Corpse Recovery Diver-Chapter 1223 - 221_2

"Indeed, the more inconspicuous something appears in the crashing waves, the less we can afford to take it lightly."

Tan Wenbin didn't rush back to the camp; instead, he headed to the lighthouse.

The light on the lighthouse was on, and it was still rotating and flashing.

But it gave off a feeling that was somewhat too mechanical and rigid.

Tan Wenbin hid behind the rocks and observed for a long time, guessing that the old man inside the lighthouse was probably not there at the moment.

It's necessary to take some risks in order to provide more valuable information once Brother Xiao Yuan and the others land on the island.

Tan Wenbin left the rocks, crossed the stone bridge connecting the shore and the lighthouse, and reached the base of the tower.

The tower door wasn't locked; with a little effort, he pushed it open and then climbed up the ladder.

"Sir, want to drink? I've been thinking about my ex-girlfriend again. We broke up on a stormy day."

Upon reaching the top floor, he saw a woman clinging to the light, mechanically going through the motions.

When Tan Wenbin appeared, the woman turned her head slowly to look at him.

Her neck and hands bore obvious stitching marks, one eye was white, and the other was hollow.

The woman was shackled, with the other end of the chain hooked to the tower wall, like a dog being tethered.

Besides this, her entire body was soaked, with a thick liquid pooling at her feet, making her appear ashen, yet not bloated.

A photo hung in the living quarters at the tower's base, with the tower as the background, showing an old man and this woman together, the old man cherished this photo, saying it was of his daughter.

Tan Wenbin had asked the old man where his daughter had gone.

The old man replied: She got married.

Married to the sea.

Presumably, on ordinary days, the old man kept soaking her in the sea.

"Go on, keep at it."

With a simple greeting, Tan Wenbin descended, and the woman did not madly chase after him, but rather withdrew her gaze and continued her numbing task.

Next, it's the final stop, and the most crucial one.

If there's also a problem with the shipmaster, then the journey to Heartless Island will become exceedingly difficult.

Because most of the information about Heartless Island was provided by that shipmaster.

Tan Wenbin ran to the pier, the ship was still there, but before he could approach further, a chill rose from his shoulders all the way down to his tailbone.

This was his two foster sons warning him; as ghostly entities, they often had more acute perceptions.

Without hesitation, Tan Wenbin sidestepped to hide in a rocky corner.

Then he wiped the rainwater off his face and observed the direction of the ship through a gap.

The shipmaster's purple eyes were glaringly conspicuous in the pitch-dark, rainy night.

He walked slowly along the shore, one hand holding one end of a fishing net, dragging a long part behind him.

Instead of fish, the net was filled with people.

Amid occasional flashes of lightning, his vision suddenly lit up.

Tan Wenbin not only saw the constant blood seeping from the fishing net but could also recognize the identities of the corpses inside because some features were too distinctive.

One was bald, preferring to bare his torso even in the island's low temperatures, showing off muscles with some oil;

Another was covered in tattoos, claiming them as family heritage, but left a mess when he tried to wash them off.

Their personalities were both rebellious; two days ago, they were the first to team up, raiding and ambushing others.

Xin Jiyue almost died at their hands, and it was Tan Wenbin who saved her.

Now, both of them were dead, along with their organized group, all wrapped up in the fishing net.

The shipmaster faced the sea and let out a shout; not even the sounds of thunder and waves could completely drown it out.

Soon, peculiar-shaped waves appeared at the seaside, charging forward but stopping at the shore.

The shipmaster opened the net, grabbed a corpse, and tossed it into the sea. As soon as it hit the water, it was pulled under.

One by one, he tossed them, like a feeder tending to their livestock.

Tan Wenbin noticed that before throwing a corpse, the shipmaster would always take something from it, probably an instrument this group used for storing karma.

Silently, Tan Wenbin retreated, now considering whether he should return to his camp.

He didn't have any karma on him, which meant it was unlikely he would become a target for hunting, so rejoining that group might make him collateral damage.

But those people were assembled by him, and although he was forced to be the leader, ignoring the danger seemed inappropriate.

"No, I must go back to take a look, to see if the 'natives' are clearing out unstable elements or if they're committing indiscriminate slaughter."

He could understand the former, as those who broke the rules by seizing others' karma were disrupting the group and needed to be dealt with to sustain the system's operation.

If it was the latter, the situation would change in nature, which Tan Wenbin could hardly comprehend.

Because those who traded on the island were clearly organized and developed with considerable effort, couldn't the 'natives' just levy a tax instead of wiping them out completely? 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

If you kill them all this time, won't you have to recruit afresh next time? Why bother?