121: As soon as you leave the Novice Village, you’re blocked by hundreds of warships?

The other side of the Wall of Storms.

It was a completely different world.

A massive fleet composed of hundreds of warships, like a group of silent steel behemoths, quietly hovered above the turbulent sea.

The style of these warships was starkly different from the cobbled-together scrap metal found in the Initial Sea Zone.

They were entirely black, with long, menacing hulls; every inch of steel exuded an aggressive beauty forged in battle.

The bow of all warships was emblazoned with the same mark.

A scarlet, seemingly bleeding, skull sail.

The Black Sail Fleet.

In this lawless land known as the "Chaotic Starfield," this name was synonymous with death and plunder.

The flagship of the fleet was a gigantic dreadnought, over five hundred meters long.

Its silhouette cast upon the sea was a moving steel mountain, exuding a suffocating sense of oppression.

At this moment, inside the Bridge of this dreadnought named the black shark.

A burly man, holding a glass of blood-red rum, was watching the holographic screen in front of him with keen interest.

A hideous saber scar ran from his brow bone, cutting through his left eye socket, leaving that blind eyeball perpetually a murky white, and making his sole remaining eye appear particularly sinister.

On the screen, the energy of the Wall of Storms twisted.

A black ship, full of unknown and mysterious aura, slowly emerged.

"Boss, the target has appeared!"

An adjutant in a Black Sail uniform stood respectfully behind him, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

"It... it's in the sky!"

A low murmur rippled through the Bridge.

All the operators instinctively looked up at the warship suspended in the sky, their eyes filled with surprise and confusion.

The man known as Black Shark, the commander of the Black Sail Seventh Fleet, his smile stiffened slightly.

His single eye narrowed, a hint of surprise flashing within it.

However, that surprise was quickly replaced by an even stronger greed.

"What if it's in the sky?"

He snorted coldly, his voice as rough as metal grinding together.

He swirled the liquid in his glass, the blood-red liquid rotating against the glass wall.

"A bunch of ignorant fools."

"Does our black shark not fly?"

He bared his teeth, yellowed by the rum, and a cruel glint, like that of a predator eyeing its prey, flickered in his single eye.

"After waiting for nearly half a month, this flying big fish has finally decided to swim out of that little ditch."

"It looks pretty good; it's perfect to drag back as a new toy for 'Boss'."

The adjutant's Adam's apple bobbed, but he ultimately couldn't hold back.

"Boss, forgive my impertinence."

"But it's just a ship from the newbie zone; is it worth our entire Black Sail Seventh Fleet waiting here like this? Isn't this... making too much of a fuss?"

Black Shark's movements paused.

He slowly turned his head, his cold single eye fixed intently on his adjutant.

The previously somewhat relaxed atmosphere in the Bridge instantly dropped to freezing point.

Everyone lowered their heads, not daring to meet that gaze.

"Are you questioning 'Boss's' orders?"

His voice was low and hoarse, every word carrying an unquestionable pressure.

"Or are you questioning me?"

A layer of cold sweat instantly broke out on the adjutant's forehead; he sharply lowered his head, his back rigid as iron.

"I wouldn't dare!"

"Boss, I just... I just think..."

"When I tell you to bite, you open your mouth."

Black Shark interrupted him, his impatience evident in his voice.

"You only need to know that bringing that ship, along with the people on it, back intact is our mission."

"As for the rest, it's not yours to ask, nor is it your place to ask."

He was one of the three fleets dispatched by the man previously referred to as “Boss” in the unknown space.

Their mission was to guard the exit of this Initial Sea Zone, to completely tear apart the audacious 'river dragon' who dared to stir up trouble in 'Boss's' pond, both the person and the ship, and bring them back.

"It does seem a bit strange."

Black Shark redirected his gaze to the screen, scrutinizing the warship suspended in mid-air with the eyes of someone appraising merchandise.

In his understanding, how strong could a ship from that barren Initial Sea Zone, which didn't even have decent resource points, possibly be?

At most, it was just a fatter, better-looking lamb.

"According to the old rules, courtesy before force."

Black Shark drained the rum in his glass and casually smashed the glass to the floor.

The crisp "crack" was particularly jarring in the silent Bridge.

"Send them a communication."

"Let them know who the master of this sea is."

"Yes!"

...Inside the Bridge of the Natural Selection.

The piercing sound of a communication request broke the pre-battle silence.

Lin Mo glanced at the flashing, crimson skull sail emblem on the screen, his eyes showing no ripple of emotion.

He reached out a finger and lightly tapped the screen.

"Connect."

The next second, the scarred, one-eyed face of Black Shark, full of arrogance and banditry, appeared as a holographic projection in the center of the Bridge.

"Listen, you fledglings on the other side."

Black Shark said lazily, his legs crossed, in a condescending tone.

"I am Black Shark, commander of the Black Sail Seventh Fleet. From now on, your ship, your people, and everything on your ship belong to our great Black Sail."

He paused, a glint of mockery flashing in his single eye, as if enjoying the prey's final struggles.

"Of course, our 'Boss' is a merciful man."

"We'll give you a choice. Immediately shut down all power and weapon systems, open all hatches, kneel on the deck, and welcome our takeover like dogs."

"If you behave well, we might even let you keep your dog lives, scrubbing decks and cleaning toilets on our ship."

He let out a low, hoarse laugh, filled with undisguised menace.

"If you resist... then I don't mind blowing you, people and ship alike, into the most insignificant cosmic dust in this Wall of Storms."

"You have three minutes to consider."

With that, he prepared to cut the communication.

He enjoyed this feeling of offering hope, then personally crushing it, relishing the pleasure of watching prey make wrong choices in despair.

However, what answered him was not the anticipated fear, anger, or bargaining.

Instead, it was a crisp, somewhat lazy, and utterly contemptuous... sneer.

"Heh."

Gu Zhixia had, at some point, walked to the front of the holographic projection.

With her arms crossed over her chest, her tall figure bathed in the projection's light, she seemed to stand under a spotlight on a stage.

Her always cool phoenix eyes were now scrutinizing Black Shark on the screen with the gaze one would reserve for an idiot or a dead man.

"Just with you lot..."

Her voice paused, and her red lips curved into a cold arc.

"That scrap metal that wobbles even when stopped on the sea?"