Uninvited Guests

Before the firefang spiders could approach, Lucas Hall had already run to the bow, preparing to maneuver the Nightmare Star and make a quick retreat.If all those spiders climbed onto the ship, the consequences would be unimaginable!Fortunately, these spiders feared water, and all of them stopped at the shore without making any further moves.What was even more surprising was... these spiders could speak!

Spider A: "It smells so good!"Spider B (a special individual): "There's something tasty here!"Spider C: "It smells too good!"

Lucas froze for a few seconds, barely believing his ears."Am I going crazy? Am I hearing things?"He immediately contacted Seraphina."Seraphina, come to the deck quickly! These spiders seem to be talking!"Seraphina received the private message and quickly ran outside.Her gaze was immediately drawn to the special individual with a human torso on top of its head."Did you hear that? These spiders are speaking human language, and it's perfect Mandarin!" Lucas asked Seraphina.Her brows furrowed, and she gave Lucas a strange look, indicating that she hadn't heard anything.

Lucas was shocked. He immediately realized something was wrong on his side. He checked his sanity level and saw it was over 80, so he wasn't losing his mind.The only other possibility was the Spider's Kiss.It had a hidden effect: it allowed players to understand the spiders' language, and possibly even... communicate with them!

Lucas immediately tried it, wearing a wide, enthusiastic grin and calling out,"Come! Come! Come! I've got a lot of food here! Don't forget to take some back to share with everyone!"As he spoke, he threw the few remaining spoiled foods to the spiders.

Spider A: "Wonderful!"Spider B: "I'll take some back for mom to try!"Spider C: "Thank you!"

Lucas grinned, tossing a few more packages of "food" to Spider B.He wasn't going to feel sympathy for these creatures just because he could communicate with them. After all, these spiders were ruthless killers, especially the one with a human torso on its head.Before Lucas arrived, they had already killed several players.He tossed all the remaining "food" over to them, receiving a multitude of grateful words in return.He waved kindly, watching as the giant spider with a human torso left, its tail dragging a large bundle of "food.""Eat up, I'll be back tomorrow!"Lucas shouted, not caring whether the spiders understood or not.

After the "food" was all thrown, Lucas steered the ship away from the island.While there was still time, Lucas fished three coral trapfish and asked Seraphina to make over 60 bottles of Dead Spider Potion.One round of poison definitely wouldn't kill all the spiders.Lucas planned to poison them several times and return to the island—this would be much safer!

For the next three days, Lucas repeated the poisoning.Due to the excessive purchase of rotten food, he earned a new nickname in the chat channel—"The Scavenger."Luckily, Lucas preferred to keep his transactions anonymous, so only a few friends knew his true identity.

"What exactly are you doing?" The captain of the Dawn Goddess, Zhou Dai, sent him a private message.She was an old friend, and Lucas had no intention of hiding anything."I'm testing some poison to see if I can kill these monsters," Lucas replied."Looks like you're quite good at dealing with monsters?""Not bad! These monsters can be killed, and they do die!"

On the fourth day, Lucas continued the poisoning, and no more spiders came asking for food.This meant that most of the spiders on the island were dead, and tomorrow he could safely land.Tonight, the Nightmare Star could park a little closer to the island to prepare for tomorrow's expedition.

That evening, Lucas packed his bag in the cabin, taking only what he needed and stowing the extras in his stomach bag.Seraphina also came over."What? You're going too?" Lucas frowned, looking at Seraphina."Yes, I'm coming!""But if you go, who will guard the Nightmare Star? What if other players show up?" Lucas wasn't keen on bringing Seraphina along."Just bring the crystal ball, and the island is small enough that we won't go out of range!" Seraphina replied.After some thought, Lucas finally agreed.Even if he refused, Seraphina's stubborn nature meant she might sneak along anyway.Better to have her with him.

They made their final preparations, including weapons, potions, rations, and fresh water.Lucas's weapons consisted of a flintlock rifle, a decayed Sea Serpent Tooth, and a spare kitchen knife, along with a bottle of red unknown potion, two regeneration potions, two bottles of Coconut Juice, and two Dead Spider Potions. (Lucas had also asked Seraphina to make a few more regeneration potions.)They kept some backup items in the stomach bag, carrying a few long-legged sardines for easy access to it.Seraphina's weapons included a pirate longbow, over forty poisoned iron arrows, two regeneration potions, two bottles of Coconut Juice, two Dead Spider Potions, a witch's dagger, and a bag of supplies containing two loaves of black bread and sausages.They each carried 2L of fresh water.

After everything was ready, they went to rest, recovering their energy to ensure they were in good condition for tomorrow.Lucas's sleep was shallow, plagued by nightmares, and he had to rely on Coconut Juice to regain his strength.But he had barely slept for long when he was awoken by a tremor, sitting up immediately.The crystal ball by his bedside was vibrating violently, indicating that a player had appeared nearby!

Lucas was alert and immediately checked the sea chart.The name of the other ship also appeared on the chart, called the Lucky Ship.He quickly searched for the ship's name and activated the skill to spy on it.[Searching… Lucky Ship…]There were over a dozen results.This meant that the Lucky Ship was a regular ship, and the name was something the player had chosen (regular ships could be renamed once, as long as the new name wasn't taken by a special ship).Lucas tried one at random and realized he had selected the wrong ship.He had to close the image, check the sea chart again, and hypothesize why the Lucky Ship was heading towards this island."Speed around 40 knots, but it might not be full speed...This course… he's probably heading straight for the island!"

The Lucky Ship was still 100 nautical miles from the island, but its course was perfectly straight toward it.This was no coincidence. The other player probably knew the coordinates of the island!After some thought, Lucas decided to follow the ship and see what was going on.He had done a lot of preparation for this island, and there was still the Spider's Kiss status to deal with there!He couldn't afford to let someone get there first!"Five hours until dawn. He probably won't dare to land at night."Lucas steered the Nightmare Star, keeping a safe distance from the Lucky Ship, waiting for daylight to investigate the situation.If the other ship had cannons, Lucas could find a place to quietly land and have a "chat" with the player on shore.If it didn't, things would be much easier—he'd just board it!And don't forget, Lucas's ship had a trebuchet!Plus, the Nightmare Star had a rare ship upgrade—the head of a giant Bobbit worm! That was sure to create a big hole in their ship!

"Other players?"Seraphina also woke up and saw Lucas at the helm, eyes glued to the crystal ball."Yes, we'll follow them until morning and see what happens. I'm sure he's too scared to land at night. No need to rush!"

Several hours later, the sky quickly brightened.Lucas leaned back against the helm, watching the crystal ball the entire night.The Lucky Ship had stopped moving after getting close to the island, and Lucas was left staring at nothing.He woke Seraphina and told her to take the wheel and approach the Lucky Ship.Meanwhile, he pulled out a telescope and climbed up the mast.

[Name: Ordinary Telescope][Type: Artifact][Quality: Ordinary][Description: An ordinary telescope. In good lighting conditions, it can clearly see ships up to 10 nautical miles away.]

As they got closer, Lucas was able to make out the other ship."Doesn't have any cannons?""It's just a level two regular ship?"Lucas was stunned, realizing he had been overly cautious.This ship was of the same type as Henry's big sailing ship, but it was a bit smaller, definitely only level two.He instructed Seraphina to push the ship to full speed, preparing to investigate who this player was.