - 408: Sailing Carnival 10

"Well, he technically started it, but I had an unexpected windfall."

"What kind of windfall?" Hugh Finch asked curiously.

"The first mate is an A-rank wanted criminal. His real name is Theodoric Graham, and there’s a two hundred million bounty on his head."

Hearing Moira Lynch’s words, Hugh Finch’s eyes instantly widened.

Two hundred million!

"Hugh Finch, what’s wrong? Your eyes are popping out of your head."

Caden York asked curiously, having seen Hugh Finch’s eyes go wide in an instant.

"It’s nothing. I just bit my tongue."

After brushing the matter aside, the expression on Hugh Finch’s face returned to normal, but internally, he could hardly regain his composure.

"We’re still in the middle of the game. How are you planning to hand him over? Besides, for that wanted criminal to board the ship so brazenly, he might have accomplices on board."

Hugh Finch wasn’t an idiot. Connecting the dots with everything that had happened so far today, he was almost certain that the wanted criminal had accomplices on this cargo ship.

Or worse, the entire crew could be his accomplices.

"I’ve thought of that too. But none of us knows how to pilot a cargo ship, so we still need the crew. It’s not a good time for a falling out. So I arranged for a private, in-person exchange."

"They said they’ll reach our position in three days. They’ll contact me then, and I’ll sneak away to hand him over."

After hearing Moira Lynch’s explanation, Hugh Finch nodded. "Should we tell Shane Rhodes and the others?"

"Not for now. The people on that ship are of The Long-Eared Tribe. They can tell if someone is lying by listening to their heartbeat and blood flow. The fewer people who know about this, the safer it is."

"Oh, I see." Hugh Finch started to nod, but then a thought struck him and he snapped to attention. "Wait a minute. Then why did you tell me?"

"Weren’t you the one who asked?" Moira Lynch replied with a look of pure innocence.

While the two of them were talking, a fish took the bait.

Moira Lynch took out the seasonings she had prepared earlier.

The cleaned fish was soon placed on the grill. Before long, the air was filled with the fragrant aroma of charcoal-grilled fish.

"It smells so good! This alien fish smells a lot like the fish back on Caelus." Joy Rhodes poked the sizzling, greasy fish with her chopsticks.

"Joy, when you say it’s the same, you’re not talking about the fish from SoySauceDrunkard’s ’Don’t Miss It’ shop, are you?" Shane Rhodes suddenly interjected.

"Yeah, I am. Is there a problem?" Joy Rhodes replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Um, Joy... the fish from the ’Don’t Miss It’ shop is also alien fish," Moira Lynch said slowly.

"It isn’t? I saw that SoySauceDrunkard has a never-ending supply for his shop, so I just assumed he was farming them himself."

She was actually right about that. SoySauceDrunkard was indeed farming them, but not on Caelus.

Just then, Hugh Finch nudged Moira Lynch and handed her a cooked fish.

"By the way, about that thing you mentioned yesterday... are those fish still following us?"

Moira Lynch took the fish, bit into it, and nodded.

"They’re still there. And they’re closer than yesterday, and there are more of them. Do you still doubt me now? They’re coming for us."

After hearing Moira Lynch’s words, Hugh Finch froze for a moment. Then he raised his right hand and began making calculations with his fingers.

「A moment later.」

"It seems their target isn’t us. But just because they’re not after us doesn’t mean we’re safe. We’re talking about ferocious beasts of the ocean."

For some reason, hearing Hugh Finch’s words made Moira Lynch suddenly think of that container from before.

At the same time, an idea popped into her head.

"These ocean beasts couldn’t be after what’s inside the container, could they?"

Hearing Moira Lynch say this, Hugh Finch immediately sensed something was off. "You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you?"

"It’s just..."

Moira Lynch explained what had happened before, including Theodoric Graham’s crimes and her own speculations.

"So you’re saying that this Graham guy is a smuggler, that he’s smuggling rare creatures on this cargo ship, and that the things following us are probably after those rare creatures in the container."

Moira Lynch nodded. "They might be its companions."

Otherwise, there was no explaining why they would follow so closely and persistently.

Of course, this was just a guess. It was also possible that the sea beasts behind them simply saw them as prey.

They were trailing them with a Hunter’s patience, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"If you want to know if it’s true, why don’t we just go check those containers and find out?"

"I thought you were going to suggest throwing it directly into the sea. But even if we wanted to look now, we can’t. The captain has ordered it to be guarded 24/7."

Hugh Finch thought for a moment. This was indeed a rather troublesome situation.

After a long pause, he suddenly looked at Moira Lynch. "Do you have a way, or an item, to just dump the contents of the container directly into the sea?"

After all, their main mission was to explore new shipping routes. It was best to avoid conflict if possible.

According to the reading he just did, if they let this situation continue, the things following them would make a move in the next few days. And while they wouldn’t be in mortal danger, there was still a risk of getting injured.

Although getting injured wasn’t a huge deal since Moira Lynch could heal them, from Hugh Finch’s perspective, it was always better to avoid injury altogether.

Hearing Hugh Finch’s request, Moira Lynch rolled her eyes. "What do you think I am, Doraemon? You think I have a magic pocket with everything in it?"

"Just tell me if you have a way or not. Can you do it?"

"I do. And I can."

"But first, I need to figure out what exactly is in that container."

’What if we’re wrong, and the thing in the container is a land creature, not a sea creature?’

The moment Hugh Finch heard Moira Lynch say "I can," he completely relaxed.

"As long as you can, that’s all that matters. I’ll leave the rest to you, Boss SoySauceDrunkard."

Moira Lynch: ...’Sometimes I really just want to punch someone.’

Just as Moira Lynch was contemplating whether to find an opportunity to beat up Hugh Finch, the rich aroma of grilled fish wafting through the air attracted other players.

"Well, well, look at you lot, hogging all the food for yourselves!"

The General charged out with a group of people, looking so aggressive and ferocious you’d think they had committed some unforgivable crime.

The crowd stared at the fish sizzling on the grill, their eyes gleaming.

They’d been eating food in the cafeteria that tasted worse than shit, and here these guys were, hoarding the good stuff all to themselves.

MoonlitTears gazed at the fish on the grill and secretly gulped.