I have an Apocalypse City

Chapter 851: Chapter 852: The Underling _1

Hao Dong’s face showed a hint of contempt as he listened to the captain describe the fun spots on the island.

“Hmph, what’s so fun about this place? It’s just some stuff not allowed by law. If I wanted to gamble, wouldn’t I go to Macau or Las Vegas? And if I wanted to play with women…” Hao Dong suddenly paused, glanced at Song Jian, and forcefully swallowed the rest of his words before continuing, “It’s boring. Just fix the ship quickly, so it doesn’t delay our business.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, I won’t delay a thing. Just a minor repair, and it’ll be good as new. This ship’s quality is absolutely reliable!” the captain assured, pounding his chest, but as he glanced at the island, a hesitant expression flickered across his face.

“What, is there something else different about this island?” Song Jian glanced at the captain and asked with a smile.

“There is, indeed! Not only is there a human combat arena, but there’s also a beast-fighting pit where people battle wild animals!” said the captain excitedly: “Moreover, there’s the largest black market transaction in the world here. Whatever you want, you can buy it here!”

“‘Whatever you want, you can buy’? Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?” laughed Hao Dong: “So if I wanted to buy a potion of immortality, could I also find it here?”

...

“As long as you can afford the price, even something as outlandish as immortality can be achieved here!” the captain said with absolute certainty;

“Oh, in that case, this black market is something I’m really interested in seeing,” Song Jian chuckled;

“Haha, no problem. I’ll have someone take you to the island right away. When you get there, just say that Sea Wolf referred you, and you can skip the entrance fee!” the captain laughed heartily;

Soon, two sailors pulled over a lifeboat, and after several people boarded, it was slowly lowered into the sea. The motor roared to life, and the lifeboat “putt-putt-putted” towards the small island;

“This island doesn’t look very big. That captain made it sound like some metropolis!” Hao Dong looked at the few ramshackle wooden houses on the small island and couldn’t help but comment;

“You’re wrong there,” said a sailor steering the boat: “Those houses above are just for show. The real interesting places are all below.”

“Below? Undersea?” Hao Dong said, astonished.

“Not the seafloor,” the sailor shook his head: “Don’t be fooled by the small size of this island. Below sea level, it gets bigger the deeper you go. The entire island, in fact, has been hollowed out. The space below is several times the size of what we see!”

“Who on earth would undertake such a massive project?” Hao Dong exclaimed. The idea of hollowing out an entire small island, ignoring the extensive manpower and resources, seemed unbelievable to him; he thought only a madman would consider such a venture.

“Who knows? But inside there, it’s quite fascinating. Some people call this place a sailors’ playground, but in reality, most of those who come here aren’t real sailors,” the sailor beside explained;

“When was this place built? It must have taken at least a few years, if not decades,” Song Jian said with a chuckle;

“Humph, with the amount of work involved, I’d believe you if you said two or three decades!” Hao Dong snorted;

“It’s strange to say, but this sailors’ playground seems to have only appeared a few months ago. I’ve never heard of it before that, and it’s nowhere near any known sea route. Few people ever come here,” the sailor explained.

Both Song Jian and Hao Dong were visibly shocked and exchanged glances. The time in the game world and the real world was slowly changing. Previously, an hour in the real world was equivalent to several months in game time, but now, slowly, the gap between game time and real-world time was closing;

If it was indeed a matter of a few months, it’d align precisely with the emergence of the game;

“Looks like we really need to check this place out,” Song Jian said with a smile, glancing at Hao Dong;

Hao Dong nodded solemnly;

They quickly reached the dock near the shore in the lifeboat, and once ashore, a few sailors courteously led Song Jian and Hao Dong to a dilapidated wooden house;

A few brawny men covered in tattoos were sitting together playing poker. Seeing the group enter, they didn’t bother looking up, except for one man who glanced over while the others didn’t even bother to lift their heads;

“Hey, Sea Wolf’s men, you guys rarely come here. What’s up today, you guys got paid?” the man who looked up eyed the newcomers and joked;

“Hey, don’t even mention it. Encountered a monster at sea, a huge Shark over ten meters long damaged the ship, so we came to fix it.” One of the sailors seemed to know him as well and quickly explained with a smile plastered on his face: “We’ve got two distinguished guests on board, and the boss had us bring them here to see the world!”

“Since when has Sea Wolf gotten into the business of pimping?” Another brawny man who had been looking down suddenly spoke up, lifting his head and staring at the group with a hint of menace in his eyes;

Seeing him, the sailors’ faces changed, and a look of fear appeared. Song Jian looked over to see the burly man wearing an eyepatch on his right eye and sporting two scars on his left cheek like those from a wild beast’s claws, making him appear fierce;

“Water Ghost, the issue between you and our boss was already settled, weren’t it?” one of the sailors spoke sternly, “You’re not looking for trouble with us common crew members now, are you?” He emphatically increased his tone on the words “common crew member”;

“Heh heh, of course. The matter between Sea Wolf and me would not involve you all…” Water Ghost’s face twisted into a ferocious smile as he continued: “I just want to ask about this monster encounter of yours. A Shark over ten meters long, do you think you’re still living in the Jurassic Period? What kind of Shark did you come across, a Megalodon? You’re really lucky. Why don’t you say you met Godzilla?”

“Water Ghost, there’s no need to lie to you. The corpse of that monster isn’t too far from here. If you go now, you can still find it at the bottom of the sea, 1500 meters down. At the very least, you can surely see some remains,” said a sailor with a stern face.

The sailor was clever enough not to reveal that the monster was killed by Song Jian and Hao Dong, nor did he mention their names, which added credibility to his story. After that, he no longer paid attention to the brawny man called Water Ghost and led the others towards the backyard of the wooden house;

Water Ghost watched their retreating figures, an aggressive look in his eyes, and glanced at the others, asking: “A Shark over ten meters long, do you believe it?”

…