Chapter 135: A Discovery Aboard the Warship

As the steady breathing of the others filled the night air, Chen Cao found himself wide awake. Had Hua Fo truly vanished without a trace? Given his skills, there was no way he could have been eliminated so swiftly. What had he encountered? Riding atop the raft just moments ago, Chen Cao had clearly felt the vessel's battered state—wearied by the long journey and attacks from the natives. It was barely seaworthy now; such a long voyage would be impossible. Yet, looking around, all he could see were sheer cliffs, their faces covered densely with foliage, nearly vertical at ninety degrees. Not even rookies like Lu Tianming could hope to climb them, and even Chen Cao himself would struggle to scale those cliffs safely without any tools. It seemed the only way forward was by water. Perhaps this was why the warship had anchored here initially. For now, they would wait until daylight—when travel would be safer—and then search the ship for anything usable as drifting supplies.

But at this moment, the warship itself was an unstable variable. Chen Cao resolved that he must find Hua Fo’s body to confirm his death. Moreover, escaping would take time; he could not afford to gamble with his life amid a place that could explode at any moment. One life was all a person had, and he could not afford to lose.

Grasping his rifle, harboring a faint hope that Hua Fo might still be alive, Chen Cao slowly made his way toward the ship’s cabin. Passing by Karissa, he saw her leaning against the deck, deeply asleep. Her brow was furrowed, and the corners of her lovely mouth drooped as if she were trapped in a nightmare. Chen Cao paused, gently stroking the golden strands of hair that framed her forehead. As if by some unspoken connection, a faint smile curved the edges of Karissa’s lips.

Startled by her sudden smile, Chen Cao felt a jolt in his chest. “This can’t be... he can’t be alive!” he thought. Rising quickly, he gripped his rifle and strode toward the cabin. Deep in the night, all was silent. Just as he turned a corner in the cabin corridor, he collided with a figure. Instinctively, he raised his pistol and pressed the barrel confidently against the stranger. But to his surprise, the other moved just as swiftly, pressing a cold muzzle against Chen Cao’s temple.

Both men, aware of the danger, held their fire and remained silent. After a few tense seconds, Chen Cao felt the pressure on his head ease. Then, Hua Fo’s voice broke the silence: “Chen, I want to know why you had to finish eating the grilled fish before coming to find me. It pains me, as your partner. Understand?”

In the darkness, Chen Cao recognized Hua Fo’s voice and replied, “You can’t blame me. If you were in my place, you’d have done the same. But my motto is to keep everyone alive; yours is to just save yourself.”

A loud laugh echoed from the shadows. “So you’ve seen through me, huh?”

“Yes. I think I’ve seen through you, you great liar. From the moment you saved me, you had a plan. Step by step, you led us here to help you seize the treasure. Your first goal is the warship’s hoard; the second, the gems around the natives’ necks. Am I right?” Chen Cao lowered his pistol and laid out his theory plainly.

Hua Fo sneered, then flicked on a flashlight. Chen Cao blinked as the light swept over his face and instinctively stepped back, pressing against the cabin door, rifle raised.

“Hey, buddy, no need to be so tense!” Hua Fo held the flashlight to his face, the light dancing across his pale features, the smile chilling rather than comforting.

“Mr. Hua, I hope you mind your behavior next time. You know everyone here is on high alert. Any careless move could cause harm. Without medicine, that would be disastrous,” Chen Cao said, lowering his rifle and turning the barrel away.

Hua Fo chuckled, still holding the flashlight. He leaned against the corridor railing, pulling from his chest a small cloth bundle. Casually, he untied it, and under the flashlight’s beam, Chen Cao saw that it contained dried meat. He felt no surprise—he was used to Hua Fo always keeping something up his sleeve.

While Hua Fo ate with evident relish, Chen Cao had no appetite for sharing a midnight snack. When Hua Fo fell silent, Chen Cao asked, “Got any cigarettes?”

“Sure!” Hua Fo answered promptly, pulling from his chest a white cigarette pack and tossing it to Chen Cao. Compared to his hesitation last time, he was much more generous now. Indeed, in this tense, uncertain fight for survival, tobacco offered a rare calm.

Chen Cao caught the pack, noting its weight. Opening it, he found it full of cigarettes, which puzzled him. Before he could speak, Hua Fo threw over a lighter—an exquisite windproof model, engraved with the letters ZETL. Such a classic lighter, worth tens of thousands of dollars by Chen Cao’s estimation. He stared silently at Hua Fo as he continued eating.

Hua Fo’s manner of eating was deliberate and gentlemanly, slow and measured—so different from his ruthless demeanor in combat. Just as Chen Cao was about to speak, Hua Fo laughed lightly.

“No need to guess—that name on the lighter isn’t mine. I don’t have such a lame name!” Chen Cao said bluntly.

“Is it your companion’s?” Chen Cao pressed.

Hua Fo stopped eating. “Yes, it belongs to my comrade. He’s resting beneath us now. They got off easy—leaving me to struggle in this world.”

Chen Cao fingered the lighter’s engraving, a sudden thought dawning on him. Hua Fo’s words now sounded like the truth. The story about being completely annihilated by the natives seemed fabricated.

Gazing at Chen Cao, Hua Fo finished the last bite, drew a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep, elegant drag, exhaling several smoke rings slowly. Then he began to speak:

“We stumbled upon this place by accident. After leaving you, we hunted natives in the jungle, gathering gems. Don’t be fooled by these natives—they’re stupid but fierce and adaptable. We walked into a trap. That sniper battle was far worse than what we faced today. We had no support, no clue where to retreat in the vast jungle. We encountered these ‘ghost children’—mutated little creatures we never imagined existed. They caught us off guard, killing two comrades. We barely escaped, with natives in pursuit. I don’t know how many natives we killed—only that it was a chaotic cycle of killing and retreating. Eventually, we reached the river. With no rafting gear, we jumped in. But this river wasn’t safe either—filled with countless piranhas. Two comrades who jumped ahead were devoured down to the bone. I was lucky to stay behind and, with the help of the remaining two comrades, retreated to a waterfall upstream. No way forward, enemies behind, the three of us gritted our teeth, grabbed a huge dead tree, and jumped down. That’s how we ended up here.”

Listening intently, Chen Cao pondered deeply. Hua Fo continued:

“Luckily, the log was large. I don’t know if it was luck or fate, but we had smooth sailing afterward. No piranhas in the river—a miracle. And the biggest surprise was finding this warship. Even more so, the countless gems and gold inside! You know, the gems I gave you in that small iron box? Compared to the ones in the warship’s lower hold, they’re low-grade trash. And in a small storage room here, we found black diamonds. Do you know what black diamonds are? Probably not, unless you've seen some sci-fi flicks. We never thought such things really existed. We studied them carefully. These black diamonds take hundreds of millions of years to form. There are only a few dozen in the world. But if you get just five, they’re enough to destroy a city. Their radiation energy is millions of times stronger than ordinary TNT, and all it takes to trigger it is collision with another black diamond. Colliding with anything else won’t do anything. According to the data, only Dacheng has one, the Mainz Democratic Federation has two. Black market arms dealers offer 200 million dollars each for one. Can you imagine? How could we not be tempted? We were ecstatic. At that moment, we knew all our sacrifices were worth it. We worried about how to carry so many gems out, but now, with just these twenty-some black diamonds, we could retire early, no need for anything else!”

Chen Cao lit a cigarette, still staring at the name on the lighter, and asked directly, “I want to know how your companions died, and how you escaped.”

“To be honest, I don’t know how they died. I passed out. I don’t know what attacked me. I just remember touching a black diamond, then my eyelids fluttered uncontrollably, and my mind started shutting down fast. Finally, I collapsed, dozing off on the gems and gold.”

As Hua Fo spoke, the cigarette burned down to his fingers. He flicked ash away, looked at Chen Cao through the flashlight’s beam. His eyes were glazed, as if seriously recounting something absurd: “I really fell asleep—and slept soundly.”