Gu Rong landed in the fishing net and was hoisted up.

The crew of the Phantom Ghost Ship stared at this plump, tender little cub, completely stunned. They crowded around, looking at Gu Rong with novelty, as if they had never seen a child before.

It was fine when they weren’t staring, but once they widened their eyes – even if widened in surprise – combined with their tattered, shark-ified appearance, it was quite creepy.

But Gu Rong allowed himself to be hoisted obediently, meeting everyone’s gaze without fear, his big eyes even blinking.

The crowd widened their eyes even further, looking even more intimidating.

Oh, a chubby little cub, with a nose and eyes, alive, even blinks, and moves!

One crew member said: “Can this little cub be eaten? Would the texture be better than a Devil Shark?”

Another crew member said: “He’s so small, not enough to share, right? How about stewing cub soup? Those who don’t get meat can at least get a mouthful of soup.”

[You wish! Cub soup, hurry up and serve this Auntie! [Gift Points]]

[Less oil, less salt, no onions or cilantro, thank you! [Gift Points]]

[I don’t want cub soup, I want steamed Zaizai with rice flour, make the texture a bit more tender! [Gift Points]]

[Hahahaha, you guys actually placed orders! I’ll just dip him in soy sauce and eat him whole, one bite per cub!]

The crew member holding Gu Rong, wearing a hat, grinned and said: “Haven’t you realized yet? This cub is the prince of the Starsea Continent! We’ve captured the prince of the Starsea Continent!”

After a moment of stunned silence, the crew members started chattering all at once.

“The prince of the Starsea Continent? Dressed so shabbily, almost like us lowborns. Why is there even a patch on these overalls!”

“Oh oh oh, could it be General Nicholas’s posthumous son? I remember Sophia stole a cub back then, and later lost it. Could it be this one?”

“Back then, Sophia stole the second prince and the Soul Ring. We lowborns who crossed the Deep Sea Ghost Realm also relied on the Soul Ring to establish our own kingdom, completely breaking free and becoming independent from the Starsea Continent. But before Sophia died, she left behind her last words.”

“Sophia told us we must find the second prince. Look, ‘to find something accidentally after searching for it far and wide’, this second prince has now fallen into our hands.”

Gu Rong couldn’t understand what they were saying. Dangling in mid-air, he swung back and forth like on a swing.

In a small, milky voice: “Release Zaizai!”

The crew: “…”

Omo, he can even talk!

The batch of lowborns who crossed the Deep Sea Ghost Realm back then had indeed escaped the control of the Starsea Continent. But good things don’t fall from the sky; they soon discovered the drawbacks.

Like undead spirits, they were immortal, but they couldn’t reproduce.

They had become monsters.

It had been a very long time since they had seen such a lively, soft little child.

The crew members quickly scrambled over, carefully placing Gu Rong on the deck and freeing him from the fishing net.

Then, one by one, like dumb geese, they stared blankly at this cub.

As soon as Gu Rong was free from the net, he tugged at his clothes with his small hands, soaked through.

He carefully examined his overalls. Why didn’t I see a patch!

006: [There’s one on the butt.]

Gu Rong: [Oh.]

On the Phantom Ghost Ship’s side, the crew members were all milling around Gu Rong. Meanwhile, on the Pharaoh, everyone was shocked and scared, nearly frantic.

The ministers were worried; the matter of the real and fake Rongrong hadn’t been sorted out yet. This cub might be the Little Prince. The second prince was raised by lowborns anyway and represented their interests; frankly, they weren’t worried about the second prince.

King Louis XIII looked at the Phantom Ghost Ship opposite them, silent, his thoughts unknown.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao were very familiar with Gu Rong. They were relatively close to him and had seen Gu Rong jump into the opposite net himself just now.

The two exchanged a glance.

Did Rongrong receive another task?

A minister requested instructions from Louis XIII: “Your Majesty, should we take action now?”

Louis XIII’s voice was calm and steady, very composed: “Observe the changes quietly.”

Meaning, stand down for the time being.

Minister: “Yes.”

The players’ task was to find the Soul Ring. Listening to the conversation between the minister and the King, they couldn’t glean much, feeling puzzled internally.

According to the instance background, the nanny, Sophia, stole the Soul Ring and the second prince. The second prince was lost, but the whereabouts of the Soul Ring weren’t mentioned at all. It must have fallen into the hands of the lowborns.

The King personally leading an elite force deep into the Deep Sea Ghost Realm was likely aimed at retrieving the Soul Ring; finding the second prince seemed more like a pretext.

The Soul Ring was highly likely in the hands of the group of lowborns on the Phantom Ghost Ship opposite them, though whether it was actually on the ship was unknown.

But since the lowborns crossed the Deep Sea Ghost Realm and secured a maritime territory, they must have a base. As long as they found the base of this group of lowborns, they could find the Soul Ring.

–

Gu Rong’s clothes were soaking wet, heavy, and uncomfortable.

A two-year-old cub, alone in the enemy camp, yet facing numerous unfamiliar and strangely shaped adults, he wasn’t scared in the slightest.

He tilted up his pale little face, looked at the crew member who had hoisted him up, Isaac, and said in a milky voice: “Uncle, Zaizai’s clothes are soaked, what should I do?”

Isaac: “…?”

What to do? Hell!

How should I know what to do!

Isaac had two hollowed-out patches of skin on his face, but one could vaguely discern that when his skin was intact, he must have been quite handsome.

Moreover, looking closely, one could tell he was very young, perhaps only around twenty. But his skin, weathered by wind and snow and now damaged, made him look like he was in his early thirties.

This milky-voiced “Uncle” left Isaac stunned for a long while.

After a good moment, he finally said: “So what? We don’t have children’s clothes on board. Everyone’s clothes here are wet too.”

The crew on the Phantom Ghost Ship was immortal. They didn’t even care that their faces were falling apart… of course, caring wouldn’t help either. Mere wet clothes were even less of a concern.

Gu Rong was a cub who knew how to adapt. He was also sweet-tongued and could read people’s expressions. He knew the people on this ship were strangers who wouldn’t spoil him, so he said pitifully: “Uncle, can we dry the clothes by the fire? Zaizai doesn’t want to wear wet clothes, Zaizai will get sick!”

He covered his little forehead with one hand, and made a beckoning cat gesture with the other: “Please, please!”

Isaac: “…”

Everyone: “…”

This little cub… is he playing pitiful?

But gotta say, this is really way too cute. So tiny, yet so sensible!

The crew members hadn’t interacted with children for a long time and found themselves completely defenseless.

[Have to say, these crew members with their tattered skin, like patches, actually look kinda dumbly cute.]

[That’s because they’re facing Zaizai! In past runs of this instance, have you ever seen any Ghost Ship crew member associated with ‘dumbly cute’?]

[Who can resist a cute creature, especially one that knows how to act cute and spoiled! [Gift Points]]

–

Ten minutes later, Gu Rong was taken into the ship’s cabin. A crew member placed him on a small stool in front of the fireplace, letting the little cub warm himself.

Gu Rong warmed himself by the fire, dangling his little legs, seemingly completely unaware of his current situation.

More than a dozen crew members sat or stood nearby, their gazes fixed on this little cub shaking his head.

Their appearances were bizarre. Any normal human cub would have been scared to tears, but Gu Rong showed no reaction.

Zaizai is a cub who has seen the world!

After a moment, Isaac said: “Hey, little cub, did you deliberately fall into our net? Or were you thrown over by that group on the Pharaoh?”

Although he hadn’t seen how Gu Rong landed in the net, given the distance, even if the cub fell into the water, he should have landed near the Pharaoh, not precisely into the Ghost Ship’s net a hundred meters away.

Gu Rong’s clothes were mostly dry. Although still damp, they were much better than before and not so uncomfortable to wear.

Naturally, it wasn’t the fireplace’s doing, but the drying agent 006 bought for him from the system store. It could dry clothes within an hour; drying too quickly would arouse suspicion.

Isaac scoffed lightly: “You little cub, what did you come to our Phantom Ghost Ship for? What’s your purpose?”

Gu Rong patted himself and said in a tender voice: “Zaizai wants to be the little captain!”

Isaac: “…?”

Everyone: “??!”

A moment of silence.

Then, unrestrained laughter erupted in the cabin.

Gu Rong tilted his little head, not laughing, just watching these uncles laugh.

This was a misunderstanding.

These “uncles” were actually just “older brothers.” They just looked old, but were all very young.

Back then, the royalty had dispatched lowborns to explore the Deep Sea Ghost Realm, selecting strong young men. After crossing the realm, they became immortal and stopped aging.

Naturally, there were no delicacies or fine wines in the Deep Sea Ghost Realm. They could only eat the fish and shrimp found there, such as the Devil Sharks.

But the taste of Devil Sharks – whoever ate them knew. It wasn’t fit for human consumption, like eating rotten corpse meat.

However, they themselves were like walking corpses, no longer truly human.

Hearing Gu Rong’s words, the crowd laughed wildly for a full three minutes, as if Gu Rong had said something hilarious.

It was indeed hilarious.

Setting aside everything else, this little milk baby, barely two spans tall, actually dreamed of becoming the captain of the Phantom Ghost Ship?

Isaac looked at this cub, not even as long as his arm, while the latter stared back seriously with his little bun-like face. He didn’t seem to be joking; rather, he looked quite earnest.

Facing the crowd’s ridicule, this little cub didn’t even get angry, let alone get scared and cry.

So young, yet so composed.

A crew member said, “Hahaha, just based on you? You’re not even as long as my arm, yet you want to be the captain of our Phantom Ghost Ship!”

“Aiya, children speak without malice. Are you actually taking a kid’s words seriously?”

“Who’s taking it seriously? Can’t you see we’re all laughing?”

“If you’re not taking it seriously, why are you laughing?”

“…Heh heh, our Phantom Ghost Ship doesn’t need a captain. Even if he’s the second prince of the Starsea Continent, the one Sophia told us to find, we fear nothing.”

Gu Rong’s little face was blankly pale. He just looked at them without speaking.

Isaac looked at Gu Rong and said: “Little ghost, you probably don’t know, do you? The Phantom Ghost Ship has no captain. Never has.”

Gu Rong answered honestly: “Bu ji dao.” (Don’t know.)

Isaac: “…”

That little milky voice made him pause.

After a moment, he continued: “Do you think you know why the Phantom Ghost Ship has no captain? Because we were constrained for too, too long in the Starsea Continent! Oppressed until we finally rebelled! We utterly detest being trampled underfoot like slaves! We utterly detest waiting for orders for everything we do!”

“Each of us is our own king! We obey no one’s command!”

Isaac: “But even without a captain, we can unite. Do you know why?”

Gu Rong: “Bu ji dao.” (Don’t know.)

Isaac: “…”

This overly docile appearance almost made Isaac forget what he was going to say.

After steadying himself, he found his emotional footing again: “Because we are all oppressed lowborns! Lowborns are the original inhabitants of the Starsea Continent! We possess naturally superior genes! Only we lowborns could cross the Deep Sea Ghost Realm!”

“The enslaved will eventually enslave, and the violated will eventually violate.”