Mystery: I Married the Queen of Mystery

Audis returned to the "Argo" and made further deployments. Third Mate Bivis and crew member Boris piloted the "Ghost Ship", taking eight "Extraordinary Puppets" and escorting these people back to "Chackle Island."

At maximum speed, they could return by tomorrow morning.

Audis took the remaining crew on the "Argo" and continued to Nouse Island, where the two ships separated.

After the "Argo" left the area, Audis went to the restaurant to pour himself a beer, celebrating the victory of this operation.

Taiwan Novel Network → 𝚝 𝚠 𝚔 𝚊 𝚗 . 𝚌 𝚘 𝚖

As soon as he arrived at the restaurant, Audis slapped his forehead: "I forgot to snatch a chef."

Rupert suggested, "We can go to Nouse Island to snatch one."

That island was about the same size as Chackle Island, and it certainly couldn't withstand the "Argo's" attack.

Audis nodded: "That's a good idea."

At this time, the handsome Leonard said: "May I ask, do you often snatch like this?"

"Not often," Audis said. "Today is also the first time, we don't have much experience."

He should have made a list, Audis now remembered that he also forgot to snatch a carpenter.

Fortunately, there were carpenters in the port town of Cruise Island, who could be requisitioned when needed, and paid wages.

Thinking about it, Audis took another sip of beer and sighed in his heart: Being a pirate is really good, there is no need to consider the feelings of these people, if you need someone, just grab them.

Anyway, they will be paid wages in the future, and in terms of diet and safety, it will definitely be better than on Chackle Island.

...

On the beach of Chackle Island, a woman in her thirties, looking thin and wiry, watched the "Argo" rapidly leave the shore from a distance.

"Her strength has exceeded ordinary Sequence 5," she commented.

This was the person sent by the "Iron-Blooded Cross Society" to investigate the murder of "Red Lion" Taylor. As she collected intelligence these past few days, she realized that she must report the situation she had learned to her superiors as soon as possible, at least she herself could not solve this murderer alone.

Moreover, the factor of "Dawn of Elements" must also be considered.

At this time, night fell, and the ships of the "Sword of Dawn" could no longer be seen on the coastline.

Whoosh ~

The woman burst into flames.

The next second, the flames went out, and she disappeared from the spot.

...

On the "Argo".

Late at night, Leonard lay alone on the deck, staring blankly at the starry sky.

He didn't know how long had passed before he whispered, "Old man, this ship is very strange."

Pales Zoroaster, the "old grandpa" in the body of this "Red Glove" member, said: "The strangest thing is that captain."

Leonard was slightly taken aback: "Are you saying that his strength is too strong?"

"No, he is a 'Favored of the Night', a true Favored one."

Leonard sat up abruptly: "What?"

Because his voice was too loud, Cleveland, who was on night duty in the wheelhouse, came out and said, "Mr. Leonard, what did you just say?"

"It's nothing," Leonard quickly said. "The starry sky here is so spectacular."

He smiled and said, "I haven't seen the stars in Backlund for a long time."

Cleveland nodded: "I also heard that the city is very foggy."

After speaking, he returned to the wheelhouse to continue his night duty.

If it were the bosun, Sarina, she would definitely come and ask about the specific situation of the Backlund fog.

Leonard lay on the deck and whispered after a few minutes, "Old man, why did you say that just now?"

"Because he has the protection of 'Night'," Pales said with a chuckle: "That feeling won't be wrong. As long as you leave his sight, you won't feel his existence."

Leonard was slightly taken aback, he didn't notice this.

It's just that he was a little strange: "Why can he be favored by the Goddess?"

"This world is not the only one with secrets," Pales said. "Isn't that what you said?"

Leonard smiled wryly, took a deep breath, and recalled that colleague in Tingen City...

...

Early Thursday morning, the "Ghost Ship" sailed into "Moon Bay" through the wind and waves.

At this time, the first ray of sunlight shone on Cruise Island, and the pier was already busy.

The reason why they started to get busy so early was because the town mayor had just come and asked the restaurant to prepare food, and also asked Tom to send a group of police officers to await orders.

The "Ghost Ship" docked, lowered the gangway, and the people who were captured yesterday got off the ship with a blank expression.

They had been worried and frightened all night, and now they didn't know what these pirates had kidnapped them for.

To be precise, they were not kidnapped, nor were they locked in a prison.

They were allowed to rest in the cabin, but there were some terrifying guards guarding the door to the deck, preventing them from escaping from the deck.

After getting off the ship, the police officers who had already received the order loudly ordered them to eat at the pier.

Because they hadn't rested well all night, and many people hadn't even eaten dinner last night, everyone basically devoured their food and finished breakfast in just ten minutes.

Audis, who also had breakfast in the restaurant, gathered these people together and stood on a high place and said to them: "Don't be so nervous."

"You should have seen that this is an island with little development, and I need many construction workers to build roads and houses."

"I also need excellent engineers to help me plan how the town should be built and how the roads should be built."

"As for the teachers, I need you to teach the humanities and basic mathematics here."

Many people breathed a sigh of relief, at least their lives were not in danger for the time being.

"Of course, I will also pay you," Audis said with a smile. "Wages will be calculated from today, and your job is to build the rooms you will live in first."

"You can temporarily sleep in a warehouse at night, and move over after the houses are built."

"Also, the two children of this designer don't need to participate in the labor, but I suggest that you better keep them by your side."

When everyone heard that there was remuneration, they couldn't believe their ears.

This shows that the pirates are likely to let them go in the future, otherwise there is no need to pay, because no one will pay the dead.

Audis then said to Tom on the side: "Send 10 police officers to watch them and ensure their safety, and take them to the warehouse to rest for now."

"Those 10 police officers also have an overtime pay of 1 sol per day."

"Their food is still the responsibility of the restaurant for the time being. Tell the restaurant owner that I will settle all the expenses every three days."

That warehouse was a warehouse requisitioned by Audis from the port town. It was not small, and there was no problem in accommodating dozens of people.

Tom nodded with a smile: "I will take good care of them."

On Cruise Island, there is no job that can earn 1 sol a day.

Usually, the police officers on this island do not have a salary. They do not have a unified time to go to and from work. When the natives in the deep mountains harass the town, they will immediately pick up their weapons and drive away those natives.

So the source of income for the police officers is basically based on the little loot and extortion from the residents of the town.

Now it's better, the new mayor is equivalent to providing them with some job opportunities.

Because the opportunities are limited, Tom will give priority to his confidants, which also makes him more authoritative among the police officers.

Afterwards, Audis asked Tom to take this group of people to the warehouse arranged for them, leaving only the designer behind.

Audis sat in a chair at the entrance of the restaurant and asked, "What's your name?"

"Cyril," the other party was somewhat nervous: "Pirate sir, my name is Cyril Darren."

Audis said "Oh": "You can call me Captain."

"Okay, Captain."

"Come, I'll take you to see the terrain." As he spoke, Audis got up and used a "Flying Scroll", taking the Darren designer to fly up.

"Ah... Ah..." Amid Cyril Darren's screams, and the surrounding townspeople's accustomed reactions, the two flew towards the high mountain opposite Lighthouse Hill.

Lighthouse Hill can only be regarded as a hill, but the mountain opposite it is very tall, and you can have a bird's-eye view of the entire eastern and southern terrain of the island.

Audis waited for Cyril to recover from his surprise before pointing to the southern plain and said, "I want to build a town on that plain, what suggestions do you have?"

As he spoke, he also handed Cyril a telescope.

Cyril took the telescope and looked at it for a while before saying: "There are two options, one is to build in the approximate center of the plain. I saw that there are two villages near that location, and the villages can be merged to enrich the population."

"The other option is to build along that arc-shaped coast. I saw that if you dig a little there, you can dig out a small port, which will be more convenient for going to sea in the future."

Audis nodded: "I prefer to build the town in the central location of the plain. It's not very useful to build a port now."

"After returning, you will start drawing the design drawings, and I will send someone to take you to conduct an actual survey."

He paused and then said: "Your family can also receive preferential treatment. I will send someone to rent you a house in the town separately later, so that you can live there first."

"Thank you, thank you," Cyril said sincerely.

His only wish now is that his family can be safe and have a chance to go back.

"Also here." Audis pointed to Lighthouse Hill: "I want to build a permanent position on the side facing the sea, and build some office buildings, residential buildings, and other buildings on the inside."

"I suggest that office buildings and other buildings be built in the middle, and residential buildings be built on both sides," Cyril suggested. "It is best if the residential buildings can see the sea."

Odys nodded: "That's something I didn't think of. You can also start drawing up blueprints for the buildings there."

Cyril reminded him: "Captain, if you want to build a building, wood isn't very reliable."

"You don't have to worry about building materials. Oh, and I want to expand this port a bit more." Odys pointed to "Moon Bay" and said, "It would be best if it could dock some large ships."

"This project will be huge," Cyril said. "We can only build a dam outside the port, pump the water out, and then dig out the mud and stones inside.

"Then extend the pier forward a bit, and finally put the water back in, and we'll have an excellent deep-water port."

Odys nodded: "That's pretty much what I was thinking."

Then he added: "Finally, there's the issue of road construction. I want to build a ring road around the island that connects the southern plains, the eastern port, and the northern forests and hills."

Cyril gradually became enthusiastic: "The blueprint isn't too difficult, but it will require a lot of manpower and building materials."

He gradually realized that it would be nice if he could plan and build an island.

The two of them chatted on the hilltop for more than half an hour, and Odys had a rough plan for the construction work to come.

Because Odys had something else to do today, they could only talk about it here for now.

After returning to the town, Odys left Bivis and Boris on Cruz Island, asking Bivis to find a house for the designer's family first, and then have them start organizing the workers to find a place to build their dormitories.

Construction tools were requisitioned from the port town first, and Cyril was asked to make a list, which Odys planned to purchase in Bayam.

Then Odys used the ability of the "Travel Ring" to come to Bayam, first giving the tool list to Bazel and asking him to send someone to purchase it.

After Bazel had arranged the work, Odys took him back to the "Argo", which was not far from Northouse Island.

Odys didn't plan to have the "Argo" dock. After handing over command of the ship to Bazel, he took Leonard to Northouse Port to inquire about information.

After coming out of the spirit world, Leonard exclaimed: "'Travel' is the most practical ability I've ever seen."

Odys smiled: "It can indeed save a lot of trouble."

The two of them looked at the port city not far away. The seaside city, under the sunlight, always seemed full of hope.

This city was the size of a small city, more prosperous than Chackle Island, because it was closer to the main shipping lane.

As the two walked forward, Leonard asked, "Do you have any channels for obtaining information on this island?"

"I don't," Odys said. "But yesterday afternoon, Pass of the 'Sea Lion Bar' found my first mate again and told him about his contact on this island, who is also an information peddler. We can go ask him for information."

After approaching the port, they finally encountered a taxi carriage. Odys said to the coachman, "Go to the 'Seaweed Bar'."

This bar was not far from the port, and even during the day, people were playing cards and chatting here.

Odys and Leonard, wearing windbreakers, immediately attracted the attention of many people when they entered, because no one who frequented this place wore a windbreaker.

Odys walked straight to the bar counter with practiced ease: "'Sea Lion' sent us."

The bartender paused slightly, then said, "Come with me."

He led Odys and Leonard to the back door. There was also a small courtyard behind. In the corridor leading to the courtyard, there were already two streetwalkers preparing to take business.

When they saw Odys and the others, they quickly gave them flirtatious glances and seductive poses, because they rarely received such clean and handsome customers here.

After passing through the corridor, the bartender led them to the door of a room and knocked: "Mr. Gavin, there are guests sent by 'Sea Lion'."

"Come in," a male voice came from inside.

The bartender opened the door. Although it was messy inside, the middle-aged man sitting at the desk, who had just stood up, was dressed decently.

After giving the bartender a tip, he said to Odys and Leonard, "Please come in, both of you."

After closing the door, Gavin quickly wiped the chair: "I'm sorry, I rarely have visitors here. I usually entertain guests in the bar."

But today it was only a little after ten in the morning, and he had just woken up.

"It's okay," Odys didn't sit down, but simply said, "We have a few questions to ask."

"Please ask," Gavin said with a smile, jokingly, "I like the question-and-answer session the most."

Odys said: "I want to get all the information about the 'Skull' pirate group."

Gavin thought for a moment, looked at Odys and Leonard, and smiled: "300 pounds."

Odys adjusted his windbreaker: "Just now I saw that there are three bars near the port."

"280 pounds!" I can't go any lower, Gavin said with a sincere face: "I can guarantee that no one has more comprehensive information than I do."

Odys glanced at Gavin: "30 pounds."

Gavin smiled: "Then you should go find someone else, but I dare say that no one on Northouse Island has a cheaper price than me."

Odys smiled: "Do you think I'm setting sail for the first time?"

He said to Leonard, "Let's go."

The two of them opened the door and were about to walk out when Gavin said, "Wait a minute, since 'Sea Lion' sent you, 30 pounds it is."

Only then did Odys bring Leonard back into the room: "You should be glad that I bargained with you."

Gavin was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood what the other party meant. If he hadn't bargained, he might have been captured and interrogated.

He quickly stood up and said politely again: "Please sit down, please sit down."

Odys then sat down, and Leonard also sat down beside him. He didn't say a word the whole time, because he didn't know the value of this information, nor did he know how to bargain specifically.

"The 'Skull' pirate group is called that because their flag is a skull." After agreeing on the price, Gavin began: "It's a very old-fashioned flag. It is said that in the beginning, the pirates' flags were all kinds of skulls.

"'Iron Hand' Burke is called that because he lost a hand in his early years. He first wore an iron hook, and later wore a more flexible iron hand.

"This pirate group often haunts the area around Northouse Island, so many people speculate that they have a base nearby.

"Well, three days ago, they just completed their supplies at the port and left. Also, Jeff of the department store seems to be their intelligence officer and contact person."

Odys asked: "What was their heading when they left the port?"

"South," Gavin said. "But they often circle around, so they may not be heading south."

Odys asked again: "Is their supply volume proportional to their consumption?"

Gavin was stunned for a moment: "What... what do you mean?"

"For example, if they replenish a month's worth of food and water, will they come back within a month? Or will they come back in about a month? Or more than a month?" Odys had to explain.

Gavin thought for a moment: "Generally, they will replenish half a month's worth of food and water, and basically they will come back within half a month, or reach another port."

Odys took out his pipe and asked: "How many islands are nearby? Are there people living on them? Are there any undeveloped or unexplored areas?"

This series of questions stunned Gavin again, because this information didn't seem to have anything to do with the "Skull" pirate group.

But after all, Odys had spent money, so Gavin quickly got up and rummaged through the messy desk, eventually finding a hand-drawn sea chart.

"This is a sea chart of the waters around Northouse Island." Gavin handed it to Odys: "Of the eight surrounding islands, only two have people on them.

"There are many unexplored areas. Look at this direction, and this direction. There are large areas of dangerous waters."

The so-called "dangerous waters" refer to the dangerous areas of the Violent Sea.

Most of the Violent Sea is very dangerous. Only the shipping lanes are relatively safe, or rather, people have connected safe areas to form the current network of shipping lanes on the Violent Sea.

And around these safe areas are extremely harsh climates such as dark clouds, gales, and storms.

Odys looked at the sea chart carefully and asked again: "Tell me about the specific information of the 'Skull' pirate group."

"Don't think that the 'Skull' pirate group only has one ship, but I heard that it's a ghost ship, said to be able to summon very terrifying power." Gavin described: "'Iron Hand' Burke is also a very powerful person. He can summon the dead and awaken corpses to provide him with assistance.

"First Mate Kendra makes people unlucky for no reason, with very magical abilities, Second Mate..."

Gavin roughly described the main members of the "Skull" pirate group, and Odys had a rough idea of the strength of this pirate group.

Odys asked: "How do I find Jeff of the department store?"

"Turn left when you go out, and just keep walking along the main road," Gavin said with a smile.

Odys took out his wallet and counted out three 10-pound notes: "One last question, has anything strange happened on Northouse Island recently?"

Gavin's eyes stared at the three banknotes: "Strange... strange things?"

He thought for a moment before asking: "A few days ago, someone saw dark clouds forming the shape of a skull. Would that count as a strange thing?"

Odys really wanted to ask, besides the skull, was there also a snake?

He smiled, handed the money to Gavin, and left with Leonard.

Arriving on the street, Audis looked at the pedestrians around before saying to Leonard, "Before we go find that Jeff, shouldn't we find a place to talk?"

Leonard nodded: "Of course, we've just obtained a lot of valuable information, we should analyze it first."

Audis walked towards the beach, saying: "I was hoping we could first talk about the reimbursement of the intelligence fees."

He smiled and said: "After accepting your task, I've already spent 55 pounds buying information."

He spent 30 pounds just now, and yesterday Bazel spent 15 pounds when he went to the 'Sea Lion Bar' to buy information from Pass, and that afternoon Pass provided Gavin's contact information, costing 10 pounds.

Leonard was stunned for a moment before saying: "I will notify Bishop Dean to reimburse you."

The mention of "reimbursement" reminded him of two colleagues when he worked in Tingen City.

The two talked about financial matters as they walked to a deserted beach.

Seeing that there was no one around, Audis said, "This task might be a bit more complicated than I thought.

"The 'Skull' pirate group doesn't have a base around here, they are cruising in this sea area, probably looking for something."

Leonard was very surprised by Audis' words: "We... we didn't trade for this information just now!"

"This isn't difficult to deduce," Audis said: "First of all, besides the 'Dangerous Sea Area', there are no unexplored areas in the surrounding sea, so there are no conditions for establishing a base.

"Of course, it's possible that they found a relatively safe area in the 'Dangerous Sea Area' and established a base.

"But their consumption of supplies is incorrect, if there was a base, the consumption of materials wouldn't be so high.

"Because the base would share some of the consumption of food and fresh water, for example, if they resupply half a month's worth of food and water from Northouse Island, when they return to the base, they would prefer to fish, pick fruits, and eat some fresh food.

"In that case, they might return to Northouse Island for resupply after more than half a month, or even a month.

"But they resupply on time, which means they don't have other supply locations."

Leonard opened his mouth, not expecting that so much information could be analyzed from these clues.

"But there's one thing that's quite strange," Audis said: "It sounds like Burke should be a 'Necromancer', he should be able to control a lot of living corpses, why doesn't he use living corpses as crew members?"

"Oh, this... I roughly know what's going on," Leonard said: "I heard from a friend that living corpses can only follow some simple commands, and the execution process is generally not very flexible.

"It's okay to ambush enemies on land, but at sea, living corpses are not very reliable, you can't let them steer the ship, watch the sea, or stand guard in the cockpit at night, right?"

Audis was slightly stunned: "I can deeply relate to that point."

Usually, he wouldn't dare to entrust all these tasks completely to the 'Extraordinary Puppets', all matters requiring a lot of subjective judgment were still supervised by the crew.

"Since there is no base nearby, their frequent wandering around the surrounding sea area is very strange," Audis continued: "The key is that he isn't waiting for merchant ships or freighters, preparing to carry out robberies.

"If merchant ships were frequently robbed, Northouse Island might have declined long ago, or there would be naval ships patrolling around.

"Since they are not for robbing merchant ships, then they should be looking for something."

Leonard exclaimed: "The 'Leader' of the intelligence world is indeed amazing.

"Heh heh heh, if the 'Red Gloves' could hire you to analyze intelligence for us, that would be great."

"Sure, as long as you can offer a tempting price," Audis said immediately.

Leonard grinned: "My teammates often say that I'm too casual and seem unreliable.

"Now it seems that I seem to have chosen the wrong profession, would it be more suitable if I were a pirate?"

Audis smiled: "You're welcome anytime, if you're willing to come, you can be the first mate."

Leonard joked: "At this time, a normal gentleman would humbly say a few words, expressing that he is not competent for that position, and politely refuse on the grounds that he is not familiar with the situation at sea."

Audis said "Oh": "I understand, you mean that your invitation just now was just a formality, and you praised me in this way.

"But, you don't seem like a 'serious gentleman' either, I thought you really wanted to invite me to help."

Leonard directly skipped Captain Gahr's evaluation of him: "To be honest, that was what I really thought, but I'm afraid the 'Red Gloves' can't afford that price."

The two stopped and laughed at each other.

After laughing a few times, Leonard said with emotion: "If every one of my colleagues was as easy to get along with as you, that would be great."

"In that case, the entire 'Red Gloves' would become unreliable," Audis smiled: "Alright, let's talk about serious business first.

"I guess you guys should be looking for the same thing as 'Iron Hand' Burke, I hope to know roughly what that thing is.

"Because this time we may have to enter the 'Dangerous Sea Area', we must be well prepared.

"Moreover, this opportunity to find something at sea is very short, and it's easy to miss, there may not be time to explain by then."

Leonard nodded, thought for a moment, and then said: "Specifically, my mission is not to find that thing, but to stop Burke from finding that thing."

He took a deep breath and revealed: "You should have heard of the 'Spiritual Church', right? Although this is an organization, it has many factions within it, and Burke is a member of one of them.

"As for what he's looking for... you should have also heard of the 'Pale Era', it is said that more than a thousand years ago, the 'Nether Emperor' once launched an attack on the Northern Continent.

"At that time, there were still many lands and islands in the Rage Sea, at least larger than the Rosed Archipelago.

"In order to support the war in the Northern Continent, the Bayam Empire established many military stations in the current location of the Rage Sea."

Audis said "Oh": "There must be a lot of good things there."

No wonder they are unwilling to wait for the Storm Church's support, encountering such adjacent relics, Audis is unwilling to wait for even a second.

"We cracked a case about the 'Spiritual Church' in Backlund," Leonard continued: "My mission is just to confirm the accuracy of this information and prevent Burke from continuing to explore.

"After that, I'll just go back and report, because there are many powerful monsters in that military station, which are beyond our level to deal with."

This is also a reminder, or rather, a warning to Audis, even if you encounter that relic, don't explore it casually because of greed, because that is courting death.

Audis pondered for a while and said: "This time, we are eighty or ninety percent likely to enter the 'Dangerous Sea Area'."

Leonard was stunned for a moment before nodding and asking: "Are you confident?"

Audis grinned: "I've wanted to challenge it for a long time, it is said that many treasures are buried in those dangerous sea areas, as well as islands that no one has ever set foot on."

Thanks to 【毒寒无味】 for the reward.