Chapter 272: Backstabbing, Successful Ship Hijacking,
Mysterious Slaves (3)
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
With his strength, he could defeat it, but the consequence would be that the overwhelming magical energy would destroy the entire ship. This would contradict his initial intention of obtaining the ship as intact as possible.
Ji Chen had already planned everything. He disguised himself as an elderly avenger, attacked the ship, and deliberately damaged its propellers, causing it to lose most of its power. This would allow Alice and the others to catch up and seize the ship.
The end result was quite satisfactory. Not only was the ship relatively well-preserved, but there were also some gnomes left, who could be used to teach the Crown of the Ocean how to operate and use the vessel.
“Lord, we’ve found the cargo hold on the ship! There’s quite a lot of stuff stored inside!”
Anina stood at an entrance and waved her hand, saying.
Ji Chen’s eyes lit up.
Ernesto had been in the trading business for so long that it possessed an abundance of wealth, and what it had shown Ji Chen was just the tip of the iceberg.
Following Anina down into the ship’s hold, they navigated through metal pa.s.sages, pa.s.sed through more than ten metal gates, and arrived at a s.p.a.cious chamber, roughly the size of two basketball courts.
The walls were all made of hard metal, and there was a metal door at the top that could be opened. This should be where Ernesto had hoisted the cargo.
Cargo crates with numbers painted on them were secured to the floor, including an empty crate labeled “No. 7”.
At a glance, there are more than a dozen of these large and small crates.
Ji Chen didn’t plan to open them here. He could do it later when they returned to the Crown of the Ocean.
Following a captured gnome as their guide, they arrived at another cargo hold located at the stern of the ship. This hold was even larger and served as a storage area for ordinary goods.
In addition to trading rare items, gnomes also traded in common goods like ordinary merchants.
Due to the return voyage, a large quant.i.ty of goods had been stored here, packed in wooden crates of equal size.
The crates were stacked one on top of another, completely filling the entire cargo hold.
Ji Chen turned to the guiding gnome and asked, “What are these goods?”
The gnome who was asked trembled and replied fearfully, “Reporting to the Lord, these goods are partly high-quality silk and fabric. They were specially purchased by the Lord Consul for sale to the human n.o.bles in the Western Continent. There’s also some fine wine from the Eastern Continent, intended for sale to human n.o.bles as well. They are highly sought after by these two groups.”
Wine was a commodity that always had a market wherever it went.
Unfortunately, the Crown of the Ocean was not an ideal place for winemaking, lacking the necessary environment, skilled personnel, and infrastructure.
“In addition to these, there are some more unusual goods… slaves.”
Upon hearing this, Ji Chen’s expression became serious.
“Where are they? Take me to see.”
“In order to avoid port inspections and escape, they are hidden in a secret compartment connected to this cargo hold…”
Guided by the gnome, Ji Chen and his group arrived at a section of the metal wall at the back of the cargo hold. After moving a row of heavy wooden crates, they saw a metal door locked with iron chains.
“Because these slaves are somewhat special and very valuable, only Consul Lord has the key…”
With a resounding “clang”, Anina directly broke the chain with her greatsword.
The gnome:
Under his instruction, two Naga Berserkers stepped forward and pushed open the metal door, revealing the interior.
When they saw the slaves imprisoned in the cages, even Alice and Anina couldn’t help but show surprised expressions.
Ji Chen looked at them with narrowed eyes.
He needed someone to tell him the definition of surprise..