Chapter 423 - The Suicidal and the Skeptical

The fat man called Barth, having heard the First Officer’s words, showed not a hint of fear and kept shouting, "What Captain! In my eyes, there is no Captain! You are all dead men now! Yes, dead men! If you don’t turn back immediately, you’ll all go to hell!""Barth!" The Sailor, the Third Officer, and the Second Officer emerged at this moment, pushing through the crowd and standing in line with the First Officer.

The Sailor, a young man with long, slender arms named Paul, had fiery red hair as if ablaze. Clutching a Sailor’s Knife in his hand, he angrily admonished the fat man, "Barth, what the hell is wrong with you? Keep talking like that, and even if the Captain doesn’t give you a flogging, I won’t let you off! I’ll give you a chance: put down the knife honestly and get back to your kitchen to cook! Otherwise, you’ll regret it!"

"Ha, make me regret?" Barth, the fat man, as if hearing the most laughable joke, bulged his eyes and shouted loudly, "I’m trying to save your lives, for heaven’s sake! You’ll definitely regret not listening to me!"

"I think it’s you who will regret it!" The Sailor seemed to have reached his limit, drawing his Sailor’s Knife and advancing toward the fat man Barth, ready to resolve the matter by force.

At that point, an ordinary Sailor rushed out, noticeably shorter and skinnier than the rest, frail-looking. His name was Jack, and he had a good relationship with Barth, unable to bear seeing Barth get hurt. Grabbing the Sailor’s foot, he entreated, "Sailor Paul, give Barth another chance. He must be upset about something and isn’t in his right mind, that’s why he’s saying these things."

"Get the hell away from me!" Unwilling to pay attention to Jack, Sailor Paul kicked fiercely, sending Jack tumbling, and continued his approach to Barth, saying as he walked, "What out of his mind? I think he’s drunk too much! I don’t want to drag this out till the Captain comes out of the Captain’s Room, otherwise we’ll all get whipped!"

After finishing his words, Sailor Paul reached Barth and grabbed at his collar with one hand while the other was gripping the Sailor’s Knife tightly, ready to counter any attack from Barth.

However, Barth’s reaction was somewhat unexpected to Sailor Paul. In the next moment, Barth swiped a cleaver, forcing Paul back, then held the knife to his own neck.

With feet at the edge of the deck, Barth’s expression twisted and sinister, eyes bulging wildly, he said deliberately, "Idiots, you’re all idiots! I’m trying to save your lives, but you won’t listen! Fine, have it your way. But I don’t want to go to hell with you, even if I die! Dying here, my spirit can rest, but dying at the hands of a demon later, I’ll be tormented forever!"

Having said his last word, without any hesitation, Barth violently pulled the cleaver, cutting through the vessels in the side of his neck.

"Spat!"

Blood sprayed out like a fountain in an instant, harshly splashing onto Sailor Paul’s face. The next moment, amidst the screams of the others, Barth, with a weird smile on his face, swayed and fell back into the seawater outside the deck.

"Splash!"

Blood continued to flow from Barth’s neck, quickly staining the sea with a large red blossom.

The commotion finally disturbed the Captain who was resting in his quarters.

With a "bang", the door of the Captain’s Room flew open, and the brisk and stern Captain Morgan came out with a whip in hand. He approached the gathering of Sailors and, without asking any questions, started lashing out, leaving them with bloody wounds and continuous screams.

After unleashing the punishment, Captain Morgan then turned and looked to the First Officer, demanding, "Williams, you tell me what the hell happened here. The noisy rabble, what’s all this about?!"

"Uh, it’s like this, Captain..." Sailor Paul tried to respond but was cut off by a whipping sound of the whip narrowly missing his ear.

Startled, Paul looked up to see Captain Morgan’s icy stare, "Did I ask you to speak? Are you deaf? I asked Williams to reply."

"Uh, yes." Paul shrank back, intimidated, and closed his mouth, standing to the side.

"Williams, tell me everything from the beginning." Captain Morgan again directed his gaze at the First Officer, commanding.

"Yes." The First Officer began his account, detachedly narrating the entire incident.

"Just like that? Barth went mad, spouted a bunch of nonsense, and then killed himself?"

"Yes."

Captain Morgan frowned slightly, turning to look at the beaten Sailors, and asked, "You there, who was the last one in contact with Barth?"

After a moment of silence, a weak hand went up—the Sailor, Jack, who had earlier attempted to stop Sailor Paul and was kicked.

"It was you." Captain Morgan looked coldly at the frail Jack and ordered, "Alright, tell me when was the last time you had contact with Barth, and if he showed any unusual behavior?"

"The last time I had contact with Barth was just a while ago in the kitchen. As for any unusual behavior... I don’t think so..." said Jack.

"Think hard." Captain Morgan’s expression grew very stern.

"Uh..." Feeling Captain Morgan’s pressure, Jack strived to remember, and after a long while, his eyes lit up, "Right, I remember in the kitchen, while Barth was cooking, he suddenly asked me if I ’heard a bizarre sound’.

I didn’t hear anything, and that was all he said. Then, a little while later, he suddenly grabbed a knife and burst out, and nobody could hold him back. In the end, it turned into this... Ah! Ah!"

As Jack was speaking, he suddenly let out two screams of pain as Captain Morgan lashed him sharply with the whip.

"Captain, you..." Jack’s head began to bleed, and while holding his head, his eyes flickered with confusion at Captain Morgan.

"Hmph," Captain Morgan snorted coldly, providing an explanation, "These two lashes are to make you understand that in the future when I ask you a question, you must answer seriously. Don’t wait for me to press you before you start to think carefully. Understand?"

"Yes..." Jack quickly bowed his head, not daring to offer any rebuttal.

"Hmph, tat-tat-tat..."

Captain Morgan snorted again and strode to the ship’s rail, glancing at Barth’s body soaking in the seawater, then turned back to loudly announce to everyone on deck, "Barth went mad from sickness, and now that he’s dead, we’ll consider the matter closed. From now on, no one is allowed to discuss this matter any further, or if I find out, I’ll have you whipped on the mast!"

"By the way, Williams, I remember that Barth had a wife, correct?" Captain Morgan suddenly asked.

"Yes," First Officer Williams quickly responded.

"Then remember, when we’re heading back, have the ship stop for half a day at the port where Barth’s family is located. You’ll take two years’ worth of a sailor’s wages as compensation and deliver it to Barth’s widow."

"I will remember."

"Good," nodded Captain Morgan, "Also, regarding the kitchen matter, since Barth, the cook, has killed himself, the kitchen surely can’t cope. We need someone reassigned to the kitchen."

Captain Morgan turned his gaze to Jack, who was still bleeding, and spoke out, "Just now, you said that before Barth died, you were with him in the kitchen, right?"

"Yes, I was helping him with some chores..." Jack said in a low voice.

"Good, starting today, you’ll help out in the kitchen."

"Ah!" Jack cried out in surprise, "But Captain, I don’t know how to cook. What if—Ouch!"

Then Jack cried out in agony; Captain Morgan had whipped him fiercely.

"I don’t want to hear the words ’I can’t,’" said Captain Morgan firmly, "What I heard was ’you can do it.’ Understand?"

"I... Ouch!"

"Do you understand or not?" Captain Morgan whipped out another lash and asked.

"Ah, yes... yes..." Jack, covered in blood, didn’t dare utter a single word of refusal and quickly agreed.

"That’s more like it. Alright, everyone get back to work and proceed with the voyage as planned," Captain Morgan flicked his whip, commanding.

Immediately, everyone dispersed, and Jack, groaning, made his way to the kitchen.

Captain Morgan turned and from the corner of his eye, he briefly caught sight of Richard—a mere lower-deck passenger who had been standing and watching in a corner of the deck. Without showing any further reaction, he stepped into the captain’s room.

In the days that followed, the "Naru Glory Fisherman" kept moving towards the open sea, and the transformed body of the cook, Barth, was thrown farther and farther behind the ship.

On the empty deck, Richard lightly touched his nose and narrowed his eyes toward the distant shore, then glanced at the body in the water, deep in thought.

Initially, he had believed that the Divination Woman could not affect the ships at sea, but now he was beginning to doubt that.

Because Barth, the cook’s behavior, and words really did have an inexplicable connection to the Divination Woman.

Could it be that the Divination Woman had used some eerie means to control Barth’s spirit, attempting to halt the merchant ship?

If this were truly the case, then the voyage ahead might not be safe. Knowing the Divination Woman’s character, failing this time, she would not give up easily, and it wouldn’t be long before she made her next move.

With this possibility...

One must stay vigilant.

Moreover... now that it came to that, why was the Divination Woman so determinedly dragging out time? What was her purpose?

After a long pondering on the deck, Richard’s gaze sharpened as he muttered to himself, "It seems I can’t avoid this trouble. Though I hate trouble, I am also not afraid of it. If someone really is looking for trouble, then let me see how much they’ve got. I’m waiting!"

Having finished speaking, Richard stepped off the deck and headed back to the cabin, taking Pandora with him into the suitcase-sized Eden.