"Am I dead?"
Danitz's eyelids fluttered a few times, and a yellowish ceiling appeared in his blurry vision. He subconsciously moved his fingers, immediately gasping in pain from his entire body.
"I'm still alive…" he mumbled hoarsely.
A meow attracted Danitz's attention.
"Awake?" A familiar voice came from beside him.
He turned his head with difficulty and saw Luo En sitting on a chair with his legs crossed, playing with an empty bottle in his hand. The Orange Cat was lying in his arms, looking curiously in their direction.
"It hurts." Danitz pressed his forehead. "Where is… this?"
He tried to prop himself up but failed due to the pain.
"A small, inconspicuous hotel," Luo En stood up, poured a glass of water, and handed it to Danitz.
"It's not easy to check into a room with someone covered in injuries."
To avoid being pursued by the pirates, Luo En dared not take Danitz to a proper clinic. He could only carry him to this small hotel in a remote neighborhood.
Heaven knows how nervous Luo En was when he brought Danitz into this small hotel.
Firstly, Danitz was a famous pirate, so his identity should not be exposed. Secondly, Luo En also did not have any valid identification documents.
However, perhaps because Luo En had the standard appearance of a Loen person, the local boss did not say much and respectfully arranged a room for him directly.
That fawning look surprised Luo En. He inexplicably became a "superior" for a moment.
"Tsk…"
As Danitz took the water glass, he felt his body being slightly pulled. He looked down and found that the bandages on him were wrapped as if by an octopus, with some parts tied in dead knots and others so loose they were about to fall off.
"Damn it, how did you bandage this? It's a mess."
"It's good enough that I snatched you back from Death's hands," Luo En rolled his eyes. "I risked my life to buy bandages."
"You're lucky. If I hadn't just bought a few bottles of healing potions at the gathering, you would have been done for," Luo En examined the empty bottle in his hand.
Lachi meowed at the appropriate moment, as if to corroborate her owner's words.
"Potion?"
Danitz lowered his head to check his injuries and found that the most severe penetrating wound had already scabbed over, but the bandaging technique was simply appalling. He couldn't help but complain again: "Were you bandaging with your eyes closed?"
Luo En shrugged and said nothing more.
Seeing Danitz in such a sorry state, he understood that today's events were not arranged by Danitz. Most likely, the accomplices of the pirates who had been killed earlier came seeking revenge.
Of course, if Danitz deliberately made himself look like this to make him lower his guard, then Luo En could only admit defeat.
"Did the accomplices of those pirates come for revenge?" Luo En looked at Danitz, who was pulling at his bandages, and asked.
"Yes." Danitz nodded. "It was Steel and his subordinates."
Steel… Luo En recalled, "Blood Admiral's First Mate?"
"Exactly, that bastard!"
Danitz then began to recount how he was ambushed by Steel and his escape until he met Luo En.
"The middleman was introduced by Old Lin En."
"I went to the contact point to find him today, but I didn't expect to be ambushed by Steel directly."
"We need to inform the captain of this news quickly, otherwise…"
"Wait," Luo En interrupted him.
"Where's my share of the money?" He was referring to the bounty for the three pirates.
Uh…
Danitz's mouth twitched, feeling a bit awkward:
"That… is naturally gone too."
"Hey! You seemed to have said there was no problem leaving it to you, right?!" Luo En's tone became dangerous.
"Calm down! Now is not the time for infighting!" Danitz waved his hands hastily. "We should… uh… unite!"
Hearing the word "unite" from a pirate made Luo En somewhat speechless, but he also knew that now was not the time to complain, so he could only sigh and tacitly agreed with the other party.
Luo En then told him about meeting the Beyonder named Roy King at the gathering, wanting to hear his opinion.
"Roy King?" Danitz pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "I haven't heard that name."
"If you want to learn mysticism, you can come to our Golden Dream. Even if you don't join us, giving you some lessons should be fine."
"Is it reliable?" Luo En expressed doubt about learning knowledge on a pirate ship.
"Damn it, otherwise, where do you think my mysticism knowledge came from?" Seeing Luo En's disbelief, Danitz was a bit angry.
"That's true." Luo En reluctantly nodded. "But, can you make the decision?"
Upon hearing this, Danitz's expression stiffened. He forced out a smile:
"No matter what, I'm still a Sailor. I can make decisions on matters like this."
Seeing his guilty look, Luo En immediately understood—this guy probably wanted a bodyguard to escort him back to the ship.
Forget it, who told me and him we're in the same boat… Luo En rubbed his Sun temple, casting his displeasure aside.
Compared to someone of unknown origin who immediately spoke of "destiny's arrangement" and wanted to be his teacher, a pirate with a handle was actually more trustworthy.
"I don't feel this hotel is very safe either. If you can move, we should leave quickly," Luo En pondered the current situation.
Danitz gritted his teeth and tried to get up, but the pain made him break out in cold sweat: "No… the wound…"
"There's still a bottle of potion." Luo En fumbled a glass bottle from his bag and threw it over.
"It tastes awful." Danitz frowned after drinking the potion.
"Do you understand that good medicine tastes bitter?"
A moment later, Danitz trembled and said, "Why do I feel a bit off?"
"So hot!"
Hot?… Luo En looked up and saw Danitz's face turning red at a visible speed, with fine beads of sweat oozing from his forehead.
"Water… give me more water…" Danitz tore open his collar, his breathing becoming heavy. He stared blankly at the ceiling, his Adam's apple constantly bobbing.
Could it be… Luo En thought of a possibility and quickly checked the potion he had just given him.
Oh no!
He had given the wrong medicine. Danitz had not drunk a healing potion but an aphrodisiac, which meant he was currently…
Luo En felt a chill down his spine and quickly pulled "Phantom" from his embrace.
"What are you doing? Calm down."
Danitz's breathing became more and more rapid. Suddenly, he lunged forward. Luo En hastily raised his gun, trying to scare him off.
The good news was that Danitz stopped in front of Luo En without advancing further. The bad news was that he stared blankly at the pistol in Luo En's hand, revealing an infatuated smile.
Damn it! "Phantom" has a charm effect.
In the instant Luo En was distracted, Danitz snatched "Phantom" with astonishing speed.
"Hey, that's my pistol! What are you doing?!"
"No, don't take off your pants!"