Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 801: Communication With Spirits

When Donna saw that the spirit of her husband had truly manifested in front of her, she hastily wiped the tears and snot from her face. Overwhelmed with emotions, she shouted, "Hakaar! You bastard! I'm Donna, your wife!

"How many times have I told you! Don't go out to sea! Don't go out there! Why did you not listen to me! Do you know how much hardships Nene and I have to endure after you are gone? I was so desperate and out of options. To survive, I even took her with me to the World's Crown!" Donna's voice trembled with fury and grief.

"The World's Crown! Once you step foot there, you could, at most, live for ten more years! But I had no choice! I had no money! I tried to prostitute myself at the docks, but I couldn't even get any customers! Because I'm too old and too ugly!

Donna's voice broke as she continued between sobs," Do you know how much it pained my heart when Nene tugged on my shirt hem and softly told me she was hungry? Where were you then? Where was her father then!"

Donna ranted and poured out all her grievances at the glowing skeleton for more than ten minutes before her voice gradually softened. The anger in her tone gave way to sadness as she continued to output everything they had endured.

"It doesn't matter anymore… Even without you, we still survived! Nene is doing well now. The governor of this island is a good man. Education is free and Nene managed to learn so many things. She will have a great life and she'll never have to go to sea like you did.

"Also, we have a house of our own on this island now. We are citizens of this island. Life is all great now, and the only thing missing is you. If only you were still here…"

After Donna poured her heart out for another half an hour, the skeleton suddenly straightened its posture. The middle-aged man's voice was gone and replaced with its previous eerie tone, "Seeker, your husband has returned to the world of the dead."

Donna hurriedly dug into her pocket and pulled out every single piece of crumpled bill within. "Please, I beg you. Summon him again. I still have so many things that I want to tell him!"

"The dead can only be summoned once a year," the skeleton replied. "Come back this time next year. You may leave the money and go."

Without waiting for Donna's response, the glowing skeleton faded into the darkness and disappeared completely.

Donna stood rooted in her spot as she stared at the darkness before her. Her eyes were tinged with frustration and helplessness as she reluctantly placed the money on the ground and turned to leave.

Soon after she exited the tent, the dim glow of an oil lamp illuminated the tent's interior. Several figures crawled out from among the piles of debris and reached toward the pile of money on the floor. All of their faces were painted with glow-in-the-dark markings.

Holding up the bills that had Charles' face printed on them, a bald man excitedly waved it at a scrawny figure beside him. "Boss, the people on Hope Island are really loaded! That's 2000 cori! I should've listened to you long ago if I'd known it was this easy to make money."

A smug smile surfaced on the countenance of the skinny man with a thin mustache. He reached out two fingers and deftly plucked the bills from the bald man's hand. "When I ground down those glowing pearls into powder earlier, all of you were fighting to stop me. Now, look at the results. Sure, glowing pearls are expensive but sow, and you will reap."

The other three men eagerly nodded in agreement as they excitedly showered their leader with more flattery.

"Boss, why didn't you push that woman to give up all her money? She owns a house on Hope Island, and you know that it's impossible to buy property here now, no matter how rich you might be," one of the henchmen, a rat-faced man, asked.

The mustached man shot him a displeased glare. "Are you dumb or what? Do you really think there's no law enforcement on Hope Island?

"We can only prolong our business if we keep it low-key and do things slow and steady. Small, harmless scams are easy to get away with. Even if someone realizes that they were conned, they won't bother reporting it. And even if by the off chance that they do report us, we can always bribe our way out with a bit of money.

"But if we were to do things your way, we would only be able to get away with it once or twice before the police catch wind. I've studied the laws here. Anything over a certain amount, they'll hang us!"

A heavy silence blanketed the room. Judging from the henchmen's uneasy glances and fearful expressions, they were clearly deterred.

"No way… just scamming some cash would get us hanged? On other islands, we just need to pay off the governor with everything we had made and they'll let us go, no?"

The mustached man flicked a finger against the bill with Charles' face on it. "Who knows the logic behind the laws that the Hope Island's Governor has passed? Also, those central islanders wouldn't care about our survival. That punk, Charles, used to mingle around the docks but look at him now—he doesn't give a shit about us."

A broad-shouldered man holding an oil lantern cut in, "Boss, how can you say that about Sir Charles? He's our hero. If he hadn't saved the entire Subterranean Sea, we would have been dead by now."

A disdainful sneer appeared on the mustached man's face. "Is he trying to save us? No. He's trying to save himself! Remember when we were under martial law? They forced us into those factories and did labor work for over a year. We don't owe him a damn thing. Now shut up and kill the light. Let's see if we can con a few more suckers tonight."

As soon as his words fell, footsteps echoed outside the tent. The four men exchanged glances, and instantly, the faint oil lamp was snuffed out, allowing darkness to engulf the place once more.

The tent flap was pulled back once again, and the bald man, who had been hidden behind a black cloth, leaped out in his usual theatrical display. With a wave of his limbs, the glow from the crushed night-pearl powder on his skin formed the eerie silhouette of a skeleton.

"Seeker of the past, speak the name of the one you seek."

"Kevin…My… father…"

Why does this man speak so slowly? He sounds just like that idiot from Redwood Island. Is he an idiot too? The bald man thought to himself as he glanced toward his leader for confirmation to continue.

Upon getting approval to proceed as planned, the bald man continued his performance. He popped a handful of glowing fish eggs into his mouth and his voice deepened into a low tone.

"Weister, my son. Is it really you?"

A heavy silence followed. The bald man grew nervous as there was no response from their new customer. This wasn't how the exchange usually went.

Finally, their customer spoke. "Father… I want to avenge you… But Charles… has promised… Tobba…that we won't… go after the… Kings of Sottom…Please… tell me… what should… I do now?"

Hearing the response, the conmen found themselves frozen in a thick, uneasy silence. Charles? Kings of Sottom? Something about this customer felt dangerously off.

The bald man gulped nervously and continued, "My son, there's no need to put that to heart. What is your job right now? Are you earning enough to take care of the family?"

"I'm…serving… as the Admiral… of Hope Island… I'm in charge… of the entire Hope Island… navy."

A strange rattling sound echoed through the tent. In the darkness, Bandages lifted his head and realized that the skeletal figure's teeth were clattering together uncontrollably.

"Father?" Bandages called out.

Meanwhile in the shadows, beaded cold sweat covered the mustached man's forehead. He frantically gestured at the bald man to keep the charade going. If they were exposed now, it would be game over for all of them.

This wasn't just any customer; he was the Admiral of Hope Island! The second most powerful man in the entire Northern Seas—second only to the Governor himself!