"So you're telling us to go to your base camp and die?"
Hearing this, Jason couldn't help but grumble. Wasn't that lie a little too low-brow?
"No, no, no, that's not my base camp."
Listening to the undead head's words, Alka could sense the truth.
Perhaps it was because, without the constraints of flesh and blood, only the withered bones remained, even the soul was manifesting within the head. His mental fluctuations were so obvious that Alka could easily detect them.
He could clearly detect the fluctuations emanating from his emotions, even the slightest concealment was detectable.
"Tell me more specifically, is it safe for us to go to this island?"
Hearing Alka's words, the captain's head quickly said, "Indeed, the people on the Isle of the Dead are actually quite hospitable and kind.
They're normal civilians, unlike us pirates."
As soon as this was spoken, not only Alka but also Sofia and the others around him shook their heads speechlessly.
Would anyone really believe this?
"Why?" Alka suddenly asked.
He realized that this was actually true.
"As I said before, we were all normal humans. We inexplicably woke up and became like undead now. We don't think we are truly undead."
"Then why did you attack us the moment you saw us?"
"...to see if you could kill us," the undead head suddenly said.
Hearing this, Alka frowned and raised his head slightly to face him. "The way you begged for mercy just now didn't sound like you were begging for death."
"That's because I can sense it. You can't kill us. Since you can't kill me, I naturally don't want to die. After all, it still hurts.
I'm not a masochist. Of course I'll live if I want to. If you can really kill me, I'll beg you."
The skull kept on talking.
"Interesting," Alka said, because he could sense that what the skeleton said was true. It had no intention of hiding anything, acting completely indifferent.
The corpse they had dug out of the coffin had also come back to life after its skull was shattered by the holy light.
And some skeletons on the surrounding ghost ships were also beginning to gather and revive.
After a moment's thought, he said to the skull, "Take us to the Island of the Dead now."
"Huh? Can we not go? I don't really want to go back."
Hearing this, Alka squeezed his skull hard.
"Go, go, go. I'll lead the way. Do you hear me, boys? Clear the way!"
The surrounding undead immediately sprang into action, piloting the two undead ships forward.
As they passed through the fog, right before everyone's eyes, the ghost ship that had been shattered by Sofia emerged from the sea once again. The broken planks could be seen rejoining.
As if it had never been destroyed.
The skeletons that had been smashed and swept into the sea also began to gather from the ship.
These dead skeletons came back to life, including the first mate who had previously planned to usurp the throne.
He even came to Pororo's side, asking if he could return his golden eye, which was very important to him.
Pororo looked at the golden eye in his hand and stuffed it directly into his eye socket.
However, it was stuffed the wrong way around.
"See? It's like this, unable to die, yet able to feel the pain of death."
Even as he spoke, the undead and skeletons were already writhing on the deck, wailing in pain.
After a long moment, the unbearable noises subsided. The undead finally stood up again.
Then, as if the pain of being stalked hadn't even occurred, they resumed chatting with the undead nearby.
This strange scene confirmed his theory.
It also made everyone even more curious about the island.
"Is this island your former home? Are all the people on it originally inhabiting it?"
The skeleton denied Alka's question, "No. We were at most compatriots of the same country.
We weren't just people from the same island."
"Compatriots of the same country?"
"Yes, a country destroyed during the War of the Gods. When we woke up, we had become undead, the inhabitants of this island, drifting on this vast white sea."
This was a rather revealing statement. These undead had survived the War of the Gods until now?
"Have you calculated how long they've been awake?" Lucelia asked eagerly from Alka's shoulder.
"I have. About five or six thousand years. Who keeps track of the exact time? Time here is so chaotic anyway."
They've been around since the War of the Gods, but they've only been awake for five or six thousand years?
This means they woke up long after the War of the Gods.
After waking up, he looked like this.
Thinking of this, Alka asked, "Why didn't you want to go back before?"
"Like I said, the people on the island are peace-loving and relatively normal. How many normal people are there on my ship?
How could we possibly get along without being able to kill each other?"
Hearing this, several people nodded in agreement. It made some sense.
The undead skeletons on their ship seemed normal by undead standards, but a bit outrageous by normal human standards.
Their ship passed through the fog and soon came into clear sight of the outline of an island.
The island was much smaller than they had expected. Alka looked at it and felt it was only about twice the size of his own Golden Wheat Island. It was the kind of island you could see from the shore.
As the ghost ship approached the shore, Alka and the others saw floating ghosts, moving skeletons, and mummy-like bodies.
These skeletons and zombies were all wearing normal clothing and didn't even carry any weapons.
"What the hell are you doing ashore? Didn't you say you'd spend your whole lives drifting at sea?"
A leading skeleton said, clutching a battered fishing rod.
"None of your business, fisherman! I'm going to the island if I want to!"
Facing the skeleton, the captain, held captive by Alka, cursed.
"Oh, I've run into a tough guy! My head's in his hand! This is hilarious! Hahahaha."
Faced with the captain's predicament, the undead on the shore laughed without hesitation.
Clearly, the relationship between the two sides was, as the pirate captain had said, not good.
"Narisa, hurry up. After you record this scene, make sure you paint it carefully. I'm going to hang it in the square."
"Yes, remember to depict it in detail when the time comes. I'm going to make a sculpture of this scene."
"That's right, that's exactly what we should do. I can't help but choreograph a dance for today's joy."
The undead on the shore were hurling insults at each other, adding insult to injury.
"You damned creatures! I'll pull your bones out and feed them to the dogs!" Alka cursed from the skull in his hand.
"Haha, Baggett, if you could do that, you wouldn't be adrift at sea."
Alka and his companions' ship was still at least a hundred or two hundred meters from the shore, but the undead started cursing from such a distance.
For a moment, Alka and his companions felt a little awkward.
Soon the ship docked, and the three ghost ships moved aside, stopping forty or fifty meters from the shore.
At the first mate's command, they even began to sink and depart.
But their captain was still in Alka's hands.
They weren't worried at all.
The Voice of Dawn docked at the shore. Surprisingly, there was a well-equipped harbor, albeit a small one.
But Alka and his crew were more than capable of handling it.
As Alka and his crew approached the Voice of Dawn,
The undead approached.
They observed them carefully, and upon closer inspection, they were surprisingly well-groomed.
They didn't detect the peculiar smell of decay that often characterizes the undead.
A female ghost floated over. She was the girl they had just called Narissa.
The ghost was dressed like an artist.
Several people actually sensed a fragrance on the ghosts, like perfume.
If it weren't for the undead's appearance, Alka and the others would have mistaken them for normal people.
"We're such rare guests! We hope our appearance doesn't frighten you," said the skeleton who had led the group, holding a fishing rod.
The skeleton wore a clean, though somewhat tattered, vest, a fishing rod in hand, and a small flat cap on his head.
He looked very respectable.
"Hello, I asked him before coming here, and I have a general idea of what this place is like," Alka said, shaking his head.
The skeleton nodded. "My name is Bernard, and I'm the island's lighthouse keeper. That's where I work," he pointed.
About 300 meters from the harbor, Alka spotted a lighthouse embedded in the island.
However, there was clearly no light on the lighthouse; only a campfire seemed to be burning.
"If my friend doesn't mind, could you please put his head down? Although he's a scumbag, he's still one of our people."
Alka nodded and threw the skull in his hand to the ground.
He couldn't be killed anyway.
With a few cries of pain, the skull clashed against the ground. One by one, bones emerged from nowhere and converged. Then, a skeletal body formed, and the skull, carrying the head, rose to its feet again.
Baggot stood up and shook his head, making sure it was properly attached before shaking his body.
Letting his bones crackle.
He turned to look at the spirit of the girl beside him.
"Oh, Nalisa, you seem even more beautiful than last time. What a wonderful scent! Are you wearing night-shining flower perfume?"
Looking at Baggett approaching, Nalisa looked incredibly disgusted and circled around to distance herself.
"Go away, Baggett! Wash off the seaweed smell before you speak."
"How heartless! A lady wouldn't say such vicious words."
"With a pirate scum like you, I'm not going to be polite."
Baggett pulled out his pirate hat from somewhere and put it back on his head.
Then he broke off the healthy bone from his right leg and threw it into the sea in front of everyone.
Then he pulled out his golden prosthetic leg from somewhere and attached it to the bone.
He went from walking normally to limping.
He walked around twice, oblivious to the others, before nodding in satisfaction.
This seemed to be fitting for his image as a pirate captain.
"Now, Admiral Baggett of the Evil Ghost Navy has returned."
Watching this scene, Bernard shook his head helplessly and said to Alka, "Don't be offended, my friend. Every race has its share of clumsy individuals. If you don't mind, come with us."
With that, the undead simply passed Baggett by, treating him like air. They led Alka and the others upwards.
Where they could see the harbor, there was a tiled floor.
Although it bore signs of maintenance, it was certainly dilapidated.
A dozen steps led up, followed by a slightly winding path.
It led all the way to a ramp higher up.
Watching the departing group, Baggett shrugged helplessly and limped after them.
After crossing the ramp and the stairs, Alka and the others reached the upper level. Then they saw a small town not far away.
Due to the faint mist still lingering around, the area looked dim even during the day. A few lights burned in the village.
Stone houses, one after another, were randomly placed here and there, a variety of structures dotted the island.
It was clear that the island was somewhat dilapidated, with few plants, revealing only the soil and some gravel.
However, scattered patches of gray-black trees and grass could still be seen.
This only added to the island's eerie atmosphere.
"This is Resurrection Town, the only town on the island. Our people all live here," Bernard said, leading the group towards it.
As they passed the path, a large hole suddenly appeared in the dirt beside them, and a hand stretched out from the soil.
"Who's out there? Is that Bernard? Help me, I can't get out." A young voice, a muffled sound, rang out from the mud.
Without waiting for Bernard to reach him, Baggett, following behind him, limped over.
"You stupid brat! Let me pull you out."
"It's Baggett? Why are you back?" The voice from the mud sounded surprised.
Then Baggett grabbed the hand bone with both hands and pulled hard.
A large area of soil began to loosen.
Then, with a crack, Baggett fell to the ground, still clutching a dangling hand bone.
"Hey! You ripped my hand off!"
"Sorry, sorry, brat! Never mind. I'll just dig you out." In front of everyone, Baggett's fingers formed into claws and pulled upward.
The mud instantly dispersed to the side. Alka watched, his eyes narrowed slightly as he sensed the presence of a treasure.
He had been wondering why the pirate didn't use his treasure in the face of his attack. So the treasure's ability was supposed to be something like controlling the mud or the earth?
Possessing such a treasure, yet becoming a pirate at sea, it must be a bit absurd.
The mud dispersed to the side, and a skeleton crawled out of it.
"Thanks," the corpse said, stepping out and shaking itself. A large amount of mud slid down the cracks in its bones.
Some of it even ended up in its trouser legs.
"Aren't you going to take off your pants?" Baggett said.
The skeletons, who sounded younger, glanced at Alka and the others, and unexpectedly looked embarrassed.
"Uh, there's someone here."
For a moment, Alka and the others didn't know what to make of their expressions.
The skeleton... is there anything missing?
Baggot slapped him on the head, nearly breaking his skull off his neck.
"Wake up, you're not a normal person anymore!"
"Alright." The boy's voice was a little muffled.
Na also took Alka and the others inside.
Several skeleton residents were also scattered around the path, some chatting. Some simply stared blankly into the sky.
Looking at Alka and the other normal people, these skeletons cast black eyes, but everyone could clearly see through the ethereal soul fire within these dark eye sockets and sense their curiosity. It was a very strange feeling.
"This is really a strange island," Sofia said nearby.
As they walked, Julia kept her eyes slightly narrowed and her brow furrowed, constantly observing her surroundings, detecting any changes.
As they crossed the path, large buildings began to appear.
Spirits floated in the air, and mummified skeletons wandered freely through the streets.
This was the town where the undead creatures lived.
This was a sight Alka and the others had never witnessed before. They stood at the town's gate and watched.
"Wow, strangers are actually able to reach the island. Is Baggett no longer viable?" an old, mummy-like figure approached, leaning on a pitch-black wooden crutch, and said to Alka and the others.
"Old man, what do you mean by that?" Baggett, who was following behind, asked unhappily.
The old mummy turned his head and stared at Baggett with his black eyes.
"Oh, I didn't see you, Baggett. You actually made it to the island." He seemed to be observing Baggett closely.
"It looks like you got a good beating from those outsiders. It's a shame I didn't see it."
"Grandpa Wooden Crutch, I saw it. I'll draw you a picture later," Nalisa suddenly said.
"Okay, I'll definitely enjoy it."
This exchange left Baggett extremely unhappy.
Alka and the others finally understood just how unwelcome this pirate captain was in this haunted place.
He was like a rat crossing the street, everyone stepped on him.
Jason stood nearby, looking at the skeleton.
"My brother, you're such a badass! What have you done here to earn such dislike from everyone?"
Baggett turned his head away from Jason's question, not wanting to answer.