Pirates' Max Level System

To everyone's surprise, the gloomy man named Rhodes said this.

To answer their questions, Rhode continued, "We've already gained quite a bit. There's some instability aboard the Guardian family's ship right now. As long as the ancestral land is here, the family can't escape. We've already gained quite a bit, and we need to digest it first."

Rhode didn't see Qin Luo, but he still noticed the activity of Shanks and his group. The Guardian Family Fleet, which was supposed to be inferior to the newspaper, was able to win despite being ambushed. Rhode had to be more vigilant and his original plan had to be changed.

Just like a poisonous snake hiding in the dark, it will never attack rashly without understanding the opponent's situation, and once it strikes, it will be a fatal blow.

The senior executives looked at each other and finally decided to do as Rhodes said.

The morning sun was exceptionally mild. Somewhere in the South China Sea, a fleet was speeding along. Despite the beautiful sunshine, no one was in the mood to sunbathe.

The fleet naturally belonged to the Guardian family. After the battle ended at around four in the morning, after more than five hours of full-speed travel, they were already very close to the family's ancestral land.

There were still traces of blood on the boats, and to increase speed, some boats were left behind the main force. The only exception was the Second Elder's boat, which was missing a mast. This boat was pulled forward by the three boats in front with iron chains, and at least it did not drag down the fleet.

"I heard from the Second Elder that they will be here soon."

Olivia said that she had just finished discussing the battle plan with the Second Elder. As a scholar, Olivia was one of the few people who could offer some reliable advice.

"In that case, let's go back and prepare." Shanks, who came to see Qin Luo, was about to say goodbye.

The Red Hair Pirates were about to say goodbye to the Second Elder, but because something might have happened in the ancestral land, the Second Elder invited them to go with him. At this time, having more fighting power is a good thing, especially with these powerful men in the Red Hair Pirates.

Find Shanks, one of the future Four Emperors, as a free fighter. Old man, you have a lot of ideas. Come learn to cook from me...

Ahem, anyway, Shanks didn't refuse because he was worried about the problems that would arise if the remaining soldiers of the Guardian Family were defeated...

The Guardian family’s ancestral land soon arrived.

This is a stone forest on the sea. It is the first time that Qin Luo and others have seen such a strange sea scene.

Clusters of small rock peaks emerged from the sea, rising about six or seven meters above the surface. These small rock peaks were so densely packed that it felt like walking into a forest of ancient trees a hundred meters tall. The surface of the rock peaks was polished to an exceptionally smooth surface, evidently battered by the sea.

This sea of ​​stone forests is very unfriendly to ships. Not only are there some strangely shaped rock peaks that block the way, but some sea areas are actually very shallow, with various reefs two or three meters below the sea.

The Guardian family's ancestral home was in the center of this sea of ​​stone forests. Qin Luo didn't see the small island, but he did see four huge stone peaks rising from the sea in the center. Each of these mountains, each one a hundred meters high, was made of dark, rigid stone, not to mention the underwater portion.

Qin Luo was surprised that such a strange place, the ancestral land of the Guardian family, had not been discovered by anyone. The pirates and merchant ships in the South China Sea couldn't be blind.

Later, the second elder told Qin Luo the reason.

They came from the Lost Sea, a region devoid of islands. In other directions, irregular currents and the frequent occurrence of vortexes (4.5-5) isolate the islands where their ancestral lands lie. Therefore, fishermen from nearby islands avoid this area, and even larger ships cannot pass through.

And don’t be fooled by this. There are usually people from the Guardian family patrolling these stone forests. They all dress up as natives to scare people.

The second elder also showed Qin Luo the ox bone mask they used for sacrifice. The picture came to mind. This native was scary.

But now, none of the people who should be on patrol were seen, and the gloomy expression on the Second Elder's face showed that this was not a good sign.

It was very quiet along the way. The expected ambushes and attacks did not occur. The fleet passed through the stone forest under the leadership of the Guardian family.

If they just drove a few more meters, they would reach their destination, the Guardian family's ancestral home, "Four-sided Island".

Chapter 570: The Disappearing Tribe

Only after approaching the four huge stone peaks did Qin Luo realize that these four stone peaks were not precisely close together. Like four city walls, these four stone peaks surrounded a small island in the center. Only four small waterways could allow ships to enter the small island in the center.

The island surrounded by heavy rocks is quite safe. Not only will it not be seen by people far away, even the bigger waves will be blocked by the four stone peaks. The island in the center is like a paradise.

The small island where the Guardian family’s ancestral home is located is therefore named “Sifang Island”, which means the island guarded by all four directions.

Qin Luo finally understood why the Guardian Family's ships were smaller than ordinary ships. Whether it was the shallow reefs in the Lost Sea, the waterway in the Stone Forest Sea, or the waterway leading to Sifang Island, smaller ships would be more convenient and safer to pass through.

After many thrilling bumps and collisions along the way, the large ships of the Red Hair Pirates and the captured newspaper company disappeared in the waterway before reaching the Sifang Island.

19 A flash of white light appeared before his eyes, and Qin Luo and others had left the dark waterway. The panoramic view of Sifang Island appeared in front of him.

The imagined darkness did not appear. Although the four sides of the island were blocked by four stone peaks, the sunlight still illuminated the entire Sifang Island.

This kind of terrain satisfies all Qin Luo's fantasies about the pirate world of Avalon. It should be a place with small bridges, flowing water and curling smoke.

Well, it should have been.

From the moment he left the waterway, Qin Luo's ears were filled with all kinds of roars, wails, and heart-wrenching cries.

Qin Luo and others did not see the enemy, but they saw corpses and burning villages.

Judging from the burning of the village, the enemy had probably left for a while.

The ship gradually approached the shore, and the members of the Guardian family jumped onto the shore the moment it landed and ran all the way to their homes.

There were no living people. Not many remains were found in the ruins of the burned wooden and bamboo houses. Most of the real corpses were those at the village entrance.

After putting out the fire and collecting the bodies, they learned from the Second Elder that this number was about a little over one-sixth of the remaining tribesmen. So where were the rest? Had they all been captured?

Perhaps the Second Elder will have the answer.

While the members of the Guardian Family were crying beside the bodies of their loved ones or the ruins of their homes, Qin Luo and Olivia found the Second Elder.

"Second Elder? Second Elder?" After shaking the Second Elder for a long time, Qin Luo finally woke up the dazed Second Elder.

Facing the Second Elder's sad and confused eyes, Olivia said, "Is there a secret passage on the island where we can hide people? From what you told me, if they want to take away all the remaining members of the tribe, they would have to bring at least thirty or forty ships, but the possibility of this is not high."

Olivia's guess was not without reason. At that time in the pirate world, the mainstream ships were about the same size as the Straw Hat Pirates' Golden Merry. The manufacturing technology of large ships was only circulated in the hands of the navy, the world government, some forces and a few great shipbuilders.

Besides, South Hilllove is just an island in the South China Sea. If you want to form a fleet of thirty or forty ships, do you think it is a naval assembly order?

After listening to this, the Second Elder pondered for a while, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he lowered his voice and said to Qin Luo and Olivia: "I was so sad just now that I almost forgot one thing. I'm not sure. Come with me."

Qin Luo and Olivia looked at each other and nodded to indicate that there was no problem.

Qin Luo and the other two left the sad crowd without disturbing anyone and walked into the woods behind the village.

There is a road in the forest that leads directly to the mountain in the center of Sifang Island. According to the second elder, there should be the clan's ancestral hall there. However, judging by the messy footprints on the road and the flames on the mountain, the ancestral hall obviously did not escape the enemy's poison.

The place where the second elder took Qin Luo and Olivia was not the ancestral hall. Halfway up the mountain, the second elder turned and left the road to the top of the mountain, and turned into a small path that was not a road.

Judging from the situation, the second elder was going to take them to the halfway point on the other side of the mountain.

The path was covered with bamboo and maple leaves, just like any other place.

But the sharp-eyed Qin Luo and Olivia knew that they had taken the right path. They swept away the fallen leaves with their feet, and underneath were traces that had just been covered up by countless people.

Fresh traces and traces that are thought to be covered up.

Qin Luo and the other two stopped in front of a large rock on the other side of the mountain.

Under the gaze of Qin Luo and Olivia, the second elder began his performance, knocking here and hitting there on the edge of the boulder, chanting a spell and doing some dancing.

As expected of the Second Elder, he has to rely on such random operations to open a secret door.

It was not until some switch was triggered that the boulder slowly moved, revealing a cave. The second elder withdrew his hand in disappointment and looked at Qin Luo and Olivia who were in a mess behind him.

"Haha, this secret door has been in disrepair for a long time and is a bit slow. Ahaha. By the way, Qin Luo, you go ahead."

The second elder laughed awkwardly a few times, with a mysterious blush on his face.

Qin Luo waved his hand to signal him that there was no need to explain. It was the door or someone who had fallen into disrepair. Those who understood would understand. Although he was very surprised why the Second Elder asked him to go in front, Qin Luo still took the lead and entered the cave.

This is what is called "the more skilled you are, the bolder you are."

So the next moment Qin Luo stepped into the cave, the ground where his right foot stepped sank directly, and a trap buried underneath bit him directly.

The sharp blade of the trap hit Qin Luo's right foot, and with a "clang" sound of metal collision, some sparks flew out, and the blades completely shattered.

Qin Luo lifted his right foot out of the pit. The trap was naturally destroyed, but the right leg of Qin Luo's pants had become a hole.

Needless to say, this is a trap in the cave, and our unreliable Second Elder has obviously forgotten how to avoid the trap. So the Second Elder plans to let Qin Luo be a humanoid mine detector.

Olivia laughed out loud, especially when she saw Qin Luo's face full of "resentment" and the second elder's evasive eyes.

Olivia, who was holding her stomach and trying to hold back her laughter, became unstable and accidentally bumped into the wall of the cave. Suddenly, countless arrows shot out from the wall towards the three of them.

Qin Luo blocked most of them with a repulsive shield. As for the rest, sorry, Qin Luo said he didn't see them.

A scream was heard, but no one was injured.

But Olivia's style was somewhat unique at this time. The hat on her head had become rags. Three arrows pierced her messy silver hair from different directions, like a strange hair accessory, giving off a strong Shamatte vibe.

Oh, woman. You're still laughing at me now.

Chapter 571: Meeting at the Fork in the Road

There were many strange traps in the cave. Qin Luo and his companions had walked about two hundred meters when they encountered no less than ten kinds of traps, including animal traps, crossbows, falling rocks, spike traps, poison needles, deep pits, etc.

Moreover, the person who set up the mechanism did not give up using a certain trap again just because it had been used once.

The density of traps in the entire cave is very high, and one trap is often followed by another. For outsiders who break into the cave, it is like a crazy roller coaster from hell to heaven and then from heaven to hell.

With Qin Luo as the pioneer exploring in front with a flashlight, the three of them would not be greatly affected as long as they avoided traps such as falling rocks and deep pits.

But Qin Luo still wanted to say something to the people who set up these traps: "The price of your mother's vegetables will definitely go up."

With just such skill, the hole style on Qin Luo's right trouser leg has spread to his entire body.

Qin Luo asked the second elder with confusion, how did his people pass through safely with such a density of traps.

The second elder stammered and tried to change the subject but failed. Finally, he spoke a few words in a low voice with a guilty conscience.

It's nothing more than something like it was not a mechanism activated by him, or a person sent from heaven to meet this person.

Haha, Second Elder, I wonder how your father is doing.

The cave was horizontal at the beginning, and then began to extend downwards at the back. The cave became narrower and narrower as it went further back, and there was less and less space to hide. Qin Luo had to rely on forcibly destroying the traps all the way.

The good news is that there is only one way in the cave. At least this way, Qin Luo and Olivia don't need to rely on the second elder who can barely think to show them the way.

The cave full of traps finally came to an end, and Qin Luo and the other two stopped, or rather, had to stop.

Four forks appeared in front of Qin Luo and the other two. The cave that had been excavated turned into a passage paved with some kind of bluestone bricks.

Each brick appears to be a square, 120 cm on a side. Two bricks are used to pave the corridor, top, bottom, left, and right. The bricks fit together perfectly, leaving minimal gaps between them. This allows the corridor to remain underground for a long time without being infiltrated by sand or gravel.

This construction method is incredible nowadays when wood or cement are commonly used.

There were some relief images on the stone tiles of the wall, and Olivia was studying them.

"This type of construction hasn't been used in the past few hundred years. It's likely a technology from thousands of years ago. And these images, to be honest, I don't understand them. They seem to describe some kind of ritual. But which one is the correct path?"

Olivia looked at the sculptures outside the four forks in the road and finally shook her head.

Qin Luo and Olivia were thinking about what to do next. They glanced at the second elder who had been silent, and saw him waving his hands repeatedly.

My Second Elder, you are the master here after all, can’t you be of some use?

Qin Luo also tried Bai Yan, but here, with the stone bricks blocking the way, Bai Yan could only vaguely see someone in front of him, but which road to take and how to go were beyond Bai Yan's ability.

In the end, Qin Luo and the other two could only use the dumbest method, which was to try one by one. Qin Luo placed a cup of water at the fork in the road, which would become the beacon for Qin Luo to send back.

"Wait, we've been here before, go back and turn right, we haven't taken that road yet." Thanks to Olivia's powerful brain, she was able to convert the route she had taken into a map and store it in her mind. Otherwise, Qin Luo and the other two would have been lost in the maze-like forks in the road, let alone finding the way.

Twenty minutes later, the first fork in the road turned out to be a dead end, so Qin Luo and the other two returned.

Twenty minutes later, the same fork in the road occurred the next day.

At the third fork in the road.

"There is someone, very close, right in front of us." Qin Luo, who was walking in front, suddenly said, his all-white eyes reflecting a faint light.

From the moment he entered the tunnel, Qin Luo had been using his White Eyes. It was also through the power of his White Eyes that he determined that there were a large number of life reactions ahead.

Qin Luo didn't need to say much, Olivia and the second elder were both on guard. The person in front was most likely a member of the second elder's clan, but the possibility that he was an enemy could also be ruled out.

All the answers will be revealed.

The sound of "click, click" footsteps rang out in the corridor. When Qin Luo and the other two approached, the people over there obviously noticed someone approaching.

At a bend, the moment Qin Luo turned around, a bright white light flashed before his eyes.

Instead of reaching the exit, two door-sized shields appeared before Qin Luo's eyes. Encased in pure white light, they slammed down at him, one above and one below. They were about to turn him into a human burger.

Even though Qin Luo had already seen the two sneak attackers with his white eyes, his eyes were still flashed. Turtle, are these people from the Guardian Family planning to blind you even if they can't kill you?

Qin Luo's response was also very simple. He raised his left foot, stretched out his right hand, and used his left knee and right middle finger to block the two shields that were hitting Qin Luo.

With a "crackling" sound, the two giant shields like door panels became like fragile glass products. Starting from the place where they came into contact with Qin Luo, cracks began to spread out. The giant shields and the pure white light attached to them turned into fragments of different sizes.

It was not until this moment that Qin Luo saw the scene clearly.

The ten-meter-long corridor in front of Qin Luo was the last section of the third fork. Of course, the corridor behind it was not a sealed wall. It was a room, and the situation was unclear.

In this corridor of more than ten meters, there were about twenty people holding weapons, and their weapons were more or less accompanied by some white light.

The identities of these people can be guessed without saying anything.