This pirate only wants to farm.

Chapter 137 Even the Broom Star Fate Has Her Spring

Lin Qi looked at Fate in surprise, unable to recall for a moment when this guy had gotten on the Hades.

Seeing Lynch's somewhat bewildered expression, Fate knew what the captain was thinking and quickly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, saying, "You may have forgotten that you asked me to help put those skeletons into the barrels."

Lynch then remembered that when he suddenly had the idea to reuse these corpses, he thought that Elizabeth and the six skeletons had a lot of work to do, so he grabbed Fate, who was trembling in the corner, and put all the bone powder that Elizabeth had smashed into a wooden barrel.

Lynch nodded in sudden realization, then glanced with interest at Fate, whose appearance was rather poor.

To be honest, Fate's current appearance is definitely not that of a captain. If it weren't for the fact that he was still stubbornly wearing that heavy and baggy captain's uniform, Lynch would never have believed that such a thin and slovenly man could be a pirate captain of the Windless Sea.

He was emaciated, with sunken eyes and prominent cheekbones. He had a mouthful of yellow teeth, and you could even see that some of them were loose. Forget about vitamins; this guy probably didn't even have enough to eat.

Lin Qi hadn't thought to ask before, but now he felt it was a perfect opportunity to learn about the pirates of the Windless Sea.

"Tell me, do the other pirates on the Calm Sea live like you?"

Fate wanted to jump up and say that the Black Tuna he led was definitely the happiest group of pirates on the calm sea.

But upon reflection, he realized that the man before him was no kind-hearted person. He had personally witnessed a large pile of corpses being completely decomposed into piles of bones with a single, casual shot from this man. And those bones had all been collected, crushed into powder, and supposedly to be used as fertilizer.

But after witnessing this person's methods firsthand, Fate crushed all the chaotic thoughts in her mind and threw them into the sea.

How can this be called being kind and gentle?

This is clearly a ruthless, unscrupulous, and terrifying undead who would even turn his enemies into fertilizer.

As for why Fate was able to tell that Lynch was an immortal?

Isn't this a fairly simple matter? A captain who can lead a group of skeletons, a dried-up corpse, and even a woman who is clearly a ghost—can such a person really be a living person?

Of Lynch's crew, only Elizabeth seemed like a normal person. However, in Fate's eyes, that incredibly beautiful female swordswoman, being on this ship, was probably no ordinary person; she might be some kind of special zombie, or even some other undead creature.

Fate swallowed hard, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and quickly said, "Actually, the Black Tuna I lead isn't doing very well. At most, we can barely manage to get the crew to eat a meal occasionally."

"Just recently, that little guy—I mean old Tony—brought us a lot of supplies from you, which improved our living conditions and prevented us from starving to death this fall."

"As for the other pirates, they might be a little stronger than us, but only by a limited margin. They'd probably go from eating a full meal once every three days to eating a full meal once every two days."

"Of course, with old Tony's help, at least the people on the other ships might be able to get a full meal once a day."

Lin Qi was somewhat taken aback, but after glancing at the frustration and a hint of envy on Fate's face, he realized just how miserable the pirates of the Windless Sea were.

"It can't be that bad, can it? You guys should be able to catch fish to fill your stomachs no matter what."

However, Fate gave a wry smile: "Sir, not everyone has the ability to fish. We are pirates, not fishermen. We prefer plundering and getting something for nothing to catch fish by chance."

"If we really had to make a living by fishing, why not just find an island and become a fisherman?"

"Even if we are a group of wanted pirates, we can still find a deserted island."

Lin Qi nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "What about farming?"

Fate's breathing quickened noticeably, but then his face became even more bitter: "Sir, if farming were truly possible, I don't think anyone would want to be a pirate."

"However, almost 90% of us pirates on windless seas lost our land and the ability to make money for various reasons, which is why we had no choice but to become pirates with belts around our necks."

Lin Qi sighed; he didn't ask the foolish question of what the difference was between fishing and farming.

For any world, land and food are the most basic things for survival.

After a while, Lin Qi nodded and said to Fate, "I understand. Then you go to the island and build a batch of wooden pipes for me. Old Tony will come to me for supplies soon, and I'll have him take you back to your ship."

"Bring your tools to the island later too."

Fate quickly bowed and said, "Thank you for your generosity. I will always remember your kindness."

Lynch waved his hand: "Go ahead, I've already put that oak barrel on the upper deck. Go measure the length of the joint. As long as you do a satisfactory job, I'll have old Tony find a way to help you become captain again."

Hearing Lynch say this, Fate finally breathed a sigh of relief, bowed to Lynch again, and then jogged away from the captain's cabin.

After Fate left, Elizabeth blinked her big eyes and asked, "Captain, are you starting to plan to recruit those pirates?"

Lin Qi nodded without hesitation: "Yes, now that this island has become my private property, I can no longer allow it to remain exposed to others."

"I used to think that using food to control these pirates to work for me might be a bit unreliable, but after meeting Fate and hearing what he said, I think the chances of success are quite high."

Even Elizabeth nodded in agreement: "Indeed, these pirates are even more wretched than the serfs I've ever seen. If someone like Fate were really a captain, I can't even imagine what the other pirates would be like."

Lin Qi sighed, "There's no point in thinking about this now. Let's wait until old Tony arrives, gather further evidence, and then make a decision. With the current output of the Hades, supplying so many people probably won't be easy."

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose: "From what you're saying, Captain, you only want to recruit a small number of pirates to work for us right now?"

Lin Qi smiled and said, "That's the current idea. I don't want to hire too many people at once."

Elizabeth was a little confused: "With the output of our Hades, recruiting more people shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Moreover, these pirates on the windless seas probably have a crew of 10 on a single ship, which is already quite a large number.

Even if there are two more ships full of people, they can't possibly eat us out of house and home.

However, Lynch shook his head: "The food problem is relatively easy to solve; at least our breadfruit production is quite sufficient. The main issue is, do you really think we have the capacity to manage so many people?"

"If we just use these pirates as cannon fodder, then ordinary management is of course not a problem. It's just a matter of giving them food and letting them fend for themselves."

"But if that's the case, then what's the value of supporting these people? I can't just support so many people and have them act as watchtowers, can I?"

Hearing the captain say that, Elizabeth scratched her head and gradually came to her senses.

These pirates weren't the navy she imagined; they wouldn't stick to their posts like the navy. Without sufficient incentive, Eliza was confident that these pirates would become a mobile watchtower, just as the captain had said. Upon discovering their opponents were stronger, their first reaction would be to flee as far away as possible, rather than spontaneously stepping forward to help intercept them.

Lynch could tell that Elizabeth understood somewhat, so he smiled and tapped the table twice: "So since I brought out the food, they have to pay the value that this food deserves."

Elizabeth nodded as if she understood, though she didn't quite grasp what she was saying. But judging from the captain's expression, she knew that his idea was definitely more than just gathering pirates.

Lynch looked at the bewildered Elizabeth and shook his head helplessly. Why was he talking to this idiot about this? He'd better wait until old Tony came back in a while and talk to him about it.

Over the next few days, Lin Qi tended to the farmland on the Netherworld while also surveying the newly acquired island.

In the past two days, he has discovered quite a few areas suitable for planting. Perhaps because the island occasionally sinks into the sea, the soil on the island is quite fertile in many places, and with a little processing, it can be used as farmland. It's just a pity that Lin Qi doesn't have enough seeds right now, otherwise, given his personality, he might just cultivate a field directly to practice his skills.

Of course, the most important reason is that the island will eventually sink to the bottom of the sea, and there is no way to solve this problem in a short time. Lin Qi can only watch helplessly.

However, there is some good news as well. During this period, the two types of rice seeds on the Underworld were harvested again. It is estimated that after one more harvest, the Underworld will be able to enjoy rice freely. Even the pearl rice has been harvested in considerable quantities, which is more than enough to plant another batch.

But the most important thing is that Fate finally managed to pry open the wooden water pipe using Lynch's pitiful tools during this time.

Lynch stood in front of a simple awning, watching as Fate proudly displayed sections of two-meter-long wooden water pipes in front of him.

"So fast? I thought it would take you a long time to finish."

These wooden water pipes are seven or eight centimeters in diameter. Although they are not very heavy wood, hollowing out these seven or eight-centimeter-long round logs is not an easy task.

Lin Qi casually picked one up and looked inside, only to find that the middle of the wooden pipe was charred black, obviously from being burned.

Seemingly noticing Lynch's surprise, Fate chuckled and said, "You should have already figured it out. Actually, as long as you heat the inside with a red-hot iron to make it brittle, processing this wood isn't as troublesome as you might think."

"You may not know this, but it's a special kind of rosewood. It's not heavy, but it's an excellent waterproof wood. Some fishermen who make their living at sea often use this wood to make sampans."

"I happen to be quite familiar with this type of wood because my family used to make wooden boats and sampans for a living, so I know a lot about how to process it. Although this wood is waterproof, it has extremely poor fire resistance and can generally only be used to make small wooden boats, not large ships."

"I used some old swords I found on your ship, heated them until they were red-hot, and then inserted them into the middle of this wood. I was able to easily carve off a piece."

"The only difficulty is getting the joints right. I haven't done carpentry for many years, so my skills have gotten a bit rusty. I ruined several pieces of wood before I finally got the hang of it. Otherwise, the time could have been even faster."

Lynch noticed that when Fate talked about timber processing methods, his face no longer showed the cunning and evil of a pirate, but instead had a more honest and sentimental look.

Lin Qi picked up another piece, a connector that was five or six centimeters thick, but it was actually just a small wooden pipe that was a little thinner than a large water pipe.

Curious, he forcefully inserted the small connecting tube into the large tube and found that it fit perfectly, with the slot inside fitting the small tube in just the right place.

Seeing Lin Qi's curiosity, Fate jogged over, connected the two wooden pipes together, and secured them to a rock. She then placed some grass and leaves at the other end, and gently tapped the connection between the two pipes and the smaller pipe with a rock until the smaller pipe disappeared.

Lynch looked at Fate with some surprise. He hadn't expected that the rough-looking wooden pipe would actually look so real.

It's important to understand that achieving this effect with such simple tools is not something an ordinary carpenter could do.

"Can you be sure there won't be any leaks?"

Fett, who had been somewhat timid, immediately frowned upon hearing Lynch's question: "Sir, since it's connected with wood, it's unlikely to be completely leak-proof. However, if you give me some good tools, it shouldn't be a problem—"

Lynch didn't expect these wooden pipes to be completely leak-proof: "I mean, as long as there isn't a massive leak that would flood my boat."

Upon hearing this, Fate was relieved: "Oh, you mean this? It's not a problem. Actually, the seepage problem isn't unsolvable. As long as we can find a lot of pine resin or tree sap, we can stop the leak for a short period of time."

Lynch glanced at Fate with interest: "Interesting. Are there many people like you with some skills on the Windless Sea?"

Fate was taken aback at first, but then his clever mind made him realize that it seemed this lord had taken a liking to his skills.