This Spiritual Energy is Lethal!
Chapter 308: Mysterious Sea Area

Chapter 308: Chapter 308: Mysterious Sea Area

Chen Ke stood on the deck, scanning the horizon for any sign of the Administration Bureau’s ships. The sea was an indifferent place that dulled one’s sense of distance—if one could see a ship, it only proved that the people from the Administration Bureau were not far away.

Conrad must have used radar to determine their relative distance to the Administration Bureau, and they were now employing a roundabout strategy. They intended to circle around to the side, enter the restricted area, and force the Administration Bureau to abandon their pursuit.

Chen Ke went down to the crew’s resting area, where Laura and Nathan immediately came up to him, asking about his conversation with Conrad.

Due to the fear of being overheard in the corridor and the smallness of Chen Ke’s cabin, the three decided to talk in Laura’s cabin.

No sooner had the three entered the room, Laura glanced outside, and then closed the door, eager to ask about the current situation.

The ’cabin’ was actually so small that it only had enough space for someone to stand and a small table. It wasn’t much bigger than Chen Ke’s resting place, but at least they could squeeze in three people.

Chen Ke noticed that Laura’s table was filled with large, voluminous books with titles related to myths and history from various places. There were also strange little trinkets on the table that looked very ancient.

A hefty-looking canvas backpack was hanging at the head of the bed, and the handle of a red climbing axe poked out from under the bed.

What is this girl into...? Chen Ke couldn’t help wondering.

Faced with questions from Laura and Nathan, Chen Ke felt that disclosing everything wasn’t a good idea.

Nevertheless, he still had to tell them at least the basic situation, since this journey had already become anything but simple.

He kept the matter of the restricted area secret and only disclosed the Administration Bureau’s pursuit to the two. They were not Spiritual Ability Users and seemed not to have dealt with such matters before; telling them would only increase their panic.

"This is a pirate ship; I should’ve known...," Laura said indignantly, pacing back and forth in the cabin.

"Actually, Miss Laura... everyone who chose to board this ship has their own untold difficulties," Chen Ke spread his hands in resignation.

"Yeah, desperate times, huh? Are you also people who can’t fly on planes?" Nathan chuckled.

"I am not a thief, Nathan!" Laura protested.

"You know, the stuff on your table alone is probably worth enough to buy several ships like this. Maybe the contraband in your bag is worth more than whatever is hidden beneath this ship," Nathan joked.

"No, I think you’re mistaken, those things are just trash buried in the ground, not worth a penny." Laura leaned against the table as though protecting the items on it.

"You’re not very good at lying, Miss Laura," Nathan leaned against the cabin wall.

"And you’re not very good at making girls happy, Mr. Nathan," Laura retorted, leaning on the table.

"It seems we all have stories to tell... huh?" Chen Ke spread his hands.

"What about you, Mr. Chen? This ship isn’t something you can just board whenever you feel like it," Nathan said.

"I’m just a tourist, been in this country for only about two months," Chen Ke leaned against the door, feeling the conversation was straying off-topic.

"Everybody has their secrets. Why don’t we focus on our current predicament? That’s what’s important right now, don’t you think?" Chen Ke looked at Laura and Nathan.

The three looked at each other and were silent for several seconds. Then, the sound of cannon fire came from outside the cabin.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang!"

Subsequently, the ship began rocking, with huge sprays of water splashing up against the porthole windows. The three struggled to keep their balance and fell to the floor.

"What’s going on?" Laura asked in astonishment.

"This doesn’t bode well," Nathan grumbled as he picked himself up off the floor and grabbed the cabin door.

The trio made their way into the corridor, to find that the crew had all taken up arms, guarding their positions. Nathan squeezed past the crew members, dashing up to the deck, and Chen Ke, seeing no one stopping him, rushed up alongside Laura.

No sooner had they reached the deck than they saw a dozen crew members crouched by the ship’s side, gripping AKs74Us as if they were preparing for a firefight.

Looking around the stretches of sea, they spotted to the south of the ship’s position, which was behind the Endurance, four vessels firing in their direction.

The ships, thumb-sized from their perspective, were visible and hence were not too far away, for visibility at sea meant proximity.

"What are you doing up here?! If you don’t want to die, get down! We’re under bombardment!" a Black crew member bellowed at Chen Ke and the others.

"Bombardment... Damn it!" cursed Nathan.

Chen Ke, however, felt this was somehow reasonable... Conrad had directly killed everyone on a ship and blew it up too. The incident was almost akin to piracy, and the Administration Bureau was not part of the County Police system; they wouldn’t bother with legal procedures.

Killing first, explaining later—that was the nature of a reprisal.

"This is the difficult situation I mentioned earlier, but I didn’t expect it to come so quickly," Chen Ke admitted frankly.

"Hey! You! Get down now! What are you doing running up here?" Conrad shouted from the bridge, gesturing through the window at them below.

Laura looked up at Conrad and sprinted towards the bridge. Conrad slapped his forehead, indicating for them to come up too.

When Chen Ke and Nathan arrived at the bridge, Laura was already in a heated argument with Conrad inside the captain’s office.

"We still have a chance to negotiate, Conrad," Laura said.

"Miss Laura, I think you still don’t understand our predicament. The Administration Bureau won’t negotiate with us; they just want to sink us," Conrad replied.

"I know what you’re planning, Conrad. You want to enter that region of the sea. Maybe others don’t know what’s there, but you can’t fool me. If we go there, don’t expect to come back alive," Laura stated, giving everyone present an ominous sense of foreboding. "You’re too pessimistic, Miss Laura. Just because others can’t make it doesn’t mean we can’t. We have an advantage they don’t," Conrad said, glancing at Chen Ke.

"Laura, why don’t you tell us what’s in that area of the sea?" Chen Ke asked.

"What? What region of the sea? Is now really the time to be discussing this...? You know, we’ve got four ships on our tail firing at us, and we’re still debating where to go next?" Nathan was surprised.

"He plans to use that region to shake them off, Nathan," Laura explained.

Nathan looked between Laura and Conrad, his attention drawn to the sea chart on the table. He walked over, took a quick glance, and his complexion changed.

"This is a grave mistake, Conrad..." Nathan barely looked before he realized the importance of the area circled so conspicuously on the chart.

"Can someone enlighten me? I’m really curious about what’s so special about that part of the sea," Chen Ke said, spreading his hands.

Nathan and Laura exchanged looks, then Laura offered Chen Ke a brief summary of the area.

As is commonly known, it was a region cordoned off by the Administration Bureau, forcing all domestic shipping routes to detour—a no-man’s land at sea. The area wasn’t large, but within twenty-five years, there had been at least 1,760 shipwreck incidents, earning it the nickname ’The Sea Graveyard.’

However, what the public didn’t know was even more abundant. With the ocean so vast, there were definitely other areas prone to shipwrecks, like the infamous Bermuda Triangle and the like, marked as hazardous by the Ocean Security Bureau and various national maritime departments.

But what was it about this region that warranted the Administration Bureau’s drastic measure of closure?

No one knew, and that was the greatest danger. In this world, an area under the control of the Administration Bureau equated to unimaginable risks.

There had never been any reports or data revealing to the world what occurred in that area. After the shipwrecks happened, those ships disappeared without a trace, as if evaporated from the face of the Earth.

This was a sea of mystery in every sense of the word.