Chapter 124: Chapter 124

Little Loach passed through the range of the Ghost Zone, not even giving it a glance. Going downstream from the Extinct Village along the river, after passing through three counties, he would enter the famous Lake Mature Region of the Wood Dynasty.

Adjacent to Jaafar County was Asa County, with a sparse population near the river. Asa County had a town called Yukou here, which was quite prosperous with a dock relying on the river, and wealthy residents.

Little Loach swam nonstop to Yukou Town and popped his head out of the vast river. The surrounding waters of the town were busy, with boats coming and going and the dock bustling with people. Boats on the river were built very sturdy and powerful; the larger vessels even had an Array to strengthen them.

People in this area had grown accustomed to the massive and dangerous creatures in the water.

Little Loach sank again, sniffing around in the water, and finally, his eyes lit up and he dived headfirst.

A sunken ship from countless years ago, half-buried at the bottom of the river. This ship was quite large, and as Little Loach collided with its decaying hull, layers of it shattered, revealing a glimmering light from within.

It was actually a piece of Spirit Jade embedded in an Array.

This ship was driven by the Array and Spirit Jade!

When the Spirit Jade sank, half of the world’s elemental energy within it had already been consumed, and the time spent at the bottom of the water had somehow increased its quality!

Little Loach joyfully swallowed it in one gulp, and as he turned to leave, his tail flicked against a cargo box in the sunken ship, which immediately shattered, scattering fist-sized gold ingots everywhere.

Little Loach’s face showed disdain: "This kind of metal often needs to be condensed many times before it can barely be used to make artifacts. It’s really just useless junk. I don’t know why those foolish humans would risk everything for it."

Little Loach arrogantly left the sunken ship and began to search everywhere again.

There were many ships passing through here, which naturally led to... many sunken ships.

Little Loach found a length of Iron Chain and pulled it out with high hopes. However, it was only connected to a large Iron Anchor. He disdainfully tossed it and swam away.

Without Elder Brother around, his luck in hunting alone was not great.

After wasting more than one Shichen (2 hours), Little Loach used his head to break a rock at the bottom of the water. Behind the broken rock, the entrance to a hidden cave emitted a tempting aroma. Little Loach’s eyes glowed, and his mouth couldn’t help but water.

Suddenly, a shadow shot out from the cave and swam over a dozen feet away in an instant. Little Loach turned to chase it. The aroma was just too enticing, and as one chased and the other fled, three monsters tried to snatch their prey along the way, but Little Loach ruthlessly bit them and broke them in half.

William was a boatman from Yukou Town who was born and raised locally. Four years ago, he married his wife, and now they had a three-year-old daughter and a six-month-old son.

The main job of boatmen in the town was to transport goods. Sometimes, when a ship was short-handed, they could help out for a while. This kind of work paid more than being a boatman but was also more dangerous, since everyone knew the river was full of dangerous creatures.

Today, one of Mr. King’s ships was short one person, so the boat’s leader asked William for help. He originally didn’t want to do it, but the leader said it was a short trip of only 200 miles and would take just two to three days round trip, earning him 800 coins.

As the sole breadwinner for his family of three, William gritted his teeth and decided to do it.

After setting sail, everything seemed calm, and the boat leader laughed and said to him, "Good fortune is upon us recently. For some reason, there have been fewer monsters in this area."

"We’re on an ironclad ship, so we don’t have to worry about ordinary monsters. Relax, this trip will definitely be peaceful."

William grinned heartily and thought about how, with the 800 coins, he could buy a stuffed tiger toy for his son, the blue floral dress his daughter had always wanted, and a new pair of embroidered shoes for his wife. As for himself... having enough to eat was just fine; he didn’t need much as a man.

Feeling pleased, he put more effort into steering the boat.

Suddenly, a black waterline streaked past the left side of the ship. Alarmed, William raised his pole in defense. The boat leader chuckled, "You’re pretty sharp, kid."

"No choice, grew up near the water, so we know what kind of things are in there!" Relieved that it was a false alarm, William continued to steer the boat.

However, just ahead on the water’s surface, a half-person-high wave suddenly rose and rushed toward their ship. The wave grew higher and quickly reached over 10 feet in height. From the top of the wave, ten huge, dark red crab legs suddenly extended!

The edges were jagged and sharp, their tips as piercing as spears, and they were covered in extremely toxic dark green hairs.

Their ironclad ship would be no match for these monster crab legs; one hit could easily cut it in half, and the whole ship would be mercilessly shredded as dozens of crab legs converged upon it!

William’s pole fell from his hands, and he felt icy cold all over. No matter how good one’s swimming skills were, venturing into the river was always a precarious endeavor. At this distance, falling into the water meant certain death!

William knew that it would be better to just die quickly by running into the monstrous crab legs than to fall into the water and suffer through a more painful death from being torn and eaten by the monster.

Looking up at the giant crab legs falling like a scythe of death, William’s mind flashed with the faces of his loved ones: his daughter’s sweet calls for her daddy, his son’s happy laughter, and his wife’s caring voice...

How would they survive without me?

Filled with regret for his greed, William resigned himself to dying and being buried in the surging river. Despairing, he closed his eyes and awaited death. But just as the monstrous crab legs were inches away from his head, they suddenly stopped, as if something had caught them from behind.

The wave in front of the ship dispersed with a splash, revealing the huge body with dozens of Sickle Crab Legs. The creature was very peculiar, resembling a centipede that had been vertically sliced in half.

These huge Sickle Crab Legs all grew on one side of its body. The other side was lined with six large, serrated mouths! It was unclear what this creature had eaten, but its teeth emitted a metallic luster, and as they rubbed and collided, sparks even flew!

But now, this huge monster was held fast at both ends by two slender, pale golden whiskers.

The monster, thinking itself invincible, didn’t expect to be restrained by something with just two whiskers. It grew furious, turning its massive body around and directing all its crab legs toward the water behind it, where the owner of the pale golden whiskers was hiding!

The six serrated mouths expelled water simultaneously, propelling the entire body at high speed toward the target.

Having walked the fine line between life and death, William couldn’t help but touch his forehead, now soaked with cold sweat! The water ejected by the monster surged the surrounding waters once more, and amid the deafening roar, their ship was tossed up high on a wave’s crest, almost capsizing.

The other people on the ship cried out in alarm, but William remained silent, his hands tightly gripping the rail, his eyes fixed on the waters ahead.

He knew very well who had saved his life!

Without them, in such troubled times, his wife, daughter, and son could only starve to death, meeting a tragically miserable end.

Worried for his savior in the water, William thought that the monster looked truly terrifying.