Chapter 388 - 288: Shooting Seabirds During the Voyage

Chapter 388: Chapter 288: Shooting Seabirds During the Voyage

The Bell Clan moved quickly. Perhaps Orlando had already made preparations while traveling from Metropolis to York City. In any case, a massive fleet was assembled in just one day.

Graham joined the fleet as well. Wu Liangchen didn’t even have to move, remaining on Graham’s ship.

The fleet then set sail, heading straight for the Cape of Heaven, thousands of nautical miles away.

Surprisingly, the fleet’s commander-in-chief was not Orlando, but the imperial police’s own star, Annabelle.

Evidently, Orlando intended to use the opportunity—having a top-tier Martial Artist like Wu Liangchen as an escort—to give his daughter some real-world experience.

This was no concern of Wu Liangchen’s, however.

He spent his days on the ship, and when he wasn’t eating or sleeping, he was practicing his Cultivation Techniques and martial arts.

In fact, besides the Star-Swallowing Meridian Opening Skill, all of Wu Liangchen’s other Cultivation Techniques had essentially reached their zenith, leaving almost no room for improvement.

Still, out of habit, Wu Liangchen never neglected his daily training.

WHOOSH!

An arrow flew across several hundred meters of open water, striking a seabird that had just swooped down to catch a fish.

SPLASH! The seabird plunged into the sea. A small boat quickly moved in to retrieve it.

Though she had seen it more than once, Annabelle couldn’t help but marvel.

The fact that he could achieve such precision and power with a supposedly "primitive" bow and arrow forced her to re-evaluate her understanding of the martial arts.

Before this, influenced by the prevailing attitude in Folangji, she had actually held the martial arts in slight contempt.

In her eyes, muskets and cannons were the future. The power of gunpowder was nearly limitless, while human strength, ultimately, had its bounds.

This was why she’d had the confidence to stand up for her officers before.

But Wu Liangchen had given her a thorough lesson.

Fortunately, she was quick-witted and adapted swiftly. Not only did she avoid any harm, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, helping her family find an opportunity to change their circumstances.

Even so, every time she closed her eyes, the scene from that day would replay in her mind.

Wu Liangchen’s ferocious aura, like that of a great dragon, had left a deep scar on her psyche. It often caused her to jolt awake from nightmares, drenched in a cold sweat.

Just then, several more arrows streaked across the sky, and more seabirds plummeted from the air. The process was so swift they didn’t even have time to cry out.

The arrows had pierced clean through their heads, so they fell without even a struggle.

Feathers rained down over the sea, and the men in the retrieval boats grew excited.

After all, fresh meat was a rare delicacy at sea.

Even though the Bell Clan and Graham’s crew were experienced sea merchants, the lack of food preservation technology meant that once they were in deep waters, their diet consisted of little more than fish, rock-hard bread, and cured salt pork.

Even clean drinking water was a luxury, reserved only for senior officers. The common sailors drank a low-alcohol, fermented malt beverage.

And don’t think it tasted good. Wu Liangchen had tried it; it was bitter and harsh. Worse, drinking too much of it caused blurred vision—a clear symptom of methanol poisoning.

All these factors combined to make a life of sea trade far less glamorous than one might imagine. It was an incredibly arduous business.

Even for someone of Annabelle’s standing, the greatest luxury was eating some still-fresh citrus.

Now that Wu Liangchen had shot down so many seabirds, there was enough for a fine feast that evening.

Even the hardiest of sailors were on the verge of a breakdown after so many consecutive days of fish and salt pork.

The temptation of a proper meal of fresh meat was simply overwhelming.

Annabelle stood at the ship’s bow, pondering for a moment before turning to the female guard beside her.

"Go and bring out my private stores of ingredients and wine."

"Yes!"

The powerfully built female guard turned and departed.

To ensure the safety and chastity of his precious daughter, Orlando had gone to great lengths, carefully cultivating an all-female guard detail. This was to make things easier for Annabelle when she was at sea.

After all, in the deep sea, the confinement of a ship caused immense stress, which could easily lead to... unforeseen incidents.

This was precisely why women were strictly forbidden on ocean-faring merchant vessels.

But Orlando had no choice. Annabelle was the only one in the entire Bell Clan capable of shouldering such heavy responsibility.

For the sake of the family’s future, he had to send her into the fray.

Soon, the items were brought over.

The most precious item wasn’t the bottle of thirty-year-old fine wine, but the fruits and vegetables that were still fresh and green.

For anyone on a long sea voyage, such things were impossibly precious.

Even Annabelle herself was reluctant to eat them, keeping them preserved in an icebox instead.

The ice had been loaded on before they set sail. Despite their best efforts to preserve it, much of it had inevitably melted during the long voyage.

Soon, Annabelle took a small boat over to Wu Liangchen’s ship, carrying the precious ingredients with her.

At that moment, Graham and his sailors were excitedly plucking the seabirds.

Not even the blood was to be wasted. It would be heated and boiled down to make a savory dish later.

When Annabelle arrived, the crewmen all watched her with knowing looks. They didn’t tear their eyes away until she disappeared into Wu Liangchen’s cabin.

"Hey, Cap’, when do you think our Master Wu is gonna have his way with that woman?" a senior crewman who had followed Graham for years asked with a grin.

After witnessing Wu Liangchen’s incredible feats firsthand, the crew had become his loyal followers. They’d even adopted the Great Yan custom of calling him Master Wu.

"Need you even ask? You saw her, serving herself up on a platter. I bet he’s having his way with her right now," another sailor chimed in with a laugh.

The other sailors nodded in agreement, some letting out lewd chuckles.

To men who spent their lives at sea, a woman’s noble status meant nothing. If she was a woman, she was fair game for their crude talk.

Especially since Annabelle was a rare beauty. After so long at sea, the sailors were practically climbing the walls with pent-up frustration.

The fact that their talk was this "civilized" was only out of their respect for Wu Liangchen.

Otherwise, there was no limit to the foul things they might say.

But Graham didn’t think so.

He, after all, had personally witnessed how Wu Liangchen rejected the women who threw themselves at him back in the East Sea Kingdom.

Takizawa Sayon and Yokoyama Misaki were by no means less beautiful than Annabelle. They had thrown themselves at him, practically willing to strip naked and climb into his bed.

And what had happened?