Chapter 96

Caesar acted like a standard scumbag who abandoned his lover—he left right after finishing. The only remotely human thing he did before leaving was remembering to take Miguel down from the railing. Then, while the navigator was still weak and limp, he casually took out his handkerchief to wipe away the white, strange substance left inside him. At this moment, Miguel, in a very unromantic way, was reminded of the days when his younger brother was still a helpless child, squatting in the toilet and yelling, “Brother, I’m done! Come wipe my butt!”

The best thing about transmigrating was that from now on, he would never have to help Luo Pofu with his “backdoor business” again.

After leaving behind a baffling remark, “If you die, it’ll be because you’re stupid,” Caesar departed. Zhizhi let her skirt fall from her head. She looked around and finally fixed her gaze on Miguel, who was staring wistfully in the direction Caesar had left. The girl stumbled to her feet, clumsily holding her dirty skirt, and shuffled over to Miguel. Her kind eyes were wide and round, filled with hope for the future: “Alright, he’s gone.”

“Yeah, he’s gone,” Miguel replied, lowering his gaze and pulling up his pants.

“Then, then let’s go too?”

Miguel paused while tying his belt. His face showed a moment of confusion, then he asked, puzzled, “You really have witchcraft to get us out of this cell?”

Zhizhi’s face turned awkward, reflecting her disbelief at the boy’s naivety: “Are you still asleep, or did Caesar break you?”

Miguel expressionlessly replied, “I choose B. I’m broken.”

Zhizhi took a deep breath: “…Stop joking, Chenzhou, hurry up and take out the key!”

“What key?”

“The cell key.”

“If I had the key, would this still be called a cell, my dear?” Miguel began to counter and mock Zhizhi’s intelligence. “Have you ever seen a prisoner with the key to their own cell?”

“Caesar’s key has been hanging on his waist the whole time, young man! Even a blind man could see it!”

Zhizhi exclaimed in disbelief—

“You were with him for so long, making so much noise, screaming so loudly, the cell was almost torn apart by you two, and you didn’t even take the key? You really didn’t take it? Then why did you so calmly have a go with him before being kicked off the ship? No grudges, no bottom line, no shame!”

For the first time, Miguel’s face showed a look that could be described as “stunned.”

“…Alright, I see now. You really love him. I’ve learned how great love is. Thanks.”

Seeing that there was really no hope of escaping, Zhizhi lifted her skirt, sighed heavily, stomped her feet, and ran to the other side of the cell to squat down. She held her face in her hands and thought for a long time, then turned her head and asked Miguel with a serious tilt of her head: “You’re not pregnant, are you?”

Miguel: “?”

Zhizhi: “They say pregnancy makes you stupid for three years.”

Miguel: “…”

Zhizhi: “Stealing a key won’t make you pregnant.”

Miguel couldn’t take it anymore: “I didn’t even see it, okay!”

“Oh,” Zhizhi said expressionlessly, “Then it’s a physical defect, not an intellectual one. Otherwise, tomorrow when we’re exiled to a deserted island, I’d have to take care of a mentally challenged child.”

“Where’s the sweet and innocent Zhizhi? Spit her out!”

“She died the moment she accidentally witnessed her master shamelessly having sex with the man who’s about to exile him without any reservations.”

…

The next morning, after the storm, the weather cleared. It should have been autumn, but the sea had become unexpectedly warm due to the rain. The steam rising from the water made it unbearably humid. Almost all the crew members were listless in this cursed weather—Caesar chose this fine day to exile his little slave to an island that truly looked uninhabited (…).

Since the navigator had injuries on his back, to prevent him from being bitten to death by sharks that smelled blood or dying from the saltwater before he could even swim to the island, Caesar gave him a special employee perk. The crew of the Wind Fury grandly escorted Miguel to the shore.

Compared to the former charge captain Billy, who was also sentenced to exile for treason, Miguel clearly received more attention. On this day, all the crew members temporarily put aside their work. They gathered in small groups, whispering to each other, but all of them were leaning on the ship’s railings, thousands of eyes fixed on the black-haired young man hesitating at the very end of the gangplank. In fact, he had been dawdling there for almost twenty minutes—

“The captain’s man is still the captain’s man, even if he’s now an ex,” Crew Member A sighed. “Did you see the expression on the boss’s face when he handed the musket to Miguel? Was it really a musket and not a rose or something?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Crew Member B agreed.

“It’d be pretty lame if it were a rose at this point, right?” Crew Member C disagreed.

“You don’t understand. I’ve worked in the observation room,” Crew Member A said smugly. “When I delivered documents to the captain’s cabin for the navigator, I saw Miguel sleeping—his leg, whiter than a woman’s, was just draped over the captain. From the day he boarded the Wind Fury until that day, I never thought anyone would dare do that and not get thrown overboard by the captain!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Crew Member B agreed.

“Why hasn’t the captain kicked that guy overboard yet? It’s almost dark,” Crew Member C disagreed.

It was actually just noon.

…

Oh, I almost forgot. Crew Member C has a name—he’s Berry. From the surface, no one could be happier about Miguel’s exile than him.

What Berry didn’t know was that at this very moment, Miguel was also talking to Caesar about him. However, it was clear that the soon-to-be-exiled former navigator didn’t have good intentions either—

“It’s too lonely being alone. How about exiling someone else to keep me company? I’ll need someone to take care of my daily needs. No need for anyone else, I think that Berry kid is pretty fresh and tender. Let’s make it him.” At this moment, the navigator could be perfectly described as sneaky and scheming.

And the captain, as handsome and cool as ever: “…Do I need to kick you overboard to make you shut up?”

“Laozi isn’t comfortable leaving you alone on the deck to be ogled by that brat.”

“Anyone who dares ogle Laozi is dead.”

“Bullshit, I’m still alive for now…”

Miguel sighed and finally took a couple of steps forward. He raised his head, the sunlight so bright that he had to squint slightly to see the island surrounded by water in the distance. There was a beach and dense jungle—for someone being exiled, this island was actually a pretty good environment. If he was lucky, he might even find a freshwater source in the jungle.

Miguel looked away and turned his gaze back to Caesar’s face. After a moment of thought, the navigator said, “Once I leave, it’s goodbye forever, right?”

“Probably,” Caesar replied seriously.

“Don’t you want to say something?” Miguel smiled, though the smile seemed somewhat piercing to Caesar. “If you really went to the Land of Dawn as that old immortal’s watchdog, and five hundred years later, if you saw me again, would you still remember me?”

“Fifty years, maybe,” the captain replied calmly, standing at the railing of the Wind Fury. He answered this absurd and nonsensical question from the man about to be exiled as if he were delivering a work report—calm, natural, and… unusually honest.

“Can’t you be a bit more polite to someone who’s about to die?”

“According to your ridiculous follow-up, I’m also about to die,” Caesar’s lips curled slightly. “Why don’t you accommodate me and just jump down already? Give me some peace.”

“…”

“Your accomplice down there is probably waiting with her neck about to break.”

Miguel looked down and, sure enough, in the clear blue water, Zhizhi was waving her large black-scaled tail fin, her long neck craned upward, clearly eagerly anticipating his jump.

So Miguel took two more steps forward—no matter how small his steps were, this time, he had reached the very end of the gangplank. The narrow wooden plank began to sway dangerously under the weight of a grown man, and Miguel stood on it, bouncing slightly with the movement of the plank. The other end of the plank was firmly under the foot of the Wind Fury’s captain—

All he had to do was move his precious foot slightly, and Miguel, along with the plank, would be thrown into the sea.

“What if the musket gets wet and stops working?”

“Then let that woman strangle you.”

“…”

“Do you dare jump?”

“Do you dare move your foot?”

After this brief exchange, the two stood at either end of the plank, glaring at each other in another drawn-out silence—during which Caesar’s foot remained firmly planted on the plank, unmoving, as if glued there by some powerful adhesive.

“…Alright, I’ll jump, I’ll jump, damn it—would it sound too cheesy if I said something romantic now?” Miguel finally turned around, now with his back to Caesar. The reflection of the sunlight on the sea made him slightly dizzy, and he slowly closed his eyes.

Behind him, there was only silence.

He couldn’t see Caesar’s expression at this moment.

“If time could reverse, and I had another chance to choose, I’d probably still happily choose to board your ship, Big Dog.”

…

The black-haired young man spread his arms. Unlike the graceful mermaid in fairy tales who leapt from the ship into the sea and turned into foam, he instead resembled a flying pancake, slapping flatly onto the water’s surface with a loud splash, sending up a huge wave and countless droplets.

The sound of the waves drowned out a phrase in Chinese.

Three words, to be exact.

…Zhizhi screamed, frantically swimming forward to grab the black-haired young man who had been knocked out by the impact of the water. With a powerful flick of her large tail, she pushed them both several meters away from the Wind Fury in an instant.

Caesar stood on the ship, expressionless as he watched all of this—his posture and demeanor looked very familiar. The red-haired first mate nearby stroked his chin, suddenly remembering that a long, long time ago, Caesar had stood just like this at the ship’s railing, watching Miguel below helping the old man and his crippled son leave.

The man always seemed uninterested in everything, as if nothing could pique his curiosity.

But Rick felt that he probably knew everything.

With his back to all the crew members of the Wind Fury, the captain at the railing finally moved. He leisurely lit a cigarette, and by the time Miguel and Zhizhi had become a tiny dot slowly swimming away, the captain finally lifted his precious foot. With a loud splash, the plank fell into the sea.

A loud “plop,” followed by countless bubbles and waves.

“…I heard you, trash.”

Caesar took a deep drag of his cigarette, lowering his eyes. Amidst the swirling smoke, his amber eyes held too many complex emotions.

But when he turned around to face the crew of the Wind Fury, who were all staring at him in stunned silence and panic, those emotions vanished once again—

He had returned to the Caesar of old.

The captain of the Wind Fury.

The top dog of the Mediterranean, the fearsome Black Sea Wolf.

“What are you all staring at? Watching a monkey show?—Raise the sails, set sail, you big pieces of trash!”

…

The man’s deep, magnetic voice finally jolted all the crew members who had been frozen in place. The first to react was Rick. The red-haired first mate smirked, kicking the helmsman who stood like a statue beside him, and shouted, “What are you all standing around for? Didn’t you hear the boss say to set sail? Tighten the ropes, pull up the anchor! Set sail—”

“Sailors in position, wishing you a long life, Captain!”

“How about a round of ‘The Eternal Wind Fury,’ you pretty boys in the band! The sun’s making me lose my spirit!”

“Destination: the Land of Dusk, gold awaits us!”

“May your wishes come true, Captain!”

Sails were raised, cutting through the waves. On this ordinary yet somewhat extraordinary day, the Wind Fury set sail once again.

For two people, this might have marked the end.

But for many more, it was merely the beginning of a new chapter in history.