Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 504 Warehouse
The retreating tide gang's base.

"Rotten Vulture" Gerry dragged a pipe in one hand. His professional physique made his breathing slow and long. Two pale white streams of air could be seen shooting out of his nostrils in a bundle, colliding with the floor beneath his feet, churning and dissipating.

How's things going at Suoyu Bay lately?

His triangular eyes were shrouded in the shadows cast by his high, arched eyebrows, and his head was slightly lowered, making it impossible to see the expression on his face. Only his sinister voice echoed in the room.

As the leader of the Tide Receding Gang, and with the gang currently expanding, he should have stayed in Barracuda Bay to oversee things. However, the Shahua fish people came to them for business. Contact with such a powerful alien force required extreme caution; a single misstep could lead to certain death. Worried, Gerry had no choice but to personally lead his team away from the port.

Of course, if the deal goes smoothly, the profits that the Tidefall Gang can obtain will be unprecedentedly substantial.

The enormous quantities of gold coins and antiques are only part of the story. The other items include exquisite weapons made by the Shahua fishmen, special mineral materials from the deep sea, and even human combat techniques collected by the fishmen.

As long as they can get in touch with this connection, the Tide Gang, with the help of the Shahua fish people, will transform from a low-level gang that could only hide in the corners of the saltwater alleys into a large organization known throughout the entire Suyu Bay in a very short time.

All they had to give up were the lives of ordinary people, as lowly as pigs and even more insignificant than ants.

More than thirty years of maritime life had long since eroded the humanity of this middle-aged professional. As long as he could gain greater power, more gold coins, and more authority, nothing else mattered.

However, at the same time, as the core of the entire Southern Islands, it is still very important for Fish Bay to have a solid foothold in a town.

Therefore, even while at Wildberry Cliff, in the midst of a crucial transaction with the Sawa fishmen, Gerry did not forget the gang's progress in Barracuda Bay.

"We've already collected most of the resources left behind by the Shark Gang, and things are relatively stable at the docks. We've also taken care of most of the guards at the Governor's Mansion who are responsible for the relevant areas."

A gang member familiar with the situation in Souk Bay answered from the side.

"Has there been any movement from the Blade of Vengeance lately?"

Gerry suddenly mentioned a name that had been appearing frequently within the gang recently.

Although he had been an adventurer for many years, since he established his own organization and transformed his identity into a "gangster boss" and "pirate leader," he has become increasingly distant from the traditional adventurer team.

Under normal circumstances, they would rarely come into contact with elite teams like the Blade of Vengeance.

He always tried to avoid this. Every new member who joined the gang had to go through a relatively rigorous test. With the help of the gang's senior members, they had to develop a considerable ability to judge people, to know who were suitable targets and who they could not offend, before they were allowed to go out and do things on their own.

Nevertheless, unexpected events are still inevitable.

Take Hogan's experience a few days ago as an example. In fact, the other party was able to recognize every official member of the Blade of Vengeance team. Even if they temporarily forgot, they could still make a judgment based on the other party's appearance and demeanor.

But the person he encountered was a halfling who had recently joined the Blade of Vengeance squad as a "temporary member," and who had become famous for his outrageous actions in various casinos in Barracuda Bay, and who was connected to that legendary figure from many years ago.

His deceptively attractive appearance tricked Hogan, who was considered cautious even by the standards of the entire gang, and thus offended the other party, as well as the "Hague" and the Blade of Vengeance behind them.

As the name "The Hague" came to mind, a serious expression flashed across Gerry's face.

To some extent, the current success of the Tidefall Gang is largely due to their ability to eliminate their former rival, the Horned Shark Gang.

That's why Grief didn't want to offend the other party.

Fortunately, neither Oath of Vengeance nor "The Hague" Xia Nan seemed to care about a nobody like Hogan, and their own Tidefall Gang was not implicated.

As a precaution, he even sent people to stake out near the Blade of Vengeance, which was docked at the Wavebreaker Wharf, to observe the movements of this elite adventurer team in case of retaliation.

But as it turns out, it seems I was overthinking things.

After listening to his subordinates' report, Gri breathed a sigh of relief, and the tension he had been feeling these past few days due to the trade with the Shahua fishmen eased slightly.

He glanced at the pipe out of the corner of his eye, as if remembering something, and waved to a mature-looking member beside him, saying:
"I almost forgot, I remember there were two boxes of cigarettes from Shire Island in that shipment, could you go and bring two boxes back for me?"

"Hmm, while you're at it, pick out a couple more antique collectibles and send them to the merfolk. Those water rats have really strange tempers; you'll have to build a good relationship with them if you want to do business with them."

"Yes, boss!"

……

……

"Don't kill me! Lord Hague, please don't kill me!"

The boots were stained with blood gushing from the enemy's neck.

Xia Nan carefully wiped the [Emberfall] straight sword in his hand, his gaze falling on the thug kneeling on the ground in front of him, his body trembling, his voice trembling as he begged for mercy.

A strange expression involuntarily appeared on his face.

This must be the third time.

Wave-Breaking Wharf, Coral Reef, and now Wild Berry Cliff.

If Xia Nan hadn't been able to detect anything special about the other person through his keen senses, realizing he was just an ordinary low-level thug, he would have even suspected that this man named Hogan had followed him all the way here.

"What, you know him?"

Beside him, Habik casually grabbed a corpse with its skull smashed and threw it into the nearby woods. With a look of deep suspicion on his face, he asked Xia Nan.

"I've run into you a few times before in Suoyu Bay, I never expected to see you here again."

There was no need to hide anything, so Xia Nan briefly recounted her two previous encounters with Hogan to her teammates.

Coincidentally, the reason the group of five came here was to capture another pirate and interrogate him about the location of Aurelius's goods and collections.

Just then, Hogan and his men happened to pass by and were caught red-handed by Xia Nan and his group.

In just a few seconds, the once lively thugs had become gradually cooling corpses.

Only Hogan remained, kneeling and begging for mercy.

"Tell me, where are you planning to go?"

The gray-black blade of the straight sword, 【Emberfall】, reflected the moonlight overhead. Xia Nan looked at the thugs at his feet, slightly gathered his aura, and asked with a sense of oppression.

"The warehouse! We were going to the warehouse, Lord Hague."

Without the slightest hesitation, almost the instant Xia Nan finished speaking, Hogan shamelessly revealed his original destination.

"Grey told me to take a few of my men to the warehouse for a shift handover!"

"A warehouse?" Before Xia Nan could even ask, Sally, the human ranger in the group next to him, noticed the key information in the other's words and raised an eyebrow, asking, "What's stored inside?"

"Supplies collected from villages on nearby islands, some food and drinks, oh, and goods that were seized from a cargo ship a few days ago."

Upon hearing Hogan's words, the dwarf Habick and Sally exchanged a glance.

Clearly, even they themselves hadn't anticipated such a coincidence—that capturing a random pirate could lead to such progress.

It went too smoothly, to the point that people even began to suspect that it was a trap set by Xia Nan and the pirates.

In contrast, Xia Nan didn't think that much about it; he simply kicked the terrified thug in front of him.

"lead the way."

"Yes! Yes, Mr. Hague!"

Ignoring the mud on his clothes, Hogan cowardly but respectfully got up, took the initiative to walk to the front, carried the lantern, and led the way for the group.

Although this former thug had risen to a minor leadership position in the Tidefall Gang after several encounters, he had only been a member for a short time and had no sense of belonging to the gang. When faced with mortal danger, he showed no loyalty to the gang leader, "Rotten Vulture" Grylls.

Having inquired in detail about the deeds of this "The Hague" man, I learned that he personally destroyed the former Horned Shark Gang, and that he was powerful and ruthless.

Frankly, in Hogan's view, the Dogfish Gang and the Tidebreaker Gang were essentially no different. If the other side could wipe the former out of Barracuda Bay, replacing the Dogfish Gang with the Tidebreaker Gang would be just as easy.

If one insists on being loyal and keeping secrets, not only oneself, but the entire Tidefall Gang will likely become history.

Rather than die for an organization to which he felt no sense of belonging, Hogan believed it was better to survive for his own sake.

Since the gang members who knew about it were all dead, there were no witnesses, so who would know that they were the ones who leaked the information?

Hogan diligently led the way for Xia Nan and the Iron Rock Shield, while his mind raced with the will to survive, thinking about how to survive once they reached their destination.

……

Fifteen minutes after the group of six left.

A series of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the woods.

Amidst the swaying bushes, a middle-aged man with a mature face squeezed out from the bushes, running at a brisk pace.

It was the gang member who, following the orders of the Tidebringer leader "Rotten Eagle" Grylls, rushed towards the warehouse to retrieve items for the other party.

His steps suddenly stopped.

With a twitch of his nostrils, he seemed to smell the lingering, strong scent of blood in the air.

The middle-aged man's gaze swept across the ground.

Under the bright moonlight, there was grass that clearly showed signs of being trampled, and mud soaked with blood.

His expression immediately turned tense.

However, supported by his rich experience, he did not panic or lose his composure. Instead, he carefully bent down and meticulously examined the traces left on the field.

Ultimately, the discovery of a familiar, mutilated corpse deep within a bush not far away confirmed his suspicions.

Gollum—

My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to burst out of my chest.

He swallowed hard and glanced at the dark woods in the distance.

Suddenly, he turned his body and stopped going deeper.

Instead, they raced towards the Tidefall Gang's lair at Wildberry Cliff.

He must tell their boss everything that happened here!

……

……

Meanwhile, in the woods a little further away.

Xia Nan and the others are heading to the Tidefall Gang's warehouse on the island, led by Hogan.

Unexpectedly, the other party cooperated so well, without the slightest resistance.

Xia Nan then inquired with Hogan about more information about the island.

"Indeed, he is a Shahua fishman, Mr. Xia Nan."

Hogan nodded respectfully.

He had no secrets in order to survive against these adventurers.

If asked, this hoodlum would tell you almost everything, even what he ate for lunch that day.

"'Rotten Vulture' Grylls, the leader of the Tidefall Gang, is currently engaged in a large-scale transaction with the Shahua Fishmen."

"I don't know how they made contact."

"But the content of the transaction is probably that the Tidefall Gang abducts civilians from villages on nearby remote islands and trades them with fishmen in exchange for resources needed by the gang."

“I heard from Grylls that the reason the fish-men need so many human slaves is to perform some kind of sacrificial ritual.”

really!

Hearing this, Xia Nan's initial guess was immediately confirmed.

The human villagers we just saw in the dungeon were the preparations made by the Shahua fish people for a sacrificial ceremony.

His mind involuntarily conjured up images of those powerful and troublesome shark-like monsters, and he pressed on with the question:
"Has the ceremony been held?"

“At least until last night, I didn’t see any signs of a ceremony on the island,” Hogan recalled. “I was on patrol for the past two days, so I remember it fairly clearly.”

That's good.

Upon hearing this, Xia Nan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Currently, [Echoes of Ember] has entered its cooldown phase, leaving me with one less trump card.

If we were to encounter a shark-like monster of the same strength as those in Twin Valleys again, even with the current significant improvement in armor, we might not be able to reliably overpower it.

Not to mention, the teammates on this mission are unreliable, making it difficult to entrust one's back to them; they are not trustworthy.

If Xia Nan were to encounter such an enemy again, his combat strategy would likely need to be flexibly adapted, with a greater emphasis on his own safety.

In contrast, the Iron Shield team was more concerned about the warehouse that Hogan had mentioned.

During the journey, they repeatedly inquired to confirm whether the collection inside came from Oriel and whether there were any extra valuable items.

Clearly, these adventurers wanted to earn some extra money.

They didn't care about the sacrificial rituals of the Shahua fish people, nor did they care how many civilians died as a result; all they saw were the gleaming gold coins.

Stop.

Xia Nan, who had the highest perception attribute in the team, suddenly spoke up.

The group stopped and looked in the direction Xia Nan was looking.

In the distance, nestled among the dense forest, one could vaguely make out a simple yet enormous wooden warehouse.

A campfire glowed in front of the warehouse, where a small, makeshift campsite was located.

"Hey! Go up and talk to them."

The dwarf Harbick kicked Hogan, who was leading the way.

"Relax, don't give yourself away."

"Can you understand me?"

Hogan's gaze unconsciously swept over the prism in the other's hand and the wooden arrow that Sally had already held between her fingers.

He nodded repeatedly.

"understand!"

(End of this chapter)