Charles took out the invitation he had purchased from the skeleton woman and walked inside.
The wooden boat was spacious, but the furnishings were simple. In front of the guests' chairs was a plain stage covered with a blood-red carpet. The pirates, naturally without any sense of decorum, were drinking and eating Comfort Fruit, while some greedily snorted various powders. The stifling air of the auction was a mixture of all sorts of smells.
Charles, sitting alone amidst groups of whispering pirate captains, seemed somewhat out of place. He had not allowed Audric to come in. The pirates here all had impressive backgrounds, and he feared some might recognize Audric as a vampire and cause trouble.
As the attendees slowly gathered, a sudden snap echoed as the surrounding oil lamps were dimmed to their lowest, and a single, bright spotlight illuminated the stage. An extravagantly dressed dwarf leaped out. "Welcome, captains, to Sodoma's 157th auction! We have plenty of great items today! Are your pockets full of Echoes?"
The crowd's reaction was chilly; few of the pirates even bothered to look his way.
The dwarf didn't seem to care in the slightest. He simply clapped his hands with a beaming smile. "And now, let us welcome our noble, respected, and unrivaled King!"
As soon as the dwarf finished speaking, the spotlight shifted to a side hatch. A grotesquely obese man, weighing at least a ton, was wheeled out on a wooden cart. His unusually greasy face was covered with boils of all sizes, and his sagging belly nearly scraped the floor. The King of Sodoma was uniquely hideous.
The "King" paid no attention to the audience, his focus entirely consumed by the mountains of meat piled on either side of his cart.
Watching the King stuff food into his mouth with his rotting teeth, Charles felt a wave of nausea. Honestly, he looks nothing like what I imagined.
The other pirates, however, did not share his revulsion. The same men who had been so unruly just moments ago now rose to their feet and paid their respects to the "King."
The "King" remained silent, waving a greasy, fat hand in a careless gesture for the dwarf to continue.
The spotlight returned to the dwarf, who bowed deeply towards the King before announcing loudly, "The auction begins now! The first item is a woman!"
The curtain behind the dwarf was drawn, revealing a frightened girl in a lavish Western-style gown who was pushed onto the stage.
"Gentlemen, this is no ordinary plaything! She is the recently missing daughter of the Governor of He Fang Island! Imagine, you can cut a little piece off her every day to blackmail the Governor! Look closely! This isn't a woman; this is a cash cow! Bidding starts at 500,000 Echoes, with raises of 100,000! Starting now! That captain bids 1,000,000! Now 2,000,000! Good! We're at 6,000,000!"
Charles paid no mind to the frenzied bidding. His attention was fixed solely on the King. He holds the clues to Earth's surface. How can I get the sea chart from him?
Just then, the governor's daughter was sold to a pirate. With a mournful expression, she walked down from the stage. No one noticed as she drew closer and closer to the "King." When she was just three meters away, her tear-stained face twisted into a ferocious snarl. Her left hand shot out from beneath her ruffled skirt, revealing a pistol, and she frantically pulled the trigger.
BANG! BANG! BANG! The bullets tore into the King's corpulent flesh, splattering blood mixed with beige-colored fat.
POP! A large pustule on the King's face burst open. A creature about the size of a palm and similar to a face-hugger shot out like a blur and lunged at the woman. The next second, with a sickening sound of tearing flesh, her headless body crumpled stiffly to the ground.
The "King" sat there, completely unfazed, grabbing the blood-splattered chunks of meat and continuing to stuff them into his mouth as if nothing had happened.
After a few seconds, the dwarf on stage hastily tried to smooth things over. "Haha! Another fool with a death wish! Praise our King! Our King is invincible! And now, let us continue with the second auction item!"
Charles watched as the creature retracted back into the King's pustule, realizing the ruler of all Sodoma could not possibly be a simpleton. He was certain the King had not displayed even a fraction of his true power, which had to be terrifying.
The thought quickly turned back to his own predicament. He's so powerful… how am I supposed to get information from him? Communication? Charles immediately dismissed the idea. The King did not seem like the talkative type. Besides, the skeleton woman was right; he would never share information about his monopoly. With the King being far stronger and having more men, using force was out of the question. Charles was completely stumped.
As the auction drew to a close, Charles still hadn't come up with a plan. He watched the fat man in the distance continuously gorging himself on meat, a growing sense of frustration bubbling within him.
"Ahem." A soft cough from beside him broke Charles's intense gaze. "I wouldn't stare at the King like that. He'll interpret it as a provocation."
Charles turned his head. When he saw the white triangle on the man's forehead, he was so shocked he almost leaped to his feet. Staring at the follower of the Light God Sect, his eyes filled with hostility. "I'm not dead. I bet Sonni is quite surprised, isn't he?"
To his surprise, the follower looked genuinely baffled. "Sonni? I'm sorry, I don't know him. He's a fundamentalist. I, on the other hand, am from the new sect."
Charles looked at him with skepticism, completely baffled by the man's intentions.
"There's no need to doubt my words. As you know, we followers of the Sun God Sect are incapable of lying."
Charles let his guard down slightly. It was true. As far as he knew, once followers of the Sun God Sect performed their ritual, they lost their sense of fear, along with their ability to lie. He studied the man before him. He was about sixty years old, with white hair and a pair of small, round glasses perched on his nose. Dressed in a yellow robe, he had a rather amiable appearance.
"My name is Kede, a holy man of the Sun God Sect. It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain Charles."
Charles's mind raced. He suddenly recalled that the mission Sonni had given him was to come to Sodoma and kill a believer from another sect. Could this be the one I was supposed to kill? "You know me?"
Kede smiled faintly. "Hehe, of course. We received word the moment you announced at the Explorer Association that you were searching for the Land of Light. Captain Charles, may we speak?"
Charles's mind spun. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. This man could be useful. "Alright," he said. "Come to my ship."