Chapter 129 - - 129 Mainline is a conspiracy_1

—————✧✧✧✧—————

The navigation log recorded only simple things.

It detailed where the Giant Bird had docked, what supplies were purchased, which routes were sailed, the weather encountered, and which company’s merchant ships were robbed on which routes, and so forth.

Without cross-referencing a navigation chart, Duge had no idea what locations those routes corresponded to.

What he cared more about were the significant events recorded by Paul that took place around the world, which helped him understand the world better.

For instance:

The Ghost Ship suddenly appeared in a certain sea lane in a certain year and month, encountered a merchant fleet, and all the sailors on board disappeared without exception;

The king of the East Sea, Mahamazu, had once again defeated the royal navy and killed the naval commodore Kike, raising the bounty on his head to 200,000 Gold Coins;

Laurent Swann, the King of the North Sea, found the divine artifact Ocean Horn on the wreckage of an ancient pirate ship; it was said that blowing the horn could summon an ancient Sea Beast sleeping on the ocean floor to aid in battle;

And the most recent information:

The Sea God’s daughter Jannie announced a bounty for finding the Sea God Scepter, promising that whoever found it would receive the divine artifact Ocean Feather, as well as the opportunity for immortality.

The purpose of the Giant Bird’s voyage was to go to Herd Island to find the witch He Ya, who was said to be able to divine the exact location of the Sea God Scepter.

…

It seemed that looking for the Sea God Scepter was supposed to be the main storyline of this simulated scenario.

Duge mused to himself.

The four great pirate kings, witches, the daughter of the Sea God, Selma, the divine artifact Ocean Horn…

With the world filled with all these bizarre and strange things, the difficulty was obviously much higher than the previous two simulated scenarios.

To make matters worse, he had randomly received two useless keywords: ‘happy’ and ‘idle around.’

It seemed challenging to compete with the other players!

Nan Youlong had told him that whether he made it into the top ten in the rankings or not, he would still be sent to the Alien Battlefield, but Duge did not intend to just idle around in this simulation.

Poor keywords might be randomly assigned even on the Alien Battlefield; he had to force himself to adapt and develop the potential of any keyword if he wanted to grow.

Only then could he become strong and accomplish his goals.

…

Seeing Duge’s gaze fixed on the page about the search for the Sea God Scepter, Piero had a bad premonition.

The previous betrayal was triggered by Paul’s insistence on seeking the Sea God Scepter. If the amnesiac Paul intended to search for it again, were they going to betray him once more?

This time, with Paul possessing immortality, it might not be so easy to kill him!

“So, you really are my crew,” Duge closed the navigation log, smiling bitterly at Piero, “Piero, unfortunately, the navigation log didn’t help restore my memory.”

“It’s okay, we can take it slow,” Piero said, comforting him with a smile.

“Piero, why doesn’t Jannie search for the Sea God Scepter herself?” asked Duge. “She’s the Sea God’s daughter; searching for her dad’s scepter should be easier, right? Why go through the trouble of offering a bounty?”

Upon hearing this, Piero knew that Duge had truly lost his memory.

Only someone with amnesia would ask such a foolish question.

“Jannie is sealed by the Sea God; only the Sea God Scepter can break her seal,” Piero explained.

“So, one must defeat the Sea God to get the scepter?” asked Duge.

“No one can defeat the Sea God,” Piero looked at Duge as if he were intellectually challenged, “Moreover, the Sea God has already perished. Before dying, he sealed all his divine power into the Sea God Scepter. Only by obtaining the scepter can Jannie inherit the Sea God’s Power and break the Sea God’s seal, thus becoming the new Sea God.”

“Does the Sea God have only one daughter?” Duge asked.

“Yes,” Piero replied.

“Then why didn’t he just give the scepter to Jannie before he died? Why seal divine power into the Sea God Scepter?” Duge asked. “Isn’t that just doing things the hard way? Was he out of his mind?”

“…” Piero gasped for breath and shrugged, “Who knows, maybe he didn’t like his own daughter, or maybe this was a test for Jannie. We’re all mortals, how could we possibly know what’s happened among the gods?”

“Since the Sea God Scepter contains the Sea God’s Divine Power, doesn’t it mean that whoever gets the scepter can become the new Sea God?” Duge’s eyes lit up. “Why should we hand it over to Jannie in exchange for the Ocean Feather?”

“Mortals can’t master Divine Power. Even if they get the scepter, they won’t be able to use it,” Piero was one hundred percent sure Duge had lost his memory, since his questions were getting stupider and stupider. “If mortals try to forcibly use the Sea God Scepter, they’ll be drained of their life force and die.”

“So that’s how it is!” Duge nodded, thoughtful. After a moment, he looked at Piero, “Piero, I think the Sea God Scepter is part of a conspiracy.”

“?” Piero was stunned.

Paul had been asking about the Sea God Scepter, and he was getting more worried that Paul would start thinking about searching for the scepter again. He hadn’t expected that in the end, he’d hear something like this from him.

“Jannie promised that if we find the scepter for her, she will reward us with the Ocean Feather,” Duge grinned. “Leaving aside whether the Ocean Feather is important, even her father has fallen, proving that gods can also die. How can she promise that one can gain immortality? So, this must be a conspiracy.”

My captain!

Who would have thought that after losing your memory, you’d become smarter!

You’ve even spotted the loophole in the bounty…

But surely the concept of immortality for mortals is different from that of the godly beings!

Facing an ignorant Paul, Piero felt relieved, nodding with certainty: “Indeed, this is a conspiracy. I’ve always said that we shouldn’t go looking for any Sea God Scepter. A single bounty has stirred up all the pirates in the entire region, and those people are fools, I bet they’ll all be swallowed by this huge vortex.”

“Piero, is the purpose of our journey to find the witch?” Duge asked.

“Yes,” Piero said, “Paul, now that you know the Sea God Scepter is part of a conspiracy, we don’t need to go after it anymore. You’ve also lost your memory. Perhaps we should first find a doctor.”

“Is there a better doctor than the witch?” Duge laughed. “If even she can’t cure my amnesia, then no other doctors in the world can.”

“…”

Piero was stunned, unsure again whether Paul was faking it or not.

He was beginning to suspect Paul was tricking them into continuing the search for the Sea God Scepter in a roundabout way.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Am I wrong?” Duge smiled. “Piero, don’t worry that I’ll foolishly search for the Sea God Scepter. Remember what I said before? Life is short, enjoy it while you can. Right now, I think happiness is more important. We go to Herd Island, first to find the witch, see if she can solve my memory loss; second, we can see how many fools go searching for the so-called Sea God Scepter.

What could be more delightful than watching a bunch of people doing foolish things? Maybe we can even play them for fools, making a tidy sum of money…”

“Alright, I’ll discuss it with Barry and pass on your thoughts to everyone.” Piero looked at Duge again, filled with doubts, and left the captain’s cabin.

To be honest.

The amnesiac Duge was becoming harder for him to understand, and it seemed like even his personality had changed.

After Piero left.

Duge also left the captain’s cabin and headed to the kitchen.

He couldn’t sail such a big ship on his own, so he had to keep the crew around.

And he needed them for his attribute enhancement as well.

So.

Amnesia became a good excuse to ease the crew’s relationships. Without the memories of the original Paul, he didn’t even need to pretend; any change in personality could be blamed on the Sea Demon Selma.

But he still had to move closer to the main storyline.

After all.

The ship had too few people, which was not conducive to his performance.

Using the excuse of amnesia to fool the entire crew, he’d been happy as his attributes steadily climbed.

But the pace of increase was too slow.

Now, Duge had to quickly enhance his own strength. He needed a formidable force to stabilize the situation on the ship.

In the past, Feng Zhong could flick a horse’s ear to come up with an advanced skill, and he was sure he could do the same through physical fishing, even if he couldn’t come up with an advanced skill, gaining some attributes wouldn’t be bad.

✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦