Chapter 445: Evildoer (Two-in-One)

"I understand. You want to make a deal with me."

Yan Jing looked at Bobo, who was sitting across from him in a purple lace outfit, his expression calm. "Speak. What is it you want?"

Bobo stared at him, taken aback.

She hadn't expected the cat in front of her to be so direct. She blinked, deciding to drop the act altogether. "Fine. I want your protection."

"The seas haven't been peaceful lately. The Sea Gang is declining by the day, and several pirate crews can no longer sit still. The major crews are either taking sides or banding together, hoping to score big."

"The Bobo Pirates used to rely on a crew called Fierce Beast, but they were torn to pieces by another crew not long ago."

"We barely managed to escape."

"In the Great Prison, those without backing cannot survive. We were heading to the minor maritime assembly to find a new crew to depend on."

"'Ze'—that's the name of the crew we had in mind. They currently rank thirty-seventh in Haidu."

Yan Jing nodded. "Sounds like a decent choice. So why did you change your mind and come to me?"

After a few seconds of hesitation, Bobo answered directly, "Because you're a newcomer."

"Is it that obvious?"

Yan Jing smiled.

"Very obvious."

Bobo nodded. "First, I've never heard of such a powerful... cat in Haidu."

"Second, it's in your eyes."

"They lack the resolve of someone who has been tempered by the Great Prison."

Yan Jing's lips curved upward. "Go on."

Bobo took a deep breath. "If you know anything about this place, you'd know it isn't somewhere you can just walk into at will."

"To put it plainly, many people here went to great lengths just to get in."

"I imagine you are much the same."

Yan Jing smiled, neither confirming nor denying it.

Bobo continued, "That's because this isn't just a prison."

"It's a proving ground."

"If you want to advance to the Eighth Tier, or even further, simply raising your Tier is no longer enough."

"You need a heart."

"A heart of reaching the summit."

"Such an ethereal thing is very difficult to comprehend on your own. In any of the slightly more developed Domains, it's rumored that life-and-death clashes between experts are absolutely essential for comprehending a heart of reaching the summit."

"The Great Prison isn't as simple as it seems. It's teeming with powerhouses, which naturally makes it an excellent place to comprehend a heart of reaching the summit."

Yan Jing listened quietly before asking in a soft voice, "Do you really think this is the only path to the summit?"

Bobo couldn't grasp his underlying meaning and simply assumed he was correcting her. She quickly added, "Of course not. Aside from cultivating your own heart of reaching the summit, you can steal someone else's. There are also methods to gather the life force of living beings. But all of these share one requirement: people. No matter the method, you need people, and powerful ones at that."

So there were other ways.

Yan Jing nodded silently.

He truly hadn't known.

Papa Rat was reluctant to discuss cultivation with him, and Shen Youran had never brought up anything regarding the Eighth Tier either, simply because he was currently only at the Sixth Tier.

But he was a bit puzzled. When that artificial Eighth Tier had died right in front of him, he had briefly scanned the corpse.

He hadn't found anything resembling a "heart of reaching the summit."

Was it because of the artificial method used to create it?

"Let's get back to our original topic," he said. "Why does my being a newcomer make it worth changing your mind?"

"Newcomers aren't rare in the Great Prison, but someone as strong as you... is." Bobo weighed her words carefully. "I figure you'll establish your own pirate crew sooner or later. Following you now is better than joining someone else's crew halfway through."

Yan Jing understood.

She viewed him as an early-stage investment.

"You're very smart."

"But I don't think you're the best choice for my crew."

Yan Jing flipped his notebook over and pointed at it. "My ship only has so many spots. There are no vacancies for you."

Bobo stared at the messy diagram in a daze. Once she realized what he meant, she immediately offered, "I can be a vassal—your dependent. All the major pirate crews have plenty of dependents."

"Every crew boss has a dozen or more dependents, both men and women. It's completely normal."

"That was my original plan when seeking out another crew, anyway."

Yan Jing understood once again.

So this wasn't One Piece.

It was a pirate empire.

"Alright, then the Bobo Pirates will be my number one dependent crew."

Yan Jing finalized the decision on the spot.

Seeing Yan Jing agree so readily, a hint of joy sparked in Bobo's eyes, mixed with a trace of complexity.

The joy came from how easily it had been settled.

The complexity stemmed from his flippant attitude, which left her feeling somewhat uneasy.

However—

She had at least managed to secure his backing.

She would just have to take it one step at a time.

In the Great Prison, you could be alive today and dead tomorrow. There was no room for hesitation in one's actions, especially in Haidu.

Who here wasn't living with their head hanging from their trouser waist?

Bobo immediately began to strip off her clothes.

"Hold on."

Yan Jing raised a hand, stopping her in her tracks.

Receiving the command, Bobo halted her movements without a second thought.

She felt no emotional fluctuation.

She had met far too many kinds of people in the Great Prison. There were the greedy and the lustful, the self-proclaimed gentlemen, the hypocrites, and those who genuinely had no interest in women.

Yan Jing stopping her didn't fill her with gratitude, nor did it make her feel relieved.

Instead, she felt a bit of regret.

Since he wouldn't take her body, this so-called "dependence" wasn't nearly as secure. She would have to figure out another way.

Of course, even if he had taken her, it wouldn't necessarily have been ironclad either.

But Yan Jing's next words left her stunned.

"Captain Bobo!"

Yan Jing's voice abruptly spiked in pitch.

"Here," Bobo answered instinctively, completely unsure of what he was playing at.

"I don't think you're ready! Ready to become a dependent of Mao Si!" Yan Jing wore a stern expression, looking exactly like a drill instructor berating a recruit.

"I'm ready! Captain Mao Si!" Bobo had stopped halfway through stripping and still couldn't figure out whether she was supposed to finish undressing or not. All she could do was wait for his next command. "I am truly ready!"

"Are you?" Yan Jing leaned closer.

"Yes! Captain!" Bobo was primed and ready. If he told her to strip, she would throw her clothes right off; if he told her not to, she would snap them right back on.

"Then why hasn't your sexual orientation changed?" Yan Jing demanded.

"Huh?"

Now Bobo was well and truly dumbfounded, her eyes completely blank.

"Until your orientation changes, I will not accept any of your bribes!" Yan Jing declared righteously.

"This—"

The blankness in Bobo's eyes only deepened. "Yes... Captain..."

She silently put her clothes back on and walked to the door under Yan Jing's watchful gaze.

Just as she was about to step out of the room, she couldn't hold back anymore. She turned to look at Yan Jing. "Captain, are you serious—"

"In my crew, there is only one rule: when it comes to my orders, obey, obey, and absolutely fucking obey, Captain Bobo!"

"Until you are truly ready, you must wear at least two layers of clothing in front of me!"

"Yes, Captain!" Bobo replied instinctively once more.

Even as she returned to her own room, she hadn't quite recovered her wits.

She had indeed met many types of people, but first of all, that was a cat, not a person. Second of all, wasn't this particular type a bit...

Too rare?

Meanwhile.

Yan Jing lay back on his bed in comfort.

Being Captain Cat was absolutely awesome.

Haidu was a nice place. He liked it a lot.

At dinnertime.

The crew members noticed that Bobo was acting completely out of character. She had traded her usual revealing outfits for a purple sweater beneath a thick mink coat.

Though she still looked incredibly alluring—

They couldn't help but find it slightly jarring.

Bobo offered no explanation for this. Instead, she announced that they would be depending on Yan Jing from now on.

Everyone voiced their agreement.

Depending on someone else in the Great Prison wasn't anything shameful. Aside from the Evildoers who had come here chasing the summit, everyone else lived this sort of life.

You'd side with one house today and another tomorrow. So long as you could live comfortably, there was no need to overthink it.

Shrouded beneath a starry night sky, the vast sea resembled a slab of black jade. The rippling waves looked like arcs of light gliding across its surface.

Every now and then, massive dark shadows could be seen sweeping past the bottom of the ship, darting off into the distance.

Yan Jing stood on Bobo's shoulder as the two leaned against the deck railing, enjoying the sea breeze.

"We'll be there in about two days. I just hope we don't run into any accidents, Lord Mao Si."

Bobo spoke slowly.

"Like what?"

"Like Evildoers, or other pirate crews, or even certain existences on the seabed."

"What was that last one?"

"The Great Prison is a mobile existence. More accurately, it is a sanctuary created by the mighty power of the prison warden."

"The five regions within it were torn from other regions and stitched together by him. Our daily work is to mine these regions and hand our quotas over to the prison staff."

"When these regions were torn away, they likely brought along the native inhabitants who hadn't managed to evacuate in time."

Yan Jing nodded.

No wonder he had seen crew members jumping off the ship from time to time today to fish things out of the water.

"We trade these things for points, then use those points to do business. No matter how powerful a crew might be, they still have to submit a required quota of materials during the major maritime assembly every quarter. It's only at times like those that people remember they're actually in a prison."

Bobo continued, "To deceive themselves, many bosses of large crews never ask about submitting points, leaving it entirely up to their subordinates to handle."

"A few years ago, a major crew failed to gather enough points, prompting the prison staff to forcefully board their ship to enforce the rules. Seeing that sight shattered the boss's Dao heart. His half-formed heart of reaching the summit collapsed, and he went mad on the spot, killing quite a few of the staff."

"In the end, a bounty was placed on him, and he was killed by another crew."

Hearing this, Yan Jing felt a sense of agreement. "We grow stronger for the sake of freedom. Discovering that you're just a pitiful insect being controlled in the Great Prison would indeed easily break your spirit."

"After the minor maritime assembly, it's only another month until the major maritime assembly."

Bobo mused, "I wonder if it will be lively this year. After all, the Sea Gang is about to fall."

Yan Jing didn't reply. He wasn't particularly interested in the downfall of the Sea Gang. What he cared about more was the upcoming recruitment for the suicide vanguard squad.

He wanted to find a way to enter the God Storage Land early and take a look around.

Just as the two of them were chatting, the situation shifted.

Suddenly, the starry sky overhead seemed to darken.

In an instant, the dark surface of the sea grew even dimmer.

In just a second or two, a howling gale whipped up with savage force, sweeping across the ocean.

"My lord, something's wrong." Bobo's expression instantly shifted as she looked at Yan Jing.

"Follow your usual protocol," Yan Jing said.

Bobo immediately blew a whistle.

The sharp whistle pierced the cabin, and the crew members filed out, all staring at Bobo with solemn expressions.

"Attention all hands! Level-one alert! Stop the ship! Drop the anchor! Take cover!"

The crew moved with practiced efficiency. Very quickly, the sails of the Bobo were lowered, and a massive black tarp was hauled up from the stern to cover the ship all the way to the bow.

The black tarp seemed to possess some sort of power, allowing the ship to completely conceal its traces upon the already pitch-black sea.

Aside from Yan Jing and Bobo, everyone else ducked back into the cabin.

More than a few pulled out amulets, hiding in corners as they prayed.

Bobo had originally wanted to leave as well, but Yan Jing pulled her back, making her stay to see exactly what was going on.

"It's very likely two Evildoers fighting, Lord Mao Si."

Bobo looked incredibly anxious, worried that the two of them would draw the attention of those so-called Evildoers.

"It's fine. Let's stay and watch," Yan Jing said.

Knowing she was in no position to argue, Bobo had no choice but to lie flat at the bow alongside Yan Jing, peering up at the sky through two small holes in the black tarp.

They saw two figures appear amidst the clouds. One was dressed in a monk's robe fashioned from a ship's sail, a string of human skulls draped around his neck as he sat cross-legged on a cloud.

"What Pathway is that?" Before Bobo could stop him, Yan Jing had already spoken.

Seeing that the two figures hadn't reacted, Bobo had no choice but to reply in an extremely soft voice, "It's the Buddhas Pathway."

"Although Buddhas, Myriad Daos, and Holy Confucians can be found in many Domains, all three share the same origin. They all hail from a massive Domain known as the Three Worlds."

"It's a pity. They have all been corrupted and are declining by the day, to the point where they must all come to the Great Prison to search for the path to the summit."

Opposite the monk-like figure stood another person.

Clad in armor, he held a long spear in his left hand and a long saber in his right, with a massive Bow slung across his back. What was most striking about him was the murderous aura surrounding his body, which was so dense it had practically materialized into a blood-red mountain.

Yan Jing recognized this Pathway.

A killing cultivator from Minhu.

The aura around this man was almost exactly the same as Wei Nantian's had been, only far more condensed.

However, Bobo offered an explanation Yan Jing had never heard before. "That's a killing cultivator from the folk cultivator path. It's just a shame that the folk cultivator path started too late. They have almost no Deities who have walked their road to its end. Comparing the two Pathways, this man comes up a head shorter."

Yan Jing couldn't help but look at Bobo in a new light.

He hadn't expected this seemingly ordinary female captain to possess such a broad wealth of knowledge.

Bobo seemed to read his thoughts and smiled somewhat sheepishly. "The region I'm from places some demands on knowledge, and my Pathway is related to that as well."

"But in the Great Prison, that sort of thing isn't very highly valued. Small crews have no use for it, and large crews don't need it."

"So I'm in a rather awkward position."

But Yan Jing reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "You've come to the right place."

"I like cultured people."

"That's wonderful." Bobo smiled politely, not taking his words seriously, assuming he was just casually brushing her off.

In that very instant, the two figures in the sky moved simultaneously.

The Buddhist aura, steeped in a chilling malevolence, instantly transformed into a black marsh composed of countless human heads, crashing head-on into the blood-red mountain hovering above the man.

"It's the Headless Buddha. He's at the Seventh Rank and doesn't belong to any crew."

Bobo's pupils contracted as she recognized the monk in the sky.