Black Sail
Chapter 85: LXXXV. Cold Immortal Land

Chapter 85: LXXXV. Cold Immortal Land

The sea domain near Heaven Port may be advertised as an unfreezing harbor, just like Kersuna Island with its eternal spring.

But now, winter had officially set in.

The climate here was quite cold, with both sky and sea shrouded in gloominess. Soon, snow would start to fall.

With the pushing of the deep blue waves, fragments of shipwrecks drifted aimlessly, like lost souls with nowhere to go.

Goria walked forward to the bow again to look out.

There was an alarming number of broken fragments, wooden crates, sheets of low-density light metal, all sorts of domestic lighting fixtures, floating on the water’s surface. Although scattered, the surrounding sea was filled with this kind of scenery.

The disorderly and disharmonious feeling was as if one had arrived at... the end of the world.

"There seems to be a lighthouse ahead,"

Goria, with her excellent vision, saw at the horizon, where sea met sky almost to its end, enveloped in mist, a red beam of light rotating in a pointing trajectory.

Through Spiritual Material, the lens at the top of the lighthouse was able to create a light that was extremely conspicuous even during the day.

"That’s right, turn the helm to port,"

Liszt gave the order to Ox. But even without his commands, Ox knew; they were nearing Shipwreck Bay. Once they skirted around this area, they would arrive at their destination.

The ship moved in a direction away from the lighthouse.

Goria was extremely puzzled, not understanding why they needed to take a detour, until after sailing for over twenty minutes, she discovered the reason.

This was a breathtaking sight.

To the right, hundreds of ships were all stranded, including luxurious passenger ships over a hundred meters long. Majestic and rugged, even in their dilapidated state, they were tremendously spectacular. They had become habitats for seabirds and marine life, with algae and barnacles growing on the hulls, indicating they had been aground for quite a long time.

The waves couldn’t move these colossal vessels, which awaited a hundred-year storm to wash them all away.

"That lighthouse is used to deceive ships into sailing there and hitting the reefs. It worked for the last time six years ago. Nowadays, no one comes here anymore. Everyone learned their lesson, except pirates and those who are truly out of hiding spots. Only a madman would come here,"

Liszt explained to Goria.

"So you’re calling me a madwoman?"

Goria frowned deeply, disgusted by such malice. So many ships, uncountable, and the people who perished here could not even have their deaths reported. They were just lost in this Otherworldly Sea.

"Little sister, your current plight is much worse than that of a madman. You belong to the latter category, with no place to hide,"

Liszt had become quite familiar with Goria. Although Goria was a lesbian, as long as the sentiment was there, a little conversation was harmless.

Things she could handle by herself, she wouldn’t bother the female staff at the cafe for. For those she couldn’t, she could only rely on the invincible cafe cashier, the fiancee of a Baron, who came to Heaven Port for various reasons—a long story.

"Thanks, I appreciate it. If I want to leave, I can only take a pirate ship, right?"

Goria inquired. Even after everything was over, she wouldn’t linger on the island as Liszt said. Although she had been expelled from the adventurer’s guild and had become a fugitive, as the saying goes—fallen leaves return to their roots. She had journeyed far and wide; it was time to end it. She could easily blend in and find something to do in a small town without being discovered.

"Not necessarily. There are bold enough ships that dare to come here to do business. This is the biggest marketplace for fenced goods; anything can be sold here, not limited to items, even human lives. Heaven Port is an immigrant nation; you don’t need any paperwork to settle in, and anyone can dock at the port for free, as long as you are prepared to face the consequences. Aside from the navy, we are rather welcoming, quite simple and pure."

Liszt explained accordingly. After all, anything could happen here; there were things that one could not imagine but wouldn’t fail to stumble upon.

Goria was convinced; even a pirate ship would be better than this.

"Are there any rules on the island?"

Claude was a man who handled everything with caution.

"No rules, only longstanding customs. You can think of it as countless gangs in a free-for-all. As long as we don’t kill people indiscriminately, others won’t act rashly either. Harmony brings wealth; normal folks don’t throw their lives away wreaking havoc. However, we still have to teach a lesson to some petty criminals. If they’re too oblivious and cause trouble, just chop them up—unless they have strong backing, then it’s a different story. Lastly, a reminder: try to keep a low profile as much as you can. Many recluses who have withdrawn from the world hide here, including some Gods. They have money to spend and hide here away from the centers of power, providing a stimulus for consumption. In short, just make sure your clearest signals are sent."

Liszt had been mingling in Heaven Port for so many years that he knew the score.

The situation on the island now was dominated by one superpower and three strong powers.

And the head of this superpower was a person with great vision.

He wanted to transform Heaven Port into a tourism hotspot, whitewash its image, and turn it into the world’s premier casino, red-light district, and a sacred place for "flying Ye Zi," with absolute security guaranteed.

He urged everyone on the island to invest, to join the angel round of funding, to develop the surrounding islands, to create a military defense line, and not to just stubbornly defend this one board of chess. When the time was ripe, they would officially establish a country.

He planned to create a... Sleepless Country!

Ideals were plump, but reality was skeletal.

No one gave him any credibility.

Everyone here was like log in to play, log out to leave, not spending a penny but providing company. If one or a few took a fall or made a run for it, no big deal.

He could only continue to be the head of laundering goods. In fact, that he could maintain the current stable situation, where the navy of the East South Sea Domain dared not cause trouble, was already quite remarkable.

The SS Fuma Keqing Revenge continued to sail for over an hour, and the sky finally started to clear up, revealing the outline of a distant island.

It was a large island, whose ends were not visible to the left or right.

That was why the Emperor chose it as the Eastern Expedition Bridgehead back then, turning it into a military industrial complex with facilities for explosives, metallurgy, and shipbuilding.

New recruits from Aran and various Affiliated Countries were all transported here like monkeys on ships, equipped at a click, trained, put to work, and dispatched—all in one go.

The place was easy to defend and hard to attack.

Until after the war ended and it was transformed into a business port, which didn’t last half a year before it was transformed again.

As the ship slowly adjusted to face the wind, its speed gradually decreased.

The SS Fuma Keqing Revenge stopped at the dock of Heaven Port, furled its sails, and dropped anchor.

The port here was filled with hundreds of ships; most of them were pirate ships, but there were also other vessels harboring various thoughts.

"Congratulations, you’re about to open the door to a new world," Rein patted Claude on the shoulder.

Fen let out a sigh of relief. He had a certain degree of paranoia and had been worried the whole way that some ship would pop up, especially after the Dragon’s identity was revealed. Luckily, there were no interceptions.

Heaven Port was not different from other places and was not as terrifying as rumors suggested.

If other ports could be described as bustling with life and full of ebullient voices,

this place was a complete mess.

Stolen goods were directly hoisted onto the piers in boxes with ropes, the docks were packed with dense throngs of fencing leaders’ middlemen vying for business, heavily made-up prostitutes began soliciting customers right at the port, pirates who had been on board for many days were even more eager to grab and run, and there were hundreds of temporary tents on the beach by the docks for self-evident purposes.

Some of the prostitutes didn’t even wear tops, displaying their military hardware.

Goria was utterly shocked, perplexed along with all the decent folks, and Claude was no exception.

The moment SS Fuma Keqing Revenge stopped, a crowd of people and prostitutes immediately gathered around because they knew a big arrival was imminent.

Liszt had a splitting headache—these people were really goddamn annoying.

"Those who have been here before, just take the brothers who haven’t been around to have some fun. There’s no food provided during our stay, fend for yourselves; you can sleep on the ship. Be on call, and if you’re not there when needed, I’ll assume you’ve disembarked. That’s it, go about your business."

Liszt sucked on his cigarette. There was no cargo on board; he would deal with this bunch of pirates later.

He needed to head back to the store to check on things.