Chapter 505 Warehouse

Ebb Tide Gang base.

"Carrion Vulture" Gerry held a long smoking pipe in one hand. His robust physical constitution as a Class Holder allowed him to take slow, deep breaths; two pale streams of smoke jetted from his nostrils, striking the floorboards before churning and dissipating.

"How are things in Barracuda Bay recently?"

His triangular eyes were shrouded in the deep shadows of his prominent brow ridges. With his head slightly lowered, his expression was obscured, leaving only his sinister voice echoing through the room.

As the leader of the Ebb Tide Gang, he should have stayed in Barracuda Bay to oversee operations during this period of rapid expansion. But the sahuagin had chosen this exact time to initiate a trade, and dealing with such a powerful non-human faction required the utmost caution—one wrong step would leave them crushed to pieces. Unable to entrust the task to anyone else, Gerry had personally led a team out of the port.

Of course, if the trade went smoothly, the Ebb Tide Gang would reap unprecedented profits.

An absurd amount of gold coins and antiques was only a fraction of it. There were also Fine weapons forged by the sahuagin, special minerals and aquatic plants from the ocean depths, and even human combat techniques collected by the fishmen.

As long as they could secure this connection, the sahuagin's backing would allow the Ebb Tide Gang to leap from a bottom-tier outfit cowering in the alleyways of the Saltwater District into a massive organization renowned throughout Barracuda Bay in record time.

And all they had to pay in return were the lives of a few lowly commoners—lives as cheap as pigs and as insignificant as ants.

Over thirty years at sea had long since eroded this middle-aged Class Holder's humanity. As long as he could obtain greater power, more gold, and massive authority, nothing else mattered.

At the same time, as Barracuda Bay was the heart of the Southern Archipelagos, maintaining a solid foothold in the town remained incredibly important.

Therefore, even while holed up on Wild Berry Cliff at a critical juncture in the sahuagin trade, Gerry still kept a close eye on the gang's development back in Barracuda Bay.

"We've secured most of the accessible resources the Horned Shark Gang left behind. Things are stabilizing at the docks, and we've bribed most of the Governor's Mansion guards in charge of the relevant areas," a gang member familiar with the situation in Barracuda Bay answered from the side.

"What about the Blade of Vengeance? Any movement from them recently?" Gerry suddenly brought up a name that had been mentioned frequently within the gang lately.

Although he had been an Adventurer for many years, ever since he founded his own organization and transitioned into a gang boss and pirate leader, he had grown increasingly distant from traditional Adventurer Squads.

Under normal circumstances, he would never have any contact with an elite team like the Blade of Vengeance Squad.

He also did everything he could to avoid it. Every new recruit had to pass relatively strict assessments and develop a keen eye for people under the guidance of gang veterans. Only when they knew who made good targets and who couldn't be provoked were they allowed to operate independently.

But even so, accidents were inevitable.

Take Hogen's encounter a few days ago, for instance. In reality, Hogen was capable of recognizing every official member of the Blade of Vengeance Squad; even if his memory lapsed, he could still judge them by their attire and aura.

But as luck would have it, he had bumped into the Halfling who had recently joined the Blade of Vengeance Squad as a "temporary member"—the same one who had risen to fame through outrageous stunts in Barracuda Bay's major casinos and was rumored to be connected to that Legendary figure from many years ago.

The Halfling's highly deceptive appearance had tricked Hogen, who was considered cautious even by the gang's standards. Because of that, he had offended the Halfling, and by extension, "Sea Fang" and the Blade of Vengeance Fleet standing behind him.

At the thought of the name "Sea Fang," a sliver of solemnity flashed across Gerry's face.

To some extent, the Ebb Tide Gang owed its current explosive growth to the man, whose role in eliminating their former rival, the Horned Shark Gang, was undeniable.

For that exact reason, Gerry had no desire to provoke him.

Fortunately, neither the Blade of Vengeance nor "Sea Fang" Xia Nan seemed to care about a nobody like Hogen, and the Ebb Tide Gang hadn't been implicated.

Out of an abundance of caution, he had even dispatched men to stake out the Blade of Vengeance Ship docked at Wave-Breaking Wharf, monitoring the elite Adventurer Squad's movements just in case they sought revenge.

But facts proved that he was simply overthinking it.

After listening to his subordinate's report, Gerry breathed a sigh of relief. The nerves that had been strung tight over the past few days due to the sahuagin trade finally began to loosen.

Catching a glimpse of his pipe from the corner of his eye, he seemed to remember something. He waved a mature-looking gang member over and said, "I almost forgot. I recall there were two crates of rolled tobacco from Shire Island in that batch of goods. Go fetch me a couple of boxes."

"And while you're at it, pick out two antique collectibles and deliver them to the fishmen. Those water rats have terrible tempers, and if we want to do business with them, we have to grease the wheels."

"Yes, Boss!"

...

...

"Don't kill me! Lord 'Sea Fang,' please don't kill me!"

His leather boots were stained with blood that had sprayed from his enemies' necks.

Xia Nan carefully wiped the [Ember Fall] straight sword in his hand, shifting his gaze to the street punk groveling on the ground before him, whose body trembled and voice thickened with tears as he begged for mercy.

A strange expression inadvertently crossed his face.

This had to be the third time now.

First at Wave-Breaking Wharf, then the Coral Reef, and now here at Wild Berry Cliff.

If his sharp Perception hadn't confirmed that there was absolutely nothing special about the man—that he was nothing more than a run-of-the-mill street punk—Xia Nan might have suspected this Hogen had been tailing him all the way here.

"What, do you know him?" the dwarf Habik asked with deep suspicion, casually picking up a corpse with a caved-in skull and tossing it into the nearby woods.

"I ran into him a few times back in Barracuda Bay. I didn't expect to see him here."

Seeing no need to hide it, Xia Nan briefly explained his previous two encounters with Hogen to his teammates.

Coincidentally, the party of five had come here looking to snatch a pirate to interrogate about the location of Auriel's stolen collectibles.

As fate would have it, Hogen and his subordinates had walked right past them and were caught red-handed by Xia Nan's group.

Now, in the span of just a few seconds, the once-lively punks had been reduced to a pile of cooling corpses.

Leaving only Hogen groveling on the ground.

"Spit it out. Where were you heading?" Xia Nan asked, applying a bit of oppressive pressure as he stared down at the punk. The gray-black blade of his [Ember Fall] straight sword reflected the moonlight overhead.

"The warehouse! W-we were heading to the warehouse, Lord Sea Fang," Hogen blurted out without a shred of hesitation or spine, spilling his destination the moment Xia Nan stopped speaking.

"Gerry ordered me to take a few men and handle the shift change at the warehouse!"

"Warehouse?" Before Xia Nan could ask, the human ranger Seli caught the key piece of information and raised an eyebrow. "What's stored inside?"

"Supplies collected from the island villages around these waters, some food and booze, and... oh, the cargo plundered from a merchant ship a few days ago."

Hearing Hogen's words, the dwarf Habik and Seli exchanged a glance.

They clearly hadn't expected to get so lucky, making such a massive breakthrough just by grabbing a random pirate.

It went so smoothly that for a moment, they even began to suspect Xia Nan had colluded with the pirates to set a trap.

In contrast, Xia Nan didn't overthink it. He simply raised his leg and kicked the terrified punk.

"Lead the way."

"Yes! Yes, Mr. Sea Fang!"

Ignoring the mud covering his clothes, Hogen scrambled up in cowardly reverence and took the lead, holding a lantern to light the way for the group.

Though the former street rat had managed to climb the ranks and become a minor boss in the Ebb Tide Gang after their last few encounters, he hadn't been with them for long. He felt absolutely zero sense of belonging to the gang, and when faced with a mortal threat, his loyalty to his boss, "Carrion Vulture" Gerry, vanished into thin air.

Having inquired thoroughly about "Sea Fang's" exploits, he knew the man had single-handedly annihilated the Horned Shark Gang. He was vicious and immensely powerful.

And to be frank, in Hogen's eyes, there was no fundamental difference between the Horned Shark Gang and the Ebb Tide Gang.

Since Xia Nan could wipe the former off the map in Barracuda Bay, he could easily do the same to the latter.

If he stubbornly played the loyal thug and kept his mouth shut, not only would he die, but the entire Ebb Tide Gang might just become history anyway.

Rather than throwing his life away for an organization he didn't care about, Hogen figured it was better to save his own skin.

Besides, the other gang members who knew the truth were already dead. With no witnesses, who would ever know he was the one who leaked the information?

Hogen eagerly led the way for Xia Nan and the Shield of Iron Rock Squad, his brain working on overdrive fueled by sheer will to survive as he plotted how to escape with his life once they reached their destination.

...

Just fifteen minutes after the group of six left the area.

Hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from the woods.

The bushes rustled, and a mature-looking middle-aged man squeezed through, jogging onto the scene.

It was the very gang member who had been ordered by the Ebb Tide Gang leader, "Carrion Vulture" Gerry, to fetch the items from the warehouse.

His footsteps came to a sudden halt.

His nostrils flared, catching the thick stench of blood lingering in the air.

The middle-aged man's gaze swept across the ground.

Under the bright moonlight, the grass was clearly trampled, and the soil was soaked with blood.

His expression instantly tightened.

Relying on his rich experience, however, he didn't panic. Instead, he crouched low to the ground and carefully examined the traces left behind.

Finally, the mangled, familiar corpse he discovered deep within a nearby bush confirmed his suspicions.

Gulp—

His heart pounded violently against his ribs, nearly leaping out of his chest.

He swallowed hard and cast a long glance into the pitch-black woods in the distance.

Then he whipped around, abandoning any thought of venturing deeper.

Instead, he sprinted madly back toward the Ebb Tide Gang's lair on Wild Berry Cliff.

He had to report everything that had happened here to their boss!

...

...

Meanwhile, in the woods a little further away.

Xia Nan and the others were heading toward the Ebb Tide Gang's island warehouse under Hogen's guidance.

He hadn't expected the man to be so cooperative, offering not a single ounce of resistance.

Taking advantage of the situation, Xia Nan began probing Hogen for more information about the island.

"They're definitely sahuagin, Mr. Xia Nan," Hogen nodded respectfully.

To survive in the hands of these Adventurers, he had zero secrets left to keep.

Whenever asked a question, the punk spilled everything he knew. He was so eager to please he looked ready to report what he'd eaten for lunch.

"'Carrion Vulture' Gerry, the boss of the Ebb Tide Gang, has been conducting large-scale trades with the sahuagin recently."

"I don't know what channels they used to get in touch."

"But the gist of the trade is that the Ebb Tide Gang abducts commoners from the remote island villages nearby, trading them to the fishmen in exchange for resources the gang needs."

"I heard Gerry say that the reason the fishmen need so many human slaves is to perform some kind of sacrificial ritual."

'I knew it!'

Hearing this, the suspicions Xia Nan had harbored were instantly confirmed.

The human villagers they had seen in the dungeon earlier were precisely the preparations the sahuagin had made for their sacrificial ritual.

Involuntarily recalling those powerful and troublesome Shark Beast monsters, he pressed, "Has the ritual been held yet?"

"At least up until last night, I hadn't seen any signs of a ritual on the island," Hogen recalled. "I was on the patrol squad for the past two days, so my memory on this is fairly clear."

'That's good.'

Hearing this, Xia Nan breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Right now, his [Ember Echoes] was on cooldown, leaving him down one trump card.

If he ran into another Shark Beast on the level of the one in Twin Canyon, he wouldn't necessarily be able to overpower it, even with the solid upgrades to his armor.

Not to mention, his teammates on this mission were unreliable. He couldn't entrust his back to them; they weren't worth his trust.

If he truly encountered such an enemy again, he would have to adapt his combat strategy flexibly and prioritize his own safety.

In contrast, the members of the Shield of Iron Rock Squad were much more interested in the warehouse Hogen had mentioned.

Along the way, they repeatedly questioned him, confirming whether the collectibles inside belonged to Auriel and whether there were any other valuables.

Clearly, these Adventurers wanted to make some extra cash on the side.

They couldn't care less about the sahuagin's sacrificial ritual, nor did they care how many commoners died because of it. All they saw was gleaming gold.

"Halt," Xia Nan, who had the highest Perception attribute in the party, suddenly spoke up.

The group stopped in their tracks, following his gaze.

In the distance, nestled within the dense woods, the faint silhouette of a crudely built but exceptionally massive wooden warehouse could be seen.

A small temporary camp sat in front of the warehouse, illuminated by the glow of a bonfire.

"Hey! Go up and talk to them," the dwarf Habik said, kicking Hogen, who was leading the way.

"Relax, and don't blow our cover."

"Got it?"

Hogen's eyes subconsciously flicked over the Faceted Hammer in the dwarf's hand and the wooden arrow already nocked in Seli's fingers nearby.

He nodded frantically.

"Got it! I understand!"