Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Arrival at Sea Ore Island, Tensions Rising
Early the next morning, after a few more hours of sailing, we would successfully arrive at the Sea Ore Island.
Everyone was barely awake when a gunshot from the ship startled them into sitting up.
Ma charged out wearing just a big pair of shorts, holding a rifle in his hands, ready to fight the enemy to the death.
Du Ran thudded out from below the cabin. Ever since he fused with the Titan Bloodline, his body enlarged again, standing over two meters tall. Even his snoring became more powerful.
He had long been ordered by Luu Yuan and Ma to sleep in the cabin.
Fortunately, his constitution was tough enough that the damp and cold cabin didn’t affect him, and he continued to sleep soundly.
At this moment, the gunshot woke all the crew, who rushed out and started looking around.
However, to their confusion, the sea around them was calm except for the strong sea breeze; there was nothing threatening, no pirates as they had feared.
"It’s the Captain!"
Ma instantly realized, slapping his forehead with a look of resignation on his face.
He could have gone back to sleep, but the gunshot made that impossible.
Cautiously, everyone poked their heads out, and indeed saw the captain standing at the stern, holding a rifle, shooting one round after another at a target at the bow.
Seeing this scene, everyone stared at each other, a bit perplexed.
The captain... seemed unfamiliar these past two days.
Why the sudden diligence? This wasn’t the captain’s usual style...
"Why are you all just standing there? Get ready, we’re about to dock!"
At that moment, Fang Yu’s voice came from the stern, and immediately everyone saw Fang Yu putting away his rifle and returning to the deck.
"Captain..." Ma carefully glanced at Fang Yu, feeling that as an excellent crew member he needed to care about the captain’s psychological state.
He tentatively asked, "Captain, is it because I said your shooting was off before, that you were motivated to practice?"
"Captain... don’t we have Luo Kuan’s passive skill? There’s no need to push yourself like this..."
Ma spoke earnestly, displaying the qualities of a good employee, subtly showing concern for his leader.
"Enough!"
But Fang Yu wasn’t having any of it. He waved it off, dismissing Ma, and said:
"Stop talking nonsense. Look ahead, we’ve reached Sea Ore Island. Put away your guns, or the island’s guards have the right to open fire if they perceive us as a threat."
Newly discovered resource islands are usually located outside the Safe Sea Region.
It’s only these less noticed islands that may harbor mineral resources.
And so, whenever the association registers an island, they have the approval to establish armed forces there to ensure the island’s safety.
Therefore, inside the island, there are professional navy hired with a lot of money by the trading association, plus some Transcendents.
Even though Fang Yu and others had upgraded their weapons through several rounds of transformation, making them more formidable,
they certainly couldn’t compete with a formal military force.
One shot from their heavy artillery and our ship would be done for.
So it’s very necessary to put away our weapons.
Everyone realized this too and quickly started preparing to dock.
Meanwhile, Fang Yu himself put away the long-range rifle.
These two days of practice had given him some feel. Although his aim hadn’t improved dramatically, it was much better than before.
It can’t be rushed; these non-panel skills can’t be upgraded through the panel and must be honed gradually through muscle memory.
He pondered to himself that once this Sea Ore expedition was over, he might find a native teacher good at firearm shooting to learn some shooting techniques.
...
"Whir!"
The ship let out a rumble, heading for the Sea Ore Island.
And right at this moment, the heavy artillery on the Sea Ore Island started turning their barrels towards Fang Yu’s ship.
"Ship ahead, cease your voyage! Otherwise, this island has the right to fire upon you!"
A voice rang out from a large speaker that had been enhanced with Alchemy.
Faced with the cold barrels of heavy artillery, everyone felt a bit nervous, but Fang Yu remained calm.
He went to the bow, controlling the ship, and slowly brought it to a stop without moving forward.
Soon after, a small boat came out from the island, sailing towards Fang Yu and the others.
"Do you have transit documents? What is your purpose here?"
The man on the small boat poked his head out and shouted his questions.
"Yes!"
Fang Yu nodded and immediately handed over the Ji Clan Trading Association’s transit documents to him.
"Oh, a cargo ship... all right! Dock then!"
The man came out, took the documents, glanced at them.
His initially serious expression instantly turned into a smile as he warmly patted Fang Yu on the shoulder, then drove the small boat ahead, guiding Fang Yu and the others.
"Wow... this display..."
Behind them, Ma and the others subconsciously swallowed, the earlier scene felt like a mob boss transaction scene.
Tensions high, the heavy artillery aimed right at the ship, enough to make anyone nervous.
But now entering the coastline, the feeling of being under heavy artillery gradually faded.
"Seriously, you all look like you’ve never seen the world."
Luo Kuan rolled his eyes, full of disdain.
"Luo Kuan, why is your pants wet? Did you wet yourself in fear?"
"Someone, get the worldly-experienced Luo Kuan a change of pants!"
Luo Kuan: Uh...
...
"Brother, sorry about that. It’s just that it’s the first time we’ve seen your ship, so we were nervous. It won’t happen again once we’re familiar."
Just as they landed, the man who had checked the documents jogged over to meet Fang Yu and the others, smiled broadly, and spoke to Fang Yu.
While ordering Du Ran and others to unload the cargo from the ship, Fang Yu smiled and shook the man’s hand: "What should I call you, brother?"
"Just call me Zhang Zhuang."
The man smiled warmly and then lowered his voice, speaking to Fang Yu: "Brother, I see your documents were issued by Mr. Lu, so we’re on the same side."
"I’m also one of Mr. Lu’s people in Ji Clan Trading Association. Tonight you can stay here for the night. I happened to save some good wine, let’s have a drink together later!"
"Sure!"
Fang Yu, with a smile, subtly glanced at Zhang Zhuang, leaving him a bit puzzled.
After a moment, Zhang Zhuang slapped his forehead: "Oh, my forgetful self, I almost forgot to settle the payment for you."
"No rush, no rush." Fang Yu smiled easily, showing no urgency, but Zhang Zhuang didn’t take his words at face value.
He casually picked up a sheet, glanced at the records for the payment, then muttered: "2530 tons of cargo... let’s round it up to 2600 tons."
"According to the trading association’s rate, any cooperative deal leaving the Safe Sea Region, normal merchandise is 20 Copper Coins per ton..."
"That’s fifty-two thousand Copper Coins in total."
Fifty-two thousand Copper Coins?!
Fang Yu’s eyes lit up...