The luxury liner cruised through the waves and wind and quickly sailed in a vast sea. Four pirates in the bridge were squatting in a corner with fear evident on their faces. Two Tang Sect disciples were grasping them, while most of the disciples were doing some chores to control of the ship, and some others calmly set up the navigation route.
Inside the big entertainment hall, all the tables and chairs had been moved aside and hundreds of tourists were all sitting on the floor with over 200 members of Sacred Flame Organization standing guard to oversee them. All the communication gadgets had been confiscated and piled up in the middle of the room.
Tang Xiu stood in the corridor on the second floor while watching hundreds of tourists. He then lightly said, "All of you don't need to worry or fear us. I inform you that the original crews of this liner, including the waiters, are all pirates. Even the travel agency that provides this liner to you is secretly collaborating with these pirates. If it weren't for us, maybe it won't be long before you will be taken to the pirates' nest and only a miserable and dark life will await you there."
"You're lying!"
A strong-looking and dark-skinned man stood up. Although he was scared of the members of the Sacred Flame Organization who were staring at him, he suppressed his fear and said, "I'm the tour guide and I've been working for my travel agency for 4 months. There have been thousands of tourists who traveled on this liner to the islands in the surroundings in these four months. Their impression when they returned after the trips were all great."
"Are you sure that they were all back to Saipan?" Tang Xiu asked him with raised brows.
The man hesitated before answering, "Certainly, they didn't return to Saipan since the liner will stop at Blue Island as the final destination. You need to take other liners from Blue Island if you want to return."
"Then, have you seen any of those tourists return to Saipan during the four months you work for this travel agency of yours?" asked Tang Xiu again.
"About this…" The man hesitated for a moment before saying, "Although I haven't seen any of them, they left a lot of great reviews for my travel agency."
"We didn't throw your mobile phones here. Say, if we were to use your cell phone to leave a review about your travel agency, wouldn't it be easy?" asked Tang Xiu again.
"..."
The man was stunned and didn't reply.
"You said that you're the tour guide, so you should have sailed on this liner before, right?" Tang Xiu asked again.
"I wasn't assigned for going to sea before." The man shook his head and went on, "I had a clash with my colleague and the Director then asked me to lead this trip while relaxing a little."
Tang Xiu chuckled and said, "If my guess is correct, the colleague you had a clash with should have a good relationship with your Director. Isn't that right?"
"How do you know that? They indeed are relatives, but only distant relatives." The man hesitated.
"Heh, is it that difficult for you to guess it?" Tang Xiu sneered. "Your Director didn't ask you to guide the tour but rather pushed you to your death."
"No way. I don't buy it." The man shook his head.
Tang Xiu turned to Chi Nan beside him and said, "Take him to find his cell phone and let him call his Director."
"Understood!" Chi Nan replied and took the man to find his cell phone.
Before the man made a phone call, Tang Xiu said, "You just need to say a few things to him. Ask him why he lied to you and then wait to see what he'll say. Also, turn on the loudspeaker so everyone else can hear."
The man gave it thought before he nodded and made the call.
"Are you already at sea, Cao Hui?" a man's voice asked from the phone.
"Why did you lie to me, Director?!" asked the man loudly.
There was no reply from the phone. The silence went on for several seconds before a cold voice replied, "I really don't get how those guys began the operation so early, huh. Cao Hui, since you already know about it, then I won't hide it or sugarcoat it anymore. I let you work in my travel agency and your job was to draw the tourists for me, Bastard! Yet your performance has been mediocre compared to your great job in causing troubles. I've long been wanting to kill you, and now I've sent you on board. Enjoy your time well in my hometown after you get there! But don't die too badly since my brothers will definitely make you enjoy more. Maybe your organs can fetch a few more bucks. Hahaha…"
"What the hell do you mean?" Cao Hui's face instantly paled and growled furiously.
A commotion burst out among the hundreds of people in the cabin. They didn't speak immediately, but it didn't take a smart brain to realize that something was indeed wrong. Previously, they didn't believe anything Tang Xiu just said. But after hearing the conversation between Cao Hui and the Director of the travel agency, only then did their hearts begin to shake.
The voice of the travel agency Director came out of the phone again. "What I meant? Of course, you're gonna be dead, but I must still earn some profits out of you. The pirates of Nonagon Bulwark are not just some robbers, but also abduct people to harvest their organs as a part-time job. Relax, Buddy. My brothers on the island will take special care of you. You'll suffer more before you die when your organs are being harvested!"
"F*cking bastard! Are you not afraid of retribution?!" Cao Hui furiously shouted.
The travel agency Director let out a strange chuckle and said, "Retribution, huh? I've been committing ruthless and heartless shits for several years and never once any retribution came to me. Besides, all of us are pirates and outlaws who always have our lives on the edge. Death is nothing to us. Even if there's retribution, this Daddy will greet it happily. But I can guarantee that you'll die faster than me. Much faster… Hahaha…"
Cao Hui smashed his phone on the floor and slumped. He then turned to look at the tourists sitting on the floor and bitterly spoke, "All the tourists on this liner, I, Cao Hui, have never done anything evil in this life. I never expected that I've committed such an atrocity without realizing it. But things have come to this point and it's still my fault. I can only say I apologize… that's the only thing I can do…"
Tang Xiu interjected lightly. "Now you know that you've boarded the ship of these outlaws. But rest your worries, though. We've apprehended all the pirates on this ship. The reason we're still taking you all to sail is that there might be some of you who will notice them in advance. Naturally, we'll let you all go after we've exterminated those pirates. But I hope that you will cooperate with us to supervise each other before that. Remember, do not let anyone secretly hide a cell phone and contact those pirates."
"We promise!"
"Sir… Who exactly you, Sir?" Cao Hui exclaimed, "Are you from the authorities?"
"That's right. We're from the authorities." Tang Xiu nodded and said, "I'm under the order of the highest official of Saipan to go to the Nonagon Bulwark to destroy these pirates."
Most of the restlessness that hung over the hundreds of tourists eased down a lot after hearing this. Despite so, they began monitoring each other, and whoever dared to make a phone call secretly would be noticed by those in the surroundings.
Suddenly, a lean young man in the crowd got up and said aloud, "I have diarrhea and I need to go to the toilet!"
"Hmph, take him!" Tang Xiu coldly hummed.
Immediately, the nearest two members of the Sacred Flame Organization dashed to the front of the young man and directly caught him.
"What are you going to do to me? I just want to go to the toilet. Didn't you say that you're from the government? Why are you doing this?" The youth growled angrily.
"It's been 2 hours sailing. You said that you have diarrhea, but how can you still endure it after such a long time?" Tang Xiu sneered at him. "Heh, that's enough to expose yourself as a pirate mingling among these tourists."
"I'm not!" The youth struggled and growled.
"Search his body!" Tang Xiu ordered.
A short while after, the two members of the Sacred Flame Organization found a pistol and a dagger on the leggings covered by his trousers. The young man instantly looked ghastly pale and suddenly felt like all his strength was sapped from his body. He might have slumped to the floor if it weren't for the two members of Sacred Flame Organization holding him.
"There should be more than one pirate aside from you here." Tang Xiu sneered. "A body search will be carried out next. Those who are found hiding any weapon on their bodies are pirates and will be executed at once!"
Just as his voice faded away, three young men jumped up from all corners among the crowd and quickly ran towards the nearest corridor to flee and escape from the hall. They knew the location of the speedboat on the ship for escaping.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
The Sacred Flame's members moved extremely fast and directly killed the three young men in just several seconds.
****
Nonagon Bulwark.
The first island was named Sunny Island and was famous as a tourist attraction, even though there were only a few tourists who had visited the site. The number of inhabitants on the entire island was only slightly over 1,000 people, but Tang Xiu knew that all of them were pirates and their relatives. These people lived like ordinary people here but only served as a camouflage for the other eight islands.
The next day, in the evening.
As the liner approached Sunny Island, a disciple of Tang Sect in the bridge quickly came to Tang Xiu and reported. "The enemy is sending a semaphore signal and we've received the reply from the pirates. It's very likely that they are doing it to deceive us while they have prepared to meet us."
"Now that we've been exposed, might as well exterminate them on the spot," Tang Xiu indifferently replied. "Kill everyone on the entire Sunny Island, including their families!"
"Understood!" The Tang Sect's disciple respectfully nodded.
Suddenly, Karin, who stood nearby, hesitantly said, "Isn't this way too heartless, Mr. Tang? These pirates may be damned evils, but their relatives are innocent, right? Besides, most of these 1,000-plus people are just ordinary people. If you kill them, won't you…"
"They are pirates and all of them are damned!" Tang Xiu cut her with indifferent face, then went on coldly, "The family of these pirates are also guilty for holding a candle to the devil. Further, can you guarantee their families are really not involved in their atrocities?"