Super Righteous Player
Chapter 1031 - 89: Money Flows Like Tide

Chapter 1031: Chapter 89: Money Flows Like Tide

Annan turned his head following Isaac’s gaze.

— Those were men dressed like enforcers.

They wore jackets with many zippers, and in their hands they carried a kind of leather weapon that reminded Annan of a slapper, striding menacingly from the distance.

And the one they were chasing was a middle-aged man who, though well-dressed and seemingly wealthy, for some unknown reason appeared exceptionally panicked as he stumbled forward in his escape.

"That weapon is called ’Whale’s Beard.’"

Isaac explained to Annan from the side: "Because this thing was originally made from the baleen plates of a baleen whale.

You know about baleen plates? Baleen whales don’t have teeth, and the baleen serves as their teeth when filter feeding. It’s quite elastic and is an excellent material. Since the elven era, there have been old sailors who have used whale’s beard to make special self-defense weapons.

Just bind a lump of iron to one end of the baleen, then wrap it with a cable, and it becomes a hammer that is quite easy to use. Since the baleen in the middle is quite elastic, it allows you to exert force conveniently without slipping out of your hand. Compared to a hammer, it’s also easier to carry... Of course, its biggest advantage is that it’s cheap."

"Whales have become much fewer now."

Annan slightly turned his face and said softly, "It seems that only the Noahs are still whaling now."

"It’s actually because of the Mist. This place used to be called ’Hongfan Town,’ not ’Black Sail Town.’ But over the years, whales have become scarcer, the whaling teams with red sails have diminished, and instead, pirates with black sails have increased..."

Isaac chuckled softly: "Of course, the Mist won’t sink below the sea surface, but floats in the air... This means that fish aren’t corrupted by the curse, so fishermen can still fish.

These fishermen are normal people, so the curse can’t corrupt their souls. The biggest disadvantage of the Mist for them is probably that ’food spoils especially quickly at sea.’ But as long as they return quickly and don’t head to the distant sea, it’s not much different from before.

However, Your Majesty, you might not know that whales are actually not fish—they can’t breathe underwater and have to come up to the surface to breathe. During this process, whales inhale a large amount of Mist.

The Mist won’t corrode the whales themselves, but the food in their stomachs is more susceptible to corruption and spoilage by the Mist. In the end, they get gastroenteritis or gastric cancer, sharply reducing their numbers to less than one-twentieth of what they were in the elven era.

Another reason is due to the invention of green fire—the existence of green fire substituted for whale oil. But because the number of whales suddenly dropped sharply, the number of fish actually began to increase, which didn’t cause the coastal cities to lose too much food.

Now whales are quite rare. The existing whales have developed new abilities—they can judge the curse concentration nearby before surfacing. If the concentration is not too high, they will rise to the surface... And because they’ve been breathing the Mist for a long time, they’ve also gradually been changed and have acquired special abilities.

First, the body size of the whales started to increase abnormally. Almost three to four times that of the second era... And they would acquire some special abilities. Since whales have become creatures of the curse, their materials—like ’whale’s beard’—naturally become expensive cursed materials.

So the sailors, and those enforcers at the ports... they can no longer make weapons with whale’s beard. Thus, they modified them. Instead of using whale’s beard as filler, they used tanned leather on the exterior, stuck a solid lead block at one end, and used cotton as filling inside..."

While Isaac was recounting this to Annan, that group of enforcers finally caught up with the middle-aged man, who was extremely negligent of exercise.

And the surrounding crowd didn’t react at all.

They were neither flustered nor afraid. They just stood there, watching the excitement.

It wasn’t that there was no one who was afraid, but it was apparent that those were foreigners or, to be precise, foreigners who were visiting Dennisiowa for the first time.

"What’s that about?"

Annan tilted his head slightly, asking Isaac: "This seems quite common... to the point where people aren’t even afraid of them."

He was a local—though a local from over a hundred years ago—but surely he knew Dennisiowa better than Annan.

And Isaac didn’t disappoint Annan.

He nodded and explained: "Those people run a gambling den."

"Gambling den?"

"It is a pawnshop with gambling, or you can also understand it as a casino with pawnshop functions."

Issac squinted his eyes and looked at the group of people.

The thugs from the gambling den quickly surrounded the middle-aged man.

They drew out "Whale’s Beard" and slapped it across the man’s forearms, shins, lower back, and groin.

The man soon let out continuous screams like those of a pig being slaughtered—his arm turned a visible shade of purple at an alarming rate. It seemed that some of his bones were also broken.

And Isaac’s gaze toward him was extraordinarily indifferent.

He described calmly, "Don’t be fooled by how light Whale’s Beard looks... but just one proper strike and it can crack open a skull; if it hits the jaw, it can knock a person out immediately. It’s much easier to use it to break limbs than to use a stick. The key point is—it’s especially painful when it hits."

"So, what are these people here for?"

Annan pointed his chin at the group of strong, ferocious-looking thugs, "Are they here to catch those who flee from gambling debts?"

"Yes, and no."

Isaac answered, "The so-called gambling dens are inevitable where pirates thrive... because the ’items pawned’ in gambling dens are not just treasures and such."

"What is it?"

"—Of course, it’s people."

A skinny, dark-skinned old man stood behind them, taking over the conversation.

He wore a short shirt, his face showing traces of being weathered by the sea breeze. On his feet were sandals that exposed his toes.

The old man, equally indifferent, looked at the man with undisguised schadenfreude on his face, "Even the highest-ranking card sharks won’t enter a gambling den for no reason...unless they have some feud with someone..."

"A feud?"

"Bet an arm, bet a head."

The old man chuckled scornfully, "Small-time stuff. Those who really come to play in the gambling dens are still the pirates.

"The captured prisoners, the traitors being dealt with, the women and children of enemies’ families. There are also merchants who like pirates borrowed money and can’t pay it back, so they can only sell their own children.

"Money... around here, it’s like seawater. The sea rises and falls, money rises and falls. Without the old, there is no new..."

The old man spoke in a mocking tone and walked away with his hands behind his back.

Annan mused as he looked at the middle-aged man dressed as a merchant, with his protruding belly.

That is to say...

"He must be a fool who got robbed by thieves... and thought to use his wife and children as gambling stakes to turn the tide, yet ended up gambling away his own life as well."

Isaac’s green pupils were quiet and profound, "Such fools are not uncommon in the United Kingdom."